| “ | I've always had a violent heart.
―David's confession to Ellie.
|
” |
David is an supporting character and antagonist in the first season of HBO's The Last of Us. He is a charismatic preacher[1] and the leader of a group of cannibalistic survivors.[2]
Biography[]
Background[]
Before 2003, David was a math teacher who taught young teenagers. He was a survivor of the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak. He made his way to the Pittsburgh quarantine zone but eventually left it in 2017 after it collapsed from a conflict between FEDRA and the Fireflies. Upon leaving the zone, he established a group of survivors, allying them through their shared faith in Christianity. He proposed a reading of the Bible that the Cordyceps was the apocalypse prophesied in the Book of Revelations and established his Christian-inspired form of religion within the group. In particular, he allied closely with James, who effectively became his most trusted friend in the group.
They settled in numerous places over the years, but were attacked by raiders, leading them to eventually settle in the isolated resort of Silver Lake in the mountain range of Colorado sometime before the summer of 2023. By the winter of that year, the deep snow and lack of animals to hunt led David to decide the group had to resort to cannibalism to survive. James, as one of David's closest followers, was privy to this, with the man complicit in David's actions to kill humans and butcher them to eat.
During that winter, David sent Josiah, Marco, Timothy and Alec to the University of Eastern Colorado to search for food. However, Alec did not return, with the others revealing to David that he was murdered by a "crazy man" traveling with a little girl.[3]
Events of HBO's The Last of Us[]
The next day, David held a service for Alec before the group in Todd's Steakhouse. He read from the Book of Revelations to his flock of adherents. He noticed Hannah, Alec's daughter, was crying as her mother Joyce comforted her. He finished the sermon directed at her and offered his condolences. Hannah then asked when they could bury her father. After exchanging a glance with James, he claimed the ground was too cold and they will wait until spring. Secretly, the pair had arranged to chop up Alec's corpse to use as food.
Outside, David asked James how much they have left of "venison, elk, and rabbit." James warned they would only last a week on rations, though some scouts had spotted deer in the mountains. David then revealed he sensed James' faith in him was slipping: James pledged his loyalty to David, and they agreed to go hunting.
Two miles from the town, the pair found a deer's carcass and decided to take it but were stopped by Ellie at gunpoint. David offered to trade all or part of the deer for something from the town. When Ellie asked for medicine, David instructed James to head back to town and retrieve some penicillin. Once James left, David suggested he and Ellie wait in some nearby ruins and start a fire. Privately, David surmised that Ellie was the girl traveling with the crazy man who had killed Alec.
While they waited for James to come back, David told Ellie (who refused to give her name) that prior to the outbreak, he was a math teacher, but he found God and became a preacher and how he now led a group of survivors after fleeing the Pittsburgh QZ fell in 2017. He expressed the view that everything happens for a reason and offered proof by revealing the circumstances of Alec's death, showing to an alarmed Ellie he knew who she was. David noticed James in the doorway with his pistol trained on Ellie and instructed him to lower it. James initially refused, but David insisted, leading the man to concede and toss her the medicine. Ellie took it and ran off, leaving James incredulous that they had let her go knowing she had a hand in Alec's death.
David and James then dragged the deer back to Silver Lake, showing it to the group in Todd's Steakhouse. They revealed that they found the girl who was with the man that killed Alec and declared he would lead a party to find them and bring him to justice. Hannah called out that he should kill both of them. David walked over and struck her across the face, knocking her down, and told her to show him respect as a "father" to the community. The group watched on, not intervening but instead listening to David's remarks. David then offered his hand to Hannah, helping her back up then sat down to eat with the rest of the community. Joyce brought him a large plate of food and he led them in prayer before eating.
The next morning, David led the search party consisting of James, Josiah, Marco, and Timothy. They reached a town where David announced that they could kill the crazy man but must spare Ellie. James questioned this, remarking Ellie was another mouth to feed. David replied she would die in the wild, to which James suggested that it was "God's will". David halted and glared at James, who looked away in shame.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and the group realized Ellie was fleeing from them on horseback. The men fired at the horse, with David ordering they take her alive. James shot the horse, sending Ellie flying. James and the other men surrounded a dazed Ellie. Hearing Marco order James to kill Ellie, David fired off his rifle and marched toward them. He instructed James to return with him to Silver Lake and ordered the others to seek their vengeance on the man, not Ellie.
