The Last of Us doesn’t shy away from killing off prominent characters. Its post-epidemic world is saturated with violence, and even its central and most important characters aren’t immune to an untimely demise. Through the two games in Naughty Dog’s series, friend and foe alike have exited the narrative in unexpected and disturbing ways. In both gameplay and cutscenes, an almost countless number of people are killed, and even more off-screen, but a select few stand out as truly shocking in comparison.
[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2.]
Taken in tandem, The Last of Us Part 1 and The Last of Us Part 2 primarily tell the saga of Ellie, a girl immune to the Cordyceps brain infection. The first game centered around her condition, and her journey across the ravaged United States to potentially help synthesize a cure left plenty of death in its wake. Its sequel arguably features even more prominent characters being killed off, since violence itself plays a key role in TLOU 2. The most shocking deaths of all, listed below, however, are evenly split between the two entries, even with consideration for special cases where major characters die in quick succession.
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10 Sarah – TLOU Part 1
Joel’s Daughter
Sarah’s death at the beginning of The Last of Us is the first gut punch in a saga full of them. On Outbreak Day, Joel finds himself fleeing infected on foot, carrying Sarah. When a soldier kills the infected pursuing them, a brief moment of relief is quickly dashed when he subsequently opens fire on the pair. Sarah’s death changes the trajectory of Joel’s life in a world getting turned upside down, and has incredible influence on his relationship with Ellie years later.
9 Tess – TLOU Part 1
Joel’s Smuggling Partner
The jump forward in time after Sarah’s death in the prologue introduces a cynical and jaded Joel, who’s had a long working, and sometimes personal, relationship with another smuggler named Tess. Tess carries an optimism that Ellie’s immunity could be the cure the Fireflies are looking for, but getting bitten by an infected forces her into making the decision to sacrifice herself to buy Joel and Ellie time to escape a group of soldiers. Tess doesn’t survive exceptionally long into TLOU, but she’s a major component to Joel and Ellie’s journey, and makes an abrupt exit form the narrative.
8 Nora – TLOU Part 2
Abby’s Friend & Member Of The Salt Lake Crew
Nora is the first of Abby’s comrades that Ellie has a chance to interrogate in TLOU 2. Her death itself isn’t necessarily shocking, as Ellie is clearly consumed by vengeance by this point, but the brutality of the ordeal certainly is. Nora is not forthright with information on Abby’s location, prompting Ellie, in the basement of a hospital overrun with Cordyceps spores, to beat her with a metal pipe before she succumbed to the virus. With the entire cutscene bathed in red light, its a starkly memorable scene, and a distinct turning point in seeing how far Ellie will go to avenge Joel’s murder.
7 Sam & Henry – TLOU Part 1
Survivors From The Hartford Quarantine Zone
Trust isn’t easily given or earned in The Last of Us, but a significant portion of Joel and Ellie’s trek through Pittsburgh is in the company of Henry and Sam, a pair of brothers that turn out to be some of the game’s best allies. The four’s time is cut short, however, when Sam, the younger brother, becomes infected, forcing Henry to kill him. Sam, unable to cope with what he’s had to do, quickly turns his gun on himself before Joel can stop him. Sam’s death is tragic, and his being infected is revealed to the player before the other characters, but Henry’s response is downright heartbreaking.
6 Riley – TLOU Part 1: Left Behind
Ellie’s Best Friend
Riley is only ever seen in Left Behind, the first game’s expansion, so her death isn’t entirely unexpected, but that doesn’t stop its suddenness from being shocking. During what is perhaps Ellie’s happiest moments up to that point, when her friendship with Riley is beginning to evolve into something more, Riley is infected, and Ellie seemingly so. The latter survives the incident, clearly contributing to Ellie’s survivor’s guilt, but Riley either succumbs to the virus completely, or, even more tragically, is killed by Ellie after she turns – Left Behind leaves her ultimate fate ambiguous.
5 Yara – TLOU Part 2
Lev’s Older Sister
Familial relationships are held as almost sacred throughout The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part 2, and the siblings introduced in the latter are separated swiftly and violently. Yara and Lev abandoned their life and left their community among the Seraphites to pursue a safer life for Lev. Yara survives her arm being amputated, but is later shot by Washington Liberation Front soldiers with no preamble. Yara makes one last effort to save Abby and Lev, but is quickly executed by multiple Wolves.
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4 Jesse – TLOU Part 2
Ellie’s Friend & Dina’s Ex-Boyfriend
Much like Yara’s death, Jesse being killed by Abby has practically no introduction. He shares a touching moment with Ellie before the two hear shouting from the other room, and, running through a pair of double doors, Jesse is met by a bullet to the head. Like Tess, Henry, and Sam in the first game, Jesse is a rare companion in The Last of Us Part 2, and him being the father of Dina’s unborn child makes his death even more heartbreaking.
3 Marlene – TLOU Part 1
Leader Of The Fireflies
Marlene is justified in her actions, becomes an antagonist by circumstance, and is the final person to stand in the way of Joel taking Ellie from the Fireflies’ facility in Salt Lake City. Joel has already left immense bloodshed in his wake, but Marlene’s death is a final reminder of the savagery that dominates the vestiges of human civilization in TLOU. Marlene is incapacitated by a first shot to the abdomen, and begs for her life. Joel is convinced Marlene will seek revenge, though, and executes her while she’s laying on the floor of a parking garage in a pool of her own blood.
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2 Mel & Owen – TLOU Part 2
Abby’s Friends & Members Of The Salt Lake Crew
Mel’s pregnancy is divulged to the player early on in TLOU 2, but the realization following Owen’s last words sends Ellie into shock. The game’s visceral nature is clear by this point in the story, but it’s still difficult to watch Ellie stick a knife in Mel’s throat, and press the barrel of her pistol into the bullet wound in Owen’s neck. Following a mimicry of Tommy and Joel’s interrogation methods that brings Ellie’s descent full-circle, the deaths of Mel and Owen are grotesque and saddening.
1 Joel – TLOU Part 2
Ellie’s De Facto Guardian & Tommy’s Brother
Although it occurs in Part 2‘s prologue, Joel’s death remains the most shocking in the entire series. Unceremoniously killing the protagonist of the first game, especially through Abby’s stomach-turning use of a golf club, is both ambitious and enraging so early in the sequel. Joel was by no means an innocent man, but he’d made exceptional strides as a sympathetic figure from the smuggler players are introduced to in the Boston Quarantine Zone. Even years after the second game’s release, Joel’s death is a difficult cutscene to sit through, and is easily the most shocking character death in The Last of Us.
