People don't just play The Last of Us. They survive it. And honestly? They never really leave it behind. Most games give you a hero to root for and a villain to headshot, but Naughty Dog decided to break that mold and then set the pieces on fire. We're talking about a world where the "good guys" do terrible things and the "monsters" might just be the most human people in the room.
Whether you're team Joel or you think Abby was totally justified, there is no denying that The Last of Us video game characters have changed how we think about digital storytelling. It isn't just about the Cordyceps or the clickers. It’s about the messy, frustrating, and deeply beautiful people trying to find a reason to wake up the next morning.
Joel Miller: The Father Who Burned the World
Let’s be real. Joel is a complicated guy. At the start of the first game, he’s basically a walking shell. He’s cynical. He’s mean. He’s a smuggler who doesn’t give a damn about the world because the world took his daughter, Sarah, on night one of the outbreak.
When he meets Ellie, he doesn’t see a "savior of humanity." He sees cargo.
But then something happens. That slow burn? It’s arguably the best character development in gaming history. Watching Joel go from "don't mention my daughter" to "get the hell away from my daughter" is a masterclass in nuance. Troy Baker's performance isn't just about the big shouts; it's the quiet sighs and the way he grips his watch.
The Decision That Split the Fandom
You know the one. The hospital.
Joel decides that one girl’s life is worth more than a potential vaccine for the entire human race. Was he a hero? Or was he the ultimate villain? Most players felt like they were doing the right thing in the moment, but the fallout in The Last of Us Part II forced everyone to look in the mirror. Joel’s love was selfish. It was also completely understandable. That's the trap the writers set for us.
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Ellie Williams: From Hope to Hollow
If Joel is the heart of the first game, Ellie is the soul. She starts at fourteen, full of bad puns and genuine curiosity about a world she’s never seen. She’s immune, which makes her a "chosen one" trope on paper, but she never feels like a plot device.
By the time we hit the sequel, Ellie is... different.
She’s older, sure, but she’s also carryng the weight of Joel’s lie. When she finally finds out the truth—that she was supposed to die for the cure and Joel took that choice away—it breaks something inside her. Then, witnessing Joel’s brutal death at the hands of Abby turns that heartbreak into a singular, blinding rage.
Why Ellie's Journey is Hard to Watch
In Part II, Ellie becomes the hunter. We watch her lose her humor. We watch her lose her friends, like Jesse, and eventually, she almost loses her relationship with Dina. The most heartbreaking part isn't the violence she commits; it's the fact that she’s losing the very things Joel died to protect. By the end of the story in Santa Barbara, she’s physically and emotionally depleted.
She can't even play the guitar anymore. The last physical connection to Joel is gone because she couldn't let go of her hate. It’s brutal.
Abby Anderson: The Character We Weren't Supposed to Like
Man, did people hate Abby. When The Last of Us Part II launched in 2020, the internet was a war zone.
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Abigail "Abby" Anderson is the daughter of Jerry Anderson—the surgeon Joel killed to save Ellie. From her perspective, Joel isn't a grizzled survivor with a heart of gold. He’s the monster who murdered her father and robbed the world of its only hope.
The Perspective Shift
Naughty Dog pulled a risky move by forcing players to play as Abby for nearly ten hours.
At first, it feels like a chore. You want to get back to Ellie. But then you see her world. You see her relationship with Owen, her struggle with the WLF (Washington Liberation Front), and her eventual redemption through protecting Lev and Yara. You realize she’s just another version of Joel. She did a terrible thing for someone she loved, and it didn't even make her feel better.
By the time the two women have their final showdown, most players don't want either of them to die. That’s the magic of these The Last of Us video game characters. They aren't avatars; they're mirrors.
The Supporting Cast: More Than Just Redshirts
While the "Big Three" get all the headlines, the side characters do a lot of the heavy lifting. They provide the moral compasses that the protagonists often ignore.
- Tommy Miller: Joel's brother. He represents what "normal" could look like in Jackson, but even he gets consumed by the cycle of revenge.
- Dina: She’s the anchor. Her relationship with Ellie provides the only real warmth in a cold game. When she tells Ellie "we're not doing this anymore," it's the voice of reason we all wanted to scream at the screen.
- Lev: A young Seraphite (Scars) runaway. Lev is to Abby what Ellie was to Joel. He’s the catalyst for her regaining her humanity.
- Bill: A paranoid survivalist who serves as a dark warning to Joel: if you don't let people in, this is what you become. Isolated and bitter.
Why We Care So Much (E-E-A-T and Narrative Design)
Experts in narrative design, like those at Naughty Dog led by Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross, utilize a concept called "ludonarrative harmony." This is a fancy way of saying the gameplay feels like the story. When you're playing as Joel, you feel heavy and brutal. When you're Ellie, you're fast but vulnerable.
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The writers didn't use "fancy dialogue." They kept it short. They used silence.
They also leaned into the "life goes on" motif. The giraffe scene in the first game isn't just a pretty visual. It’s a reminder that the world is bigger than Joel and Ellie's trauma. According to concept artist John Sweeney, that moment was specifically designed to "reignite Ellie's lust for life."
The Moral Ambiguity of the Cordyceps World
One of the biggest misconceptions is that there is a "right" side.
There isn't. The Fireflies were willing to kill a child. The WLF were essentially a military cult. The Seraphites were a literal religious cult. In this setting, survival usually requires a piece of your soul.
When you look at The Last of Us video game characters, you have to look at them through the lens of trauma. Every single one of them is reacting to a loss. Abby lost her dad. Ellie lost her purpose (and then Joel). Joel lost everything.
What You Can Do Now
If you're looking to dive deeper into the lore or just want to experience the story again with fresh eyes, here are a few things to try:
- Play "Left Behind": If you skipped the DLC for the first game, you're missing out on Riley's story. It completely changes how you view Ellie's fear of being alone.
- Read the Artifacts: Don't just rush through the levels. The notes left behind by NPCs (like the tragic story of Ish in the sewers) build a world that feels lived-in.
- Watch the HBO Series: It’s one of the few adaptations that actually respects the source material while expanding on characters like Bill and Frank in ways the game couldn't.
- Analyze the Journals: In Part II, Ellie’s journal updates based on your actions and the story beats. It’s the only place she’s truly honest about how she feels.
The beauty of these characters is that they don't offer easy answers. They stay with you long after the credits roll, making you question what you would do if the world ended tomorrow and the only thing left was the person standing next to you.