If 2023 hasn’t been a great year for you thus far, at least one can take solace in the fact that it does not look like 2023 in HBO’s “The Last of Us.” An undead hivemind has not taken over life as we know it in a gripping battle for survival in the real world just yet, it has only taken over our subscription services and free time. Here are key facts for both the 2013 game and the 2023 show to make the experience more enjoyable.
Setting and Exposition
While the game starts in 2013 and then jumps to 2033, the show starts off in 2003 and then jumps to 2023. They both start in Austin, as we see what is referred to as “Outbreak Day,” which is when major cities began to see the rapidly spreading infection emerge and an elevated military presence. After the 20-year time jump, the new setting is Boston, Massachusetts, inside a “Quarantine Zone” that is a state sanctioned walled off section of a former city where people who are not infected can live. Quarantine Zones were established after governments bombed major cities in an attempt to slow the infection.
Cordyceps Fungus
The origin of the post-apocalyptic dystopia lies in a type of fungus that exists and operates similarly in the real world. Under normal circumstances, the fungus can only infect small insects and they do not seek to infect other ants but merely place themselves on an elevated surface where the fungus can spread. In both the game and the show, the cordyceps mutated and became capable of spreading to humans, but they spread in different ways. While being bitten or scratched by an infected person is infectious in both mediums, in the game, the cordyceps would spread through spores whereas in the show they spread through food products containing flour. The cordyceps brain infection (CBI) leaves humans with no control over their own bodies and a desire to spread the infection to others.
Joel Miller
The protagonist of the first game and of the first season of the show, Joel, is a hardened and closed off survivalist. Prior to “Outbreak Day,” which falls on Joel’s birthday, Joel worked in construction with his brother Tommy and lived at home with his daughter Sarah. She would die tragically in Joel’s arms after being shot by a soldier as they tried to leave Austin. Joel would keep the watch Sarah gave him for his birthday as a cruel reminder, despite the watch no longer working. Joel would grow colder and less forgiving as time went on, often chalking it up to a method of survival where anything goes, until he is tasked with a mission that will change his life completely.
Ellie Williams
A spry and sarcastic teenager is probably the last thing you’d expect to find in the apocalypse, but Ellie is full of surprises. Ellie is a sailor-mouthed spark of whimsy in a gloomy world. Not much is known about Ellie’s life before meeting Joel due to her only immediate relatives being dead and only having reluctant caretakers since, but one thing is for certain, she is immune to the cordyceps infection. She even has the bite mark to prove it. Ellie is seen as the key to bringing an end to the cordyceps problem once and for all. Joel doesn’t seem to believe her to be the solution, but it is his mission, and he will do what he needs to and Ellie has no say in the matter.
Fireflies and FEDRA
The Fireflies are a revolutionary insurgent group that serves as a resistance against the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA), which is the government force that controls what’s left of the Quarantine Zones. They have frequent and violent encounters with FEDRA in an effort to stop the police-states they have set up within every Quarantine Zone. Marlene is their leader and the one who tasks Joel with taking Ellie and delivering her to the other Fireflies, as she cannot do it herself and Joel needs something from them. The Fireflies believe they can find a cure using Ellie’s immunity, which is the catalyst of all the events in “The Last of Us.”
The Infected
Anybody who has been infected with the CBI is classified as an infected. Once someone is injured by an infected, it is only a matter of time before they become infected. The closer the injury is to the brain the faster they will turn. The longer they are infected the less human they begin to look. There are progressive stages of infection beginning with runners who are fast and travel in hordes, then stalkers who are methodical and stealthy, followed by clickers who cannot see and use echolocation to find their prey. Finally, there’s bloaters, who are hulking masses of fungus with abnormal strength and no eyesight.
