Anyone who’s made a major change of their life for the higher is aware of there’s a tipping level the place you simply get sick and uninterested in your individual bullshit. Wanting to vary is commonly framed as an altruistic act, one you do in service to others. In my expertise, that’s not the case.
Wanting to vary comes from a spot of feeling dangerous for doing no matter it’s you’re doing and deciding sufficient is sufficient. Video games’ male protagonists are not any strangers to this; characters like Kratos and Booker Dewitt try to show their lives round as soon as they’ll not stand to be who they’re. Women, then again, should not often given this therapy – the one messiness they’re often allowed is hysterics, like the ladies from Resident Evil 7, or overprotective motherhood as seen with Freya. But Abby from The Last of Us Part 2 is a blatant exception to that pattern.
Abby’s “redemption” is each refreshing, and way more plausible, as a result of it’s trustworthy concerning the egocentric nature of her adjustments. The shift begins on Day 2, when she goes back for Lev and Yara in a match of guilt and disgrace after sleeping together with her otherwise-partnered ex, Owen. Her reasoning for returning is cemented when the youngsters ask why she got here again. Abby, clearly uncomfortable, reveals that she feels responsible for principally every thing round her that’s falling aside, and coming again for them was a technique to ease her conscience.
Mel, Owen’s present companion, calls Abby out on this, implying that Abby is attempting to make use of Yara and Lev to get into Owen’s good graces. While Mel is flawed concerning the reasoning behind it, she is right that Abby is utilizing these youngsters. But Abby’s ulterior motive isn’t to brush Owen away in a tide of domesticity, it’s to assist mood her guilt over abandoning Isaac to seek out Owen, and subsequently sleeping with Owen behind Mel’s again so as to really feel one thing. Abby is aware of she’s not a superb individual, and he or she wants some reduction from that information.
Day 2 additionally makes it obvious that Abby is a fiercely loyal individual when she cares about somebody. Despite direct orders from her superior, Abby, who up till this level has been the top of authoritarian conduct, leaves the WLF base to seek out Owen and ensure he’s okay. Once she grows hooked up to Lev and Yara, she displays the identical conduct, taking on the scariest boss in the game – the Rat King – to avoid wasting Yara’s life and hold Lev from dropping his sister, and ultimately killing her former WLF compatriots to guard him.
Much like how Abby’s love for Owen is egocentric, her love of Yara and Lev is as properly. She sees them as a technique to really feel much less horrible about herself at first, after which as an excuse to lastly break free from the violent, oppressive life she’s been main by taking them with Owen to Santa Barbara and abandoning the WLF as soon as and for all. Once that dream is shattered by Ellie’s murderous rage, Lev is the one individual Abby has left, and it turns into her new mission to maintain him protected, regardless of the price.
Abby doesn’t change as a result of she realizes it’s her ethical obligation to be a greater individual, she seeks reduction in paying for her sins by saving these youngsters, and solely exhibits restraint in order to not lose Lev. When Abby is threatening Dina, and Ellie tells her she’s pregnant, Abby says, “Good.” The solely factor that stops her from slitting Dina’s throat is Lev’s protest. Knowing that persevering with this cycle of brutality will push Lev away retains Abby in examine, as a result of she can not bear to lose him.
We can’t change folks, they need to make that alternative themselves, however oftentimes there are folks we wish to change for – not essentially as a result of we wish to be higher general, however as a result of we wish to be adequate for these folks to remain. Abby isn’t any totally different, and that’s why she’s capable of stroll away not solely first, however repeatedly.
Ellie’s want to complete this feud is so robust, she’s prepared to pay any worth to get it, together with letting go of Dina and her son JJ. But Abby, then again, refuses to lose Lev. By being trustworthy with herself about her emotions in the direction of Lev and her want to modify trajectories, Abby is ready to really change. Lev needed to cease Abby from killing Dina, Tommy, and Ellie within the theater, however the second time round, Abby didn’t want any outdoors assist to manage herself. After Ellie reduce them down, Abby leads her away and exhibits her to her personal boat in order that she will be able to escape, all of her personal volition.
But although she’s modified, Abby remains to be Abby. She’s not instantly some saintly pacifist who refuses to do hurt it doesn’t matter what. When Lev’s life is in peril, she doesn’t hesitate to attempt to take Ellie down as brutally as we’ve come to anticipate. Had she not been strung up for days she might properly have succeeded. She is healthier, and even somebody value rooting for, however she’s not good by any means both. The progress she has made although at the least affords hope for what’s to come back.
We don’t know the place Lev and Abby find yourself, however collectively, there’s at the least the opportunity of a brighter future, and in a story as bleak as this one, it’s a redemption that was earned.
