I just now completed The Last of Us Part II, literal minutes before starting to write this. I wanted to get some of my thoughts on both this game, and the larger story of The Last of Us while it is still fresh. This is a story that does not let you emotions rest, but is truly executed masterfully.

Joel#

Oh Joel, this game was brutal. First, lets talk about Joel in the first game. Joel was a broken man, all emotion stripped from him besides anger and despair after his daughter Sara was killed by a soldier at the beginning of the cordyceps outbreak. After what must have been 1-2 decades of living in a broken world with nothing to live for, Joel found an unexpected second purpose in life.

Given the task of transporting Ellie across the country in an attempt to create a cure, we see a beautiful father daughter relationship form between these two strangers who both need each other more than anything. The core of the story of The Last of Us Part I to me was hope. There was hope for a cure, there was hope for a second chance at family with Ellie, there was hope for a better life in Jackson. You wanted to fight tooth and nail to protect Ellie as Joel, not just because of the hope she offered to the world at large in the form of a cure, but to you personally to help you heal from the loss of your family.

Joel only has a soft spot for Ellie in the first game. His time alone has hardened the rest of him apart from this one vulnerability, and given how little he has in this world apart from Ellie, he would do anything to keep her safe. When you play through the defining turning point with the fireflies at the end of the first game, if you were like me you didn’t hesitate to do what needed to be done to save Ellie. Joel’s actions are clearly wrong, Ellie’s death would have meant more to the world than her life, but what does that matter to Joel? To lose a second daughter would surly be the end of Joel, and his purpose for the last months has been to keep her safe at all costs.

In the second game, we see a softer, more human Joel. I have seen many people point to this and say “How did Joel go from being such a bad ass to such a softy so quickly?” As far as Joel abilities go, he is just as capable in part 2 as the first game, however it is true that his personality is much softer. However, the interactions we are seeing are still through Ellie’s eyes, during a period where she was fighting with Joel. He is clearly distraught, and is hurting deeply about the thought of losing Ellie from his life. Through this lens, I didn’t see any inconsistency in Joel in part II. He continues to put protecting Ellie and his relationship with her above all else, and now with that that relationship in jeopardy Joel is suffering emotionally. That is displayed in vulnerability and timidness towards Ellie as he attempts to repair their relationship.

Ellie#

Wow, this second game was not what I expected from Ellie. But honestly, I enjoyed it. The game shows us the strained relationship between Ellie and Joel at the beginning of the game, but once Ellie has to witness the brutal murder of Joel at the hands of Abby, we see how much she truly did still care for Joel. Seeking revenge on those who killed Joel, despite them allowing Ellie to live, does not seem optional for Ellie and Tommy.

We constantly see flashbacks to the good times Joel and Ellie had in Jackson during the time we missed between games. This is a brutal reminder of why you have to keep continuing on your hunt for Abby in Seattle, despite the physical and emotional trauma you are experiencing from your actions. As the player, I felt just as motivated to avenge Joel as Ellie did. Having played through part I right before starting part II, I personally remember how fond I was of Joel, and how when playing Joel the game instilled the “I would do anything for Ellie” into you. Now playing as Ellie, having had Joel ripped away from our story, I wanted to find Abby and end her. If only you knew how much pulling on that thread was going to hurt.

To be clear, this game only gives you time to process in the flashbacks, and even then it tends to be pretty painful. As I was going through and hunting down Abby’s friends, who as you continue in Ellie’s story you realize are not inherently evil people, I would legitimately feel despair at the situation constantly. If in Part I you were fighting for hope, in Part II you are simply trying to survive and fight off the despair. The sense of loss, hopelessness, and regret and constant and unyielding throughout the whole game. You almost never feel good, except for in a few sections with Dina, but even those are ripped away from us.

I was so happy when they allowed both Ellie and Abby to live at the end of Seattle. To see Ellie and Dina living together with their child on their farm was beautiful, and felt like a happy ending to the game - one I thought we were not going to get. I actually felt hope for Ellie again, something this game did not give us much of. And then the story took it away, as Ellie’s need for revenge sent her back after Abby. Ellie’s choosing to leave Dina to hunt for revenge again when there is no threat to her family is heart breaking. To see that she can not chose happiness, and is stuck on the despair and hatred she feels over losing Joel really did crush me. That is not to say that it is a poor story decision, in fact it drives home the feeling of helplessness more than anything else in this story did. Ellie just can’t be at peace knowing that the person who took everything from her is still out there.

The End#

I am not going to focus on Abby’s story. I did enjoy it, and seeing that all of her friends are actually decent enough real people was great story telling. Showing you this only after you had massacred most of them increases that feeling of helplessness and despair. You know what is going to happen to them and despite that you still grow to like them and root for them.

The ending battle between Ellie and Abby summarizes their quarrel perfectly. These two girls who could have been good friends in another life are both on the brink of death before the fight even starts. They are prepared to get into 2 separate boats and head their separate ways. However at the last moment, Ellie’s need for revenge prevents her from moving on for the third time. You flail, trash, and beat each other to an inch of both your lives, with Ellie ultimately winning. Ellie can’t finish Abby off though. Despite this deep desire for revenge, despite all the damage Abby has done, despite the fact that she is literally holding Abby underwater, after having a flashback of one of the good times with Joel - she pulls Abby out of the water and tells her to leave. I took this as Ellie wanting to be a better person in Joel’s memory, or maybe just realizing that he wouldn’t have cared about her avenging him and losing the motivation to take another life.

I left the end of this story feeling like everything had been completed. It did not feel good, but that was the point. Not all revenge stories end with the bad guy dead, sometimes you were the bad guy all along. We are all human, we all have the capability to do terrible things, but we are redeemable. I know its fiction - but I hope Ellie finds her peace back in Jackson.