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Pre-Release
Ellie will volunteer her womb to incubate a baby to make a cure.
She changes her mind and the game is all about Joel and her running away from the people who want to take her baby. At the end Ellie sacrifices herself willingly to make the cure, and Joel is left to take care of a baby girl once again.- Jossed, hard
Joel lies to Ellie about whom is responsible for what happened at the end of the first game.
The one thing I took away from the trailer reveal is that Ellie might be going on a misguided Roaring Rampage of Revenge. She was willing to give up her life to save the planet, but Joel stopped it by killing everyone. He lied to her about it in the end, but Ellie can't let it go, so Joel keeps lying and now innocent people (if you can call them that) are being killed, because Ellie believes they killed the group that was going to cure the outbreak. In the end, she finds out the truth.- Word of God stated that Ellie knew that Joel was lying to her at the end of the first game.
- Jossed. Ellie finds a recording proving what Joel did and he's forced to admit the truth to her.
Ellie will kill Joel.
Due to the above. Word of God has even stated the theme of this game will be about hate. Bonus points if Joel lets it happen.- Jossed
Joel was killed when the Fireflies attacked.
A theory has been going around that Joel was killed by the Fireflies, and Ellie is hallucinating him in the trailer, so Ellie is actually avenging him.- Partially Confirmed. Joel was killed by a band of former Fireflies who had joined up with another group.
The story's progression & presentation will be non-linear.
Similar to Beyond: Two Souls or a Quentin Tarantino film; mainly to serve as a contrast from the first game. The sequel will jump between different time periods spanning events of the story relevant to Ellie's quest & motivations. We can see this in the trailers: in the PGW 2017 trailer, we are shown characters and events that, up to then, were completely unrelated to Joel and Ellie. Then, in the E3 2018 trailer, we open with Ellie and her friends at Tommy's settlement, only to Body Wipe to her fighting the cultists, and back again.- Confirmed. Much of the story is told in flashbacks.
Tommy, Maria, and/or members of the Jackson community were killed when the Fireflies attacked.
Possibly the only other reason (aside from Joel dying) I could see making Ellie go on a revenge tour.- Jossed. Only Joel is killed.
Ellie's story in Part 2 will parallel Joel's journey after Sarah's death.
Neil Drunkmann spoke about how the theme of the story is "hate," and we see how hate manifested and created Joel in the first game. Ellie will encounter a similar event here that will change her as it had with Joel, which means... This game will feature flashbacks with Joel in the quarantine zone.
Since there isn't much of a story left to go for Joel, Part 2 will contrast and reflect Ellie's descent into darkness with Joel's own journey into becoming the Antihero we know. More importantly, it will ask if Ellie is willing to become the man Joel is as she becomes more independent.- Jossed. While there are flashbacks, none of them focus on that time period.
Sections of the game will feature Ellie recovering from PTSD and her experiences with David, perhaps invoking horror-esque imagery.
Naughty Dog has utilized fantastical gameplay sections before, so something similar to illustrate the after effects of the encounter isn't that out of the possibility. Plus, Hideo Kojima did visit the studio...- Jossed. The only PTSD Ellie suffers is from Joel's death.
At some point in the game you will play as Joel.
Regardless of flashbacks. Even though he was the protagonist in the first game, we had a little subsection of the story where we played as Ellie. Since Ellie is now the protagonist, we will play as Joel in a limited capacity.- Confirmed. You only briefly play him in the very beginning of the game.
Riley will show up in the game.
I don't think Naughty Dog could resist a cameo.- Expanding on this, her cameo would have to be a flashback, meaning we'll get confirmation on how she died: whether Ellie killed her or left her to become a Runner. If Ellie killed her (which is likely what happened) it would tie into Ellie learning to kill people on her own if killing her girlfriend was her first human kill - killing enemies after that became more easy.
Ish will show up in the game.
Ellie will eventually become invisible to clickers and bloaters.
