Warning: Contains potential SPOILERS for The Last of Us
The trailer for HBO's The Last of Us has generated excitement because of how faithfully it looks to have adapted the seminal game, but the song which soundtracks the trailer also foreshadows the franchise's most tragic moment. Both The Last of Us games included brief moments of levity and beauty as an escape from the relentlessly grim post-apocalyptic world in which the protagonists Joel and Ellie found themselves. Prominent among these scenes of catharsis and bonding was Ellie's growing love for music as introduced to her by Joel, and Joel began teaching her the guitar.
Ellie became proficient in guitar by the events of The Last of Us Part II and playing the instrument even became a way for her to process and express her love for Dina, her romantic interest. While The Last of Us trailer was terrifying because of its clickers, it also anticipated the games' darkest moment, as the guitar also took on a more melancholic value for Ellie after Joel was murdered in The Last of Us Part II. Music became one of her last connections to Joel and playing the guitar was one of the few ways she could still feel close to him. A-Ha's "Take on Me" is the trailer's music choice because it was one of the key songs which Ellie sings after being taught by Joel.
What Take On Me Means In The Last Of Us
"Take on Me" had a complicated meaning for Ellie. Ellie originally played it to Dina as they shared one of the tenderest The Last of Us character moments among the grimness of their everyday lives, and it established the seriousness of their love for each other. It became a poignant symbol of their relationship. However, by the end of The Last of Us Pt II, Dina had grown weary of Ellie's obsession with revenge after Joel had been killed, and left the farmhouse in which they'd resided. "Take On Me" took on sadder connotations as a result, as a snapshot of a happier time before violence consumed Ellie.
The deeper meaning of "Take On Me" was that playing it not only reminded Ellie of Dina but of Joel. The Last of Us Pt II implied that every time Ellie played the guitar, she was also remembering Joel and one of The Last of Us series' saddest deaths. "Take On Me" was inextricably tied into their father/daughter dynamic, even if their relationship was strained at the time he was killed. That the game ended with a close-up of Ellie leaving her guitar at the farmhouse she had shared with Dina suggested that she had finally come to some sort of closure about Joel's death, and was no longer driven by vengeance.
How The Last Of Us Show Could Keep Using The Game Soundtrack
Continuing the trend of using different songs that Ellie and Joel play over The Last of Us franchise would work as satisfying Easter eggs for fans of the franchise. More importantly, it would hammer home the emotion of certain scenes. Needle drops like Pearl Jam's "Future Days," which Joel plays after giving her new Taylor guitar, and Crooked Still's "Ecstasy," which Ellie plays at the farmhouse, would affirm the sense of beautiful, doomed hope to The Last of Us show.