So I've been reading a few - more like a lot - of posts regarding the Last of Us ending, some disappointed, some satisfied etc. so I thought I would share my own opinion. Comments are welcome - I wanna know what the rest of you guys thought...
PLEASE NOTE THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
So Joel lied?? BUT did Ellie know he was lying??
Option 1) Ellie asked Joel knowing that was
lying and so by asking him she was testing him, almost like she needed confirmation
that he was lying for definite. This would therefore mean that her ‘Okay’ was
full of disappointment (heightened by the tears visible in her eyes) as she
will never be able to trust him fully ever again. Therefore all of the closeness
between them built up throughout the game, as they had to be true and honest if
working as a team, is no more and there will forever be doubt in their relationship
because of Joel’s lie. It wasn’t the content of his lie that disappointed her
the most, but more the act of actually lying to her.
OR
Option 2) Joel knew that Ellie knew that he was lying (if you get me!)
and therefore when she asks and he swears the truth, it’s almost like Joel’s
way of saying: I do care about you – therefore explaining his reasons for saving
her etc. Her knowing this is like ‘Okay’ so that she has acceptance of why he
did what he did, so that they can both move on – as if: ‘Okay, lets live our
lives.’
This is backed up by
the fact that Ellie doesn’t want the operation – she didn’t know she was going
to have to die (shown by the dialogue of her making plans after leaving the
hospital - guitar/swimming), and even if you were willing to sacrifice yourself
(due to survivor’s guilt) you’d still be, naturally, a little scared, or part
of you wouldn’t want to do it due to inner conflict and therefore Ellie is thankful
to Joel for saving her.
All in all though, the perfect solution would have been to
have asked Ellie herself!! It was implied that she was never told that she
would die from the operation and she didn’t have a choice, instead of just
drugging her and operating on her against her will. They should have asked her when
they arrived at the hospital whether she wanted to sacrifice herself with
Marlene and Joel both stating all the possible outcomes e.g. the chances of
actually succeeding with a vaccine are not definite and therefore Ellie would
have died for nothing. But then this could be the chance to save humanity
etc...(or what’s left of it) and so I think they should have let ELLIE decide
as she has proved that she can make decisions for herself throughout the game,
protecting Joel and fending for herself (David scene comes to mind!) instead of
the ADULTS making the decision for her.
But having said that, I honestly do not know what she would
choose... and then if she declined I don’t know how they would be able to
escape the Fireflies without repeating what Joel did in the final scenes...
HOWEVER was Joel actually lying?? It equally depends on how you interpret
the audio files found, in order to decide whether Joel was lying or not. Some
people are saying that the audio logs say Ellie was a special case and therefore a
cure could have been produced from her sacrifice however some think that Joel
didn’t entirely lie as the logs imply that the procedures on others like Ellie
didn’t work. He also told the truth by saying that the Fireflies were not
looking for the cure anymore however he did not reveal that this was because he
had brutally killed all of them! This interpretations suggest that Joel was
telling the truth, although lying to some extent, with the intentions of
protecting Ellie by attempting to relieve her sufferings of survivor’s guilt.
This game was pretty awesome - I love how it makes you think.. Man, I finished it days ago and I'm still thinking about it!
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