The Last of Us Part III – Making Predictions

it's been about seven months since i first played the last of us part two and i'm still thinking about it today whatever opinion you might have about the story it's undeniable that naughty dog was able to meticulously craft a powerful narrative as evidenced by the deep range of emotional reactions the game got out of its many players and i think the reason for people having such strong reactions to this game is because the game's characters and story beats force us to draw on our core ideologies when we reflect on the game's events it's not just a fictional tale it's a world that reflects back on our own and forces us to think about our own society and choices all great narratives do this in the case of the last of us part 2 we see a violent divided world that honestly isn't so far from our own if we were to put ourselves into the same circumstances and we wish for this world to be restored we see flawed characters make flawed decisions and we hope for ourselves that we don't make those same mistakes even though we know we just might we feel hatred we feel sadness we feel love and we feel hope and it's stories like this that can leave a lasting impression on you because of those very real feelings and so because i love this story so much and i'm eager to see more i'm making this video to make a couple of predictions on what i expect to see in the last of us part 3. i'd love to give a full outline of what i think the next game might entail but then i think i would just be moving into pure fan fiction at that point and i'd rather just make a few key predictions that will be central to the game so instead i'll be breaking down this video into 7 different sections i'll leave some timestamps in the description if you'd like to skip around but i suggest following these predictions chronologically as i'll be building up the story through each different section let's start with section one the main characters here let me take him come here bud oh yeah here oh i got it i got it hey hey it's good to see you um you too he's getting heavy no he's just a big ball of muscle [Music] in this section i'm going to delve into which characters i think will be the focus of the last of us part three there are people who want the third game to start following new characters and new settings but i don't think this will be the case for part three i think we'll still primarily be following ellie and some other returning characters and although there will likely be new characters and factions i'll get into that in a later section first let's look at why ellie and a few other big players from part 2 will remain as our protagonists in an interview with gq neil druckmann the creative director of the last of us states that diverging from joel and ellie's story is the coward's way out and that in doing so you might as well do a new ip i'm inclined to agree with neil on this as what we care about in the last of this universe isn't simply the world that the characters live in we care about the characters themselves therefore even though people might be interested in the world of the last of us itself and the other inhabitants of this world i don't think it's time for new protagonists just yet ellie and other characters have problems they still have yet to face and there are conflicts still left unresolved that's why i think that ellie abby lev dina jj tommy and maria will all return in part three though they'll all have varying levels of importance that i'll get into in every section for starters tommy's character arc isn't over the last we've seen of him is him still holding the same kind of anger against abby that ellie is consumed by just before she heads out for california there's a lot the part 3 can do with tommy he can deal with his mental issues and move towards forgiveness and acceptance but he can also become more and more unhinged it's a toss-up but i'll get into the direction i think he'll go later in the video as for dina i think that she and ellie are likely to have reconciled by the time that part 3 begins in the final scene of part 2 ellie returns to the empty farm that she and dina used to live in together despite how quiet it is ellie doesn't seem unnerved that dina is gone and not only that she has returned here without any weapons meaning that she likely returned to jackson beforehand much like dina and jj did after all jesse's parents did tell them that they were all welcome back at jackson not only that but ellie has returned to the farm with a bracelet that dina gave her she wasn't wearing it when she was in california but she is wearing it now and you can see the same bracelet in the scene where dina and ellie are dancing that's why i don't think that this final scene is meant to depict the end of ellie's relationship with dina it's to depict the finality of ellie's vengeful lust and it allows her to finally put joel to rest in her mind this makes more thematic sense for the overall story of part two as it isn't about showing what ellie has lost it's about showing what she has been able to overcome ellie clearly still isn't in her right mind but she's trying i think her poem from her journal shows that she is trying to repair things with her family even though she's broken and to top it all off the narrative lead for the game hallie gross stated in an interview with indie that in spite of all that ellie's been through i wanted to find love but love isn't going to solve everything for ellie like reality she'll still have so many more problems left to face [Laughter] simply put i think there will be a time skip for part three i don't see the third game coming out anytime soon and i think a time skip will allow us to feel a bit more distance from part 2 story and keep things fresh both thematically and narratively speaking but i don't think the time skip will be that long considering how we'll miss out on crucial changing points in the characters lives i think we'll be at around a three to five year skip if anything if we skip too far ahead the characters will be too jarringly different people were already angry about how joel was different after only five years of misdevelopment over the time skip in part two and they couldn't fathom him being the character he was in part two simply because they didn't watch his character progression unfold not only that if they decide to skip 13 years or