An Introduction: "The Last of Us" Project

Joel, the main protagonist of the game, has two main quests that he is pursuing, much like we have seen in Medieval quest narratives throughout this course. In typical Medieval grail quests, the knights must embark on a physical quest that entails a fair amount of travel, adventure, and occasionally a battle or two. This physical quest is usually layered with a spiritual quest, where the knights have their faith tested and aim for a more noble existence. The Holy Grail is the end goal that connects both the physical and the spiritual aspects of a grail quest, because it has symbolic meaning of being somehow connected to a higher power and of possessing various supernatural traits, but it is also a tangible artifact that has been hidden and lost. There is an additional theme that a person must be spiritually worthy to be able to find and hold the Grail; therefore, both the physical and the spiritual quests must be pursued at the same time.

In The Last of Us, I utilize the thematic elements of the spiritual quest that I just described and apply them to this narrative to explore what I call an “affective quest.” The affective quest is pursued alongside the physical quest, but in this secular narrative, it is the character’s emotional perspective and experiences that dictate the nonphysical aspect of the quest narrative. I will explore this reinterpretation of the spiritual aspect of questing and track a precise affective quest alongside Joel’s physical quest. At base, his physical quest is to transport a fourteen-year-old girl named Ellie across the country to a facility that hopes to create a cure to a rampant, fungus/zombie-like virus that has wiped out most of the human population. This young girl is the only known survivor from infection, so the antibodies in her blood could help produce a vaccine. Joel’s affective quest is his struggle to cope with the loss of his own adolescent daughter, Sarah, 20 years ago as he navigates a surrogate relationship with Ellie that is both comforting and upsetting to him. I will detail seven specific events that enhance this paralleling thematic element between modern and Medieval quest narratives, but I will also explore the ways in which this modern narrative deviates from the Medieval quest expectations.