Hate and “The Last of Us: Part 2”
“The Last of Us: Part 2” is an action/adventure game with heavy qualities of survival horror and themes of forgiveness, redemption, and violence. Throughout the entirety of the game, you’re either playing as Ellie or Abby, building up their stories of unforgivable hate and lust for vengeance. “The Last of Us: Part 2” is heavily influenced by The Godfather series, and it’s clear when you compare Ellie and Abby to Michael. All three start as pure people but eventually come across a time in their life when they must change for the sake of others and their survival. This leads them down a self-destructive path where they lose their humanity and core parts of their personality, meaning Ellie and Abby parallel their journeys for revenge.
When Abby kills Joel, you can see by her expression she’s disappointed; the euphoric moment that alleviated her of all trauma relating to her father’s death never came. Ellie is of the same mindset, she truly believes that killing Abby will cure her trauma, rather than make peace with it all. During the theater showdown between Abby and Ellie, we see Abby about to kill a pregnant Dina, but with Lev intervening, Abby comes to her senses and realizes killing them will do nothing for her dead friends. This is the first instance we see the cycle of violence come to a standstill. But Ellie isn’t grateful for her opportunity at a happy life. She still believes she has to kill Abby. She needs the final fight to happen, so like Abby, she can have a life at her fingertips and realize it will accomplish nothing if she were to take it.
For the final scene, we see Ellie come back to her old house, but completely empty with all of her stuff packed away in one room. We see her find Joel’s guitar and begin to attempt to play “Future Days” like we had seen her play earlier for Dina. The problem is, she’s missing two fingers and can’t play the song, literally and figuratively showing she has lost everything that makes her an individual. Just as the song says, “if I ever were to lose you, I’d surely lose myself.” She then sets the guitar down and walks away from the house for good. Ellie’s journey started because she was trying to forgive Joel for his sins, and his death took that opportunity of reconciliation.
The main thing Ellie and Joel bonded over was music and the guitar that Joel gave her. I believe both of these things signify their relationship, and Ellie leaving the guitar behind indicates she has finally found forgiveness for Joel and lets him go, setting out on a quest for redemption like Abby has done with Yara and Lev.
