Abby Anderson (The Last of Us Part II)

Abby Anderson is the playable false deuteragonist, before becoming the main antagonist of the second half in The Last of Us Part II. She is an antagonist of Ellie’s storyline and the playable character of her own storyline upon switching from Ellie's perspective in the story. She is a former member of the Fireflies, who leads a small faction of the militant Washington Liberation Front.

However, her act of killing Joel Miller, a beloved character from the first game, led to her being a Karma Houdini for it, cementing her place as one of the most polarizing characters in the PlayStation-exclusive series.

Why Joel Miller Didn't Deserve to be Killed by Her

 * 1) Her design looks like her head was superimposed onto a man's body.
 * 2) * Instead of looking like an average female bodybuilder, her body looked closer to John Cena or Dwayne Johnson, which made her character design look disproportionate and cartoon-ish.
 * 3) Her sex scene is very cringeworthy.
 * 4) She doesn't even have a good reason to want to kill Joel, given he was justified in killing her father to save Ellie (who is no better in this game). The plot point where she killed him is also extremely contrived and tacked-on.
 * 5) * In fact, her father was actually having second thoughts about operating on (and therefore killing) Ellie in order to make a cordyceps cure, until Abby talked him into it. This means that Abby herself is the person truly responsible for her father's death, rather than Joel.
 * 6) She was supposed to be the sane protagonist who's in the right, but her actions don't justify anything to make her a sympathetic and tragic heroine:
 * 7) *The game tries very hard to make you feel sorry for her after she kills Joel, which only ends up making players hate her even more.
 * 8) * As said earlier, she kills Joel and injured Tommy right after she was saved by them from the infected.
 * 9) ** Given how she brutally tortures and murders Joel for killing her father, she grows angry, frustrated, and confused when Ellie (who saw Joel as a father-figure) does the same to her friends, proving her hypocrisy.
 * 10) * Having sex with Owen, who's already a married man.
 * 11) * Didn't take a moment to understand the perspectives of both Joel and Ellie while killing the defenseless man.
 * 12) * Even with Abby being weakened after being held hostage by a pack of cannibals for months, it still comes off as cheap and emotionally manipulative.
 * 13) * Didn't even explain to Ellie why she murdered Joel.
 * 14) She has Mel sent out on missions while pregnant and despite being their best doctor.
 * 15) You are forced to play as her for half the game, which makes her even less likable as players wished to continue Joel and Ellie's story.
 * 16) She tried to slit Dina's throat only to spite Ellie, even after being told she's pregnant.
 * 17) * Abby would have killed Dina, an unborn J.J., and Ellie if Lev hadn't interrupted the scene.
 * 18) She actually bit off Ellie's fingers leaving Ellie unable to play guitar ever again.
 * 19) Abby hasn't suffered any consequences from killing Joel and Jesse, permanently injuring Tommy, and threatening Ellie and Dina, since she gets off scot-free and gets forgiven for no reason making her a Karma Houdini.
 * 20) Despite being seen as a tragic character, Abby has good shelter, electricity, delicious food, and a gym, and is living a much better life than most of the human race in a zombie apocalypse, meaning that she must've brought her misery onto herself.
 * 21) The fact that she has been made as the main protagonist after Joel's death seems to be out of left field as well, and has no buildup.
 * 22) The developers intend for Abby to replace Joel and to some extent, Ellie with her as a character. However, Abby had too many qualities in common with the both of them, making this a similar case to Dani Ramos.
 * 23) * Joel and Abby lose a loved one in their lives which causes them to become more bitter. They meet a young child whom they grow fond of and protect with their lives.
 * 24) ** They both go out of their way to protect their loved ones by any means possible.
 * 25) * Joel and Abby are considered protagonist villains, though the latter serves as the antagonist for Ellie's arc in The Last of Us Part II
 * 26) ** Specifically, Joel and Abby both kill several people for the sake of protecting their loved ones (Ellie for Joel, and Lev for Abby), and they both take lives for selfish reasons.
 * 27) * Both Ellie and Abby lose their father/father figures and seek revenge for their deaths. They risk losing their newfound families for the sake of their quests for vengeance.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Laura Bailey did a great job voicing the character. Heck, Bailey is also the one who had voiced Kotone/Rise from the Persona series, and Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket.
 * 2) As mentioned before, her design looked much better in the trailers.
 * 3) She truly loves and protects Lev, truly caring for him.
 * 4) Some people still appreciate this character by estimating that Abby's story is very tragic and that she has her own justifications. In addition, Abby was horribly traumatized by the death of her father, which surely made her lose her head mentally and push to do what she did.

Trivia

 * Laura Bailey stated that the story of The Last of Us Part II had an incredible story and her portrayal of Abby was a noteworthy role in a long time during her career. She also acknowledged why people hated the character and agreed with them about Abby's attitude.