The 7 Forms Of Infected In The Last Of Us

The infected are the result of a sudden outbreak of a mutant Cordyceps fungus that now affects human beings as opposed to insects. The fungus reportedly originated in South American crops; various newspapers in Austin in 2013 support this claim. The fungus infects the human brain, growing mycelium inside the brain tissue and killing the brain's cells. This erases their memories and drives them insane, modifying their instincts to seek no goal other than spreading the spores to others. Eventually the fungus kills its host, and will then grow out of the host's body to spread spores.

[cheriemcfadden]

I have never played the game, but I like how Everything was thought out so methodically. The Fungus, how it affects, how it grows, the Creatures and the different stages of Infection. I am a FAN of Apocalyptical shows and movies about the end of man and Zombies. This show has it all!

[bunsenn]

What’s disturbing about fungus like this is that it builds itself out of the nutrients and tissue it absorbs from the thing it grows on. So that fungal crown on the clicker’s face, that’s made of the flesh the fungus absorbed, broke down, and turned into its own mycelium.

[RGC_animation]

Notice how all infected above stage 3 all have more body fat than other infected, I think why Bloaters are so rare is because anyone smaller wouldn't have enough nutrients for the fungus to mutate that much, so even if they tried, they cannot survive that long.

[purge--u--nite]

This HBO series is going to be a classic just like the game. They already announced a 2nd season due to the charts 📈📈📈 of the 1st episode going off the roof 😁😵😳

[entombedmachine]

The Mycellium Network is my favorite part about the lore... How the infected are all connected and someone disturbing a part of the network a few blocks away will alert other infected. So damn cool.

[DawgShawg]

I totally disagree with stage 1 as you stated it. The victims do not loose high brain functions. They just are not I control of their bodies as the fungi basically takes over their muscles. It's evident in the games as well. Whenever you try to kill some zombies, they always plead with you...

[LopsidedPandas]

The 7th stage on here is only a part of the show and not the game. Its also not another form of infected, it literally is the infection. It's what's growing under the skin of all the infected people in the show. It's like the living embodiment of the fungus itself.

[monkeyman]

what absolutely horrifies me about this is that people are conscious during the infection, so in the game you can even hear (while the infected are eating people) them crying and choking.

[SlabOfSteak]

There's an unknown infected you can hear in the sewers in TLOU2. Whether its a ratking or something jut as big you never find out. Cool easter egg though and makes you wonder if there's more types

[joelhardaway]

I really hope we see the rat king in season 2 that thing was so terrifying

[PiBoVi]

One thing I think they never really touched on is how humans have different heights and builds, like imagine an infected Shaq 😂

[BrachialerBizeps]

Wanna know something spooky? The Cordyceps fungus doesn't control the ants brain, in fact it avoids it. It grows in muscle tissue to control the body. The ant probably contains it's full version of sentience.

[tak]

7 forms of vegans after eating too much mushrooms.

[Cowboy-tkmx]

What i love about the last of us infected is that they evolve more over time so eventually as the new game (cause apparently there is a part 3) releases or maybe in season 2 or 3 (if it gets a season 3) we might get to see more stages as they get older, because these mutations are happening with time and specific environment changes. imagine how they evolved in blistering cold or heat for example. cant wait

[LarryNgetich]

After episode 5, do child forms count? Lil' Clicker seemed to have incredible speed and agility compared to an adult clicker pound for pound.

[squidsurge]

Technically the eyes and nose are not being replaced in stage 3, the skull is literally being split apart by the fungus for that main mushroom on the head

[duckielovesfood]

This brings a whole new light to the game because there are many runners showing that all those runners were people just a few days ago-

[potatoisland]

I love this video, however I think you gotten a few things wrong. For one, the stages of the cordyceps infection aren’t all linear. There is the main linear path, which goes from runner, to stalker, to clicker, to bloater. However, the shambler and the rat king do not fit into this linear path and only exist due to the environmental conditions. This is why you only see them in Seattle and not at all in the first game. Also the final stage, mycelium network, IS the fungus, this is how the fungus originated, so even if it were a stage, it would be the very first.

[ThatFont]

I love how (show) Ellie finds a stalker near the clicker phase. You can see the fungus replaced its left eye and the chitinous plates of fungus had begun on the top of the head.

[weekdaycycling]

The ancient Chinese used cordyceps fungi in their medicine for thousands of years. Cordyceps can now be found in some Chinese ginseng.