Tess (HBO series)

Tess is a supporting character in the first season of HBO's The Last of Us. She is a in post-apocalyptic that had been ravaged by the .Kit, Borys; Shanley, Patrick (March 5, 2020). "'The Last of Us' Series in the Works at HBO From 'Chernobyl' Creator Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
== Biography ==
=== Background ===
Before the , Tess lived in Detroit, Michigan.HBO's The Last of Us episode 2: "Infected" At some point, she got married and had a son. Following the outbreak, her husband and son were both infected; Tess was forced to kill her husband but could not bring herself to kill her own child. She locked him in their basement, where he is presumed to have turned into a over time.HBO's The Last of Us Podcast episode 2: "Infected" 
Before 2010,HBO's The Last of Us episode 3: "Long, Long Time" she eventually made it to a in to escape hordes, where she integrated herself into the black market and trading operations while living there. She developed a fearsome reputation in the zone, with other smugglers like doing their best to avoid her.
She eventually met , the man reaching Boston with his brother .HBO's The Last of Us episode 4: "Please Hold to My Hand" Tess grew to know the brothers, eventually forming a partnership with Joel, whose violent tendencies made other smugglers scared to cross Tess for fear Joel would come after them. The pair grew close, sharing an apartment in the zone, with Joel fiercely protective of her. Her smuggling operation also meant they frequently crossed paths with the militia group the , leading their leader to learn of Tess's and Joel's skills. When not smuggling, Tess would take on outside work duty to earn ration cards from the .HBO's The Last of Us episode 1: "When You're Lost in the Darkness"
To assist in her smuggling aims, she set up a radio in Joel's apartment to communicate with people living outside the zone. On one such occasion, she received a reply from a man named . He revealed to Tess how he lived in the abandoned town of with his partner . Overjoyed, Tess and Frank arranged to meet with Tess bringing Joel with her to the pair's town. While Joel and Bill weren't especially pleased with the idea, Tess and Frank formed a strong connection and secured a trade with them - Joel and Tess would get them seeds, machine parts, metals and other FEDRA made equipment from the zone in return for Bill and Frank providing them luxury goods like drugs, toilet paper and uncontaminated food. Tess and Frank also established a coding system to use between each other in case raiders or FEDRA intercepted their messages. By 2023, the group were still trading with each other.
=== Events of HBO's The Last of Us ===
==== Conflict with Robert ====
At some point, Tess arranged to trade Robert ration cards for a working car battery for Joel. However, Robert did not really have a working battery, having planned to trade a non-functioning one to Marlene and the Fireflies instead. When Tess found out, she was attacked by two of Robert's thugs and held in a basement. When Robert found out, he arrived to talk with her, apologizing to her for ripping her off and for his men roughing her up. Tess, with a swollen eye and bloody lip, said they could forget it ever happened, but Robert was worried, knowing Joel would want revenge against him, especially because his henchmen hurt her. Tess insisted that Joel answered to her, and if she told him to leave Robert alone, he would. Robert was about to agree when an explosion tore open the basement wall. With FEDRA soldiers closing in to battle Fireflies in the area, Robert escaped, but Tess was captured and held in FEDRA custody for the rest of the day. 
When released, Tess returned home to her and Joel's apartment. Finding him having a nightmare, she got into bed and comforted him. In the morning, Joel realized Tess was bruised and got her to tell him what Robert did. Tess tried to calm him, but Joel retrieved weapons hidden in the room floor. Relenting, Tess agreed to go after Robert to get both the battery and the ration cards he took.
Later that day, Tess and Joel traveled to the slums where Tess met with their smuggling contacts to learn Robert was taking the battery to a condemned building formerly used by another smuggler named, Miguel. She suggested they go through the subway tunnel that night and enter the building from below, taking Robert by surprise.
==== Smuggling Ellie ====
Joel and Tess entered the subway's Haymarket North Extension and began to traverse the tunnel. Tess was frightened by a deceased infected whose fungus has grown into the walls. Tess navigated them through the route until they reached a barricaded door leading to the desired building, where blood was seeping through. 
Upon opening the door, they found Robert dead, the Fireflies having killed him for selling a dead battery. Inspecting the area, they found Marlene present with Kim Tembo, and Joel disarmed a girl who attacked him: . A standoff ensued between the two groups, with Marlene asking Tess and Joel to take Ellie to another Firefly unit at the State House. Initially skeptical because the State House was outside the zone, where infected roam in high numbers, Tess agreed when Marlene offered all her supplies - a fully loaded truck, guns and equipment - on the condition that Ellie was only returned once all the supplies were handed over to her and Joel. Agreeing, Ellie, Tess, and Joel left the building as FEDRA soldiers arrived. 
Eventually, the three reached Joel's apartment. Tess locked Ellie in Joel's room while she discussed a contingency plan to head to and 's town, as well as a plan for Tess to scout the area ahead while Joel rested. Tess then left, leaving Joel to watch Ellie. After nightfall, Tess returned and prepared Joel and Ellie to leave.
