The University of Eastern Colorado (UEC) is a minor location in HBO's The Last of Us.[1]
History[]
Background[]
The university used to be thriving with students before the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak with a spacious campus and science building. They also had a football team, the Big Horns. Joel remarked that UEC was like any other university, acting as a place where young adults would "find themselves" and try to decide what career they wanted to spend the rest of their life pursuing.
When the outbreak occurred, the university fell into abandonment, rotting away as time went on. Sometime later, the Fireflies occupied the university and transformed it into one of their main research bases for finding a cure to the Cordyceps brain infection. They primarily lived in the science building, fortifying it with sandbags and would experiment on monkeys. They would even spraypaint their logo on signs and landmarks around the building to claim their territory.
They were in contact with other Firefly bases, mapping out on a board in one of their offices routes to travel between them. Tommy knew of the base when he was a member and believed it to be their primary facility. He remarked that travelers would come from there to Jackson and back, typically taking around seven days to do so. However, by the winter of 2023, the Fireflies stationed there had abandoned it and moved to Salt Lake City.[1]
Events of HBO's The Last of Us[]
Sometime after the Fireflies abandoned the base, Joel and Ellie traveled to it on horseback. They surveyed the science building and deduced the Fireflies had left for Salt Lake City. However, a group of four raiders wandered into the area. Joel fought and killed one, but was seriously wounded in the fight, leading him and Ellie to flee from the remaining raiders on horseback.[1]
Known inhabitants[]
- Fireflies (formerly)
Behind the scenes[]
- The University of Eastern Colorado depicted in the video game series is located in the city of Boulder, Colorado. No specific location within the state is given for its HBO series incarnation, but multiple clues within the episode point to it being located elsewhere. Notes tacked to the map Joel and Ellie find also indicate the Fireflies of the HBO series may have concentrated their activities more in the southern part of the state, quite a distance from Boulder.
Gallery[]
