With the premiere of the HBO Max series just around the corner, fans are looking back at The Last of Us games and reminiscing on the best and most heartbreaking parts of Joel and Ellie's story. Not everything about the games is sad and depressing, but the series certainly doesn't pull any punches when it comes to its darker moments.
From Ellie and Joel's rough initial relationship, to Ellie's rescue from the Fireflies, to Joel's gruesome death and Ellie's quest for revenge, The Last of Us franchise has spanned a wide range of emotions and moral dilemmas. Whether these iconic moments will return for the series is yet to be seen, but fans of the games are looking forward to seeing its live-action interpretations. Throughout Part I & II and the DLC Left Behind, the franchise has included some pretty heartbreaking and gut-wrenching moments for its characters.
10 Joel's Daughter Dies In His Arms During The Opening Scene
First and foremost, one of The Last of Us' most impactful scenes occurs within the first ten minutes of the first game. The story opens from the perspective of Sarah, Joel's daughter, and her experience with the beginning of the apocalypse. She, alongside Joel and his brother Tommy, are forced to run from the Infected monsters through a panicked city.
As they flee, Sarah is injured in a car accident, and Joel is forced to carry her. He takes her away from the city, begging for help from an armored soldier, only to realize a moment too late that he and his daughter are considered a risk. The soldier shoots Sarah, and Joel's daughter dies in his arms.
9 Tess Sacrifices Herself To Protect Joel And Ellie
Twenty years after the outbreak started, Joel and his smuggling partner Tess find themselves involved in a political mess between a black-market arms dealer and a rebel militia known as the Fireflies. In order to retrieve a stolen cache of weapons, they're asked to transport a person — Ellie — to a group of Fireflies outside the quarantine zone.
Along the way, Joel learns Ellie is immune to the virus. But after they discover that the Fireflies have been killed, and that soldiers are closing in to apprehend Ellie, Tess reveals that she's been bitten by an Infected and sacrifices herself to allow Joel and Ellie to escape.
8 Joel Insists That Ellie Is Not His Daughter
Throughout The Last of Us Part I, Joel struggles with his feelings towards Ellie. Once he realizes she sees him as a father figure, it triggers the grief he still kept over the loss of his daughter, Sarah. He tries to leave Ellie with his brother Tommy, but Ellie creates a scene and tries to run away instead.
After they're reunited, Ellie confronts Joel about their relationship. She demands to know what he's so afraid of, and compares herself to his daughter, but Joel doesn't want to hear it. He insists that Ellie isn't his real daughter, and that he isn't her father.
7 Ellie Is Traumatized After Killing David
After a group of bandits seriously injures Joel, Ellie spends several weeks nursing him back to health and gathering supplies. While hunting, she meets David and James, two seemingly innocent scavengers who eventually reveal themselves to be cannibals and a part of the bandits that injured Joel.
Ellie tries to fight her way out, killing James, but becomes trapped in a burning restaurant with David. After a long and gruesome sequence, Ellie manages to grab a machete and kill him, but the act traumatizes her. It's only when Joel arrives and embraces her that she's able to calm down.
6 Joel Fights His Way Through The Fireflies To Rescue Ellie
One of the most difficult moments of the entire franchise, at least emotionally, occurs during the finale of Part I. After successfully delivering Ellie to the Fireflies, Joel learns that Ellie's immunity to the Infected results from a mutation in her brain. To study and replicate it, doctors will need to remove it, killing Ellie in the process.
Unable to let Ellie go, Joel finds his way to the operating room. He kills dozens of Firefly operatives and doctors along the way, but eventually manages to rescue Ellie. He then confronts the Firefly leader, Marlene, and kills her to ensure he and Ellie are not pursued.
5 Joel Lies To Ellie About The Cure And The Fireflies
The last scene of The Last of Us Part I is cathartic and heartbreaking. After everything Joel and Ellie had gone through together and Joel's desperate massacre of the Fireflies to save Ellie's life, he and Ellie found themselves again wandering the countryside together.
But Ellie feels guilty for surviving, and confesses to Joel that she's just waiting for her turn to go. When she asks him about the Fireflies, and makes him swear that everything he'd told her was the truth, he lies, claiming that the Fireflies had given up on finding a cure altogether.
4 Ellie Is Forced To Watch Her Friend Riley Become Infected
Following the success of The Last of Us Part I, Naughty Dog released a DLC for the game called Left Behind. In it, players witness some of the events preceding the first game from Ellie's perspective as she and her friend Riley explore an abandoned mall together. Riley has joined the Fireflies, and snuck off to visit Ellie one last time before her next assignment.
The girls get up to mischief, playing loud music and dancing together, but accidentally draw the attention of an Infected horde. Both girls are bitten and decide to spend their final hours together as the Infection takes over. However, Ellie is immune and forced to watch her friend turn before her eyes.
3 Abby Kills Joel To Avenge Her Father
Despite the controversy, The Last of Us Part II tells an emotional and heartbreaking story about the futures of Ellie and Joel. Years after the ending of Part I, Ellie and Joel have built a life together, but their relationship is strained. Joel and his brother rescue a girl named Abby from an Infected horde, only to learn that she seeks vengeance for her father's death, the surgeon Joel killed to save Ellie.
The following scene is horrific. Abby kills Joel with a golf club in front of Ellie, who bursts in unexpectedly, despite her desperate protests. During this scene, Ellie swears vengeance on Abby, and the events of the game are allowed to unfold.
2 Ellie Lets Abby Live, Despite Her Desperate Desire For Revenge
One of the most divisive parts of The Last of Us franchise occurs during the finale of Part II, during the final confrontation between Ellie and Abby. After hunting Abby down across the entire country, Ellie finally confronts her on the shore of an overcast beach. She makes Abby fight her, losing two of her fingers in the process, but eventually gaining the upper hand.
Then Ellie sees a memory of Joel, and she lets go. She tells Abby to leave and watches, sitting alone in the surf, as Abby's boat vanishes into the distance. Ellie's choice to spare Abby may be controversial, but the moment is painful and heartbreaking from either side of the discussion.
1 Ellie Returns To The Abandoned Farmhouse And Forgives Joel
The final scene of The Last of Us Part II is the culmination of Ellie's journey, and the capstone of her relationship with Joel. After sparing Abby, Ellie returns to her and Dina's farmhouse, only to find it abandoned. She finds Joel's guitar upstairs and tries to play it, but her missing fingers make it impossible.
The guitar reminds her of a conversation with Joel, one that happened after he confessed to his actions at the Firefly hospital. Ellie is angry with him, but she claims she wants to forgive him, too. After the memory fades, Ellie leaves the guitar behind and walks away from the farmhouse for good.