something to make jj the main character i think that's the wrong move again people change drastically over 13 years and i think that it's too easy to make jj the main character anyway during this time skip i do think that one distinct design change will happen ellie will either grow out her hair or she'll simply just grow her hair back over the course of part two ellie has ptsd after joel's violent death and though i'll mention that mental illnesses manifest themselves in different ways for different people i think that ellie cutting her hair towards the end of the game is a possible manifestation of her trying to relieve her anxiety and stress except for a single article i couldn't find anything medical or scholarly to back this up as an accurate and legitimate phenomenon for those who suffer with ptsd but there are users on discussion boards who talk about an overwhelming desire to cut their hair in an attempt to make an intense change so seeing as how ellie has learned to live with her traumas by the end of the game i think this will serve a clean narrative purpose in part three that will show how much ellie has moved on from the traumas of part two's events so if we've moved on from the traumas of part two's events and ellie has learned to empathize with and forgive both joel and abby where does the story go from here well we've got to start with a theme first the most important part of any strong narrative what happened to us maybe we stopped looking for the light maybe on an episode of podcast beyond hallie mentions how they start with a theme this is the key to understanding why certain story beats happen and why certain characters act the way they do the last of us part 2 and by extension part 1 as well is trying to send a message with its narrative and part 3 will do the same the themes will dictate so many different aspects of the story part 1 and 2 both explore themes of tribalism the idea of people having such strong loyalties to their own tribe or social group that they end up in conflict with other tribes and groups because they only wish to advance the interests and wants of their own tribe regardless if they have to commit evil acts to do so so for example joel killing all of the fireflies at the hospital to save ellie who is part of his tribe in an interview with gq neil druckmann explains these themes further the games explore the justification of atrocities through the themes of retribution revenge and justice and furthermore the othering of minorities we can see all of these themes communicated through the sheer violence and dehumanization taking place between all of the opposing factions in the games the wlf against the seraphites ellie's group versus the salt lake city fireflies and so on and so forth people will do anything for their tribe and therein lies the problem conflict stems for this tribal division so how do you get past this problem of tribalism and move towards a better world well with empathy of course and that's what part 2 shows us in its narrative of forgiveness and its attempt to stop the cyclical nature of violence i think that the theme of tribalism will return in part three and with it i think that retribution justice revenge and even empathy and forgiveness will return as well but i think that these themes will be expanded upon in different ways and in bigger scales compared to part 1 and 2. while part 2 posed the theme of empathy and forgiveness as a solution to the issues of tribalism i believe that part 3 will push past that idea and go even further empathy and forgiveness simply aren't enough in a world that has committed so many atrocities so what needs to be done then people must redeem themselves i think that redemption as a theme will play a huge part in part three and it'll be shown in different ways there will be the redemption of characters of factions and possibly even of humanity itself ellie as much as we might wish to justify her violent actions over the last two games because we ourselves are falling victim to the issue of tribalism has committed so much evil much like everyone else in the world so many lives have been lost over the years and not just the lives ellie has taken herself but the lives she could have saved ellie will feel responsible like she always has for so many deaths just because she wasn't able to help the fireflies make a vaccine ellie is 100 not responsible for these people dying but she has always struggled with the idea that she could have helped people she's looking for goodness she's looking for a better world and she's looking for redemption she has just never been able to get that opportunity most especially because she felt like he was taken away from her so that's why i think the theme of redemption will be key to understanding and predicting the plot of the last of us part 3. this world needs it and what better way to do it than to wrap it up in the symbolic context of looking for the light the motto of the fireflies that we've heard ever since the first game and the most symbolic representation of hope in the entire franchise remember when you're lost in the darkness look for the light believe in the fireflies [Music] now we're bitten we've decided we're going to end our lives instead of turning please tell our family and friends that we're sorry about him in sydney i shot her i can't take my own life i'm a coward adam jesus only never immune right the fireflies are central to just about everything in the last of us their presence is pervasive in both the art and in the plot of the games in both part 1 and 2 your ultimate goal is to locate the fireflies in the first game joel is trying to find them to deliver ellie to them so they can make a vaccine and in the second game ellie's unwittingly seeking them out to kill them all in part 3 i expect a similar journey of seeking out the fireflies to happen so ellie will quite literally be looking for the light not just for the fireflies but for the light of redemption and this will mirror her first journey with joel in a very poignant way because it all circles back to the vaccine but there has to be a reason for why ellie suddenly wants to look for the fireflies again to push for a vaccine she can't just randomly think about her past traumas i think she'll need a push and i think this is how they'll set it up in an interview with indiewire neil mentions how in part two ellie's ego is so intertwined