My personal headcanon for Garfield is that Garfield most likely died at some point during the mid to late 80′s. I feel like this theory explains multiple things in the Garfield Canon.

I feel like the idea that a cat could live to age 40, especially one like Garfield who’s diet is extremely unhealthy, is absolutely ridiculous. Most cats are considered old by age 12, so I feel like he may have died around 1990 or so, but there is some variability since Garfield is not a normal cat due to his abnormal and unhealthy lifestyle. I’m personally leaning towards the mid 1980′s since I believe the Halloween 1989 comic is a period where he briefly had to confront that he was dead.

Garfield has been dead since the late to mid 80′s, and I believe he is delusional and fooling himself into believing that he is still alive with the people he knows. It’s been confirmed in the comic, like in the 1989 Halloween comic and some other pieces, that Garfield, while he tries to hide it, is very dependent on the people he knows. It’s been explicitly stated that his greatest fear is loneliness. He’s not ready to accept the fact that he’s dead and cannot move on to the afterlife.

I feel like this explains how the Garfield Comic strip has been notably getting more cartoonish over the years, as Garfield himself has been idealizing his reality. Plus, he’s a cat and probably wouldn’t understand how reality actually works.

The Halloween 1989 comic may have been a brief period where his delusions about his life were broken, and he had to briefly confront the reality of his situation that he is in fact dead. He refused to accept this, however, and continues in his idealized world.

If you have any criticisms on this theory please feel free to address them, and I’ll be sure to update this theory on any new information any of you in the Garfield fandom share with me.