HBO Max’s hit series, The Last of Us, paints a bleak picture of the future of civilization. Thanks to the rampant spread of the cordyceps infection, a fungus that takes over motor control of the human body, each day is a bitter fight for survival. The average lifespan has been drastically reduced by the time viewers meet Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal), and every day the timeline for humanity as a whole seems to draw to a dangerously abrupt end.
It’s common for viewers to look at a world so unlike the one they know and say themselves, “I wonder if I could live through that?” And the answer is no, probably not. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, because, after all, there are many ways to die in The Last of Us. Whether from an obvious threat, or a terror disguised as an ally, these are the reasons you wouldn’t survive The Last of Us.
10 Killed By Your Government
Episode 1 “When You’re Lost in the Darkness”
Settlers might be drawn to areas protected by the remnants of the government, but they could be in for a rude awakening. The same armed guards patrolling the perimeter to keep threats out could easily point their guns at the civilians they agreed to protect. Maybe a trigger-happy guard perceives someone as dangerous and doesn’t want to take chances. Maybe they want something valuable and a bullet is a fast way to get it. The main point is that the militia posing as the government has the weapons, which means they get to make the decisions.
Even when the outbreak first started, the military was shooting anyone they thought might be infected, taking countless innocent lives while doing so. Unchecked power opens the door wide for corruption, and there would be no way to stop it. If the remaining survivors tried to coordinate a civilian uprising in an outpost well-staffed by the military, their movement would no doubt be cut down coldly and efficiently.
9 Bandits
Episode 4 “Please Hold to My Hand”
So no to the safety of armed guards – it’s probably better to take destiny into one’s own hands and go it alone. The wilderness can provide food and shelter is one tent away. Except without the armed guards, there’s no one to fend off the bandits. Roaming packs of uninfected humans still populate the planet, and rather than stop to negotiate a trade, they’ll settle for taking what stragglers have by force.
And really, the bandits are just scared people who are doing what it takes to survive. Times are desperate, so if it’s between foraging life-saving supplies from the body of a stranger or having someone they love possibly die, a normal person looks and acts like a bandit very quickly. Whatever their motivation, strangers are deadly, and one wrong move will end a survivor’s journey if they cross paths with the wrong ones.
8 Runners
Episode 2 “Infected”
The most recent victims of the cordyceps infection, usually referred to as runners, are forced to endure the waking nightmare of the aggressive fungus taking over their neurological functions. At this stage, it’s widely believed the person is still alive for roughly the next 24 to 48 hours, a prisoner of their own body, forced to witness what the fungus will their limbs to do. Evidence of the remaining traces of humanity can be seen on their faces as they seethe in rage, screaming while charging a target.
Runners were the most common cordyceps-related threat in the early days of the outbreak, their speed propelling the infection to spread at a rapid rate. Freshly turned infected humans are dangerous individually, but their tendency to work in unity, traveling and attacking in packs, makes an encounter with them nearly impossible to survive.
7 Trusting Someone
Episode 5 “Endure and Survive”
The hazards are vast in the world of The Last of Us, but having a buddy to travel with can have its advantages. An extra set of eyes to spot trouble reduces the chances of being ambushed, and a friendly face boosts morale when things get tough. However, if the travel buddy gets bitten during an encounter with the infected, they quickly turn into a huge liability.
There’s no exact time for how quickly a person will succumb to the cordyceps infection after being bitten, but the window of time is brief before the attacked person is no longer in charge of their actions. And much like in classic zombie fiction, it can be hard to kill the zombified remains of a loved one with such little time to grieve and process. Human attachments can be the downfall of even the most careful, hardened survivalist, but the alternative is numbing loneliness. There’s actually a third option where a deep emotional relationship is formed with a volleyball, but that’s a different story.
6 Crossfire in a Civil War
Episode 5 “Endure and Survive”
The government has already been established as a slippery slope for safety, but the outlook isn’t much better on the other side. An organized rebellion might take the guns out of one group's hands, but when the power is shifted, the results will look conspicuously the same. So a person seeking to live their lives peacefully might think it works to sit out the conflict and keep to themselves. They can’t get hurt if they don’t participate.
