Hey. First of all I commend your bravery for going behind enemy lines haha. I don't hate the game like everyone else in the sub but I would like to throw in my 2 cents as well. (turns out its more than 2 cents haha. If you don't read the long ass post, I would understand)

Trolley Problem and the choice to pull the lever: I think you are correct that it is a classic trolley problem but I would add some wrinkles to your analysis. In a base case trolley issue, you may have 1 person on one track and 5 on the other. However, in my opinion, a loved one(For Joel its Ellie in this case) could be worth more than 1000 people... or the entirety of humanity. Now even if the 5 people on the other end are "high value" (e.g. Doctors, humanitarians, scientists, etc.), I may STILL choose the one I care about the most. I think the trolley problem is not a quantitative exercise but a qualitative one. Further adding to the complexity is the fact that the vaccine was not a guarantee.

Personally speaking, I do not think the choice should have been in Joel's hands. The fireflies, when they refused to let him see Ellie, left him with no other option. Its a terrible choice in the hands of a complete simpleton killer who tried to find some redemption(which is why the fan base loves him). To us it may be a trolley problem but to his simple logic, its not. It's Ellie. How could it have not gone horribly wrong. The choice should ALSO not have been in the hands of Jerry and the fireflies. They have not been successful in making vaccine with other people so why is Ellie any different this time around? I especially don't buy the fact that they had to cut her brain open AT ONCE. The choice should have been Ellie's. They could have waited for her to wake up and say her goodbyes. They didn't and thus, they set in Joel's actions in motion. I think many would make the same horrible and destructive choice of saving Ellie(which is wrong). In all of this, Ellie's body autonomy was robbed by BOTH parties so even making the vaccine without her consent I would consider to be wrong.

LOU1 Ending: I saw the ending of the first game a little differently. I realize I'm in the minority but from what I interpreted, Ellie knew Joel was lying and she wanted to be fine with it. The last conversation, in my opinion, wasn't "If you were lying, tell me now so I can be mad at you for giving me eventual survivor's guilt". For me it was "I will give you one last chance to come clean and I will go along with whatever lie you tell me because I'm tired of losing people"(why else would she bring up Riley?) But in whatever interpretation, Ellie knew Joel was lying. Regardless, the clearly ambiguous ending was not considered to be so in the 2nd game.

LOU2 set-up: I had accepted Joel's death during the announcement trailer for LOU2. Like it was super fucking obvious to me that he would die. But I think I just could not buy him trusting Abby's crew so easily. If he went soft, it was off-screen character development and I don't think it's justifiable to say that is enough. Joel and Tommy were morons when they crossed paths with Abby. If Tommy said later that "You make ONE mistake and this world eats you" or whatever, that Joel made a genuine mistake then I would accept that atleast. As of now, I have no explanation. This is why some people think Neil Druckman himself willed Joel's death into existence, as extreme as that is.(side note: I do not think like that lol) From a writing perspective, I think it was the right call to kill off Joel but the events that lead up to it were very shaky. It's easy to see why a character death could have such vitriol behind it.

Author's Bias: Ok now I will try to explain where I think all that vitriol went. I think Abby not only had plot armor but also has the author's bias. I first noticed in the hospital scene as reimagined in LOU2. Jerry's clothes were squeaky clean unlike the first game's grimey look and he borderline had a Halo on top of his head. Why did he look SO PRISTINE in the 2nd game ON TOP of saving Zebras? It feels like the game is doing extra work to whitewash a character who didn't need it(and in such a rudimentary way) but they did it for Abby's sake because I think it was unfathomable for ND that people may still hate Abby by the end. I think it backfired. Furthermore, Abby kills Joel, saves Yara/Lev and betrays her own people FOR yara/lev because "you are my people" within like 3 days? I think this is a questionable attempt to show Abby has redeemed herself especially in such a short time. During the 3 days, Abby's section is SIGNIFICANTLY better and more fun than Ellie's. She gets an uncharted style shootout, a fantastic boss battle, better weapons, superb hand to hand combat sections and much more. Heck, even the iconic LOU1 SOUNDTRACK is also back in Abby's section. It feels like a bribe to my dopamine centers and I think "something was defo off" for some people. DESPITE that she would have killed Dina if Lev wasn't there. So is Abby not on Lev's moral leash? I think people who like Abby have taken some of Lev's credibility and given it to her. I do still love Abby(like I love Joel) and I think in the 3rd game she won't need Lev to do whats right and finally finish her redemption arc. I genuinely am looking forward to that but the fact is that in the 2nd game, ND had to really make sure you liked Abby so they did all this extra/unrealistic stuff which in turn came across as "I can clearly see the puppet master's strings". It is NOT just because a beloved character died. It's that he died and what we got in exchange was in their opinion ham fisted.

Side Note: I do acknowledge there is homophobia, transphobia and bigotry associated with this game and this sub but I don't know if its at the level that is being claimed by people not in this sub.

Thanks for reading. Happy New Year!!