The Last of Us Part II centers on Ellie and the weight of her lethal choices. In the course of the story and its gameplay segments, Ellie kills multiple people, both human and Seraphite, across different timelines. These kills serve character study, gameplay pacing, and thematic counterpoint to Joel’s own violence. The following breakdown distinguishes story-critical kills from combat encounters, examines motives and consequences, and frames each death within the game’s broader exploration of trauma, cycle-of-violence, and accountability.
Ellie’s Direct Kills in Story Sequence
Critical Story Kills
Certain narrative moments require Ellie to kill in ways that directly alter her relationships and self-concept. These are typically scripted, unskippable confrontations that mark turning points rather than routine combat. In these instances, the game links each kill to emotional stakes, showing how vengeance hardens into identity and identity hardens into further violence.
- Abby Anderson (final confrontation): The most narratively pivotal kill. Ellie overpowers and executes Abby in a prolonged sequence, ending with the golf club blow to the face. This act completes Ellie’s transformation from Joel’s protector into a perpetrator of inherited trauma, closing the narrative arc established since Part I while implicating her in the same cycle she sought to escape.
- Jesse: Shot while attempting to flee the hospital after saving Ellie; a direct result of Abby’s revenge plan and Ellie’s own decisions in the prior timeline. This kill underscores the collateral damage of the protagonists’ earlier actions and tightens the tragic symmetry between the two timelines.
- Tommy Miller (indirect/moral kill): Though not a direct execution by Ellie, her revelation of Joel’s murder to Tommy severs their bond and leads to Tommy’s demise at the hospital. This represents the relational and ideological cost of Ellie’s truth-telling and the impossibility of sustaining familial ties after crossing certain moral lines.
Gameplay Encounters and Peripheral Kills
Ellie also kills numerous enemies in scripted combat and open-world segments. Many of these serve gameplay loops—clearing Seraphite patrols, defending allies in Seattle, or surviving ambushes—without deep individual narrative weight. While mechanically significant, these kills do not carry the same plot-defining consequences as the deaths above, though they contribute to the game’s thesis on habitual violence.
| Victim or Context | Verified Detail | Source Type |
|---|---|---|
| Abby Anderson (final kill) | Executed with a golf club after a prolonged struggle; occurs in the present timeline | Playable narrative sequence |
| Jesse | Killed during hospital escape after being shot; ties to Abby’s revenge | Playable sequence |
| Tommy Miller (relation) | Ellie reveals Joel’s murder to Tommy, leading to his later death; indirect consequence | Story exposition and outcome |
| Multiple Seraphite and WLF combatants | Killed in combat segments, patrol clears, and defense missions | Gameplay/combat logs |
| Bill and Frank (off-screen reference) | Referenced backstory; not depicted in Ellie’s active kills in Part II | Dialogue and flashback exposition |
Thematic Purpose of Ellie’s Kills
Naughty Dog uses Ellie’s kills to interrogate cycles of violence and the myth of redemptive revenge. Unlike a straightforward hero’s journey, Ellie’s actions yield no clean closure. Killing Abby does not heal her; it intensifies her isolation and mirrors the very brutality she initially sought to justify. The game suggests that vengeance begets further vengeance, and Ellie’s kills are as much a part of her entrapment as her trauma.
Perspective and Moral Complexity
The game deliberately contrasts Ellie’s kills with Joel’s singular, pivotal decision to save her in Part I. Joel kills to preserve Ellie; Ellie kills out of anger, duty, and a fractured moral compass. This contrast reframes the conversation from survival to consequence: the cost of choosing violence and the lie of absolute justification. Ellie’s kills are not framed as heroic but as compromises that compound her suffering and limit her capacity for future connection.
Gameplay Function and Player Experience
Mechanically, Ellie’s kills build agency through asymmetry. In Part II, the gameplay distinguishes between Joel’s grounded, resource-conscious combat and Ellie’s relentless, acrobatic approach. Her kills in stealth and combat segments often feel faster, more visceral, and sometimes more brutal, reinforcing her role as a relentless force. The game uses these sequences to convey her physical and emotional momentum, while quieter moments force reflection on what those actions have cost.
Combat Encounters and Design
- Seraphite patrols and outpost clears: Contextualized as resistance work but presented with enough ambiguity to question necessity.
- Hospital sequences: High-stakes, claustrophobic combat directly tied to Jesse’s death and Ellie’s survival.
- Seattle sandbox segments: Open-world kills that serve gameplay loops while reinforcing the city’s atmosphere of pervasive threat.
Consequences and Relationship Outcomes
Ellie’s kills fracture her relationships and redefine her identity. By the end of the game, she is alone, having pushed away Dina and their unborn child to pursue vengeance. Her kills are not just actions but turning points that close off possible futures, illustrating how trauma can eclipse connection. The game refuses to forgive her easily, instead inviting players to sit with the discomfort of complicity and moral compromise.
Impact on Key Relationships
- Dina: Ellie’s pursuit of Abby and later violence drives a wedge, culminating in estrangement after Dina discovers Ellie’s choices.
- Tommy: The revelation of Joel’s crime and Ellie’s role in the chain of retaliation destroys their trust and leads to tragedy.
- Joel (legacy): Ellie’s kills position her as a dark reflection of Joel, complicating any simple father-daughter reconciliation and underscoring inherited cycles of harm.
Comparative Context within the Series
Within the broader The Last of Us narrative, Ellie’s kills contrast with Joel’s singular, pivotal sacrifice in Part I and with Bill and Frank’s more contained love story. Part II expands the scope of violence, showing how it propagates across people and time. Unlike Joel’s focused rescue mission, Ellie’s journey is one of ideological unraveling: the collapse of her mission-driven certainty into grief and unresolved rage.
| Character | Primary Kill(s) | Narrative Function |
|---|---|---|
| Joel | Firefly surgeon (single pivotal kill) | Preserve Ellie; personal sacrifice that ignites the cycle |
| Ellie | Abby; Jesse (indirect); multiple combatants | Explore vengeance, consequence, and fractured identity |
| Bill/Frank | Survivor-driven kills (contextual, not detailed) | Illustrate smaller-scale moral navigation in collapse |
Conclusion
Ellie kills several people across The Last of Us Part II, most notably Abby in the story’s climactic confrontation, Jesse during the hospital escape, and indirectly contributing to Tommy’s fate. These kills are not merely gameplay obstacles; they are narrative fulcrums that reveal the cost of vengeance and the persistence of trauma. By situating Ellie’s violence alongside systemic and personal pressures, the game challenges players to consider what is lost and perpetuated each time someone chooses to kill.