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The Last of Us Part II Ending Explained: What Happens to Ellie and Abby

By Freedom251 Team · · 4 min read

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Spoilers for the entire game, including the Santa Barbara sequence and farm epilogue. Ellie frees Abby and Lev from the Rattlers, then lets Abby go rather than killing her in their final fight. Abby and Lev leave by boat, but the game does not confirm where they go. Back at the farm, Ellie finds Dina and JJ gone, leaves Joel’s guitar behind, and walks away. Her next destination—and whether she and Dina reunite—remains unknown.

What happens at the end of The Last of Us Part II?

After returning to the farm and trying to build a life with Dina and JJ, Ellie learns from Tommy that Abby may be in Santa Barbara. She leaves the farm and follows the lead, continuing a pursuit that began after Abby killed Joel.

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In Santa Barbara, Ellie finds Abby and Lev captured and brutalized by the Rattlers. She cuts them down, but still insists that Abby fight her. During their struggle in the water, Ellie gains the advantage and begins drowning Abby. Then she stops. Abby takes the weakened Lev to a boat, and the two leave together.

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The game cuts back to the farm. Dina and JJ are gone. Ellie tries to play Joel’s guitar, but the two fingers she lost in the fight make it impossible to fret the instrument as she once did. She leaves it in the empty house and walks away. The game does not show where she goes.

Why does Ellie let Abby go?

The game does not give Ellie a single line explaining her decision. As she is close to drowning Abby, she remembers a final conversation with Joel. Ellie had told him she could not forgive him, but wanted to try. The memory brings their complicated relationship—and the possibility that it was beginning to mend—back into focus.

One reading is that Ellie recognizes killing Abby cannot restore Joel or undo what happened. Another is that the memory gives her a reason to stop acting on the grief and rage that have consumed her. Mercy toward Abby may be part of the moment, but it can also be understood as Ellie choosing not to continue destroying herself through revenge. These are interpretations, not a motive the game definitively spells out.

In a Washington Post interview-based account, Neil Druckmann’s discussion of the ending is framed around forgiveness and letting go. The game’s official launch statement describes its broader concerns as obsession, trauma, redemption, and empathy. Neither reduces Ellie’s choice to one cause.

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Does Abby die at the end?

No. Ellie releases Abby, and Abby leaves the beach alive with Lev. Their boat’s departure confirms that they survive the immediate confrontation; it does not confirm what happens afterward.

The game does not show Abby and Lev reaching the Fireflies. They had been following a lead about the group, but their eventual arrival or reunion is not established. Any claim about what they find next is speculation.

What happens to Ellie, Dina, and JJ?

When Ellie returns to the farm, Dina and JJ are no longer there. The game does not show when they left, where they went, or whether Ellie and Dina later reconcile. Ellie’s final walk away from the house leaves her future open rather than confirming that she returns to Jackson or joins her family again.

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Last of Us Part II Collector's Edition for PS4 PS5
  • 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
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What does Ellie leaving Joel’s guitar mean?

Joel gave Ellie the guitar and taught her to play, and the instrument recurs in memories of their relationship. In the final farm scene, Ellie cannot play it as before because she has lost two fingers. Leaving it behind can be read as an attempt to loosen her hold on the past and accept that she cannot restore what she had with Joel.

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That image is not proof that Ellie has forgotten Joel, recovered from trauma, or resolved things with Dina. It marks a possible turn toward letting go, while leaving the outcome uncertain.

How the creators frame the ending

In his PlayStation Blog launch statement, Druckmann wrote: “This is a story of obsession and the lengths we will go to for justice and the ones we love — when is it time to let go? And when should you hold on at any cost? This is a story of trauma, redemption, and empathy.”

The official Naughty Dog podcast also records Druckmann discussing the final beats of the story with host Christian Spicer and co-writer Halley Gross. He notes that Abby’s earlier choice to spare Ellie helped make it possible for Abby and Lev to be spared later. The parallel highlights how choices shape what follows, but it does not make the characters’ choices or losses equivalent.

What the ending leaves unresolved

  • Ellie’s destination after she leaves the farm is not shown.
  • The game does not confirm a reconciliation between Ellie and Dina.
  • Abby and Lev leave the beach alive, but their arrival at a Firefly base is not shown.
  • Ellie’s reason for stopping is open to interpretation; the final Joel memory is central, but no single explanation is stated as definitive.

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Game EndingsNaughty DogThe Last of Us Part IIVideo Games

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