Spoilers for The Last of Us Part II’s Plot & Story Ahead.
By the time The Last of Us Part II landed on PS4, Joel had cemented himself as one of video games’ favorite father figures, and Tommy had become something of a favorite little brother alongside him. In Part II, Tommy would go even further and become a favorite uncle figure for Ellie. It’s easy to see Tommy as a hero in the sequel – a grieving brother looking to avenge the death of Joel. Yet when you get down to it, Tommy is also one of the most antagonistic parties in the whole affair.
We should get the obvious stuff out of the way first. To really nail down what makes Tommy an antagonist, we have to accept that Abby is a protagonist. While audiences may hate her at first, she becomes the game’s second protagonist the moment we start playing as her. From Abby’s perspective, Tommy and Ellie are the two biggest antagonists in the game. Tommy acts as a sniper and kills Abby’s friends in retribution for the death of Joel. While both Tommy and Ellie feel justified in continuing the cycle of violence, their actions are often less than heroic.
What really makes Tommy the villain isn’t simply what he did to Abby and her friends, but what he did to Ellie. Let’s not forget that Ellie is someone he loved, someone that Joel loved, and is about as close as anyone can get to family without being related. Tommy is the only character to harm both Abby and Ellie. After the Jackson group returns home to lick their wounds, Tommy continues to search for Abby. He becomes obsessed. While he might use his brother’s memory to justify his actions, he’s acting out of a selfish hatred. Abby damaged him for life, and he isn’t willing to let that go. It’s costing him his marriage, his leadership in Jackson, and his life.
Since Tommy has become physically incapable of going after Abby himself, he has to turn to Ellie to exact his revenge. While Ellie may not be at peace with Joel’s death, she’s in a place of healing. Ellie and her partner have a child together. They have a life outside of Jackson. While Ellie is obviously still haunted by the past, she has no immediate desire to leave her home on a quest for vengeance. This is when Tommy makes his return, saying he has a lead on Abby’s location.
Ellie doesn’t jump at the chance to go after Abby, and rightfully so. The fire she felt at the beginning of the game has tempered. Ellie and Abby have both lost so much, and further conflict comes with additional risk. Ellie also has a family to take care of. She has people who depend on her. Dina doesn’t want Ellie to go and begs her to let it go. While it is ultimately Ellie’s decision, Tommy actively pushes her back into Abby’s path, guilt tripping her. He pulls out all the stops to get what he wants.
Holding the controller during Ellie and Abby’s final fight was miserable experience. I wanted to put the controller down and stop see these two characters fight. They’d both lost so much, and I didn’t want to see them lose anything else. I wished for everyone to go their separate ways, but that wasn’t an option. I wanted better for Ellie than this endless vendetta, but that’s not what Tommy wanted, is it?
As I reluctantly played through the painstaking fight, I couldn’t help but think about Tommy sitting in Ellie’s home. Joel wouldn’t have wanted Ellie to leave. Joel only ever tried to do what was best for Ellie, so much so that he committed heinous acts to ensure her safety, even if those acts ironically set the stage for Part II.
If Tommy had been able to walk away from his rage, things could have been so much different for Ellie. One can imagine Ellie living a simple life with her small family, a life Joel would’ve wanted her to live. It might seem like a step too far to call Tommy a villain, but he’s directly responsible for continuing the cycle of violence when all other parties had gone their separate ways. For all these reasons, for ruining Ellie and Abby’s one chance at letting bygones be bygones, Tommy earns his role as The Last of Us Part II’s real villain.