It was a long and painful journey, but a lot of players have finished The Last of Us Part II‘s story. Blood was shed, guts were wrenched and a tale of revenge was brought to its divisive conclusion. Amid all of this though, some mysteries were left dangling in the wind, leaving us with these five unanswered questions we still have after finishing The Last of Us 2. *Warning: Heavy Spoilers Ahead*
Are There Any Other Immune Survivors in the World?
Throughout The Last of Us 2, flashbacks show Ellie wrestling with the same question over and over again: Are there other people in the world who are immune to the Cordyceps fungal infection?
It’s a fair question, not only because a yes would give weight to Joel’s lie at the end of the first game but also because it would provide hope for Ellie and the world at large. More immune people offers a better chance at developing a cure, or at least of there being more people who could survive the new state of the world without endless fear.
By the story’s end though, an answer remains elusive. Ellie remains the only known person in the world who can’t be infected by bites or spores, and any other immune survivors are either hidden or died before their immunity could be discovered.
Given the tone of the series and the direction of its narrative, we may never get an answer to this question. After all, The Last of Us is more about the lives of its world’s survivors than it is pursuing a cure at this point. All the same, we can’t help but hold out hope that Ellie won’t be alone in her gift, and wonder if the world might find a glimmer of light in the darkness at some point.
Will Abby and Lev Reach the Fireflies?
Though they play a far less prominent role in The Last of Us 2, the existence of the Fireflies remains a source of hope for many characters. For players though, the question of whether two in particular will ever reach them is still up in the air.
After dealing with Ellie and her friends, Abby and Lev are shown to have set out for California in the hopes of finding remnants of the group. They manage to track down a former base of the group, and even make contact with someone claiming to be from a revived gathering of members.
Before they can meet up with these people though, the duo are ambushed by the rattlers and forced into slavery at their settlement, eventually staging an escape that almost costs them their lives before they eventually escape.
While it’s somewhat inferred that the two are headed there after their confrontation with Ellie, the question remains: Were they able to reach the group safely, in spite of their injuries and weakened states? And if they were, is there hope for the organization’s revival in the next installment as a result?
What Was Tommy Up to During Ellie and Abby’s Stories?
For all of the clarity and perspective playing as both Ellie and Abby provides to The Last of Us 2’s story, one key viewpoint still remains a mystery; that being Tommy’s.
Sure, we catch glimpses of him and his trail here and there. Ellie discovers friends of Abby’s who he tortured for information, while Abby has to make her way toward his sniping post at the cost of her friend Manny. It’s even hinted at that Jesse saved him after Abby reaches him and sends him plummeting into the ocean.
Overall though, we have little to no idea of what Tommy was up to during his time in the war-torn city. All of his exploits, and what he went through in the immediate aftermath of his brother’s death, are unclear and vague, leaving him as less of a character and more of a plot device.
He may not be the biggest character in the series, but we can’t help but wonder what he was up to. Whether it be in DLC or a more expansive approach, learning of Tommy’s adventures could very well expand the scope of the story in some meaningful ways and clarify a few unknowns besides.
Can Anyone Else Create a Cure for the Cordyceps Infection?
Right alongside the question of whether there are any other immune survivors in The Last of Us 2 sits another mystery: Can anyone else develop a cure for the Cordyceps infection?
Throughout the game, players are shown time and again just how devastating Joel’s decision to save Ellie was for the rest of the world. Most devestating of all though, is that Abby’s father, who was the doctor Joel killed in his rage, was viewed as the last doctor skilled enough to perform the surgery.
With him gone, almost all of the remaining Fireflies gave up on the hopes of ever finding another immune survivor; because even if they did, there’d be no hope of successfully removing their mutated spores in order to develop a cure.
Like with the lack of other immune survivors though, players wouldn’t be blamed for wondering if there are more skilled doctors out there somewhere. Especially with settlements becoming more efficient and established, wouldn’t it be possible that someone somewhere is skilled enough to develop a cure, and has been kept safe from the infection?
Will Ellie Find Redemption?
A big part of the Last of Us series is the idea of characters finding redemption for the awful things they’ve done in the post-apocalypse, but by the end of The Last of Us 2, Ellie has yet to achieve this.
In her mission to avenge Joel, she loses some of the most important parts of herself both figuratively and literally. She has tortured, maimed and killed people, becoming the same kind of vicious survivor she once detested; lost Dina and her son JJ seemingly forever after abandoning them to find Abby; and lost her ability to play the guitar and stay connected to Joel through something he taught her how to do.
It was all largely for nothing too. Even after warping into this person and giving so much up to track down Abby, she realized too little too late that it wouldn’t change anything and let her live. With nothing left, she sets out alone toward an unknown destination or purpose.
It’s still unclear whether this is the last we’ll ever see of Ellie or if she may appear in a later entry in the series, but we can’t help wondering: Will Ellie find hope again through someone or something, either by finding Dina in Jackson or getting a fresh start in a new settlement? Or is she destined to spiral further down, doomed to repeat the evils she now finds herself capable of?
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