Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 1 of The Last of Us as well as minor game spoilers.

Whenever a video game is adapted for a different medium, creative decisions always have to be made for various reasons. Such is the case for HBO's latest live-action rendering of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us. While the adaptation's pilot episode certainly stuck to its guns when it came to recreating the most iconic moments in the game's opening, it's only natural for the duo of Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin to make alterations to fit an episodic format.

Certain scenes, such as the viewers' introduction to Sarah Miller (Nico Parker) were created to offer additional development. Conversely, some characters received shorter screen time than players of the game series may have expected. One such example can be seen with how the pilot episode adapted Robert, one of the game's earliest antagonists who was voiced and motion-captured by Robin Atkin Downes in the first game and who is portrayed by Brendan Fletcher in the HBO adaptation.

RELATED: 'The Last of Us': What's Going On Between FEDRA and the Fireflies

Who Is Robert, and Why Does He Matter in 'The Last of Us'?

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Image via Naughty Dog

In the original game, Robert is an arms dealer and smuggler operating out of Boston's quarantine zone 20 years after the original human Cordyceps outbreak in 2013. He rose to prominence in smuggling circles around Boston and eventually became a leading figure in the trafficking of contraband under the noses of the authorities in FEDRA. Robert's primary export was weapons, but he also wasn't below moving other goods, including pharmacy-grade pills, liquor, clothing, frozen foodstuffs, and even toilet paper. Although he made his living moving goodies outside the military's purview, he occasionally bribed the more persuadable soldiers in FEDRA's employ to ensure he could continue his operations without too many run-ins with the law. He also worked hand-in-hand with rival smugglers, including Joel Miller (Troy Baker) and Tess Servopoulos (Annie Wersching).

After the game's prologue, a 20-year time skip sees Joel dealing with an attempt on Tess' life. Robert, who was originally supposed to sell weapons to Joel and Tess, reneges on his deal and instead sells his weapons to the Fireflies. Out of fear of retaliation, Robert sends two goons to kill Tess. The plan fails and Robert relocates from Area 2 to Area 5 of the quarantine zone in an attempt to hide out from Joel and Tess' reprisal. He also hires additional security to protect him, as many smugglers understand that Robert is particularly scared of Joel and what he might do in response. The showdown between Joel, Tess, and Robert plays out quite differently between the game and HBO's rendition, but both conflicts inadvertently lead to Joel having a fateful meeting with Ellie Williams (Ashley Johnson). This meeting would lead to the rest of the story's events and all the thrill, joy, drama, and heartbreak accompanying it.

How Does the Showdown with Robert Differ Between Versions?

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Image via HBO

As one might expect, the game-based sequence of events surrounding the showdown with Robert is quite protracted compared to the HBO series. Much of this is covered with gameplay, as players control Joel and hunt down Robert and his goons for revenge. Players infiltrate the Mission Hill Pier (where Area 5 is located in the QZ) with Tess in the second chapter of the game. Along the way, they skulk through abandoned buildings outside the quarantine walls and at one point must don gas masks to avoid breathing free-floating Cordyceps spores, which can infect humans through inhalation. Players also encounter a group of desperate survivors attempting to enter the Boston QZ and who have also lost members to the spores. Unfortunately the infected bear down on them, killing all but one individual who is crushed underneath the rubble. Players find this man pinned and unable to move, his gas mask broken. The man begs for Joel to kill him, so the infection won't overtake him, but the ultimate decision on whether Joel kills him or not is down to the individual player. Regardless, Joel and Tess find the entrance to Area 5's slums where Robert can be found.

After bribing their way in, Joel and Tess advance. A guard temporarily tries to stop Joel, but Tess manages to talk the guard down and prevent a fight from breaking out and drawing attention. One guard informs the duo that Robert is en route to the wharf, and players head there and take down Robert's hired guards one by one, either by stealth or (if discovered) open battle. After a gauntlet of guard-slaying in several different warehouses, Joel and Tess find Robert. He attempts to slow his pursuers down with gunfire, but his clip quickly empties, and he makes a dash to escape. However, after a chase sequence, Joel and Tess manage to corner Robert and take him down. During questioning, Robert initially doesn't explain himself, but after a beating and Joel breaking his arm, he reveals crossed the duo by selling his weapons to the Fireflies. In a desperate bid to negotiate, he suggests that Joel and Tess attack the Fireflies to recover the guns that were rightfully theirs. Tess has clearly had enough of Robert, and remarks about how stupid the notion is before putting a bullet in Robert's head. As Joel and Tess discuss their next move, a wounded Marlene (Merle Dandridge), head of the Fireflies, approaches them after a gunfight with FEDRA troops. She offers Tess and Joel their weapons with added interest, but only if they're willing to help her move some precious cargo; a defiant Ellie, who Marlene intends to smuggle to the Massachusetts State House. Joel, ignorant of the full story as to why Ellie is so important and needing the supplies, agrees to the job.

