I was very late to the The Last of Us party, mainly because I didn’t have a PS4 till around when the PS5 was about to come out. I also only got the game because it was on sale, and COVID lockdowns were a harsh time until I really tried to be more productive. But I ended up enjoying it a lot, and a lot of that was because of Ellie.
Caveat here: I’m only talking about TLOU1, because I haven’t played the second game, nor watched the TV series. I’m aware that the second game was quite polarising, and I understand that people have fallen off the Liking-Ellie-Train more recently, but I’m not interested in that at the moment. What I’m interested in right now is what makes a likeable video game character. So expect a spoiler or two about the first game, but not the other media, though I’m sure everyone on the planet knows who Joel and Ellie are by now.
One reason for her likeability is the objective of the writing and narrative. Joel’s lost his daughter by the time he meets Ellie, and he’s still holding onto her memory even after 20 years. Thus, the narrative requires Joel to like Ellie in order for them to make a connection, and for the ending to make sense (and impact the player). Remember also that TLOU1 is basically a long escort quest, and those usually aren’t so fun, so the stakes are high — for the player to continue playing, Ellie must at least be tolerable. There’s a boundary between Joel and the player unless they’re reaaallly roleplaying as him, scruffy flannel shirts and all; there’s still more to it. Since the player inhabits Joel in the game, his experience is theirs (more or less), and therefore the player must be made to like Ellie too, and therefore she must be written to be liked by the player.
There was a chapter in TLOU1 where Joel has to sneak up on a sniper in some random suburbia, and then there’s an armoured car, and then it’s over. I always found that section odd and unnecessary — I’d supposed that it was so that Joel and Ellie could bond a bit with their new companions Henry and Sam. PS: I just had to look up their names since they aren’t that important in the overall story, and they exit our two protagonists’ lives pretty soon after. Perhaps the reason that section was there (besides extending the playtime) was to let Sam and Ellie have the moment they do after it. I think that this is the real reason for that whole chapter’s existence: to show the player that Ellie isn’t just a one-dimensional fun-to-have-around character. She’s got fears. She’s got goals. This makes her more human, and therefore more relatable, and therefore more likeable to the player.
But she’s also not stupid. Though sometimes rash and impatient, she’s competent enough that the player isn’t annoyed by her stupidity. This shows itself not just in the narrative but in the AI; she doesn’t wander into danger like a lot of escort quest companions do. Props to the actual programmers for that. I think this is the main reason that Ellie is likeable: she doesn’t get in the way. The main reason that escort quests tend to be awful is the awfulness of companion-character-AI: Natalya from Goldeneye 007, or those jerks from Daikatana, or Ashley from Resident Evil 4 (though I actually like her quite a bit myself). They’re disliked because they’re unhelpful and get in the way, whether it’s because of the story or the AI being weird. It’s hard to like someone who seems to actively hinder you, especially if you’re attempting to help them. Ellie is different; she’s not just bumbling through life and relying on others to protect her.
I feel that both these factors work in tandem. When Ellie goes rogue and runs away, it’s this stuff that keeps you invested in finding her. You feel for her; you understand why she would make the mistakes she does. What those mistakes are might differ in the perception of different player. Incidentally, I loved Ellie’s puns — I’m told that others consider them a crime though. I think that they gave her some more charm. But the point is that you shouldn’t mind a little trouble for her sake if she’s likeable enough.
I’m suddenly reminded at this point of Elizabeth from BioShock: Infinite, another character who’s widely appreciated in the gaming community. Not only does she effectively get out of the way of harm, but she also throws you supplies. On the other hand, Ellie helps you kill things, which is nice too. And I think this introduces a more cynical side of the human condition: we like people who actively help us, and who aren’t overly inconvenient, and we like being able to protect those we care about when they’re helpless. Probably if Resident Evil 4’s Ashley were less whiney and got abducted by cultists less, she would be up here with Ellie and Elizabeth.
At the end of TLOU1 (spoiler warning again), Joel makes the selfish decision to keep Ellie around, rather than do what she probably would’ve wanted. Crucially, though, she wasn’t able to make that decision herself. I think that sometimes, in playing these games and interacting with characters, we’re like Joel — it’s not about them, it’s about us. We have the get-out-of-jail card of “they’re not real,” but in a sense, we interacted with them as if they were, and perhaps that reflects on how we interact with people who are real. Food for thought, which in Ellie’s case, is fungus. This analogy has gotten away from me.
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