Does the horse die in ‘The Last of Us’ episode 8?

Warning: The following episode contains spoilers for both HBO’s The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part I.

HBO’s The Last of Us has not been holding back on the tension in recent weeks, ever since Joel (Pedro Pascal) was stabbed in episode six. While episode seven mostly consisted of a flashback, Joel wasn’t out of the woods just yet. Speaking of the woods, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) began the episode hunting in the woods, wounding a deer. Unfortunately, the deer wandered into David (Scott Shepherd) and James (Troy Baker).

David and James are part of a community, and Joel killed one of their members. So, running into Ellie was quite fortunate for them, as they were seeking revenge for their fallen friend. Luckily, Ellie has her horse, so she can make a quick escape when they come for her. You might be wondering if the horse manages to be one of the rare survivors of The Last of Us, so let’s take a look. 

Is the horse killed in The Last of Us?

In The Last of Us Part I, the name of the horse was Callus, so we will assume that it is also his name in the show as well. Callus shares the same fate as his counterpart in the games and he is killed. In the game, they specifically yell to shoot the horse whereas, in the show, James takes Callus out with his rifle while Ellie is attempting to get away.

David asks two members of the group to help him carry Callus back to the community, and the horse’s corpse reappears later in the episode when Joel infiltrates their camp. We can assume that David planned to feed the horse to his community, as by that point, they had resorted to becoming cannibals. In fact, in the game’s boss fight with David, he does taunt Ellie by telling her that the group will be eating Callus. 

Fans of the game might be pleased to find out that the bunny manages to survive the episode, even though it was killed in what has since become an iconic scene from the game. The Last of Us, and The Last of Us Part II in particular, make animal deaths more heartbreaking than most of the human ones, usually giving dogs and horses names for their owners to call out when they are killed. At least Callus’s death was quick.

You can catch the last episode of HBO’s The Last of Us on Sunday night on HBO Max.