with being wrong and she has to make it right and she believes she can't come to rest until she makes it right this is called the culture of honor and i think ellie's ego in part 3 will once again be provoked into feeling so wrong that she'll be compelled to try and make things right so what do i think will go so wrong that ellie will feel like she needs to fix it well let's start tying some threads together here's how i picture the game starting we'll be reintroduced to some familiar characters but most importantly i think there will be a new character whose role will be pivotal to ellie's motivation to seek out the fireflies now that joel and jesse are gone and tommy's out of commission i think ellie will have taken up a role in training people to do patrols at the beginning of part 3 i think she'll be training a fairly young member of jackson because i think this serves as an interesting narrative parallel to the first game this time ellie will be taking up the mentor role and this new character who will just name as the jackson kid will be the ellie to her joel you might even start the game as a jackson kid as it serves a dual purpose if ellie is teaching this kid on patrols this introductory sequence can be treated like a tutorial the player can learn how to craft how to shoot etc and this provides the player with some emotional investment in the character during one of these patrols i think the jackson kid will end up getting infected or bit or killed and i believe this will be the push that sends ellie looking for the fireflies she'll feel responsible for this kid's death and she'll think about how she could have stopped this if she had only been sacrificed on that one fateful day with joel this poses a problem however she has a family and both dina and jj will not want her to leave but i think ellie will make the argument that jj will need this for his future if he is to ever live in a good and safe world there needs to be a vaccine and as far as ellie knows she is the only conduit to making that happen this will obviously hurt the hell out of dina and make her both angry and sad because ellie is likely in the mindset that she must die to make this happen and that's the one true cost we learned about in making the vaccine but i think dina will tell her to try and find another way that maybe joel was right maybe she doesn't have to die after all even if ellie doesn't think it's possible i think ellie will still take her suggestion to heart but either way she'll leave jackson to seek out the fireflies and dina and jj will not be with her it's simply just far too dangerous for jj and i don't think dina will abandon him but dina won't be the only one to resist ellie either i think maria will object to her plan because ellie is such an important member to the community that it would hurt to lose her but it's likely that ellie will note how there just won't be a jackson if everyone just ends up dying to the virus or to the infected anyway there is however one character who might go with ellie on her journey and that character is tommy he's one of the only characters who knows of ellie's secret immunity and therefore he would understand why she would leave jackson dina might even convince him to watch over ellie to make sure she doesn't sacrifice herself needlessly as he was on the same page as joel was in part 2 when he mentions that he would do the same thing as he did when he saved her he's also a former firefly and he's one of the only people at jackson that we know of that has such a connection he can expand lore on the fireflies by telling stories about them during his and ellie's journey in trying to find them not only that but he's a fan favorite character and he would have the opportunity to complete his character arc in a satisfying way he still needs to deal with his anger and his lust for vengeance and he must confront abby in order to fully heal we'll get to hear more bits and pieces about joel too ellie will have moved on by now and she would be able to talk about him much more comfortably in part 3. at the end of part 2 however we see tommy limping and this would be a problem if he were to go on this journey with ellie i'll argue that it's possible that his leg has gotten more manageable after several years though as we only see him limping just a few months after his leg gets shot by lev and although i think that maria will have forgiven tommy a bit by the start of part three i think their relationship will be strained because of his behavior and this will give tommy further motivation to leave with ellie before ellie and tommy leave i expect there to be a visit to the jackson graveyard which will be disturbingly larger due to all of the deaths over the years this would give ellie one last time to mourn for the jackson kid and it'll be a way for her to say sorry to joel for making a choice that she knows he ultimately didn't want for her i think ellie and tommy will still be a little bit apprehensive about the fireflies but i think their group will have rebuilt a reputation and a presence in the united states again after these last few years and there are likely rumors about them seeking out a cure in a vaccine again and so ellie and tommy will head out from jackson to california where the firefly's home base is located they'll obviously face conflicts along the way and though i'm unsure of what these conflicts might be it's possible that people might be hunting some fireflies down again at some point ellie and tommy will make it to the firefly's home base and here i'm going to make a bold prediction i'm going to pose that the fireflies have discovered another immune individual much to ellie's surprise this might mean that it's possible that neither ellie nor this new immune person would need to be sacrificed for the vaccine ellie's participation could allow the fireflies to keep both her and this other person alive as maybe the fireflies can now study both of their circumstances and how they were able to become immune this is a very touchy prediction as although it makes joel's choice to rescue her the right one in some way it takes a lot of weight away from joel's daring decision to sacrifice a vaccine for ellie's life though on the other hand it does add more weight to his death he made a meaningful choice that saved ellie and still allowed for the world to be saved you might ask why the fireflies