Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us episode 5.
The word "collaborator" is brought up in The Last of Us episode 5 as something bad, but what exactly does it mean? The Last of Us episode 5, "Endure and Survive," tells the story of brothers Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam Burrell (Keivonn Woodard) as they try to escape Kathleen Coghlan (Melanie Lynskey), leader of the resistance in Kansas City. The episode begins soon after Kathleen and her people have overthrown FEDRA, killing all the remaining officials. Kathleen then begins her search for Henry.
After ten days safe in an attic, Henry and Sam run out of food. They team up with Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to finally get out of the city. Henry eventually reveals that he's on the run from Kathleen for being a "collaborator." Joel balks at this, saying he doesn't work with "rats." He still agrees to help the brothers, but his trepidation is understandable once it's clear what a collaborator like Henry has done.
A Collaborator Is Someone Who Works With FEDRA (Against The Resistance)
Collaborators are people who have worked with FEDRA (Federal Disaster Response Agency) against resistance efforts. This generally means they have provided information to FEDRA about of the opposition. Early in The Last of Us episode 5, Kathleen confronts a room full of scared collaborators that she has imprisoned and grills them about Henry's whereabouts. Even after one of them tells her what they know about Henry, she has them all killed.
Dr. Edelstein, who appears in Tepisodes 4 and 5, may also be considered a collaborator. He treated FEDRA soldiers and then helped Henry and Sam stay hidden from Kathleen. He learned the location of the safe attic they hide in from a FEDRA soldier. Kathleen eventually catches Edelstein and kills him when he doesn't give her information about Henry.
The FEDRA soldiers in Kansas City were considered the worst of the worst, but FEDRA isn't much loved in other quarantine zones either. Joel is seen selling drugs to a FEDRA soldier in Boston, but he isn't a collaborator—he's trying to get his own information and supplies. When he calls Henry a "rat," it's clear he has no love for people who actually help FEDRA.
Why Henry Was A Collaborator In The Last Of Us
Henry understands why Joel doesn't want to work with him, but stands by his decision to help FEDRA because it meant saving his little brother, Sam. As he explains to Joel in The Last of Us episode 5, Henry was the collaborator who turned in Kathleen's brother, Michael, to FEDRA. At the time, Sam had leukemia, and turning in Michael was the only way Henry could get the medicine that would save Sam's life.
Michael was the original leader of the resistance, which is why FEDRA wanted him, thinking they could stop the rebellion. While Michael was in their custody, they beat him to death, which Henry feels responsible for. Kathleen took over leading the resistance after her brother's death and is desperate to find Henry and kill him as revenge—even though Michael told her to forgive.
Why Being A Collaborator Is So Bad In The Last Of Us
Joel isn't the only one who doesn't like collaborators—Kathleen and her resistance fighters clearly hate them, and not just because of Michael's death. They feel that all collaborators, no matter what they did and why, are traitors. Even though Henry did what he had to in order to save his own brother, it's likely not all the collaborators were in such desperate straits. Some may have turned in friends and neighbors for more frivolous reasons. And the FEDRA officials of Kansas City were clearly bloodthirsty, breaking their own rules by torturing prisoners and refusing them trials.
Kathleen proves she's no better than FEDRA, though, as she has all her prisoners killed without trial. Even though Henry is framed as the good guy, he and Kathleen parallel each other. Had Kathleen killed Sam, either indirectly or by handing him over to FEDRA, Henry probably would have tried to kill her, too. Henry's and Kathleen's stories in The Last of Us episode 5 also both end the same: with them and their brothers dead. Even though collaborators are looked down upon, the episode proves that they aren't all bad or all good, just like the resistance fighters, FEDRA, Joel, and everyone else in the post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us.