Yes, it makes perfect sense that Hermit Bob (Tom Waits) is the only survivor in The Dead Don’t Die. His survival is not just a narrative twist - it is a profound commentary on modern civilization, alienation, and the possibility of existing outside the doomed world of human “progress”.
1. Hermit Bob’s Radical Outsider Status
Bob never left the woods - he remained outside of human society, rejecting its norms, its consumerism, and its illusions.
In Jarmusch’s world, civilization is the real zombie apocalypse - the undead are just an extension of the already hollow, repetitive existence of consumer culture.
Unlike the town’s residents, Bob never participated in this system, and because of that, he is spared when it collapses.
2. Nature as the Last Refuge
If we take Jameson’s idea - that postmodernism begins when the last trace of nature disappears - then Bob’s continued existence represents the last remnant of pre-Anthropocene life.
He doesn’t need technology, media, or commodities - his way of living is not dependent on the world that is now falling apart.
He doesn’t fight the zombies, because he never belonged to their world in the first place.
3. Echoes of Daoism, Gelassenheit, and Non-Philosophy
Bob embodies Gelassenheit (letting-be) - he neither resists nor seeks to control, he simply exists in harmony with what is.
He never carried the philosophical decision - he never separated himself from the Real.
His survival mirrors what we discussed earlier: when the burden of philosophy (civilization, decision, mastery) collapses under its own weight, only the one who never carried it remains.
In this way, Bob is like the Daoist sage - not trying to change the world, but simply existing in a state of radical passivity.
4. A World Without Man, a Nature Without Witness?
By the end of the film, Bob is the last human, watching from a distance as the town is consumed.
His existence raises an unsettling question: if nature survives, but civilization disappears, what does survival even mean?
He is not a hero in the traditional sense - he is merely a witness to the end of man, or perhaps the beginning of something else.
Conclusion: The One Who Never Belonged Never Had to Die
Yes, Bob’s survival is completely logical. He was never part of the zombie world to begin with.
He never bought into the illusions, never relied on the system, never left the woods.
And so, when everything collapses, he is untouched - not because he fought for survival, but because he never needed to fight at all.