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Let’s face it, being Abby Anderson is about as desirable as being a Bloater’s dancing partner. Naughty Dog’s controversial muscle bound revenge seeker from The Last of Us Part II didn’t just divide the gaming community; she practically tossed a Molotov cocktail at it and watched it burn.
But behind all the outrage and the memes lurks gaming’s most punishing character journey—a downward spiral so savage it makes other gaming tragedies look like Mario losing a life.
The World’s Worst Introduction
Imagine Naughty Dog’s pitch meeting: “So, we’ve created one of gaming’s most beloved father figures in Joel. Players have spent an entire game bonding with him and Ellie. For the sequel, let’s introduce our new protagonist by having her cave Joel’s head in with a golf club within the first two hours!”
Golf clap, Naughty Dog. Golf. Clap.
This catastrophic introduction is like if Game of Thrones had made you play as the guy who stabbed Jon Snow immediately after the deed. It’s the gaming equivalent of bringing homemade sushi to a dinner party, no matter how good it might be, nobody’s getting past that initial impression.
When Revenge Is Just Extra Baggage
Here’s the messed up thing about Abby’s revenge: it doesn’t fix anything.
Abby spends YEARS training, getting jacked, and hunting down Joel to avenge her father, the Firefly surgeon Joel killed at the end of the first game. When she finally gets her revenge, does she feel better? Nope!
Her nightmares continue. Her friends look at her differently. Owen, the guy she’s been pining for, is visibly disturbed by her Joel-B-Gone project. Instead of closure, all she gets is this empty feeling and the knowledge that she’s become exactly what she hated.
It’s like waiting years for a sequel only to get a mobile game full of microtransactions, all that anticipation for a heaping plate of disappointment pie.
The Cosmic Karma Boomerang
But wait! It gets worse! Because Abby killing Joel sets off a chain reaction that absolutely DEMOLISHES her life faster than a speed runner blasting through Dark Souls.
Ellie storms into Seattle with her own vendetta and methodically crosses off Abby’s friends like they’re items on a shopping list. Nora? Dead. Manny? Arrow through the head that would make Legolas proud. Owen and pregnant Mel? Double kill.
Imagine coming back to your base to find your ex boyfriend and his pregnant girlfriend murdered in your aquarium hideout. That’s what Abby faces. The squad that helped her get revenge? They all get permanently disconnected from the server of life.
Talk about karma arriving with the subtlety of a Bloater in a china shop. It’s like Abby failed the “Think About Consequences” side quest and the game went: “Achievement Unlocked: Everyone You Love Dies!“
Living With The Horror
What makes Abby’s story truly brutal is that she doesn’t get to respawn or reload a save. She has to live with everything.
Those recurring dreams where she finds her dad dead? They keep coming, now with bonus Joel footage. She’s haunted by what she’s done AND what was done to her, trapped in a psychological boss fight with no health packs.
The game shows us Abby waking up in cold sweats, traumatized not just by her dad’s death but by her own actions. She killed Joel thinking it would bring peace, but instead, it just added more weight to her already heavy conscience.
Meanwhile, many players view Ellie as the righteous avenger while Abby gets branded the villain for… doing exactly what Ellie is doing. That’s like calling someone a monster for using the blue shell in Mario Kart while you sit there hoarding three of them.
The Gains, Bro
Let’s address the buffest elephant in the room: Abby’s physique.
The internet had a TOTAL MELTDOWN over Abby’s muscles. “That’s not realistic in an apocalypse!” cried the same gamers who happily accept magic, dragons, and respawning in other titles. Apparently, the WLF’s fully equipped gym, regular meals, and Abby’s obsessive training regimen weren’t sufficient explanation for those biceps.
You know what’s less realistic than Abby’s muscles? THE FUNGUS ZOMBIES. But sure, let’s all have a collective aneurysm about a woman with defined delts.
Abby’s body became gaming’s strangest controversy. In the game, people complained she was too muscular. Then when HBO cast Kaitlyn Dever, who isn’t as jacked, for the TV show, people complained she wasn’t muscular ENOUGH. The poor woman can’t win a match that has no victory condition.
Finding Lev: A Glimmer of Hope?
In the murky swamp of misery that is Abby’s story, her relationship with Lev offers a brief respite, like finding an unexpected health pack when you’re limping through a horror game at critical health.
This relationship reveals Abby’s humanity beneath all that trauma and muscle. Protecting Lev gives her something pure to fight for, not revenge, but saving someone innocent. It’s like the game saying: “See? She’s not just a golf enthusiast with anger issues!”
