The great villain of The Last of Us, David, has appeared in the HBO series. Some believe that he is a generic enemy from The Walking Dead.
David is not a villain from The Walking Dead. Episode 8 of The Last of Us has arrived on HBO and has sparked an interesting debate on social media. Some believe that the enemy has not lived up to expectations, that it is something generic and of no interest. Others, however, have been charmed by the television portrayal of Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) enemy. From our point of view, she is an exceptional villain, and these are the reasons to defend him as the protagonist’s nemesis.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing
the character of David en The Last of Us He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. A complex guy who, beyond being an antagonist to Ellie and a macguffin to advance the dark personality of Naughty Dog’s character, needs a deep analysis. He’s not a generic Walking Dead villain, that’s for sure. We are in front of a cold and calculating guy, whose personality is based on the pillars of being a kind of prophet (not so much a preacher) and whose symbolism is nourished by faith and religion.
David is not only not a villain from The Walking Dead, but he is the best representation of the universe of The Last of Us. All the elements of the world of Naughty Dog are gathered in it. When his facade falls, when the Cordyceps apocalypse breaks loose, this repulsive fellow unleashes his true nature. A nature of absolute evil that, in the past, before everything went downhill, hid within the moral borders established by modern Western societies.
The same cannibalism as in The Walking Dead?
Another aspect that has been compared to The Walking Dead in the figure of David is the issue of cannibalism. In the AMC series, adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comics, there were already cannibals. The Last of Us not only took a cue from The Walking Dead, but also from the vast majority of postapocalyptic stories. After all, in such an environment and context, food becomes the main turning point for all human beings. Therefore, it is an almost indispensable element for this type of stories at the end of the world.
However, David’s cannibals in The Last of Us don’t look like the ones in The Walking Dead. In the latter, cannibalism was simply a form of evil and survival; in the series starring Pedro Pascal, cannibalism is a symbolic analogy with bread and wine. When Jesus had his famous Last Supper and distributed the bread and wine, Jesus says that the bread is his body and must be shared. The HBO villain has a clear messianic syndrome. His mission as a prophet is similar to that of Jesus, believing that he is to provide for others in the body of Christ.
The links between David and Ellie in The Last of Us
HBO
Finally, the most important aspect of David in The Last of Us is his bonding with Ellie. The cannibals of The Walking Dead did not enjoy such an important symbolic relationship. After all, this villain is obsessed with her. Not just because he is a pedophile and a rapist, but because sexually abusing her is an act of power. The other girls in the community are educated or trained to be submissive, to obey. Ellie no. She is strong and wild. The villain is drawn to it, because in his mind subduing Ellie is more satisfying and pleasurable, it feeds her ego and her power.
