Listen, tlou2 broke my fucking heart and stomped on it. I tried, I DID, to sympathize with Abby even if I hated playing as her. I get it... the swapping of roles between Ellie and Abby. Ellie becoming consumed with the thought of revenge while Abby found her humanity with Lev again, just like Joel and Ellie in the first game. But what the fuck with that ending? The lesbian lead of a major game ends up mutilated and broken. In the end her worst fear became true. She was all alone. WTF?!?
A lot of people seem to miss the point of the ending which is not surprising to me. It's not so simple as what you see.
Yes, Ellie loses the family she fought so hard to build, but the fault was on her for that happening. She became so consumed by hate and revenge that she slowly was losing her own humanity. She had moments that slowed her descent into madness, but ultimately she still couldn't stop the dark desires inside of her. She couldn't just "move on" and be satisfied with the life she had like everyone else. If you read her journal, she talks about sleepless nights and panic attacks. All at the fault of her personal trauma and anxiety. All triggered by the deep rooted hate and loss that had built inside her that whole time.
So yes, she turns her back on all she's gained to pursue Abby. It's not until she's at the breaking point and about to kill Abby, that the person she truly is (the one Joel tried protecting for so long) finally stops her from doing the one thing she's wanted, but that could have ultimately destroyed her.
So she lets Abby go. She goes back home and sees the consequences of her decisions. The consequences of her consumed rage and need for revenge. It causes her pain, but also teaches her that she has to learn how to forgive.
That's when she remembers the night before she lost Joel. How she'd finally forgiven him after hating him for what he did. And in that she finds peace, and decides to change her course. She sets off, and the ending leaves it open that she's going to more than likely go searching for Dina, and earn her forgiveness so that they can start again. So she can start again.
It's a beautiful, powerful, and very HUMAN ending. Human lives are messy and not at all simple, and that's why it's so bold. The entire story is wrapped around the concepts of cause and effect/confronting the consequences for your actions.
I love it, and I'm still processing all my emotions over it. Not everyone is going to agree with it, not everyone is going to like it, but frankly that's their choice. As a writer, and someone who loves very deeply flawed content, this was fucking brilliant. And I'm happy it exists.
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