The Role of Music in ‘The Last of Us’

In ‘The Last of Us’, silence is terrifying—but music is sacred. Whether you first encountered the story through Naughty Dog’s acclaimed video game series or HBO’s gripping adaptation, one thing is constant: music is never just background. It’s memory, identity, emotion, and sometimes, the only shred of beauty left in a brutal world.

From Gustavo Santaolalla’s haunting score to the strum of Ellie’s guitar, ‘The Last of Us’ uses music not just to set the mood, but to deepen its storytelling. It’s one of the quietest yet most powerful forces in the entire series.

Gustavo Santaolalla: The Sound of a Fractured World

When Santaolalla was brought on to compose the score for the video game in 2013, the choice was unorthodox. He wasn’t a traditional game composer. Known for his work on ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and ‘Babel’, Santaolalla specialized in raw, emotionally charged music rooted in folk and Latin American traditions.

His approach to ‘The Last of Us’ was stripped-down and emotional, favouring:

• Plucked charangos and ronrocos (South American string instruments)
• Sparse acoustic motifs
• Droning ambience and dissonance

The result is a sound that feels wounded but alive—perfect for a world where grief and resilience coexist. The score doesn’t “fill space”; it exposes it. It breathes between scenes of silence and violence, drawing us into the emotional lives of Joel, Ellie, and the broken world around them.

When HBO adapted the game for TV, they made the rare and brilliant choice to bring Santaolalla back. His original themes return, but are reinterpreted with even more emotional weight. In the show, his music often speaks when the characters can’t.

Ellie’s Guitar: A Symbol of Love and Loss

More than any other object, Ellie’s guitar becomes a symbol of memory, connection, and irreversible change—especially in ‘The Last of Us’ Part II. It’s a gift from Joel, a promise in musical form: “I got you.”

Throughout the story, the guitar represents:

• Joel’s guilt and love: He teaches Ellie to play as a way of bonding, of making up for what he took from her.
• Ellie’s trauma: She clings to it as a tether to her past, but over time, it also becomes a reminder of what she’s lost.
• A fading self: In one of the game’s final scenes, Ellie is unable to play the guitar after losing fingers in a fight with Abby. It’s one of the most emotionally devastating metaphors in the series—she’s physically lost the ability to access her memories of Joel, her peace, her song.

The HBO show foreshadows this poignantly. Ellie strums tentatively in Season 1, already framing the instrument as more than just a pastime. It’s a quiet thread of hope.

Cover Songs That Cut Deep

Both the game and the series use licensed music sparingly—but with precision. Songs are never just "cool" choices; they say something about the characters or the moment.

Examples include:

• ‘Future Days’ by Pearl Jam: Joel sings it to Ellie in Part II, and it becomes their unspoken theme. It encapsulates Joel’s willingness to sacrifice the world for her.
• ‘Take On Me’ (A-Ha): Ellie plays a stripped-down version in the game. Once a bouncy ’80s hit, it becomes nostalgic and deeply bittersweet—an echo of innocence in a world that has none.
• ‘Long Long Time’ by Linda Ronstadt (HBO, Episode 3): Used in Bill and Frank’s episode, this song reframes the apocalypse as a place where love still happens, in all its messy, tender, and doomed forms.

Music as an Emotional Map

In a story that’s filled with moral ambiguity, decaying cities, and unspeakable violence, music is what keeps the characters human. It’s not just what they listen to or play—it’s what they hold onto.

• Joel finds peace in old songs.
• Ellie expresses love and grief through strings.
• Players and viewers feel grounded by recurring themes—some melancholic, some warm, some eerie.

Santaolalla’s score, the guitar scenes, and even brief bursts of familiar songs act like emotional landmarks across a landscape of loss.

Final Thought: In a Broken World, Music Survives

‘The Last of Us’ asks what remains when everything is gone—when governments fall, people die, and trust shatters. One answer, again and again, is music.

It can’t kill Clickers. It won’t undo betrayal. But it lingers.

Music, in ‘The Last of Us’, isn’t a distraction. It’s a resistance—against forgetting, against numbness, against the idea that humanity is beyond repair.

In a game and a show full of violence, music reminds us why life was ever worth saving in the first place.

Also Read: How ‘Russian Doll’ Reinvented the Time Loop Genre

---Silviya.Y