In The Last of Us, vengeance doesn’t just change people — it corrupts them. And in Season 2, Episode 3, Ellie takes a chilling step into the darkness. When she finds herself aligned with Seth — Jackson’s most blatantly bigoted citizen — fans are left asking: Who is Ellie becoming?
Seth isn’t just an irritating side character. He’s the walking embodiment of everything Ellie has fought against: homophobia, intolerance, and cowardice masked as righteousness. So when he is the only one who stands up and supports Ellie’s plan to travel to Seattle and hunt down Abby, it feels like a gut punch — not just to Ellie, but to us.
A Deal with the Devil?
We met Seth in the Season 2 premiere, when he interrupted Ellie and Dina’s New Year’s kiss with a vile, homophobic remark. He apologized the next day, but his excuse? “I was drunk.” Not exactly convincing. In fact, Ellie saw right through it — and fans did too. That should’ve been the end of Seth. A small-town bigot written off by the narrative.
But The Last of Us doesn’t believe in easy exits. Instead, Episode 3 puts Seth front and center during a council meeting where Ellie pleads for permission to avenge Joel’s brutal murder. Most of Jackson’s residents — scared and rational — vote against her. Then Seth explodes in fury, delivering a speech soaked in rage, fear, and toxic bravado:
“They came into our house. They took one of ours… And when they come back, they’ll be laughing. And you’ll all deserve it. Bunch of goddamn victims.”
Ellie doesn’t flinch. In fact, she’s visibly shaken — but not from disgust. From agreement. And that’s when you realize: she’s crossed a line.
Not Justice — Ego
Seth isn’t motivated by love for Joel or loyalty to Ellie. His fury comes from pride and fear — fear of Jackson appearing weak, fear of forgiveness being mistaken for softness. He frames his hatred as protection, his violence as leadership. In reality, it’s the oldest trick in the book: projecting your own weakness onto others and calling it strength.
His sudden support of Ellie doesn’t come from shared values — it comes from shared rage. And Ellie, drowning in grief and desperate for someone to say she’s right, grabs hold without realizing who — or what — she’s aligning with.
Ellie’s Slippery Slope
Let’s be clear: Ellie isn’t evil. She’s devastated. She watched her father figure die and now she’s spiraling. But The Last of Us has always shown how pain becomes poison when left unchecked. And Ellie, whose identity was once built on compassion, is now leaning on the approval of a man who once humiliated her for being herself.
Dina secretly involving Seth in their escape plan to Seattle forces Ellie to reckon with her own boundaries. And the fact that she doesn’t push back? That’s the real red flag. Her desire for revenge is so overwhelming that she’s willing to overlook the source — even if that source stands for everything she hates.
Is This the Beginning of Ellie’s Breaking Point?
Ellie doesn’t just want justice — she wants punishment. And the show makes it painfully clear: she’s willing to take help from the devil to get it. That’s the true horror of The Last of Us. It’s not just the infected. It’s not even the loss. It’s watching someone you love morph into something they once feared — and being powerless to stop it.
In siding with Seth, Ellie proves what Joel once did: even the most beloved characters are just one trauma away from making an irreversible mistake.
The Last of Us doesn’t give us black and white. It gives us Ellie — and Seth — standing side by side, fueled by different demons, heading toward the same war. And when your allies are the people you once couldn’t forgive… maybe it’s time to ask: Who are you really fighting for anymore?
