The Last of Us: How do Henry and Sam die in the game?

Lucy-Jo Finnighan
Henry and Sam in The Last of Us

Henry and Sam are two of the most tragic characters in the Last of Us, but what happens to them in the game? Let us explain (with spoilers ahead!).

While The Last of Us, both the show and the game, revolves around Joel and Ellie, there are a number of other characters whose lives are tragically torn apart by the infection that has ravaged the world. This includes the characters of Henry and Sam, brothers who we met in Episode 4 of the show.

In the show, Henry and Sam are running from a freedom fighter group in Kansas city, after Henry traded the group’s leader to FEDRA in exchange for leukaemia medicine for Sam. While they manage to escape, things go south pretty quickly.

But is this what happens in the game? Multiple things have already been changed in adaptation, so what happens to the brothers in the video game? Well we shall explain below, and of course, spoiler warning for The Last of Us, though the title of this article may have already given that away.

What happens to Henry and Sam in The Last of Us game?

In The Last of Us game, Henry and Sam both die. Sam gets bitten by an infected and turns, which forces Henry to shoot his own brother. Stricken by shock and grief, Henry then turns the gun to his own head, and kills himself in front of Ellie and Joel.

In the game, Henry and Sam’s backstory is rather different – for one thing, Sam is significantly older in the game, as he is only a year or so younger than Ellie, while he’s eight in the TV show. He’s also not deaf in the game.

Henry and Sam were originally part of a group of survivors from Hartford, but while travelling through Pittsburgh for supplies the group was ambushed and split apart by hunters, similar to how Joel and Ellie were. We never see the rest of their group, so it is assumed that Henry and Sam are the only ones to survive.

They hide in an office building, while occasionally going out for supplies, when they run into Joel and Ellie. Believing the other to be a hunter, Henry and Joel attack each other, but stop once they spot each other’s child companions.

They all decide to team up together in order to get out of the city. Turns out that all of them are looking for the Fireflies, with Henry hoping to keep his brother safe, and to gain a world where “kids can be just be kids again.”

The group make it out of the hunter-ridden city, through infected filled tunnels, and past a particularly tough sniper in the suburbs. However, during the sniper skirmish, a horde of infected show up, and Sam gets bitten on the leg, unbeknownst to the rest of the group.

While the group spends the night bonding – Henry and Joel talk about motorbikes, and Ellie and Sam discuss whether or not the infected are aware of what they’re doing – it all comes crashing down the next morning.

Sam, who has fully begun to turn, attacks Ellie, and Joel reaches for his gun. Henry shoots the gun out of Joel’s hand, but then fires on his brother himself.

As Ellie watches Sam die, Henry begins to break down, yelling “It’s all your fault!” to Joel, though he could also be talking to himself. Unable to take the pain of losing his brother, Henry takes his own life with the same gun, despite Joel’s attempts to talk him down.

You can watch Sam and Henry’s deaths below, if your heart can handle it:

While Joel doesn’t let Ellie talk about the dead brothers until the very end of the game, it’s implied that they buried Henry and Sam before moving on with their journey.

In the show, we do see them bury the brothers, and from the look of next episode’s promo trailer, Joel is going to let Ellie talk about it. Also, Sam actually tells Ellie about his bite, and she tries to cure him with her blood, to no avail.

But other than that, what happens is pretty much the same: Sam gets bitten on the leg, turns, and attacks Ellie. Henry shoots Sam, and then in horror and grief, shoots himself. It’s a harrowing scene, one that will still shock you even if you’ve played the game. And things can only get more heart-breaking from here.

The Last of Us Episode 6 will be available to watch early on February 20 in the US and February 21 in the UK. You can check out the rest of our coverage here.

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About The Author

Lucy-Jo is a Movies and TV Writer at Dexerto, and has previously written for Screen Rant and Girls on Tops. After earning a Master's Degree in Film and Literature, Lucy-Jo now loves covering films, TV shows, and anime, especially if it's something by Mike Flanagan, or anything drenched in camp. You can contact her at lucyjo.finnighan@dexerto.com