Every Major Character Death In The Last Of Us Video Games

Post contains spoilers for “The Last of Us.”

With cannibals, totalitarian regimes, and vicious killer mushrooms on the rampage, death could be found around every corner of “The Last of Us,” and it was willing to strike at just about everyone and anyone in the world that worked as the base for these groundbreaking video games. This is what made Naughty Dog’s terrifying franchise bleaker and more unforgiving than most, with a story that dared to tie audiences to characters and just as quickly cut them out of existence in simple yet shocking ways, often packing emotional punches in the process. From central to side characters sprinkled throughout this world, the loss of many of them left their mark, proving just how much potential this story had in terms of being adapted into a different format and reintroduced to a brand-new audience waiting to get their hearts broken.

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Keeping some top-level tragedies in mind, here is every death, big or small, brief or tear-jerkingly drawn out, that hit as hard as a plank of wood up against a Runner’s cranium. Some of them have already made their way into HBO’s live-action adaptation of “The Last of Us” series, but almost all of them have led to fans crying at their screens.

“The Last of Us” is a world riddled with death, but nothing could prepare us for the first significant casualty of the franchise. On Joel’s birthday, his daughter Sarah wakes up to car alarms blaring, dogs barking, and explosions in the distance before her father and uncle grab her and decide to flee their home, only for them all to immediately run into chaos. Tragically, Sarah is gunned down in the process.

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As cold opens go, this was sub-zero temperature as Joel cries over his lifeless daughter and Tommy stands by, helpless to do anything about it. Much like the second chapter in this franchise’s history, an impactful death set the tone for what kind of story we could expect going forward and the type of game that was making every effort to set itself apart from what came before.

The genius move on creator Neil Druckmann’s part is having us actually control Sarah before her death, allowing us to literally bring life to a character who loves her father, her uncle, and has the kind of spark and attitude that Joel would see reappear years later in another crucial character in this franchise. When Sarah dies, it represents the same nightmare that we’ve lived in so many monster-filled post-apocalyptic worlds, in various forms: The darkest of moments often stem from humanity, not the abominations they’re trying to keep at bay.

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One of the wonderful aspects of this particular loss in “The Last of Us” is that some players were at risk of missing out on this experience entirely. That’s just the way the world Druckmann crafted unfolds. The profoundly tragic backgrounds of certain characters remain largely hidden from others, including the story of Ellie and her dear friend, Riley. Introduced in the expansion pack “The Last of Us: Left Behind,” featured in the limited comic book series “The Last of Us: American Dream,” and mentioned in the first “Last of Us” game, Riley was another bright soul navigating a very bleak and sinister world, sadly falling victim to its dark realities while Ellie managed to escape them.

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Much like Tess, Riley is another character who demonstrates that hope can emerge from tragedy in a world filled with Clickers and clashing factions. After sneaking out of their safe zone, Riley and Ellie enjoy a delightful time in a shopping mall, have a blast on a carousel, and even open up about their true feelings for one another beyond just friendship. Unfortunately, after a terrifying encounter with an Infected, both of them get bitten. It’s at this moment that Ellie discovers her remarkable immunity to the infection, though it comes at the unfortunate cost of Riley’s life. Just as Sarah was to Joel (in her own unique way), Riley represents the first poignant loss for Ellie that forever alters her path.

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It’s a tried-and-tested trope that, at some point in these end-of-the-world tales, someone who’s not going to make it out alive stays behind so others can, and goes out like a boss in the process. In the case of “The Last of Us,” that duty falls on the worn and weary shoulders of Tess, Joel’s business partner, whose effort to transport Ellie hits a fatal snag. Just as in the show, the game sees Tess get in a scuffle with Infected, leading her to accept not only her fate but also that humanity’s future could rest in this young girl who is apparently immune to the virus.

