Bare your fangs: How Isaac and the WLF rose to power | The Last of Us Lore

[@calebkeck7840]

If you listen to the radio with abbey at the end in the theatre you hear the WLF broadcast saying only 1 squad returned from the island invasion.

[@Its_goober-e2b]

ONE???

[@John-uy4jx]

A squad is usually a size of between 7-14 guys; out of possibly hundreds of people just shows how bad the plan went to shit.

[@Its_goober-e2b]

@@John-uy4jx there was thousands of soldiers on the ground and 7 guys came back is crazy

[@John-uy4jx]

@@Its_goober-e2b not really; in war sometimes entire units get wiped out. I’m WW1 entire battalion were wiped out in a single hour in Vietnam some platoons got wiped out without even seeing the enemy. High casualties should always be avoided but should be expected

[@Its_goober-e2b]

Who do you think won?? And how many survived after that?

[@miguelg51]

Issac was so underrated in the game,wish he had more of a leading role besides cutscenes. Hopefully the live action tv show could display more of his leadership role.

[@Djalexander0521]

Was he underrated or underutilized?

[@miguelg51]

​@@Djalexander0521Definetly underutilized

[@hsd287]

​@@miguelg51 there really wasn't much scope for having Issac around though considering the story is shown from the perspective of Ellie and Abby Issac only appears when Abby needed to meet him and she starts immediately rebelling against Issac over the Danny situation and then the Seraphite war happens the next day

[@msampson2286]

i strongly believe were gonna get a whole plotline with him in the show, set photos show him in completely different clothing then we see in the game plus theyd be kinda dumb to waste a talent like jeffery wright by not expanding on his character

[@meastro349]

Both underutilized and underrated

[@ian7064]

Outside of Jackson which developed independently, I think it's funny how the games show us that the rebel groups who overthrew FEDRA ended up ushering in new regimes that were either worse than FEDRA (ie Pittsburgh) or identical to them (like the WLF). I suppose the idea of managing a QZ is a far cry from the actual responsibilities that come with it

[@henrikfitch4017]

Also something that typically happens with regimes. They already have the infrastructure, institutions, contacts, supply lines, culture etc.. for their regime. It's much easier to run the country by simply taking over that infrastructure as opposed to tearing it down and restarting, which could just as easily turn to a dictatorship as you quickly need an effective way of running the country unopposed

[@unavela]

It's like reading history books and thinking, "Why were so many leaders so vicious," and then you play Crusader Kings and go "oh"

[@therealdirtenjoyer]

I really like these videos that analyze the story below surface level. I’ve never realized how much of the story outside of Ellie and Abby that I’d missed, what a great explanation considering how most of this is hidden in random notes and other missable details

[@hsd287]

The major part of the games is exploring the past of dead bodies tbh 😂

[@brendonsmith3080]

I feel like the show is going to dive more into the WLF and Seraphites. I think I saw a BTS photo of Jeffrey Wright as Issac in a FEDRA uniform. Would be interesting to see his past as being a member of FEDRA but, disillusioned with their rule, joined the Pattersons in the WLF, going on to lead them

[@TicTacPilgrim]

I think it was implied too that Issac offed the Pattersons to grab power.

[@Lilithlaz]

I’m absolutely amazed at how much information and lore and story There is to every single character, including characters that you barely see on the screen, have a story of their own full of hatred, evil, love and grudges, absolutely one of my most favorite games if not my most

[@hsd287]

The game is mostly about Ellie and Abby but they have made sure to include stuff about the other characters through the items around u

[@lukegibson973]

We all play the games for the Joel, Ellie and Abby storyline, but I find Fedra, WLF, Seraphites just as fascinating!

[@drawlanie]

cant wait to see more of Isaac and the WLF in the show!!

[@danyule21]

Great video Phil, love how you pulled all the puzzle pieces of information from the game and organized them into a coherent timeline, filling in the blanks with your own observations from the game's worldbuilding. I learned a lot of new things. This must have taken a lot of work! Well done!

[@AKblackandredYT]

Thanks. It was a lot of fun to do. There's a few more in the pipeline too.

