LogFAQs > #895593291

18 & 17. Joel and Ellie (The Last of Us)

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"...We don't have to do this.
You know that, right?"

"...What's the other option?"

"Go back to Tommy's. Just...be done with this whole damn thing."

"...After all we've been through.
Everything that I've done.
...It can't be for nothing."

I can't imagine these characters as anything but a unit. Their character arcs are so intertwined with each other that talking about one without the other is pointless.

At the start of the main storyline of The Last of Us, Joel is a broken man who has lost everything. He's cold, violent, and seems to care little about anything except surviving. Joel has no sympathy for others. The game hints about the many horrific acts he's had to commit over the years to survive, but anytime it's mentioned, Joel brushes it off as things that were just...necessary. Any guilt he may still possess has been buried so far underground that he's not capable of feeling it even if he wanted to.

It's not a surprise that he butts heads with Ellie when they first meet. Ellie is different in ways that press a lot of Joel's buttons. Unlike Joel, who witnessed life before the cordyceps outbreak and is fully aware that the world will never go back to the way it was, Ellie knows no other way of life, and ironically is much more optimistic because of that. It's easy to go up when you're starting from 0. She's the first recorded person in history to be immune to the infection and truly believes that a cure can be developed if she gets to the right people. In contrast, Joel is both skeptical and uncaring, only going along with it due to being morally blackmailed by multiple people.

It's through the lengthy interactions of these conflicting worldviews that Joel and Ellie are forced to change throughout the course of the game. Some of Ellie's naivete is lost as she's subjected endless killing and some truly horrific scenarios, resulting in her being forced to take up arms herself despite being like...14 years old. She grows and learns but little of it is in a positive way. The zombie apocalypse teaches harsh lessons. Joel is still a broken man, but his pain is eased...somewhat. Ellie becomes the first thing he's cared about in years and it grounds him in reality once more. He's no longer a man simply going through the motions of survival.

Unfortunately, that's the problem. Despite the deep understanding and father/daughter relationship that Joel and Ellie develop, their worldviews never truly align. To Ellie, the world is still a place worth saving. To Joel, Ellie is the world. The devastating conflict this produces in the game's ending is one of the most emotional stretches in gaming I've ever experienced. I'm not sure if The Last of Us 2 can possibly live up to it, especially due to how Joel and Ellie's relationship is permanently altered by what happens.

All of this works because the interactions with Joel and Ellie are perfectly executed. Half of the game's appeal is watching them talk to each other and it works because their relationship is sold super well. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson turned dinto career-defining performances and Naughty Dog proved they can do good dramatic writing after their essential failure with Uncharted 3. They're truly the heart and soul of the game and The Last of Us wouldn't be anywhere near the experience it is without them.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.