You’re probably here because you’ve reached the final, grueling stretch of the game and you're braced for the worst. Or maybe you've heard rumors and just need to know if the person who killed Joel actually gets what's coming to her. It's a heavy question. Does Abby die in The Last of Us Part 2? The short answer, and one that still divides the fanbase years after release, is no. She lives.
But saying "she lives" doesn't even begin to cover the state she's in when the credits roll.
By the time Ellie finds her at the Pillars in Santa Barbara, Abby is a shell of the soldier we played as for ten-plus hours. She’s emaciated. Her muscle mass—that physical manifestation of her obsession with revenge—is completely gone. She’s been crucified, essentially, left to rot in the sun by the Rattlers. It's a brutal, haunting image that shifts the player's perspective from wanting blood to feeling a weird, uncomfortable pity.
The Beach Fight: Why Abby Doesn't Die
The climax of the game is one of the most miserable sequences in modern gaming. You’ve tracked her across the country. You’ve lost everything—Jesse is dead, Tommy is crippled, and Dina has left the farm. You find Abby, cut her down, and for a second, it looks like she’s just going to leave. She doesn't even want to fight. She’s done.
But Ellie isn't.
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Ellie forces the confrontation, threatening a weak, unconscious Lev. The fight that follows isn't a "boss battle" in the traditional sense. It's a pathetic, splashing struggle in the surf. It’s two dying people trying to extinguish the last bit of light in each other. When Ellie gets the upper hand and starts drowning Abby, the game forces you to hold the button. You feel the weight of it.
Then, a flash of Joel.
Not the bloody, broken Joel from the golf club incident. It’s Joel on his porch, playing guitar. That single memory—that realization that killing Abby won't fix her soul or bring him back—is why Ellie lets go. Abby gasps for air, gathers Lev, and sails away into the fog.
Misconceptions About Different Endings
I’ve seen plenty of forum posts and YouTube comments claiming there’s a "secret ending" where you can actually kill her. Let’s be clear: there isn't one. Naughty Dog didn't make a choice-based RPG. This is a scripted, linear narrative. Whether you love her or hate her, Abby’s survival is the only way the story concludes.
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Some people get confused because of the theater fight earlier in the game. In that segment, you play as Abby, and you’re trying to kill Ellie. If you fail that sequence, Ellie kills you, and you get a "Game Over" screen. That’s not an ending. That’s just you failing the mission.
The story requires Abby to survive because her arc mirrors Ellie’s. They are two sides of the same coin. Killing Abby would have validated the cycle of violence, but letting her live allows Ellie to finally start healing, even if that healing comes at the cost of being alone.
What Happens to Abby After the Game?
Once Abby and Lev sail away from the beach, their immediate fate is left slightly ambiguous, but the game gives us a massive hint. If you finish the game, the main menu screen changes. Instead of the boat in the dark, foggy water, you see a boat washed up on a sunny beach in front of a large, circular building.
That building is the Catalina Island Casino.
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This confirms that Abby and Lev actually made it to the Fireflies. Earlier in the Santa Barbara chapter, Abby used a radio to contact a group claiming to be the reformed Fireflies. They told her to head to Catalina Island. The new menu screen is the "happiest" ending possible for her—she found the community she was looking for and she saved the kid she grew to care about.
Why the Decision to Let Her Live Still Riles People Up
Honestly, it’s understandable why players felt cheated. You spent thirty hours fueled by the same rage Ellie felt. To have the game take that "justice" away at the last second felt like a betrayal to many. But that’s exactly the point director Neil Druckmann was making.
If Ellie kills Abby, she loses the last shred of her humanity. By the end, Abby had already lost everything—her friends, her purpose, her strength. Killing her wouldn't have been a victory; it would have been an execution of a prisoner.
Reflecting on the work of critics like Gene Park or the deep-dive analyses from writers at Eurogamer, the consensus is that Abby’s survival is necessary for the game's theme of "forgiveness vs. revenge" to actually land. If she dies, the game is just a tragedy. Because she lives, it’s a story about the possibility of moving on.
Key Takeaways for Your Playthrough
- Don't look for a choice: You cannot change the outcome of the beach fight.
- Check the menu screen: The post-game title screen is your proof that Abby survives the journey to Catalina Island.
- Pay attention to the physical changes: Abby’s loss of muscle at the end is a symbolic stripping away of her "revenge persona."
- Observe the fingers: Ellie loses two fingers in the fight, which is the physical price she pays for her obsession, rendering her unable to play Joel's song on the guitar.
If you’re still feeling frustrated by the ending, try replaying the "Abby" chapters with the knowledge of how it ends. It’s a different experience when you aren't just waiting for her to die. You start to see the parallels in how she dealt with the loss of her father, Jerry, and how it mirrors Ellie's grief.
The next step is to head back to the main menu after the credits and look at that boat on the shore. It’s the only bit of closure the game gives you. From there, it’s worth checking out the "Grounded" documentary on YouTube to hear the developers explain why they felt Abby had to survive for the story to be complete.