History TheLastOfUs / TropesAToD

* FiveFiveFive: Attempted but in one case the artist didn't realize that putting a 1-800 in front made it a real number... as in a working RealLife sex hotline. Whoops.

** [[spoiler:Both the first and last time you play as Joel, he's carrying his little girl to safety through a hostile environment with no means of defense.]]

** [[spoiler:"Alright."]]

** [[spoiler:"Heh... you wish..."]]

** As [[http://o.canada.com/technology/gaming/the-last-of-us-how-the-games-creator-envisions-its-ending/ this article]] explains, [[spoiler:it takes the bittersweet feeling to another level when it turns out the creators own intention with what Ellie's "Okay." at the ending means isn't what most players' interpretation probably were. While the most common one is that it was a complacent statement and Ellie was happy to be with him despite what he did, it turns out it was actually her realizing that, while she loves and cares for him, she also hates him for taking away her choice, and she feels that because of it, she will no longer be able to rely on him, but will have to leave him and take care of herself, which is also in line with her intended CharacterDevelopment into someone more independent.]]

* ABirthdayNotABreak: [[spoiler: The infection spread its way to Joel's home just hours after his birthday.]]

--> '''Ellie''': I used to be addicted to soap, but I'm clean now.

--> '''Ellie''': What did the mermaid wear to her math class?
--> '''Joel''': What?
--> '''Ellie''': An algea bra!
--> '''Joel''': (chuckles) Terrible.

* AdultFear: [[spoiler: Sarah, Sam, possibly any kids that the Hunters find as implied by dialogue overheard in Pittsburgh]].
** [[spoiler: In the sewers --[[MercyKill They Did Not Suffer]]]].

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:The ultimate outcome of Ellie and Joel's journey. Upon learning that Ellie has to die for a possible vaccine to be made, Joel refuses and rescues her from the surgery, killing her pursuers. While he is content with the success of having saved his surrogate daughter, Ellie suffers under this trope and WordOfGod states part of her resented him for it.]]

** There's an additional conversation in which Joel will sarcastically say he's the romantic type, and Tess will reply "You got your ways." which further implies they were more than just partners once.
* AlreadyUndoneForYou: During a segment in the Fall chapter, Joel and Tommy are riding through the woods to find Ellie, and ends up running into a lair with enemies they have to fight. There's no mention of how Ellie got past them just a few moments before however.

-->'''Joel''': [upset] Well, no matter how hard you try, I guess you can't escape your past. ''Thank you.''

** The "Runners" (people recently turned) are heavily implied to still have a bit of their consciousness left, given how they sound like they're ''crying'', or walk around with pained grunts and whimpers in general.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: You control Sarah, Joel's daughter, at the very beginning. You also [[spoiler: play as Ellie in the majority of the Winter chapter and in the epilogue.]]

*** Although, it ''can'' get a bit [[{{narm}} narmy]] sometimes when Ellie or someone else of your escorts runs around like a madman two inches from an enemy without them reacting.

** In Winter, during [[spoiler: the period while you're playing as Ellie]], the enemies all have substantially less stamina, making them easier to defeat.

* AnyoneCanDie: At any time, anywhere, with little to no warning before it happens. [[spoiler: A perfect example is Joel's daughter, who is killed by a soldier very, very suddenly. [[UpToEleven In the first minutes of the game.]]]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

* ArtificialBrilliance: Scavengers have reactions recorded for various situations. They are able to inform the others in their group if Joel is spotted or they find a body of one of their dead comrades, recognize the sound of an empty magazine, and take cover when fired at. They can even come up with strategies to surround and corner you. Also, enemies manage to invert stealth-based gameplay on you: enemies can hide, leave traps, sneak up behind you, take your gun, and attack you if you're not paying attention. Enemies can even grab you from behind and use you as a human shield, making you an easy target for their allies.
** Ellie also demonstrates this by taking cover on her own, distracting enemies when Joel is in a pinch, attacking an enemy if Joel is struggling with one close by, and when Joel gets hurt by an attack, she asks if he's okay. She'll also notify you if she sees an enemy out of your line of sight. She is also fully capable of taking out enemies on her own when one tries to sneak up on Joel, will collect ammo for him and give it over before/in/after a fight.

