Category: Finance | Title: Who Killed Joel in The Last of Us 2 Story and Character Analysis | Tag: Last of Us 2 | Meta Description: Facts on who killed Joel in The Last of Us 2, story context, character roles, and key narrative outcomes explained...
Who Killed Joel in The Last of Us 2
In The Last of Us 2, Abby Anderson kills Joel Miller in the opening sequence as revenge for the death of her father, Jerry Anderson, a Firefly surgeon. The event is a direct consequence of Joel's decision to rescue Ellie from the Firefly hospital in Salt Lake City, which he believed was necessary to protect her from a fate worse than death. This act of violence sets the entire narrative of the game in motion, establishing a cycle of vengeance that drives the plot forward. The scene is widely documented in official game materials and developer interviews from Naughty Dog, the studio behind the title.
The killing occurs at the beginning of the game, in the outskirts of Jackson County, Wyoming, where Joel and Tommy are repairing a boat. Abby, a member of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF), tracks them down and brutally murders Joel in front of Tommy. The sequence is designed to challenge player expectations and immediately reframe the moral landscape of the story. Naughty Dog's design director Neil Druckmann has discussed the intent behind this scene in multiple interviews, emphasizing the theme of cyclical violence.
Who Is Abby Anderson and Why Did She Kill Joel
Abby Anderson is the primary playable protagonist of The Last of Us 2, a young woman driven by a singular goal: to avenge her father's death. Jerry Anderson was a Firefly surgeon who was about to perform a surgery on Ellie that would have killed her to potentially create a vaccine for the Cordyceps infection. Joel's rescue of Ellie directly led to Jerry's death at the hands of Marlene and the Firefly forces. Abby's motivation is rooted in personal loss and a desire for justice, making her a complex antagonist rather than a simple villain.
The WLF, the faction Abby belongs to, is a militant group operating in Seattle, Washington, which serves as the primary setting for the second half of the game. Abby's physical strength and combat skills are central to her character design, allowing the player to experience the game from the perspective of someone who has every reason to despise Joel. This narrative choice forces players to inhabit the shoes of the person who killed the original protagonist, a decision that generated significant discussion among players and critics alike.
What Happens After Joel Dies in The Last of Us 2
After Joel's death, the story shifts focus to Abby's quest, which leads her to Seattle to find the WLF's leader, Isaac Dixon, and ultimately to confront the Seraphites, a rival religious faction. Along the way, Abby forms a bond with Lev, a young Seraphite defector, and Yara, his protective older sister. The narrative explores the consequences of Joel's actions through Abby's journey, showing how the cycle of violence affects multiple factions and individuals. The game's structure allows players to experience the emotional weight of Joel's death from both sides of the conflict.
The game's ending reveals that Ellie, the original protagonist from the first game, eventually tracks down Abby to seek her own revenge. However, after a prolonged and brutal confrontation, Ellie chooses to spare Abby's life, realizing that continuing the cycle of violence will not bring Joel back or heal her own trauma. This resolution underscores the game's central theme that revenge only perpetuates suffering. The narrative design has been analyzed extensively in media coverage, with many noting its departure from traditional hero-centric storytelling.
Key Narrative and Thematic Context
The Theme of Revenge and Its Consequences
The core theme of The Last of Us 2 is the destructive nature of revenge, illustrated through the parallel journeys of Abby and Ellie. Both characters are driven by the loss of a father figure, and both are willing to sacrifice everything to achieve justice. The game deliberately blurs the lines between hero and villain, asking players to empathize with characters on both sides of a seemingly irreconcilable conflict. This thematic depth is a hallmark of Naughty Dog's