Owen Moore is a problem. Not a problem for the Fireflies or the Washington Liberation Front, though he certainly became one for Isaac eventually. He’s a problem for the players. Even years after The Last of Us Part II hit shelves, if you scroll through any subreddit or forum, Owen remains a lightning rod for some of the most heated debates in the fandom. People either view him as a spineless cheater or the only person in the entire game who actually had a moral compass left. Honestly? Both of those things can be true at the same time.
He’s the heart of Abby’s group.
Without Owen, Abby probably doesn’t survive her own obsession with Joel. But while fans spent hours analyzing Ellie’s descent into madness or Abby’s quest for redemption, Owen Moore often gets sidelined as just "the boyfriend." That’s a mistake. If you really look at the Last of Us Owen, you see a character who represents the exact thing everyone else in the game has given up on: the idea that life should be about more than just surviving or killing the people who hurt you.
The Firefly Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming
Owen was a Firefly through and through. That matters because the Fireflies weren’t just a militia; they were a group built on a desperate, almost naive hope. When the Salt Lake City chapter collapsed after Joel’s rampage at St. Mary’s Hospital, most of the survivors—Abby, Manny, Mel, Jordan—turned into cold, efficient soldiers for the WLF. They traded one uniform for another. They traded a "cause" for "survival."
Owen didn't.
He wore the WLF patch, sure. He was a top scar-killer for Isaac. But he never actually bought into the "Buy Local" ideology of the Stadium. While Abby was busy turning her body into a weapon of war, Owen was looking at the ocean. He was obsessed with the idea of finding the Fireflies again, not because he wanted more war, but because he missed the idea of being part of something that wasn't just about territorial disputes over a few blocks of Seattle.
Think about that aquarium. Most people in the apocalypse would see a derelict building full of rotting fish. Owen saw a home. He spent his free time decorating it, fixing up a boat, and trying to create a pocket of peace in a city that was literally burning itself down. It’s easy to call him a dreamer, but in a world like The Last of Us, dreaming is a dangerous, rebellious act. It’s a refusal to let the world turn you into a monster.
That Santa Barbara Lead
One of the most pivotal moments for the Last of Us Owen is his insistence on the Santa Barbara lead. It’s what drives the final act of the game. Mel calls him a "piece of shit" for it, and from her perspective, she’s right. He’s abandoning a pregnant woman to chase a ghost. But Owen’s desperation isn't just about the Fireflies; it's about the realization that the WLF is just a different flavor of the same poison.
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He tells Abby about the old man he was supposed to kill—a Seraphite who didn't even fight back. Owen couldn't do it. He was "tired of fighting over lines in the dirt." That moment of hesitation is what separates him from everyone else in Abby’s circle. It’s the moment he chose his humanity over his duty.
The Mel and Abby Mess: Owen’s Moral Failure
We have to talk about the cheating. There’s no way around it. Owen Moore is a messy, flawed human being. His relationship with Mel was clearly a rebound or a "safe" choice because Abby had shut him out emotionally to focus on her revenge. Mel was stable. Mel was there. But he didn't love her, at least not the way he loved Abby.
When he sleeps with Abby on the boat, it’s a moment of weakness that fans still use to write him off. It’s arguably his lowest point. He’s gaslighting Mel, who is carrying his child, while pining for the woman who spent years ignoring him to lift weights and plan a murder. It’s ugly. It’s human.
But look at the nuance there. Owen is the only one who tries to call Abby out on her behavior after Jackson. He’s the one who tries to tell her that killing Joel didn’t actually fix her. He sees the hollowness of her victory long before she does.
"You want to talk about what happened? We got what we wanted, right?"
The sarcasm in his voice during their conversations at the aquarium is biting. He’s grieving the version of Abby he used to know—the girl before the trauma. His infidelity isn't just about sex; it's a desperate attempt to reconnect with the person he lost to the cycle of violence. It doesn't justify what he did to Mel, but it explains why he was so emotionally fractured. He was trying to love someone who had become a ghost.
Why Owen Had to Die
The tragedy of the Last of Us Owen is that he was the only one who actually had a plan for a future. Ellie’s arrival at the aquarium is one of the most stressful sequences in the game because, as the player, you know Owen isn't a threat to her. He’s just a guy trying to get his family onto a boat.
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His death is arguably the biggest turning point for Abby. When she finds him and Mel in that room, the "old" Abby—the one who wanted revenge—nearly takes over again. Owen was her tether. He was the one who kept her from going over the edge after Joel. When Ellie took that away, it almost broke her completely.