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As a result, she stays behind in the Capitol Building, awaiting FEDRA soldiers who are closing in, to give Joel and Elle time to escape. When they arrive, she’s gunned down immediately, as opposed to going out in a blaze of glory and taking some Infected with her, as Anna Torv’s iteration did in the show (which is a huge improvement of Tess’s biggest moment).

While it’s undoubtedly a tragedy to see the closest thing Joel has to a relationship end so swiftly, it’s a clear display of what loss means to the man whose life basically ended on Outbreak Day. In the aftermath of Sarah’s death, Joel is merely existing … until Tess’s death forces him to stick closer to Ellie and form the relationship that would be the core of this now-beloved story.

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Continuing the trend of tragedy befalling almost everyone who wanders into Joel and Ellie’s path in “The Last of Us Part I,” Sam and Henry are brothers trying to navigate their way safely through Hartford. Initially, their encounter is tense, with Joel being highly wary of Henry and vice versa. Due to the warm interaction between Sam and Ellie, a shaky alliance forms, only to fall apart when the group stops for the night and awakens to another horror. After fending off an attack from the Infected, it’s revealed that Sam was scratched and transformed into a Runner overnight, quickly awakening to attempt to attack Ellie. Joel is prepared to do what must be done, but not before Henry, in a panic, shoots his younger brother dead.

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It’s an act that understandably tips him over the edge, cursing Joel for ever having met them and feeling destroyed about what he’s just done. Seeing no other future without his little brother, Henry turns the gun on himself, just as he does in the show, killing himself off-screen before cutting to black. Then, we reunite with Joel and Ellie in spring. As harsh as it might be, there is enough evidence before and after this encounter that proves Henry might be right: The world is an unforgiving place in “The Last of Us” universe, and it only gets tougher for anyone who meets Joel and Ellie while they are in it.

It’s established very early on in “The Last of Us Part I” that those who were present before and after Outbreak Day live by necessity. Tough decisions need to be made, and harrowing actions that haunt individuals forever are all part and parcel of their new reality, and no one knows that more than both Marlene and Joel. The difference, of course, is that one is forced to live with their choices longer.

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Firefly member Marlene initially presents herself as somewhat of an ally to Ellie. There’s a history between the two, and when she tells Joel Ellie’s secret and asks him to transport her across the country, he agrees. But the truth about what the Fireflies have planned for Ellie is what sends Joel on the warpath and seals Marlene’s own fate.

Marlene and Joel are two sides of the same coin, determined to make the tough calls for what they believe is right. It’s why Ellie’s protector is already a step ahead of Marlene as she lies in her own blood. As she pleads for her life, Joel bluntly states that if he did let her live, she’d just follow them, before shooting her in the head and ridding himself of any witnesses who knew the truth. (Well, almost all of them.)

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We may have met Jerry Anderson in “The Last of Us Part I,” but we didn’t know how quite impactful his death would be until the latter stages of “Part II.” Tasked with operating on this unique patient that could bring an end to the infection that’s consumed the world, he’s perhaps just as important in the grand scheme of things as Ellie. Of course, the rest of the world will never know.

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Jerry is never directly named upon our initial encounter. It’s only until the second chapter of Joel and Ellie’s story that we find out who he is and the ramifications his death will have on our two heroes. Initially, he’s just another faceless victim of Joel’s, like so many others before him. It’s only in “Part II” that we actually spend time with him and realize just what kind of person he is.

Jerry is a loving father who is just trying to do good in a very bad world, and it’s here that the parallels are built, not only between himself and Joel, but also between Ellie and Abby. The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, propelling this story into even darker territory than before.

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No matter what side you stand on for the creative choice and impact as a whole in “The Last of Us” story, no death in the game can match the brutal, bloody, and almost unthinkable departure of Joel Miller. Drawn out to a stomach-churning degree (“you don’t get to rush this”), a sense of dread fills the air as soon as Tommy introduces himself and his brother (the show chooses to remove Tommy from the sequence instead), before our hero is swiftly shot in the leg. From there, we’re as helpless as Ellie is as we’re forced to watch her father figure be beaten to death by the then-mysterious Abby.

