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David was likely a child predator (the dialog and mannerisms leaned heavily toward this) and sexfiend, he probably became infatuated with women and kept them as sex slaves. Ellie was just his new target, considering her exceptional performance, he desired her.
- Overview
- Biography
- Personality and traits
- Skills and abilities
- Design and appearance
- Relationships
- Gameplay
- Behind the scenes
- Quotes
Ellie Williams is the central character of The Last of Us series.[fn 1] She serves as the protagonist of The Last of Us: American Dreams, the playable deuteragonist of The Last of Us, the playable protagonist of The Last of Us: Left Behind, the playable dual protagonist of The Last of Us Part II, and a playable character in the No Return mode.
Ellie grew up as an orphan in the Boston quarantine zone and attended a military preparatory school, where she met and befriended Riley Abel. When Ellie was fourteen, the pair were both infected with the Cordyceps brain infection, where Ellie discovered she was immune. A friend of her mother's and the leader of the Fireflies, Marlene, believed that she was the key to reverse engineering a vaccine. Marlene tasked Joel Miller, a smuggler, with escorting Ellie outside of the QZ. The simple drop-off turned into a year-long journey across America, and the two eventually formed a close bond.
Background and early life
Ellie Williams was born in the spring of 2019, by which time the Cordyceps brain infection had spread throughout the United States. Her mother was a nurse named Anna, although the identity of her father is unknown. On the day of her birth, her mother passed away. Before her death, Anna entrusted her closest friend Marlene to look after Ellie. However, Ellie did not meet Marlene until she was 13 years old. As a child, Ellie grew up as an orphan in an oppressive military quarantine zone in Boston, Massachusetts, with little knowledge of the world before infection. According to Ellie, at one point in her life, she drove a car, and used a BB rifle to shoot at rats.
Having been raised in an environment where modern standards and values have deteriorated, Ellie is considerably rash, foul-mouthed, impulsive, and temperamental, and is unfazed by the notion of using violence as a means to an end or profanity as a way of expressing how she feels. However, she manages to maintain a particular innocence as she has yet to see the darkest sides of human nature, and retains a palpable trust in people. This serves as the juxtaposition to Joel's wary, morose, and cynical outlook on post-pandemic life. She apologized to the soldier scanning her moments before stabbing him in the leg and hoped to incapacitate him and Ramirez with non-lethal means.
Ellie is also perceptibly clever and witty, and will do whatever it takes to keep Joel and herself alive. She has good survival instinct and she can be resourceful. She takes orders from Joel, but all the while makes it clear she does not "need any babysitting at all".
Ellie is enthusiastic about the outside world, given her confinement to her quarantine zone during her childhood. She is obsessed with things she collects from others, illustrated through her interest in music, movies, books, and video games. Ellie states that when she was a child, she had a coloring book, and thought the gnomes in it were cute, but fairies startled her. She frequently remarks her amusement upon finding interesting collectibles throughout her trip, which often clashes with Joel's physical indifference.
Ellie appears to be irreligious, as seen when she claims that she goes "back and forth" when asked by Sam if she believes in an afterlife. She says that she would like to believe it, but admits "I… guess not."
Ellie also suffers from a case of monophobia (fear of being alone) and states to Sam that she fears losing others she cares about such as Joel. She openly admits to Sam that "ending up alone" is what she fears most. Her phobia is reflected in how she has a habit of rubbing her nose and wringing her hands together, especially in situations that are stressful. The cause of this phobia stems from her estranged father, deceased mother, and the deaths of her best friend Riley and hired guardian Tess. Coincidentally, both were victims of the fungus and both had become infected while in her company. Soon after admitting her fear to Sam, he too, joins the list. This also links into her survivor's guilt she expresses to Joel when returning to Tommy's, where she expresses her guilt that they all died from the disease yet she continues to survive.