[@blackwolf4653]

Doesn‘t make sense that Isaac showed up himself on that island. Why would the head of the W.L.F risk his life like that😅😂

[@AKblackandredYT]

This was all or nothing in a war they were likely losing.

[@blackwolf4653]

@@AKblackandredYT It‘s like Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin and Hitler went to the front themselves because that also was an all or nothing war.

[@AKblackandredYT]

@@blackwolf4653 bit smaller scale. Isaac is the leader of a militia, not a country.

[@hsd287]

​@@blackwolf4653 I think he went because it was the ultimate war against the scars with the aim of destroying them for good he was pissed off at Abby and Owen for what they did and maybe didn't trust the others when u enter the WLF tent and morgue u really see what the scars did to the WLF soldiers they injured and killed 😓

[@blackwolf4653]

@@hsd287 We know that there were people left behind in the Stadium and probably some outposts. Because we can hear from the radio how the WLF talks with homebase. That‘s why i think it‘s weird Isaac went with them. I just thought he would be smarter than that. But then again the writing in Part 2 wasn‘t as good and thought out as in the first game.

[@damanisincere]

Very good video man. I’ve wondered about something like this, but never was willing to put the pieces together myself. Thanks for this :)

[@The_Electric_54]

Issac was a horrendous leader. They are in the middle of a close war in the apocalypse and he sends some of his best people to go to Jackson to kill one guy that hasn't been a threat to them in years. Causing Tommy and Ellie to kill hundreds of them, If he told Abby no, they would have probably won the war.

[@2411ist]

@The_Electric_54 the WLF is my favorite faction but in lore sense they are human scum

[@daligang1359]

“Some of his best people” bear in mind there are thousands of WLF soldiers as Abby pointed out in her conversation with Lev. Isaac, off the top of my head, sent like 7 people to Jackson? Joel was never a threat to the WLF either, Isaac sent them to Jackson a decision stemming from his belief in justice.

[@daligang1359]

I’m not too sure what timeline the scars and the WLF formed the truce but that was what eschewed war for a brief period of time, this happened before the games events though.

[@2411ist]

@daligang1359 Isaac was the downfall for the WLF

[@daligang1359]

@@2411ist I never disagreed. I was just pointing out some of the things that I felt were wrong. His leadership is literally the reason why the WLF lost and why the seraphites exist lol

[@adam_19855]

Love these in depth breakdowns of the different factions in tlou please keep doing them.

[@AKblackandredYT]

Thanks. More are definitely planned.

[@thedevilsreaper6590]

You do realize he’s just making stuff up right?

[@AKblackandredYT]

@@thedevilsreaper6590 this is all drawn from artefacts in the game. It's not fan fiction.

[@PharrellSang]

You should make a lore video on the rattlers

[@AKblackandredYT]

Good shout. I'll add it to the list!

[@lazerpeabody8062]

I wish the rattlers had more screen time in the last of us 2 rather than just an end bosses btw they stood no chance against ellie's anger

[@hsd287]

They actually were quite ruthless they had to taken down by the slaves because Ellie didn't want them to suffer

[@hsd287]

​@@lazerpeabody8062 they appear in the Santa Barbara part mainly because Abby was searching for fireflies they weren't present in Seattle

[@lazerpeabody8062]

@@hsd287 oh my mistake I assumed the were originally meant to appear in Seattle its been 4 years since I watched any gameplay or coverage

[@runningrock124]

the WLF lost the war, the ENTIRE war yes, both sides had heavy casualties - but if you listened to the radio broadcast as Abby in the theatre only a single squad returned from the island the few ppl and children that remained at the Stadium would soon be overun and murdered by the Seraphites.

[@shayaldwarka7907]

Wait the stadium was under attack? I mean the island invasion was doomed to fail because it is new Territory for many wolves. Because The seraphites used guerrilla warfare and their overwhelming numbers would push them out. But I didn't know the seraphites attacked the stadium. If true that would ultimately result in a victory cause isaac liter pushed all his forces to attacked the island. So FOB and stadium are no doubt vulnerable

[@runningrock124]

@@shayaldwarka7907 i don't think the stadium was under immediate attack. but right, all the WLF forces were on the island - and only 1 squad returned alive. so it is inferred that the Seraphites would attack the Stadium in retaliation in the coming days ...and easily win. The WLF are most likely eradicated. wonder if anything in TLOU3 will touch on this briefly?

