Ellie's Life of Violence in "The Last of Us"

 

by Megan Goodrich

SPOILERS ahead for episode 9 of The Last of Us:

So, everyone is mentioning/complaining about the guy failing to cover an infant Ellie's ears prior to a gun being fired, myself included. Obviously, you should cover a newborn's ears and it's not that hard to do, but the showrunners distinctively filmed her ears not being covered. I think this was intentional.

My theory is that this was done in order to show that Ellie's life has always been rooted in violence. Her mother had a violent birth, involving killing an infected and then held a switchblade to her neck, ready to kill herself if/when she began to change too much before someone arrived at the house in which she'd sought refuge. This is followed by Marlene having to execute Anna before she fully turns. In her first few hours of life, Ellie has experienced unthinkable violence, even though she may not be able to process or fully remember it.

Cut to her being raised by FEDRA, a military school (even if Marlene had kept Ellie, she still would have been brought up in a consistently violent/militaristic environment). She is then rescued by Marlene after the events at the mall with Riley, as Marlene explains, "I am the one who told them not to shoot you."

Cut to Ellie traveling the country with Joel (and briefly Tess), where she encounters numerous acts of violence. From the FEDRA guard, to Kathleen and her crew, to Sam and Henry -- their story ends with self-inflicted violence to a degree but violence, nonetheless. To being threatened by the Jackson residents, raiders at the hospital, David and his sheep, the fireflies and then back to Joel committing a literal massacre in order to save Ellie.

So yeah... Troy Baker (the voice of the videogame version of Joel) hosts a podcast with Craig Mason and Neil Druckmann (the game/show creators) and while they didn't mention this, I totally think showcasing Ellie's life in violence -- especially considering her fascination with guns -- was an intentional choice. Plus, just from being a lover of entertainment, I've noticed that anytime something is phenomenally successful, it's because both small and large details were intentional. Anywho, that's all I've got. Thoughts?