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"My task, which I am trying to achieve, is by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel... it is, before all, to make you see.”
― Joseph Conrad
The Last of Us Part II has been one of the most widely-discussed games on the internet, with as many vocal supporters of the game as there are detractors.
The original game won hearts across the board and established gaming as a legitimate art form and medium for storytelling. The Last of Us Part II then doubled down on the ambitious nature of its predecessor and created an experience that pushed the boundaries of storytelling even further.
The Path (A New Beginning)
Ellie looks across to Joel and accepts his lies about the Fireflies, but shades of doubt are unmistakable in her bright-green eyes. Gustavo Santaolalla's exceptional score plays faintly over the scene and kicks in once the credits roll in The Last of Us
This signals the end to what has been a transformative journey about love, loss and finding hope for two strangers, who are now bound by the love they have for each other.
Joel is a grieving father and a hardened survivor in the post-apocalyptic new world. He was barely latching on to his humanity after 25 years of brutal survival and with few moral lines left to cross. Ellie is a child born in a world of ruin, seemingly unphased by the darkness that surrounds her, and coursing through her veins is the hope for humanity's survival.
The Last of Us ends in a melancholic but ultimately hopeful note, with Joel and Ellie on the cusp of forging a new life in Jackson. Indeed, a new beginning.
Alas, in the world of The Last of Us, much like in real-life, every action creates a ripple effect. Joel's brutal final act before the ending of the first installment, in a bid to save Ellie, sets in motion a cycle of violence that will destroy their worlds.
The Last of Us Part II: An in-depth story analysis
The Cycle of Violence
If love and hope were cornerstones of The Last of Us, and players came away thoroughly in love with the above pair and a sense of hope, then the game and its narrative were successful.
The Last of Us Part II, on the other hand, isn't more of the same. As much as fans would have loved to feel the emotions they did in the original game, the story of the sequel lies in its title: Part II.
The Last of Us Part II is the complete inverse of the first game, in that its main theme is hatred, anger and the cycle of violence they create in the world of The Last of Us. No deed goes unpunished in the sequel, and the first victim, as a direct result of their actions at the end of the last game, is not Joel, but the player.
Video games have come a long way in terms of narrative complexity and ambitious themes. However, players have never felt the repercussions of their actions in such a visceral and ultimately harrowing way as The Last of Us Part II.
Eye for an Eye
Most players, much like Joel, would have gunned down the Fireflies in a bid to save Ellie. The player as well as Joel would have gone to any lengths to save her.
However, the cost for this is the lives of perhaps innocent people whose only crime was to hopefully save the human race by any means necessary. And the cost of their actions is the death of an innocent girl.
That is the grey area that much of this game operates in, and both parties pay the price for their actions. The doctors and soldiers by the hands of Joel; and in The Last of Us Part II, Joel at the hands of Abby.
The repercussions of Joel and the player's actions are felt viscerally by Ellie and the player themselves. After having spent nearly seven years with a character as deeply beloved as Joel, players truly felt Ellie's loss as he lied in a pool of his own blood, brutalised at the hands of the former Fireflies.
This has been a major point of contention for a lot of players, who rejected The Last of Us Part II as a result of Joel's unceremonious death. Therefore, the loss and anger players felt during this scene marks them as the first victims.
The WLF
Ellie witnesses his death first-hand, pinned to the floor in the same room as her father figure gets brutalised by a group of strangers. And players are forced to watch this scene play out as well, mirroring Ellie's position in the story.
This, thus, sets in motion the events of The Last of Us Part II, and restarts the cycle of violence Abby presumed she would be putting an end to by sparing the lives of Tommy and Ellie.
Players get to see how Ellie's relationship with Joel evolves in a series of flashbacks throughout the Last of Us Part II, which eventually breaks down as a result of Ellie finding out the truth about the Fireflies.
Longing
"If somehow the lord gave me a second chance at that moment, I would do it all over again"
— Joel, The Last of Us Part II
Each flashback is meant to act as a tool to repeatedly make players feel the loss that Ellie feels. Her emotions of "what could've been" are reflected in the flashbacks of her and Joel visiting the dinosaur museum on her birthday.
This is what players had expected the sequel to offer more of: Joel and Ellie finally happy in each other's presence. However, that is ripped away from both the user and Ellie.
Therefore, the loss she feels during the events of The Last of Us is the exact loss players feel due to Joel's absence. The player's emotions of not being given the game they wanted is Ellie's fate of not being able to live the promise of a life she had with Joel.
The Cycle Continues
"You can't stop this"- Ellie, The Last of Us Part II
The players, understably, feel a whole mix of emotions, ranging from complete disarray to boiling anger during the scene with Joel. This is in perfect sync with Ellie as she begins her relentless pursuit of vengeance against Abby and her group.
Ellie is visibly shaken after not just murdering Nora, but torturing her and deliberately infecting her with Cordyceps. This is a point of no return for her, as she fully commits to her revenge and accepts her primal nature.
Despite her actions, Ellie is but a young 18-year-old only now coming to terms with herself. Her sense of identity and morality are ripped to shreds when she kills Mel, who unbeknownst to Ellie, was pregenant.
This leads to the biggest crisis of identity, morality and faith the protagonist has, and the player is horrified and left feeling extremely uncomfortable as a result of the character's actions.
With each kill, Ellie moves further away from her humanity, turning into someone unrecognisable from the first game. By the end of The Last of Us Part II, she is barely human and thus, makes the sequel a subversive coming-of-age story packaged as a revenge fantasy.
They're Still Out There
"'I'll make her pay,' that's what you said when we got back to Jackson... what a joke"
— Tommy to Ellie in The Last of Us Part II
Many players criticised the game's decision to have Ellie return to her quest for vengeance after having failed to kill Abby, who is a superior physical specimen by all means.
The point that The Last of Us Part II illustrates with this character decision is to highlight the obsessive nature of Ellie's vengeance. It has seeped into every aspect of her life and she is haunted by the memories of Joel's last moments.
She sets off on the path again, and players who bought into this revenge fantasy angle are cheered on when Ellie infiltrates the Rattler's mansion and the speaker loudly blares "Young Men Dead" by the Black Angels.
Setting up a cinematic, epic final showdown between Ellie and Abby. However, if the players haven't caught on so far, The Last of Us Part II isn't a revenge fantasy or the tale of a true hero.
There are no heroes in The Last of Us: not Abby, not Ellie, and not even Joel. The Last of Us is a two-part tale of characters trying to reclaim the humanity they lost by acts of kindness.
Allowed to be Happy
Ellie, in the final moments of The Last of Us Part II, after defeating a visibly-weakened Abby already on the brink of death, instead of being haunted by nightmares of Joel, remembers the last few moments of love they shared.
The memory of Joel is Ellie's strand to humanity she has left, and if she goes through with her vengeance and kills Abby, there is no hope left for her.
The parting shot of The Last of Us Part II leaves Ellie all by herself and her worst fears realised, and players who rejected the game's story felt this was a cynical and pointless end to Ellie's arc.
However, a deeper understanding of the story suggests that is ultimately a very hopeful end to her story. With the little humanity she has left, she still has a chance at a fulfilling life with Dina and JJ.
Beyond Desolation
Eliie looks out of the window and places the guitar Joel gifted her on the sill and walks away from the cottage Dina and Ellie had lived in, and into a world of the unknown.
The symbolic meaning is that Ellie has finally found something to keep fighting for, and that is Dina and JJ, and not a pursuit of vengeance. The Last of Us Part II ends once again with Gustavo Santaolalla's score as the credit rolls, and thus ends one of gaming's most important stories.
