Why does ellie need to be smuggled

Dina notices Ellie's cracked mask and attempts to give her own mask to Ellie but Ellie stops her from doing so. Ellie then removes her mask, revealing that she is immune as she does not cough or succumb to the infection.

Before she can explain, a horde of Infected charge at the pair, forcing them to flee to the upper levels. They make it out alive but Dina grows weak and collapses to the ground. Ellie picks her up and helps walk her to a nearby movie theater. While resting in the theater, Ellie explains that her story about being immune to the Cordyceps fungus was true. She asks Dina to say something but Dina reveals that she is pregnant. Angered that Dina kept it a secret for a long time, Ellie decides to let her rest while she ensures the theater is safe.

Eventually, she finds a radio and turns the power on to listen in on WLF conversations. However, she cannot figure out how to find the right frequency, so uses a set of keys to enter the show room. While there, Ellie finds an acoustic guitar backstage and takes it to play and sings Future Days by Pearl Jam.

The next day, Ellie finds Dina in the radio room vomiting, brought on by morning sickness. To comfort Dina, Ellie rubs her back. Dina also reveals the WLF classify the areas in Seattle by numbers. A transmission then comes through stating a lone male trespasser was spotted at "fourteen", an area Dina deduces is Hillcrest.

Suspecting the trespasser might be Tommy, Ellie decides to go there to help him. Though Dina wants to join her, Ellie insists she stays given that she is physically weakened because of her pregnancy.

Before letting Ellie depart, Dina takes off her hamsa bracelet and ties it on Ellie's wrist, telling her it is for good luck. Although she does not believe in luck, Ellie accepts it and kisses Dina before heading out to Hillcrest.

Ellie reaches the abandoned suburb of Hillcrest. Hearing an explosion and gunfire to the north, she hurries to find Tommy. She sneaks her way through abandoned shops until she reaches the residential neighborhood. When exploring one of the houses, a Stalker ambushes her but she kills it, taking the bow on its back for herself. She sneaks through the neighborhood behind the house, but WLF reinforcements show up in response to an ongoing situation further down the hill.

They spot her and chase her towards the source of the explosion. As she jumps from a window down onto the ground, a man grabs her from behind and pulls her into a house. Jesse reveals that he came by himself to help Ellie, but was ambushed by the WLF on his way there. He and Ellie agree to take out the patrolling WLF and steal one of their trucks to escape from Hillcrest. As they do so, more WLF soldiers are alerted to their presence, and a squad gives chase in a truck.

Ellie shoots the driver, resulting in both trucks crashing. Ellie and Jesse's truck still functions, but the noise of the crash alerts a horde of Infected. They drive away to escape the Infected, but a Clicker climbs onto the hood of the truck. Ellie kills the Clicker, but Jesse loses control of the truck and crashes into a lake.

The two swim out of the sinking vehicle and up to the surface. Having escaped the WLF patrol, they return to the theater where Dina is waiting for them. Dina embraces Jesse and questions him about how and why he was in Seattle. Ellie, reserved, goes upstairs to treat her injuries alone. As Ellie stitches up a gash on her arm, Dina comes in and offers to help her. Ellie asks Dina why she did not tell Jesse about the pregnancy, but Dina responds that it was not the right time. Having a lead on finding Abby, Ellie decides to leave immediately to find Nora.

Dina initially protests that Ellie should wait until Jesse can go with her, but Ellie is determined to go lest they lose the lead. Ellie follows Route 5, traveling through abandoned streets until she reaches high enough ground to see how far she is from the hospital.

Drawing the hospital logo in her journal, she cuts through a newspaper office that is infested with Stalkers. Just as Ellie leaves the offices, a Stalker ambushes her and pushes her through a window, causing them to fall into the waters below and be carried downstream towards the sewers.

Ellie survives the attack, climbs out of the sewers and into a train station. After climbing up some stairs back onto the street, Ellie checks a map, seeing that she is quite close to the hospital. Ellie proceeds to run through an overgrown park, but is soon shot in the shoulder with an arrow.

She realizes Seraphites patrol the park, as well as a few nearby areas. Ellie pulls the arrow from her shoulder and sneaks through and kills the Seraphites. Following this, she makes her way through flooded city streets, eventually reaching the hospital. She swims into the boiler room and interrogates a distracted WLF Soldier for Nora's whereabouts before killing her.

Ellie sneaks into the hospital compound and finds Nora in her office. Ellie holds her at gunpoint and demands information on Abby's location.

