The Last of Us 2 has been out for a few days now, giving fans the opportunity to meet and learn about the game's new characters. This includes Washington Liberation Front member Manny, who has a big role in the game, and some fans seem to think that the character is meant to be a self-insert of game director Neil Druckmann. Please note that in order to discuss this in detail, this post will have major spoilers for The Last of Us 2's first few hours, so proceed with caution.
Neil Druckmann addressed the accusations that Manny in The Last of Us 2 is a self-insert, essentially denying the claims and saying that the character is meant to look like the actor that voices him, Alejandro Edda. Despite this, some are still insisting that Manny is a self-insert of Druckmann, with some going as far as to say that the character's actions are meant to be a reflection of the director's political views.
Before we can talk about that angle, we must once again stress that this post will have spoilers for The Last of Us 2.
As those that have already played the game for at least a couple of hours already know, The Last of Us 2 kills off Joel in an early scene, with Abby beating the popular character to death using a golf club. Manny spits on Joel's corpse, and some people think this is meant to represent Druckmann spitting on "white males." This conspiracy theory isn't new, dating back to when the big Last of Us 2 leak happened. Some think that The Last of Us 2 is making a statement in favor of "SJW" culture.
The Last of Us 2 has been getting review-bombed for what people feel is Naughty Dog trying to push an "agenda" by including LGBT characters and for killing off Joel. This review bombing effort has seen The Last of Us 2's user score on Metacritic drop to an abysmal 3.4, which stands in stark contrast to the impressive 95 rating that it has earned from professional game critics.
While Manny and Druckmann do look similar, the character is much closer in appearance to his voice actor Alejandro Edda, and it seems as though the theory that Manny is a self-insert is unfounded. Even so, it doesn't seem like the conspiracy theories surrounding the game's supposed "agenda" will stop any time soon.
The Last of Us 2 is available now, exclusively for PS4.