Yara

Yara is a supporting character in The Last of Us Part II and a playable character in the No Return mode.Dornbush, Jonathon (December 5, 2023). "The Last of Us Part II Remastered: Exploring the Roguelike Survival Mode, No Return". Naughty Dog. Retrieved December 6, 2023. A former member of the Seraphites, she was the older sister of Lev and formed a bond with Washington Liberation Front member Abby Anderson.
== Biography ==
=== Background and early life ===
Yara was the firstborn child of a devout Seraphite woman, followed roughly three years after by Lev (then known as "Lily"). While not much is known about her early life, Yara was chosen to be a warrior for her village around the age of thirteen to fight the WLF. Yara was close to Lev growing up, but was confused as to why Lev questioned the rules until Lev admitted to her that he identified as male. Yara told Lev to keep such feelings private, and hoped that Lev would "snap out of it".
A turning point came in their lives when the elders arranged for Lev to marry an elder. Wanting to be a warrior like Yara, Lev shaved his head in an act of defiance, openly identifying as male. Yara initially reacted poorly, screaming and hitting him. However, aware that the Seraphites would try to kill him for his choice, Yara helped Lev escape, leading to the Seraphites branding the pair as apostates."Seattle Day 2"
=== Events of The Last of Us Part II ===
A day after going on the run, the Seraphites found Yara and brought her to Emily as she was about to execute a captured Wolf, Abby Anderson. When Yara refused to share Lev's location and spat in Emily's face, they held her down and shattered her left forearm with a hammer. Before they could shatter Yara's right arm, Lev came to her rescue before they could break her right, enabling Yara to kill the other two with Abby's help. Yara had Lev free Abby from her noose, and the trio fought through stalkers to escape the woods with Yara leading the way. However, Yara's injury caught up with her before they could reach the shore. With Abby's help, the siblings took shelter in an abandoned trailer, with Abby setting and splinting Yara's arm before leaving."Seattle Day 1"
Yara's condition continued to deteriorate, with her developing a fever and swelling in her arm. Lev defended the two of them from the Seraphites that came. To their surprise, Abby returned in the morning, bringing the two to an aquarium, where her friends Owen Moore and Mel were hiding. Mel, a surgeon for the WLF, determined that Yara had developed compartment syndrome, saying the arm would turn gangrenous without amputation, but the group lacked the necessary tools to perform it safely. Lev proposed he and Abby use the Seraphites' bridges connecting Seattle's skyscrapers to reach the WLF's hospital and gather surgical equipment. The pair did so and returned with the supplies. The procedure went well, leaving Yara exhausted but stable.
The next morning, Owen invited the siblings to escape with him and the others to Santa Barbara, where he hoped to rejoin the surviving Fireflies. Yara agreed, knowing that it was too dangerous to remain in Seattle, but Lev was unwilling to leave their mother behind. The disagreement escalated into an argument, ending with Lev storming off. Yara asked Abby to help her look for Lev and decided to give him a toy shark from the aquarium gift shop to cheer him up. However, Lev stole a boat and left for the Seraphites' island, hoping to convince their mother to leave.
Despite still recovering from the surgery, Yara insisted on accompanying Abby to the island. While on their way to the marina to acquire a boat, the pair were side tracked when Abby was forced to investigate nearby gunfire, telling Yara to remain put at a safe distance. Upon investigating the gunfire, a sniper shot at Abby but Manny Alvarez, a fellow WLF soldier and a friend. saved her. Abby and Manny pushed their way up to the sniper’s position until they had him cornered, however Manny was killed and the sniper was revealed to be Tommy Miller attacked Abby but Yara stabbed him, distracting Tommy long enough for Abby to push him into the water. 
Yara and Abby then took a boat and made their way to the Seraphite island just as the WLF invasion commenced. The duo made their way inland, avoiding Seraphite patrols until they reached her home, where they found that Lev, in an act of self defense, had pushed his mother into a table which accidentally killed her. Yara convinced the distressed Lev to leave with her. However, they were discovered by a WLF soldier, who shot Yara. Abby disarmed the man, but Isaac Dixon, the leader of the WLF, arrived with the rest of his squad. Isaac threatened to shoot them both unless Abby stood aside and allowed him to kill Lev. Defending the pair, Yara shot Isaac from behind, prompting the squad to shoot her dead, but it enabled Abby and Lev to escape and flee the island."Seattle Day 3"
== Personality and traits ==
Yara cared deeply for her brother, putting herself at risk and eventually sacrificing her life for his sake. She expressed regret for not supporting him earlier about his gender identity.
Yara was more aware than Lev about the world: she acknowledged that faith didn't make her immortal and was aware that her devout mother would not forgive her or her brother for their actions.
== Design and appearance ==
Yara initially dressed in typical Seraphite attire, keeping her long, black hair braided and wore a white button-down shirt with blue pants. Upon moving into the aquarium with Abby, she changed her appearance. Instead of wearing Seraphite clothes, she now wore brown jeans and a raincoat along with a t-shirt with a picture of a sea otter on it, representing how she now aligned with Abby and her group instead of the Seraphites.Naughty Dog, The Art of The Last of Us Part II, (Oregon: Dark Horse Books, 2020), p.145
== Behind the scenes ==
* Originally, in the early pitch, Yara was going to be transgender instead of Lev.Rooster Teeth - TLOU cast talk
== Gallery ==
Yara.png|Yara's Seraphite model.
Yara model.png
== References ==
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fr:Yara
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pt-br:Yara
ru:Яра
Category:The Last of Us Part II characters
Category:The Last of Us Part II playable characters
Category:Members of the Seraphites
Category:Deceased characters