** Putting a certain amount of distance between you and enemies can render them unaware of your presence, and they won't follow you past that distance, even if you were just shooting at them seconds ago. With a big enough environment, it's entirely possible to clear a whole room with hit-and-run tactics, and the enemies will never be the wiser so long as you retreat to the last safe room after each kill.
* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety:

* BatterUp: A wooden baseball bat being one of the melee weapons Joel can use. It is a step up from a 2x4 plank, but still breaks after a few uses.

* BeardOfSorrow: While Joel has a slightly unshaven look in the prologue, after Sarah's death and the twenty-year time skip his beard becomes much thicker and (understandably) grayer as he himself has slipped into GrayAndGrayMorality.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Joel saves Ellie from being killed by the Fireflies and the two are free to live out their lives in peace. This comes at the cost of a possible vaccine for the cordyceps and Joel having to lie to Ellie about the circumstances behind their escape.]]

** With that said, Druckman has also stated that people are free to interpret the ending as they want, and Ashley Johnson herself sees it the same way that most players do.

-->'''Ellie''': Does he totally gut her by the end?\\
'''Joel''': Nobody gets gutted, [[TakeThat it's a dumb teen movie]].

* BodyMotifs: The fungus grows from the head and [[spoiler: to study the infection, they must cut out Ellie's brain.]]

* BookEnds:
** [[spoiler: Both the first and last time you play as Joel, he's carrying his little girl to safety through a hostile environment with no means of defense.]]
** [[spoiler: You also start and end the game controlling Joel's 'baby girl'.]]
*** Additionally, both the first and last shots in the game is a close up of Joel's daughter/surrogate daughter's face.
** [[spoiler: Optional conversations in Boston and Colorado both have Joel ask Ellie, "So, is it everything you hoped for?" Ellie's response in both instances includes the phrase, "you can't deny that view."]]
** [[spoiler: "Alright."]]
** [[spoiler: Both the first and last interaction you have with Marlene involve her being wounded in the same area of her stomach, the first happening offscreen and the last being inflicted by Joel to stop her from taking Ellie back.]]
** [[spoiler: "Heh... you wish..."]]

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The part during Winter where Ellie is captured and wakes up to see James cutting up a human body is censored in the Japanese version, where angles are switched around to imply it instead.

* ButThouMust: Try to deal with [[spoiler: the surgeon]] any other way than lethally, we dare you. Bricks and bottles simply don't hurt him, he'll stab if you get too close without attacking, you can only shoot or stab him yourself. Try to shoot him anywhere you might deem non-lethal with the weakest gun you have and he falls over, dead.
** Joel's "listen" ability allows the player to essentially see enemies through walls. But if the game wants Joel to be ambushed in a cut scene, Joel ''will'' be ambushed in a cut scene- the listen ability won't let you see the enemy lurking behind the door or at the top of the ladder. This is particularly galling at the university lab, where "listening" in front of a SchmuckBait door reveals nothing, only to have a lurking enemy spring an ambush as soon as the player opens the door. The ensuing struggle ends with Joel [[spoiler: impaled on a piece of rebar.]]

* CallBack[=/=]CallForward: In the Winter chapter [[spoiler:you track a deer as Ellie, which leads into a series of events of cannibals and their paedophilic leader chasing the two and mainly Ellie down, forcing them to get separated and go through some hellish situations ending with Ellie nearly getting raped and killed, before they reunite again. At the start of the Spring chapter, Ellie's looking at a carving of a running deer, the factor that had begun the whole thing.]]
** [[CallForward Related to the above]]; There is a picture hanging over Joel's bed in the prologue of [[spoiler: a deer]] in a setting that looks suspiciously like the forest in which the Winter chapter starts. There's also a picture of two [[spoiler: deer]] in a spring-like setting outside his room.
** [[spoiler:A brief one during one of Joel's conversations with Bill. The latter comments on how, despite how bad the infected are, at least they're predictable, it's the normal people that scare him, and "[Joel] should understand that better than anyone." Ellie asks what he means by that and Joel answers simply, "Nothing". It was likely either a reference to how it was a regular soldier who killed his daughter and not an infected, or to Joel's own despicable past and the things he did while trying to survive and protect Tommy and himself after the infection hit, which is referenced by Tommy when they meet up again in the Fall chapter.]]
* CannibalLarder: During the Winter segment, Ellie finds herself locked in a cage, with James butchering a corpse on a nearby table, in a room full of bloodstains.

