The Last of Us Part II (Part 3 of 3): Ellie

SPOILERS AHEAD! I mean, come on guys, it’s part three, if you’re here without reading the last two parts you are gonna be SO confused.

So many people were disappointed by the last act of the game, where Ellie leaves Dina to go after Abby one more time. Many people ask why. Why would Ellie go on another quest for revenge after giving up? The answer, I thought, was already explained. Ellie is plagued by her PTSD. She can’t stop seeing Joel. She can’t stop having nightmares.

“I don’t sleep… I don’t eat.” That is what Ellie says. It’s not about revenge anymore when she goes after Abby this last time. It’s about trying to get relief, trying to cope with her PTSD, and trying to heal herself by killing Abby. All she has left is this thought that maybe, just maybe, if she kills Abby she can move on. Remember who else was plagued by nightmares they wanted to relieve?

We go to Santa Barbara, and this is another point where people were upset or confused. Supposedly scarred by what she did, how could Ellie just go on another killing spree just to end up doing what she does at the end? Well, the answer is that these new enemies, The Rattlers, are not like the WLF or The Seraphites. The first encounter with them is what I’m assuming was their leader and his cohort spotting Ellie in one of their traps. If Ellie doesn’t kill these people, they will either kill or enslave her. Ellie, though somewhat accidentally, releases the prisoners they hold hostage. This is another example of how this game isn’t painting Ellie as bad. Abby, I don’t believe, would have cared about the prisoners. I truly believe if they had not let themselves out, Ellie would have released them after getting the info on Abby, but I suppose that boils down to personal opinion. Regardless, there is a more heroic vibe here than there was when Ellie killed the WLF and Seraphites. Almost an Uncharted vibe, even.

This is where we reach the ending, the part that really angered fans. Ellie finds Abby held up on a post, almost crucified. She cuts Abby down, who then cuts Lev down. Abby leads Ellie to boats that lead away from the island, and at first, it seems like Ellie is going to let Abby go. She sees Abby, broken and tortured for months at this point. She sees how Abby goes straight for Lev, just as Joel would have Ellie. But when Ellie looks down at the blood on her hand, she sees Joel’s face again, and she has to do this. She has to kill her, or she will never be able to move on.

Ellie turns and challenges Abby, much to Abby’s refusal. Ellie then does something we would never expect from her. Desperate to be free from her torment, she points a knife at Lev and says that Abby made him a part of this. Ellie is dangerously close to reaching the edge, to reaching where Abby went when she went after Joel. This is a line that Ellie would never have crossed. This is what trauma can do to a person. This is what trauma did to Abby. This is where it really clicked for me. The realization that Abby did what she did because she was as traumatized and tortured by her life being turned upside down as Ellie is now. Does threatening Lev make Ellie bad? Is this Naughty Dog trying to paint Ellie as this horrible person? No, because again… it’s tragic. To see Ellie so tormented by PTSD that she would threaten a teenager to fight Abby. Besides, let’s be honest here. Ellie wouldn’t have actually killed or harmed Lev. It was a bluff, and it worked. Ellie and Abby fight for one last time, and it’s gruesome.

After losing two fingers, Ellie finally gets a hold of Abby and begins to drown her. But it doesn’t feel victorious. It doesn’t feel right. It feels like Ellie is about to cross a line she can’t return from. The cycle is about to start all over.

It’s then that Ellie sees Joel, or a flashback of Joel, playing his guitar. She realizes something, then stops and lets Abby go. We are then left with a beautifully bittersweet image of Ellie alone in the water, fog all around her, with Gustavo’s masterful soundtrack playing in the background.

She doesn’t forgive Abby. She doesn’t like Abby. Neither do I. But she is willing to forgive her, to let go of her anger towards her. Not for Abby’s sake, but for her own. I was terrified for Ellie’s humanity when she began drowning Abby. I worried for what would happen to her. Would she become cold like Joel? Empty like Abby? But she didn’t. Ellie was the only person in this story that could truly break the cycle of revenge. Something that Joel could never have done. Something that Abby was unable to do. No, the game doesn’t depict Ellie as the villain. If Naughty Dog truly wanted to depict Ellie as bad in this game, they would have let her kill Abby. They would have let her lose her humanity and become someone we don’t even recognize anymore. Like I said, The Last Of Us is a world of apathetic people, but Ellie is different.

It is here where I realized that there are no heroes or villains in this game. It’s not black and white like that. But Ellie did do something in this cold and cruel world that no one else seems to be able to commit to. She forgave. I think it’s a beautiful message. There is a reason why this game is divisive. It is because in this world today, forgiveness is being forgotten. It’s dog eat dog, and we only want to fend for ourselves. We attack those with a different opinion, positive or negative. We don’t want to forgive, forgetting that forgiveness is not for the person that wronged you. It is for you. It is so you can move on and bring something better into the world rather than contribute to the cycle of revenge. That is what Ellie does. To reiterate, this entire game is through Ellie’s eyes, and just like we were supposed to feel hatred and anger with her, we are also supposed to feel forgiveness and acceptance with her. Those that do not are understandably disappointed with the disconnection of her choice to spare Abby… but is that really the game’s fault?

