Why Hating Abby is Justified

Before you read, note that this article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II. If you haven't played that game, we advise caution.

The Last of Us Part II has been released, and the reception towards the game has been alarming. With massive swinging opinions about the title, it is a prime example of terrible storytelling, SJW propaganda, or a true masterpiece. With so many varied opinions, one topic remains predominant: how lousy Abby is. A character so poorly introduced and executed that her entire personality was established before knowing anything about her.

The introduction of a new playable character to a sequel of an established and well-regarded game is not easy. Look at Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, with Raiden being one of the most hated characters of the time. It has to be done carefully with surgical precision, but it was not done with Abby. Her introduction was the sledgehammer approach that smashed not only the walls of the narrative but also the floor and even the ceiling.

In the opening chapter, Joel and Tommy save Abby and even trust this girl they've never met. Many have argued that this goes against Joel's character, but after years of living in Jackson, Joel's compassion may have grown. However, what doesn't make sense is that Joel and Tommy head into the building after seeing so many unknown faces clearly wearing military gear. This is where Abby's defining characteristic is shown.

Abby relentlessly beats Joel to death as her friends force Ellie to watch, begging her to stop. Joel wasn't a good person, he was a butcher and for a time a hunter. He killed a lot of good people, and you can make the argument he deserved what happened, but the way it was handled was poor. Joel was someone we watched grow and gain a profound attachment to, Ellie. Abby is a strange brute who just killed the protagonist of the first game, with whom most players spent hours controlling and building a relationship, and it doesn't stop there.

As you control Ellie in her journey for revenge, you gain a powerful connection to Ellie's friends, Dina and Jesse. Both have strong attachments to Ellie, and both are willing to put their lives on the line for Ellie and to avenge Joel. Dina and Ellie clearly express their love for one another, whereas Jesse shows his dedication to helping in any way, and Abby kills him, too. What's sickening is that Abby tries to turn it on Ellie when confronted, stating that letting her and Tommy live was a gift somehow and that she didn't expect them to take revenge for what she did. Despite her and her friends having done the exact same thing!

The game cuts there and has us control Abby in an attempt to force a connection. Abby plays with animals, shows affection for her friends, and lives in a community similar to Jackson's. To rub salt in the wounds, she'll occasionally talk about Joel's death like it was necessary and nothing of consequence will come from it. If this section had been placed early on, it could've worked, but instead of playing as Abby, I kept wondering when I was going to play as Ellie and finally kill her.

As you play as Abby, you see most of the key characters Ellie kills. Attempting to show them in a redeeming light, but it does the opposite. Instead, all I saw was the people who traveled weeks to murder a father while they held his daughter down to watch, and it's clear that Abby doesn't care either for her friends as you play. When discovering the body of a friend named Daniel, Abby looks frustrated but immediately shows she doesn't care despite Manny, another close friend of Abby and Daniel, showing the opposite. She's more concerned that her friend Owen could be in trouble but also turns against him multiple times during the story.

As you travel as Abby, she becomes intertwined in a lukewarm version of Ellie and Joel's relationship, condensed and accelerated. This is a young boy named Lev, who is labeled a traitor by his cult, the Seraphites, for identifying as a man and shaving his head, is to be killed on sight. Eventually, Abby betrays the WLF, and Lev loses her family, leaving them with nothing but each other. Forcing them together instead of building them into a profound duo. All of which Abby does not change.

It's clear that Abby is just afraid to be alone. She wants someone to be with but believes she's unworthy of love to any degree, even says it. As her friends die, she does little, and Manny gets shot in front of her and, after seeing Tommy was responsible, decides to forget it. She does not warn her other friends that the Trespassers killing them are Joel's family, and she continues with her mission to save Lev. Deciding to help people she supposedly cares about since she was a Firefly and instead decides to save someone she's known for about 2 days. Great quality judgment here.

After saving Lev and betraying the WLF, of which she was a dedicated and loyal member, she is stricken with rage after finding Mel, Own, and Alice all killed. In the ultimate tease, players take control of Abby as you viciously beat Ellie. Somehow, Ellie, being a trained soldier with all her gear, is unable to stand against Abby and her bottles.  

After literally beating Ellie to near death, Dina attempts to save Ellie in the most impractical way. Slicing mindlessly like she never wielded a knife before or somehow not having a gun is overpowered by Abby. Ellie begs her to stop yelling she's pregnant, and Abby actually enjoys the thought of killing her. Yes, Ellie was responsible for Mel's death, but she did not know she was pregnant and, after committing the act, has a massive emotional breakdown and collapses, requiring both Tommy and Jesse to move her.

Abby felt no symphony and only stopped because Lev, who is basically a representation of Ellie, gets her to stop. The look on Abby's face was glee as she was able to slice Dina's neck. Even after this, Abby looks at Ellie with disgust, showing no remorse, and would've killed Dina and moved on without issue because she has been shown to do this.

After so many attempts to connect Abby to the player, Abby's most insulting attribute is her lack of empathy. Abby is the one you caused the series of events that would lead to her friend's death but how does she respond to this, nothing. Abby shows no concern that she caused her friend's death after we see she went to California to chase Owen's lead. She doesn't even mention him, someone, who she supposedly cared about is just another victim in Abby's long track record of destruction.

Even Joel, who killed dozens of people, chose not to talk about the tragic things in his life because he couldn't handle it. Sarah, Sam, Henry, and Tess Joel chose to ignore because that was his way of coupling with grief. Abby doesn't do this; she moves on and forgets that she did nothing wrong.

Ellie saves Abby after deciding to leave her happy life behind, and in a graphic fight between the 2, Abby leaves alive. Ellie is left mentally and physically broken. Without her fingers, which Abby bit off, Ellie could no longer play the guitar and connect with Joel in the only way she had left. Abby leaves without remorse for the lifelong friends she killed or the suffering she caused Ellie.

Abby is a horrible person, and from the moment she kills Joel, she never becomes more than an introduction. We are forced to play as this person, and the game shoves down our throats that we should feel symphony here. It's hard to do that when her opening hour is about her killing a beloved character. Worse she doesn't evolve as a person, instead, causing tragedy and destroying everyone around her. Without empathy, Abby kills and ruins the lives of many but, unlike Ellie, suffers little for it.