Ellie showed difficulties in positioning herself as a young kid in an adults' eyes, and sometimes even tends to "supervise" adults. She also takes "justice" into her own hands on her relationship with anyone, and does not think she requires any adults' consent. This self-parenting trait is related to her time spent in the orphanage at Boston, where she had learned to fend for herself. An example is when Joel falls on an iron rod. Though not shown, she takes Joel (by horse) to an abandoned mall in order to find supplies to stitch his wound up. Afterward, she takes him to an abandoned house on a sled attached to her horse and continues to nurse him back to health, while at the same time getting them food, and medicine from David.
In The Last of Us
Initially, Ellie is fairly unskilled in survival techniques. She cannot swim, a hindrance to herself since swimming is crucial, given the amount of water bodies in the locations she travels. She carries a switchblade, which is her only weapon until she is trusted with a gun by Joel. Her youth leads Joel to initially doubt her competence so he does not grant a firearm to Ellie until she saves him by shooting a hunter, and only afterwards does he teach her how to use a hunting rifle. Later on, she becomes more proficient in combat, sporting a number of weapons such as a pistol, rifle, bow, and explosives, along with her trademark switchblade. She can also ride a horse. Ellie is occasionally a playable character, much in the same way Joel is throughout the game. She is at first armed with a bow, which she uses well. Her stealth capabilities are similar to Joel's, and she even has a less-honed version of the listening mode that Joel has. Compared to Joel, however, she has limited hand-to-hand combat skills, as she struggles to defeat fully-grown men, having to rely on stunning them with a brick or bottle to gain an upper hand. She also lacks the strength to grapple human enemies and infected, meaning she is unable to use the former as a human shield. She is relatively inexperienced compared to Joel, as she is often surprised when alone and is easily snuck up upon; David remarks she is "easy to track", the man successfully strangling her unconscious despite her drawing her switchblade on him. She also struggled to defeat David in a fight, nearly strangled to death, only defeating him by using his own machete against him. Ellie is also an effective partner for Joel, able to spot and him about nearby enemies. She can also provide him with ammunition or health kits. She can also fight alongside him, attacking hostile survivors with her switchblade who grapple with Joel (both infected and human) and occasionally dazes the latter by throwing bricks and bottles at them to give Joel an advantage. She later assists in combat by shooting them as well when Joel trusts her with a gun. Given her light frame, Joel often lifts her up over high ledges and obstacles, where she can then obtain a nearby ladder so Joel can access the previously inaccessible areas.
In The Last of Us Part II
By April, 2038, Ellie has finally learned how to swim, play the acoustic guitar and sing. Ellie's main hobby is drawing, with her skillfully able to draw many points of interests and other people's faces in her journal and her room. Furthermore, she is a skilled artist. Her capabilities with firearms have greatly improved and she can handle a large variety of guns with ease. She is physically stronger, enabling her to use human enemies as shields and she can craft arrows, as well as use larger melee weapons such as machetes and hammers, which she can also disarm from her opponents though her preferred close range weapon is her switchblade. She is rather reliant on it, struggling to best Abby in hand-to-hand combat without the blade. However, her strength has limits and foes will break out of her grasp if she doesn't act quickly enough. While capable of overpowering normal sized individuals, it does take quite a bit of effort on Ellie's part to do so. Notably, both Nora and Nick were able to pin Ellie down at the Baldwin lodge and Nora successfully fought Ellie off at the Seattle hospital. Against infected foes, Ellie has a hard time escaping their grasp and several times has been overpowered by them despite her best efforts, notably needing Dina to intervene when a runner tackled her. Although, she was able to beat the stalker-enhanced Boris Legasov in melee combat. Her speed and agility has also greatly increased and is her best asset, easily able to outrun or chase down anyone pursuing or running away from her regardless of the terrain or environment by being able to slide or vault over obstacles with ease. Her reflexes have also improved quite drastically enabling her to swiftly dodge and evade deadly attacks with minimal effort on her part by just barely moving enough of her body out of the way of the attack. Her reflexes are swift enough to dodge multiple attacks at the same time from multiple attackers. Her years of battling the infected and bandits have made her far more resilient then most people due to her having sustained numerous injuries over the years. She is able to push herself beyond exhaustion and fight through simple cuts, blunt trauma and open wounds all the way up to being shot by arrow's and simply pulling the arrow out and continuing as if nothing happened or being slammed through a window and falling out of a building and landing in a river. Ellie's physical resilience was displayed at its peak in Santa Barbara when she was impaled on a broken tree branch, passing out and waking up several hours later. Despite the injury, she proceeded to fight off and kill two Rattler bandits then proceeded to the Rattler's base and killed many inside. Despite these improvements, Ellie struggles when facing against a physically superior opponent such as Abby, who was able to overpower and defeat her with brute strength. During their final confrontation, Ellie was able to best a severely weakened Abby, although Abby did bite off two of her fingers during the fight. As a result of the incident, Ellie's ability to properly play guitar has become impeded.
