I can’t be the only one to notice how The Last of Us Season 2 has already teased this horrific villain from the games

HBO's The Last of Us Season 2 has finally teased the most horrific villains from the video game. The recent episode subtly foreshadowed that the show is finally expanding on Naughty Dog's video game by introducing many new mutations of the Cordyceps fungus.

In the recent episode, Lakehill Seattle Hospital became a hotbed for the infected, who occupied different basement levels. In the opening scene, one of the WLF soldiers explains that they were unaware that the infected had taken over the basement, saying it was empty and "not even rats" occupied them.

The mention of rats might have rung a bell among fans of the video game, as The Last of Us Part II introduces a dangerous infected known as Rat King.

A super organism, the Rat King appears in the latter part of the game when players play as Abby. It's a subtle mention in Episode 5 that suggests the show will likely introduce it in upcoming episodes.

More on the Rat King tease in The Last of Us Season 2 in our story.

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I think The Last of Us Season 2 finally teased the video game's most horrific villain

While non-gamers would not have recognized the lurking dangers in The Last of Us Season 2's recent episode, the HBO show subtly teased one of the most horrific villains from the video game.

The mention of rats was enough for fans of The Last of Us Part II to recognise Rat King, the most horrific and dangerous infected in the video game's universe.

In the video game, Rat King is a super-organism made up of an amalgamation of blasters, clickers, and stalkers. A culmination of over 25 years of infection, Rat King appears in the latter part of the game and is a gory-looking creature, capable of surviving even the strongest weaponry.

The Last of Us Season 2 teased Rat King, inspired by a rare but real-life phenomenon in which many rats are bound together by knotting their tails or with a sticky substance to combat extreme cold.

Just like real life, Rat Kings of the video game universe are immensely powerful and can corrode human skin with mycotoxin, snap necks violently, and can even rip off human limbs.

A by-product of the Cordyceps' evolving environment, the organisms in a Rat King can even separate themselves from the parent body and can operate like bloaters and clickers individually, adding to their prowess.

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How was Rat King teased in The Last of Us Season 2?

The Rat King tease in The Last of Us Season 2 plays out much like the video game, when Ellie is interrogating Nora about Abby's whereabouts.

While she violently interrogates, distant screams of the Rat King can be heard in the background. The screams are not only a subtle foreshadowing of the Rat King's future appearance in the show but also of how Abby will have to fight against it in the near future.

Since the HBO show is currently focusing on Ellie's revenge arc, there is still some time before Rat King will be introduced. Video game players encounter the Rat King when they play as Abby during her three days in Seattle, which will likely come up in the show's upcoming seasons.

But the Rat King tease in The Last of Us Season 2 suggests that the show is finally adapting all the variants of the infected in the video game, which will surely be lethal for the characters, but will add to the thrill of the show.

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