The fungus within Ellie continues to grow, albeit non-lethally, but enough that she begins to emit a weaker version of the scent the infected has. This will eventually cause her to be "invisible" to the blind infected as she will smell the same as other infected to them. This would naturally turn out a huge plot point with Ellie finding out (for example) as she's cornered by clickers and it looks like she's done for, only for them to suddenly act like they can't sense her and just walk by. Ellie can now lure non-infected enemies to chase her into an area with clickers and/or a bloater and simply stand and watch as the infected walk right past her to attack the enemy. If Ellie physically touches a clicker or bloater, however, they will still kill her: the gist will be that she's safe so long as she doesn't get in physical contact with them.- Jossed
Ellie's bite and subsequent infection will give her unique abilities.
In relation to the prior WMG, Ellie will become a Super Prototype to the infected, possessing the strength or stamina of an infected while retaining her humanity; sort of like a symbiotic relationship, where the infection aids her rather than takes over her body like a parasite.- Jossed
Ellie (and perhaps Joel) will be the main antagonists, rather than the heroes
Naughty Dog previously stated that they wouldn't want to continue Joel and Ellie's story, so perhaps their role in the sequel will be as the baddies. Maybe Joel's death will inspire Ellie's Protagonist Journey to Villain?- Well, they've already confirmed Ellie's the main playable character so by definition she can't really be the "antagonist". I think what you meant is that she will be a Villain Protagonist who'll be fighting against people with more heroic motives than her. In that case, I agree because Naughty Dog DID say they wouldn't want to continue the story unless they had "a tale worth telling" so I imagine they're gonna do something unexpected.
Ellie is beginning to succumb to the infection.
In the trailer, Ellie's arm is shown twitching before she gains control of it. A possible revelation is that Ellie isn't immune so much as the infection had a delayed reaction or stayed dormant somehow. The fact that the infection is finally catching up to her is a motivator for her vengeful state, wanting to take her enemies down with her.- Jossed.
The people Ellie is going to "find and kill" are the Fireflies - and the reason she wants to do so is because they kidnapped her child.
In the years that passed in between games, Ellie had a child, who inherited her immunity to the Cordyceps fungus. Said child has now been kidnapped by the Fireflies (in hopes of creating a cure, which would, as in the first game, require killing the child). This prompts Ellie's Roaring Rampage of Rescue - or, if it's too late to save the child, a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.- Ellie is confirmed gay by Word of God, so any child she has would inherently carry a healthy dose of Squick and/or Fridge Horror.
- Sperm donation is an option. As is being raped by any Washington Liberation Front soldiers.
- Having a transgender woman as a love interest could solve both of these problems, though.
- Jossed. They're not fireflies but a new enemy from a new region.
- Jossed. Ellie does not have a child.
Ellie will cross the Moral Event Horizon by killing Riley.
Ellie will reunite with an adult Riley, but Ellie's hatred for the Fireflies, whom Riley will be apart of, will keep her from seeing reason. Plot elements will make them enemies no matter how much Riley tries to prevent it, and because of Ellie's rage, will end with her killing her past best friend and lover. At this point, Ellie will realize how much she has fallen.- Riley was infected at the end of Left Behind and confirmed to have died in the main game.
- Jossed
The infected will have even more variants not just in type but in intelligence.
It almost goes without saying that there will be more enemy types than the already known runners, clickers, stalkers, and bloaters. But there will be new infected that have claws made for climbing and scurrying vertically along walls as well as a brutal melee attack. But they will also be smart enough to set traps and avoid ones Ellie sets for them. Taking It Can Think to whole new levels.- Confirmed, though there are at most only two or three new strains of infected.
There will be infected animals this time around.
In one of the opening shots of the trailer we see a tree with deep claw marks in it. This would either mean we get a new type of infected, or the fungus now possibly also transfers to animals.- Possible, since the first game shows that monkeys can carry the disease.
- Some enemies now include dogs. Fridge Brilliance when you realize that even if the disease doesn't affect animals, that just means it can be carried by trained attack animals...
Ellie's Reason For Revenge
The trailers for Part 2 look like they're setting up a revenge plot for the next game. While this may be unlikely, since I don't have the evidence for it at the moment, I'd like to pose a scenario: Ellie has fallen in love with another girl. This young woman may or may not be immune like Ellie is. This young woman was murdered or kidnapped, either by a group of malicious people or by people who wanted to experiment on her, similar to what almost happened to Ellie herself. Ellie may or may not have told this young woman her feelings for her before the young woman was murdered or kidnapped. Ellie is now seeking revenge for the death of her lover/one she loved. The group of people may or may not be good people as well, which could further the moral grayness of the revenge story.- Jossed. Joel getting murdered by a mysterious group that had a score to settle with him is the main reason for Ellie's revenge.