FEDRA patrolled the streets, enforcing a curfew. Joel, Tess, and Ellie emerged from underground then hid behind concrete to avoid being spotted by the patrols. The group discreetly made their way through the apocalyptic rubble until they came across a urinating soldier, whom they startled. He aimed his rifle at them, making the three kneel so he could scan them for signs of Cordyceps. Tess attempted to negotiate, but without success. However, Ellie stabbed the soldier when he scanned her, leading Joel to kill him to protect Ellie. Tess noticed the scanner stated Ellie was infected. Ellie denied this, revealing a healed bite mark on her arm. With soldiers closing in, the trio fled into the unstable ruins of an apocalyptic Boston.
The trio made it to a beauty salon where Tess and Joel watched Ellie as she slept, seeing if she would turn. By morning, when Ellie awoke, Tess demanded that she explain why she had a bite mark yet had not turned into an infected. Ellie revealed that the Fireflies had established a camp with a laboratory where doctors were trying to create a Cordyceps vaccine. Their tests had failed but, as Ellie was proven immune to the infection, the doctors needed to study her. Tess and Joel discussed what to do next. Joel remained skeptical of Ellie's claim and insisted that they return to the zone and hand Ellie back to Marlene. Tess replied that going back would be risky, and argued that it didn't matter if Ellie was lying to them because all they needed to do was drop her off with the Fireflies and receive their payment of supplies. Joel reluctantly went along with Tess's wishes. 
The group left the salon and made their way to a hotel where they could scout the fastest route to the State House. Tess questioned Ellie along the way, asking how she became infected, learning she was bitten while exploring an abandoned mall. Tess then told her survival advice and information about the infected hordes roaming Boston. Tess eventually found a large gathering of infected blocking the route she had planned to use. With daylight running out, she convinced Joel to take a shortcut through the Bostonian Museum.
Inside the museum, the group found the recently slain corpse of a survivor, suggesting live infected were inside. Tess refused to turn back, saying that there was no way to prove he had been killed by something in the museum. The group reached the main exhibition hall on the top floor, but a sudden cave-in of the damaged roof attracted the attention of a pair of clickers. Tess and Joel managed to kill them, but in the process, Ellie was bitten on the arm and Tess on her neck. Tess kept her bite a secret from the others. Outside on the roof, Joel again expressed his fear that Ellie would become an infected as he helped Tess bind her twisted ankle. Tess angrily snapped back at him, saying they should be grateful to still be alive. They climbed down and continued towards the State House.
==== Sacrifice ====
At the State House, the group waited but no Fireflies came out to meet them. Tess finally lost her patience and ran inside, only to find the truth: the Fireflies Marlene had promised were waiting for them were all dead, one having become infected, leading to a shootout and their deaths. Tess began searching the corpses, trying to find a map to learn where their camp was located. When Joel told her that the job was finished and that it was time to go home, she replied that the zone was not her home, not any longer. Ellie then realized that Tess had been infected by the clickers from earlier.
Joel ordered Tess to show him where she was bitten. Tess pulled her shirt aside to reveal the already infected bite mark on her neck. She then went over to Ellie, grabbing her arm to show that the bite she had received earlier was already healing. Taking this as proof that Ellie was not lying about her immunity, she begged Joel to help her make up for every bad choice the two of them had made by taking Ellie to the camp. She urged him to continue on to Bill and Frank and get help. Suddenly, one of the infected Fireflies came back to life and lunged at Joel, who shot him dead. The body was quickly wrapped by fungi, alerting the hordes of outside the State House to the presence of uninfected humans and causing them to all start rushing towards the building.
Seeing that there was no other choice, Joel dragged Ellie outside while Tess began knocking over gasoline drums and scattering grenades. She was fiddling with her lighter when the infected finally breached the State House. Despite trying to hide in the corner, one infected noticed Tess and began moving towards her. Tess was too fearful to move and the infected managed to "kiss" her. With her body freezing up, Tess somehow found the will to keep thumbing the lighter, at last getting a flame. She dropped it and closed her eyes as the State House went up in a sea of fire, killing her and the infected.
==== Legacy ====
Bill mentioned Tess in his suicide letter to Joel, remarking that he wished Tess were alive so Joel could use his equipment in Lincoln to live a safe life with her. Soon after her death, Joel made a stone monument for her a few miles from Lincoln near a river bed. He would later inform Tommy of her passing and dying wish.HBO's The Last of Us episode 6: "Kin" Ellie would eventually recall Tess's sacrifice in 2024 when lamenting on their failure to create a cure for Cordyceps.HBO's The Last of Us episode 9: "Look for the Light"
== Appearance ==
Tess wore rough clothing, including a light purple button-up shirt, denim pants, and a beige jacket. Her long brunette hair was worn in a bun-and-drapes style and was greying.
