You Keep Finding Something to Fight For: The Cycles and Reflections Of The Last of Us Part 2

    

    I believe as a whole the series of The Last of Us is about trauma. It is about how we deal, cope, ignore, and ultimately heal from trauma and loss. In the first game, we saw how Joel suffered from the loss of his daughter and finally began the recovery process by the end. Now it’s time for Ellie’s turn. It’s extremely easy to just write Part 2 off as another revenge story that ends with the lesson that violence is bad. It is much deeper than that. It is a story about the importance of human life, the hate and rage we surround ourselves with, and the actual effects and costs of not addressing one’s trauma. Life is painful and the game is never shy of reminding us of that but it also reminds us that we do not have to hold on to that pain. 

We Are The Same

  

    Part 1 begins with a father forced to watch the death of his daughter so it's only fitting that Part 2 begins with a daughter forced to watch the death of her father. Part 2 does something that I think is very interesting. In this game you are everyone. You are a killer, victim, hero, and villain. The characters you play suffer at the hands of others and in turn subject others to suffering. There is no difference in these roles. The only change is perspective and that is made extremely clear with Abby and Ellie. The two protagonists are almost the exact same person. Both are young women who have had their fathers stolen form them through murder. Both are in love triangles with their closest friends with one of the people involved being pregnant. And both are consumed with a drive for revenge and are struggling to be free from their trauma. The same goals, the same life, the same storyline, and the same person. It is impossible to hate, love, or empathize with one character without having those feelings reflected at the other. This all builds upon two themes. The first being that there is no substantial difference between people. The second being that you are your only obstacle to peace. You can not pass judgment on the enemies in this game without also passing judgment on your favorite characters. In this game, you play as your own killer, victim, and antagonist. Every time Abby or Ellie attacks the other it is damage being done back to you as the player. When Abby tracts Ellie to the theatre and when Ellie tracts Abby to California the player is literally fighting themselves.

    The theme can be applied to wider groups as well. Is there really any substantial difference between the WLF and the Seraphites. Besides differences in aesthetics and culture, the two factions want the exact same thing. To secure the safety of their people and take revenge against those that have wronged them. Each group sees the other as the only barrier to their happiness and prosperity. The WLF was created to “free” the citizens from FEDRA rule but it's clear from the notes around Seattle that many of those same citizens saw the WLF as just another tyrannical group. Their abuses of power are one of the many reasons why so many people chose to join the Seraphites.

    Beloved characters like Tommy and Joel share many of the same qualities as the enemies you encounter in both Part 1 and Part 2. The game doesn’t let you forget that Tommy and Joel used to be hunters that ambushed innocent survivors, stole their supplies, and killed them. Both men are no strangers to the same torture tactics that Issac and the rest of the WLF use. Tommy even joined the Fireflies and killed FEDRA soldiers and civilians just like the WLF. In everyone’s attempt to relieve themselves of their pain and trauma they have only created new trauma for others. To hate your enemy is to hate yourself. It is also to hate humanity.

    This game does an amazing job of forcing you to realize the humanity of every single person. It is something that you can’t escape. Every human (and dog) you kill is a person with a name, a life, and connections. Every time you annihilate a person with a shotgun gun in front of an enemy and that enemy screams out their name you are recreating Joel and Ellie’s trauma for a new person. Making another person watch their loved one violently murdered while they are helpless to do anything. Every time you silently take out an enemy and leave their bodies to be found by another you are recreating Abby’s trauma. Just another person made to stumble upon the corpse of someone they care about. Seemingly taken by some monstrous unfeeling force. Ellie is the same as Abby, Joel, the random WLF soldier named Gavin, or the random Seraphite named Amber. We are all the same, reflecting what we feel onto others who in turn repeat the cycle.

What does it cost?

    This cycle of pain has an additional cost than just subjecting new people to trauma. It also doesn’t help. Abby and Ellie didn’t try to kill each other to right some wrong or honor the memory of their fallen fathers and friends. They did it because they didn’t know how to live with themselves. They just wanted something to distract from the pain. Ellie can not get the image of Joel’s death out of her head. From the poetry, in her journal, we know that every time she thinks about it she experiences a great deal of emotional pain. The event has become an obsession for her as well. She can’t stop thinking about how Joel felt in his last moments. If her presence made things easier or harder for him. She can’t help but think about if there was something more she could have done. She repeatedly dwells on the things not said or done.