The story will be a Re-telling of the story of Theseus and The Minoutaur
In the room where Ellie is playing the guitar, the one word we can read from the posters on the walls is the name "THESEUS". Lets run away with that (all credits of this go to https://youtu.be/hAK8nfeBY2s
)- The Minotaur is the Search for a Cure.
- King Minos, who gives the sacrifices the the Minotaur is The Fireflies.
- The Yearly Seven Male and Seven Female Sacrifices are Other Immunes that have been killed in the Hunt for a Cure, (and maybe Ellies mother was one of the first test-subjects, explaining her Wrath).
- Theseus the hero who willingly gives himself up for sacrifice in order to defeat the Minoutar is Ellie.
- Ariadne, Daughter of King Minos who falls in love with Theaseus and who helps him defeat the Minotaur is the Unnamed secondary LGBT-character that has been promised.
- King Aegeus father of Theseus who kills himself because of a minor mistake that the distressed Theseus forgot about is Joel and his Death (not suicide this time around, but rather a Heroic Sacrifice to get them out of whatever bind Ellies mistake has put them in) will make Ellie realize that the whole "driven by hatred alone" is insane.
At some point in the game, Ellie and Joel (or Joel in a flashback) will come across his old home from the beginning of the first game.
- Jossed
Ellie’s mother may have begun to resist the Cordyceps Brain Infection and was somewhat immune
But her body wasn’t as strong in its immune response as it was with Ellie. We were never given a reason as to how or why Ellie’s mother passed away, only that she wrote her daughter a farewell note, and that Marlene was her best friend and agreed to keep an eye out for Ellie. What if Anna’s body was beginning to put up a resistance against CBI, and she agreed to undergo the same surgery that they were going to perform on Ellie in the game? Perhaps there was more to the reason why Marlene was willing to watch over Ellie. Not just because it was her best friend’s daughter — not that it wasn’t a good reason alone — but also because there may have been the slightest chance that Ellie would be immune. Nobody told Ellie this, because they didn’t want to freak her out, or to see her get hurt by trying it out, whether it was in a controlled environment or on her own to prove a point. There would have been more of a reason as to why Marlene or any other Firefly didn’t shoot her on sight once they saw the bite mark on her arm, days old past the maturing state of the infection or not. Bill will show up at some point
- Jossed
Ellie will have a pet pig at one point
Neil Druckmann, the game's director, tweeted that they're doing motion caption for a pig. That seems like it would be a waste if pigs would just be a background animal like giraffes or dogs in the first game. Maybe it will be necessary for some puzzles. Pigs are intelligent and can bond with their owners, so Ellie owning a pet pig isn't impossible.- Jossed.
Joel will die at the end.
One famous theory that sprung up from the teaser is that it hints that Joel is dead. However, it seems unlikely that the mere teaser would give such a huge spoiler away, hence it makes more sense that if he is to die, it'll happen towards the end. He would either die through a Heroic Sacrifice for Ellie, or, in a darker twist, he dies as a direct consequence of Ellie's actions. If the theory that Ellie is out to kill the Fireflies is true (along with Word of God saying the theme of Part II will be "hate"), leading her on an increasingly darker path, she may ultimately find herself at fault for causing her surrogate father's death, which will be the final awakening she needs to let go of her hatred and try to turn her life towards a more positive path again. The tragedy being that it will take Joel's life to make her realize so.- Jossed. Joel dies in the opening hours of the game, which triggers Ellie's Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
Joel will regret "what he made" Ellie.
Seeing how Ellie has grown into what appears to be a ruthless killer for Part II, Joel will at some point comment that she's turning into him, and he's sorry for having caused that as it scares and/or distresses him.- Played with. He admits to Tommy his regret for what he did at the end of the first game, but dies before he sees Ellie become a ruthless killer.