Nora, recognizing Ellie from Jackson, taunts her about Joel's death then strikes her in an effort to flee. Ellie catches up to Nora when she becomes trapped, as the floor in front of her is collapsed and the lower level filled with spores. Nora pleads Ellie to reconsider, but Ellie takes her hostage and orders the WLF soldiers to stay back as they reach the pair.

The soldiers tell Ellie she does not have anywhere to go, but Ellie opts to fall into the floor behind her with Nora. Nora, choked by spores, runs for safety as Ellie takes cover from the soldiers and Clickers infesting the lower floor. After dealing with the soldiers and Infected, Ellie follows Nora's coughing and corners her in a corridor.

Nora tries to defend herself from Ellie with a pipe, but she is too weak to fight, and Ellie catches the pipe and hits her with it. Ellie continues her previous interrogation. Nora notices Ellie is breathing normally despite the spores, and realizes she is the girl with immunity to the CBI.

Ellie, in turn, realizes that Nora is a Firefly, to which Nora responds that the Fireflies disbanded. Ellie asks Nora for Abby's whereabouts again, offering the ultimatum of a swift death if Nora complies, or a much more painful and drawn-out one if she defies her.

Nora begs Ellie to think about the consequences of Joel's actions, but Ellie does not care and gives Nora one last chance. Nora remains loyal to Abby and refuses to give her up. Furious and impatient, Ellie brutally beats Nora with the pipe for answers. Eventually, Nora caves in and tells Ellie that Abby is hiding at the aquarium, as well as the motives for Joel's murder.

Ellie executes her soon after. Ellie returns to the theater, traumatized and covered in blood. Dina and Jesse open the door, and are concerned for her. She tells them about Abby's whereabouts, still shaken from what she did to Nora. Dina takes Ellie to the theater dressing room to calm her down and tend to her wounds. Ellie breaks down and tells Dina about her interrogation of Nora, still in shock. Ellie also tells Dina that she does not want to lose her, while Dina consoles and comforts her.

Ellie wakes up the next day and leaves the dressing room. She finds Jesse watching Dina sleep on a couch in the lobby. Ellie goes upstairs with Jesse to talk privately. Jesse tells her that Dina could barely keep water down, and asks if she is pregnant.

Ellie confirms that she is. Jesse tells Ellie that, while he understands why Ellie came to Seattle, it is not safe for Dina. Ellie agrees, but is unwilling to return to Jackson without Tommy. The pair agree to stake out the aquarium, believing Tommy will eventually go there after Abby.

Ellie wakes Dina up so she can see them out and lock the theater doors. Ellie and Jesse head west from the theater, through collapsed, flooded streets in search Tommy and Abby. On the way, Ellie explains why Abby's group killed Joel, in vague terms to avoid revealing her immunity. She also explains why Dina did not tell him about the pregnancy, and and describes her and Dina's first two days in Seattle. Jessie asks Ellie if she will really leave Seattle once they find Tommy, even if it means leaving some of Abby's friends alive.

Ellie confirms that she will, as Dina needs care in Jackson. Eventually, they reach high enough ground to see how far they are from the aquarium, but they find that the streets below are flooded for miles.

They realize they need to steal a boat from the WLF to reach the aquarium. The two sneak down into a flooded shopping mall, but overhear that a sniper was sighted near the marina, over the WLF's radio communications.

After climbing up into a shop for cover, Jesse is now convinced that Tommy is the sniper at the marina, could be in danger, and they should go to help him. However, Ellie is adamant about stealing a boat and going after Abby at the aquarium, insisting Tommy can look after himself. Ellie navigates the flooded streets as a thunderstorm rises. She steers the boat through rapids and skirmishes between the WLF and Seraphites, eventually reaching an abandoned arcade she has to cut through before reaching the aquarium.

Ellie's path is blocked by a security gate, and the chain for the gate is obstructed by a metal beam. Ellie searches the arcade and finds a cart she can use to climb through an opening above a locked door. The weight of the trolley causes the rotting floor underneath her to break, falling into the floor below and disturbing a Bloater and several Runners. Ellie kills the Infected and proceeds to move the beam away from the chain. She then opens the gate and continues on to the aquarium by boat.

Before she reaches the aquarium, the boat's engine stalls and the waves sweep Ellie into the waters below. She resurfaces and swims the final stretch to the aquarium. Upon swimming to shore, Ellie breaks into the aquarium. While walking around, she finds an open vent and crawls through the ventilation shaft, until it ends up breaking and sending Ellie falling down onto the floor. The sound alerts a guard dog to Ellie's location, which then pounces on Ellie and tries to kill her, but Ellie stabs and kicks the dog off, killing it.

