Abby is one of the most controversial characters in The Last of Us Part II. Players come into the game with their own expectations of what the game will be, and some took offense upon finding themselves playing as a new character for between six to ten hours.
Others were on board for the way the game tries to make players understand Abby’s actions and her road to redemption. Since her arc is so different than Ellie’s, many of the entries below are not necessarily her becoming worse as a person, but instead the worse reaction many have at her becoming a better person and even somewhat of a hero.
10 Agrees With Killing Ellie In Salt Lake City
Ellie and Abby never meet in Salt Lake City during the events of the first game, but a flashback in the sequel shows Abby telling her father that he was doing the right thing by crafting the vaccine from Ellie’s immunity, even if it kills her. It is a moral grey area, but players love Ellie and are happy she lives through the first game. Besides, was there really a guarantee the Fireflies could make a vaccine with the samples they got from Ellie?
9 Kills Joel
Not only does Abby murder Joel, but she tortures him with a golf club, beating every inch of life out of him. Ellie sees her deliver the final blows, fueling her thirst for vengeance. Abby worked four years for this moment and savored it. However, killing him was not the emotional release she expected it to be, setting the course for her half of the game.
8 Forgets Her Relationships
Through flashbacks, players see how Abby’s obsession with vengeance ruins her relationships. She was in love with Owen but the two broke up in the four years between the two games. Mel also criticizes Abby heavily for always being a bad person and hurting everyone she knows. It is difficult to fault her wish for retribution, but through it she loses sight of what is truly important.
7 Kills Her Former Comrades
When helping Yara and Lev, Abby turns her back on WLF and kills many of the people with whom she once worked. The group is made up of brutal war mongers, so this is ultimately the right choice, but it is still a betrayal of people who took care of her after she lost everything. However, this does result in Isaac’s death, which is ultimately a good thing.
6 Kills Jesse
After coming so far, the shock of happening upon Mel and Owen’s dead bodies prompts Abby to chase after Ellie and her friends. When Ellie and Jesse open the door in the theater to save Tommy, Abby immediately shoots Jesse in the face, killing him.
He would have likely done the same to her, but at that point the group was prepping a return to Jackson. Jesse was the biological father of Dina’s baby, making the death especially tragic.
5 Disfigures Tommy
Shortly after killing Jesse and forcing Ellie to drop her gun, Abby shoots Tommy in the back of the head. Most assumed this shot ended Tommy for good, but he miraculously survived. At the farmhouse later, he shows up and players see the damage Abby inflicted on him. He lost one eye and walks with a limp. Tommy goes after Abby in Santa Barbara, but it is difficult to imagine he progressed far with his injuries.
4 Almost Kills Dina
After a somewhat disappointing boss fight with Ellie mirroring the David encounter from the first game, Abby gets the upper hand and almost ends Ellie before Dina intervenes. Abby is quickly able to recover from the surprise with Lev’s help and after bashing Dina’s head into the ground, has a knife to her throat. When Ellie reveals Dina’s pregnancy, Abby simply responds “good.” Only by Lev’s intervention does Abby come to her senses and spare the two.
3 Gets Enslaved
This one is not as much a degradation of her character as is it is a destruction of her body and spirit. While searching for the regrouped Fireflies, Abby and Lev are captured by the Rattlers, a brutal group who enslave people and use clickers as traps for unsuspecting travelers. Falling into their hands is tragic by itself; it is compounded by Lev being at Abby’s side and also falling prey to the group.
2 Gets Caught Trying To Escape
Before Ellie shows up in Santa Barbara, Abby attempts to escape the Rattlers with Lev. Unfortunately, they are caught and as punishment are strung up on wooden poles on the beach and left to the mercy of the elements. Ellie finds Abby and Lev barely clinging onto life and almost lets them go free on the boat after seeing them in this state. This is another example of how far Abby has fallen.
1 Lives
Some players are furious that Ellie, and them by extension, never get to end Abby’s life in the PS4 exclusive.
The game is a revenge tale, but the end goal is not finding justice or comfort in the act. By controlling Abby for a large chunk of the adventure, the game wants players to empathize with the character despite how she is introduced. The technique works better on certain players than it does on others, however.