[@largamau]

The Seraphites won a Phyrric victory in that island attack by the WLF. The WLF burned their houses, food storages and farms. The elders ordered an evacuation of all seraphite children somewhere deep in the woods showing off the desperation of the Seraphites to save as many people as they can. Abby did hear that only 1 squad was returned. The Stadium was never attacked but hearing of what happened the remaining people at the Stadium would have to debate whether stay or leave the Stadium. The Seraphites who survived would have followed the elders and children to lick their wounds. Both factions suffered extreme loss of men and resources I doubt those two will ever thrive ever again after losing most of their reserve ammo and resources.

[@robertnelson9599]

Not to mention all that movement and loud noise would agitate the infected, making it harder to navigate the city right after the attack ended.

[@wasteofskinofficial9253]

@@largamauI feel like both sides basically burning out through the war would be the most fitting interpretation for the narrative of this game.

[@Trashedaccount123]

You’ve got a great narrating voice, I look forward to more of ur videos : )

[@AKblackandredYT]

Thank you!

[@julianhurtado5767]

I would like to say that it’s possible that Boris’s fight against the WLF ended, at most, a year ago by the time Ellie shows up in Hillcrest. It’s lore that it takes around 1 year for an infected person to become a clicker. Boris being a stalker when Ellie find him supports this thought. Also the fact that the people Boris locked in the spore-infested garaged were only runners. (Now ,Boris being a stalker while the people he trapped, who were infected at the same time as him, were still only runners. I thought “how does that make sense”., but perhaps, simply and most likely, the infection works on people at different speed, which I’m sure is what Tess was referencing to when she found out Ellie was bit. So since the infection works on people at different speeds , and if Boris progressed faster than normal infected, then maybe even less then a year that his fight ended.) I don’t know the timeline for the years that the wolves took over Seattle compared when Boris begins his fighting. I just personally feel like the conflict between the WLF and Boris is played out by some people as if it happened YEARS AGO. As if it was before Abby’s time in Seattle. The conflict was not that long ago. It didn’t happen 10 years ago or 5 years ago. It was relatively recent. After beating Fedra, the WLF must of been very patient with Citizen of hillcrest to join for at least 5 years But i have an open mind, maybe I’m overlooking something…

[@zxJC34xz]

Dude…. Relax … it’s a video game . lol

[@neofulcrum5013]

I hope season 2 dives more into the WLF uprising

[@Borderfunny-754]

A open world last of us would so good bro naughty dog knows how to make level design

[@The_Story_Of_Us]

The WLF actually does seem like quite an improvement over FEDRA. Even though they are similarly run, where you have like Isaac as head honcho and there are very strict rules and stuff, the WLF clearly fixed the food shortages that plague the FEDRA QZs. Even in wartime they are able to farm enough food that losing one or two farms isn’t a huge deal, growing crops, farming livestock and fishing. The WLF-run Seattle and indeed the Seraphite island are both thriving communities, reasonably safe from infected and well-fed. The problem is just this virulent fucking hatred they have for each other, to the point where the game never tells you how the conflict betweem them started because it doesn’t matter to anyone involved how it started. All that matters is the other side’s previous slight. And ultimately Isaac is so lost in the fucking sauce that he will throw EVERYONE at Scar Island with the explicit purpose of GENOCIDING the Seraphites, from adult soldiers to children (which is eerily reflective these days of Neil Druckmann’s stated source of inspiration for some of this stuff, the Israel/Palestine conflict). It’s not that it’s not possible to create a better world, it’s that so often people can be far too eager to throw it all away to satiate what can at worst be actual bloodlust. Ultimately we hear over the radio that the battle of Scar island is a ”fucking massacre” even for the Wolves. Two massive and prosperous communities destroyed by hatred.

