The Last of Us: Why did Joel kill the Fireflies? Season 1 storyline, explained

In the final episode of The Last of Us, Joel and Ellie arrive at the Firefly Hospital in Salt Lake City, after dealing with the challenges of post-apocalyptic America. The Fireflies are a resistance group fighting authoritarian rule. They recently confirmed that Ellie's immunity could be helpful in creating a vaccine for the Cordyceps infection.

However, Ellie has to go through medical surgery that would involve removing a section of the brain, which could also kill her. Earlier, Joel was not aware of the possibility, and when he gets to know, he feels infuriated as Ellie is already sedated for the surgery, and he resorts to killing the hospital people. Read on to know more.

Why did Joel kill the Fireflies in The Last of Us season 1?

In the opening episode, Joel is shown losing his daughter, Sarah. When he meets Ellie, she becomes like a second daughter to him and throughout their journey, he gets immensely attached to her. Joel and Ellie reach out to the Firefly Hospital to find the group that claims can create a vaccine using Ellie's immunity. Her immunity is because of the presence of a cordyceps fungus in her brain. Therefore, the surgery to create the vaccine would require a serious operation, removing Ellie's fungus-infected brain.

When Joel and Ellie reach Salt Lake City, they are attacked. During this attack, Joel becomes unconscious, and Ellie is taken for the operation. When Joel wakes up, he finds himself with Marlene, the leader of the firefly group, in the hospital. Though she doesn't say anything explicitly about the operation, she suggests that this might lead to Ellie's death.

This leaves Joel infuriated, and he decides to frantically kill all the people in the hospital, including the nurses, doctors and others. He felt betrayed and couldn't bear losing Ellie. With Ellie, he shared mutual trauma and trust and wanted to go back to living a simple life, just like in the old days.

Joel chooses to save one life over the human race in The Last of Us finale.

Does Ellie find out what Joel did in The Last of Us?

Joel rescues Ellie before the operation, and when Ellie gains consciousness, she is told that the operation is not needed. Joel lies to her that there are more people like her, but the doctors have yet to find a way to make the vaccine.

“Turns out there’s a whole bunch of people like you… the Fireflies have stopped looking for a cure,” says Joel to Ellie.

Ellie again asks him to ensure what he is saying is true.

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“Swear to me. Swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is true.”

Therefore, it is suggested that Ellie is still processing everything and is also doubtful of what Joel told her.

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