The upcoming release of The Last of Us Part 1 will present Joel and Ellie’s iconic adventure like never before, taking advantage of the PS5’s hardware to bring current-generation visuals, 60 FPS gameplay, and expanded accessibility features, among many other upgrades. For some gamers, it will be their first time experiencing the outbreak and all the terror that ensues after, and for others, it will be a return to familiarity. Either way, one of the characters The Last of Us players will come across is Tommy, and players should keep an eye on him as he comes to play a central role in the series.

Tommy is Joel’s brother, and as a side character, he does not get much screen time. However, understanding him is pivotal to understanding the entire The Last of Us series and its many themes. Unlike his brother, Tommy attempts to hold onto humanity and his faith in humanity. However, after suffering severe grief and trauma, his hope vanishes, bringing out the worst in him. Consequently, he turns into the man he loathed Joel for being.

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The Last of Us Part 1 – Tommy and the Fireflies

The Last Of Us 3 Tommy

In The Last of Us, normal society exists for only a few brief moments before the outbreak which changes everything forever. As society become ravaged by the Infected, Joel attempts to escape with his daughter Sarah and his brother, Tommy. Unfortunately, they do not get too far before Sarah is shot and killed by a soldier. Following her death, Joel and Tommy attempt to survive in a dystopian world together, but the things that Joel does to survive are so heinous that Tommy grows to loathe his brother, and they eventually part ways. Joel makes a living as a smuggler, and Tommy joins the Fireflies, which is a faction that hopes to find a cure for the infection and restore society.

Joel and Tommy represent very different responses to the outbreak, and by extension, to trauma. After Sarah’s death, Joel understandably loses hope in humanity, and it turns him into a cold, brutal man capable of terrible acts of violence. In contrast, Tommy still has some hope in humanity, which is why he joins the Fireflies, which come to represent light in the darkness. While he is aware that things are grim, he does not believe that humanity is doomed yet.

Tommy eventually grows disillusioned with the Fireflies, and he leaves, eventually joining a community led by a woman named Maria. This turns out to be a serendipitous event, as Maria and Tommy fall in love. This is also the place where Joel and Tommy reunite, and they patch up their tattered relationship. Players get to see more of Tommy’s story in The Last of Us’ sequel, but that is when his humanity begins to flicker away.

The Last of Us Part 2 – Tommy’s Quest for Revenge

With The Last of Us Part 2, Joel and Tommy are once again close brothers, and they, along with Ellie, have found relative safety in a community called Jackson. To keep Jackson safe, patrols outside the settlement are necessary, and these usually require firearms in case any Infected come around, though this is nothing Joel and Ellie have not dealt with before. Tommy, being a close confidant of Joel’s, is aware of what occurred between Joel and Fireflies, and what secrets Joel is hiding from Ellie.

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Tommy’s peaceful life in Jackson is disrupted by Abby and the Washington Liberation Front, who apprehend Tommy and Ellie and kill Joel while they are out on patrol. The murder is far from quick, and Joel suffers intensely before. As Tommy and Ellie learn later, Abby was specifically hunting out Joel because she had a grudge to settle with him, and in her eyes, Joel deserved every moment of his pain. In a word filled with bloodthirsty monsters, Tommy learns that humans are the ones that can cause him the greatest pain.

Tommy is permanently changed after the death of his brother, and the hope he once had disappears. In his quest for revenge, he becomes much like Joel, even resorting to the same torture tactics as him to get information out of enemies. Tommy’s change illustrates how grief can change people for the worst, as it is not in his nature to be so brutal. His transformation mirrors Ellie's transformation, as she also turns into a villainous version of herself as she attempts to avenge Joel's death.

In his quest for revenge, Tommy does not emerge unscathed. He drags his loved one into the battle, leading to plenty of preventable death. He also loses winds up an eye, expressing in clear terms that an eye for an eye only leaves everyone blind. Unfortunately, Tommy does not learn his lesson, as with his hope gone, all he has left are his grudges to give him a reason to live. Long after Ellie has given up her pursuit of Abby, she settles down with Dina, and they raise Dina's son in a farmhouse. By all indications, they have a peaceful life, although Ellie suffers from trauma. The peaceful scene is disrupted by Tommy's appearance, and he comes with claims of knowing Abby's whereabouts. He urges her to help him get revenge on Abby for Joel’s death, believing it will bring him peace. Despite the death and suffering that has come from this obsession, Tommy is unable to let go of his desire for revenge.

The Tommy players are introduced to at the start of The Last of Us is vastly different from the one players are left with at the end. He holds onto hope longer than most people would have, but eventually, the weight of the world breaks him, and he succumbs to his darker side. Tommy remains one of the most important characters in the series, as he illustrates the importance of hope, and how its absence can make one lose their humanity.

The Last of Us Part 1 is scheduled to release on September 2 for PS5, with a PC port currently in development.

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