[@XOFInfantryman]

Weren't food shortages literally caused by WLF and their idiocy? FEDRA held an entire city more or less in the clear, WLF holds only few districts at best They caused the crisis and should not be praised for solving it

[@Luna-fn2nv]

Wonderful video! Great job!

[@mr.misterio1927]

Hopefully the new Last of Us Tv show is more in depth on the story and talks more on the WLF and the Seraphites

[@DyingLightBattles]

I hope Isaac gets a lot screen time in the show cause I think he can potentially be one the best TLOU villains or just the best villain in zombie films

[@blackice7050]

Not even close Even Carver from The Walking Dead Telltale Games has more impact than Issac 😅😅😅

[@DyingLightBattles]

@ does your stopod as know what potential means?

[@starsjosephfrost]

So while FEDRA agreed on not bothering the Seraphites while the WLF decided to fight them head on. Did i get that right or?

[@AKblackandredYT]

FEDRA saw the WLF as a bigger threat so left the Seraphites alone.

[@starsjosephfrost]

@@AKblackandredYT Alright, why didn’t the WLF just tried to prevent a war from breaking out?

[@AKblackandredYT]

@@starsjosephfrost when FEDRA fell, the WLF inherited their supply distribution problems, and the Scars came into the QZ preaching, which they viewed as a threat when the population was already volatile over the forced move to the stadium. So they persecuted them

[@starsjosephfrost]

@@AKblackandredYT basically an “easy” escape goat like FEDRA was. That’s why they didn’t try to make some sort of arrangement or peace where they would agree not to disturb each other, meaning the scars won’t mess with the WLF’s logistics lines and the WLF won’t mess with the Scars preaching or whatever is that they do.

[@GrumpyDragon76]

i’d like you to do something on the rattlers and why they have chained infected we don’t get much background about them in the game at all.

[@AKblackandredYT]

I can look into it. I don't think there's a reason beyond them being slavers tho.

[@2411ist]

I'm glad this video came out talking about the WLF even tho they are my favorite faction in the game They got what they deserved

[@user-DarkXY]

Isaac should have worn body armor, what an idiot.

[@baneofbanes]

Won’t lie all of the WLF should have had body armor and chest rigs. They look more like rookie airport players than actually militia.

[@mr.ryceguy6854]

Seen body armor on WLF skeletons. Meaning that most of their best equipment has already been used/lost due to the incompetence of the WLF and the skirmishes they had with the Seraphites years prior. They used to have M4's too, but who knows what happened to them

[@huellbabineaux7433]

Great video, I wish the game focused on the WLF a lot more than it did, hopefully the show does it more justice 🤞

[@HeWhoIsNamedPatrick]

The stadium is a great location to build a community. I’m shocked we haven’t seen it in other zombie shows.

[@pob_42]

Fallout 4's Diamond City is in a Baseball Stadium

[@Jimmyzapata193]

Isaac ate shit, it was wild!

[@ceougin20]

That was a dope video. His reveal… subverted my expectations in a great way. Before people kept talking about him like he was this big military Jorgen Von Strangle type but no. It’s f*cking Jeffrey Wright! An actor I’m falling in love with the more I see him. I hope they go the Marlene route and cast him as Isaac. That be dope as shit.

[@AKblackandredYT]

They have! He'll be in the show!

[@ceougin20]

@@AKblackandredYT yeah… I looked it up shortly after this comment. Just goes to show there are certain characters you just can’t recast because of the lasting impact they leave on stories.

[@hsd287]

​@@ceougin20 he may be in the show though its impossible to give him much screen space he quickly becomes Abby's enemy in the game

[@hsd287]

When u explore Seattle as Ellie u see posters of Issac all around he was extremely dangerous as a terrorist I wonder who finally killed him on that island was it Yara or someone else 😅

[@OlleForsberg]

Neil Druckmann wrote this script based on his upbringing in Israel. This past year really makes it clear how the game mimics the current state of Gaza and the Israel/Palestine conflict.

[@bilalashraf1611]

Is the the wlf vs seraphite war supposed to be an allegory of what’s going on in palestine?

