15 Greatest Ever Video Game Anti-Heroes

To this day The Last of Us protagonist, Joel, remains one of the most heavily debated yet highly praised characters to ever grace the video game industry.

Although you can argue that many of the enemies that Joel encounters are significantly worse than him (and you'd be right), this doesn't automatically make Joel a nice guy.

Following the death of his daughter Sarah at the beginning of the outbreak, Joel turns to smuggling and trafficking in order to survive in the ruins of whatever society is left. After tracking his shipment of weapons to a group of outlaws called the Fireflies, Joel is offered a trade: he will get his guns back if he transports an immune girl named Ellie to a different arm of their organisation.

During their travels Joel is initially cold and harsh with Ellie, but as they grow closer, Joel learns to care for her as a daughter, almost seeing her as the replacement for Sarah.

When they reach their destination, Ellie is taken to an operating theatre where the Fireflies' plan is finally revealed: they are going to make a cure from the infected parts of Ellie's brain. Realising this would kill her, Joel goes on a murder spree, killing several soldiers and doctors to save her.

Joel chose to damn potentially all of humanity for the sake of one girl. Let that sink in and then tell me he's a hero.