Laura Bailey's character is Ellie's mom, Anna.
Naughty Dog's official Twitter redacted the character's name when listing the characters from the PGW 2017 trailer, so whoever she is, she's clearly important. The redacted name is also four characters long. Plus, there's a reasonable amount of facial resemblance.- Jossed. Laura Bailey's character is Abby, the game's villain Deuteragonist who is not related to Ellie in terms of family.
Ellie will have, or had, a close relationship to whoever gave her the tattoo.
Considering that the person who gave Ellie the tattoo had to see her bite wound to do so, it must have been someone she was willing to trust. Not to mention spending many hours with this person while the tattoo was applied, especially in a post-apocalyptic world, likely resulted in Ellie and him/her to get close. Said relationship will either be shown in a flashback, or still be a relationship she has present-time, and have some significance one way or the other. If she was a girl, it might even have been a Love Interest.- Halley Gross confirmed this.
Ellie got her tattoo in order to hide her scar in order to not be ostracised.
Because of course she did. Snarkiness aside, there is a lot of emotion and symbolism behind being forced to permantly scar yourself in order to hide a crucial aspect of yourself. Something, Something, LGBT-Symbolism.
- Confirmed.
Ellie befriends a dog or wolf at one point.
Some promotional material shows a wolf image in one of the posters, as well as a picture of Druckmann with a dog wearing motion-cap equipment, confirming there will at least be a canine character at some point. Considering the first game and art work's implication of Ellie being fond of dogs, this will be an animal she befriends at some point and may even be a part of her journey for a while. What would happen to this dog or wolf in the end however is best left unknown...- Word of God has confirmed that Ellie will be accompanied by an NPC at one point, which may further support this as many believes this NPC may be an animal instead of a person.
- Jossed. She is accompanied by an NPC. That NPC is Dina, her Love Interest.
Dina is gonna die.
Dina, the girl Ellie dances with in the cinematic part of the trailer wears an bracelet. In the gameplay trailer Ellie wears the same bracelet on her arm.- Jossed. Dina survives at the end the game.
Dina is not going to die.
The cultists take her. She drops the bracelet as she's taken away, either by accident or on purpose. The cultists don't kill her immediately, because they want their captives alive, to begin with, for food or sacrifice. There's a time limit (they're not taking captives for the giggles, you know), but Ellie reaches her in time.No, I don't really believe it either. But a person can hope, no?
- Jossed in the fact that this scenario does not occur.
Ellie becomes a full-fledged Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
Obviously related to many of the above WMG, the attack on Jackson by the Fireflies killing nearly everyone is what leads Ellie on her revenge path and ultimately makes her a classic example of this trope.- Jossed. Only Joel is killed which is enough to set Ellie off on her Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
Ellie will cross the Moral Event Horizon via Revenge by Proxy.
Ellie's thirst for blood will motivate her to target the families and loved ones of those she seeks revenge on, and she will kill them in extremely brutal ways. Bonus points if these acts are done under the player's control, and not in cutscenes.- Played with. Many of the people Ellie kills clearly know each other and care for each other.
The party is the beginning of Ellie's Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
The party scene in the E3 2018 trailer is a flashback before the main game, and how the Fireflies show up and kill most of the people there, with Ellie and possibly others surviving afterwards.- Jossed. The game begins after the party, which isn't shown. Making the trailer at E3 the true opening of the game.
Ellie's conception will be implied
Since it's confirmed the game will deal with two timelines with the 'flashback' timeline possibly being about Anna's pregnancy with Ellie, we might go so far back as to show how Ellie's conception happened, or in other words, who both her parents were. This guess is also based on one of the directors saying she "got someone pregnant" in the game.- Jossed
Ellie is after the Seraphites to get information about her mother
If the woman from the PGW 2017 trailer is really Ellie's mom, Ellie may somehow found out the Seraphites knew her and attempt to get information from them, which is why Ellie ends up clashing with them.- Jossed
Joel's role in the game is to search for Ellie
The reason Joel is seemingly not accompanying Ellie on her journey is because she simply ran away from him. A culmination of knowing the truth of Joel's lie and perhaps finally confronting him about it, as well as the massacre of Jackson's inhabitants that Joel doesn't want to go on a murderous revenge journey for, leaves Ellie running away when he's unaware to do it herself. Thus, Joel's main part of the game will be to search for Ellie, always being one step behind her, and probably reflect on how he made her what she is when he comes across the wake of all her victims along the way. He might find her at some point, upon which they will journey a while together like old times, but Ellie will ultimately give him the slip again when he still doesn't support her need for vengeance.- Jossed. Joel is murdered during the opening hours of the game.
