Spoilers ahead for “The Last of Us” Part II (the video game), and likely for “The Last of Us” Season 2 (the show) as well.
“The Last of Us” may take place in a post-apocalyptic reality where the U.S. government has fallen and fungus-infested zombies roam the country, but its version of America is still a heavily militarized one.
In Season 1, we were introduced to the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA), a fictional FEMA-esque branch of the U.S. Army that turns brutally authoritarian in the face of societal collapse, along with an armed resistance movement called the Fireflies. Now, in “The Last of Us” Season 2, our protagonist Ellie (Bella Ramsey) comes face to face with a new military force: the Washington Liberation Front (W.L.F.), or, as their enemies call them, the Wolves.
So what’s the deal with the Washington Liberation Front? To answer that question, we’ll have to dive into some details from the HBO show’s source material — the 2020 video game “The Last of Us Part II” — so if you prefer to experience “The Last of Us” Season 2 as it was intended, consider yourself warned.
But if you’re down for some light spoilers (or just haven’t played the game for a while and want a refresher), read on for our breakdown of the history of the W.L.F. and the conflict that defines much of the story that lies ahead.
What is the W.L.F. in “The Last of Us”?
In “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 3, we learn that the group of soldiers who murdered Joel (Pedro Pascal) in Episode 2 were part of the Washington Liberation Front, one of several militias dotting the Pacific Coast. Ellie quickly sets off for Seattle, where the group is based, on a quest for revenge, but she has no real sense of how large or dangerous the W.L.F. really is. At the end of the episode, the audience gets that answer. Episode 3’s final scene reveals an army of Wolves numbering in the hundreds, complete with military vehicles and lots of guns.
But what is the W.L.F., and where did they come from? To answer that, we’ll have to jump back in time to some important backstory that takes place before the events of “The Last of Us.”
After the zombie/infected outbreak, FEDRA takes over several major cities and establishes quarantine zones. In Seattle, resistance against this tyrannical new government quickly takes the form of the Washington Liberation Front. FEDRA fights back against the W.L.F. with overwhelming force, but that only bolsters the group’s numbers and emboldens its leader, Isaac Dixon (to be played by Jeffrey Wright on the HBO show), to become more violent. Eventually, FEDRA abandons Seattle, and the W.L.F. takes over.
Of course, as is often the case in “The Last of Us,” this new leadership is just as bad as the one it replaced. Isaac punishes anyone who was previously associated with FEDRA, enforces curfews, limits travel between neighborhoods, and eventually relocates most of the population to a fortified football stadium. Anyone who resists is kicked out of the city.
That last bit is particularly brutal due to another rival group that operates outside of Seattle’s fortified walls: The Seraphites.
Who are the Seraphites in “The Last of Us”?
We get a brief look at the Seraphites in “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 3. A group of about a dozen men, women and children walks through the woods. They all wear green cloaks and have horizontal scars across their cheeks. The men are shaved bald. Suddenly, another Seraphite somewhere nearby whistles loudly, alerting the group to danger, and they scatter into the woods to hide. A young girl asks if demons are attacking them, and her guardian responds, “Wolves.” Later in the episode, Ellie comes across the gruesome aftermath: a dozen dead and massacred Seraphites.
The history of the Seraphites is intriguing and confusing — even if you’ve played “The Last of Us Part II,” you still might not understand this cult-like group. Their story begins with an unnamed woman, only referred to as “The Prophet,” who receives a vision telling her to give up technology and live off the land. She believes the zombie outbreak is humanity’s punishment for its many sins, and begins to gain followers from her base in the suburbs of Seattle.
The Prophet is also a skilled fighter and trains her people to fight with knives, axes, and bows and arrows (she’s not a big fan of guns). When FEDRA takes over Seattle, the Seraphites refuse to relocate within the city. And after FEDRA falls, they start attacking other people living in the suburbs of Seattle, which sparks an ongoing conflict with the Washington Liberation Front. Eventually, the Seraphites flood the area, creating an artificial island to cut themselves off from the city for defensive purposes.
The W.L.F. vs. the Seraphites
The conflict between these two groups is a major plotline in “The Last of Us Part II,” and you can expect it to play a crucial role in Season 2 of the show as well. The war between them, which predates the events of “The Last of Us,” notably escalates when the W.L.F. captures and executes the Prophet, which only makes things worse.
Not too long afterward, Abby (Kaitlin Dever) and her friends show up in Seattle and join the W.L.F., quickly becoming military leaders and helping the group push back against the Seraphites. Eventually, Isaac gives Abby permission to go get revenge on Joel, which pretty much brings us to the starting point of “The Last of Us” Season 2.
The game’s director, Neil Druckmann, has said that this sort of cycle of violence (which Ellie finds herself in the middle of) is a major theme he wanted to explore. And, without spoiling anything else about the story to come, if “The Last of Us” Season 2 recreates some of the game’s most memorable moments, you can expect to see a similar message spelled out by the HBO show.
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