HBO's adaptation of the 2013 game, The Last of Us is home to a few fascinating morally grey characters. Theirs is a dog-eat-dog society, characterized by fierce competition for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.
In the wake of the Cordyceps outbreak, the characters in The Last of Us make difficult moral choices to survive. Sometimes they do right by others and yet sometimes they fail their loved ones or humanity, in general. Nonetheless, each of these morally grey characters feels incredibly human and therefore relatable. They are neither evil nor virtuous and their moral ambiguity contributes to their overall appeal.
8 Kathleen
Melanie Lynskey's Kathleen is first introduced in The Last of Us season 1, episode 4, "Please Hold to My Hand." She's a vindictive resistance leader, and a force to be reckoned with.
Kathleen has lost her brother and the original resistance leader, Michael to FEDRA, and thus leaves no stone unturned to restore justice in her city. Kathleen and her group depose FEDRA's rule in KC and established their own. She holds former FEDRA collaborators accountable and chastises them for ratting out their neighbors for apples and medicines. She extracts vital information from these informants by promising them a trial when she has every intention of executing them. Kathleen is openly unforgiving and ruthless but at the same time, she deeply cares for her people such as Perry. She loves her own, she's a good leader and her people do not want to get on the wrong side of her.
7 Perry
Kathleen's right-hand man, Perry follows what she says, however with slight protest whenever necessary. When Kathleen suggests they carry on the manhunt for Henry, Perry says they have far more important things that need attention.
Perry isn't nearly as ruthless as Kathleen, in that, he asks what she intends to do with former FEDRA informers on trial. Nonetheless, when she orders him to execute them, he follows her orders. Throughout The Last of Us episodes 4 and 5, Perry demonstrates he has a weak moral compass and does what he's told. But in the end, he sacrifices himself to a Bloater just to save the person (Kathleen) who gave him and their people independence from tyrannical FEDRA. Perry looks up to Kathleen because she changed things in Kansas City for commoners who were suffering under FEDRA.
6 Dr. Edelstein
Kathleen has an eye-opening conversation with Dr. Edelstein, a former informer who enjoyed safety and protection under FEDRA. Edelstein acknowledged Kathleen had been wronged, but he also pleaded with her to put an end to the war she'd waged against FEDRA collaborators. During his interrogation, he maintained that he had no choice and that he became a collaborator under duress.
When Kathleen asked him where Henry Burrell was, Edelstein lied and said he knew nothing about him. The Last of Us season 1, episode 5 "Endure and Survive," reveals that Edelstein aided Henry and his brother, Sam escape Kathleen's wrath after FEDRA fell in Kansas City. Edelstein helped Henry see that his eight-year-old brother, Sam was traumatized due to recent happenings and that he needed to be comforted. In the end, Edelstein was executed by Kathleen after he declined to give away Henry's location.
5 Henry Burrell
The Last of Us season 1, episode 5, "Endure and Survive," is home to Henry's confession. He admits that a "great" and a "forgiving" man (Michael) died because he sold his information to FEDRA in exchange for a Leukemia drug to save his brother Sam.
The fiercely protective brother, Henry also looked up to the KC resistance leader, Michael. When faced with two moral obligations, he fulfilled only one of them and saved his brother. While Henry carries guilt in his eyes, he's determined to do everything he can to keep himself and his brother safe from Kathleen and her militia.
4 Tommy Miller
Tommy Miller is also guilty of the same crimes as his older brother, Joel. They lived together in Boston QZ where they took some extreme measures such as killing people to survive. Tommy, an idealist at heart, left that life to join the revolutionary militia group named the Fireflies. He eventually quit the resistance and settled in Jackson town.
Twenty years after the Cordyceps outbreak, Tommy's sense of idealism is still intact. He hopes to see a better world, and use his skills as a contractor to build parts of the Jackson settlement. Tommy cares for his community and his people, but at the same time, his past haunts him. He hasn't lived the life of a saint per se, but he isn't pure evil either.
3 Maria
Tommy's wife and former assistant district attorney out of Omaha, Nebraska, Maria is first introduced in The Last of Us season 1, episode 6, "Kin." She's patrolling near the damn that powers Jackson when she first comes across two survivors who turn out to be Joel and Ellie.
While Maria escorts Joel to Jackson, she doesn't exactly warm up to him because she knows things about his past actions. She has forgiven Tommy but continues to view him with suspicion. Maria also warns Ellie to be wary of him. She subjects Joel and Tommy to two moral standards, saying the younger brother was just following the older knowing full well that both the brothers are equally complicit.
2 Tess
Joel's smuggling partner, Tess starts The Last of Us as a hardened survivor, unafraid of anything that befalls her. She's held captive by a local thug named Robert who she isn't afraid to look in the eye. When she finds out Robert sold the battery she paid for to someone else, she points out that she's too duped people in the past.
Tess tells Ellie she and Joel aren't "good people," implying that they've questionable things to survive. However, she earns her redemption by the end of The Last of Us season 1, episode 2 "Infected." She starts off by admitting to her mistakes and says she aims to seek redemption through Ellie. She pleads with Joel to deliver the Cordyceps immune Ellie safely to Bill and Frank because she believes the girl is their one chance to make up for their past sins. Tess blows herself in the end and buys Joel and Ellie enough time to escape a hoard of infected.
1 Joel Miller
The Last of Us lead, Joel Miller doesn't exactly display standard heroic traits such as empathy. However, he gradually warms up to Ellie and Henry and his selflessness comes to surface.
Joel is desensitized due to the aftermath of the Cordyceps outbreak and the heartbreaking death of his child, Sarah Miller. He and his brother, Tommy have killed people, and he smuggles contraband on the side, but his heart-to-heart with Tommy in The Last of Us episode 6 reveals that he realizes Ellie is bigger than his own needs. He doesn't want to fail Ellie as he did Sarah, and he wants to make up for the things he did in the past. He also wants to see a better world for future generations.