wouldn't just do their original plan of killing their subject to create a vaccine and i think this is where things will get a bit more complex in terms of morality in moral philosophy the concept of utilitarianism posits that actions are morally right if they are useful for the benefit of the majority so for example killing ellie in order to make a vaccine for the world is good because it results in more people being helped but there's also the kantian view of ethics in which the german philosopher emanuel kant argues that humans should not be treated as merely a means to an end and therefore the firefly's intent of killing ellie in order to make a vaccine is morally wrong no matter what the benefit is in this scenario ellie is treated more like a tool than a person with intrinsic value and that's what makes the act of killing her evil this is all an overly reductionist view of moral philosophy but i highlight these points to circle us back to the theme of redemption if we are to think of redemption as an act of being saved from evil we need to seek actions that portray an ideal of moral goodness not actions muddled by the questionable ethics of murder and although idealism is punished in a harsh world like this maybe idealism is what this world needs since all else has already failed abby who has likely become one of the leaders of the fireflies at this point will have learned unlike her father that justifying an act of evil by claiming that it has a more utilitarian good on the world is not the way to go she has seen firsthand that evil begets evil her father wanted to kill ellie which led to joel killing the fireflies which led to abby killing him which led to ellie killing dozens if not hundreds of wlf members i doubt that all the fireflies will share her viewpoint and i think this will cause a lot of conflict within the group itself and it'll lead to some very dirty hands but i think abby's decision will prevail as it gives the fireflies a chance at redemption by choosing to do something good which is something i think they must do in terms of the narrative if we look at the symbolism of a firefly fireflies quite literally depend on their own light to survive and reproduce particularly through their blinking patterns that allow for sexual selection and for prey survival in terms of the last of us part 3 i think this would mean that the fireflies can only survive and build a good world if they do things the right way by being a beacon of light after all their decision to do something dark is what led to their downfall in the first place speaking of abby and redemption we mustn't forget that tommy is here i think he'll revisit his rage against her but ultimately he won't kill her because if the theme of this game is indeed redemption this is his chance at it i think that once the vaccine is made tommy will stay with the fireflies for an indefinite period of time he'll tell ellie that he'll be helping them with their caravans and their ultimate goal to vaccinate as many people in different areas as possible because such a task will need a lot of manpower this is his chance to do good and i think it's perfectly fitting for him to do especially because he still may return to jackson someday ellie may also become an honorary firefly member but i can see her turning it down because this has always been a personal journey for her and she didn't do all of this for the fireflies she did this for everyone who lost their lives but the story doesn't end here it's too simple to end here i think this will only be the first half of the game and it'll lead to an even greater conflict for the second half of the game the fireflies must distribute this vaccine and i think this will revisit the tribalism theme to an even greater extreme by posing a very simple question that has plagued humanity for a very long time is it possible for humanity to come together to fix its problems the hell are you doing i need you to hear me out what's that behind you he saved my life by the way we'll deal with you back home he's not one of them please abby move god damn it he's just a kid stark ideological differences can result in great strife and conflict just look at just about everything going on in our world wars and violence can be started by extremely trivial things or just because people disagree with each other or sometimes even because they're from different places or groups this is why i think that the fireflies will be opposed by someone and who better else for this opposing side to be than fedra the militaristic and violent rulers of the quarantine zones fedra represents the largest group of enemies in the last of us to date and they have an everlasting conflict with the fireflies let's rewind for a second remember how i stated how the first half of the game might cover the creation of the vaccine well let's think through the process of vaccine creation for a moment don't the fireflies have to test the vaccines on people to make sure it works as good as the fireflies want to claim themselves to be i think they'll end up testing different failed forms of the vaccine on prisoners or enemies of theirs and by enemies i specifically mean federer soldiers the fireflies have so much violent history with fedra that i don't think that their conflict with each other would just simply be forgotten since the historical background of the fireflies stems from the revolts against the militaristic oppression of fedra it's doubtful that many firefly members will be sympathetic towards fedra for their wrongdoings the fireflies will naturally distrust fedra maybe they think they'll abuse the vaccine in some way and maybe even weaponize it or maybe some firefly members might simply believe that federer themselves don't deserve to be vaccinated as the fireflies know that the vaccines will not be prioritized for the citizens in the quarantine zones but rather for those in power who will press the citizens there on fedra's side they likely still view the fireflies as a terrorist group because of their history of bombing qz's and maybe some people in fedra might even believe that the vaccine is actually some sort of terrorist attack to turn more people infected they would especially believe this if stories come out that the fireflies have been injecting federer soldiers who turn infected but as a whole i think federer will want access to the vaccine the scientists and