Bill will return, only to be an infected
At one point, Ellie might come by Bill's town, or somewhere close by, and come across infected, only to find Bill being one of them. Despite their hostile interactions in the first game, Ellie will still be very saddened to see this, and give Bill a Mercy Kill.- Jossed
Ellie will accidentally hurt Joel at one point
Ellie and Joel will probably have a big argument at some point, whether over Joel's lie and/or Ellie's journey for revenge, which will result in Ellie ending up physically hurting Joel, either by accident or in the heat of the moment, and badly regret it afterwards. It will cause a turning point in their relationship, by hurting Joel mentally and emotionally shocking Ellie, and leading to a bad separation between them.- Jossed.
Ellie will tell Joel "You're not my dad" as a Call-Back
Ellie and Joel will have an argument where Ellie will say something along the lines of, "You told me, right? You're not my dad, and I'm not your daughter", possibly in a defiant moment of not wanting to listen to him, serving as a heartbreaking parallell to the scene during Fall in the first game.- Jossed
Joel will also have a romantic interest.
A Deleted Scene of the first game mentioned that Tommy would likely try to set Joel up with someone after they moved into his town. When the game begins, Joel will either have a girlfriend of his own, or he at most mentions having had one or two during the five-year timeskip. Either they didn't work out because he's unable to commit to a normal relationship after so much time, or the one he's currently dating is a Disposable Fiancée that will be part of the casualties leading to Ellie's revenge quest.- Jossed.
Who’s pregnant?
ND has confirmed that someone in the game is pregnant and a baby doll has been spotted in mocap pictures.- Ellie: The obvious being the poster found in Cassie’s room in Uncharted 4 that shows a pregnant girl that looks exactly like her. She’s wearing a mask but that could just be something to protect the baby. She was also seen wearing a mask in the Outbreak Day gameplay as a means to hide the fact that she’s immune. With this game confirmed to have time jumps, she could have been pregnant at some other time. She’s gay but when the world needs to be repopulated and you’re immune to the virus, sometimes you gotta take one for the team. She could have also been artificially inseminated.
- Alternatively... well it could be more than just killing someone she cared about that Ellie is looking for revenge for if you catch my meaning.
- Jossed
- Maria: Only female character from the first game who’s alive and of childbearing age.
- Jossed
- Dina: Another female of childbearing age
- Confirmed
- Yara: see above
- Jossed
- Hammer lady: She’s got a six-pack but Emily says she’s gonna cut the demon out of her while pointing a knife at her stomach. Could be in early stages of pregnancy. Could also have happened in the time jumps.
- Jossed
The Fireflies have gone off the deep end and became the Seraphites.
In the first game Joel killed a number of Fireflies (those few that were left) in Salt Lake City, including one of the few surgeons left, and Marlene, their leader. As a result, someone else took up the leadership mantle, and the idealistic fireflies who wanted to save humanity have become the cruel and vicious Seraphites who no longer bring light, but snuff it out. The "light" and firefly motif has mutated into the a cult-like "angel" motif of seraphs.- Jossed. The Scars and Fireflies are 2 different groups
At some point in the game, Joel will sing for Ellie.
Said scene will almost definitely be a Tear Jerker.- Confirmed. The two had an argument prior to the start of the game, and Joel sings for her and gives her a guitar he made as an apology. The Tear Jerker comes in as Joel is murdered shortly afterward.
The Seraphites believe the cordyceps infection "cleansed" the world
The motivation behind the Seraphites' religious belief is that the Zombie Apocalypse was an "act of God" to wipe out the evils of humanity and dramatically decrease overpopulation. The Seraphites thus consider themselves "continuing God's plan" by wiping out the humans they find "sinful" or "unworthy", effectively seeing themselves as the good guys by doing so. Said motivation would also serve as a frightening parallel to real-life extremist groups justifying their killings in similar manner...