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While there’s no doubt that Joel’s death was the most impactful, like it or not, it’s also the most inevitable. Try as he might to redeem himself in protecting Ellie and starting as fresh as he can in Jackson, it doesn’t undo his killing spree on the Firefly base from years before, and the justice that would eventually catch up with him because of it. It’s why he’s so accepting of what’s coming from this stranger he tried to save only minutes earlier, and the tragedy of his final moments, failing to stand up for the one person he found a reason to live for again. In gaming history, Joel might be one of the most complex, flawed, and therefore compelling characters ever created, and it’s a death that even years later, fans still never quite recovered from.

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Abby’s vendetta might’ve been the most apparent in the events of “The Last of Us Part II,” but there’s no doubt that her former Firefly allies were also guilty when it came to the death of Joel. That made it somewhat understandable why they’d face justice for what they did, as a result of Ellie and Tommy’s wrath. Jordan, Leah, Manny, Mel, Nick, Nora, Harris, and Owen all played their part in that fateful day at the cabin, and even though some may have regretted their actions, it was too little too late for Jackson’s angriest local.

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The heartbreaking truth to all this is that the Salt Lake Crew, nicknamed after their hometown before joining the WLF, are casualties in a war between two fierce individuals bound by vengeance. Some are snuffed out without a second thought, while others are forced to face the consequences for their actions. Caught up in the cycle of violence and revenge, there are a few cases where we’re actually left just as heartbroken about their passing as Joel’s (Mel’s death in particular is truly haunting), proving just how grey and murky this world is and the vendettas and violence that unfold within it.

Sometimes the shock factor of a death comes in the nature in which they’re killed in “The Last of Us.” For Jesse, the biggest shock is just how quickly his light is snuffed out thanks to Abby, who tracks down Ellie’s hideout and manages to get a killing shot off against Dina’s baby daddy. Rushing to the sound of gunfire, Jesse takes a bullet to the head as soon as he opens a door inside the theater in Seattle, once again highlighting the brutal nature of “The Last of Us” and the heartless send-off he received while Ellie is forced to fend for herself.

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Just like how Tess and Bill are caught in the chaos that follows Joel in the first game, Jesse is another ally who gets a tough break thanks to Ellie’s quest for vengeance. Easily one of the most chill characters in the franchise, Jesse is fine with Ellie and Dina getting together, and is a solid and trustworthy enough presence in Jackson for Tommy to ask for help tracking them down. There’s so much potential in Jesse, even if he doesn’t agree with Ellie’s actions, so seeing him swiftly shot down is less of a gut punch and more of a swift jab that you have no time to process.

While many characters occupy a gray area between hero and villain, it’s clear that WLF head Isaac Dixon leans more toward the latter. This distinction makes his death relatively easy to accept, but it represents a significant turning point for Abby. A rebel who turned into a dictator, Isaac had the opportunity to allow the Seraphites to exist peacefully rather than pursuing his war-driven vendetta against outsiders. Unfortunately, like many other characters in the game who let their obsessions get the better of them, his resolve to eliminate those he perceived as threats ultimately led to his downfall, especially after he discovered that one of his own had betrayed him by siding with the enemy.

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After Abby eventually started to see the bigger picture that went beyond the revenge she’d sought and the retribution that was coming for her, the former Firefly drew a line in the sand between Dixon and Lev, the Seraphite she’d befriended during her journey. Much to Dixon’s disappointment, he offered Abby a second chance, which she refused, and before he could pass judgment, he was shot down by the young scar instead. While we don’t see him killed on screen, it’s confirmed over the radio that Dixon died from his wounds, and everything he was so determined to accomplish died with him. With this in mind, it’ll be interesting to see if Dixon, who is played once again by Jeffrey Wright in the show, will have a similar exit or if a grander death is in store for one of the true monsters of “The Last of Us” franchise.

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