Is there really a Kathleen character in the games, or was Melanie Lynskey’s portrayal of her in HBO’s most recent The Last of Us episode the star of the show?
The Last of Us’ fourth episode had the unenviable burden of following the outstanding third episode, but it undoubtedly turned out to be the series’ most exciting hour yet. In terms of how it related to the game, it was also likely the most “correct” episode to date. The episode did, however, introduce Kathleen, a character played by Melanie Lynskey, who marked at least one notable break from the games.
The Last of Us Game Characters: Who is Kathleen?
In fact, some fans have questioned whether they simply forgot about Kathleen in The Last of Us or if she is portraying an already existing character with a different name due to her important position in an episode that featured so many sequences, words, and pictures that were completely lifted from the game.
To get to the point of this essay, Kathleen isn’t present in The Last of Us video games. She was developed as a unique character specifically for the show. However, there are some really intriguing parallels between the Kathleen character and the greater Last of Us canon.
Who is kathleen in The Last of Us game?
Although there is still a lot we don’t know about Kathleen, the fundamentals of her personality were established very early on in the fourth episode of the show. She is unmistakably the head of a human invasion that has taken over Kansas City, or at least one of its leaders. She is aggressively looking for Henry when we first meet her because she thinks he was the one who killed her brother.
Additionally, she appears to be keeping a wave of approaching Clickers from her people (at least, that is what we believe the gurgling pit to be representing). Of course, Joel and Ellie have the terrible misfortune of straying into Kathleen’s sphere of influence and finding themselves in the middle of her conflicts.
Joel and Ellie do wind up trapped in a city that the Hunters, a group of survivors in the world of The Last of Us, have taken over, in the video game. However, in the The Last of Us campaign, that city is Pittsburgh rather than Kansas City, and as was already noted, Kathleen, Perry, or anyone else for that matter is not in charge of the Hunters. If there is a leader for that group in the game, they are not immediately apparent at that time in the campaign.
As for Henry, well, we won’t jump ahead too much, but Joel and Ellie see Henry during their trip through Pittsburgh. But since there isn’t a Kathleen in the game, Henry can’t possibly be related to one. That implies that certain aspects of his story will undoubtedly change in the show.
So why is Kathleen a part of the programme? While the creator of Last of Us, Neil Druckmann, has stated that Kathleen helps fill a function that wasn’t necessary present at this stage in the game’s story, we don’t yet fully understand the whole answer to that issue.
According to Druckmann, “I enjoy the idea that there aren’t just good men and bad guys.” “Everyone is striving to make it through the day and live their lives as fully as they can. However, the intriguing things frequently occur when the aims are in conflict with one another.
Craig Mazin, the creator of the Kathleen character (and the program’s co-runner), elaborated on that idea by saying that the show “didn’t have to satisfy a requirement that the video game had, which was to throw NPCs at you…
Therefore, it was crucial for us to inquire, “Well, why are they enemies? What are they seeking? They’re not just bad people, either.
In essence, Kathleen’s role is to give the Hunters (or whatever name the show may give them) a face and a goal that goes beyond “kill and control.” That concept is not only expanded upon a little bit in The Last of Us campaigns, especially The Last of Us Part II, but it also serves as the inspiration for the game’s outstanding (and underappreciated) multiplayer mode.
See, “Factions” was a multiplayer mode in The Last of Us’ first release. In Factions, players can choose to join one of several factions of human survivors who are charged with fighting each other over a certain amount of resources on a map. It was a surprisingly rich and fun multiplayer experience that also significantly increased our comprehension of the game’s universe.
After all, that mode not only provided some additional context for the Hunters/Fireflies conflict, but also presented the Hunters as a team of individuals with personalities, leaders, and a shared survivalist drive with Joel and Ellie. Kathleen seems more like a character who should be in that multiplayer mode.
It’s also important to note that the Factions multiplayer mode was the first and only place in the main Last of Us game where we encountered female Hunters. Due to what appears to be technological restrictions, the campaign did not include any female Hunter NPCs.
The Last of Us Part 2 has a large number of female NPC enemies, so Kathleen’s presence could be partially interpreted as an attempt to make up for the campaign’s oversight in the first game and ensure that the show’s cast of human antagonists feels a little more consistent with how they look in other parts of the franchise.
It’s interesting to note that Naughty Dog is apparently developing a new Last of Us game for multiplayer alone that will supposedly increase the importance of the various human groups in the franchise’s environment (as well as the world itself). Although Kathleen’s appearance in the show seems to underscore the team’s interest in enhancing the significance of the “other” individuals in that universe, we don’t know much about that game.
The last of us game characters
“The Last of Us” is an action-adventure survival horror game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The main characters in the game are Joel and Ellie, and they are accompanied by various other characters throughout their journey in a post-apocalyptic world.
- Joel – voiced by Troy Baker, is the protagonist of the game and a smuggler who is tasked with escorting Ellie across the country.
- Ellie – voiced by Ashley Johnson, is a young girl who has survived the post-apocalyptic world and is immune to the fungal infection that has ravaged humanity.
- Tommy – voiced by Jeff Ward, is Joel’s brother and one of the leaders of the quarantine zone in Boston.
- Tess – voiced by Annie Wersching, is Joel’s partner and a fellow smuggler who joins him on his journey to escort Ellie.
- Marlene – voiced by Merle Dandridge, is the leader of the Fireflies, a group of rebels who are fighting against the military dictatorship that controls much of the country.
- David – voiced by Nolan North, is a member of a group of survivors who attack Joel and Ellie.
- Robert – voiced by Jim Reichardt, is a member of the Fireflies and a friend of Marlene.
- Bill – voiced by W. Earl Brown, is a survivor who lives in the town of Lincoln and helps Joel and Ellie on their journey.
- Henry – voiced by Yaani King, is a member of the Fireflies and the brother of another member named Sam.
- Sam – voiced by Gabriel Rush, is a young boy who is also a member of the Fireflies and travels with Joel and Ellie for a time.
These are some of the main characters in “The Last of Us,” and the voice actors who portray them. The game features many other minor characters and some that are encountered during the story.