The arc of Ellie’s story left her at her lowest moment in Part II, but her narrative arc isn’t complete. Yet Part II’s ending sets the stage for Ellie’s redemption. Part II shows those consequences when Abby murders Joel as revenge for the demise of her father (the surgeon in Part I) and shows how Ellie taking up the cause of vengeance leads only to more pain and suffering. Joel’s climactic decision to eliminate the Fireflies and save Ellie from surgery at the end of Part I is a morally grey action that is rooted in a desire to enact some level of good in the world, despite its consequences. It also highlights that Ellie’s story has one more part left.Įach game in Naughty Dog’s series unravels different aspects of revenge. It is easy to see how this chain of murders relates to The Last of Us. The third play sees Orestes is pursued by the Furies out to avenge for the murder of Clytemnestra. The second play follows the murder of Clytemnestra by her son Orestes in retaliation for the murder of Agamemnon.

The first play depicts the murder of Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra in retaliation for the sacrifice of their daughter, years earlier. The Last of Us has quite a lot in common with Aeschylus's trilogy of classical Greek plays, the Oresteia, each part of which follows progressively more meaningless acts of cruelty enacted for less and less meaningful reasons. Ellie can still redeem herself and live a life of happiness.

Naughty dog the last of us part 3