Immunity
Ellie's most important, and unique, ability is her complete immunity to the fungus. Due to a strange mutation in her brain that developed following her initial infection, she became immune to the bites and spores of the infected. Despite this infection, the infected do not recognize her as one of their own so they still attempt to kill her. It is presumed that if she was properly studied, some form of cure or countermeasure for the infection could be created. This is never clarified, however, since the study would result in her death, which Joel did not allow. Ellie also mentioned that neither the infection and immunity can be transferred to others though.
Ellie is described as having auburn hair and being 5 feet 3 inches (160.02cm) by a deceased Firefly. However, her official height description in outside materials lists her height as 5 feet 5 inches (165cm). Ellie has bright green eyes, fair skin with freckles, a scar bisecting her right eyebrow, a thin stature, and tends to wear red colored clothes. When asked in an interview about her eyebrow scar, Neil Druckmann states that there is a story behind her scar, but says that he won't share the story yet. She gained the scar before American Dreams, Left Behind, and The Last of Us took place. At the end of The Last of Us (or as a pre-order bonus), different clothing options for Ellie can be unlocked.
Several years after the events of The Last of Us, Ellie's hair became darker and she now sports a tattoo on her right arm.[fn 7] Her jawline is now more refined and she has become taller in appearance. Her voice is also deeper as well. She also often wears blue colored clothing rather than her usual red.
It was revealed in the Truck Ambush cinematic commentary that Ellie had been redesigned to bear a greater resemblance to Ashley Johnson in appearance and personality.
Ellie used to bear a striking resemblance to Canadian actor Elliot Page, who stars in another PlayStation exclusive game, Beyond: Two Souls (released roughly four months after The Last of Us), but had her appearance altered as an attempt by Naughty Dog to better portray her age and actual actress. Neil Druckmann, the game's creative director, spoke of the change, saying "after delving further into the game's narrative over the past few months, we decided to modify Ellie's model to better reflect Ashley's personality, and also resemble a slightly younger teen more fitting to the story. We're happy with the final result shown in the cinematic we have released today, and we hope the fans like her too."
