| “ | I don't know what you heard, but you should see the town. We're over twenty families strong now. It was Maria and her father, they set up this place that had the idea of being self-sustained. We got crops and livestock. Remember how we thought that no one could live like this anymore? Well, we're doing it.
―Tommy Miller talking about the Jackson community.[1]
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The Jackson community is a group of friendly survivors in The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II. The community is led by Maria Miller and lives in the town of Jackson, Wyoming. Joel and Ellie join the group after their year-long search for the Fireflies across the United States.[2]
Unlike most groups the player encounters in the franchise, Maria's community are a friendly group. They support the player both in combat and in providing them resources to use against hostile foes, mainly the bandits and infected.[1][3]
History[]
Formation and growth[]
Sometime after the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak, Maria and her father decided to establish a self-sustaining community—one that actively tried to follow the pre-apocalypse way of life—in the town of Jackson, located in Jackson County, Wyoming. The key to achieving this lay in directing the power generated from the nearby hydroelectric dam to the town so the community could use it as a sustainable source of energy. Additionally, they set up greenhouses to grow crops and raised livestock as a source of food. The plan worked and the community began to expand and thrive into one that nearly resembled life before the outbreak, with children able to watch films and families could live in peace. However, they faced threats from bandits roaming the countryside and still faced attacks from infected.
After Tommy Miller left the Fireflies around 2028-29, he found and joined the community. He grew close with Maria, the pair eventually marrying sometime before 2033. By the fall of 2033, the turbine at the power plant had malfunctioned, leading to a drop in power supply. To counter this, Maria and Tommy took several engineers, workers, and guards to the plant to fix it.[1]
Events of The Last of Us[]
Restoring the dam[]
Joel and Ellie travel to Jackson County in hopes of finding Joel's brother, Tommy, and asking him where they could locate the Fireflies. They reach the entrance to the power plant. Upon trying to enter, Maria and her riflemen hold them at gunpoint, Maria hoping Joel and Ellie are not hostile. Tommy, recognizing Joel, assures her they are not. He opens the door and introduces them to his wife Maria and warmly welcomes them. He and Maria then take the pair on a tour around the site, filling them in on the community's way of life. Joel expresses surprise in the community's success, expressing he never thought such a life would be possible again.
Soon after arriving, the townsfolk manage to get a generator working again, bringing power back online to the nearby town. The group celebrate, happy knowing their way of life will carry on. Shortly after though, Joel speaks with Tommy in private, trying to convince him to take Ellie to the Fireflies for him. Tommy refuses, stating he is happy with his new life in Jackson with Maria. Joel argues back, insistent Tommy owes him, but Tommy rebukes that the way Joel protected him before he joined the Fireflies has only given him nightmares. Joel then slams Tommy against a locker in rage, but Tommy warns him: Maria's community are loyal to him and any more attacks like that will end badly for Joel. Concurrently, the bandits in the area launch an attack on the power plant, intent on securing the area for themselves. The workers call it in on the radio, which prematurely ends Joel and Tommy's argument. The Miller brothers rush out to assist the workers in fighting the bandits. They defeat the foes in their area and then push back to the main rally point to rescue Maria and Ellie, who the bandits cornered. Despite the bandits killing some of the workers, Maria's group defeats them.[1]
Seeing Joel's care for Ellie during the attack, Tommy agrees to take her to the Fireflies, much to Maria's displeasure. In retaliation for Joel giving her away, Ellie takes a horse and runs off. Joel and Tommy pursue her, encountering enemies on the way. The pair find Ellie at a ranch house where Ellie and Joel have another argument before bandits ambush them again. Afterwards, the trio return to the town, where Joel decides to take Ellie to the Fireflies. Before going, Tommy tells the pair they have a place in the community if they ever return.[4]