== Personality ==
Tess had a commanding and intimidating presence. As a smuggler, she managed to get nearly everyone who worked with or did business with her to fear what she might do to them if provoked. In her own words, she and Joel "were not good people" owing to the terrible things they had done to survive life in the quarantine zone. During her final moments, Tess was selfless, choosing to end her life by confronting the infected horde and immolating herself to save Joel and Ellie, hoping her sacrifice would redeem her for the bad things she had done to survive.
== Relationships ==
=== Joel ===
Tess and Joel were close partners in the smuggling community in Boston, Joel saying that she was "like family" to him. Having worked with each other for years, the pair knew one another well, with Tess knowing of Joel's pre-pandemic work in construction. They shared an apartment in the Boston QZ. Joel was fiercely protective of her, but Tess could sway him to do as she desired, firmly ensuring she was the brains, but he was the muscle in their smuggling partnership. While she did have affection for Joel, their relationship, although with some previously implied romantic intimacy, was mostly platonic and focused on mutual survival. 
When faced with the chance to restore society, Tess used her connection with Joel to convince him to save Ellie, the man understanding and honoring Tess's wish, even though it ensured her own demise.
=== Frank ===
Tess and Frank were trading partners. The two got along well with one another, each eager to trade and communicate. Because of their closeness, Tess and Frank ensured they traded supplies despite Bill and Joel's more distrustful instincts.
=== Bill ===
Tess and Bill were trading partners. Bill wasn't especially close with Tess, preferring to leave her and Frank to discuss trading arrangements. Despite this, he tolerated her presence in Lincoln and allowed Frank to form a partnership with her.
=== Ellie ===
Tess was initially dismissive of Ellie, only seeing her as cargo to secure a good trade deal with the Fireflies. However, upon learning she was immune, Tess took a liking to Ellie, seeing her as a ray of hope that society could be restored to its pre-pandemic state. With Ellie, Tess showed a maternal side, helping the young girl to understand the world. However, she could be annoyed by her, especially when she mocked Joel's concern for her safety.
== Behind the scenes ==
* Tess is portrayed by Australian actress .Poster released by The Last of Us (@TheLastofUsHBO) on . Tweet. Retrieved November 30, 2022. She was aware of the games but had not played them and watched the cutscenes after her casting.Moreau, Jordan; Vary, Adam B. (January 12, 2023). "Welcome to 'The Last of Us': How the HBO Cast Brought The Video Game Characters to Life". Variety. Retrieved January 15, 2023. Torv felt her performance required consistent truthfulness due to its subtlety.Houston, Melinda (January 10, 2023). "Anna Torv goes from TV newsreader to black-eyed road warrior". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
** Torv and —who portrays —decided that Tess and Joel had been lovers for some time but, like in the game, were subtle about their relationship.Young, Alana (January 6, 2023). ""She's a Top": Anna Torv Answers All Our Questions About Tess In HBO's 'The Last of Us'". PopSugar. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
== Quotes ==
:Tess: "Look, can I just say, gun aside, which I get by the way, how nice this is the have a civlised meal in such a beautiful place. Its been so long. I want to thank you. Even if we don't end up working together. I really needed this."
:Frank: "We are working together. We are."
:Tess: "You get her to Bill and Frank's and you put everything right."
:Tess: "Joel. Save who you can save."
== Gallery ==
=== Promotional images ===
Tess HBO promo poster.jpeg|Promotional poster featuring Anna Torv as Tess.
=== Official stills ===
S1E3 Tess 1.jpg|A younger Tess at Bill and Frank's home.
Rival Smugglers holding Tess hostage HBO.png|Tess held hostage by two of Robert's grunts.
Robert interrogates Tess.jpg|Robert interrogates Tess.
S1E1 Tess survive explosion.jpg|Tess in the Boston streets.
S1E1 Tess cover.jpg|Tess hides from the FEDRA and Firefly shootout.
Joel and Tess.jpg|Joel and Tess prepare to enter the tunnels in Boston.
Joel and Tess look at infected.jpg|Joel and Tess inspect a deceased infected.
Tess bodies.jpg|Tess discover Robert's group is dead.
Tess Joel and Ellie hiding.jpg|Joel, Ellie and Tess hide from FEDRA search lights.
HBO Tess holding a scanner.jpg|Tess holding a scanner.
HBO Tess checking Ellie's arm.jpg|Tess checking the bite on Ellie's arm.
S1E2 Joel Tess Ellie flooded hotel.jpg|Joel, Tess and Ellie look at the flooded hotel.
S1E2 Ellie Tess water.jpg|Ellie and Tess walk through the flooded part of the hotel.
HBO Ellie and Tess behind car.jpg|Tess with Ellie in Boston.
S1E2 Tess scared.jpg|A scared Tess after being infected.
S1E2 Tess and Joel talk.jpg|Tess and Joel talk after Tess is infected.
== References ==
Category:HBO's The Last of Us characters
Category:HBO's The Last of Us deceased characters