“The Last of Us”: who is David, the “cannibal preacher” who appears in chapter 8 of the series

Only one episode from the end of the first season of The Last of Us of HBO, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are going through a very pronounced process of attrition.

That’s why in the most recent episode, number 8, titled “When we are in need“, pulls no punches when it comes to exploring the horrific lengths people go to to survive in a Cordyceps-infected world.

In the penultimate chapter, a new cannibal community of survivors is introduced, led by preacher David (Scott Shepherd).

‘The Last of Us’ New Villain (Spoiler Alert)

Using God as a shield, David imposes his will on his people, believing himself to be a superior human being who can make decisions for others.

That’s why David begins serving human flesh to the community, a terrifying secret that only his inner circle knows..

The resort community is in shambles whenor they meet Ellie and Joel, but things could get worse after David’s disappearance. Or they could improve. Because the lesson of episode 8 might be that people need to trust others to thrive in the post-apocalyptic world instead of giving free rein to their primal, violent impulses.

In episode 8, Ellie continues to try to help Joel recover from the attack at Eastern Colorado University.

Since they need food, Ellie takes Joel’s shotgun and goes hunting. This is how she meets David and his right-hand man James, who are also looking for a dam to feed the community of the complex.

The meeting reveals that David sent the four men Joel and Ellie met, that one of them wounded the protagonist and ended up murdered. So, from a community perspective, one of its members was brutally murdered by Joel, and finding Ellie is a gift from God that will allow them to carry out their revenge.

David: half Christian, half cannibal

David’s characterization as a cult leader and predator is heightened in the HBO version.

Indeed, the eighth episode begins with David delivering a sermon, reading the Apocalypse. His audience doesn’t seem particularly calm from his writing, and is instead distraught over the death of someone in his group.

A young woman asks David when they can bury him, and later learns he’s the man Joel killed two episodes ago at Eastern Colorado University. But David’s cold response that they’ll have to wait for the snow to clear and bury him in the spring doesn’t satisfy the community David has cultivated.

The game The Last of Us clarified that David’s control over the people he commands has diminished, and that his reluctance to deal with Ellie in proportion to the loss of the people in his community has been an ultimate source of friction.

The series does, however, make it clear that while Joel and Ellie’s actions may have served as a catalyst for the cult’s collapse, David’s abuse was not unique to those outside his group of followers.