[@AKblackandredYT]

Essentially, yeah. That's what inspired it from Neil Druckmann's side. I'd say it's not a great allegory since it puts the Seraphites (Palestine) on the offensive and WLF (Israel) in the position of fighting to preserve shrinking territory despite the truth being the opposite way around, but it does have some telling things in there, like Isaac seeing genocide as the only way to peace, the Seraphites being completely dehumanised by the Wolves, the WLF breaking the truce by killing kids who threw stones at them, those like Owen who are tired of killing being pariahs, etc. I've been debating doing a video specifically on that, but that would be a tough one to write.

[@bilalashraf1611]

@@AKblackandredYT yeah, I notice that when Abby fights, her animations are like that of an isreali solder using Krav Maga. She’ll use leg kicks, groin strikes, etc. And I guess since Neil lived in the West Bank (occupied territory) he probably knew what he was seeing was wrong. So maybe Abby supposed to be an idf soldier feeling guilt. Many idf soldiers are from other countries (Abby is a displaced firefly), and so many of them may be going through similar realizing they’re killing kids for land they don’t care about.

[@bilalashraf1611]

@@AKblackandredYT also, I never thought of the WLF as the good guys, they weren’t as bad as the rattlers but they don’t seem like the ones to root for.

[@eugeniamontenegro8973]

so i know this part of the story is quite controversial because of what is apparently based on (israel/palestine) i had surface level knowledge about it tho since i didn't play the game and i was worried about how it was going to be portrayed on the show but i think this is a pretty fair and rational representation of the conflict? i really thought this was outright idf propaganda but they're straight up treating the wlf (based on the idf i suppose) as perverse genocidal fanatics, i think it's pretty spot on. if anything this mostly feels, i would never say pro palestine, almost kind of sort of anti israel? i might be wrong i don't know. i hope they stick to the original game story for the series

[@AKblackandredYT]

Yeah I don't think it's intended to portray the Palestine/Seraphites in a good light, but ends up portraying the WLF/IDF in a bad light inadvertently. Which is interesting given that there's more nuance in Neil Druckmann's writing here than in his postings on real life politics, almost as if he *wants* his politics to be better than they *actually are*. That is probably a whole video essay in and of itself though.

[@frankiepoo3709]

@@AKblackandredYTI was looking at different perspectives on the game from both individuals who hated and loved it. I think your comment about his politics of the game and politics in relation to real life being different is so true! I feel like TLOU 2 conveys a message of understanding that violence breeds violence as well as the understanding of why people do that violence in the first place. It does this by forcing you to play as someone you’re going to hate, who progress throughout the story into someone who is “good” in the sense that they do morally just things, but also things they’d to some extent reasonably do. It forces people to uncomfortably take the shoes of someone you’d sensibly hate, because they took away someone you loved. I think this is the main reason why a lot of people hate it. However, humanizing someone you’re supposed to hate is a very hard thing, but ultimately, our character, Ellie, does that when they spare Abby, because she has recognized the erasure of her own humanity. She becomes what she first struggled to forgive Joe for being. You’d think that someone who conveyed this message through a game would be able to recognize the conflict between Israel and Palestine as complicated in the sense that both of these groups of people have been conditioned into despising one another. Neil fails to recognize the humanity of Palestinians by inadvertently indulging in Israel’s so-called justification for defending itself. Israel is the one in full-control of what’s happening, because they’re backed by the U.S. Neil fails to recognize that their power comes with responsibility and that Israel is only using its power to further a genocide.

[@CalamityBlueJordan93]

THE Founder of the WLF Mr and mrs patterson 🐺🩶

[@boisboisandbois3241]

We should have seen more of isac, the second I saw baby was scared of him I knew something was up with this man. We're talking a woman who has killed many including Joel Miller and at least one of each infected including the rat King but isac makes her worry. Then boom he's dead. All the intrigue and mystery was gone. I wish he was in the game longer

[@AKblackandredYT]

It's probably hard to do that in a game where we can't just constantly skip to events the playable character can't see, and he isn't the main story. But I hope the show takes advantage of being more easily able to show more perspectives.

