The Last of Us 2’s Biggest Plot Holes (Full Spoilers)

[Warning: Spoilers for The Last of Us: Part 2 below]

There have been mixed reactions to The Last of Us: Part 2, and several major plot holes only add to the frustration many players feel upon completing the game. Even though The Last of Us: Part 2 attempted to take risks with its plot, it remains unclear if these worked in the game’s advantage or not in the majority of player’s eyes.

The sequel starts off where 2013’s The Last of Us ended, as Joel and Ellie try to rebuild their lives following their encounter with the Fireflies. But when one of the main characters is killed off abruptly in the beginning of the game, it sends the rest of the characters on a mission to avenge his death and bring closure to themselves (and to the players).

There are many minuscule details players could accuse of being plot holes, from the moments the game skips a character’s travels (going from Jackson County, Wyoming to Seattle on horseback is no easy trip) to leaving out relevant details, like what happened to Dina’s family. But the biggest plot holes in The Last of Us: Part 2 have to do with how the game tied up loose ends while also trying to teach players a lesson about revenge, which in the end, compromises the quality of the game.

TLOU2’s Ellie Chose Revenge Over Her Family

The central theme of The Last of Us: Part 2 seems to be revenge. In their own ways, each of the characters are attempting to seek revenge for wrongs done to them or their loved ones. By the end, it becomes clear the entire game is trying to shed light on the dangerous cycle of revenge and its consequences. After all, had Joel not taken out revenge on the Fireflies’ doctors for trying to hurt Ellie, there would’ve been no need for a second game. In doing so, however, this dedication to The Last of Us 2‘s thematic elements made many of the characters act blatantly out of character, especially Abby and Ellie, thereby impacting the quality (and believability) of the game’s final scenes.

After narrowly escaping Seattle alive, it appears Ellie has gotten everything she’s ever wanted – a family to love, and the chance at a peaceful life. It could have been an ending in itself when players see Ellie living on a farm with Dina and her son, whom they named JJ, which is likely a nod to Joel and Jesse’s namesakes. It’s understandable that Ellie would still feel unresolved about the incidents following Joel’s death, but when Tommy shows up at their door with information on the whereabouts of Lev and Abby, it seems to barely take Ellie any time at all to decide to pursue revenge at the expense of her family. Apart from losing Joel, Ellie has never been a vengeful person. Most of the people she’s been close to have died or betrayed her, and yet in the original game what Ellie seemed to want the most was the chance at a normal life, and she had the best chance at that while living on the farm with Dina.

But even though Dina tells her things will be over if she pursues the lead, it doesn’t take Ellie much to make up her mind. The next thing players know, she’s leaving in the middle of the night. Ellie knows what it’s like to a lose a parent – it’s happened to her multiple times – but she seemed to have no reaction to abandoning her child. She’s raised JJ since birth, and for all intents and purposes, she is his mother, yet it seems like the child is barely on her mind when deciding whether to go or stay. The same can be said about her feelings towards Dina, who stuck by Ellie every step of the way in the first half of the game. Dina went above and beyond what many people would do for their partners, especially considering she was pregnant at the time, and it’s not unreasonable that she expected Ellie to stay now that they had started a family. But what is shocking in The Last of Us 2 is Ellie so easily gave up her young family for a chance at revenge, and repaid Dina by effectively leaving her to be a single parent in a post-apocalyptic environment.

Ellie & Abby Don’t Get The Revenge They Want

At this point, it appears Ellie is fully ready to put an end to Abby, or perhaps more correctly said, she was ready to end the saga of events following Joel’s death. She’d given up everything at that point; her home, her family, and her chance at happiness. So, when she finally has the opportunity to kill Abby at the end of The Last of Us: Part 2, it’s all the more perplexing why she chooses to spare her life. Abby and Ellie are neck-to-neck in combat, and one successful move would be the end of either of them. Abby had even bit off two of Ellie’s fingers at that point. But Ellie has some epiphany, unbeknownst to the player, and decides to allow Abby to live, which appears completely out of character given everything she had to do to get to this point.

But it’s not just Ellie. Abby also makes the decision to walk away from the skirmish, and essentially, start her life fresh without the burden of vengeance weighing her down. That sounds nice and all, but it completely disregards the fact that Abby’s entire life has been focused on avenging her father’s death. Her story parallels Ellie’s a lot more than The Last of Us: Part 2 players may initially think. She, too, lost most of the people in her life and also sacrificed many of the things she loved in order to take revenge out on Joel. Players know she’s ready and willing to kill for revenge, giving how easily she offed Joel in front of his own (pseudo) daughter and brother.

There’s also got to be a part of Abby that blames Ellie for her father’s death. Even though Joel may have thrown the punches that killed him, it was Ellie’s immunity in The Last of Us that necessitated the need for the doctor in the first place. Despite all of this, Abby also is fine with not killing Ellie and just walking away like nothing ever happened. She goes from looking like she’s ready to smash Ellie’s head in to agreeing human life is more important than revenge. To be fair, there are a lot of aspects of Abby’s character that don’t make a lot of sense, including how she managed to convince so many WLF members to join her in killing Joel, or how she even managed to track him down so efficiently in the first place.

It’s not that the player wanted more death on their hands, but having both Ellie and Abby walk away from the fight makes the entire final portion of the game seem unnecessary. Not only does it feel out of character, but it feels as though the player has been betrayed by Ellie, as this isn’t the girl they’ve come to know after countless hours of playing two separate games. If she was going to pardon Abby, then there was no need for Ellie to abandon Dina and JJ and ruin her young family. Had the game ended by making it clear Ellie was on a mission to find Dina and her son, it would have given players a bit more finality. But even though Abby is still walking around, and Dina and JJ are wandering around a zombie wasteland, Ellie seems somehow content in the final scene. But while she may have closure, the fans certainly have not.

The Last of Us: Part 2 has garnered a controversial response from fans, and these major character plot holes at the end of the game only add to its divisiveness.

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