The Last of Us 2 is finally right around the corner, but there are still many questions about the upcoming sequel to Naughty Dog's hit game. For one, much is unknown about the fate of Ellie's love interest, Dina, or the nature of the new human faction shown in trailers. But perhaps more importantly, the game has a lot to explain about Ellie and Joel's relationship, as the two seemingly aren't as close anymore as they once were. Could Joel's aptitude in the role of Ellie's father figure be what caused this rift between the two? The best place to find answers is in the original The Last of Us.
Ellie and Joel slowly develop an incredibly strong bond over the course of a year together travelling across the country. What started as merely a job for Joel quickly becomes much more as he begins to care for Ellie and she begins to see him as a father figure. This relationship culminates at the very end of Winter, as Joel comforts Ellie immediately following her brutal killing of David, and persists into the Spring when it becomes clear that the wall between the two has been completely broken down. Yet in The Last of Us 2, their relationship seems to be drastically different.
Ellie and Sarah
Throughout the campaign of The Last of Us, Ellie is seemingly juxtaposed with Sarah, Joel's late daughter. Ellie is about the same age Sarah was when she was killed, and the tension as Joel tries to ignore this fact and the bond growing between him and Ellie is almost palpable. As a means of protecting himself, Joel tries to distance himself from not just Ellie, but everyone he encounters, putting up a cold front and a stern demeanor despite his desperation for feeling a real connection again.
Even Ellie seems to recognize this, as when she runs away from the dam after realizing that Joel is trying to convince Tommy to take her the rest of the way, she calls him out on the awkward dynamic between the two. The response she receives is one of Joel's best quotes, "You're not my daughter, and I sure as hell ain't your dad." Although this blunt interaction between the two ended up being quite harsh, it finally puts the father-daughter dynamic the two have on the table and acknowledges its existence, even if it's just to shoot it down.
Joel as a Father-Figure for Ellie
But was Joel a good father figure to Ellie? There is actually a lot of evidence on both sides which point towards Joel's aptitude for being a father, so it is difficult to say. On the one hand, Ellie seems to have grown up into a fierce, independent, and confident woman, something that may have been much more difficult without guidance from one more experienced like Joel. She has found happiness and a sense of normal in her day to day life with Tommy's group, and that is not something that most in the world of The Last of Us can say that they have.
On the other hand, however, Joel has subjected Ellie to some pretty harsh conditions. For a majority of the game, he is extremely unsympathetic and even cold towards her, not allowing her to be the child she is yet refusing to treat her like the adult she wants to be. It is only until later that this begins to change, but his willingness to let Ellie aid him in combat has also led to her killing a remarkable number of people. This has certainly jaded her to an extent, as she is seen to be very violent in The Last of Us 2.
That said, the negative psychological effects Ellie feels from their journey is mostly inevitable in the post apocalyptic world of The Last of Us, and Joel can hardly be blamed for exposing her to it, especially given how badly she wanted to help. Travelling through the country and encountering infected, hunters, and other hostile adversaries would force anyone to do some less than desirable things to survive, but Joel and Tommy's relationship shows that Joel is willing to do nearly anything to survive, something Tommy wasn't okay with.
Where is Joel in The Last of Us 2?
From what has been shown of The Last of Us 2 and Ellie's new life with Tommy's group, Joel is apparently missing. It is unclear whether he was believed dead or if the two got in some kind of major argument, but whatever the reason, Joel is no longer in Ellie's life. Naturally, given their close bond in the first game, this is one question which fans are eagerly waiting for an answer on. Although it is possible that Joel's harsh and uncaring demeanor simply grew to be too much for Ellie, that is highly unlikely since he seemed far more invested in his relationship with Ellie by the end of the game.
More likely than that is that Ellie somehow figured out about Joel's lie in the ending of The Last of Us. Joel tells Ellie that there were hundreds of others like her that were immune, and that none of them helped to find a cure. In actuality, the player knows that this is a straight lie, as he murdered the fireflies in order to save her from a deadly surgery. The sad part is that Ellie was never given a choice, as Joel and Marlene attempted to make these decisions for her. That above anything would be enough to anger the spirited youth.
So is Joel a bad father figure for Ellie? Ultimately, he is good natured and, although he made mistakes, he is only human. It is natural that in such a stressful world such as this that his attempt at pseudo parenting would go awry at some point, and what he has done for her (teaching her guitar and how to swim, for example) show that he is a good father figure. He even seems to be accepting of Ellie's sexuality. His own flaws likely led to the undoing of their relationship, but Ellie certainly wouldn't have been better off without him.
The Last of Us 2Â releases on May 29th exclusively for PS4.
