Is Lou dead in Death Stranding 2?

So, if you've found yourself asking if Lou is dead, here's everything you need to know about what happened.

Naturally, there will be major spoilers ahead for the ending of Death Stranding 2 – don't say we didn't warn you.

Is Lou dead in Death Stranding 2?

Like we said in the beginning, this is a Kojima game, which means nothing is ever simple.

That's why, the answer to this question is somehow both yes and no, and neither yes nor no – here's our simplest explanation.

When Fragile and Lou are attacked, Fragile attempts to send Lou away to keep her safe, seemingly succeeding, while she remains injured near Sam's shelter.

Sam, grief stricken, continues to envisage Lou as a baby, just as she was in the first game, although encounters with Higgs later in the game confirm that Lou's is, in fact, 'dead', so-to-speak.

That's the gist of what we see at the start of the game. Keep reading for the full story.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD: This is your final warning!

Later on in the story, you find out that Tomorrow, Elle Fanning's character who you come across midway through the story, is actually a grown-up version of Lou, or Louise, as she now calls herself.

She's managed to grow up because time passes differently on Earth than on the Beach, where Fragile teleported her to.

While it's initially hinted that Lou has become a BT, taking up residence in Sam's BB pod, it's later revealed that the pod is completely empty, and Sam had merely been hallucinating.

Meanwhile, although Sam has been able to detect BTs during the game's events, which he required Lou for in Death Stranding 1, it is revealed that Dollman has been operating Sam's Odradek the entire time.

Once Higgs is defeated at the end of the game, Lou, or Louise, reverts to being a baby, as seen in the game's epilogue.

That's pretty much all you need to know! Basically, if you're reading this near the start of the game, you haven't seen the last of Lou.

Is Lou Tomorrow in Death Stranding 2?

As detailed above, yes, Lou and Tomorrow are the same person in Death Stranding 2.

When Fragile teleported Lou to the Beach at the start of the game, this was because she thought that, in that moment, Lou would be safer with the souls (Ka) of the people on the Beach.

As it turns out, she was absolutely right. It's heavily implied that Neil Vana, who gave his life trying to save Lou and her mother Lucy, finds Lou and takes care of her until she returns to our world following Sam's first altercation with Neil.

Once the story finishes and Sam and Lou have preventing the Last Stranding once again, she returns from the Beach as a baby once again.

The minutiae of Lou's situation can be experienced for yourself in-game, and we'll no doubt get plenty more deep-dives into the lore as more and more people finish the game, so watch this space!

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