Abby & Ellie's revenge storyline in The Last of Us game is slightly more complicated than I imagined it to be

The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 2, Through the Valley, dropped on April 20, 2025, on Max, leaving the viewers (count me in) in utter shock. For the unversed, this episode portrayed the gruesome death of Joel Miller by Abby. Joel had previously killed the firefly rebels, including Abby's surgeon father, to rescue his 'adoptive' daughter Ellie from a deadly operation to find a cure for the Cordyceps infection.

In the episode, Abby tricked Joel into a chalet, shot him, brutally hit him with a golf club, and finally stabbed him to death, all in front of his adoptive daughter Ellie while she was pinned down by Abby's teammates. Ellie was forced to watch Joel die as she screamed and cried her heart out. At the end, when Ellie swore revenge and said,

"I'm gonna kill you.. I'm gonna f----ng kill you,"

it almost felt like the beginning of a straightforward vengeance story.

I have never played The Last of Us Part II, but after Joel's brutal death, I had to know how it all ended. What I found after scrolling through forums and articles was truly surprising. This isn't a straightforward revenge tale I expected- it is something far more complicated, far more human.

Reader's discretion: Contains spoilers from The Last of Us II game and contains the author's opinion.

How is Ellie & Abby's storyline in The Last of Us game more than just a revenge plot?

The Emmy-winning HBO show is based on Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II. The plot ended up being quite different from my expectations. What I imagined was Ellie's ultimate revenge: to hunt down, torture, and kill Abby, in the same gruesome manner as Joel. But the video game plot transformed my imagination – it struck a chord within me, a feeling that violence isn't always the right answer.

In the video game, Ellie plans to hunt down Abby and kill her to avenge Joel's death. When Ellie, Jesse, and Tommy reach the aquarium in Seattle, they only find Owen and Mel. Ellie brutally kills them, not realizing that Mel is, in fact, pregnant. This emotional event scars Ellie, who realizes that revenge comes with a price – a price of emotional turmoil within. What makes Ellie's journey so heartbreaking is how the pursuit of revenge and violence destroys her.

Coming back to the video game's plot, Abby tracks down Ellie, Jesse, and Tommy. She kills Jesse and Tommy, but spares Ellie's life after Lev convinces her that it would only bring her grief. Yes, it's kind of shocking that Abby spares Ellie's life willingly. From what I have read so far, the video game switches to Abby's perspective, making the players walk in her shoes. For a change, the players get to see Abby's fears and struggles – her nightmares about her dead father, her saving Lev and Yara, and the constant regret of killing Joel.

What shocked me the most was that Ellie is still vengeful; she challenges Abby for a rematch in Santa Barbara. And when she is on the verge of drowning and killing Abby, she gets a vision of Joel smiling at her. Ellie spares Abby's life after realizing that killing her would not bring back Joel but would invite more trouble, violence, and emotional trauma. Thus, in a way, both Abby and Ellie break the cycle of revenge and trauma that haunted them for several years.

How HBO's The Last of Us might enhance the game's powerful scenes?

As HBO adapts this story from the game, they have an opportunity to make these themes more potent. The visuals might feel more realistic, such as Ellie's trembling hands after a kill or Abby's conflicted expression as she spares Ellie's life.

What stayed with me is how the story subverts our expectations about justice and closure. Both Abby and Ellie have chances to kill each other, but they don't. Ellie's realization that killing Abby won't bring Joel back transforms the story completely.

In a world full of stories that glorify vengeance, The Last of Us dares to tell the uncomfortable truth: sometimes the only way to win is to stop fighting.

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Read more: I just watched The Last of Us Season 2 do the thing we all feared – Here’s how it stacks up to the game

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