Ellie continues on and finds Owen Moore 's belongings. As Ellie moves towards the aquarium lobby, she overhears and walks in on Owen arguing with Mel. As Mel is about to leave the lobby, upset with Owen, Ellie draws her gun and orders the pair to put their hands up. She demands Abby's whereabouts from them. They initially refuse to cooperate, but Ellie takes out her map and demands Mel to mark her map first.

Growing impatient, Ellie moves closer to Mel, causing Owen to attempt to wrestle the gun from Ellie's hands, but Ellie shoots him through his chest. Mel draws her knife, and wrestles Ellie against a counter to stab her in the throat but Ellie parries the knife, pushes Mel to the floor and stabs her in the throat, killing her.

Seeing that Owen is still alive, she barks for Abby's location from him, but Owen gurgles Mel is pregnant, as he drowns in his own blood. Returning to her senses, Ellie paces over to Mel, unzips her jacket and sees Mel is heavily pregnant. Horrified by her actions, Ellie's hearing goes out as she collapses to her knees in a panic attack. In the midst of her panic attack, a man shows up from behind her calling her name. Alarmed, she turns around and points her gun at the man, but stands down when she sees that Tommy has arrived with Jesse.

Tommy takes Ellie by the arm and calms her down, leading her and Jesse from the aquarium and back to the theater. Ellie's map is left behind in Owen's blood. Later on in the night, Ellie lies beside and watches over Dina as she sleeps in the theater dressing room.

She then gets up and finds Jesse and Tommy on the stage, discussing the quickest route home to Jackson. Tommy tells Ellie that Abby's friends got what they deserved. While Ellie is dissatisfied with having to let Abby go, she agrees to doing so. Tommy also mentions that he collected a gold necklace for Maria as an apology gift for worrying her.

Whilst Jesse doubts its authenticity, Tommy heads into the theater lobby to marvel over the necklace. Ellie and Jesse spend a moment alone to talk with each other, with Ellie thanking Jesse for coming back and looking out for her. Before the pair can continue speaking however, they hear someone attacking Tommy. Alerted, they run to Tommy, but as they burst through the doors to the lobby, the intruder shoots Jesse in the face, killing him, leaving Ellie shocked. The intruder is Abby Anderson , with a young boy named Lev as backup.

Abby orders Ellie to stand back up, while threatening Tommy's life. Despite Tommy's protests, Ellie exits cover and tosses her gun aside upon Abby's orders. Ellie tells Abby that she knows she killed Joel to avenge the Fireflies, and begs her to let Tommy go. Enraged with what Ellie and Tommy did to her friends after she spared them in Jackson, Abby prepares to shoot Ellie. Ellie seizes the chance to grab Jesse's gun and escape into the theater, with Abby giving chase while Lev watches the exits.

Once both are backstage, Abby and Ellie brawl, eventually fighting in the basement. Although Ellie manages to stab Abby's thigh, Abby gains the upper hand, breaking Ellie's arm before beating her within inches of her life.

At that moment, Dina charges at Abby with a knife. She knocks Abby away from Ellie and slashes her arms and face. Lev shoots Dina through the shoulder, allowing Abby to bash her head into the floor, knocking her unconscious.

Seeing this as a chance to avenge Mel, Abby moves to slit Dina's throat but Lev pleads against it. Conceding, Abby tosses Dina aside and walks over to the beaten Ellie.

She looks down and warns Ellie to never cross paths with her again. As Abby and Lev leave, Ellie looks over at Dina, contemplating what her actions have cost her.

Ellie, Dina, and the now physically disabled Tommy manage to return to Jackson. On returning, Ellie swears to Tommy she will one day kill Abby. Sometime later, Dina gives birth to a boy named JJ, and Ellie helps to raise him on a farm outside of Jackson. While they are a happy family, Ellie remains psychologically traumatized from her ordeals.

She has difficulty eating, and suffers from insomnia, panic attacks, and flashbacks of her failing to save Joel's life. One day after Ellie finishes hunting, she finds Tommy playing with JJ.

Ellie asks Tommy for news about Jackson and Maria, to which he reveals he and Maria have separated. Tommy tries to convince Ellie to kill Abby in his place due to his weakened state but Ellie refuses to do so. Disappointed, Tommy reminds Ellie about her promise before leaving the house. Dina then has Ellie hold JJ for her while she confronts Tommy.