Joel
Ellie and Joel initially have a rocky relationship. Ellie struggled to make him trust her, as Joel believed that she was lying about being immune to the infection. She was unable to talk about anything personal with him, as Joel would shut her out when she attempted to make general conversation or brought up emotional matters like Tess and Sam's deaths. However, as time passed, Ellie establishes not only a daughter-father relationship, but a bond of protection with Joel. Ellie struggled to make Joel trust her initially. The man kept himself distant from her, refusing to disclose personal information about himself. Even after Tess' death, Joel kept conversation focused only around transporting Ellie to the Fireflies despite her efforts to discuss more personal topics, notably her own history and Joel's own interests. Ellie also struggled to earn his trust to use a gun. At first, Joel refused her the right to a firearm, judging her a child incapable of using one. However, after she used a handgun to save his life from a hunter, Joel granted her a rifle to use. Ellie also managed to convince him to then permanently gift her a pistol. Ellie even proved herself enough that Joel spent less time in combat with enemies focussing on protection and more so having her assist him in defeating them. Her prime example of this prowess was when the protection roles were reversed with Ellie protecting and defending Joel at the University from cannibals. Through this experience, Ellie earned Joel's absolute trust, the man finally acknowledging her as an equal. One of the strongest aspects of the pair's relationship is Ellie's fear that she may lose Joel, like she lost Riley, Tess and Sam to the world they live in. She fears being alone again, making their bond precious to her, remarking that losing Joel would "make [her] more scared", fearful she would always lose people she was close to. Furthering this, Ellie feared Joel would abandon her like in Pittsburgh; she was unable to wait by herself for him in case he "got in to trouble". It is also on display when the two first arrive at Tommy's dam and Ellie is shown to be extremely uncomfortable leaving Joel and going with Maria. This fear, however, dissolves after Joel changes his mind and commits to her while they overlook Jackson, following their argument at the ranch house. After this encounter, Ellie trusts that Joel will not leave her, evidenced in how she waits with Callus while Joel searches the University. When Joel considers leaving Ellie in Tommy's care, Ellie is disappointed with Joel. However, when the parting moment finally comes, Joel is unable to part without Ellie. At one point, Joel states he is going to teach Ellie how to play the guitar and how to swim. When Ellie finally began whistling he responded to this event saying in a sarcastic joking tone "Oh good, something else you can annoy me with." Ellie also cares greatly for Joel, displayed in how she cares for him while he is injured, just as he has cared for and sheltered her throughout their story. This demonstrates that Ellie is willing to do everything she can to keep him alive, even if that means risking her own life in the process. Although at first Joel doesn't want Ellie to mention Sarah, saying, "you [Ellie] are treading on some mighty thin ice here," Joel warms up to Ellie considerably. Ellie initially struggled to make him mention Sarah or even get him to confess he had a daughter, having to find out of her own volition. Eventually, Ellie finally manages to discuss Joel's past with him, even Sarah. It culminates when Ellie gives Joel the picture of Joel and Sarah, Joel doesn't give it back, like he did when Tommy tried to give him the picture. In the final moments of the game, Joel makes several comparisons between Ellie and Sarah, even calling Ellie "baby girl", and believing that the girls would have been good friends. As such, Ellie becomes precious to Joel, the man using any means possible to protect her and keep her safe. He tortures two of David’s men to find out where Ellie is being kept, going so far as to kill them after gaining the information he needed. Whether being selfish, or not wanting to lose another 'daughter' to the whim of another, Joel chose to save Ellie and try and start some semblance of a normal life again. Therefore, Joel grows controlling towards Ellie, unwilling to let her decide her own fate. This creates a small rift in their relationship with Ellie doubting Joel's claims that the Fireflies have "stopped looking for a cure". Weeks later at Tommy's community, however, the relationship recovers with the two bonding once more when Joel plays a song for her and gifts her a guitar, keeping his promise to teach her how to play. A few years later, Ellie eventually forces Joel to tell her the truth of the hospital by threatening to leave, to which he reluctantly does. Ellie is distraught over the revelation that a cure was possible but Joel stopped it by massacring everyone in the hospital, causing her to declare that she and Joel "are done." Ellie returns to Jackson but keeps her distance from him. Despite the revelation, Ellie still deeply loved Joel and eventually wanted to try and forgive him for what he did in the hospital. Upon learning Tommy and Joel never checked in, she went out looking for them. When forced to watch Abby beat Joel to death, Ellie begged for Joel to fight back but he was unable to do so. After he was killed, Ellie became emotionally broken. She was filled with guilt for not mending their relationship sooner and swore to murder Abby and her friends to avenge Joel. When finally getting the opportunity for revenge, Ellie ends up sparing Abby after recalling her final conversation with Joel, where she told him she wanted to work on trying to forgive him which implies Ellie at that point understood why Joel saved her.