* CharacterDevelopment:

** Henry goes from a strictly survival oriented overbearing protector of his younger brother to loosening up enough to actually crack a smile and let his brother have some fun. Not bad for an hour or so of interaction.
** Marlene goes from the stern, pragmatic leader of the Fireflies to a desperate woman willing to [[spoiler: order a deadly surgery to be performed on Ellie while she's alive, on the chance that it might hold some cure for the fungus.]]

** It does appear subtly at the end of the game. When Joel talks about the struggle of surviving, he visibly pauses to rub the watch. It looks to be a type of coping mechanism for him.

* ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler: Ellie's fight with David or the truck in Pittsburgh.]]

--> '''Joel''': It'll happen to you soon enough.

* CrazySurvivalist: Joel says Bill is one, but apart from somewhat justified paranoia he ends up seeming ''mostly'' sane - if in the habit of talking to himself occasionally.

* DashedPlotLine: Starting with a prologue set 20 years before the main plot, it picks up in Summer, before skipping to Fall, then Winter, and finally Spring.

-->'''Reporter''': It appears that what we initially reported as riots seem to be somehow connected to the nationwide pandemic. We've received reports that victims afflicted with the infection show signs of increased aggression and -\\
'''Soldier''': We need to move everybody out of here right now. There's a gas leak. Hey - move!\\
'''Reporter''': There's some commotion coming from beh-\\
'''Soldier''': Get out of here!\\
'''Soldier''': Lady, get the hell out of here right- ''(explosion spreads across the screen)''

** More or less an actual deconstruction of Apocalyptic Scenarios by grounding it in reality- there are no insane, megalomaniac leaders, no roaming bands of killers and rapists- in every segment where you fight people, almost all of them have a reason to be coming after you, and towards the end of Pittsburgh and [[spoiler: Lakeside]] it becomes less and less about supplies, and more about catching you for vengeance.

* DialogDuringGameplay: A striking amount, both story-related and situational. Some of the dialog arises out of specific situations that occur during gameplay (getting hurt, torching an enemy with a Molotov cocktail, being pinned down, etc). The characters virtually almost never shut up, keeping you company through cities and wilderness alike. Which makes the brief moments when you get separated actually ''feel'' lonely and uncomfortable, so much that the character you play often ends up talking to themselves out loud. Most noticeable when Joel falls down an elevator shaft into a flooded basement and when [[spoiler: Ellie escapes from the town of cannibals.]]

* DisasterDemocracy: At least one is in the game as an enemy faction. [[spoiler: the four candidates are the Pittsburgh [[JustforPun Stealers]], the [[HiddenElfVillage Sewer]] [[DoomedHometown City]], the [[ImAHumanitarian Cannibals]], and the only friendly settlement in the game, Jackson.]]

** [[spoiler: Henry does this after being faced with killing his brother when he turns.]]

-->'''Sam''': How's it that you're never scared?\\
'''Ellie''': Who says that I'm not?\\
'''Sam''': What are you scared of?\\
'''Ellie''': Let's see... Scorpions are pretty creepy. Um... [[HiddenDepths being by myself. I'm scared of ending up alone.]]

* DynamicCharacter: As the game progresses, Joel and Ellie become more familiar with one another and it begins to show. Not only does it appear blatantly (such as Joel and Ellie starting to chat about comics and billboards before getting more in-depth), but it includes the subtle things like Ellie learning to whistle and quietly singing to herself.

** More or less an actual deconstruction of Apocalyptic Scenario's by grounding it in reality- there are no insane, megalomaniac leaders, no roaming bands of killers and rapists- in every segment where you fight people, almost all of them have a reason to be coming after you, and towards the end of Pittsburgh and [[spoiler: Lakeside]] it becomes less and less about supplies, and more about catching you for vengeance.

* DeadlineNews: Early on in the game, you can watch a news report on the what's happening in Austin when a nearby soldier shouts that there's going to be a gas-explosion. Cue the static. The game even gets you to look out the window to see an explosion, driving home that something terrible is happening right in your vicinity.

* DamselInDistress: Ellie is captured and incapacitated by the Firelfies, and is being involuntarily preped for a surgery that will kill her. She is completely helpless and Joel has to rescue her.

* ChasingYourTail: The Cannibal leader fight is him and Ellie trying to out maneuver each other.

* CatapultNightmare: Joel's introduction after the [[spoiler:20 year]] timeskip.

