Raiders

Raiders
History
Group type	Rogue
Location(s)	Boston, Massachusetts Lincoln, Massachusetts Near Jackson, Wyoming
Connections
Enemies	Bill Frank Cannibals Jackson community
Behind the scenes
Appears in	HBO's The Last of Us

Raiders are various groups of hostile survivors in HBO's The Last of Us. They attack settled areas inhabited by other survivors to steal resources and supplies.

History

Background

After the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak in 2003, separate groups of people living outside of major cities who managed to avoid turning into infected became reclusive and paranoid about the Federal Disaster Response Agency's efforts to offer protection for them in quarantine zones in the formerly thriving cities. Many refused to join and instead established their own independent and nomadic survivalist groups outside these zones.

Joel warns Bill about the raiders.

However, by 2010, their supplies began to run out, leading them to require supplies from elsewhere. They would seek out other groups of survivors who had settled into an area with many supplies and raid it to plunder their resources for themselves. David's group struggled to settle in a location because raiders constantly attacked them.

One such raider group near Lincoln and the Boston QZ began to conduct raids on these areas to steal supplies. Smugglers Joel and Tess came into contact with these raiders in Boston and learned of their efforts. When visiting Bill and Frank in Lincoln, Joel revealed that these raiders were moving towards their area and were conducting raids on other nearby settlements, typically at night. He also points out that Bill's fences will not last long against the raiders and offers a trade of several spools of high-tensile aluminum to fortify the fences. Despite the warning, Bill insisted he and Frank would be fine.

Events of HBO's The Last of Us

Season 1

The raiders setting off one of Bill's traps.

Over the next few years though, these raiders attacked Bill and Frank's settlement. Bill fended them off through elaborate traps such as trip-wired explosives, an electrified fence and motion-activated jury-rigged flamethrowers. By 2013, one such raid came within reach of Bill and Frank's house in the town on a rainy night.

Bill—protecting Frank—left the house and confronted the raiders directly, engaging them with his hunting rifle. While he managed to kill most of them, one raider managed to shoot him in the abdomen. Frank rushed outside to help and carried Bill back inside. While tending to Bill's wound, he assured Frank that the rest of the traps would keep the few raiders still alive from getting inside. Bill's declaration proved correct, with the raiders failing to breach the town.

The raiders shooting back at Bill.

By 2023, Abe was still picking up transmissions around the Boston area mentioning the raiders and their activities. In Lincoln, Bill and Frank successfully fended off further raids and lived in relative peace by the summer of that year. The raiders were still unable to penetrate the town's walls by the time Joel and Ellie reached it later that year after Bill and Frank's passing. By the winter, raiders were also present around Jackson though Tommy remarked they were minimal in number. He also claimed travelers reported many raiders on the interstate heading towards Colorado, although Ellie and Joel did not encounter any.

Season 2

Raiders remained a threat around Jackson over the following five years for Joel, Tommy and other patrolmen in the Jackson community. However, infected tended to be a more common threat, as Eugene Lynden and Adam encountered a group of runners in the forest despite Joel initially calling on the radio that it might be raiders. This was proven further as on New Year's Day, 2029, Maria called out to the watchmen to ask if raiders were attacking the walls, only for them to reveal it was actually an infected horde. Still, fear of raiders was evident enough even three months after that horde attack that several members of the council resisted Ellie's calls for a group of 16 patrolmen to pursue Abby Anderson and her group after they killed Joel because they feared raiders may attack while they were vulnerable.

Gallery

A raider set ablaze by one of Bill's traps.