Who are the Seraphites in The Last of Us season 2 episode 3? Game lore explained

The Last of Us season 2 is a bleaker, darker follow-up to the first season - and we're just getting started.

After the events of The Last of Us season 2 episode 2, it's easy to see that things are about to get very, very dark from here on out. Episode 3, while not as harrowing as episode 2, introduces us to a brand new group of people who aren't military or part of the resistance - they're something else entirely.

In a post-apocalyptic, dystopian world, survivors and their descendants are all looking for one thing: community. The thing is, the type of community in a dystopian society tends to be anything but normal. In order to make sense of why such a terrible, unimaginable thing would happen to the world, some people turn to a higher power - i.e., they can rest assured that this is all happening for some greater reason that they can't understand. And sometimes, when you combine the need for community and the need to believe in something bigger, you get a cult. That's where the Seraphites come in, and hoo boy are they absolutely terrifying.

Warning: Major spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 episode 3 below. Turn back now if you haven't watched!

Who are the Seraphites?

In The Last of Us season 2 episode 3, we come upon a group of men, women, and children who are walking along a path in the forest. The men have shaved heads, while the women and children have their hair braided around their heads. Their clothes and gray and brown, with long sleeves and high necklines, and they're armed with bows and arrows. Right off the bat, there's something particularly disturbing about their appearance: each member of the group (including the children) has what is known as a Glasglow smile, or a Chelsea grin, carved into their face. These two lines are meant to give the appearance of a permanent smile (not unlike Heath Ledger's Joker).

In the scene, one of the members makes a special whistle noise to indicate that the path is clear and that they aren't being followed. A little girl, holding hands with a member who looks to be the leader, asks where they're going and why "she" can't just keep them safe. "She" refers to the Prophet, who the leader explains has been dead for 10 years and isn't a magical being, but is someone who was dedicated to telling the truth no matter what the cost. "That's how we keep our spirit alive," he says. "We obey her words, we follow her teachings, and we keep ourselves safe." The sweet little girl agrees...and then asks if she can have a hammer. Another whistle is sounded, and the group takes cover and hides - with the leader remarking that they're being hunted by "wolves." Ellie and Dina later come upon their dead bodies, which are littered with bullet holes. The wolves in question are the Washington Liberation Front aka the WLF, whose emblem we see on a backpack belonging to Abby and her friends in episode 2.

In The Last of Us Part 2, the Seraphites are formed in a suburb of Seattle (sometime between 2013-2014) after a woman had a 'prophetic vision' that the Cordyceps infection was created by God as a punishment for the sins of humanity, and therefore the aftermath was a second chance of sorts for humanity to redeem itself. She then lead a group of devotees who grew their own food and lived primitively and away from the rest of society. However, they were anything but peaceful and ruthlessly killed anyone in their path - which is how they came to take over the Queen Anne Suburb of Seattle, also known as the "island."

After this, the WLF effectively declared war on the Seraphites, and they began to assemble an army - with each soldier (children included) being initiated with a painful Glasgow smile that was dabbed with a eucalyptus leaf in order to cause lingering pain after the carving. Sometime after the war began, the Prophet was captured and killed by the WLF. Of course, this did not stop the cult from continuing to live primarily on the island - while simultaneously living in fear of the WLF. There was a brief peace treaty between the two groups, but this was quickly destroyed - and the war continued.

In the game, the group is a collective antagonist for Ellie, in addition to Abby and the WLF. In episode 3, Ellie and Dina have only just been introduced, and do not yet know who the Seraphites are or what they are capable of - something that they'll surely find out as the season goes on.

The Last of Us airs on Sundays in the US on HBO and Max, before landing on Sky and NOW in the UK the following day. Ensure you don't miss an episode with our guide to The Last of Us season 2 release schedule.