Riley Abel
Riley Abel is the first to befriend and trust Ellie after her arrival to the Boston military zone. The two eventually develop romantic feelings towards each other and share an intimate relationship. However, their relationship starts off roughly; though Ellie was grateful for Riley's assistance when she is ganged up on by bullies, she is not appreciative of Riley's stealing her Walkman and nor constantly referring to her as a "kid". However, when the two choose to escape the zone together, Ellie and Riley open up to each other. Riley reveals her desires of a future beyond the zone with the Fireflies. Riley's bravado emboldens Ellie on their short journey outside the zone, so much so that she is willing to risk her own life to save her in any given situation. This is partially the cause for Ellie's sadness and confusion when Riley leaves without notice to join the Fireflies. When Riley finally returns to Ellie after forty-six days, Ellie is somewhat upset with Riley over the extended absence, which caused Ellie to believe that Riley was dead. However, Riley tries to make it up to Ellie by taking her exploring through a mall early in the morning. Over the course of the excursion, the two begin to rekindle their friendship. When Riley tells Ellie that Marlene is having her sent to a group of Fireflies in another city, Ellie tells her friend that she should go and follow what she's always wanted to do. Though, as their time together progresses, Ellie's feelings for Riley grow stronger; she eventually pleads Riley to stay with her, the pair even sharing a spontaneous kiss. When their hopes of escape are dashed, Ellie continues to support Riley's beliefs even though her friend has lost hope herself. Riley's resulting death from Cordyceps infection affected Ellie deeply, motivating her to put her immunity to good use. Even a year on from her death, Ellie still kept Riley's Firefly pendant with her, displaying deep faith in wanting to redeem what occurred to her friend.
Dina
Dina and Ellie are close friends for a long time, both having mutual crushes on each other, yet never admitting it. Eventually, during the dance, Dina - having recently broken up with Jesse for good - decides to kiss Ellie, who responds in kind. The next day, the pair are partnered up for their patrol and consummate their relationship at Eugene Linden's hideout. Dina insisted on joining Ellie's journey to Seattle in the latter's pursuit of vengeance against Joel's murderers, displaying high loyalty to her. At some point between Jackson and Seattle, Dina discovers that she is pregnant with JJ. When the two reach Seattle, both their secrets come to light: Ellie learns of Dina's pregnancy, while Dina learned of Ellie's immunity to Cordyceps. Her pregnancy puts a temporary dent in their relationship as Ellie is angered and hurt that Dina would willingly put herself in harm's way, in addition to believing that she would be a burden in Ellie's hunt for Abby. However, after killing Nora, Ellie expressed that she did not want to lose Dina, indicating that their relationship remained strong. Their love for each other was further strengthened after their departure from Seattle when they moved into their farm with JJ. Their happiness was short-lived, however, when Tommy paid a visit to the farm, demanding Ellie honor her promise to kill Abby. Dina argued with Ellie against it, but Ellie was resolute in her desire for revenge. Staying true to her word, Dina took JJ and left the farm, leaving Ellie to return home to discover the place abandoned. Although Ellie did not wear Dina's bracelet while traveling alone, she was wearing it when she returned to the farm several months later.
In the first game, Ellie can be quite helpful to Joel in many situations. Whenever discretion is needed Ellie will never compromise the player's position; she will stay out of sight and keep quiet while keeping up with Joel. Also, she can assist Joel in combat by calling out enemy positions depending on their location in association to Joel's. For example, she will say "to your left!" if an enemy is to the left of Joel. On rare occasions, she may give the player ammunition or a health kit.
If the enemy is behind something and Ellie is able to see them they will be outlined in red, showing their location through walls and such. This is similar to Joel's listening mode. She can also help to attack the enemy by throwing objects to stun them, giving Joel opportunities to attack. Depending on the situation, Ellie will need assistance from Joel if she is unable to wrestle herself free from an attack. There are certain scripted events in which Ellie can be killed if the player does not reach her in time. Ellie will also sometimes stab an enemy in the back with her switchblade if the enemy is strangling Joel, thus allowing Joel to break free.
After killing a Hunter that was trying to drown Joel, she begins to take a more active role in combat, particularly helping Joel to kill them by shooting them herself or by stabbing enemies who are grappling Joel.
