Naughty Dog's The Last of Us was a game-changer for the video game landscape as it prioritizes emotional depth, first and foremost. With a Last of Us TV series to be adapted with Pedro Pascal in the lead, it’s worth remembering the aspects that make this such a heartwrenching story.
In Joel and Ellie’s travels, the two came across a number of other characters who had just as tragic backgrounds as them. During both games, the characters were separated in the literal sense and in spirit. Times like Joel’s death, Ellie’s breakups, among others, all had heartbreaking moments where the protagonists were broken up against their wills or due to situations forcing them to.
10 Ellie's Escape After Joel's Decision To Leave Her With Tommy
By the time Joel got Ellie to Tommy’s base, he’d formed a connection with her and felt she reminded him of Sarah too much. However, Ellie caught onto his plan of Joel wanting to leave her with Tommy, prompting her to escape as she felt betrayed due to her father-figure's actions.
With most of The Last of Us’s memorable moments having featured Joel and Ellie prior to this separation, it was heartbreaking to see the pair seemingly end their association on such bitter terms. Of course, Joel went after Ellie and they reconciled, but the suddenness of their earlier estrangement and Ellie leaving him without any goodbye remains a sad memory.
9 Henry's Fear At Being Separated From Sam Around The Zombies
While in the sewers with Joel and Ellie, the brother duo of Sam and Henry were separated from one another. Here, Joel became trapped on the other side with Sam, leaving Henry beside himself with fear at having failed to be by his brother’s side.
Despite Joel being there, Henry’s desperation was a heartwrenching sight, as his entire goal in life was to protect his younger brother. Even with zombies arriving where he and Ellie were, Henry’s main worry was for Sam’s wellbeing. It was due to this that he was one of The Last of Us’s best characters, although Henry would sadly be separated from Sam for good when the latter turned into a zombie later.
8 Ellie Letting Abby Escape By Boat
In this instance, the separation was sad not because of a connection between the characters, but because of what Ellie was letting go of. After finally beating Abby down to get her revenge, Ellie realized she’d become a monster as she’d threatened the life of a little boy to goad Abby into fighting.
Despite having held onto her bid for vengeance for so long, Ellie tearfully let Abby escape during her moment of clarity. As Abby left by boat, Ellie realized she had let go of her last chance to avenge Joel and was flooded with the feeling of having let his memory down.
7 Tess' Last Stand To Give Joel & Ellie Time To Escape
Tess was the one who connected Ellie and Joel, being a kind figure to Ellie at a time when Joel only stuck around for Tess’ sake. Due to this, her separation with the two had an extra sting to it, especially since Tess knew she was bitten.
Unable to contain her tears, Tess begged Joel to take Ellie to the Fireflies as she wanted her death to mean something in case Ellie really was immune. As for Joel and Ellie, the two were left distraught at having lost the person both cared for, who then gave her life fighting their enemies so the pair had time to run away.
6 The Death Of Joel's Daughter
This was a separation through life and death, although Joel and his daughter were physically separated prior to that. As it happened, the two came across a quarantine zone where a soldier decided to shoot them rather than risk allowing potentially infected people in.
The resulting shot fired caused the father and daughter to take a tumble, and by the time Tommy killed the soldier, Joel realized the few seconds' worth of separation had taken Sarah away forever. When he reached her body, Sarah was at her last breaths. The truly heartbreaking aspect of this one is the fact that just a few moments away from one another tore Joel and his daughter apart permanently.
5 Joel & Ellie's Accident Before Meeting The Fireflies
Joel and Ellie’s year-long journey to get to the Fireflies ended in a tragic separation, as the collapse of a platform they stood upon meant they were on the verge of drowning. By the time they were rescued, the two were unconscious and unable to know what happened to the other.
The sadness of this split was mainly due to Joel and Ellie having had a genuinely optimistic outlook over what was in store for them before tragedy struck. They’d hoped to arrive in triumph with the chance of gaining answers, but were nearly killed and didn’t get a chance to process what happened either.
4 Ellie's Moment At Joel's Grave
This was when it started to set in for Ellie that Joel was gone for good. She didn’t have the time to process it when Abby was killing him, leaving her moment at his grave as her acceptance that she and Joel were separated without ever reconciling from their past estrangement.
There wasn’t much that happened here other than Ellie leaning toward the grave and letting her tears fall, but this served as the time for viewers to fully come to terms with the loss of Joel as well as it became clear he was gone for good.
3 Ellie & Riley's Final Goodbye
The interesting thing about this separation is that it was understood but unseen. In the ending of Left Behind, Ellie and Riley both awaited their fates after being bitten, yet neither knew that this only meant they would be separated since Ellie was immune.
Having only just realized their feelings for one another, it’s a shame that Ellie had to leave Riley in her zombified state when she’d planned on dying with her. For someone so young, there couldn’t have been a more heartbreaking situation than to abandon a loved one in such a state.
2 Ellie Leaving Dina Despite Her Pleas Against It
After having barely survived Abby’s assault against them, Ellie and Dina lived as a family with the latter’s son, only for Ellie to then decide she wanted revenge from Abby upon learning her whereabouts. Here, Dina broke down and pleaded with Ellie to let her anger go as they were happy together, but her words didn’t leave an impression.
Even though Ellie did love Dina and their new life, she couldn’t overlook Abby’s killing of Joel. This separation came across as realistic, sad, and even understandable as Ellie’s personality wouldn’t allow her to let go of her streak of vengeance. It was also sad for the fact that Dina had decided then that she couldn’t be with Ellie anymore.
1 Joel Being Forced To Leave Ellie At The Hospital
It will be interesting to see how Pedro Pascal emulates Joel in The Last of Us’ TV series, especially where this moment is concerned. When he came to at the Fireflies’ location, Joel was informed by Marlene that she was going to extract Ellie’s brain for the cure, thus killing her.
Rather than be given any chance of seeing her again, Marlene forced Joel to be separated from Ellie, threatening to kill him if he argued. After spending a whole year with Ellie and caring for her, Joel being torn away from yet another daughter was a difficult sight to bear. Add to that, his desperation at wanting to see Ellie again completed this separation’s keen sting.
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