The Last Of Us Explained: What Does The Ending Really Mean?
3. Loyalty Is Easy Until It's Tested
The ultimate test for Joel obviously involves Ellie's operation. The game doesn't allow you to chose, but if you did, would you rather allow the only person you have in the world to die and pick loyalty to your species instead?
Throughout the game we see different kinds of loyalty: Bill is loyal to himself, Henry and Tommy are loyal to their families, Marlene is loyal to her organization. Even David is loyal to his men, tracking Ellie because she and Joel killed some of them some time ago.
What is important is that all the more important characters exhibit loyalty and by doing so show that alliances in a time like this are synonymous with remaining human.
Even an alliance to oneself, exhibited by Bill, is important, because without sticking to one's values, a person risks losing oneself - and that's just one step away from becoming a zombie. While it's easy to talk about loyalty, the aforementioned characters show that it's actually possible in such complicated times.