The cannibals are an antagonistic group of survivors that appear in HBO's The Last of Us. These survivors are a group of religiously devoted followers of a makeshift church run by a preacher named David, who have resorted to capturing and murdering any travelers whom they encounter and eating them or even their own deceased as a means of survival due to the shortage of food in the post-infected world. While seemingly all members of the group do eat human meat, not all of them are aware that they are doing so as David, James and some others had not told everyone.[1]
History[]
Formation[]
David formed the group in 2017 in the Pittsburgh quarantine zone around the time it collapsed from a conflict between FEDRA and the Fireflies. David created the group based on the idea that the Cordyceps brain infection caused an apocalypse similar to the one predicted in the Christian faith and prophesied in the Book of Revelations. As such, the members were devout Christians who looked to David for guidance, the man characterizing his group as "sheep" following him as their preacher. As such, he used religion as an answer to the apocalypse and insisted they all follow his thinking as "God's way". Several people joined the group, notably James, Alec, Hannah, Joyce, Josiah, Marco and Timothy.
The group struggled to settle in a single location, constantly facing attacks from raiders. However, they managed to settle in the Silver Lake holiday resort in the mountains of Colorado sometime before the winter of 2023. They would all meet in Todd's Steakhouse restaurant to eat and pray together, with David regularly holding sermons for the group and preaching his beliefs about the Bible and God to them. He also had them make a banner with the words "When we are in need, he shall provide", paraphrasing a quote from the Philippians; meaning that David (as their leader sent to them by God) would ensure all their needs were met and answered as long as they remained loyal to him.
By the winter of that year, the deep snow and lack of animals to hunt led David to decide the group had to resort to cannibalism to survive. James, as one of David's closest followers, was privy to this, with the man complicit in David's actions to kill humans and butcher them to eat.[1]
Events of HBO's The Last of Us[]
During that winter, with food supplies becoming more desperate, David sent Alec and three other men out to the University of Eastern Colorado to find supplies. However, they encountered a "crazy man" traveling with a little girl. The man killed Alec and the two fled on horseback from the remaining three.[2]
The group brought Alec's body back to Silver Lake, where David held a funeral for him before their congregation. Afterward, David and James went hunting for deer. They found a dead one but were confronted by Ellie, who had shot the deer. At David's insistence, James retrieved penicillin from the resort to bring to her in exchange for the deer. While conversing with Ellie, David concluded she was the girl with the "crazy man" (Joel) who had killed Alec. James was furious at this, but relented when David revealed they could use Ellie to track where Joel was. That night, David revealed his plan to the group. Hannah, Alec's daughter, insisted David kill them both. Angered, David struck her down before the group before they all ate food together after praying.
The next day, David brought James, Timothy, Marco, and Josiah with him to hunt Ellie. They reached a town where Ellie revealed herself, fleeing on horseback. James killed the horse and, at the others' insistence, prepared to execute Ellie. However, David intervened, collecting Ellie and ordering the others (except James) to search the town for Joel. The group did so, with Timothy and Josiah patrolling outside while Marco searched the houses. In one of the houses, Marco found a hidden basement. Once within it, Joel ambushed him, killing him with a knife. Joel then proceeded outside and subdued both Timothy and Josiah. He then trapped them in a house and tortured them for information, learning that David and James had taken Ellie back to Silver Lake. Joel killed them and proceeded to Silver Lake.
Meanwhile, David brought Ellie back to Silver Lake, locking her in a cage and attempting to groom her. However, Ellie resisted his manipulation, breaking one of his fingers. Dissatisfied, David collected James and the pair prepared to carve her up for food. However, Ellie bit David in the struggle and revealed she was infected. Stunned with fear, David and James let her go, Ellie using the opportunity to hack James to death and flee into the restaurant. David chased her, and in the struggle, and resulting fire, prepared to rape Ellie. Overwhelmed with fear, Ellie snatched David's butcher knife and hacked the man to death with it.
Ellie stumbled outside into the woods near the town, where Joel found and comforted her. The pair then left the town and cannibals behind, with their leader and key patrolmen all dead by their hands.[1]
Known members[]
- David (leader; deceased)
- James (second-in-command; deceased)
- Alec (deceased)
- Hannah
- Howard
- Josiah (deceased)
- Joyce
- Marco (deceased)
- Martin
- Timothy (deceased)
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 HBO's The Last of Us episode 8: "When We Are in Need"
- ↑ HBO's The Last of Us episode 6: "Kin"
