The Last Of Us Part 2’s ending is already a fairly sore one, though there seems to be one small extra punch that Naughty Dog could have up their sleeves. Obviously, spoilers will follow. So don’t read any further if you don’t want to see anything that might ruin your day.
The climax of Part 2 sees Ellie trace Joel’s killer, Abby, to an enslavement camp in Santa Barbara. After finding her obsession bound and tortured, Ellie lets her down before insisting that she gets closure. The two fight and Ellie uses her personal knife to brutalize Abby.
Ellie’s switchblade has always been a part of her aesthetic design, it being a gift from a mother that she never got to meet. It’s also been her primary way of dispatching enemies in melee combat. Even players of the first game might fondly remember the first time Ellie saved them from a grabbing enemy by sneaking up and stabbing their assailant. However, halfway through the fight Abby is able to disarm Ellie and knock the knife into the water (warning, the video is a bit loud).
[videopress 5r3WPMal permalink=”false”]
After the fight is over Ellie returns home only to find that her newfound family has left her behind. Leaving one to simply walk around the empty house without any dialogue. Though a keen player might notice that Ellie is never seen picking the knife back out of the water.
In normal circumstances, Ellies’ shirt covers the tip of her back pocket but by using the game’s photo mode option we can get see that it’s empty. Implying that Ellie also lost her mother’s knife during her quest for revenge.
[videopress HOyTimIr permalink=”false”]To play devil’s advocate, it’s also possible that Ellie simply has the knife in her backpack. The waters of Santa Barabara also don’t look too rough, so searching for it could have been possible. She also doesn’t have any of her other guns out or even have the holsters on her person.
Whether or not this is an exception or another loss is up to interpretation.