Later that night, Ellie wakes up freezing and closes the windows. While Ellie closes the living room window, she accidentally knocks Joel's guitar to the ground. Ellie picks it up and plays it by the window.

She then decides to pursue Abby and begins packing a bag. However, Dina awakens and finds her. She asks Ellie to come back to bed and discuss it in the morning but Ellie reveals she had made up her mind, convinced killing Abby will end her trauma. Despite Dina begging her to stay, Ellie leaves the house.

Ellie heads towards the town, fighting a few Infected along the way, until she is caught in a trap that suspends her from a tree upside down, and her side is pierced by a branch.

Unable to escape, Ellie soon loses consciousness. Hours later, she awakes as two Rattlers approach her in the trap.

Calling Abby's name in her confusion, she is cut down by them. Seizing the moment, Ellie goads the small Rattler into pulling her into a Clicker, also trapped.

She forces him onto the Clicker, who bites him, and uses his submachine gun to shoot the large Rattler in the knees, incapacitating him. Before Ellie could finish him off, he claims that he heard her speaking about Abby and reveals that she was captured with Lev and brought to their base.

After the Rattler points out the base's location to Ellie, she executes him. Ellie treats her wound and makes her way to the Rattler dome, fighting some of them along the way. Upon arriving there, she sees the Rattlers using Infected as guard dogs. Nevertheless, she fights her way through the resort and reaches the cells where the prisoners are kept.

She is ambushed by a Rattler with a bat, but manages to fend her off and toss her toward the cells. The prisoners seize the chance to choke the Rattler out and take her keys to free themselves. The group then steal some weapons from the gun cache and prepare to assault the Rattlers, but Ellie stops them and asks them about Abby. One of the prisoners informs her that Abby tried to escape and was strung up on the pillars at the nearby beach, left to die. A wounded Ellie then proceeds outside to the beach as the prisoners launch their attack on the Rattlers.

At the beach, she finds the pillars, where several people are strung up, exposed to the elements. On one of those pillars, she finds Abby, emaciated, tired and dying, but still alive. Abby recognizes Ellie as she is cut down. She then frees Lev, also weak, from another pillar, and picks him up.

She informs Ellie about some boats anchored not far from their location, and walks up to them, with Ellie following her. As they arrive, Abby puts Lev in a boat, while Ellie puts her backpack in another. Remembering Joel's death, Ellie demands Abby to fight her. When Abby refuses, Ellie threatens Lev with her switchblade, after which Abby concedes.

They fight relentlessly, with Abby punching Ellie and Ellie slashing at Abby. Eventually, Ellie loses her switchblade in the water, forcing her to fight hand-to-hand.

After a few more blows, Ellie tries to drown Abby, which causes Abby to bite off two of her left fingers. In pain, Ellie again forces Abby's head down the water, this time with Abby unable to break free. As Abby slowly drowns, Ellie remembers Joel playing his guitar, and ultimately lets Abby go. Crying, she tells Abby to take Lev and leave, and stays sitting in the water as the other two depart. After her confrontation with Abby, Ellie travels back to Wyoming and returns to the farm shared with Dina, only to find it abandoned.

She makes her way to her drawing room, where she finds Joel's guitar. Ellie tries to play it, but her lack of two fingers makes it impossible to play correctly. She stops playing and remembers her last conversation with Joel. Afterwards, she gently places the guitar by the window and leaves the house. 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.

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. Coincidentally, both were victims of the fungus and both had gotten 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, [63] 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. Ellie is romantically interested in women. Years later, Ellie became more mature and less talkative, but still retained her sense of humor. In Seattle, Ellie was noticeably more aggressive and violent, and her thirst for revenge began to cloud her judgement, culminating in her decision to continue hunting Abby rather than help Tommy.

As such, she abandoned her quest and returned home, intent on repairing the life her revenge had broken. 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. 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.

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.

She also lacks the strength to grapple human enemies and Infected, meaning she is unable to use the former as a human shield. She also struggled to defeat David in a fight, nearly strangled to death, only defeating him by using his own machete against him.

She is also can not be spotted unless Joel is spotted and at times fight alongside him. On rare occasions, she may give Joel ammunition or a health kit. By , Ellie has finally learned how to swim, play the acoustic guitar and sing. She is physically stronger, enabling her to use human enemies as shields and she can craft arrows, [55] as well as use larger melee weapons such as machetes and hammers , which she can also disarm from her opponents [66] though her preferred close range weapon is her switchblade.

