[WARNING: Spoilers for The Last of Us: Part 2 below]
Ellie is the main playable character in The Last of Us: Part 2, but unfortunately, the choices this character makes in the sequel have thoroughly disappointed fans. Not only were there times the teen seemed to act out of character, but there are moments where Ellie's actions made zero sense or were just downright frustrating for the player to watch (and have to act out).
Players were expecting to see Ellie all grown up in The Last of Us: Part 2, especially after the character's journey and growth in the original The Last of Us. While they did get to see her hit certain milestones that come with age – falling in love for the first time, losing a parent, starting a family – not everything about who Ellie has become now that she’s older is sitting right with fans.
[FINAL WARNING: Spoilers for The Last of Us: Part 2 below]
Throughout the entirety of The Last of Us: Part 2's story, Ellie acts selfishly. She puts her own wants and desires before her loved ones. Granted, it’s understandable that Ellie may not be acting like her usual self given that she just lost her only parental figure, but it doesn’t give her the right to act without any consequences. And, frankly, it’s doubtful that many of her choices would’ve made Joel proud.
Why TLOU2’s Ellie Was A Disappointment
During her entire quest to hunt down the WLF members responsible for Joel’s death, rather than being concerned about the well-being of her friends, Ellie was narrowly focused on finding the foes so she could take them out. When Dina tells her she’s pregnant, rather than making arrangements to take Dina back to the settlement, Ellie continues to prolong her mission. She leaves Dina in the abandoned theatre, which Ellie constantly reminds everyone is a safe spot – that is until The Last of Us 2's other playable character Abby so easily manages to track them down. Even Jesse realizes that Dina needs to go back to Jackson County considering her condition, and had prompted Ellie to do so before he died. But Ellie convinced him to stay and give her more time by emphasizing that the safety of Tommy is on the line.
In fact, Ellie uses Tommy as an excuse several times throughout the game to continue seeking her revenge on the Wolves. After all, Tommy’s absence was the whole reason she convinced Dina to join her on the mission, and how she got Jesse and Maria to help her. But it felt like there was little Ellie was doing to actually bring Tommy back to safety. If so, she wouldn’t have prioritized killing the WLF members in The Last of Us 2, and rather would’ve focused all of her energy on tracking him down. That’s something that Joel would’ve wanted, too, considering it was his brother.
Finally, what also makes Ellie one of the worst characters in The Last of Us: Part 2 is how she so easily abandons her family. When Tommy gives her a lead on Abby’s whereabouts, Ellie wastes little time leaving in the middle of the night. This effectively made Dina a single mom and left baby J.J. without two parents. Ellie has been in shock the entire game trying to process how she lost Joel, so it’s ironic in the end that she’s causing J.J. to lose a parent by abandoning him. It seems she didn’t take her parenting responsibilities very seriously, given that she knew Dina would leave her if she went, thereby putting Dina and J.J.’s lives at risk. Moreover, this makes it all the more confusing when she finally pardons Abby. Ellie had given up everything – her friends and family – to be in that moment so she could kill Abby. But, in the end, everything she did and sacrificed turned out not to be worth it.
In the end, not even Ellie could save The Last of Us: Part 2 from itself, and one could even argue that Ellie's actions contributed to why this game has become so controversial.