There are many times when the player can't access certain areas that are either too high or the space to reach them is too small. Ellie can assist in these scenarios; given her light frame, Joel will usually lift her up on his shoulders and boost her up so she can reach a ladder or open a locked door. As an NPC, she is also invisible to enemy AI, meaning she can't accidentally reveal Joel's position. Further, if the player stands idle or wastes ammunition and supplies during non-combat moments, Ellie will comment on the actions. She also has a unique death animation when killed by Bloaters, whom kill her with a hook-punch to the head rather than crushing her head.
•When constructing the story within The Last of Us, creative director Neil Druckmann intended for Ellie to remain the focus throughout, even though Joel is the game's protagonist. Druckmann desired the story to act as Ellie's "coming of age" story, with her actions and influence in the story and Joel's character growing as the story progressed. The game's story would evolve both characters, namely Joel's humanity and Ellie's independence.[fn 1] There was even a plan to have Ellie be the one to kill Tess (then the game's primary antagonist) to demonstrate her having evolved into the protector role that Joel was for her.
•Key to Ellie's role is the cyclical course the game takes, notably in Joel's actions to save her in the game's ending despite initially not wanting anything to do with her in the opening act. The ending is therefore the beginning reversed, with key themes reflected in Ellie's similarity to Joel's daughter Sarah. In the prologue, Joel and Sarah start off at home, and then use the car to escape the infected, which eventually crashes, forcing Joel to carry Sarah, who is eventually shot by the soldier. Sarah then dies in Joel's arms. Near the end of the game, an unconscious Ellie (reminiscent of the dying Sarah) is carried by Joel out of the hospital away from humans and into a car. The duo then drives 'home', home being Tommy's settlement. Further, when completing the game's main story, in the background of the main menu the player will see Ellie's switchblade lying against the window, displaying this fixation on Ellie rather than Joel. Druckmann also intended for the opening shot to begin with Sarah, and the ending shot to end with Ellie. These similarities continued in Left Behind, which also ended with a shot of Ellie's face, signifying how the series had shifted focus from Joel entirely towards Ellie, which was also displayed in American Dreams and would continue in Part II.
American Dreams
Ellie: Winston: [mumbling] Ellie: Ellie: Riley: Ellie: [aims gun at Marlene] Marlene: [shoots at wall beside her] Marlene: Ellie: Riley: "Stop. [sobbing quietly]
Left Behind
Ellie: Riley: Ellie: Riley: Ellie: Ellie: Ellie: Riley: Ellie: Ellie: Riley: Riley: [taking Ellie's Walkman] Ellie: Riley: Ellie: Ellie:
The Last of Us
Ellie: Ellie: [looking outside the QZ] Ellie: Ellie: Sam: Ellie: Ellie: Ellie: Joel: Ellie: Ellie: Ellie: Ellie: Joel: Ellie:
Mar 3, 2021 · Ellie is a character in The Last of Us that many fans relate to, but some of her best qualities can be overshadowed by faults that seem irredeemable.
Initially, David planned to groom Ellie. That was his goal up until she broke his finger. In that moment, she proved to him that he couldn't get to her. His next plan was to kill her and use her body as food. When she escaped and eventually got to the restaurant, David still planned to kill her.
6 days ago · Ellie Origin and Meaning. The name Ellie is a girl's name of English origin meaning "bright shining one". Ellie first took off in the UK—yes, in this nickname form—and this warm and friendly name has also become hugely popular here.
It’s an ultimate betrayal of trust and safety in a relationship - how can she trust Ellie not to do something like this again? Ellie left Dina alone in the middle of nowhere with no warning - they have to basically hunt and gather to survive out there and now Dina has to do that alone and forego her dream of living on the farm.
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Like Homer and the others, the character of Ellie proves that young people are capable of profound change and maturity, especially in times of hardship and stress. Ellie is brave, and she even kills to protect herself and her friends, though this results in a deep moral struggle.
