The Last of Us 2: Why (SPOILER) Is So Important To Ellie

[Warning: Spoilers for The Last of Us: Part 2 below]

In The Last of Us: Part 2, Joel’s guitar makes various appearances throughout the game even after his death, and this is because the instrument has an important symbolic meaning. While some players may expect this to merely be a clever way to add a bit of music to the game – some gamers are even playing covers of real-life songs – there’s actually quite a complicated significance behind it.

In an early scene in The Last of Us: Part 2, Joel plays the guitar for Ellie before gifting it to her and telling her they’ll begin guitar lessons the following day. So, when Joel is killed shortly after, it makes sense why she continues to practice the instrument throughout the game. One of the last things Joel wanted was to see her learn guitar, and since it may have been her last gift from him, it’s one of the final things she could cling on to following his unexpected death.

With this in mind, it may be surprising that Ellie chooses to leave it at the farmhouse after returning from her hunt to find Abby in The Last of Us 2. If the instrument is so symbolic of Joel, then players may expect the guitar to be one of her most prized possessions. But her leaving it behind with her other personal belongings signifies something entirely different.

The Meaning Of TLOU2’s Guitar In The Final Scene

Ellie is unable to play the guitar anymore at the end of The Last of Us: Part 2. It’s not that she doesn’t want to – just like she doesn’t want to let go of Joel, for fear of losing memories of a loved one – but she’s being forced to move on. During her final encounter with Abby, the former Firefly bites off two of Ellie’s fingers. So, when Ellie goes to pick up the guitar again upon her return to the farmhouse she shared with Dina, she’s not able to play it like she used to. Rather, she’s forced to move on in the same way that walking away from Abby and Lev forces her to move on from losing Joel.

After Joel’s death in The Last of Us 2, Ellie invested all of her energy into tracking down and exacting revenge on those who were involved. But pardoning Abby’s life was a sign that Ellie realized what she was doing wasn’t going to make her feel better about Joel’s murder – at that point, she realized that Abby was just like her in so many ways. Accepting that killing Abby wasn’t the right thing to do meant Ellie had to accept that the missions she began in Seattle were over, and it’s time to move on from this chapter in her life.

When Ellie puts down the guitar at the end of The Last of Us 2 and walks away without it, she’s not only accepting that she can no longer play the instrument. Rather, she’s also accepting that it’s time to move on from being so consumed over Joel’s death, and put an end to this dark chapter in her life. The Last of Us: Part 2’s guitar is Ellie’s last connection to Joel, and even though she’ll always have their memories together, leaving the instrument behind is her way of finally saying goodbye.

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