The Last Of Us Explained: What Does The Ending Really Mean?

6. It's Easier To Survive When You're Cute

There are two justifications of this opinion in The Last of Us, one from the animal realm and one from human. While you can probably guess that the latter applies to Ellie, the former is concerned with... giraffes.

With food being scarce, it should be understandable that people kill these tall-necked mammals. Thanks to their main feature they are easy to spot, which makes them also easy to kill.

Yet, here they are in Salt Lake City, coming close to Ellie and Joel - something animals that are game never do. This stands as proof that they're never hunted, otherwise they would run when seeing the two.

Ellie likes to cuss. She likes to show the finger as well. She steals, she runs away, she causes problems, and yet, she's always forgiven. Joel's heart melts each time he looks into her big eyes. Even David, whose men Ellie and Joel killed at Eastern Colorado University, forgives the girl and wants to make her his pet. If she wasn't so cute, she'd definitely be dead, long before the ending.