What Happens to Henry and Sam in ‘The Last of Us’ Game?

If you opened this article, I assume that you’re here for spoilers. If that’s the case, I’m not gonna pull any punches with this one. You’ve been warned. Now feel my spoiler fists.

Building off of the game, The Last of Us TV series is introducing a slew of new characters. Kathleen, the ruthless leader of the Kansas City survivors is one of them. Meanwhile, many of the characters who appear in the game are getting adjustments to their storylines. Beautiful, heartbreaking, glorious adjustments. While brothers Sam and Henry appear in the original game, it’s likely that their story will change somewhat in the TV adaptation. However, I’m pretty sure that their fate is going to be the same. And it isn’t pretty.

Where do Joel and Ellie meet Henry and Sam?

In the original game, Joel and Ellie meet Henry and Sam in Pittsburgh after seeking shelter from a group of hunters. Why are Joel and Ellie in Pittsburgh if they were trying to head west from Boston? No one knows. Either they got really confused with directions, or it’s just a bit of a plot hole in an otherwise flawless game. After being ambushed by the pair in a hotel, Ellie and Joel learn that Henry and Sam ended up in Pittsburgh after leaving Hartford, Connecticut to seek supplies. Realizing that neither pair means the other harm, they team up to escape the hunters and the city.

Then what happens?

They raise hell. The four of them fight through the Pittsburgh hunters and narrowly avoid being ripped to shreds by clickers in the sewers. After being set upon by an armored Humvee driven by the hunters, Henry abandons Joel and Ellie in order to save his little brother. After Joel saves himself and Ellie from the hunters by jumping off a bridge, Henry and Sam rescue the pair when they find them floating in the water. Joel threatens to kill Henry for his betrayal, but Henry tells Joel that the safety of his brother comes first. Joel admits he would have done the same. The group then travels through the Pittsburgh suburbs where they come under fire from a sniper. Joel is able to dispatch the sniper, but the gunfire draws a horde of infected from the surrounding neighborhood. In the chaos, Sam is attacked by a clicker, but the group manages to save him and escape.

So they get away, right? Please tell me they get away

They do get away, but not scot free. Later that night, as Henry and Joel are bonding over one of Joel’s stories, Sam and Ellie have a sobering conversation about the nature of the infection. Sam wonders if the infected are still conscious of their actions and are simply helpless to stop themselves from attacking others. Ellie swears to Sam that the infected are already dead and that they are no longer people. Sam doesn’t seem convinced. After Ellie leaves, Sam rolls up the leg of his pants, revealing a scratch that he received from a clicker the day before.

The next morning, Ellie goes in to check on Sam. She discovers that he has succumbed to the infection and is now a runner. Sam lunges at Ellie, who tries her best to fend him off. Joel tries to kill Sam, but is shot at by Henry, who is still trying to protect his brother. Realizing that his little brother is gone, Henry finally shoots Sam. Henry points the gun at Joel, shouting, “It was all your fault!” before shooting himself in the head.

I warned you, it isn’t pretty. In fact, it’s perhaps the most heartbreaking death in the first game. Henry and Sam were the closest thing that Ellie and Joel had to friends, and meeting Sam allows Ellie to feel like a kid again. For a brief moment, childhood innocence returns to the world of The Last of Us before it’s destroyed, once again, by harsh reality. While we don’t know exactly how the show is going to handle the story of Henry and Sam, we can say with near-100% certainty that they are going to die. Henry and Sam’s death serves as a grim reminder of one of the central themes of The Last of Us: nothing gold can stay.

(featured image: Naughty Dog)