Mel has been given the title of the most hated character in The Last of Us Part II, largely due to the choices she makes along her journey. On accord with her independent nature and stubbornness, she endangered herself and her unborn child by traveling to the aquarium, through areas not controlled by the WLF, where eventually she met her demise at the hands of Ellie.
Mel wanted to leave with Owen and others to Santa Barbara, California, leaving Abby behind. She feared Abby’s intention of regaining Owen’s favor and interfering with her relationship. She was caught off guard by Ellie while she stood arguing with Owen about leaving Abby behind and starting their life afresh, but that eventually ended her life.
Fans felt a fresh breath of air after Mel’s death
Mel’s death did not affect the audience one bit, rather, people were quite happy with how her life ended. People argued that she was the cause of her and her unborn child’s death as she was not supposed to wander in dangerous areas outside WLF’s control, alone. One Reddit user said –
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byu/val_nt1 from discussion
inthelastofus
Mel’s cowardice act towards the end of her life proved how little morality she had within, behind a facade of being a nice person. She hindered her friendship with Abby, her childhood best friend, because of jealousy. She made Owen suffer with her because she wanted a sense of ownership over him. She had no regard for her unborn child as she put its life in danger by wandering alone in dangerous places. Another user wrote –
Whats the TLOU character you dislike the most?
byu/flopapopa inthelastofus
She wanted Joel to suffer but gave Abby a hard time about killing him when she was there at that moment, frozen in fear, unable to do anything about it. Her hypocritical outlook toward Joel’s death hindered her relationship with Abby as after the Jackson incident, things were not the same between them as she was also pregnant with Owen’s child by that time.
Mel betrayed her childhood friend who vouched for her when she needed it the most and Mel repaid her by accusing her of putting her in a situation where she had to witness death; when it was her idea to torture Joel and make him pay for what he did in the first place. This hypocritical outlook towards life eventually garnered immense hatred towards her.
The journey that changed Mel for the worst
Mel was originally one of the Fireflies, she trained as a medic under Dr. Jack Anderson on recommendation by Abby Anderson. During their time in Fireflies, Abby and Mel had become close friends. After the death of Dr. Anderson at the hands of Joel, Fireflies lost all hope of making a vaccine and were eventually dismantled.
Mel and Abby joined a group of ex-Fireflies searching for a new place to call home. They were taken in by the Western Liberation Front (WLF). Mel became a medic with WLF’s military and formed a romantic relationship with Owen, getting pregnant with his child.
When Abbie found a lead on Joel’s brother Tommy, Mel was the first to agree to pursue the lead and make Joel suffer for what he did.
Mel was present on the day Abby found Tommy’s hideout and killed Joel there. Ironically, although she felt Joel deserved worse than he got, she was sick with the cruelty she witnessed and scared of what Abby was capable of. Their relationship began to sour from then on. She also started becoming jealous of Abby’s closeness with Owen and tried her best to create distance between them.
On a mission outside of Seattle, Abby and Mel were ambushed by the Seraphite hunting party, in an area that was previously considered safe. They were cornered near a gas station when a patrol of Wolves came to their rescue and fought off the Seraphite. Mel was shot in the shoulder and so was taken to the hospital where she was interrogated about Owen and Abby’s whereabouts. She revealed nothing.
The next day she met with Abby and Owen in the aquarium and told Abby that she would be leaving for Santa Barbara, California with Owen and others. Ellie broke into the aquarium when Abby was out getting supplies and caught Mel and Owen by surprise before putting their lives to an end.
