Last of Us – The Story
In The Last Of Us we meet our two main characters: Joel and Ellie. Although, we do not start off as Joel or Ellie, but Sarah – Joel’s daughter. We play as Sarah while we witness the events of Outbreak day (September 26th) – the day the fungal infection took over and broke out everywhere around the globe. Joel’s priority that day is to protect Sarah; unfortunately Sarah did not make it and Joel suffered immense guilt and became a cold, distant man that we play as throughout part one. The introduction to a world with infected ends as Sarah passes in her father’s arms, and we cut to Joel 20 years later.
Playing as Joel we are introduced to the post-apocalyptic world. Joel, alongside his partner, Tess, live in a quarantine zone in Boston. Quarantine zones – or QZ’ are zones run by the military. The zones keep out infected and let the citizens live freely. The military is strict and is one of the primary reasons as to why humanity became so cold and distrusting of each other after outbreak day.
Joel and Tess are after a guy named Robert, but that mission is cut short when Tess kills him after finding out he had scammed the pair. Joel and Tess then run into Marlene – the leader of a rebellious group called the Fireflies, their goal is to rebuild the once democratic society. Marlene promises the pair she will trade whatever they may ask for if they smuggle something for the Fireflies. It is quickly revealed that this something is Ellie. A fourteen year old girl who is immune to the infection. Her immunity could be what doctors needed for a cure.
Joel and Tess were suspicious of the reliability of Ellie’s infection, however the pair was convinced once Tess was bitten and her bite, compared to Ellie’s; had already worsened in the span of an hour. Joel had no choice but to believe in the girl’s immunity and together the two traveled across the country for a cure.
Due to certain decisions Joel took at the end of the game; a cure was not made. Ellie was convinced her immunity meant nothing, and experienced a feeling of hopelessness that would carry over to the sequel and inevitably impacted her and Joel’s relationship.
In part two we play as Ellie and Abby – the two mirror each other throughout the game. We start off in Jackson, the town Joel’s brother lives in during the first game. Jackson’s community is a lot like us humans today. They work together as a community. However, Abby is not from Jackson. At the start she, along with her friends, are staying at a cabin near Jackson. Abby and her friends are out for revenge, since Abby is in fact the daughter of the doctor who was supposed to make a cure; that is before his life was cut short.
Ellie and Joel’s relationship at the start of the game had been strained, and with a couple of flashbacks we play through throughout the game, we are made aware as to why. Joel had revealed what he did at the end of the game. Ellie, now seventeen, was taken aback. The Ellie we meet during the prologue is nineteen and had publicly argued with Joel the night before. Ellie meant she could defend herself, something she tried to make clear to Joel after he had stepped in to defend her against a homophobic comment. What we players do not know until the very end of the game is that the two made up before going to bed that night. Ellie promised Joel she would try to forgive him, which she did and accepted at the end.
The events that took place the next day set the plot for the game. Ellie sought revenge, and Abby sought to move forward. Act one and two take place in Seattle. Both acts play out at the same time but with different characters, and a different perspective of the story. In the first act we play as Ellie traveling through Seattle accompanied by her girlfriend, Dina. Over the course of three days we see Ellie slowly lose herself to revenge. In act two we switch over to Abby where we are introduced to a new world. We are introduced to new enemies, infected and groups. Abby belongs to a group called WLF (Washington Liberation Front) also referred to as wolves by Ellie and the Seraphites. The Seraphites are a primitivist cult and work as the antagonists in the second game.
WLF is a paramilitary organization. The group has been in a war with the Seraphites for years. The war against the two groups broke out after WLF soldiers took the lives of a group of Seraphites children. The Wolves refer to the cult as Scars. This is due to the scar across a Seraphite soldier’s face. As Ellie we witness the war and we are even mistaken as a member of the two groups. As Abby we go more in depth into the world of Seraphites.
As Abby we befriend two Seraphite siblings; Yara and Lev. Over the course of three days Abby, Yara and Lev develop a deep and meaningful relationship, having said that; Yara passes when the WLF invade the Seraphite island. Abby quickly realized she would give up her life for these kids, and swore to protect Lev regardless of the danger. Abby and Lev’s relationship mirrors Joel and Ellie’s in the first game where Joel steps in as Ellie’s parental figure. However, Abby and Lev’s relationship dynamic acts more like a sibling-duo rather than a mother-son dynamic.
On the third day Abby goes after Ellie who had finally agreed to travel back to Jackson with Dina, who had discovered she was pregnant. Abby and Ellie fight – during the fight we play as Abby. The fight ends with Abby threatening to kill Dina who was currently unconscious, but Lev’s impact on Abby ultimately saved both Dina and Ellie’s life that day. The scene fades out and we cut to Ellie around a year later.
This is act three. Ellie and Dina live on a farm on the outskirts of Jackson. The pair are raising their son JJ, fans theorize his name stands for Jesse Joel. Jesse being his deceased biological dad, and Joel being well – Joel, his grandfather. Playing as Ellie in her domestic lifestyle gives the player a sense of relief. We see Ellie enjoying her life and seemingly at peace, until the clang of a fallen shovel triggers her into a panic attack rooted in ptsd. She feels guilty she gave up on getting revenge, and the guilt only intensifies when Tommy arrives at the farm and convinces Ellie to go to Santa Barbara and finish off Abby – Ellie did the same thing to Tommy after the prologue which resulted in him – like Ellie – losing himself to revenge.
An emotional scene plays out where Ellie leaves Dina to finish off what she started in act one. Ellie had given up everything for revenge, even the only two who kept her going; Dina and JJ. Ellie traveled to Santa Barbara. We cut to Abby who is searching for the Fireflies since it had been rumored a group of past members had regrouped in California. Abby is accompanied by Lev and when the two finally discovered the location of the regrouped Fireflies – they were captured by slavers.
We cut to Ellie who is fighting the slavers. She was incredibly wounded when she finally found Abby who had been tied to a pole. Due to the mandatory training WLF ordered their soldiers to follow Abby had quite the muscular body type throughout the game, but now in Santa Barbara she was underweight and had lost her muscle mass. Ellie, still seeking revenge, dared Abby to fight her. She refused, she was far too weak to fight Ellie, and so; Ellie threatened to kill Lev by positioning her knife by his neck. Abby, who would do anything to protect Lev, gave in and agreed to fight Ellie. However, from Abby’s perspective she was agreeing to fight a woman she met a year ago when she avenged her father. She never knew Ellie’s name and was never made aware as to why this woman was targeting her.
The cycle of violence ends when Ellie realizes killing Abby will get her nowhere but further into a life of violence and revenge. She let Abby go and began sobbing – finally showing vulnerability, something Ellie never dared to show. The scene fades out and we see Joel and Ellie on Joel’s porch the night the two had a public argument. Ellie reveals to her father-figure that she is dating a woman – showing vulnerability to a man that taught her vulnerability is a weakness in their world. Joel accepts Ellie, and opens up. This was incredibly unlike Joel. He told her that he did not wish he acted differently at the end of the first game, since he was given a second chance to protect someone he loved. He was given a chance to protect Ellie, the way he wished he could have protected Sarah.
The game ends with Ellie moving out of the barn on the outskirts of Jackson. Players theorize she and Dina got back together, but moved back to Jackson for Ellie’s sake.
THE LAST OF US 