Warning: If you read the post below, “The Last of Us” season finale will be as spoiled as a 20-year-old can of Chef Boyardee.
Bella Ramsey has an interesting take on an ethical question posed in “The Last of Us.”
In the finale of Season 1, Joel (Pedro Pascal) makes the controversial decision to save Ellie (Ramsey), which means he’d rather save one individual he loves rather than the whole of humanity.
In a Vanity Fair video published Tuesday, Ramsey responded to fans’ theories about the HBO drama. While reading them, Ramsey defended Joel, saying that “he made the right decision. And I think most people agree.”
“I don’t think it was even a choice,” Ramsey says. “I don’t think it was even a decision for him. There was no other option other than to save her. Because … he did save the world. But, like, his world. That’s so cringy but kind of true.”
In the series adapted from a video game of the same name, a rebel group called the Fireflies discovers that Ellie is the only person immune to a fungal infection that began turning people into zombies 20 years earlier. Joel — who lost his daughter during the infection’s initial outbreak — is tasked by the Fireflies with smuggling Ellie to a hospital across the country, hoping that doctors there could use Ellie to help create a cure.
The two develop a close father-and-daughter bond during their journey, including more violent attacks from humans than actual zombies. Once the pair makes it to their destination in the Season 1 finale, they have a sweet moment feeding wild giraffes whose ascendants escaped from a nearby zoo. After this touching scene, the pair are violently attacked — once again — by humans.
After Joel wakes up from being knocked out in the attack, he is told by the Fireflies that he accomplished his mission and that Ellie is being prepared for brain surgery. Unfortunately, it is also revealed to Joel that Ellie will have to be killed to create a cure. Joel also learns that Ellie was not given a choice and was never told the surgery would kill her.
In response to the revelation, Joel goes on a killing spree, murdering everyone in the hospital to save Ellie before she embarks on the fatal procedure.
Ellie is under anesthesia when Joel rescues her and wakes up confused in the backseat of a car Joel stole to flee the scene. Joel then lies to Ellie by telling her that doctors discovered dozens of other people who are also immune and performed tests on them but ultimately concluded that a cure is impossible.
Viewers of the HBO series and game fans have been split on Joel’s decision. Some argue that Joel acted selfishly, while others disagree for a myriad of interesting reasons that range from parents who relate to Joel’s position to medical residents who found the surgical procedure nonsensical and unethical.
Ramsey elaborates on her Team Joel stance while reading another fan theory from Reddit during the Vanity Fair video.
“Joel thought that sacrificing Ellie wasn’t worth saving humanity, the same humanity that killed his daughter, the same people that kill each other every day,” Ramsey said while reciting the Redditor’s theory. “I think the giraffes symbolize true innocence, the vanishing grace of childhood. When Joel looked back at the giraffes, and they were almost gone, he realized that innocence has left this world and the world needed innocence, people like Ellie. They didn’t need a ‘cure’ because the [fungal infection] wasn’t the real disease. It is what people have become.”
After reading this theory, Ramsey responded with: “Yeah, true. Truth.”