For me the ending I took as Joel protecting Ellie because Joel feels immense guilt of not being able to protect his daughter and by leaving Ellie to die from the doctors would be Joel not being able to protect Ellie which he's been doing the entire game. I felt that it was Joel redeeming himself in a way. He failed Sara and he would not allow himself to fail Ellie. Even if Ellie didn't want that. Also the whole "Find something to keep fighting for".Ellie was Joel's something to fight for.
Exactly. It was almost like a second chance for both of them. A second chance at being a father for Joel, and a second chance at a life for Ellie. After a year of traveling and going through so much together, how could anyone expect Joel to just let Ellie die? People argue that she wanted to die on that operating table, hence the whole ‘I’m still waiting for my turn’ thing, but she was unconscious when Marlene said that in order to extract the cure, they’d have to kill her. She didn’t know she was going to die. I almost feel like that was her survivor’s guilt talking. And despite Joel’s lie, I think Ellie recognized that he did it for her. She said herself that Joel was the only person she cared for that stayed - so why would she give that up?