    

The same applies to Abby as well. She constantly has nightmares about finding her father’s body and spends years focusing on it. Both characters are seeking revenge in a desperate attempt to escape from their pain. To distract themselves from it for even a second. They have deluded themselves into believing that once they get their revenge they will be free from their pain. But that’s not the case.

    

    For a wound to heal it needs time to rest and direct attention. Moving around and ignoring the wound only exacerbates it. Ellie and Abbey do not allow themselves the time to rest and grieve for their loss. As a result, they are haunted by it. Every time they succeed in their attempts at revenge things only become worse. Abby achieves her goal of revenge but it doesn’t help. She still has nightmares about her father aftward and she’s even conflicted while killing Joel. It negatively affects her friends as well. Mel is very upset about it and it causes Owen to have a breakdown. No one’s life was made better after Joel’s death. 

    

    This is again reflected with Ellie. She tortured Nora and beat her to death with a pipe in the same manner that Abby killed Joel. This is her revenge but it only leaves her shaken and terrified of herself. It is repeated once more with the death of Owen and Mel. Ellie is so disgusted with herself that she can’t help but be sick and Abby does the same knowing that she is partly responsible for this. Nothing has been gained but self-loathing and suffering. The further they go on their path of revenge the more they hate themselves, the more they struggle to live with themselves.

 

Moving past

    The song, “Future Days” that Joel teaches Ellie at the beginning of the game holds major significance. It’s the first song Ellie always plays anytime she picks up a guitar. The guitar and the song are sentimental connections that Ellie holds with Joel. The beginning lyrics of the song also heavily relate to Joel, Ellie, and Abby. “If I ever were to lose you I’d surely lose myself.” When Joel lost Sarah he lost himself. When Abby lost her father she lost herself. When Ellie lost Joel she lost herself. At the moment of those deaths, at the start of that trauma, they forgot how to live. It became a block that they were unable to move past. Their entire identities became their trauma which meant that their lives were entirely pain. The only way to lessen that pain and eventually move past it is to accept it.

    In Part 1, Joel is a dead man who is completely cut off from the world and unwilling to let anyone in. The mere thought of Sarah causes him so much pain that he even initially refuses what is probably the only picture of his daughter that still exists. But once he meets Ellie and begins to trust her he begins to live again. He is much more open, willing to share stories about his life. At the end of the game, he’s even able to talk to Ellie about Sarah with a smile on his face. Joel has accepted his trauma. He does not forget Sarah but simply acknowledges that there were good times before her death and there will be good times after. He puts effort and attention into other aspects of life, mainly Ellie but also Jackson as well. He becomes more than the man with a dead daughter.

    Other characters also follow this path of healing. Like Joel, Abby begins to put energy into other aspects of life besides obsessing over her father’s death and getting revenge. She focuses her energy on protecting Lev and Yara. She is very much like Joel in this way. While being the guardian of these kids she starts to trust them, she tries to understand them, and eventually, she shares stories of her life. They reignite her love of life that she lost with her father’s death. This is cemented when Abby tells Lev that he is her people. This new drive expands into her optimistic search for the remaining Fireflies. Abby does not wallow in her friend's deaths but instead chooses to honor their lives and look to the future.

    

    This is repeated with Lev. Lev is not solely defined by his trauma. He does not let the persecution of the Seraphites and his mother ruin the freedom and peace that his religion gives him. He does not let his sister’s violent death ruin the memory that he has of her as a fighter and protector. After Yara’s death, Lev is not shy about talking about her with Abby. He doesn’t hide from what happened but accepts it and looks forward to his future with Abby.

