The Last of Us Part 2 offers a dark look at what could be the scariest character yet

Every time I play again The Last of Us Part II, I come up with something new, whether it’s a new question, a new idea or a new perspective. This is why I love this story. It’s such an emotionally complex story that you may not fully understand all the layers in one playthrough. While HBO’s second season is filming The last of usThis time, I found my mind drifting to aspects of the story that I wanted to see expanded on as the series took on the difficult task of accepting. Part II.

For some time now, I have been hoping to see an announcement that Jeffrey Wright will reprise the role of Isaac. Although it hasn’t been confirmed, the actor teased, “Anything is possible, we’ll see,” bringing a spark of hope. For me, Isaac has always been one Part IIThe most confusing characters. He takes up so little screen time and the scenes he’s in aren’t the most gruesome or brutal in the game – and yet I still find them incredibly terrifying.

The last of us Part II Depicts a primitive and lawless society. Almost every character we meet is maimed and killed, including those we might consider our “heroes” – although, of course, it’s not that black and white. So how is it that someone who only appears in a handful of scenes is at the same time the most disturbing character in the game?

Isaac Dixon, if you remember, is the mysterious leader of the Washington Liberation Front. I say mysterious because he only appears in two sequences – and yet I don’t think anyone would disagree with me calling Isaac a villain. What’s both shocking and effective about Isaac is that in such a detailed and complex game, this particular character’s villainy is quietly conveyed through implicit hints scattered throughout the story, proving that hints can often be scarier than playing all your cards. . table.

That’s not to say that everything about his character is completely nuanced. After all, the first time we meet him, he’s sitting across from a naked seraphite tied to a chair in a dilapidated bathroom. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that we’re interrupting an inquiry that screams “evil”.

But when you get past this introduction things get more worrying. Isaac walks away from the room completely uninterested. Players may not agree with what Eli does to Nora to get information about Abby’s whereabouts, but there is at least some level of understanding as to why she did what she did. What we get from Isaac is a cold, hard wall. No intention, no remorse.

Cut to the development of his plan a few minutes later and we begin to see just how manipulative this character can be. He explains the plan with a piercing level of intention and focus. The first time Isaac “shows” sympathy is when Abby expresses her discomfort with Owen’s absence, but it’s not sympathy at all. The change in the tone of his voice and reaching out to touch Abby’s hand may signify solidarity, but while Isaac conveys a shared sense of concern, The Last of Us Part IIOur writers quietly inform us of Isaac’s apparent penchant for emotional manipulation.

It’ll be a while before we see the character again, but he’s an ever-present. When Abby is detained at the hospital for disobeying Isaac’s orders, she is troubled by how the WLF maintains order. If one pays this price for a person who is absent for just one day, it is worrying to think what will happen to those who seriously deviate from the rules.

What if Abby had been brought back to Isaac, had Nora not let her go free? This is not a question that I think has a pretty answer. Even absent, we learn to fear this character. At this point, Isaac doesn’t even know that Abby has befriended Scars and yet, as Nora points out, Abby finds herself on “Isaac’s bad side”. We quickly realize that you really don’t want this character to discover the full extent of Abby’s actions.

This becomes even more apparent if we begin to look at the documents scattered across Seattle The Last of Us Part II. While I won’t rewrite the full history of the WLF, I will draw your attention to the fact that Isaac gave everyone in Seattle a choice: join or risk execution. If you had any doubts about how the WLF maintained rank before, you certainly have less after reading this paper trail. Unwavering loyalty at the cost of death.

During this very pleasant journey, I brought us to Isaac’s final scene in which we see him come face to face with Abby – though this time it’s with Lev. “What’s behind you?” » It asks using the word “what” instead of “who” to tell you all you really need to know.

Almost every character we meet, whether we agree with their actions or not, believes they are doing the right thing. We cannot condone these actions, but there is a sense of understanding. Abby kills Joel in an attempt to stop her father’s murder. Eli tortures Nora for information in pursuit of a similar revenge-fueled quest for peace. If you come back The Last of Us Part I David’s abominable barbarism is also mostly aimed at feeding his people, keeping them alive.

This is not morally right. We cannot forgive him. In some cases, we may experience rebellion. Yet almost every character we meet, has a quest to maintain and survive the sense of community we most often strive to preserve. you can to understand After analyzing all the puzzle pieces scattered throughout the game about Isaac, it quickly becomes clear that this character does not fit that mold.

With a mandate that essentially means “obey or lead,” he is not a leader who cares about the true well-being of his people. Isaac is a lone wolf, fueled only by hatred and his desire for power, disguising the creation of a loyal and unconditional army as a place of refuge. In a story where characters resort to such random actions with motives we can understand, Isaac turns out to be an unfathomable case. A person who resorts to such discomfort, well, just because.

The Last of Us Part II It begs us the following question: What makes the action of one aggressor worse than another? Clearly we must look to Isaac for the answer. It is a primitive decentralized society, but one that – for many – still revolves around notions of community and loyalty. When you remove this desire for community, any sense of empathy and shared ambition is lost.

Isaac is not bound by the loose moral code that many other characters try to uphold. With no intention other than to further his own warped ambitions, it seems there is no limit to what this selfish character can do. world The Last of Us Part II The depiction is one where stability is based on hope. Hopefully things can improve, people can be better. By the end of the story, Abby and Eli cling to this sense of hope, breaking away from the cycle of violence in an attempt to find an inner sense of closure. Isaac is a cautionary tale of what humanity can become when hope is abandoned, when it succumbs to the barbarism encouraged by the world around it. It’s a terrifying gateway to how things could be, and that’s easily why it is The Last of Us Part IIThe scariest number.