*warning 'The Last of Us' spoilers below*
I consider this a great sadness. I loved playing that game and of course I love the game. It made my eyes swell more than once and it is officially my second favourite game of all time (The Walking Dead is my all time favourite). Still, 'The Last of Us' comes very close, and I am so sad it's over.
The game brought me around 14 hours of pure joy as I traversed the infected (the infection happened as the parasite cordyceps mutated and began to affect humans, leading them to become mindless monsters seeking only to murder) America on 'Hard' difficulty because I love a good challenge! (Like a Boss). It was so much fun, and now the multiplayer is bringing me even more fun, it's just an all rounder! In fact, the multiplayer is the most atmospheric multiplayer I have ever multiplayed.
You see, Joel and Ellie are two of the most perfect video game characters ever created. They actually have character. They have flaws and struggles and have a special place in my heart. Joel is a middle aged man who has been in this mess since the start. He has become bitter and empty since the death of his daughter at the hands of a soldier on the first day of the infection. He is getting by in a safezone as a smuggler alongside his friend that is a girl - Tess.
Joel and Tess come across the 'Queen Firefly', Marlene. (The Fireflies are a group of politically radical freedom fighter like people) who is injured. In her care is a young girl called Ellie. Marlene is meant to be taking Ellie across to a Firefly camp but can't due to her injury. Joel and Tess agree to take Ellie to the camp instead, since they are smugglers. Thus begins the touching adventure of Joel and Ellie (as Tess does her own thing eventually).
Ellie is a charming, happy-go-lucky, intelligent 14 year old girl who attempts to befriend Joel. She happens to annoy the bitter man but does not annoy us. Eventually she grows on him. However, Ellie is special . The reason she needs escorting is because she has an immunity to the infection, leading to the belief she can lead to a cure.
After reluctantly agreeing to take her across the country to the safezone, he eventually grows to love her like a daughter and she grows to love him like a father. The two become very close and it only makes the journey all the more traumatic and heartbreaking.
After the traumatic and heartbreaking journey, they reach a safezone, injured both physically and emotionally. Joel was knocked out by a Firefly as he tried to save Ellie. He wakes up, Marlene and a Firefly goon before him. He asks to see Ellie, she refuses.
She tells him she is in surgery, and that the surgery may lead to a vaccine but it will also kill her, as the mutated cordyceps is in her brain. Naturally, Joel is heartbroken. After losing his daughter, he has finally found someone to fill the void in his heart that her death left, and now she is going to be taken away. He cannot lose Ellie. He refuses to accept it and when Marlene leaves, he kills the goon and continues to kill many other Fireflies to reach poor Ellie.
On the way, he finds (well, you can find it, it's a collectible) a recorder that explains how the Fireflies have found 12 others with immunity to the infection. Eventually he reaches Ellie, finding her on a surgery table about to be operated. He kills the doctor and escapes with her in his arms.
As the elevator opens, Marlene appears, gun in hand. She approaches Joel and pleads with him, asking him to 'Do the right thing'. Joel looks like he is considering it, but as Marlene is putting away her gun, he shoots her. Marlene asks to be spared, but Joel replies 'You'll only come after her' and kills her.
Ellie wakes up on the journey back and asks what happened. Joel partly lies and tells her the Fireflies have dozens of immune people, and that they've actually given up on a cure. That they didn't her after all. Ellie seems disappointed.
Later, Ellie seems subdued. It appears she is suffering from survivor's guilt. She tells Joel of how she lost so many people to the infection, and is waiting for her turn to die. She wanted to find a cure to honour the people she lost. She asks Joel is what he said earlier was true, he replies 'Yes'. Ellie seems unsatisfied, but replies 'Okay', at which point the game ends.
There is a debate as to whether or not Joel was right to lie to Ellie.
I believe he was right, and here's why.
Almost everyone you meet in the TLoU tries to murder you. They don't converse with you, they don't attempt to reason with you, they just shoot at you straight away. They are all murderers (with the exception of a very small few).
Joel's daughter, Sarah, was murdered by a person, not by infected, an actual person. That wouldn't, couldn't leave Joel. He has no reason to believe or trust humanity, he and Ellie owe them nothing.
When Joel meets Ellie, he grows to love her like a daughter. He found something in this world that is sweet and innocent, someone he could love and care for, someone who filled the void in his soul, and he damn sure wasn't going to let her die for a vaccine (not even a cure, a vaccine only prevents infection, and could only be use on non-infected) that they might not even be able to make to save a humanity that has only ever caused him pain, that has taken everything away from him and Ellie.
He had every reason to save Ellie, a good, pure, innocent little girl from death for a lost cause.
As for the lie, Ellie had suffered enough. She is only 14 years old. She has been subject to psychopaths, cannibals, infected, mass murder and so much worse.
She was suffering from heavy survivor's guilt as so many of her loved ones had died to an infection that it appeared only she was immune to. She wanted to find a cure to the infection that had caused so much pain.
Ellie is a good person and would of sacrificed herself to at least try and find a vaccine. It was not her choice that Joel took her from the operation, it was only Joel's, and he knew that if she knew the truth, she'd be heartbroken and Joel would lose her. He couldn't face that.
He lied to protect her from his own selfishness, her own guilt and to keep his adopted daughter with him.
You see that's the key here. He sees her and loves her as a daughter. This is why he saved her, and it also why he lied to her, to protect her.
Joel is a very flawed person, but he is not a bad one. He has his issues, and he is a murderer, but in this world, where the rules are survival of the fittest, murder is a necessary evil. Survive and endure.
Joel is a good father. The choices he made are what any loving parent would do. He is only protecting his adopted daughter whom he loves so dearly from a harsh and unforgiving world, and if that means sacrificing a vaccine that isn't guaranteed to prevent a bunch of murdering monsters from getting infected, then so be it.
The ending was perfect. It was definitive and raised questions and evoked debate. It showed the natures of the characters and how Joel and Ellie love each other so very much. I don't want a sequel, it is not needed. It would cheapen the events of the game and I could never forgive 'Naughty Dog' if they made one. If they set in the same world with different characters and a different story, maybe it would work, but Joel and Ellie are done, leave them be.
I love Joel and Ellie very much and I hope they live full and happy lives and Joel teaches Ellie how to swim, it is nothing less than they deserve.
(This is my first post. I understand it is not an introduction but I just had this in my mind and needed to get it out. I'll do an introduction next time.)
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