    

    Dina is also a perfect example of this. It would have been very easy for her to be consumed by Jesse’s death and let it trap her with bitterness and sorrow. She refuses that outcome. Dina doesn’t ignore the events of Seattle but accepts them as they are. She talks to JJ about Jesse often and embraces Jesse’s family with open arms. She realizes that she has other things in her life to focus on. When Dina and Ellie are in the Synagogue looking for gas Dina explains that her faith helps her deal with grief and put things in perspective. Dina has her religion and her plan to build a family with JJ and Ellie to keep her motivated in life. Because Dina does not avoid her trauma it holds no power over her.

    

    This is the difference between the characters that heal and the ones that don’t like Ellie and Tommy. Both characters let Joel and Jesse’s deaths take over their lives to the point that it starts to erode their relationships with the living. From her journal, we know that Ellie can't bring herself to talk about Joel the same way that Dina talks about Jesse. The experience is too painful for her at the moment. She has constant nightmares and flashbacks to Seattle and Joel’s death. Because Tommy has spent the entire time tracking Abby we can assume that his experience is much the same. If Tommy had never found Abby it is possible that they would have been forced to confront their trauma and move past it. Tommy provides Ellie a very tempting opportunity to run from her pain one more time that she sadly takes.

    

    The lie of being immediately free from her pain motivates Ellie to abandon her family and hunt Abby for hundreds of miles. She almost dies multiple times but she finally gets the confrontation she was looking for but Abby refuses to fight her. Abby understands that it won’t make either of them feel better. It’s only when Ellie threatens Lev, her new reason to live, that Abby accepts. The fight is bloody and gruesome for not only the characters but also for the player who is in a way killing themself. Ellie eventually gets the upper hand and begins to drown Abby. She is mere seconds away from achieving her revenge when she gets a flash of Joel. At that moment Ellie finally realized that it won’t stop. Even if she kills Abby the nightmares won’t stop. She’ll still be haunted by Joel’s death. The only thing killing Abby would accomplish would be projecting her trauma once again on another person, Lev. This is the same realization that Abby made in the theatre. Ellie lets her go in a final attempt to end the suffering this entire event has caused.

    At the end of this story, Ellie returns to the farm to find it empty. Her family has moved on. The only thing left is her guitar. For one last time, she tries to play “Future Days” but is unable to because of her missing fingers. Once more she is physically separated from Joel but this time it might be a blessing. This separation gives her the chance to realize that there is more to life beyond Joel. She does not have to let her life be defined by this one horrible event. She has been given the opportunity to accept her trauma, move past it, and look to future days. Let’s hope she takes it.

 

    The Last of Us Part 2 gives us a new perspective on trauma and the healing process that I don’t think any other videogame touches. Trauma is destructive, painful, and spreads like a disease to those around us. The only way to combat it is to confront it head-on, realize that it is just another part of your life, and find other reasons to be a part of life every day. You do not have to be your trauma. 

Addressing Critique

     While gathering my thoughts and writing this essay I came across a lot of criticism of the game that I felt was not accurate or fair to the ideas that the game was trying to communicate. I feel compelled to directly address them here.

Joel’s Death

    Ever since the leaks about Joel’s death came to light many fans of the original game condemned the sequel. They felt that Joel’s unceremonious death was a betrayal to the character and his numerous fans. The Joel they knew would never be trusting of strangers or be caught unaware. If Joel was to ever die, he should die glorious, taking many enemies with him, and deliver a satisfying farewell.

    To this, I would simply say that an unsatisfying farewell is the point of Joel’s death scene. In the grand scheme of the world, Joel is a rather unimportant person. Just another human who while trying to survive did horrible things but also developed meaningful connections with those around him. There is no reason why his death should be given any more prominence than anyone else.

    The manner of Joel’s death also helps to develop the themes of the story. It is intentionally traumatizing. Ellie would be less compelled to hunt Abby if Joel was able to deliver some comforting final words. She wouldn’t be as haunted if Joel died some heroic death where Ellie could remember his final moments with fondness. Without this inciting moment of trauma, the story would be nothing.

    Finally, Joel’s final actions are completely within character. His journey in Part 1 is a man who trusted no one and even prayed on the kindness of others to a man willing to be vulnerable with those close to him. A cold and miserable person becomes a warm and happy one. The fact that at the end of Joel’s life he chooses to save and trust a complete stranger shows his growth as a person and a character. His arc was complete.