But because this is The Last of Us, even this wholesome connection comes with a steep price tag. Helping Lev makes Abby an enemy of her own group. Yara, Lev’s sister, dies helping them. And just when you think maybe, JUST MAYBE, Abby might catch a break…
Rock Bottom Has a Basement
…she and Lev get captured by the Rattlers, a faction that makes the WLF look like summer camp counselors handing out participation trophies.
When we next see Abby, she’s been tortured for months, emaciated and weak, tied to a post to die in the California sun. It’s like the writers had a checklist titled “Ways to Make Abby Suffer” and kept adding bullet points while cackling maniacally.
Abby hits such a devastating low that when Ellie finally finds her again, killing her might actually qualify as a mercy kill. She’s lost everything—her friends, her strength, her community, her protein shake recipes. All she has left is Lev and a faint hope of finding the Fireflies.
The Final Fight: Beach Party from Hell
The final confrontation between Ellie and Abby on that California beach is gaming’s most depressing boss fight. Two broken women, each destroyed by their quest for revenge, slugging it out in the surf like they’re trying to win the world’s saddest MMA match.
Abby has nothing left except protecting Lev. Ellie has lost her relationships and even her ability to play guitar thanks to those bitten off fingers (worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever).
When Ellie finally lets Abby go, it’s not even really mercy, it’s exhaustion. The cycle of violence has left them both hollow shells of themselves. And what does Abby “win” in the end? She gets to sail away with Lev toward an uncertain future, physically and emotionally scarred beyond repair. That’s her “happy ending” not dying and having one person left who cares about her. Woo-hoo?
The Real-World Punch to the Gut
As if Abby’s in game suffering wasn’t enough, she also had to deal with unprecedented real world hate.
Laura Bailey, who voiced Abby, received DEATH THREATS from angry fans. Death threats! Over a fictional character! People were so attached to Joel that they couldn’t separate the actress from the role.
Imagine creating this complex, flawed character, pouring your heart into the performance, only to have people threaten your ACTUAL LIFE because they didn’t like what your character did in a VIDEO GAME.
Naughty Dog had to issue statements defending their actors, and the hate campaign became part of gaming history, another layer to the “it sucks to be Abby” saga.
Season 2: Here We Go Again
Now, Abby’s trauma tour is coming to HBO. Season 2 of the show will introduce Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, and while they’re making some changes to how her story unfolds, the core tragedy remains.
The show is apparently giving us Abby’s backstory earlier, showing her burying her father after Joel’s hospital rampage right in the first episode. It’s like the showrunners are saying: “Please don’t send death threats this time, look, she has reasons!”
But let’s be real, no matter how they frame it, watching Joel get killed is going to devastate viewers. And Abby will once again be at the center of that storm.
What Makes It All So Painful
What really makes Abby’s journey gut wrenching is the mirror it holds up to Ellie’s story.
They’re basically the same person on different timelines. Abby loses her father, seeks revenge, and destroys herself in the process. Ellie loses her father figure, seeks revenge, and destroys herself in the process.
The difference? We met Ellie first. We care about her automatically. Abby had to EARN our empathy after doing the most unforgivable thing possible in the eyes of fans.
By the end, both women are shells of themselves—Abby physically emaciated, Ellie emotionally hollow. Neither truly “wins” because revenge isn’t about winning; it’s about loss.
Conclusion: The Point of All the Pain
So why create a character destined to be hated, who suffers endlessly, and whose journey feels like emotional waterboarding?
Because that’s the point. The Last of Us Part II is about the futility of revenge and the cost of violence. Abby is the living embodiment of that message.
Her suffering shows us that even “justified” revenge leads nowhere good. She’s what Ellie could become if she doesn’t break the cycle. And in the end, it’s Abby who learns this lesson first, she spares Ellie and Dina at the theater, choosing to walk away when she could have completed her revenge.
Abby’s journey sucks precisely because it needs to. It’s supposed to be painful. It’s supposed to make us uncomfortable. And ultimately, it’s supposed to make us question our own thirst for vengeance in games.
Love her or hate her, Abby Anderson gave us one of gaming’s most challenging and complex stories. Her journey might be a parade of misery, but it’s also what makes The Last of Us Part II so unforgettable.
Just… maybe don’t name your kid Abby if you want them to have good luck. And definitely keep them away from golf clubs.
Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this deep dive into gaming’s most traumatized biceps, smash that like button, subscribe for more, and let me know in the comments: Team Ellie or Team Abby? Or are you like me, Team Everyone Needs Therapy?
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