Season one of HBO’s The Last of Us has finally come to a close with a crazy cliffhanger of an ending. It’s not quite as bombastic as you might expect from a show about zombies, but it does leave you thinking. If you’re wondering why Joel chose to lie to Ellie in HBO’s The Last of Us, here’s what you need to know.
Why Did Joel Lie to Ellie About the Fireflies in HBO’s The Last of Us? Answered
The short answer is that Joel knew that Ellie was suffering from survivor’s guilt, and he didn’t want Ellie to bear the burden of knowing that he gunned down an entire hospital full of people just to save her, and doom humanity in the process.
In the season finale, as Joel and Ellie are watching the giraffes, he tells her that they don’t actually need to do this; they can just turn around and head back to Tommy’s. However, Ellie tells him that after everything she’s done, it can’t be for nothing. Ellie has gone through plenty of trauma just to get to the hospital, people have died to get her to that hospital, and she feels the need to see it through.
Ellie’s survivor’s guilt is also made most apparent when she talks about Riley near the end of the episode. She had survived the infection and watched Riley succumb to it, and as a result, she’s having difficulty dealing with the fact that she got to live while so many other people have died. Joel knows she’s carrying all these burdens with her, and he knows that Ellie wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she found out that he killed even more people just for her.
That’s all you need to know about why Joel lied to Ellie about the Fireflies in HBO’s The Last of Us, though perhaps the more pertinent question to ask is, did Ellie actually believe him? Be sure to search for Twinfinite for more news and information on the show.
