Alyx Salfiti

*SPOILERS* The last of us part II again subverts the expectations of what a lead protagonist should be. While we feel genuine hatred for Abby after she so barbarically kills Joel it creates the same anger that Ellie feels within the player. Watching that scene unfold I felt the same anger and sadness as Ellie and rarely can a game illicit such a response. The last of us part 2 does a great job at posing a real question to the player. Can the love for someone out way the things they have done? And should they not be accountable for their actions? Joel systematically continued the end of the world by eliminating the only doctor that could have created a cure. Thus plunging the world into eternal chaos. Just because his intentions were not to lose another daughter can we really as rational thinking people not expect that decision to catch up with him? It should have and it did. Now when the shift to Abby arrives we again are posed another question. Who exactly is the villain here? We see Abbys trauma almost mimic Ellie’s. Loss of a father that fuels a blinding hatred. I think it’s quite poignant to point out Neil Druckmanns Israeli heritage, not to attack but as a backdrop for the themes of this game. I am a British born Palestinian and my life has continuous been filled with a parental given hatred for a people I know nothing about. I think the whole theme of the cyclical nature of revenge and violence are very real problems the world faces today. Inability to forgive and move past trauma. Naughty dog have really hammered home the idea that everyone is a villain in someone else’s story. Abby the villain in Ellie’s story. Joel the villain of Abby story. Ellie the villain in the stories of Nora, Mel and Owen. And in the world of the last of us that fits beautifully. It’s the post apocalypse and there are no good people any more. Just varying shades of grey. I praise this game not because the story was amazing. But because it dared to do something more. Challenge my preconceptions and opinions and art that makes you think that deep is never going to be bad a thing. Growth is everything. Forgiveness is all.