Through The Valley

The song 'Through The Valley' by The Last of Us, which is not an artist but rather a reference to the popular video game of the same name, delves into themes of survival, morality, and the human condition. The lyrics draw heavily from the 23rd Psalm of the Bible, yet they twist its message of divine guidance and protection into a darker narrative that reflects the game's post-apocalyptic setting. The protagonist of the song walks 'through the valley of the shadow of death,' a metaphor for the dangerous world they inhabit, and expresses a lack of fear not due to faith, but because they have become desensitized ('blind') to the evil that surrounds them.

The song's chorus, 'And my mind, my gun they comfort me,' replaces the biblical 'rod and thy staff' with a gun, symbolizing the reliance on violence for protection and the mental fortitude required to survive in such a harsh environment. This shift from spiritual to material comfort underscores the altered moral landscape the character navigates. The repeated assertion that 'I'll kill my enemies when they come' speaks to the inevitability of confrontation and the readiness to engage in violence as a means of self-preservation.

The final lines of the song, 'But I know when I die my soul is damned,' reveal a profound sense of fatalism and moral resignation. The character accepts the consequences of their actions, acknowledging that the choices made for survival may have eternal repercussions. This acceptance of damnation contrasts sharply with the hopeful tone of the original psalm, highlighting the character's internal conflict between the necessity of their actions and the moral cost of living in such a world.