Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Last of Us Part 2.

Ellie, Abby, and Joel are at the heart of The Last of Us 2's story. Players are meant to root for them as the game progresses, but what makes them so compelling is their arguably "evil" qualities. Despite each of their own horrible deeds, though, Naughty Dog attempted to write The Last of Us 2 without a true, singular villain, and that comes through in the way the game treats these characters' actions.

In a way, The Last of Us 2's first big twist is means to establish Abby like she's going to be "the bad guy." But even then, there's already hints there will be more to her character. Before she kills Joel, players are put into her shoes and given a look at a quiet moment with her friends. And when she brutalizes Joel, it's implied she's at least doing it for a reason. "Joel crossed a lot of people," as Ellie later says, so it's safe to assume he did something equally horrible to incite this retaliation.

Related: The ONE Thing The Last Of Us 2 Isn't Negative About

Still, the fact that Joel killed Abby's father isn't necessarily a justification for her killing him. The Last of Us 2's entire lesson is that these "eye for an eye" situations can go on forever, meaning anyone who goes after vengeance is inviting it back upon themselves. Does that make Abby the game's villain? Not quite.

How The Last Of Us 2 Examines Its Characters' Morality

ellie from the last of us 2

Of the three main characters, Abby is the only one to actively seek redemption for her actions. Following Joel's killing, she helps Lev and Yara escape The Last of Us 2's Seraphite cult, seeing it as a way of making up for her misdeeds. But she still falls back into the revenge trap, going after Ellie, killing Jesse, and nearly killing Dina and Tommy after she finds out Ellie killed her friends. It's possible Naughty Dog included her eventual capture by the Rattlers as a kind of karmic payback for this, showing everyone's actions catch up to them.

It's the same for Ellie, too. Although she doesn't actively seek forgiveness, she believes her actions are justified, and in return she's met with punishment for trying to get revenge. Abby kills Jesse, and Ellie ultimately pays for her anger herself, destroying her relationship with Dina in exchange for her pursuit of vengeance. The cycle doesn't end until Ellie does an accidental kindness for Abby - freeing her from the Rattlers - and then lets her go, seemingly realizing part of forgiving Joel involved forgiving Abby.

ellie in the last of us 2

In this way, Joel's selfishness in the first Last of Us game's ending is the root of both Ellie and Abby's evil. Ellie was so angry at Abby, at least in part, because she never had a chance to forgive Joel for lying to her about the Fireflies, and Abby only went after Joel (and then Ellie) because Joel killed her father. If anything, Joel is the truest villain, since his was the original violent act. But the cyclical violence lesson applies to Joel's actions, too, since he destroyed the Fireflies out of love for Ellie - just as Abby killed Joel out of love for her father and as Ellie killed Abby's friends out of love for Joel.

Related: Last Of Us 2's Ending Justifies Some Of Its Violence, But Not All

Ultimately, The Last of Us 2 isn't interested in declaring its characters to be inherently bad or good. Each of them does bad things, but these are often motivated by good intentions. The story functions more like an examination of the things that could cause people to commit horrible acts, as well as how those motivations hardly ever justify the violence they bring about.

Next: How The Last Of Us Part 2's Characters Mirror Nathan Drake

The Last Of Us Part 2 released for PlayStation 4 on June 19, 2020.