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Full-game spoilers: Ellie lets Abby go during their final fight in Santa Barbara. A flash of Joel recalls their last conversation and Ellie’s wish to try to forgive him; she stops drowning Abby and releases her to leave with Lev. The choice turns the ending away from revenge, but the game does not confirm what Ellie does next or whether she reunites with Dina and JJ.
What happens at the end of The Last of Us Part II?
After Abby spares her in Seattle, Ellie eventually tracks her to Santa Barbara. Abby and Lev have been captured by the Rattlers. Ellie frees them, but then demands that Abby fight her on the beach.
Ellie gains the advantage and holds Abby underwater. In that moment, she sees a brief memory of Joel. She stops, releases Abby, and lets her leave with Lev. The game presents this as Ellie’s decision; it does not offer a player-selected alternate ending.
In the closing scene, Ellie returns to the farmhouse, where Dina and JJ are gone. She picks up Joel’s guitar and tries to play, but she has lost fingers and cannot play as she once did. She leaves the guitar behind and walks away. The game ends without showing where she goes.
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- Game: The Last of Us Part II, SteelBook, 48-Page Art Book, Ellie Statue, Ellie’s bracelet, Four stickers, 6 Pins, Digital Art Book, Digital Soundtrack
Why does Ellie spare Abby?
The flashback connects the beach fight to Ellie and Joel’s last conversation on the porch. Ellie was angry about Joel’s lie and what he did at the hospital, but she had told him she wanted to try to forgive him. His death cut short that effort.
Creator comments support reading Ellie’s choice as shaped by Joel’s love and by her struggle to find meaning in what she has done. In The Washington Post’s account of the ending, co-writer Halley Gross says, “Joel’s love of Ellie helped shape how Ellie dealt with that fight on the beach.” Director and co-writer Neil Druckmann says Ellie had been able to start forgiving Joel despite hating him for what he did at the hospital.
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That context makes the choice more than a sudden change of heart about Abby. One grounded interpretation is that revenge has stopped giving Ellie a way to make sense of her loss, and that remembering Joel reconnects her with the possibility of forgiveness. Her release of Abby can also be read as refusing to continue the cycle or reclaiming agency over what she does next. The game and its creators leave room for those readings rather than declaring one definitive explanation.
What does the guitar symbolize?
The guitar is closely tied to Ellie’s bond with Joel: he gave it to her, and playing it was one of the ways they connected. At the farmhouse, Ellie’s injuries mean she can no longer play it as before. Leaving it behind can suggest a painful release of the past or of the relationship as she knew it. It does not prove she has forgotten Joel, stopped loving him, or resolved her grief.
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The symbol works alongside the porch flashback. Ellie cannot return to the conversation she and Joel might have had, but the memory brings her unfinished wish to forgive him into the present. The precise meaning of leaving the guitar is interpretive, not a confirmed explanation stated by the game.
What is confirmed, and what remains open?
| What the ending establishes | What it does not establish |
|---|---|
| Ellie releases Abby, who leaves with Lev. | Where Ellie goes after leaving the farmhouse. |
| Ellie returns to an empty farmhouse and leaves Joel’s guitar behind. | Where Dina and JJ are, or whether Dina will forgive Ellie. |
| Ellie had begun considering forgiveness toward Joel before he died. | Whether Ellie’s choice is best understood as forgiveness of Abby, self-preservation, rejection of revenge, or some combination. |
The farmhouse scene does not show Ellie returning to Jackson or reconciling with Dina. Those are possible theories, not confirmed events. The closing image leaves Ellie’s next step unresolved.
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How the creators frame the ending
The official Naughty Dog podcast episode about the game’s final beats includes Ellie performer Ashley Johnson’s reflection that the story ultimately concerns human connection and relationships. That emphasis fits the ending’s focus on Ellie’s bond with Joel, but it does not settle every question about her decision or future.
For context, PlayStation’s official interview with director Neil Druckmann identifies the game and its original PS4 context; the ending itself is recapped by GameSpot and GamesRadar+. Those recaps help establish what happens, while claims about the symbolism and Ellie’s motives remain interpretation unless attributed to the creators.
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