Casual Shinji said:
I agree.
The ending was very nihilistic and bleak, like much of the game itself, and tops off the story masterfully. It's sort of an interesting break down of the "Hero/damsel" trope. Ellie doesn't really need Joel's protection anymore, but he can't give up that role because it's all that keeps him going.
Near the end when Marlene attempts a last-ditch effort, it's made clear Ellie would be more than willing to sacrifice herself for a cure. But Joel is now hopelessly depended on being Ellie's protector, and her death would mean his. Ofcourse there's also very much his projection of Sarah onto Ellie, and how he couldn't protect his own daughter, so he will now protect Ellie at any price, even if it's against her will.
Add to that Joel and Ellie returning to his brother's settlement, which has as much chance of being overrun by infected or bandits as any of the demolished quarantine zones you passed during the game.
I'm not too sure about Ellie being willing to do it. There was a whole mess of ambiguity in that section. She was unconscious since the incident in the tunnel and only wakes up in the car. There was no consent. That's a shit start. Would ellie have accepted her fate? She could have... if her distance and aloofness at the beginning of that chapter carried over to the end. She seemed detached and melancholic for a while and that loss of self could easily lead her to accepting such a fate. But then she sees the giraffes and she suddenly snaps out of it. Even echoing Joels desire to teach her guitar with "you can teach me how to swim". She starts to find herself again, but that revitalisation is cut short.
Not to mention, we are aware at this point the thing ellie is scared of most is being alone. Joel is afraid of attachment, but proximity leads to the inevitable. The 2 are inextricably bound to each other, as strong as any paternal/child relationship, except without the blood bond. So Joels inability to turn away is painfully understandable.
Then there is Marlenes selfishness. She claims to know what Ellie wants, but she is driven by her own fear, of infection et al, not Ellies well-being. She is rationalising it in her mind, turning it over and over, even talking to a long deceased friend, Ellies mother Anna, looking for a escape from her guilt. Her fear kept her from fulfilling her promise and she only convinced herself it was for the good of mankind to sacrifice Ellie. Heck, at one point we even find out she doesn't believe she had a choice to begin with, but that didn't bring to rebel... despite her revolutionary idealism she couldn't revolt. She just submitted and adopted ellies captors mentality.
Joel, while equally selfish, is also fighting for ellies sake. After all ellie went through during the winter when Joel was out of it, the last thing he could do is walk away. If they let him talk to her that would have been fine. But they didn't want her awake... they didn't want to risk her rejecting their plans.
None of Ellies captors wanted to give her the choice. They saved her, then drugged her and sent her to her execution. For the greater good? Perhaps, and she wouldn't suffer to boot. But the action is stripped of all humanity. She is reduced to a vessel. A glorified organ carrier. Would the curious and naively optimistic ellie we knew want that? Whats more, if the fireflies got to her first as was initially planned, would they have groomed her to accept her fate or would they have just taken it anyway?
What got me was when Joel blows away the surgeon with the gun only for another to go "you animal" or something to that effect, while ellie lies comatose waiting to be dissected, like a cadaver right their the fuck in front of them.
In the end there was no guarantee they could synthesise or disseminate a cure from their research, it was only wishful thinking (though the best chance available). If that ended up being the case then the best thing would be for ellie to live on to propagate her genetic immunity. Otherwise they just murdered mankinds last hope for survival on a fear driven whim.
As for what Joel did explicitly. He lied to Ellie about the events that transpired for the obvious reason... to spare her the grizzly truth of what happened (marlenes emotional abandonment for "teh grater gud" as well as her brutal, cowardly demise, and the crushing reality that their journey of hope, all they went through, demanded a callous sacrifice with no relief from their ordeal). Does he need to this? Probably not, after what we see Ellie go through we can assume she understands the depravity mankind can drop to.
But more to the point, he lied to keep her with him. Where she is safe (possibly unnecessary) and he isn't lost without purpose.
In the end, despite the ambiguity, I think Joel did right by ellie by leaving her fate to be a choice of her own making. But its undeniable he lied for his own sake.
As for the chance that their new home could be overrun. Well... as Joel responded to Marlenes line of the same fatalistic notion. Its not anyone's choice to make but theirs.
... holy shit that was a long post. I'm sorry, this game really got to me.