or to the immune individuals eg ellie and thus they'll start a war against the fireflies some leaders on both sides might think it's a good idea to cooperate with each other but like in real life opposing sides of a conflict don't get together an ally that easily just take a look at the real world people don't always band together to defeat a common evil for instance look at the partisan division in the united states and see how it affected the country's coven 19 response and relief the people in power become too busy fighting each other that they don't end up helping those in need and conflict isn't just confined to historical hatred or opposing ideologies conflict and war also arises when there is a fight for resources this is why i think that a whole slew of groups or factions will begin to fight each other over access to the vaccine i doubt there will be a way to mass produce the vaccines due to limited resources so this begs the question who gets the vaccine and when this will lead to groups assaulting caravans or cities or camps holding the vaccine just so they could get access news of the vaccine will likely be very widespread ellie might even be heading back to jackson with a batch of vaccines and she might even get jumped on the way back meaning that she would need to go back to the fireflies to get some more one thing is for near certain though i think jj will get vaccinated at the end as this is the ultimate representation of hope since he's just a child i can make all sorts of other predictions at this point but i'll probably become more and more inaccurate with every small event i try to predict so i'll be stopping to explore two other very important aspects of the game the infected and the locations we'll be going to [Music] in the last of us part two we were introduced to two new infected types shamblers and the rat king if we're jumping about five years into the future we can expect to see even more new infected types especially if we're exploring different landscapes such as california what i think is more important to mention than infected types however is the distinct possibility that the sheer number of infected has gotten worse in the world and the prospect of the infected taking over the entirety of the u.s is becoming more and more dire thus i think the spread of the virus will be an even bigger problem in part 3 which will help explain why jackson's growing graveyard is an even more tragic issue for ellie she needs to help make this vaccine she has to make this stop so when ellie leaves jackson where else will she go there's one obvious place that the last of us part 3 should feature and that place is catalina island the home base of the fireflies which was introduced at the end of part two when abby is prompted to go there to reconvene with the fireflies once you finish the game the menu screen changes to a boat on a shore with a domed building in the background that building is the catalina casino in avalon as seen here this implies that abby has made it here so it's very likely that we'll see this base in the next game if they have a harbor like in the picture it'd definitely be a good base of operations for traveling to different places along the coast which will help with vaccine distribution and if this is indeed their base ellie will likely go here to help make the vaccine las vegas is also a possibility if we're worried about the vast number of infected in part two ellie writes in her journal that there are thousands of infected within the vegas qz and this could pose a huge problem for her and tommy's journey to california more broadly due to the whole americana vibe the franchise has i think we'll be seeing some very distinct landscapes all throughout the game most especially once we reach california with that being said we've covered a lot so far throughout this video and the details might have gotten a bit muddled so let's recap with a quick overview before i end this video around 3-5 years after the events of the last of us part 2 the game opens with ellie training a young jackson citizen for patrols at some point during their training the kid gets bit by an infected and must die which pushes ellie to seek out the fireflies in an attempt to finally create the vaccine and rid the world of something that has taken away so many of her loved ones ellie faces resistance from dina for this because she must leave their family again but she ultimately heads towards california to find the fireflies ellie is accompanied by tommy who was a previous member of the fireflies and though they faced conflicts on their way to the home base of the fireflies on catalina island they managed to make it there safely to their surprise the fireflies have already found someone else who was immune and ellie's presence greatly improves their efforts to create a vaccine without the need to kill any of their subjects which is something they're working on because they've become far more idealistic especially with the inclusion of abby to their ranks despite this idealism the fireflies must test their vaccines on people and they choose to test it on their enemies fedra soldiers many of whom end up dying or becoming infected once the vaccine is finalized and created tommy stays with the fireflies to help them in their quest to distribute the vaccine to the rest of the world though the story doesn't end here the vaccine introduces new conflicts to the story that mirror the way conflicts are generated in real life a fight between opposing ideologies and or resources different groups begin to fight over access to the vaccine and not only that fedra is distrustful of the fireflies and vice versa leading to a war between both of the groups that takes up the second half of the game the rest i leave up in the air as i don't think i can write as well as naughty dog can anyway this video went on longer than i expected it to and if you managed to sit through this whole thing i thank you leave a comment about any of the predictions you agree with or disagree with we're probably going to have to guess for a few years before anything comes out anyway again thank you all for watching and i'll see you all next time [Music] you

Channel: Reginald Writes

Views: 212,158

Keywords: The Last of Us Part 2, The Last of Us, Writing, Predictions

Id: zRVa7EHorkk

Length: 37min 25sec (2245 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021