Tommy in Wyoming — Joel's brother, the former Firefly, the man who found a different way to keep going. The dam and the settlement are what happens when the keeping going produces something. The heroes that the game refuses are the narrative constructs, the people doing the right thing for legible reasons. Joel and Tommy kept going because stopping was not available. The settlement is the accumulated result of not stopping.

The refusal of the hero label is the game's most important ethical statement. Joel has done terrible things. Tommy has done terrible things. The settlement at the dam does not redeem them. It is simply what the not-stopping produced.