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Image via HBO

In HBO's take on The Last of Us, the conflict with Robert is somewhat abridged. After the 20-year time skip, Tess (Anna Torv) is beaten by Robert's men after Robert crosses her and Joel (Pedro Pascal) in a deal to obtain a battery. Joel hopes to snag the battery and find a vehicle capable of getting him to Wyoming, where his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) was headed before the two lost contact. Tess is brought before Robert, where he apologizes to Tess as he "didn't plan" to rip her off. Tess offers to sweep the incident under the rug, but Robert isn't convinced, still in fear of what might happen to him when Joel finds out about the attack. Just as Robert agrees to trust Tess, a Fireflies IED detonates, killing Robert's men and leading Tess into the middle of a conflict between FEDRA and the Fireflies as Robert escapes the carnage. Riot control troops knock Tess to the ground and arrest her, but she eventually makes her way back to Joel after getting out of lockup. She tells Joel about Robert's deception, and Joel ignores Tess' request to overlook things by stating he needed the battery to find Tommy before he ends up dead. Tess agrees to help get the money (ration tickets) and the battery back, but that the two would need to do so quietly to keep Robert from fleeing the quarantine zone. After breaking into an access tunnel in Haymarket, Tess is startled by a dead infected fused into a nearby wall. The two press on and eventually find a ladder leading to a door into Robert's hideaway, but the door is jammed, blood leaking underneath it and the aroma of gunpowder in the air. Joel manages to force the door open, which was being held shut by the corpse of none other than Robert. The bodies of his men litter the hallway, guns still in hand, and the battery broken beyond repair in a deal gone awry.

Joel finds a wounded Marlene and her comrade Kim Tembo (Natasha Mumba) bloodied after an apparent gunfight with Robert and his men. Ellie (Bella Ramsey), recently unshackled by Marlene, attempts to attack Joel with her pocket knife after jumping out at him from behind a door, but he throws her to the floor. During a tense standoff, Marlene informs Joel and Tess that she had planned to buy the battery from Robert to whisk Ellie away from the Boston QZ. However, without a battery or additional manpower, and with Marlene and Kim both wounded, the Fireflies' mission is in a bind. Marlene offers to give Joel and Tess everything they need if they can get Ellie to the Fireflies awaiting her at the state house. With the gunfight no doubt drawing FEDRA's attention, Joel and Tess agree to transport Ellie, but they want their end of the deal up front, and Tess remarks that they'll kill Ellie if the Fireflies cross them. Marlene agrees, and Joel and Tess escort Ellie out of the building, unaware of just how vital her survival is aside from Marlene's parting quote: "Joel, don't fuck this up, please."

Robert's Death Serves a Foundational Purpose in the Series

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Image via HBO

Obviously, the final showdown with Robert may not have been the one lovers of the game series may have expected, but it certainly still serves its final purpose of passing off Ellie into Joel and Tess' stewardship. Sure, HBO could've shown the player-driven aspects of the game's second chapter, but this would take time and may have required more than a single episode to pull off in an orderly fashion. That would likely rob watchers of Joel and Ellie's first meeting until after the first episode, which may not have been ideal.

As things stand, our two protagonists are now together, and this lone clash with Robert and the Fireflies has inadvertently spurred a country-trekking journey in a devastated and dangerous world. Joel and Ellie may not be fans of each other now, but the long road ahead gives them plenty of time to come to understand each other, eventually forging one of the strongest bonds we've seen in gaming, and one we will undoubtedly see unfolding again week by week in The Last of Us' first season.

The Last of Us premieres new episodes every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.

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