Abby’s Character

    Many people mark Abby’s character as a flaw of the game. These people claim that her character was unlikeable or poorly written. Ultimately the likability of Abby’s character comes down to opinion but to say that she is poorly written is entirely incorrect.

 

    Abby is undeniably a multi-layered character who evokes a great deal of empathy. Her journey is so similar to Ellie and Joel’s that one would have to intentionally shut themselves off to not feel for her or not find her compelling. Her fear of heights and sometimes abrasive personality really grounded her character and made her feel real. It seems clear to me that those that claimed that Abby’s character is poorly written were either blinded by their attachment to Joel or were offended by her body type.

 

    

    To let these things stop you from enjoying such an amazing character is a shame. By the end of the game, Abby was my favorite character and I found her different body type such an interesting aspect of her character. The game was never afraid to let Abby literally physically flex her strength. I truly hope that Abby is the start of a new era of female characters with actually diverse body types.

Representation

     I’ve noticed a fair bit of criticism from the LGBTQ community about storylines of the game’s queer characters. The idea is that queer characters are far too often surrounded by death and suffering. This gives the idea that queer people are not allowed to be happy and must constantly face persecution. 

    For most of the game, Ellie is experiencing a severe case of depression and PTSD that strains her relationship with Dina to the point that she eventually leaves. These issues are nowhere near resolved by the end of the game. The father of Dina’s baby dies, she almost dies, and her partner abandons her to go on a suicide mission. Lev’s village persecutes and hunts him and his sister because his identity, The Seraphites repeatedly deadname Lev, his last moments with his mom were almost certainly traumatic, and seeing his sister die obviously didn’t help that. Although I agree that queer characters should be allowed to be in stories without trauma and suffering TLOU2 is about exactly that. To have a story about trauma and not have its characters experience that would be antithetical to both the theme and message of the game.

    Lev’s story is not added on for shock value or to exploit the pain of trans identities. Lev is in a special position within the story because of his trans identity. Lev’s trauma doesn’t come primarily from a place of grief like Ellie and Abby. It comes from a place of isolation. His village and his mother abandoned him, stripping him of not only their comfort but safety as well. That is why it's so important when Abby says, “You’re my people.” Lev has found the family he deserves. From what I’ve seen on twitter many trans people found it validating to see a trans character go through the same struggles as they did. They got to see someone like them be shunned by their family but ultimately found a new family that accepted them for who they are and offer them the protection that their family should have given them. By the end of the story, Lev is much more than his trauma. On this point I would love to hear more perspectives from LGBTQ people.

Sadness and Violence

    One of the prevalent criticisms of the game I’ve seen has been against its bleak tone. The judgment is that the story does nothing but make the player feel miserable with the horrors you are forced to witness and take part in. This in addition to the opinion that the game beats you over the head with the overdone message of revenge is bad creates the perception that the game is nothing but misery porn.

    To these points, I say that there is a much-needed place in the media for stories that cause emotional distress or invoke sadness. This is something that has been widely accepted in other genres of media such as “The Handmaid’s Tale.” That story in no way inspires happiness or excitement but in its misery, it delivers a rather powerful message. I don’t want the entirety of video games to be about fulfilling a power fantasy for the player. I want there to be at least some sections of games that force players to confront difficult and unpleasant realities. TLOU2 does this excellently. 

     I can also very easily understand how a game like this would be unpleasant or extremely emotionally triggering for some people. There is absolutely nothing wrong if the type of story being told in TLOU2 does not appeal to you. The game does not hide the fact that it will be a difficult experience. You can tell just from the ESRB rating. TLOU2 is a mature-rated game that will be dealing with sensitive topics. In its telling of sensitive topics, I never felt that I was being beaten over the head with the theme. Each character in the story experiences trauma in a different way that helps to develop its overarching theme of recovery.

    That’s pretty much all of my thoughts on the game. In short, I think The Last of Us Part 2 is great. It’s a fantastic game with a fantastic story that I think resonates with a lot of people. I’d love to continue to talk about this game with anyone who's interested. Don’t be afraid to reach out.