But that doesn’t really work, does it? Clashes for power have a way of sucking in everyone orbiting nearby, and a peaceful homestead can be overrun if either the rebellion or the government thinks the spot is ideal to set up a base. Or, while wandering from one location to the next, the rebellion catches a survivor and thinks they’re a spy. Each remaining faction of humans feeds off the fear that they’re in danger from the other, and a civilian may be executed just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
5 Clickers
Episode 5 “Endure and Survive”
Once the fungus has taken over the majority of the infected human’s body, their eyes will be covered, but they no longer need them to see. Now turned into a “clicker,” the fungus creature develops supernaturally strong hearing that prohibits nearby survivors from making the softest of noises. The clickers are both incredibly fast and powerfully strong, guaranteed to overtake or at the very least infect anyone who attempts to engage with them.
Any member of the infected, whether newly turned or advanced, such as the clicker, has the sole mission to spread to new hosts. If an infected human is a new recruit for the cause, then a clicker is like the advanced super soldier, operating as one of the most elite and dangerous of the pack. The smartest survivors know to avoid the clickers altogether, using noises to distract the monsters toward directions far enough away to (fingers crossed) give them enough time to escape.
4 Bloaters
Episode 5 “Endure and Survive”
One of the most advanced stages of the infected is the massive and terrifying bloater. A bloater moves much more slowly than clickers or the recently infected, but their unmatched strength earns them the title of the most dangerous fungus mutation that Joel and Ellie have encountered so far. If their size and strength were not enough to cause concern, bloaters also have sacks of toxic gas on their skin that can infect their victims.
Trying to fight a bloater one on one, even with weapons such as guns, will lead to certain death. Years of transforming into fungus have coated the bloater with a hardened exterior that’s nearly impossible to penetrate. The advisable approach to a bloater is to run in the opposite direction, but attacking with fire is the best method to cause harm if there’s no other choice.
3 Fireflies
Episode 9 “Look for the Light”
The Fireflies are a group of survivors with a noble cause, searching for a way to cure the disease that has ravaged the world. Because their motives are just, they’re quick to eliminate any obstacles that stand in the way of the greater good. If that obstacle happens to be an uninfected human, they won’t hesitate to apply a lethal solution. The Fireflies are intelligent, well-trained, and a formidable foe for anyone who mistakes their enlightened goals as a sign of weakness.
Joel’s encounter with the Fireflies in the season 1 finale of The Last of Us exposes the grim realities of forming attachments in the destroyed future. Joel understandably can’t bear to lose another person, and the Fireflies don’t trust anyone to be selfless. Distrust, hubris, and sentimentality lead to more bloodshed on a small scale, and possibly world-dooming ramifications outside the operating room walls.
2 Cannibals
Episode 8 “When We Are in Need”
With endless threats from monsters and humans alike, it seems impossible to imagine anyone normal making their way through the apocalypse. How surprising would it be then to meet a friendly face, another good-hearted wanderer, that offers their home and a warm meal to replenish broken spirits? Sure, they keep licking their lips and offer A1 sauce as face lotion, but a little eccentricity is to be expected in a world filled with hardships.
Food is hard to come by for the majority of survivors, so cannibals are an unfortunate by-product of a broken society. From their perspective, they’ve convinced themselves eating human flesh is a necessary evil to live, but it merely demonstrates how far people will go to avoid eating vegetables. Not all threats are as obvious as mutated creates charging in packs, but it doesn’t make them any less frightening or dangerous.
1 No Medical Care
Episode 3 “Long, Long Time”
Miraculously, against all odds, a survivor manages to avoid warring military factions, escape all forms of mutated threats, and not be served as dinner to a group of fanatics. They can breathe easily with a loved one, and indulge in the simple pleasures of life away from the chaos and danger of the world. But then they get sick. Medical supplies are scarce and CVS has had staffing issues ever since the majority of the population died.
There’s no one to fight and no tactic that can be used to circumvent danger. A regular, run-of-the-mill flu is just as lethal as an attacking fungus monster if there’s no medicine to calm the symptoms. And maybe there’s no way to reverse the course of a virus, or heal what naturally breaks in the body – it’s too much to expect or hope for. But if someone can peacefully die in their bed while taking comfort in the presence of a loved one, they can pass with the satisfaction of knowing there can be happy endings in The Last of Us.
