Lose the meaning of life and start over – how Ellie changed in the universe of The Last of Us

Note: the text contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II. We recommend that you read the material only if you are not going to complete the game.

Ellie was born at the turn of 2018-2019. At the time of the release of the first part, this date still seemed not far off. If for a player the investigation of the infected world was an intimidating, but still an adventure, then for her the ruins of our civilization were home – she did not know another girl.

Little is known about Ellie’s childhood: she became an orphan shortly after birth and lived in the harsh militaristic conditions of the quarantine zone until she was 13 years old. It was impossible to call her an exemplary pupil: the girl regularly got involved in fights and adventures, was rude to her elders – in general, she was a typical character in teenage novels.

The characteristic feature of Ellie of that period is closeness. The heroine completely refused to communicate with other teenagers, preferring to spend time alone with herself and a music player. The only one who managed to secure the trust of the girl was Riley – another resident of the quarantine zone, who was a couple of years older than Ellie.

Together, they experienced a small adventure – a very local one, when compared with what Ellie had to go through in the future. But it was it that allowed the heroine to get out of the shell a little and show her character, which during this walk went through a certain transformation.

At the beginning of the journey, Riley asked Ellie what plans the girl was making for the future, and she replied that she did not have them. I am convinced that this is not a pretense of nihilism, but the true emotional pain of Ellie, which she carried to the end of the second part: she grew up without friends and parents in a cold and gloomy quarantine zone, where she regularly came into conflict with other children. Why is it needed in this world? In the absence of a clear answer to this question, the drama of the heroine lies.

Riley revealed Ellie from a new perspective: it turned out that the girl was terribly interested in the pop culture of the pre-quarantine world; that she loves to dance and has a vivid imagination – so much so that in one of the scenes described by her friend Ellie was able to present a video game and “play” it in her head. And Riley helped Ellie figure out her sexual orientation – yes, long before the events of the second part.

However, the girls ’love line ended before they started – at first Riley went on a solitary journey, breaking off her relationship, and then returned and tragically died in Ellie’s arms. No matter how gloomy the girls farewell scene, it became a salvation for the heroine – after all, it was then revealed that she had immunity. The idea that she was able to help the world gave Ellie strength – because for the first time she had the real meaning of living.

This is exactly Ellie we will meet at the beginning of The Last of Us – yes, who lost her first love, but still charged with the struggle for the future of mankind. During the trip, the player has a lot to learn about Ellie, and the most interesting of these facts seems to me that in my heart the girl remained a curious child, despite all the hardships she had endured: getting out of the city, she would begin to look around and be glad that she was facing a brave new world has opened.

She will steal comics and a pornographic magazine from Bill and, in a very comical scene, will confuse Joel with caustic comments about what she finds on the pages. Then he will ask to give her a gun – and by actions he will prove that she is really capable of fostering herself, but she will again prove herself to be a typical child through the stage: she will tell Joel that she is not tired and will immediately fall asleep in the back seat.

In the course of the story, Ellie will be revealed – not in a new light, but simply as a character. We learn more about her love of comics and pop culture, find out that she likes stupid jokes with word games. And we will also see a very brutal scene of the battle, during which Ellie will literally cut the opponent’s head, but even this stress will not affect her desire to save humanity.

At the entrance to Salt Lake City, the girl will say: “Everything that we went through … What I did … It cannot be in vain.” It is so important for her to justify her existence in this world, and it is this, Joel’s only real dream that she will take away from her. This injures the girl and destroys her relationship with her adoptive father forever.

For a while, Ellie will blindly believe in Joel’s lies, but not without reason the ending of the first part caused so much controversy: the laconic “Okay” girls in response to Joel’s words about what happened to the “Cycades” might not be sincere. And it seems that it is so: a few years later, Ellie will return to that hospital to find out the truth, and will not be ready for it. Forcing Joel to confess his deed, Ellie promises that he can never forgive him.

Between the ending of the first part and this dramatic scene, the years of Ally’s peaceful life in Jackson will pass, during which the girl will grow up and become a teenager. The episode with Joel, which Naughty Dog even put on the theater stage in 2014, will tell about this most clearly: he will come to talk with Ellie, but they will not be able to find a common language. The girl will be silent, and the protagonist of the first part will try to embarrass jokingly in order to slightly relieve tension in the air. There are speculations on the net that the scene is designed to show Ellie’s distrust of Joel, but I doubt it is – this attempt to dialogue is too much reminiscent of the interaction of teenagers with their parents.

Living in Jackson, not a quarantine zone, but a real friendly commune, will soften Ellie. She will begin to communicate with people, will participate in the life of the city, with the help of Joel, she will finally master the guitar and begin to write her music. But she will retain her love for superheroes and comics – the heroine will collect cards with them throughout the game.

It seems that Ellie will come to terms with the fact that the Universe does not have any ambitious plans for her, and will learn to appreciate the small joys of life. Fear of not finding your place in the world will be replaced by much more domestic unrest due to unrequited love or the fact that someone from the locals may think badly of her.

This will change after Joel’s death, which will again remind Ellie how cruel the world can be. The heroine of the second part will break before our eyes – and not at all overnight. Anger will flow gradually, and at the beginning of the journey, Ellie will be eager to eliminate opponents, but at the same time she will retain her creative nature – along the way she will paint landscapes in a notebook and add another song, but no one will hear it.

Ally will gradually fill the fury and eventually blind her – in one of the scenes, the girl, apparently, will break the head of one of the opponents and at that moment completely lose herself. After the heroine will only fall down, moving further away from Dina, Jesse, Joel and herself. At this moment, she will stop painting, and her songs will be filled with gloomy and cruel images.

Ellie deliberately went to death and therefore, finding herself on the brink, did not even ask to save her life. She entered only for Dina – Ellie was ready to sacrifice herself, although the universe refused to accept this gift. At the end of three days in Seattle, the heroine says goodbye to the city and goes to live on a farm – as if managing to stop her fall. But there she will find new discoveries about herself: even in such a peaceful environment, Ellie will continue to experience farewell to Joel over and over again – and this feeling, not even rage, but simply pain, will make Ellie give up her beloved and go on a second trip with the intention of killing Abby

In the final chapter, Ellie is no longer the grim reaper from the beginning of the game, but just a girl with a broken soul. She is obsessed with this pursuit, but not out of hatred, but because of the pain she hopes to appease with a victory over the enemy. In the end, Ellie rushes into the battle without saying a word, desperately trying to arouse in herself that hatred that had previously driven her forward – but she could not. And that is why it does not finish what has been started.

The problem is that it does not seem to give peace to her soul either. Letting go of Abby, Ally accepted the fact that she would continue to have to live with an unbearable burden on her heart. And if earlier she succeeded – with varying success – now the task will become much more difficult, because Ellie was left completely alone in this world.

In the final, Ellie goes into sunset, having lost all ties with this world: she did not have either Dina or Joel, and even her last gift – a guitar – the heroine had to leave, because in the decisive battle she lost the fingers that are needed for the game. Thus, Ellie was left completely alone – and in the original The Last of Us she admitted that this was her only fear.

This transformation of Ellie from a curious and life-loving girl into a twisted, broken girl from the ending of the second part is an amazing move for the scriptwriters. During the existence of the industry, we saw a lot of dramatic stories, but all of them, as a rule, took place within the framework of one part of the franchise. At Naughty Dog, however, it turned out to create a story of Ellie, combining a comic book and three separate games into one whole work, each part of which additionally reveals the others. One single dialogue from the original TLOU in a powerful way changes the ending of the sequel and puts an end to the story of a character who has been with us for seven years. It’s hardly possible to set zeros for such work, right?