Accepting Joel and Ellie[]
After the events in Salt Lake City[5], Joel and Ellie return to Jackson.[2] Weeks later, the pair are revealed to have been accepted into the community, with Ellie even getting her own place in the converted garage of Joel's house. The two are put to work helping improve security around the town while Tommy tries to set Joel up with a woman living in Jackson.[6]
Events of The Last of Us Part II[]
Relative peace and facing infected hordes[]
Joel and Ellie integrated well into the community; Joel moved into a large house, and Ellie converted the house's garage into a home of her own. Regarding life in the main town, it is revealed to house several horses, cows and chickens, and maintains a thriving farm and greenhouses. The town is filled with markets, stores, welding shops, pubs and eateries, and even a cemetery to lay their dead to rest. The people within the town live in relative peace, resembling the times before the outbreak, able to have dance parties and family events in the church hall.[3]
Joel became a leading patrolman, whom Jesse later admitted to looking up to.[3] Ellie also befriended several people, including both Jesse and Dina, as well as Cat, who she became romantically involved with for a time.[7]
Between 2034 and 2038, Jackson remains a thriving community. However, the infected have migrated into the area in the form of hordes, especially in the winter months. To counter this, Maria established a group of patrolmen, sending two patrolmen out across different nearby areas in Jackson to search the various lodges, mansions, hotels and outposts to clear out wandering infected so horde attacks on their barricaded walls would easier to deal with. They created a notice board to designate where patrols where going. The areas around Jackson they patrol are: Teton County, Wilson Valley, Hoback Pass, Elk Creek, Alpine Valley and Colten Bay. This noticeboard also displayed the rules patrolmen were advised to follow while on patrol, which included: staying in sight of their partner at all times, avoiding fighting unless absolutely necessary, staying within their patrol routes, and ensuring they were back from patrol before nightfall.[3]
In Teton County, there is a town called Teton Village which is also patrolled. Along with residential neighborhoods, this village features a supermarket, pharmacy, and a library that Eugene Linden had turned into a residence sometime before his death.[3]
To keep track of infected nesting in the different areas, the patrolmen make notes in various logbooks located in safe outposts within the areas they traverse.[7] They had four outposts and have logbooks for the Elk Creek trail[3] and the Mountain View ski lodge. Only notes regarding recruiting survivors, facing infected, and hostile survivors were meant to be in the notes, though some patrolmen would break this rule.[7]
The patrolmen regularly rotate between areas, always traveling in pairs. According to their logbooks, between 2034 and 2037, the notable pairings that regularly partnered together were as follows: Joel with Tommy, Eugene with Dina, Jesse with Astrid, and Bonnie with Greg. Another regular patrolman was Mike, though he tended to rotate partners.[7] Tara was another notable patrolman.[8] Ellie also occasionally went on patrol, though only ever with Joel and Tommy.[7] Joel and Tommy were Maria's go-to pair to send out against imminent horde threats or areas known to give other patrolmen difficulties. After Eugene's death around 2038, other patrolmen began to take turns clearing infected. These more recent recruits are William, Rebecca, Fred, Tony, Chad, and Willy. Ellie also replaced Eugene as Dina's primary partner. Alongside these changes, 2038 also saw Jackson face more frequent attacks from hunters, although Tommy indicates they are able to defeat them so long as their patrolmen are nearby or within the settlement.[3]
Conflict with the WLF[]
On March 2nd, a Jackson patrolman reported that around 700 infected were spotted between all four of their outposts in the night. Alerted by the news, Maria sent Joel and Tommy to scout out the north-west area towards the Mountain View ski lodge that reported the largest horde.