However, her strength has limits and foes will break out of her grasp if she doesn't act quickly enough. Notably, both Nora and Nick were able to pin Ellie down at the Baldwin lodge [52] and Nora successfully fought Ellie off at the Seattle hospital. 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 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.

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.

Ellie's most important, and unique, ability is her complete immunity to the fungus. This is never clarified, however, since the study would result in her death, which Joel did not allow.

Ellie is described as having auburn hair and being 5 feet 3 inches 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.

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. Her jawlines are now more refined and became taller in appearance. Her voice became deeper as well. At the end of The Last of Us or as a pre-order bonus , different clothing options for Ellie can be unlocked. It was revealed in the Truck Ambush cinematic commentary [67] that Ellie had been redesigned to bear a greater resemblance to Ashley Johnson in appearance and personality.

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. During her final confrontation with Abby in the second game, the former WLF member bites off parts of Ellie's pinky and ring finger on the left hand.

Upon meeting Joel , Ellie originally has a rocky relationship with him. Ellie struggled to make Joel trust her initially. The man kept himself distant from her, refusing to disclose personal information about himself. 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.

One of the strongest aspects of the pairs relationship is Ellie's fear that she may lose Joel, like she lost Riley, Tess and Sam to the world they live in. However, when the parting moment finally comes, Joel is unable to part without Ellie. 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, [40] just as he has cared for and sheltered her throughout their story.

Although at first Joel doesn't want Ellie to mention Sarah, saying, "you [Ellie] are treading on some mighty thin ice here," [36] 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. As such, Ellie becomes precious to Joel, the man using any means possible to protect her and keep her safe. Therefore, Joel grows controlling towards Ellie, unwilling to let her decide her own fate.

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.

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.

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, swearing to murder Abby and her friends to avenge Joel. Riley Abel is the first to befriend and trust Ellie after her arrival to the Boston military zone.

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. Ellie once described Marlene as "just a friend, I guess.

The pair were close enough that Ellie didn't want to part from her with Joel and Tess and felt a need to protect her when she saw Joel enter the room with a visibly wounded Marlene.

Anna was Ellie's mother, although they never were able to personally connect with each other following due to her premature death. Anna expresses in her note that she is grateful and proud of her daughter, Ellie commenting "I'm trying to do you proud". Tess met Ellie when she met Joel, being introduced by Marlene as the 'cargo' they would be smuggling out of the city. She initially bonded with Tess more than Joel, the woman protecting her when in the derelict building and talking to her more than Joel.

Although Tess was skeptical of Ellie's immunity, she soon accepted it to some degree. Tess was willing to die to ensure Ellie's survival, though only due to her value as a potential cure, sacrificing herself to buy time for the pair to escape the armed forces that had ambushed the drop-off point.

Ellie was quick to object their leaving her and physically showed guilt about her death following the attack. After this, Ellie mentioned Tess again when she confessed her survivor's guilt to Joel, demonstrating that she remembered the woman even a year on, and was still mentally scarred by her death.

Ellie's relationship with Bill was initially one of hostility, as the first act Bill did towards Ellie was handcuffing her to a pipe. Both often loathed each other and shared a mutual dislike. However, since Bill owed a favor to Joel, Ellie reluctantly worked with him. After they obtained the truck however, Bill admitted that Ellie held her own against the infected, but still saw her as a burden. Ellie had always maintained a respectful air when with Henry.

She considered Henry and by extension Henry's brother, Sam allies and always managed to persuade Joel to trust them. She initially attacked him on Joel's defense when they first met, though softened to him when she saw his brother.

In the sewers, Ellie was willing to protect Henry when they were separated from Joel and Sam, and forced to run away from many Runners and Clickers, killing some of them. Henry cared about Ellie enough that he reluctantly saved her from an infected Sam, but he committed suicide shortly after Sam's death.

Sam was the only character Ellie met on her cross-country journey to be near her age. As a result, the two bonded quickly, playing with blueberries and cracking jokes. The pair also played a brief game of darts and football, bonding through their childish traits. The night before Sam died, he asked Ellie what she was afraid of. She told him that she thinks scorpions are creepy, trying to be reflective, but opened up when she realizes how serious Sam was; she admitted she was afraid of ending up alone.

