The Washington Liberation Front (WLF or W.L.F.), informally referred to as Wolves, is a major antagonistic group in the second season of HBO's The Last of Us. Based in Seattle, the WLF originated as an insurgent militia formed in response to growing discontent with life under the rule of the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA). After successfully overthrowing FEDRA and seizing control of the Seattle QZ, the WLF evolved into a heavily armed paramilitary organization. Under the command of Isaac Dixon, the group later waged war against the Seraphites for control of the remaining territory following a broken treaty.
History[]
Formation[]
The WLF formed out west in Seattle sometime before 2010. They were loosely allied with the Fireflies, with Eugene Lynden knowing of the group before he left. He criticized the group, noting they were struggling to beat FEDRA and would have benefited from allying more closely with the other resistance groups fighting FEDRA as well, like the Fireflies.[1]
By 2018, Hanrahan had risen to an influential position within the group. The attacks on FEDRA had grown regular, with Hanrahan's detachment controlling a section of the city that FEDRA patrols passed through. They marked the area with the letters "WLF" as declaration of their control. Through her network, FEDRA sergeant Isaac Dixon revealed his intention to defect from FEDRA and join her cause. They arranged a meeting, the WLF blocking the patrol path in her area with a school bus to do so. Isaac's squad arrived, the man ordering his men to not shoot while he met her. Confirming who they both were, Isaac then killed Janowicz and the rest of his squad, except Burton, who joined him in the defection.[2]
By 2024, the WLF successfully took control of Seattle from FEDRA after a violent armed revolution within the zone. Isaac rose to the leadership position by this time. Isaac's brother Ed was with the Fireflies and he offered his brother and other members a safe haven within the WLF if he and the Fireflies ever needed help.[3]
War with the Seraphites[]
At some point before 2018, they became embroiled into a war with the Seraphites. There was uncertainty over how the war started, with leader Isaac and a Seraphite loyalist insisting it was because the other group kept breaking truces. They habitually killed many of each other's members, including their children, even if they tried to flee or posed no threat to them. Isaac defended this action, insisting it was because Seraphite children were being trained to kill them too. The WLF also took up the practice of torturing the Seraphites captured for information and openly called them "Scars", a name the Seraphites deeply rejected.[2] Their dismissal of the Seraphites made the WLF careless, with them confident to openly discuss their patrol routes, plans and use their own names on the radio because they believed no Seraphite would dare use their technology. They also left a warehouse in between their patrol routes uncleared of infected, allowing the stalker pack living within to roam freely on the hope they killed any wandering Seraphites who entered it.[4]
By 2029, the WLF controlled a large portion of Seattle, having a sniping outpost at the Space Needle, at least eight checkpoints, and a forward operating base (FOB) that large platoons of their soldiers would move to and from while stationed there. They also had access to numerous reclaimed armored vehicles, tanks, and other repurposed ex-FEDRA military equipment including many of their firearms, uniforms and other tactical gear they left behind, personalizing them by painting or attaching the WLF insignia on top or to the sides.[1] They also controlled Lakehill Hospital as well, making it fully functioning. However, despite their apparent advantages, each day WLF soldiers defected to the Seraphites, giving the Seraphites confidence they would inevitably beat the WLF.[2] Indeed, there were evidently gaps in the WLF's patrols, with them leaving the park area undisturbed as that was where many Seraphites held their rituals - WLF soldiers who wandered into this area were either converted or hanged and disemboweled to release the "nested sin" the Seraphites believed plagued their bodies.[4]
Events of HBO's The Last of Us[]
Season 2[]
In 2024, after Joel Miller's massacre of the Fireflies at the hospital, carried out to save Ellie,[5] surviving Fireflies Owen, Abby, Nora, Manny, and Mel decided to take up Isaac's offer and join the WLF. Isaac taught them a code—to not kill anyone who could not defend themselves. By 2028, Isaac gave Abby and her friends permission to follow a lead to Jackson to find and kill Joel. Abby and her group succeeded, returning to Seattle weeks later. Before killing Joel, Abby implies that the WLF has policies to kill any trespassers if they enter Seattle, saying "I'd warn you not to go there, but little chance of that."[6]
Before April 2029, the latest truce with the Seraphites broke and the WLF were once more at war with them. Hanrahan, now a commanding officer stationed at Lakehill Hospital, ordered Elise Park's unit to clear it out to prepare it as a base to use in the war. Elise's unit did so, clearing everywhere except the basement levels: B1, 2 and 3. An older member of the unit suspected they had not been searched since the hospital was quarantined shortly after outbreak day. She sent her son Leon and his squad to clear B1 anyway but they found it completely deserted. The following day, she gave them permission to clear B2. When they did so, Leon radioed back that they had discovered a mass of Cordyceps all over the corridors but that it was airborne, emitted by spores from the trapped patients. Scared it could get out of the hospital and kill all of the WLF, Elise made the difficult decision to lock Leon and the others in the basement, barricading the two doors to B2 and B3. Hanrahan learned of this and questioned Elise to learn why she did so. Upon learning how severe the spores were, she decreed Elise a hero and express her sympathies for losing Leon to the infection.[4]
Sometime later, Dina and Ellie arrived in Seattle, and Manny was stationed at the Space Needle to monitor various checkpoints. A radioman asked for confirmation two checkpoints to the FOB were clear. Upon Manny confirming they were, a column of WLF soldiers with a convoy of armored vehicles march down the road.[1] Concurrently, Isaac tortured a Seraphite prisoner named Malcolm while Burton and another man stood guard. Despite his efforts to learn the whereabouts of a suspected Seraphite attack, Malcolm refused to relent, leading Isaac to execute him instead.
