‘The Last of Us’ Is Doing Way More To Spotlight This Major Enemy Than the Game

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 3 as well as The Last of Us: Part II.

The Last of Us Season 2 dedicated the bulk of its latest episode, “The Path,” to exploring the grief and rage that Ellie (Bella Ramsey) was feeling following the death of Joel (Pedro Pascal). But it also took a detour to introduce a strange group of people, with strange scars marking their cheeks; this group also communicates via a series of whistles, and one of their number tells his daughter about the will of a mysterious “Prophet.” These are the Seraphites, who serve as a major foe in The Last of Us: Part II. Since Seasons 2 and 3 of The Last of Us will cover the events of that game, it was only a matter of time before the Seraphites appeared in the show. But their appearance in “The Path” serves to humanize them and adds more depth to an upcoming conflict.

‘The Last of Us’ Explores Religion Through the Seraphites

In The Last of Us: Part II, the Seraphites are a religious cult that formed under the leadership of their Prophet during the early days of the Cordyceps outbreak. The Prophet told her followers that the infection was a divine punishment, and a warning for man to change their ways. As a result of this doctrine, the Seraphites wind up forsaking technology, choosing to live off the land. Any infected, which they call “Demons,” or trespassers upon their land, referred to as “Stragglers,” meet with a violent end. Religious cults are nothing new when it comes to post-apocalyptic stories, but the Seraphites take it to another level. Their scars are self-inflicted as a way to acknowledge the imperfection of man, and being branded as an apostate by the Seraphites is an automatic death sentence.

The Last of Us has done a great job showcasing the different ways people have evolved over the course of the Cordyceps outbreak, whether it’s the community in Jackson or the cannibals Ellie encountered in Season 1. The Seraphites are another example, as Tati Gabrielle, who plays soldier Nora, explained during an interview with Today: “Do you lean into faith? Do you lean into militia and order? Do you lean into family life like you see in Jackson? With the Seraphites, it’s a very different perspective or way of going about (life).”

Spending More Time With the Seraphites Continues a Trend From ‘The Last of Us’ Season 1

“The Path” circles back to the Seraphites in a particularly gruesome moment. When Ellie has recovered from her wounds, she and Dina (Isabela Merced) set off for Seattle to hunt down Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her friends as vengeance for killing Joel. In the episode’s closing moments, they discover the Seraphites have been brutally murdered, causing Dina to throw up.

By showcasing the Seraphites prior to this slaughter, The Last of Us is continuing a trend of expanding upon certain moments in the game, which make its world feel bigger and richer. Who could forget “Long, Long, Time,” the episode that showed what happened to Frank (Murray Bartlett) and Bill (Nick Offerman) in the early days of the apocalypse? Or the pilot, “When You’re Lost in the Darkness,” featuring Joel fighting to protect his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker), showcasing the paternal instincts he’d revisit when he meets Ellie?

The Last of Us‘s best strength is that it’s willing to dig deeper into its world and the characters that inhabit it. Not only does this keep the series from just being a scene-by-scene rehash of game events, but it also provides deeper insight into some of the game’s lingering mysteries. In the case of the Seraphites, it serves to humanize them, making their death all the more shocking. It’s more than likely that future episodes will continue to delve into the Seraphites’ lives, especially since two of their members play a major role in The Last of Us: Part II.

The Seraphites and the W.L.F. Are Locked in a Major War Throughout ‘The Last of Us’

During their first scene in “The Path,” one of the Seraphites mentions the “Wolves.” This refers to the Washington Liberation Front in Seattle, which is the militia that Abby and her friends are a part of. Ellie and Dina mistakenly believe that the W.L.F. is a small faction of soldiers, and that the Seraphites were just some of their unlucky victims. What neither of them know is that the W.L.F. is far bigger than expected, and that they’re locked in a battle with the Seraphites for control of Seattle. This battle has been raging since the early days of the Cordyceps outbreak, but has only heated up in recent years.

The events behind the W.L.F. and Seraphites’ conflict will more than likely be explored in next week’s episode, which will introduce viewers to the W.L.F.’s leader, Isaac (Jeffrey Wright), but it also brings to mind something Abby told Joel before she killed him: “We only kill people who can defend themselves.” This implies that the Seraphites are more than capable of handling their own, but it also means that Ellie and Dina are in grave danger. Not only are they outnumbered by the W.L.F., but if they run into the Seraphites, they might trade one problem for another. The Last of Us has never shied away from moral complexity, and with the introduction of the Seraphites, it looks like that’ll be a major factor in future episodes.

New episodes of The Last of Us air Sundays on HBO and Max.