Who Are the Seraphites in <i>The Last of Us</i> Season 2?

Spoilers below.

After a long-enough stay in the apocalyptic world of The Last of Us, you might find it tricky to keep up with the sheer number of threats Ellie, Joel, Dina, and their allies encounter within the scope of a few days. Of course, there are the infected they must contend with: bloodthirsty fungus zombies that bloom in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Then there are the humans, who take the form of raiders, militias, cannibals, and, now, cults.

Season 2, episode 3, “The Path,” introduces us to one of those cults, though I doubt they’d refer to themselves as such. These are the Seraphites, also known as the Scars. When we first meet these characters in the HBO series, they seem largely peaceful and nomadic, journeying away from Seattle in an attempt to avoid war with another faction: the Washington Liberation Front, also known as the Wolves. The latter is the group to which Abby Anderson and her friends belong, having joined the WLF after Joel massacred their Firefly allies at the end of The Last of Us season 1. Episode 3 does not make it immediately clear why the WLF and Seraphites are in conflict, but we know their disagreements are serious enough to warrant extreme measures: Midway through the episode, Ellie and Dina stumble upon a group of Seraphite corpses, including that of a child, and realize the Wolves have slaughtered them all.

Here’s what you should know about these new players in Ellie’s revenge mission.

A Seraphite man in The Last of Us season 2, episode 3.

As episode 3 makes clear, the Seraphites are a collection of Cordyceps survivors united by their “fanatic” religious beliefs. Based in and around the Seattle area, they’re distinguished by monochrome, camouflaged outfits and the scars that paint each of their cheeks. The men maintain shaved heads, while the women wear their hair in braided crowns.

Here we start to get into spoiler territory, for those who haven’t played The Last of Us: Part II, the video game The Last of Us season 2 is based upon. Proceed with caution.

In episode 3, a Seraphite man tells a young girl named Constance about an unnamed Prophet who—despite having died—remains eternal, “in a way.” He explains, “A prophet isn’t magic. They’re just people who see truths hidden from others and share that truth no matter what the cost.”

This Prophet is the originator of the Seraphite faith. Per The Last of Us lore, she was a woman who lived in the Seattle quarantine zone in the wake of the Cordyceps outbreak, and after she experienced a supposed vision, she encouraged her neighbors to live a peaceful, egalitarian, and agrarian lifestyle without violence or pre-outbreak technology. She preached that the fungal infection was a holy response to humanity’s sins, and that banding together would provide the human race with a chance for redemption. As such, the Seraphites are largely anti-technology, communicating mainly through whistles, and many of them fight with hammers and arrows rather than guns.

Eventually, the WLF executed the Prophet, which transformed her into a messianic martyr among the Seraphites. But what exactly that means for the ongoing battle in Seattle—and how it might impact Ellie’s pursuit of Abby—remains to be seen.

This story will be updated.