He picked Ellie up and carried her back to Silver Lake. He locked her in a cage in the meat room of Todd's Steakhouse, suspecting she would attack him when awake. When Ellie did wake up, David told her how he prevented James and the others from killing her and offered to let her join his group. A dazed Ellie only swore for him to leave her alone. However, David remarked that she was his only option; she would be alone otherwise. David then left to collect food for Ellie.
He returned, pushing a bowl of food and water under her cage door. However, Ellie stared in shock at a human ear on the floor. Disheartened, David tried to explain why his group had turned to cannibalism but Ellie only shouted out, horrified at him and his people's practices. David then admitted the action shamed him and that he would have told Ellie about it eventually. He justified he was only doing what he needed to defend his community, the same way Joel tried to defend Ellie, and indeed the same way Cordyceps spread. He admitted he did not believe in God, but instead believed in the violent love characterized in Cordyceps. He then tried to convince Ellie to join him as leader of the settlement, telling her she had a violent heart and was his equal because he was much the same. He promised to ensure his men would not kill Joel if she did and that she could lead the community with him and "grow and multiply" through him the way Cordyceps did. He then approached the cage and put his hand on the bar, offering it to Ellie. She feigned interest, only to break David's finger in an attempt to grab his keys. Enraged, David slammed Ellie on the gate and revealed he would carve her up into "tiny pieces" instead.
Later, David returned with James and forced Ellie from the cage. In the scuffle, Ellie bit his hand. They held Ellie down on the chopping table and moved to carve her with a meat cleaver when Ellie cried out that she was infected. Bemused, David played along. He placed the cleaver down and rolled up Ellie's sleeve, finding the healed bite mark on her arm. Shocked, David observed his own bite as James panicked, letting Ellie go. Seizing her chance, Ellie grabbed the cleaver and hacked it into James' neck, killing him, and fled from the room. David tried to shoot her with his sidearm but missed. He pried the cleaver from James' neck and marched into the restaurant.
Once inside, Ellie tried to throw a piece of firewood at him, but he dodged it. The wood set fire to the curtains along the windows, setting the room ablaze within minutes. David then stalked the room, taunting Ellie, remarking she should have trusted him. He then turned from the counter, observing the fire and smoked filling room. Then, he heard Ellie cry out. He turned, and Ellie stabbed him in the abdomen, causing him to drop his cleaver, but he grabbed and threw her to the floor. He then kicked her and pinned her down. Ellie spat on him and resisted but he claimed he liked that and told her not to fear his love, preparing to rape her. Overwhelmed with fear, Ellie screamed out, grabbing his meat cleaver and struck him in the face, causing him to roll off her. David let out a confused and terrified scream but Ellie stabbed him again in the face, before proceeding to brutalize him to death. Ellie then left his corpse in the burning restaurant.[3]
Appearance[]
David was a shorter, slim man with balding strawberry blonde hair and a thin beard. He tended to wear blue jumpers, jeans and walking boots and a blue traveling coat. He also carried a sidearm on his person and a hunting rifle when out on patrol for deer or scouting.[3]
Personality[]
David was a charismatic leader, able to convince other people of his agenda. Knowing the Bible's texts, he managed to inspire his followers with belief in a divine purpose though he privately did not believe in God. Instead, he saw Cordyceps as the almighty and all-powerful being of the world and was inspired by how they had caused the apocalypse through their violent assault on humankind. Furthermore, he believed that everything happened for a reason, seeing patterns in the world, from Cordyceps wiping out mankind to him happening to meet Ellie in the wilderness after hearing stories of her hand in Alec's death.
