He is the most famous person in the apocalypse that you never actually see. You know who I’m talking about. If you’ve played through the Pittsburgh or Suburbs chapters of Naughty Dog’s masterpiece, you’ve felt his presence. Ish from The Last of Us isn’t just a bit of world-building fluff or a collectible distraction. He is the soul of the game’s environmental storytelling.
It starts with a boat.
A wrecked trawler out on the beach, rusted and lonely. You hop inside, expecting maybe a few supplements or some revolver ammo, but instead, you find a note. It’s signed by Ish. This is the moment the game stops being just about Joel and Ellie’s trek across a dying America and starts being about the people who tried—and failed—to build something beautiful in the dirt.
People obsess over Ish for a reason. In a world where everyone is a hunter, a cannibal, or a cynical survivor, Ish was an optimist. He was a guy who survived the initial outbreak at sea, realized the coast was a nightmare, and decided that living in a sewer was actually a solid plan. And for a while? It worked.
The Subterranean Dream of Ish in The Last of Us
The sewer community is legendary. When you walk through those tunnels, you aren't just looking at level design; you're looking at a tragedy in slow motion. Ish wasn't a soldier. He wasn't some hardened survivalist with a tactical vest and a scowl. He was just a guy with a boat who happened to be "decent," as he puts it in his own logs.
Most players miss the nuance of how the Ish story arc mirrors the main game. While Joel is learning to care about one person, Ish was learning to care for dozens. He met a woman named Susan and her kids. He invited them in. He turned a literal drain pipe into a schoolhouse with colorful paintings on the walls and a goal for a soccer pitch. It’s haunting. You see the "Rainy Day" drawing on the wall and you realize these kids were living a semi-normal life while the world above was eating itself alive.
Why does Ish from The Last of Us resonate so much more than the flashy boss fights? Because he represents the "Small We." We focus so much on the "Big We"—the government, FEDRA, the Fireflies—but Ish was about the neighborly "We." He traded supplies. He set up rules. He made sure the kids had a place to play. He was the antithesis of the Hunter philosophy you encounter in Pittsburgh.
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What Really Happened in the Sewers?
It wasn't a bandit raid that killed the dream. It wasn't some grand betrayal or a cinematic explosion. It was a door.
One single, stupid mistake.
Someone left a door open. That’s it. That is how fragile the world is in Naughty Dog's universe. A group of Clickers got in because of a momentary lapse in judgment, and the "Suburbs" dream turned into a slaughterhouse. As you move through the sewer, the notes get more frantic. You find the room with "They didn't suffer" scrawled on the floor next to a pile of corpses under a sheet. It is arguably the darkest moment in a game that is already pitch-black.
Honestly, it’s gut-wrenching. You’re following the breadcrumbs of a man’s life, and you find the literal end of his hope. But here is the kicker: Ish didn't die there.
He got out.
If you look closely at the notes found in the houses within the suburban neighborhood—the ones with the sniper—you find the final chapter of the Ish saga. He, Susan, and a few of the kids made it to a house. They were trapped, mourning, and terrified, but they were alive. Ish’s last note is a testament to resilience. He’s pissed, he’s heartbroken, but he’s still Ish. He’s still going to try to survive.
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The Mystery of the Ish Cameo in Part II
Fans spent years scouring The Last of Us Part II for any sign of him. There are theories. Some think he’s the reason certain areas in Seattle have similar markings, or that he eventually joined the WLF or the Seraphites. But the truth is, Naughty Dog left him in the shadows.
That was the right call.
Ish works because he’s a ghost. If you met him, he’d just be another NPC with a quest or a cutscene. By keeping him on paper, he stays an idea. He represents the millions of people who lived their own "Last of Us" stories that Joel and Ellie will never know about. He makes the world feel massive.
Why the HBO Show Needs to Handle Ish Carefully
The TV adaptation has already shown it’s willing to expand on side stories—look at the masterpiece that was the Bill and Frank episode. Rumors always swirl about whether Ish will get his own standalone episode in future seasons. While the sewer sequence in Season 1 touched on the Henry and Sam tragedy, the full Ish backstory was largely relegated to the background.
If they do revisit it, they have to keep the "man of the people" vibe. Ish isn't a hero because he can headshot a Bloater from 50 yards. He’s a hero because he shared his crackers with a stranger. That’s the core of his character. In a 2026 gaming landscape where everything is about "the grind" or "the loot," Ish reminds us that characters matter more than mechanics.
Lessons from the Ish Storyline
You can actually learn a lot about narrative design from Ish. It’s called "Epistolary Storytelling." It’s the art of telling a story through letters, and Ish is the gold standard.
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- Information Gap: Don't tell the reader/player everything. Let them find the "Rainy Day" drawing and figure out the tragedy themselves.
- Contrast: Place a child's toy next to a shotgun shell. That’s where the emotion lives.
- The Unseen Threat: The Clickers are scarier when you only read about them breaking through a door you just walked through.
Ish is the ultimate "What If." What if things had gone right? What if the door stayed closed? Maybe the game wouldn't be called The Last of Us; maybe it would be called The First of Us, the start of something new.
But it didn't stay closed.
How to Find Every Ish Note Today
If you’re heading back into the Remake or the Remaster, you need to be meticulous. Most people miss the note in the back of the house near the sniper nest.
- The Beach: Check the interior of the shipwrecked boat immediately. This is the "Intro."
- The Entryway: Right as you enter the sewers, check the side room near the gate.
- The Schoolroom: Look behind the makeshift desks. There’s a note about the "rules" that is incredibly revealing.
- The Suburbs: After the sewer exit, check every single house. The final note is usually in the second-to-last house on the left before the sniper sequence triggers.
Pay attention to the dates. The timeline of Ish's community lasted longer than many realize. It wasn't a weekend retreat; it was months of actual civilization.
When you finish that section of the game, take a second to look back at the sewer entrance. It’s easy to just keep running because the game wants you to feel the pressure of the journey. But for a few dozen people, that hole in the ground was the only home they had left in the world. Ish made that possible.
Even if he’s just a collection of pixels and text files, he’s more "human" than most protagonists in modern gaming. He proves that even when the world ends, being "decent" is still a choice. A hard one, sure. But a choice nonetheless.
To experience the full impact of this story, don't just rush to the next combat encounter. Slow down. Read the handwriting. Notice the change in the tone of the ink. The real story of the apocalypse isn't in the fungus; it's in the people who tried to keep the lights on in the dark.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Writers:
To truly appreciate the Ish narrative, players should attempt a "lore run" where no combat is prioritized over finding environmental cues. If you are a writer, use Ish as a case study in how to build empathy for a character who never appears on screen. The key is focusing on their impact on others rather than their physical presence. Search for the "Boat Note" first, as it sets the emotional stakes for everything that follows in the Suburbs chapter.