[@hsd287]

Issac was the leader of the WLF and he could have Abby killed easily which was the reason she was scared of him but he wanted to kill Owen and Lev and Yara which made it impossible to show him more onscreen alongside Abby and that's the main reason Abby almost died because she had to fight the Seraphites off alongside the WLF ppl then Ellies group and then Rattlers

[@Thunderdaddy-z1l]

NCR of The Last of Us

[@ransomdekafenya2584]

One could argue that Seattle looks better in the game than it does today.

[@thequietstag4366]

Please turn down the music it's super loud and I' having a hard time listening.

[@TheFlameWolf1]

They should taken ellie and joel out of the 2nd game and have the story to abby and the wlf and the seraphites it could of been a great game with a new story line

[@thealphaomega4888]

I wish we had a DLC that showed the aftermath of the invasion on the island. I’d prefer both sides mutually destroyed thus no one ended up victorious and everyone lost

[@sorasora2280]

Just people fighting for stupid ideas. FEDRA RULES.

[@timmy6890]

Wow

[@roberttemporosa4576]

yara cooked isaac 😂

[@michaeldavis29]

I looked into the whole lore of the Last of Us Part 2. From what I could gather of the whole story of the game, Isaac allowed Abby to go to Jackson to kill Joel that wasn't even a threat to the WLF to begin with. Abby just wanted to kill Joel in revenge for murdering her father while he saved Ellie from the hospital in the first game, which also robbed a chance for a cure to the Cordyceps in Abby's eyes. I did hate Abby at first for killing Joel in Part 2, but that changed when I realized it was Issac who allowed her to go to Jackson in the first place, and also killed the Seraphites' prophet that started the WLF's war with the Scars in Seattle. Abby just wanted retribution for her father, no more than Ellie wanted the same after the former murdered Joel, because both were suffering from PTSD after the deaths of their respective fathers. Isaac didn't care about Abby's PTSD or the cause of it. He just allowed her to go to Jackson both in retribution of the smuggler who eliminated the chance of a cure and to eliminate a potential threat to the WLF during their war with the Seraphites. And for that, I hate Isaac and am equally satisfied that he got what he got what he deserved for his actions as a war criminal in the apocalypse.

[@Phriffo]

They could have made the story more about the WLF trying to kill Joel mixed with some other things, rather than them killing him in the beginning. Also, we could have had more gameplay either way Ellie and Joel as they promised in the trailers. There was much potential within the game, but people think that we hate it because they killed Joel. No, it was because how and when he was killed and the bad writing.

[@hsd287]

We do hate it because they killed off Joel and because of that so many ppl died including a unborn child

[@DelsinRoweInfamous]

First, Jordan 4 Life!

[@madisonbrandt7826]

No

[@DelsinRoweInfamous]

@@madisonbrandt7826 Mad

[@madisonbrandt7826]

@@DelsinRoweInfamous mad is in my name 💙

[@DelsinRoweInfamous]

@@madisonbrandt7826 Joel meatrider is your name

[@madisonbrandt7826]

@@DelsinRoweInfamous bruh, it’s a video game. A video game that I enjoyed very much. I said nothing about Joel. Why you mad bro?

[@blackice7050]

I hated this corrupted religious cult bullshit And there is no female prophet in history like what kind of shit of that? Prophets should have miracles and carry the word of the god not whatever the hell they wrote The writing of the story is made by couple of amauters Great video btw

[@Alexlmao99]

Jesus: comes down to earth to save us from himself, lets himself get killed.. and then completely leaves humanity for thousands of years, letting millions of children die in gruesome ways? Yeah no! Not realistic either.

[@beomluvr]

well the prophet claimed to have a vision of the end of the world and prepped supplies in order to restart a community. She then managed to keep a whole community alive for 6 months while all other seattle neighbourhoods outside the quarantine zone were overrun by infected. the fact that the seraphites survived makes her argument that infection are a punishment from god to non-believers more convincing, and her "prediction" of the outbreak could be considered a miracle. also the female prophet thing is bs its 2025 buddy