The final point of contention in this game is that Ellie supposedly loses everything, while Abby gains everything. I don’t believe this is true. Abby loses her father, a cure for mankind, the fireflies, her relationships, her friends, her happiness, and worst of all, her humanity. Thankfully, she does regain some shred of humanity, and she now has one person she can live for. Lev. There is another group of fireflies she can go to. Abby only gets these things when she changes, when she rejects the hate filled person that she was. Abby’s revenge rid her of everything she had left, and Lev gave her a chance to start over. To change who she was and move on.

Ellie lost Joel, Jessie, her ability to play the guitar, Dina, and JJ, Dina’s baby. She lost a lot on the path for revenge, and she would have lost just as much as Abby if she had made Abby’s mistake of going through with the revenge. When she spares Abby, she spares her own humanity, and she spares herself of losing even more than she already has. And what is the result of her giving up on revenge? She gains Dina back. Yep, you heard right. When she returns to the farmhouse, she has Dina’s bracelet on (she didn’t when she went to Santa Barbara), and she has no weapons on her person. The theory circulating the internet is that Ellie has already made up with Dina. So no, Ellie did not lose everything, and she did not lose more than Abby, but she also did not give into the revenge like Abby did. That is the difference. That is the message. Revenge drains you of everything, and forgiveness gives some of it back.

This story puts you through the stages of grief. Just as it puts Ellie through the stages of grief. Still, this game is always in Ellie’s perspective. Once Ellie has forgiven Abby, and once I went back and looked at Abby’s story again, I didn’t hate her anymore… I still hated what she did, but I understood why she did it and how she turned around and became something better. Just like Ellie, I think I can try to forgive Abby, just as Ellie does. Because despite what she did, she somehow managed to get her humanity back, and she somehow managed to rebuild the pieces of her life that she threw away so willingly. You don’t have to like Abby, and even after Ellie’s forgiveness, and my forgiveness, I still hold some form of contempt for what she did to Joel. But the Abby Ellie spares is not the same Abby. I understand that now.

The final argument I’ve seen against this game is that it’s all for nothing. Ellie’s revenge is for nothing, and this story could have never happened and nothing would have changed. This is a fair argument, but I think those that make it forget that The Last Of Us Part I was also for nothing. Joel and Ellie travel across the country, losing everyone they meet, killing hundreds of people, just so they can reach the fireflies and find a cure. But when we reach the end and find out Ellie is going to be killed to create the cure, Joel saves her, killing dozens of fireflies on the way. In the end… it was all for nothing. Their entire journey to find a cure… for nothing. But that doesn’t make the story of Part I bad, just like it doesn’t make the story of Part II bad. It’s just keeping the same theme that the first game did. Not the perfect game, but the perfect sequel.

I see so many people giving this game a 0/10. Most of the official reviewers that hated the game give it around a 6/10, 7/10, etc. I feel like a seven or above is fair enough, but I personally disagree with anything lower.

Nier had terrible gameplay, but an amazing story, and it gets praise.

MGSV was constantly ripped on for its story, but the gameplay was incredible, and it was scored highly.

Red Dead Redemption 2 was criticized for its slow beginning, but it was rated highly.

Do you see a pattern here? The Last of Us Part II has an amazing story in my opinion. But that’s just my opinion. I completely understand and respect that someone could not like this story, especially if they were expecting another Joel and Ellie story. But besides the story, the gameplay is smooth and refreshed from the first game. You feel like a predator hunting prey, similar to Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The voice acting is incredible, on par if not better than the first game. The music is melancholy and depressing, but with subtle notes of hope mixed in, perfectly conveying the light Ellie has inside of her despite the darkness she holds. The graphics are beautiful. The animation is incredible. The dialogue is well written and believable. The characters are lovable, at least in Ellie’s story.

The biggest and only complaint about the game that a lot of people have is the story, and that’s it. So why the 6/10? The 0/10? I think the leaks contributed to this as well. Many people decided they hated the game before they played it. They can’t look past the story and see the gameplay, VA, the music, because they came into the game with a negative mindset. It’s hard to look at the positives of something when you hate it. The only thing they praise is the graphics because even when you hate something, you can’t deny if it’s beautiful to look at.

It’s kind of funny when you think about it. I hated Abby and refused to look at any of her positive attributes other than her sheer muscle mass. Yet once the anger died down and I forgave her, or began my journey to forgiving her, I began to see her as a person. I loved her humor, her treatment of Lev and Yara, her fear of heights. I believe once the hate mob for this game dies down, it will be remembered as the perfect sequel that it is. Those that hate the game can only look positively at the graphics for now. If that anger ever dies down, I believe they will see the many positive qualities this game truly holds. Only time can tell.

I can’t speak for everyone here. Surely there were people who didn’t see the leaks and still didn’t like the story. But to say the game is awful or give it a terribly low rating when only one aspect is bad seems unfair compared to all of the other highly rated games with the same issue.

If you hate these points of controversy in the game, I hope I’ve at least provided some clarity as to why the other side of the fanbase loves the story. And if you love these points, I hope I’ve confirmed why you like them.

Do you agree with me? Do you disagree? Let me know. Write a comment. I want this to be an area of discussion. I want to see what your thoughts are on these same points in the story, and why you didn’t like them. Thanks for sticking with me through this three part adventure, and I’ll see you later.