Concurrent to Tommy and Joel heading there on patrol, Abby Anderson from the Washington Liberation Front in Seattle, Washington when she brought a group of ex-Firefly veterans to the area to find, capture, and interrogate Tommy with the goal of learning Joel's whereabouts. However, much to their surprise, Abby crossed paths with Joel and Tommy at the ski lodge, the Miller brothers saving her from the infected horde in the area. Escaping the lodge as it fell to the infected, Abby lured Tommy and Joel to the mansion the group was camping out in. The group then ambushed the brothers, knocking Tommy unconscious and leaving Joel crippled by a shotgun blast to the leg by Abby.[3]
A while after, as Abby was torturing Joel, Ellie discovered the mansion and was seized by some of Abby's friends. Ellie was then forced to watch Abby deliver the killing blow to Joel and was soon after knocked unconscious alongside Tommy. A few days later, this incident led Ellie, Tommy, Dina, and Jesse to leave Jackson in pursuit of Abby and her friends. Ultimately, they succeeded in killing all of Abby's friends who were present at the mansion, but Abby herself killed Jesse, crippled Tommy, and heavily injured Ellie and Dina in retaliation. Nevertheless, Ellie, Dina and Tommy managed to return to Jackson safely.[9]
By 2039, the community is still thriving, with Dina and Ellie able to live on a farm a few miles from the settlement. They were also accompanied by Dina's newborn son JJ, whom she had with Jesse before he died. Maria also remains the leader, though she has separated from Tommy after his revenge quest left him bitter and crippled.[10]
Strength[]
The community in Jackson are a powerful group. For years, they have survived encounters with both infected and hostile survivors. Unlike many groups, the community possesses a reliable source of electricity and an assortment of guns, vehicles and horses which makes transportation and combating enemy forces easier. Further, they have fortified their entire town to keep enemies out and patrol their walls regularly to ensure there are no infected or hunters sneaking up on them. In the fall of 2033, Tommy and Maria's group of workers were able to successfully fend off attacks from bandits in the area, even when said bandits ambushed them at the power plant.[1]
Jackson patrolmen[]
The community possesses their own elite group of patrolmen. Formed in 2034 to combat growing hordes of infected and attacks from hunters, the group is led by Maria Miller. By 2038, there are at least 30 known active patrolmen in the group.[1][3] To become a patrolman, one must first volunteer to go on patrol and receive specialist patrol training. Candidates must be at least 16 to qualify for the training.[11]
All patrolmen in Jackson are armed with a sidearm, hunting rifle, or shotgun, and a melee weapon such as a machete or switchblade, whenever on patrol. Some also carry Molotov cocktails. The patrolmen also tend to ride horses to allow for quick movement between positions.[3][7]
Judging from the information provided in the logbooks, the patrolmen differ in their competency when facing infected. For instance, between September 2034 and March 2038, Joel and Tommy were Jackson's most successful patrolmen. They are the only pair to patrol more than 20 times and also combat infected and rescued survivors more than any other pairing.[7] They are typically called in when other patrolmen struggle or lack the confidence to combat enemies they scouted while patrolling.[3]
However, that doesn't mean to say the other patrolmen are reliant on Joel and Tommy. Notably, Eugene, Jesse, Dina, Bonnie, Greg, Astrid and Mike have all patrolled numerous times and have fought and killed their fair share of infected. Ellie, while not patrolling much, was also capable, killing several runners and clickers with Dina and Joel on two separate patrols.[7] The reliance on the Miller brothers is more so demonstrated in how whenever the likes of Rebecca, William, Fred, Tony, Chad, or Willy went on patrol they encountered practically no infected and, for those that did, they avoided fighting and instead left a report in the logbooks that Joel and Tommy picked up and dealt with later. There was also an occasion where Joel also had to save Ellie from certain death against a bloater.[3]
Despite these personal differences in skill and eagerness to fight infected and hostile survivors, it is generally true that the patrolmen have fared well over the years.[7] Since 2034, they have successfully defended themselves against attacks from infected and hunters and ensured the surrounding walls of Jackson are kept clear from potential threats through daily patrols and watches during the night. Their skill was so strong that Tommy Miller was confident the patrolmen could successfully attack the Washington Liberation Front in Seattle, though understood Maria's reluctance to allow this given launching an invasion on the WLF would leave the untrained civilians in Jackson exposed to hunter raids or infected horde attacks in the patrolmen's absence.[3]
By 2039 though, the Jackson patrolmen have suffered significant losses in their numbers. With Joel, Eugene and Jesse dead and Dina and Tommy retired from patrolling, it is fair to say that Jackson has lost its most reliable, competent patrolmen all within a year. This is evidenced in the logbooks and events of the game, which revealed these five people patrolled the most and displayed the most success in combating infected. While Jackson is still a thriving community that still welcomes outsiders by the summer of 2039, the loss of this group on patrol is noteworthy.[10]
Known members[]
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Gallery[]
The Last of Us[]
The Last of Us Part I[]
The Last of Us Part II[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Tommy's Dam"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Jackson"
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 "Jackson"
- ↑ Adios
- ↑ "The Firefly Lab"
- ↑ The Last of Us: One Night Live
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 "Seattle Day 2"
- ↑ Tara's invitation
- ↑ "Seattle Day 3"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "The Farm"
- ↑ "Seattle Day 1"
