How old is Riley in The Last of Us? An In-Depth Character Analysis

Riley Abel is 16 years old in the pivotal storyline of The Last of Us: Left Behind, set about 5 years before the events of the original game. As the closest friend and love interest of 14-year-old protagonist Ellie, Riley‘s age gives deeper insight into her changing worldviews and personal motivations leading up to her tragic end.

Examining Riley‘s Age Across The Last of Us Timeline

While Riley‘s 16th birthday is never explicitly shown, multiple canonical sources reaffirm she is two years older than Ellie:

This age difference becomes a crucial component of understanding Riley‘s outlook as a survivor growing up in quarantine zones her whole life before the pandemic. Unlike Ellie, Riley retains memories of the world before outbreaks and martial law – but still has an adolescent view of new realities like clickers and ration cards.

Examining a 16-Year-Old‘s Psyche in a Post-Pandemic World

As a 16-year-old, Riley exhibits a reckless independence streak common amongst teenagers – sneaking out of Boston QZ zones frequently, questioning authority figures, and seeing the Fireflies as heroic instead of dangerous extremists. However, she clings tightly to mementos from a more innocent past – like her Savage Starlight comics issues.

Her defiant, adventurous nature both energizes Ellie yet worries Joel and Tess as possible bad influences. This reflects Riley‘s dynamic mindset during her coming-of-age: still impressionable like a kid in some ways, rapidly maturing in others.

Ultimately, Riley‘s age provides one of the most complex adolescent perspectives on the post-pandemic world. It informs her relationships with other characters and the trajectory of her life as she continues to find her identity.

What Riley Represents for Other Key Character Journeys

For Ellie

Riley epitomizes an alluring escape from Ellie‘s regulated military school routine. She pulls Ellie into daring adventures outside the QZ, stoking her curiosity of the mysterious world beyond walls.

As Ellie‘s best friend and first love, Riley leaving the QZ with Fireflies represents both abandonment and yearning for a courageous life of meaning like Riley’s. This drives Ellie’s survivor’s guilt and quest for purpose.

For Joel

To smuggler Joel, Riley seems like a reckless threat to order who could get Ellie hurt or killed. However, Riley’s free-spirited connection with Ellie also reminds Joel of his own daughter’s zest for life before her death.

This contributes to Joel ultimate decision to save Ellie: both to redeem his failure as a father and preserve the hope younger generations still represent.

For Marlene

As leader of the Fireflies, Marlene saw Riley as an idealistic potential recruit attracted to their cause fighting FEDRA oppression. Riley’s curiosity and defiant nature reflect undercurrents of dissent growing in Boston’s youth that Marlene taps into for new Firefly followers.

The Significance of Riley‘s Age for Her Legacy

At just 16 years old, Riley Abel leaves an outsized impact on other characters that ripples through the entire storyline of The Last of Us. As both a teenager born before the pandemic yet transformed by it, she encapsulates a pivotal cross-roads: old enough to mourn all that’s lost, yet young enough to hope for change.

In many ways the loss of innocence. But she also kindles Ellie and Joel’s own quests to recapture purpose and family. Though gone, she is never forgotten – and rediscovering her memento in The Last of Us Part II still moves Ellie to tears years later.

For many fans, Riley‘s coming-of-age tragedy marks one of the series’ most impactful stories about love, loss and youthful dreams crushed too soon by a cruel world. It drives so much of what comes after.