What is a collaborator in The Last of Us? Kathleen's reason for hunting Henry

Episode 5 of HBO’s The Last of Us dove into Henry and Sam’s story and why Kathleen was fixed on finding them. We look at what a collaborator is and why Henry teamed up with the FEDRA.

*WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Last Of Us episode 5*

Another week and another emotional episode from The Last of Us HBO has landed in our laps. This time, in episode 5, we see Joel and Ellie come face-to-face with Sam and Henry as the foursome realize they have more in common than what separates them as they become the hunted by Kathleen and her army of minions.

In The Last of Us game, Henry and Sam were looking for food and supplies in the city, believing it to be empty but instead were met with The Hunters who were hell-bent on killing them. In the HBO show, their story has changed somewhat into a more dangerous situation for the pair. Let’s look into what a collaborator is and why Kathleen went on her revengeful rampage.

• MORE: Every Pun from Ellie’s book in HBO’s The Last of Us episode 4

What is a collaborator in HBO’s The Last of Us?

A collaborator or a “rat”, as Kathleen likes to call them, is someone who teams up with FEDRA in a bid to find out information about people who are secretly planning to revoke or take on the army with their own resistance. When found out, they undergo horrendous violence that involves methods like torture and other horrible acts.

As FEDRA is a huge organization that showcases violence, strength, and control, many citizens feel that there’s no other way to survive than to become a collaborator in a bid to feel “safer”.

Why did Kathleen want to kill Henry and Sam?

In HBO’s version of The Last of Us, Henry became a FEDRA collaborator due to Sam developing leukemia and the only place he could give Sam a chance of survival was via a drug kept at the FEDRA QZ. Of course, FEDRA wanted something in return for the medicine and that was for Henry to become a collaborator for them which meant passing them information about the leader of the resistance movement, the Hunters, who also happened to be Kathleen’s brother Michael.

This then led to FEDRA capturing Michael and killing him, naturally setting a huge fire in Kathleen who went out for revenge for her brother’s murder and putting Henry and Sam in her firing line.

• MORE: What wine did Bill and Frank drink from HBO’s The Last of Us?