She’s not the same kid from the back of that truck in Pittsburgh. Not even close. When we first met her, Ellie was the light at the end of a very dark tunnel—a foul-mouthed, pun-telling beacon of hope who made a cynical smuggler care about the world again. But Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2 is a jagged pill to swallow. She’s messy. She’s violent. Honestly, she’s kind of a monster for about eighty percent of the runtime.
Naughty Dog didn't give us a "hero." They gave us a trauma victim with a switchblade and a singular, self-destructive goal.
That’s why the game split the internet in half. Some people saw a masterpiece of character deconstruction; others felt like their favorite character had been assassinated by a script. If you're still thinking about that ending in Santa Barbara, or why she didn't just stay on the farm with Dina, you aren't alone. It’s a lot to process.
The Weight of the Immunity Burden
Think back to the first game. Ellie’s whole identity was wrapped up in being the "cure." When Joel pulled her out of that operating room in St. Mary’s Hospital, he saved her life, sure, but he also kind of stole her purpose.
She knew. Deep down, she always knew he was lying.
By the time we catch up with Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2, that lie has festered. It’s like a low-grade fever that won't break. She’s living in Jackson, trying to be a normal teenager, going to dances and getting high in weed dens, but she's hollowed out. She tells Joel her life would have mattered if he’d let her die. That’s heavy. It’s also the foundation for everything she does next. When Abby enters the picture and takes Joel away, Ellie doesn't just lose a father figure. She loses her chance at reconciliation. She loses the only person who truly knew her secret.
The violence that follows isn't just about justice. It's about guilt.
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Seattle and the Slow Descent
Most games make you feel powerful when you upgrade your gear. In this one? Every time you craft a new explosive arrow or sharpen Ellie’s machete, it feels a bit more like you're losing her.
She’s nineteen.
In Seattle, we see her do things that would have horrified the thirteen-year-old version of herself. The torture of Nora in the hospital basement is the big turning point. The red lighting, the rhythmic tapping of the pipe, the way Ellie's face is speckled with blood afterward—it's uncomfortable. It’s supposed to be. Halley Gross, the game's co-writer, has talked extensively about how they wanted to show the physical toll of hate. Ellie starts the game looking healthy, and by the end, she’s emaciated, scarred, and literally missing pieces of herself.
It’s a cycle.
She kills Mel, not realizing she's pregnant, and for a second, you see the mask slip. She’s disgusted. But she doesn't stop. That’s the most polarizing thing about Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2—her stubbornness. Players kept waiting for her to have a "moment of clarity" before the final act, but she just keeps pushing into the dark.
The Santa Barbara Choice: Why She Let Go
This is the part that still gets debated on Reddit every single day. Why did she travel all that way, lose two fingers, and nearly drown a woman just to let her go at the last second?
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It wasn't about Abby. Not really.
In those final moments, as she’s holding Abby’s head underwater, Ellie gets a flash of Joel. But it’s not the bloody image of his death that’s been haunting her for months. It’s a memory of him sitting on his porch, playing the guitar. It’s the moment she decided she was going to try to forgive him.
If she kills Abby, she kills the last shred of the Ellie Joel loved.
By letting Abby go, she finally separates her grief from her identity. She realizes that killing this broken woman won't bring Joel back and it won't fix her own broken heart. It’s a moment of pure, agonizing growth. But the cost is astronomical. She goes back to an empty house. She can’t even play the guitar anymore because of her missing fingers. The connection to Joel is physically severed.
Why People Still Hate the Story
Let’s be real. It’s a depressing game.
A lot of the backlash toward Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2 comes from a place of protective love. We spent twenty hours in the first game protecting this kid. Seeing her turn into a person who leaves her partner and baby to go on a suicide mission is hard to watch. It’s a subversion of the "chosen one" trope.
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Some critics, like those at Kotaku or Polygon during the 2020 launch, pointed out that the "violence is bad" message felt a bit hypocritical coming from a game that makes the violence so satisfying to play. That's a fair point. But from a character perspective, Ellie’s journey is one of the most honest portrayals of PTSD in gaming history. She isn't thinking rationally. She’s reacting to a world that has taken everything from her since she was born.
Misconceptions About Ellie’s Ending
A common theory is that Ellie is "alone" at the end.
While the house is empty, look at her wrist. She’s wearing the bracelet Dina gave her. She wasn't wearing it in Santa Barbara. This has led many fans to believe she’s already visited Dina in Jackson and they might be working things out. It’s a small glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak landscape.
Neil Druckmann has been intentionally vague about this, but the details in the environment usually tell the story in Naughty Dog games. She leaves the guitar behind, which symbolizes her finally laying Joel to rest. She’s moving on. Where she goes next is anyone’s guess, but she’s finally free from the weight of Seattle.
Understanding Ellie’s Journey: What to Take Away
If you're looking to dive deeper into why this character is written the way she is, or if you're struggling to finish your second playthrough, keep these points in mind.
- Focus on the Journal: Ellie’s journal is where her real personality lives. If you only watch the cutscenes, you miss her poems and drawings that show she’s still that sensitive kid underneath the armor.
- The Firefly Connection: Replaying the hospital flashback scenes is crucial. It puts her anger into context. She isn't just mad that Joel died; she's mad that she never got to fix their relationship.
- Combat as Narrative: Notice how Ellie’s screams and callouts change as the game progresses. She becomes more brutal, more animalistic. It’s a deliberate design choice to show her psychological state.
- The Parallels with Abby: The game wants you to see that Ellie and Abby are two sides of the same coin. Both lost a father, both sought revenge, and both lost themselves in the process.
To truly understand the narrative, look at the "Museum Chapter" again. It’s the high point of the game's emotional arc because it reminds us what was lost. Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2 is a cautionary tale about what happens when you let the worst day of your life define the rest of it.
If you want to see the full scope of her evolution, pay attention to her hands. From the steady hands of a kid playing a guitar for the first time, to the blood-stained hands in Seattle, to the scarred hands at the end. That’s the story right there. No dialogue needed.
The next step is to revisit the "Finding Strings" flashback. It's the moment the shift truly happens, and it's the most important piece of the puzzle for understanding why Ellie chooses the path she does in the final act. Look at how she looks at the bloater—that's the moment she stops being a survivor and starts being a soldier.