By nighttime, a Seraphite group attacked and killed the WLF unit stationed at the TV station. Two WLF soldiers, Brancaccio and Welsh, escaped while one radioed for backup before dying. Upon arriving, the backup unit were horrified at finding their fellow soldiers hanging from the ceiling and disemboweled. Enraged, the squad leader ordered his unit to kill any Seraphites they found. While patrolling the area, two soldiers, including the squad leader, encountered Ellie and Dina. Mistaking them for Seraphites, they tried to kill them but were killed in the resulting struggle, the rest of the squad pursuing them into an abandoned subway station. Unable to follow them through the rubble, they radioed for another squad with Pantella within it to flank and intercept. However, this squad used flares to improve visibility in the subway, triggering cordyceps hidden within to summon a horde of infected, which killed them while Ellie and Dina escaped.
The following morning, the attack Isaac feared happened, with the Seraphites breaking through the north side of the FOB. They committed numerous bombardments, killing at least 24 WLF soldiers. One unit was overwhelmed and had to retreat to Lakehill hospital so Nora could treat the wounded.[2] Elsewhere, another WLF squad captured and executed a group of Seraphites and left their bodies dumped under the mural of their prophet, one soldier writing "feel this bitch" in contrast to their prayer "feel her love". By nighttime, a WLF patrol on the watch towers heard gun fire from the abandoned warehouse and investigated, spotting Ellie, Dina and Jesse fleeing the scene. A squad pursued them but stopped short when noticing they had fled into the park, which was Seraphite-controlled territory.
At the hospital, many of the wounded were treated by Nora and other medics, who spent the whole day doing so. Guard dogs were posted outside. By nighttime, one dog named Bonnie sensed Ellie crawling through the tall grass but was unable to reach her before she snuck through a gap in the wall. Inside the hospital, Ellie confronted Nora and chased her to the elevator blocking access to B2. Two WLF guards caught up but fled upon seeing the two women breaking into the blocked basement. In B2, Nora tried to escape but collapsed by a locked door, the spores in the air infecting her. Ellie though was okay thanks to her immunity. She noticed Leon's infected self-fused to the wall, still alive and now emitting spores. She moved passed him and approached the dying Nora, ordering she tell her where Abby was hiding. When the woman refused, Ellie picked up a pipe and used it to beat her heavily.[4]
By nighttime, the WLF initiate a radio blackout, informing Jimmy K. about it in one of their last messages. By morning, Burton leads a WLF squad near a book store to chase a teenage Seraphite who had somehow snuck behind their lines. Ellie and Jesse watch from cover in a garage as Burton tries to interrogate the boy before deciding to have his men strip him and drag him away into the rain. A while later, a WLF unit breaks the radio silence order to inform the group that a sniper has opened fire on them at the marina while trying to secure the boats. Jesse and Ellie guess it is Tommy, who has managed to kill all but two of the soldiers in the unit. A WLF radio operator chides the unit's radioman for calling, insisting on the blackout but he sends another unit to assist regardless. Jesse later finds Tommy and escape the deployed unit.
Meanwhile, Isaac and the rest of the Washington Liberation Front begin preparations for the invasion of the Seraphite territories. Isaac calls for Elise to meet him, expressing worries that Abby has gone missing, insisting he needs her for the invasion. Regardless, the group go ahead with the attack during the night. Ellie steals one of their boats and ends up on the island as well, where Isaac's attack distracts the Seraphites, allowing Ellie to escape as a warning call comes from the Seraphites' village.[7]
Known members[]
- Abby Anderson
- Bonnie
- Brancaccio
- Burton
- Elise Park
- Hanrahan
- Isaac Dixon (leader)
- J. Pantella (deceased)
- Jimmy K.
- Kristi
- Leon Park (deceased)
- Manny
- Mel (deceased)
- Melissa
- Morello
- Nora (deceased)
- Owen (deceased)
- Shauna
- Welsh
Gallery[]
Promotional images[]
Official stills[]
Appearances[]
- HBO's The Last of Us
- Season 2
- Episode 1: "Future Days" (first appearance)
- Episode 2: "Through the Valley"
- Episode 3: "The Path"
- Episode 4: "Day One"
- Episode 5: "Feel Her Love"
- Episode 7: "Convergence"
- Season 2
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 HBO's The Last of Us season 2, episode 3: "The Path" (transcript)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 HBO's The Last of Us season 2, episode 4: "Day One" (transcript)
- ↑ HBO's The Last of Us season 2, episode 1: "Future Days" (transcript)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 HBO's The Last of Us season 2, episode 5: "Feel Her Love" (transcript)
- ↑ HBO's The Last of Us season 1, episode 9: "Look for the Light" (transcript)
- ↑ HBO's The Last of Us season 2, episode 2: "Through the Valley" (transcript)
- ↑ HBO's The Last of Us season 2, episode 7: "Convergence" (transcript)
