Answers to why Joel trusted Abby

Sorry for the random and long ass babbling. The story of the man before the pandemic is chronicled through bits of subtext and that lends his character to being viewed in various ways. It may be too subtle but that doesn't mean the game hasn't reasoned character It merely warrants a probing eye.

He's a relentless killer who we know to only ever protect his so It's no wonder why so many people see him as an unrelenting and ruthless force . In fact some of his characteristics seem somewhat contradict a lot of people's impression of him. Tommy says something to the effect of "No he wouldn't" when Ellie that "Joel would be halfway to Seattle had the roles been reversed" - I'm paraphrasing.

Really? You mean to tell me this hardened killer with few moral lines left to cross would show such astonishing restraint? Joel's final gesture to rescue Ellie in the first game is in and of Itself a contradiction of who he's spent 20 years being.

He's an emotionally repressed and selfish version of himself and he's been this person for 20 years, wholly determined to self-preservation and with regards to Ellie that means literally feeling nothing for this girl? So wait, how does this same person than learn the importance of a single human life in this 14 year old girl again?

Then you have Tess. If Joel is literally trying to stop himself from succumbing to his better emotions, why does he have a companion with him to begin with? Feeling kind of goes against his nature in the post-pandemic apocalypse. And then Tess dies, and Joel respects her dying wish to get Ellie to the fireflies.

Wait, but I thought Joel was a selfish person and now since he's screwed on the cargo and the risk of finishing this mission is much more dangerous - for both pragmatic and emotional reasons - why did he escort this girl again?

You also got that opening sequence where Tommy briefly slows down the car to help another family and Joel tells him to keep driving despite them having room. People latch onto this sequence as an example to explain away why it's inconsistent of him to help Abby, but what he says in those moments is just as important as what he does not say.

He does not say "they don't deserve it", or "they can survive on their own", or "they'll have to get through it on their own" or really anything to that degree. He says something to the effect of "we got a kid too, someone will come along". He rationalizes leaving them because he needs to protect his tribe not because he doesn't believe they are not worth rescuing.

You also have his mantra about "No matter what, you keep finding something to fight for". This philosophy seems a bit incongruous with a man who's seen the worst of humanity, is apathetic to it and has played a role in it. Why would he ever believe in hope?

Theirs's even the moment earlier in the game where he insists Tommy take Ellie off his hands and his younger brother is surprised by the request he says something like "You still remember how to kill right?". Joel isn't the type of person to ever ask anything from anyone but now he's desperately begging his bro for something?. It seems like this guy still has some softness to him?

But it isn't merely that he's a soft character It's like throughout the whole first game he knows that he has this inherent caregiving quality to him but for fear of the pain being that person would cause him he goes through great emotional lengths to not succumb to what appears to his nature.

He constantly refuses to talk about death with Ellie for most of the game and any time he seems to feel a glimmer of emotion for this girl he counteracts those emotions by being callous towards her - when Ellie fobs off after that Tommy convo, he finds her, but for fear of feeling any relief about her safety he says something like "Do you know what your life means?" when he's never actually cared about her immunity before.

Finally, we know that he essentially had to be a paternal figure to Tommy at a young age, then to Sarah too as a single father, then to Tess and now to Ellie. Being a caregiver is who the true Joel is, not the ruthless killer changed by the harshness of his world, and you understand it because Marlene is so willing to trust him with the job of getting Ellie where she needs to be but we also see it in how well-respected he is in the Jackson community. But his caregiving quality has a certain affinity to children .

When Joel adamantly refuses to talk about any kind of death theirs a moment in the game when he comes across the grave of a child and even he can't resist to recognise how horrifying that such a reality is, he says something like "That's too small a grave" when he barely commented on all the previous letters that chronicled a similar and horrific reality.

Ultimately, he doesn't merely become a softer person as a caregiver, he succumbs to his basic instincts and emotions because he has no other choice - that's who he is and that's what charges him right through the hospital as he resigns himself to his subconscious desires.

But it blinds him to the dangers of the world, because he's resigning himself from being the person such a harsh world needs him to be. He rescues Abby precisely for this reason too, blind to the danger he put himself in.

/r/thelastofus Thread