The Last of Us has left a lasting impression on the gaming industry ever since the game’s initial release in 2013. It’s narrative-driven gameplay and unique storytelling made the game stand out. However, there were times when there were disagreements regarding monumental changes in the story, specifically by Troy Baker
Troy Baker, who played the role of Joel in The Last of Us, suggested the most monumental change to the game’s ending during production. Neil Druckmann, the writer and creative director for the series, was unhappy with the suggestion and outrightly rejected it.
Neil Druckmann’s visionary storytelling
Troy Baker, suggested killing his character towards the end of The Last of Us part 1. Baker believed Joel to have crossed moral lines and he deserved to die. Druckmann said –
Neil said Joel has crossed these moral lines, and therefore he deserved to die. He thought it might be a more dramatic ending and I was like, nah, you’re crazy.
Druckmann believed Joel’s death would perhaps end the story then and there as opposed to the lingering effect he wanted the ending to have.
Neil Druckmann drops a bomb on the crew
Three years after the release of The Last of Us Part I, during a table read of Part II, Druckmann revealed to the crew that he would be killing off Joel in the next game and Ellie would go on a revenge frenzy, killing anyone who comes in the way. Troy Baker was devastated by this news, he said –
Because It literally was as if someone was telling me about how my friend had just died.
Druckmann believed Baker to take the news in a better way as he was the one who came up with the idea of killing Joel in the first place.
Druckmann wanted to focus on Ellie’s revenge arc more in the second part of the game which led him to kill off Joel. The fans did not receive Joel’s death well. Joel had become very relatable to the audience, almost everyone sympathized with the loss of his child in the first game and his desire to save Ellie, no matter the cost.
Troy Baker’s earlier suggestion would not have left scope for the emotional dept Ellie’s character needed to get motivated. In the narrative structure of the story, Joel’s death marks a significant moment by revealing to us a worldview that was missing before. The story was much motivated by Joel’s perspective which left little or no space for us to see the other side of the story.
Fresh perspectives and self-discovery
The people who kill Joel have pretty good reasons to have him dead and by allowing us to play as one of them, we get an intimate insight into a newfound world that would have lost forever had Joel died in the first part. We are experiencing the world through a completely fresh perspective in the game and that makes us more immersed in the story while raising serious questions about morality and the blurry line between right and wrong at the same time.
By rejecting Troy Baker’s suggestion, Druckmann creates an emotional experience that makes the players question the roles they play in their lives outside the game, and how devoid they are of so many perspectives that exist within a single story of their lives. Druckmann led us into a philosophical quest to search within by killing the main character in each of our lives, paving the way for a new character to be reborn, within us.
