There are two parts to this game:
Joel Miller, Marlene, Tess, Bill, Tommy, Maria, Henry/Sam, and David.
The story of The Last of Us Part 1 begins with Joel Miller and his daughter Sarah at home, he is on the phone with his brother Tommy discussing a contracting job that Joel seems to need desperately. It is Joelâs birthday and Sarah gifts him with an expensive watch.
L ater that same night, Sarah wakes up looking for Joel, the cordyceps outbreak has begun, the news is talking about the infection, and that tests for a vaccine have failed, the number of infected is climbing rapidly.
Joel appears in the house and a former infected neighbour Jimmy Cooper bursts through their balcony door and Joel kills him in self defense. This first encounter and killing ignites the survivalist in Joel. His brother Tommy arrives and they all flee the house to find a safe haven. An accident happens, their car is overturned, they escape on foot, where they encounter many infected. Tommy tells Joel he will catch up with him and Sarah, and to take Sarah to safety.
Unfortunately, Joel encounters a FEDRA (Federal Emergency Response Agency) the totalitarian military group that has taken control of the cities, establishing quarantine zones, in an effort to maintain order, their aggressive and oppressive rule created resistance groups like The Fireflies) soldier following an order to eliminate any possible infected, and despite Joelâs pleas they are not sick, Sarah is shot and she dies in Joelâs arms.
Fast forward 20 years, Joel has become a smuggler, a hardened survivalist he has teamed up with Tess, and they are hired by Marlene the leader of the militia group The Fireflies to smuggle Ellie, a fourteen year old immune girl (they are unaware of her immunity at the start) to a group of Fireflies who are located in the Capitol Building, in return Marlene will return weapons (which originally belonged to Joel and Tess) she bought from arms dealer Robert to them.
It is along the way that Tess and Joel discover Ellie's immunity when a FEDRA soldier finds them and scans them for infection, and as he is about to scan Ellie she pulls a knife instigating a fight and the soldier is killed by Joel.
They make it to the building, but the Fireflies that were supposed to take Ellie have been killed, and it is discovered that along the way Tess was bitten, she convinces Joel to finish what they started as a tribute to her, eventually Tess is killed as FEDRA soldiers arrive, Joel and Ellie escape.
At the beginning, Joel views Ellie as cargo, a job that he is getting paid to do, he does not engage in much small talk. He enforces the dangers they face from infected and hunters by letting Ellie know to do exactly as he tells her. He advises to keep her immunity under wraps as she would most certainly be killed if anyone discovers the truth. He witnesses her immunity firsthand when they enter a bus station full of spores and Joel wears a mask, Ellie is able to breathe normally.
Joel takes Ellie to his business partner Bill, living in a town fortified with explosive traps to deal with the infected. Here Joel acquires a car so they can drive to the hospital. He does not tell Bill what happened to Tess or why he is helping Ellie.
Throughout their journey across the USA, Joel begins to form a bond with Ellie, viewing her as the daughter he never had, not a replacement to Sarah but a second chance at fatherhood. I see this when they find Tommy Joelâs brother at a hydro electric dam settlement, Joel tries to convince Tommy to take Ellie off his hands and deliver her to the Fireflies, as Tommy was once part of the group and knows their whereabouts. Ellie finds out and runs off on horseback, Joel finds her and realizes his connection to her is much deeper when they are talking about loss, and Ellie tells him that everyone has either died on her or left, everyone but him. This forces Joel to change his mind and continue the journey with Ellie.
As they continue their journey to the Firefly hospital, the bond towards Ellie increases for Joel. They encounter brothers Henry and Sam along the way, (Henry and Sam were also looking for the fireflies) they team up, but tragedy strikes when Sam is bitten by an infected during an attack with hunters, Sam feels like he betrayed his younger brother and eventually shoots him and then himself.
One of the most traumatic experiences and true tests of courage and survival for Ellie, is when Joel is injured by a group of hunters when they reach the University of Colorado where Fireflies are supposedly located, but instead they have all died, Joel is injured in a fight when he falls out of a window and lands on a piece of wood, getting stabbed in the side, Ellie kills the hunter. Now, it is up to Ellie to protect and save him. Ellie finds a safe house for Joel to recover while she goes out to look for medicine to heal him, she encounters James and David, a group of hunters later revealed to be cannibalists when she is captured by David and he explains that this is a means of survival. Ellie gets the medicine she needs from David to save Joel, but not before he tracks her to find and kill Joel as retaliation for killing his men. Eventually, Ellie stabs David in a restaurant with a machete when he tries to strangle her when she rejects joining his group.
As the game progresses, Joel and Ellie finally reach the hospital and he encounters Marlene who reveals to Joel that Ellie is being prepped for surgery to remove the cordyceps from her brain which will kill Ellie. She explains this is the only shot for a cure, even though an extremely hard sacrifice. Joel does not accept this and kills the entire Fireflies in the hospital saving Ellie, pulling her out of the hospital and escaping while she was still unconscious. Ellie wakes up as they are driving in a car taken from the hospital parking lot, she asks what happened? Joel lies to her telling her that it turns out there are many like her who are immune to the cordyceps virus, the tests have failed and there is no cure. Joel swears to Ellie that his lie is the truth.
Joel Miller in part 1 of The Last of Us is depicted as sharp minded, he has heavy experience in survival, and has been on both sides hunter and good guy. His character is well defined here, he wanted to give Ellie a chance at life despite the harsh environment. I also believe that Joel killing would not yield a cure, and she would have died for nothing, he did not want to lose her as he eventually developed a deep and profound connection. Most of Joelâs bad deeds were done in the name of survival not because he is a bad person, he experienced the worst loss in the beginning.
Ellie forms a trusting relationship with Joel, as everyone around her leaves or dies and she has a fear of ending up alone.
I loved the story, Ellie's story and journey from such a young age she has to deal with tragedy and loss which is heartbreaking but it made her very strong. Her bond with Joel resembles a father and daughter relationship. The characters each have a unique role and it plays out like a movie.
Joel often questioned himself whether or not he was good enough for Ellie also, his connection to her whether he deserved it or not he was the only role model in her life. He made the most critical decision for her and did not regret it.