* CasualDangerDialogue: Ellie tries to put up a "badass" front by engaging in this early on, quipping occasionally about the danger the two of them face. Of course, Joel's more brutal kills (molotovs, head-stomps, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beatdowns]]) will simply elicit a terrified "holy shit, Joel!", and she [[CharacterDevelopment gradually loses the need]] to snark during combat as a defense mechanism. The rest of the time, of course, not so much.
* TheCastShowoff: Subverted; as ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' showed us, Creator/TroyBaker can play guitar and sing. Joel states he can play and wanted to be a singer, but does neither in the game.
* CatScare: While exploring the (mostly lifeless) UEC in the Fall chapter, you'll open a door, hear an inhuman hiss, and find [[spoiler:some escaped lab monkeys.]]

** For a person you never meet Ish certainly gets a decent amount. He goes from a CrazySurvivalist version of TheAloner to [[spoiler:the leader of a doomed DisasterDemocracy; even after it falls, he's still unwilling to give up]].

** [[spoiler:A brief one during one of Joel's conversations with Bill. The latter comments on how, despite how bad the infected are, at least they're predictable, it's the normal people that scare him, and "[Joel] should understand that better than anyone." Ellie asks what he means by that and Joel answers "Nothing". It was likely either a reference to how it was a regular soldier who killed his daughter, not an infected, or to Joel's own despicable past and the things he did while trying to survive after the infection hit, which is referenced by Tommy when they meet up again in the Fall chapter.]]

** [[spoiler:A brief one during one of Joel's conversations with Bill. The latter comments on how, despite how bad the infected are, at least they're predictable, it's the normal people that scare him, and "[Joel] should understand that better than anyone." Ellie asks what he means by that and Joel answers "Nothing". It was likely a reference to how it was a regular soldier who killed his daughter, not an infected.]]

** [[spoiler:A brief one during one of Joel's conversations with Bill. The latter comments on how despite how bad the infected are, at least they're predictable; it's the normal people that scare him, and "[Joel] should understand that better than anyone." Ellie asks what he means by that and Joel answers "Nothing". It was likely a reference to how it was a regular soldier who killed his daughter, not an infected.]]

** [[CallForward Related to the above]]; There is also a picture hanging over Joel's bed in the prologue of [[spoiler: a deer]] in a setting that looks suspiciously like the forest in which the Winter chapter starts. There is also a picture of two [[spoiler: deer]] in a spring-like setting outside his room.

** [[CallForward Related to the above]]; There is also a picture of [[spoiler: a deer]] hanging over Joel's bed in prologue in a setting that looks suspiciously like the forest where Winter starts out in as well as one of two in a spring-ish setting outside his room.

** The "Runners" (people recently turned) are heavily implied to still have a bit of their consciousness left, given how they sound like they're ''crying'', or walks around with pained grunts and whimpers in general.

** There's an additional conversation in which Joel will sarcastically say he's the romantic type, and Tess will reply "You got your ways." which only further implies they were more than just partners once.

** With that said, Druckman have also stated that people are free to interpret the ending as they want, and Ashley Johnson herself sees it the same way that most players do.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: WordOfGod [[http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/12/14/the-last-of-us-new-survivor-tess-background-details/ originally stated]] that Tess has romantic feelings for Joel (due to them having worked together for a long time), but Joel does not reciprocate. Aside from a quick mention in the first chapter after the prologue, there is no other indication that Tess feels this way towards Joel. However, this was changed later (due to Joel's VA story meddling) to the trust/relation being mutual. Joel's just very good at burying things.

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Ellie looked a ''lot'' like EllenPage before [[http://kotaku.com/5911064/my-my-you-certainly-look-different-ellie the game designers changed her appearance]].

** As [[http://o.canada.com/technology/gaming/the-last-of-us-how-the-games-creator-envisions-its-ending/ this article]] explains, [[spoiler:it takes the bittersweet feeling to another level when it turns out the creators own intention with what Ellie's "Okay." at the ending means isn't what most players' interpretation probably were. While the most common one is that it was a complacent statement and Ellie was happy to be with him despite what he did, it turns out it was actually her realizing that, while she ''does'' love and care for him, she also hates him for taking away her choice, and she feels that because of it, she will no longer be able to rely on him, but will have to leave him and take care of herself, which is also in line with her intended CharacterDevelopment into someone more independent.]]

[[/folder]]

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