The pair then discussed the idea of an afterlife, both reluctantly admitting they don't believe in it. In the morning, Ellie was attacked by an infected Sam, saved by Henry though expressed her guilt of surviving over Sam due to her immunity to Joel several months later. Later, the pair come across a small child's grave with a teddy bear on top of it in Wyoming.

Ellie expresses regret at having forgotten to put the toy robot on his grave before they left. When Ellie took out the toy robot that she gave him from her backpack she said "I should have said something different to you. This indicates she remembered Sam fondly years after his death.

When they first met, Tommy became a rift between Joel and Ellie, isolating her when she and Joel arrived at the dam; Ellie was left out as Tommy and Joel were reunited, only being remembered by Maria - someone who has no attachment to her. After the bandit attack, Tommy, seeing the relationship between the two, reconsiders and is willing to take Ellie to the Fireflies. However, Ellie doesn't want to part with Joel, and steals one of Tommy's horses.

Tommy then helps Joel chase after her; they eventually find her at an old ranch. Tommy lets Joel and Ellie talk about their issues while he keeps watch. He overhears their argument, but interrupts them when he spots bandits. Joel and Ellie develop a father-daughter bond after Joel loses his daughter during the outbreak.

He also continues to wear the watch Sarah gave him for his birthday, even though it no longer tells time. There's no guarantee, but it's a reason to hope in a miserable world.

Ellie grew up in this violent world with Joel as her father figure, and that cycle of violence continues well into the sequel.

We don't know what their relationship is like these five years later, but given its prominence in the original, you can safely bet it'll be a focus in the sequel. In the decades following the initial outbreak, humanity became fragmented.

In the United States alone, militias and factions emerged like the Hunters, the Cannibals, and the Fireflies. The Fireflies were a sprawling underground network founded by a woman named Marlene. Their goal was to end military-occupied quarantine zones across the United States and to develop a cure for the virus. They had some success in taking over Pittsburgh.

Another acknowledged Tess, much to the annoyance of his girlfriend. While crossing past a fistfight occurring at the side, a man tried to stop Joel from proceeding further. As Joel braced himself for a brawl, Tess ordered the guard revealed to be Malick to sit down. Upon seeing Tess, the man complied, the pair having once associated with each other. Coming towards the area of the warehouse, Tess used ration cards to bribe a smuggler standing guard to tell her where Robert was, the guard sheepishly telling her he had returned to the wharf.

When they neared the warehouse, three smugglers attempted to stop them, one threatened to bash Tess' skull in. Undeterred by the guard, Tess shot the man then covered Joel so he could take out the other two. The pair forced their way through the warehouse, learning Robert was behind on paying his smugglers as well, sparking animosity between them, and how they are forced to stay at night since Robert is extremely paranoid.

They also hear two smugglers accurately predict Joel and Tess' arrival and other comment on the current condition of the zone and how they have lost contact with their trade merchants in the north and south. Joel and Tess soon found Robert with the majority of his smugglers, watching as he retreated to his makeshift office. Tess and Joel proceeded to kill all of the guards to get to Robert. Robert deterred them by firing at them with a pistol.

Tess assured him they "just [wanted] to talk" but he crudely swore at them before fleeing. They gave chase, successfully cornering him at a locked gate. His attitude changed to a more friendly tone but Tess still detained him with a metal pipe and had Joel pin and break the man's arm.

They then interrogated Robert, discovering he had sold their guns to the Fireflies. Knowing the smugglers wouldn't be strong enough to defeat the militia group, Tess shot Robert dead. When escaping Boston, Joel can find a note from a smuggler from the Quarantine Zone waiting to meet up with a survivor called Frank , who had arranged to be smuggled in to the zone.

The smuggler had been given Frank's papers by his superior, likely Donovan. However, Frank never showed and the would be smuggler died waiting for him. When Joel is fighting against the Fireflies in St.

Mary's Hospital , he can find a recording from Marlene, who mentions how Joel was the smuggler from Boston who was tasked with smuggling Ellie from the city to the Fireflies. While not seen in the game, the smugglers are mentioned several times.

Notably, Joel's role as a smuggler is brought up by Dina , Jordan and Owen Moore and how the smuggling trade was notably distinct within Boston, suggesting smuggling activities were a unique practice to the Boston area.

Unlike other groups, the strength of a smuggling operation is based solely on their own skill, rather than the equipment they use or numbers. The difference in each smugglers competence is evident in their variety in equipment. The smugglers who fought the military wielded double barrel shotguns and rifles.

Meanwhile, the smugglers Tess and Joel face only used 9mm pistols and 2x4s.