Each character of The Last of Us has had at least one scene that establishes who they were supposed to be and what they bring to the story.
During the course of the two The Last of Us games, there were a number of characters who were more prominently featured than others. Each had at least one scene that established who they were supposed to be and what they brought to the story.
Even Joel and Ellie, who are the main protagonists, have one specific moment that stands out compared to the many other memorable scenes. It will be interesting to see if The Last of Us’s HBO TV series will incorporate these into the live-action adaptation, although it’s worth being up to speed with them, regardless.
There were very few LGBTQ+ characters with emotional characterizations in video gaming before The Last of Us: Left Behind showed Ellie’s feelings for Riley. Here, Ellie revealed her attraction by kissing her friend as a way of asking her not to leave, which ended up convincing Riley.
This scene is iconic mainly due to bringing a layer of genuine storytelling in The Last of Us as far as Ellie’s romantic tendencies are considered. It established who she was and why Riley’s loss meant so much to her. The Last of Us: Part II’s arc of Ellie’s relationship with Dina would never have worked had this scene not shown the real Ellie.
Although introduced in the first game, the sequel showed just how dangerous Tommy truly is. This scene doesn’t even play out from his point of view, though, as Tommy shot at Abby and Manny from a distance. He turned out to be the stuff of nightmares, as Manny ended up getting killed while Abby was beaten.
The scene showed what Joel had been talking about when he told Ellie that he and Tommy had done whatever they could to survive. This was to establish that Tommy was perhaps the more dangerous Miller brother and that the story would have been equally as interesting had he been the protagonist.
Although the sequel gave Abby enough of a backstory to be a layered character, she’ll always be mainly associated with taking Joel’s life. For this reason, she’s iconic to the fanbase for taking everyone by surprise and killing the previous game’s protagonist.
Unknown to Joel, he’d just saved the person who intended to take his life, as Abby and her friends had him beat up before she killed him. It began the cycle of violence and hate that was the theme of the story, and Abby was set as one of the main characters.
In what is one of the most heartbreaking separations in The Last of Us, Dina begged Ellie to let go of her bid for vengeance against Abby, with no success. Before Ellie left, a teary-eyed Dina let her know that she wouldn’t be there when Ellie returned, as she couldn’t take this kind of heartbreak.
Although a sad scene, it nevertheless dispelled any notion that Dina’s role was to simply be Ellie’s love interest. Instead, it proved that she was her own person and knew she didn’t deserve to be treated as an expendable part of Ellie’s life.
It seems to be a running theme for the best characters of The Last of Us to not make it till the end. Henry and Sam suffered the same fate, although their last night alive was their best in the game. Here, Henry bonded with Joel over their love of motorcycles, while Sam spoke to Ellie about his fear of becoming an Infected.
Having mostly been treated as supporting characters, the scene showed the usual survivalist Henry as the young man he was. Sam’s fears were later shown to be born out of him being bitten, thus sealing the memory of his conversation as foreshadowing and making it a profound moment for Ellie.
Tess will forever be remembered for her sacrifice, as it allowed Joel and Ellie to escape, thus paving the way for the series’ story. As it happened, Tess realized she was infected and decided to make her last moments count by gunning down the trio’s enemies.
This scene is notable for showing Tess with her guard fully down, as she openly grieved her doom but carried a sense of hope that saving Ellie would count for something. It showed that it was okay to be scared, with it not getting in the way of Tess ultimately being brave enough to face death, head-on.
Although he had a lot of scenes in the story, Lev’s most important one was where he simply gave Abby a look. This was when Abby was about to kill Dina, despite knowing she was pregnant, but stopped when Lev asked her not to.
It went to show that Lev didn’t let go of his innate sense of right and wrong, even though he’d been almost killed by his own mother. The scene confirmed that Lev hadn’t given in to the hate-filled world and still retained his morality when others had abandoned it.
Rather than carry any deep meaning behind it, Bill’s most memorable moment in The Last of Us was simply because it was so entertaining. He arrived in the nick of time to save Joel and Ellie from the zombies, following which, he ran his motor mouth at them to hilarious lengths.
The scene played out with Bill and Ellie taking shots at one another, with both delivering some pretty funny lines. Bill also came out looking like one cool survivor, as he had plenty of shots to fire at the zombies surrounding the trio.
Although not as important to the story as Lev, Yara will be remembered through this scene for providing him with the support he needed. After finding Lev distressed for accidentally killing their mother in self-defense, Yara didn’t hold it against him.
Instead, she gave Lev the assurance that it was all right since he was defending himself. Moreover, she displayed her unconditional love for her sibling, which was something Lev truly needed after being an outcast.
It will certainly be a challenge for Pedro Pascal to emulate Joel’s mannerisms in the HBO series, as this scene made him out to be both a hero and a villain. Up until this point, players would have been inclined to see him as the protagonist, only for Joel to slaughter all the Fireflies after learning Ellie would die during their attempt to extract a vaccine out of her.
It remains a highly polarizing moment, but one that stands out as Joel’s most prominent one, as his paternal instincts overcame any sense of logic. For some, he came across as a desperate father saving his child, while to others he went down as the man who forever doomed humanity.
