The Last of Us Episode 6 Ending Explained: Is Joel Really Dead? How Joel Died In Video Game?
The Last of Us continues to put the emotions of its viewers on the ropes and this has been demonstrated by the episode “Kin” Episode 6 which is now available on HBO Max and whose end implies that Joel (Pedro Pascal) has died. In this chapter, Joel is finally reunited with his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna). It is there that he asks her to accompany Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and thus separate from her. However, Joel decides that he won’t leave Ellie in Tommy’s hands after all, and they head off to a college in Colorado where the Fireflies should be. But when they get there, the place is deserted except for some monkeys from the science labs. While checking out one of the buildings, they notice a group of men on the street and try to get out of there without being seen.
Sadly, the plan doesn’t work and Joel fights with a man who ends up stabbing him with the sharp end of a baseball bat. Joel, badly injured, gets on the horse alongside Ellie as they escape the other chasing men. Although they were able to escape, Joel is badly injured and falls from his horse. Leaving us in a sad scene where Ellie asks him not to die and Joel lies on the snowy ground without any answer. After leaving Kansas City and experiencing one of the most traumatic moments of their trip, Joel and Ellie continue their adventure in the sixth episode of The Last of Us. His goal is to find Tommy -Joel’s brother- and the Fireflies to study the young woman and thus find a cure. A chapter that has left a surprising ending that could change the series forever.
The Last of Us Episode 6: The Story Plot
Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) have left Kansas City and the traumatic events that took place there. Three months later, the two are traveling through snowy Wyoming, still searching for Joel’s brother, Tommy (Gabriel Luna), and any “Lights” he may be in contact with. While crossing the “river of death”, so defined by an elderly couple they met, frightened by what is hiding beyond its waters, our protagonists come across a group of survivors on horseback, ready to do anything to keep them away from their territory. Only when Joel reveals that he is Tommy’s brother do things change, and the two are taken to the fortified settlement of Jackson, where waiting for them is a community unlike any they have encountered up to that point.
Organized according to egalitarian and sharing principles, the inhabitants of Jackson have tried to restore order and civilization, for example by establishing schools and bringing back traditions such as Christmas. Among them, Joel finally finds Tommy, who has completely changed his life and is about to become a father. The long-awaited meeting with his brother triggers a strong inner conflict in Joel because he no longer feels able to protect Ellie as he would like and thus finds himself faced with a choice: to continue in the “mission” or to entrust it to someone else he trusts. Without wondering, however, what Ellie thinks of this sudden passing of the baton…
The Last of Us Episode 6 Ending Explained
The new installment of the HBO Max series begins with a three-month jump in time. After almost a hundred days of travel after which the leading duo has reached a snow-covered mountainous area in the state of Wyoming. After seeking guidance in an elderly couple’s cabin, it won’t be long before Joel finally achieves his first goal, to reunite with his little brother. And while the community Tommy lives in, known in the video game as the city or county of Jackson, is prosperous and life much more peaceful than anything Ellie and Joel have seen thus far, their journey must continue. Thus, they both head to the University of Colorado, where Tommy has told them that the Fireflies are hiding.
But what they find there are empty buildings and the remains of a premeditated escape. The Lucierganas have left that place, one of their settlements with laboratories, and have left a map that could indicate where they have moved. As Joel and Ellie are watching, a small group of raiders arrives and before they can escape on their horse, one gives chase and Joel finishes him off. But the fight does not leave Pedro Pascal’s character unscathed, who receives a serious stab wound to the stomach. And although they manage to flee, exhausted, he finally falls to the ground near some tracks and an old, abandoned train.
Ellie tries to wake him up and stop the bleeding, but Joel doesn’t respond. “Joel, open your eyes. Get up! Damn, I’m not going to be able to do this without you. I don’t know where the hell we’re going or what the hell I’m going to do. Joel, please…”, says the desperate young woman with tears already showing on his face. It is then that the camera moves away and, with the figure of Joel still unconscious on the ground and Ellie on her knees before him, the chapter ends, leaving the fate of Pedro Pascal’s character in the air.
Is Joel Really Dead?
This answer probably won’t be answered until the seventh episode or even the eighth. Since the seventh will deal with the story of the DLC of the first game titled Left Behind where it is discovered how Ellie was bitten for the first time. So surely, we will not see Joel in said episode unless they leave him for the last minutes of the chapter as was done with the story of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). As for whether Joel is actually dead, it can be said that he is not dead. All of it follows the story of the video game, which is what the HBO Max series seems to continue to do. In the PlayStation game, Joel is badly injured but not because of the way he appears in the series.
In the story of the video game, Joel and Ellie meet a group of mercenaries at the university and in one of those fights, Joel ends up falling to the ground from the first floor, impaling himself with a piece of iron. This is when they can escape and we put ourselves in Ellie’s shoes while Joel recovers. Without going much beyond the plot, this part of the game’s story is about a turning point where Joel and Ellie become much closer and their relationship intensifies, as if they were a daughter and a father.
Does Joel Die Like This In The Video Game?
And, although the situation is extremely critical, with three chapters to go before the series concludes its first season (and with the second already announced), it is clear that this extreme situation will not be the end of the hero. And for even more hope, one must turn to the source material. Although in a different context, in the video game, Joel suffers a similar injury, causing him to collapse and forcing Ellie to frantically search for medicine. This leads to a run-in with two very particular characters, David and James, whom Ellie will presumably run into in the next episode of The Last of Us. The new arc will have big implications for the increasingly close relationship between her and Joel.
And it is that it is this moment in which Joel finally understands that Ellie must protect him as much as he has done with her. What they have is not a relationship between bounty hunters and merchandise, but a connection between equals. In the sixth episode, he admits to Tommy that he is no longer what he was before and he can no longer fend for himself. ” Lately there are times when fear invades me and my heart… it’s as if it stopped,” he admits scared. So far, despite HBO Max making significant changes to the series from the source material, the main story and character relationships remain largely unchanged. Therefore, unless the company wants to take a radical turn, everything indicates that Joel will continue to accompany Ellie in search of the definitive cure for Cordyceps. To confirm it, we will have to wait until Monday, February 27, the date on which HBO Max premieres the seventh episode of The Last of Us.
