Great analysis. I've voiced this plenty of times on this sub before, but I'll say it again: Shane is, and always will be, my favorite TWD character, and that is mainly due to his insanely well-executed arc and how beautiful Bernthal pulled off his character. Not to mention he had some of the best character development of the entire series thus far.

Jon Bernthal portrayed Shane with so many layers that his story was tragic even up to his final moments when he was holding up the gun to Rick. If he was played by anyone other than Bernthal, I probably would have hated Shane with a burning passion. But, he wasn't, and it was just damn phenomenal to see his insanity slowly chipping away over time until he lost himself completely. Seeing him go from a strong and capable leader to a selfish hothead to a hardened man with a stone-cold mentality to downright deranged was phenomenal to watch unfold. While he did do well in surviving in a world that had gone to hell, his hotheadedness, selfish tendencies, infatuation with Lori and his inability to be rational just spiraled him down into a dark path where he couldn't climb out. He was involved in some of the best scenes/episodes of the series -- him and Otis at the school, the barn scene, 18 Miles Out, Better Angels (especially his final showdown with him and Rick under the moonlight, holy shit).

It's a shame that he had to be killed off, since I truly miss his character and I definitely miss Bernthal's acting. But, he died at the right time, and his death was what caused Rick to plummet into Ricktatorship and was one of the first signs to show that walkers aren't the only threat in a world that has up and gone mad.