The Last of Us: Is Joel a bad guy?

The Last of Us is a video game.  And when some people hear those two words (video + game) they immediately picture an overweight, virgin teen growing out of a sofa with a barrel full of pork rinds sitting next to them, pushing buttons to make a pixelated figure jump up and down.  That might somewhat be true, but sometimes that pixelated game you're envisioning is more than just collecting coins and saving a princess.  Sometimes that controller is attached to a visually stunning, character driven story, set during a zombie apocalypse.

Without a blink of an eye or even the slightest hint of hesitation, I can easily say The Last of Us has been this summer's best story experience.  Even if video games hold about as much interest to you as a passing fart, The Last of Us has a story any person, from any walk of life can relate to.

WARNING:

Full plot and details exposed throughout this article, so if you haven't yet played TLOU, please do not read on.  Play the game first, and then come back.  Yes, it’s that frigging good!

"I leave you with your friends for a couple of hours, and what do I come home to? 

Brains and guts all over the carpet--again--that's what!"

STORY:

Joel, a father who lost his daughter, Sarah, to a zombie outbreak, becomes withdrawn and uncaring in the new post-apocalyptic world.  After taking a job to escort a young girl named Ellie, to a safe haven, all those buried paternal feelings return, and he slowly transforms into the loving man he once was before the world turned to crap.  An unbelievable story and gaming experience ensues, as both Joel and Ellie find themselves dependent on each other through the hardships a world of zombies and cannibals have to offer.

"Alright, I'll shoot 'em, but I'm not eating 'em."

A BAD ENDING & BAD JOEL?

In interviews, Naughty Dog has said the ending didn't test well and the team was thinking about changing it.  You can contribute these feelings to people who felt Joel ends up being a bad guy in the end.  But if you consider Joel’s decisions throughout the story and his character's motivations, the ending becomes perfect.  He makes a choice at the end, not because the story calls for it, but because of who he is inside.

Joel starts off the game as a protective loving father.  You see this character trait stuffed in quiet moments with Sarah, as the two of them converse affectionately.  When Sarah is then killed in Joel's hands during the outbreak, not only does she die, but the paternal Joel dies too.  And when we catch up with Joel twenty years later, his current mindset is to put the least possible effort into surviving.  But while escorting Ellie—even though he tries to fight it and remain hollow—Joel finds his paternal side slowly returning.

"I wonder if anyone re-tweeted me."

Let’s talk trust.  Toward the end of the story, Ellie happens to run into David, the leader of the marauders who Joel and Ellie have been killing throughout the story to survive.  Even though David tells Ellie repeatedly that he won't harm her—he even helps her survive a zombie onslaught—did you ever once get the feeling you could trust him?  No, and that untrustworthy feeling comes to fruition when he throws Ellie in a cage and tells her she'll be hacked up for food.

"I said: hot--sauce--with--my--eggs. Not ketchup! 

Maybe now you'll remember my order next time." 

Now take David's character and compare him with Joel.  Both are doing what needs to be done to survive.  But here's the question: would David put his life before any of his men?  Nope.  But Joel would do anything he could to keep Ellie safe, just like any caring father.  He puts himself in harm's way throughout the story fighting bands of mercenaries, government officers, and zombies. 

Joel even lies.

This is what most people have a hard time swallowing.  "But he lied to Ellie at the end!"  Sure, but he did it to keep her safe.  Joel’s paternal trait was built around an instinct to keep his child protected.  Sarah or Ellie's life comes first before anyone or anything else, even if that means not saving humanity. 

"I want you to tell me the truth, Joel. 

Did the teenage mutant ninja turtles really exist, before all of this?"

People keep saying: but the Fireflies had a cure—they knew how to save humanity.  Really?  So a bunch of people working with timeworn machines during a zombie apocalypse knew for certain, that killing an innocent girl would definitely save humanity?  The only thing that Joel knew for certain, was getting Ellie away from the Fireflies would save her life.  And that became reason enough for his actions.

THE PERFECT ENDING:

Naughty Dog hit us with an unexpected finale that makes perfect sense when you consider the whole story as a character study.  But wait!!!  What if Joel did side with the Fireflies and helped kill Ellie at the end?  Well…then every action, conversation, and heartfelt moment—even Joel mourning his daughter by carrying her watch—would have been built up for nothing.  All the worrying and caring for his daughter, and for Ellie…gone, because the plot needed Joel to save the world.  Would that really have made more sense?

 

"Maybe your not listening: Mickey Mouse was not real."

"Then why did people celebrate his birthday, Joel?"

"He was a frigging fictional mouse, and--you know what? Forget it. 

From now on, stick to zombies. Damn...where is a clicker when you need one?"

Instead, Joel decides to remove everyone that can harm Ellie.  And that’s not even the best part of the final moments.  The best part comes in the form of a bittersweet question: Ellie asks Joel flat out, whether everything he told her about the Fireflies not needing her is true.  Again, the paternal instinct kicks in and Joel tells her of course.  And since she trusts him to no end—and even if she thinks he’s lying—you get one of the most perfect endings I've ever had the pleasure to witness.  She says okay and BAM—cut to black.  Perfect.  Two people in a screwed-up world finally realizing that they need each other.  What else can you ask for?

"Oh my God, a spider!"

"What!?! Get it off! Get if off!"

"Hahaha...totally punk'd you on that one. There is a zombie though."

CONCLUSION:

In the end, the game/story is a character based drama involving two people, who under unlikely circumstances find themselves depending on each other.  The story is about Joel and Ellie, not the zombies, not the Fireflies, and definitely not humanity.  Joel didn't travel all that way in the game to save humanity.  He did it because he felt as though Ellie needed saving, and he was the only one who could do it.  Some people will never come to think of Joel as a noble individual, but that's alright, because in a post-apocalyptic world, there is no black or white, there's just gray.  Joel isn't bad.  He's just a man trying to do what he can to save his child.

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