| “ | If you find my skeleton, please don't step on my skull.
―A note from Ish that Joel picked up on a boat.[1]
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Ish is a character who is mentioned in The Last of Us Part I. All that is known about him comes from a series of notes found by Joel.[2]
Quick Answers
What is known about the character Ish from the notes found by Joel in The Last of Us Part I?
How did Ish survive the initial outbreak of the Cordyceps brain infection in The Last of Us?
What was Ish's profession before the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak in The Last of Us?
Why did Ish have to go ashore near a Pittsburgh sewer entrance in The Last of Us?
What is the significance of Ish's trawler in The Last of Us?
Biography[]
Background[]
Before the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak, Ish owned a sizeable trawler and was away at sea when the initial outbreak started. After being out at sea for several months following the outbreak, Ish was forced to go ashore near a Pittsburgh sewer entrance.[1] He took up residence inside, eventually constructing his own safehouse.[3] He lived in a small room-like area with a metal door and fence for protection. He also collected lots of newspapers, sticking them on a noticeboard within the room.[2]
In need of supplies, he searched the nearby suburbs, where he encountered a family, Susan, Kyle and their children, who - much to his surprise - did not shoot him on sight. They traded supplies with each other before Ish returned to his hideout.[4] Ish, lonely and realizing that there was no point in surviving alone, then went back to the family to offer them refuge in the sewers.[5]
The group obliged, and the safehouse eventually became a thriving community. They had a school, makeshift beds, shower stalls, and even rain catchers.[6] Ish even allowed the children to paint the doors at the front entrance to look like a castle.[2] Ish met a man called Danny, deciding the two should become the protectors of the community, salvaging armor, assault rifles and sawed off shotguns from dead soldiers. A child within the settlement later depicted the pair together in their gear in a drawing.[7]
At an unknown point in time, a door leading to the safehouse was left open by one of the group, which allowed a horde of infected to flood in. Ish, Susan, and a few of the children managed to escape, barricading the suburb-side entrance to the sewers.[2] Ish and those who managed to escape with him took shelter in the suburbs, Ish now protecting the last of his group.[8] His fate, as well as that of Susan's and several children, is left unknown.
Appearance[]
While Ish is not seen in the game, it is possible to deduce his physical appearance based on details in certain notes. For one, Kyle notes that Ish is skinny when he first trades with them for food.[5] Ish himself also states that he is agile and can sneak easily, explaining why he chose the sewers as a home.[3] A drawing shows him in what appears to be police riot gear, similar to what the military currently wears, suggesting that he scavenged a uniform from a dead police officer or a soldier.[7]
Behind the scenes[]
- Ish is a reference to the protagonist Isherwood "Ish" Williams, in the post-apocalyptic novel Earth Abides (1949) by George R. Stewart. Similar to Ish, Williams establishes a community of pandemic survivors. While in the novel Ish does teach the kids in his community, none of them ever go aboard a ship. Ish, being a sailor, bears a slight resemblance to Ishmael, the main character of Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick.
- A note from Ish was originally supposed to be found in the mall in Colorado in Left Behind. However Neil Druckmann explained on "IGN: Podcast Beyond" that it was too "coincidental," and they decided to take it out and leave Ish's survival up to the player's imaginations.
- There is an Easter egg on the multiplayer map Beach. At the edge of the cliff next to the riverbank overlooking the Pittsburgh Bridge is a message inscribed on a fence saying, "ISH WAS HERE, WISH SOMEONE ELSE WAS TOO".
Gallery[]
