The following contains spoilers for The Last of Us Season 1, Episode 6, "Kin," which debuted Sunday, Feb. 19 on HBO.
The Last of Us Season 1, Episode 6 made some significant departures from the first game in order to give viewers a sneak peek at elements from The Last of Us Part II. Audiences got a small tour of Jackson, and the relatively normal life that the people there lead in comparison to the rest of the world shown so far. Attentive fans also realized that a key character from earlier in the game made a brief appearance in the show: Shimmer the horse.
Shimmer is the horse that Ellie rides at the beginning of The Last of Us Part II. As fans of the show and games have probably come to expect by now, there aren't many happy endings involved in the series, and Shimmer is no exception to this rule. What makes Shimmer's ultimate fate all the more tragic is the connection the player feels to her through their role as Ellie.
Shimmer's Loss Is Sudden And Tragic
In the first chapter of The Last of Us Part II, players spend a good amount of their time as Ellie patrolling the area around Jackson on Shimmer. Experienced players just assumed that this was the game introducing the mechanics of using the horse and that Shimmer would be present with Ellie on the rest of her journey. This assumption was reinforced when Ellie leaves for Seattle with Dina on the back of Shimmer. As players explore downtown Seattle for the first time, it seems as though Shimmer will be a useful part of their journey, which also develops a sort of relationship between players and the horse.
However, just part of the way into the second chapter, players go to jump over a small barrier a mine explodes, knocking Ellie and Dina off of Shimmer's back. As Ellie struggles to get to her feet, a member of the WLF comes and shoots Shimmer. The moment seems to come out of nowhere, and players are forced to realize just how dangerous Ellie's journey to Seattle is going to be. Shimmer proves that characters can die quickly without much warning. Players also realize that they will no longer have a horse to help them explore. From a story standpoint, Shimmer's death is just another part of Ellie's life in Jackson that is taken from her, contributing further to the tragic nature of the game's story.
The Last Of Us Is Setting Up Part II In Multiple Ways
Shimmer isn't the only element from The Last of Us Part II to show up in the show's sixth episode. For one, Jackson looks just like it does in the second game, and the show even sped up its timeline a little bit to ensure it was Winter when Joel and Ellie arrive. Seeing Jackson decorated for the holidays with snow falling is strongly evocative of Part II's opening scenes. The Last of Us has also set up Ellie's hope to be an astronaut, which will pay off if the show adapts her and Joel's trip to The Wyoming Museum of Science and History. Fans also speculate that an important Part II character appeared unnamed in Episode 6.
There is a moment where Joel and Ellie are talking with Maria when a girl can be seen staring at Ellie. While the actor is credited as "staring girl," many fans believe that she may be Ellie's eventual love interest Dina from the second game. With The Last of Us already being renewed for Season 2, fans are likely to see many of these elements return when the show adapts The Last of Us Part II's story.