The Parallel with Jesse
It’s interesting to compare Owen to Jesse from Ellie's side of the story. Both are effectively the "moral anchors" for the protagonists. Both are dragged into a revenge quest they don't fully believe in. Both end up dead because of a conflict that wasn't theirs to start with.
But where Jesse is stoic and reliable, Owen is impulsive and emotional. He’s the personification of the "softness" that the post-apocalypse tries to kill. If you’re too soft, you die. If you’re too hard, you lose your soul. Owen was trying to find a middle ground that simply didn't exist in Seattle.
The Legacy of the Aquarium
The aquarium serves as a massive metaphor for Owen’s entire character. It’s a place of beauty surrounded by decay. It’s a sanctuary that eventually becomes a tomb. Owen filled it with drawings, Christmas lights, and a sense of wonder.
When you play as Abby and explore the aquarium, you see the world through Owen’s eyes. You see the whale skeleton, the fake snow, the sailboat. It’s a stark contrast to the concrete walls of the Stadium or the muddy trenches of the Seraphite islands.
Owen’s "expert" move wasn't his combat prowess—it was his ability to curate joy. He understood that if you’re just killing to stay alive, you aren't really living. That’s a lesson Abby eventually learns, but she only learns it because Owen paved the way. He was the first one to say "enough." He was the first one to look for the light when everyone else was content sitting in the dark.
What Most Players Miss About Owen's Last Stand
When Ellie holds Owen and Mel at gunpoint, Owen's reaction is telling. He doesn't immediately try to kill her. He tries to negotiate. He tries to protect Mel. He only lunges for the gun when he realizes that Ellie is too far gone to be talked down.
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Critics of the character often say he was stupid for trying to disarm her. Maybe. But he was also a father-to-be who knew that if he didn't do something, they were both dead anyway. His final act was a desperate, failed attempt to save the life he was trying to build. He died for a future that was only a few miles of coastline away.
Navigating the Owen Moore Paradox
If you're looking to understand the Last of Us Owen from a narrative perspective, you have to accept the contradictions.
- He was a peace-seeker who was very good at killing.
- He was a romantic who betrayed his pregnant partner.
- He was a Firefly who wanted to quit the war.
- He was a WLF soldier who hated the WLF.
This complexity is why the character sticks with people. Naughty Dog didn't write him to be likable; they wrote him to be real. In the real world, "good" people make terrible, selfish decisions when they're under pressure. They cheat. They run away. They lie to themselves.
Owen Moore wasn't a hero, but he was the closest thing that group of friends had to a conscience. He was the reminder that there was a world outside of the war.
Actionable Takeaways for TLOU Fans
If you're revisiting the game or diving into the lore for the first time, keep these points in mind to get the most out of Owen's arc:
- Look for the drawings: Throughout the aquarium, Owen's sketches and notes reveal more about his internal state than his dialogue does. Pay attention to his focus on the natural world versus the military one.
- Listen to the ambient dialogue: During the flashback sequences, Owen often makes off-hand comments about the Fireflies' original mission. This provides crucial context for why he's so disillusioned with the WLF's territorial violence.
- Compare the "Boat Scene" to the "Museum Scene": Owen trying to give Abby a moment of wonder with the boat is Naughty Dog's deliberate parallel to Joel taking Ellie to the museum. Both men are trying to preserve the innocence of the women they love, despite the world trying to crush it.
- Analyze the "Lines in the Dirt" speech: This is the core of his character. It’s his thesis statement. Read it as a critique of every faction in the game, from the FEDRA remnants to the Rattlers.
Owen Moore's story is a tragedy of "almosts." He almost made it to Santa Barbara. He almost fixed his relationship with Abby. He almost saw his child born. In the end, his character serves as a warning: you can't just opt out of a violent world and expect it to leave you alone. You have to carry the weight of your choices, even the ones you made before you knew better.
The next time you play through Part II, don't just see Owen as the guy who got in the way of Ellie’s revenge. See him as the man who was trying to find a way back to being human in a world that had forgotten how. It makes those final moments in the aquarium hit much, much harder.
To truly understand Owen's impact, pay close attention to Abby's behavior in the final chapters. Every decision she makes—from helping Lev and Yara to refusing to fight Ellie in the water at first—is an echo of the conversations she had with Owen. He didn't survive to see the Fireflies, but his philosophy is what allowed Abby to eventually find them. He died so her humanity could live.