David could present himself as a calm, friendly man, who could easily communicate and befriend strangers. However, behind this noble facade hid a ruthless and sadistic narcissist, who turned his community into a cult with him as "the Father". He did not tolerate any doubt or disobedience from his followers and used brute force to keep them in line. He would also shame others for doubting his leadership, using their faith to make them feel that questioning their loyalty to him was to also question their loyalty to God. Admitting he saw his followers as mere "sheep", he lacked empathy even for his closest allies, demonstrated in his lack concern for James' death.
He was a pedophile, shown in how he tried to groom and rape Ellie. This darkness was supported in his own admittance that he had a "violent heart" and saw the violent way that Cordyceps killed humans to propagate as beautiful and fruitful. It was also implied that he is a serial rapist, as he confessed that his favorite part in intercourse was fighting with the victim, indicating his attack on Ellie was not his first attempt of sexual assault.[3]
Relationships[]
Ellie[]
Ellie's relationship with David was traumatizing for her. It was also rife with many ironies, for instance when David allowed Ellie to leave with the penicillin, made from Cordyceps that he admired, and she used it to heal Joel, who later killed members of David's group. David even tried to keep Ellie alive, even though she killed him later.
David often talked to Ellie in a patronizing tone and treated Ellie like a child, namely when they first met, David offered to exchange supplies for a share of the meat from the deer that Ellie had tracked and killed, saying that his group needed the meat because they had many women and children to feed. He emphasized the phrase "women and children" in the hopes that Ellie, being young, would naturally feel sympathy. David took advantage of her being a child by making her believe she was in control when confronting him and James, complying with Ellie's demands despite having an idea of who she is. When Ellie's guard dropped during their conversation, he revealed his true colors by saying he knew she was the girl traveling with Joel, asserting she never had control at all; he was just assessing her.
He viewed himself as Ellie's protector, capturing her personally to "keep her alive" and stopping the others in his group from harming her. He even offered Ellie a place in his group, saying he could protect her and how he viewed her as "special". He compared himself to her, claiming she had a violent heart like himself but that made her his equal and worthy to rule over the group alongside him. He was consequently manipulative, making promises to spare Joel and ensure she could "thrive and multiply" through him by joining his group, insisting she would be alone without him. When Ellie reacted by breaking his finger, David revealed his true intentions, proceeding to attempt to rape her in the restaurant and exert his warped version of love onto her through force. As such, David met his demise when he was violently hacked to death with his own cleaver by Ellie.[3]
James[]
James was implied to be David's right-hand man and was a cannibal like the rest of the group. David personally viewed the man as his friend, trusting him with the act of carrying out cannibalism and ensuring it was kept a secret from the others. However, James faith in David was wavering, the man admitting that he had found it tough to follow him during the winter months and even spoke out against David's desire to keep Ellie alive. Despite this, David pressured James with glaring looks and firing his rifle to remain complicit.
James' submission meant he worked for David as his "sheep", ranging from going scouting with him to assisting him in their attempt to butcher Ellie. He even went out hunting with David, displaying a gesture of protection when Ellie threatened him, revealing David relied on him.
Although, when Ellie killed James, David was dismissive of the man, showing no sympathy for his death.[3]
Behind the scenes[]
- David is portrayed by American actor Scott Shepherd.[2]
Quotes[]
- David: "I believe that everything happens for a reason."
- David: "It was a last resort. You think it doesn't shame me? But what was I supposed to do? Let them starve? These people who put their lives in my hands? Who expect me to keep them safe? Who love me?"
- David: "I've always had a violent heart and I struggled with it for a long time but then the world ended and I was shown the truth...by Cordyceps. What does Cordyceps do? Is it evil? No, it's fruitful, it's multiplies and protects its future with violence if it must."
- David: "Think of what we could do together, as strong as we are. We'd make this place perfect. We'd grow, spread out, and we'd do whatever we needed for our people. Imagine the life we could give them. Imagine the life we could build."
Gallery[]
Official stills[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lawson, Richard (January 10, 2023). "'The Last of Us' Is One of the Best Video Game Adaptations Ever". Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Brown, Pat (January 10, 2023). "The Last of Us Review: HBO's Video Game Adaptation Is All Flesh, No Bones". Slant Magazine. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 HBO's The Last of Us episode 8: "When We Are in Need"