Ellie will get bitten at one point and someone will try to kill her not knowing she is immune
Ellie is bound to come across a group of strangers who have no idea about her immunity at some point. After a scene in which she gets bitten, this group will instantly turn hostile and attempts to kill her. Ellie will tell them that's she is immune, but they will think she's delusional and refuse to listen. The player will have to go through a Player Punch moment when they are forced to kill a group of formerly friendly people.- Mostly Jossed. Ellie does get bitten by a clicker but the slave trader thinks she's going to die soon anyway. Dina sees Ellie breathing spores but doesn't try to kill her
Ellie will be driven insane by her obsession with revenge/hatred of the Crapsack World she lives in so she can become the Big Bad of the final game in the franchise
The first game was about how love can lead to hatred; Joel learning to love Ellie, and then going on a spite-filled rampage of Fireflies because they were going to sacrifice her to save the world. This game's theme, similarly, could be about how hatred can easily lead to madness; Ellie's crusade of vengeance, combined with the stresses of dying party members, close calls, near-fatal injuries, being within 50 feet of cordyceps-worshiping cultists for more than five minutes, and her losing Joel, could very easily lead her to insanity. Ellie will gain control over the Infected
The infection has been brooding in Ellie's brain for over a decade. It's implied that the cordyceps infection is only just beginning to evolve and adapt, as we only saw three types of infected in the first game but there's at least one new type of infected variant in a mere ten-year time gap. So if Ellie's infection doesn't evolve to affect her as seen above, it could then evolve to work as a symbiote to her brain, allowing her to control infected with simple pheromone commands, like 'spores here' and 'kill that'.- Jossed
Dina betrays Ellie to the bad guys, and they kill Joel early in the game
The trailers leading up to release suggest that Dina dies early in the game and Ellie goes on her rampage to avenge her, which is supported by a shot of Ellie calling out for Dina in the snow and then the next shot showing somebody being killed while Ellie screams in horror. But what might actually be happening is that Dina left camp while leading an enemy faction there, and they kill Joel. Ellie then goes on her journey both to avenge Joel and on the false belief that Dina was kidnapped. The Joel that appears in the trailer may just be Ellie's hallucination.- Jossed. Dina remains loyal to Ellie for the entire game, only giving up on her when Ellie refuses to stop her pursuit for revenge.
Ellie is avenging Joel's death. Her companion is Dina.
It's been confirmed that Ellie is going to have a 'companion' in her gameplay, similar to how Ellie was Joel's in the first game. Dina has been built up as a love interest, possibly a tragic love interest, but Naughty Dog likes misleading trailers. Dina surviving, helping Ellie on her roaring rampage of revenge, and slowly realizing Ellie is so consumed by hate that she has to leave her, follows the details the developers have given us about the game being about 'hate' rather than love. The first game was two characters learning to love each other despite their hate. The second is about two characters learning to hate each other despite their love.- Confirmed.
Joel is killed in Seattle by the Fireflies which is what sets Ellie's revenge quest off.
It's confirmed that Ellie apparently goes to Seattle to rescue Tommy, who was kidnapped, and Joel follows her there without her knowing (the end reveal of the 2019 trailer). So here's a very elaborate guess (that probably won't come true but let's have fun anyway): Tommy is kidnapped by the Fireflies, who it turns out only kidnapped him to get to Joel and/or Ellie. The Fireflies are still out for vengeance and/or to get Ellie to make a vaccine from her, but since the two are safe within the protection of Jackson, they lure Tommy out instead: an easier target as he was a former Firefly and more inclined to meet with them. Ellie may or may not know she's the reason Tommy is kidnapped, but she decides to go and rescue him both out of the care for the man but also for Joel's sake as she doesn't think her father figure who's slowly nearing sixty should be expected to go on an exhausting and dangerous quest again. Travelling to Seattle, the WLF group she fights is just a red herring to get through: the real enemy is the Fireflies waiting for her and Joel to show up. As they do, the Fireflies reveal their plan and confront Ellie by asking if she knows about what Joel really did. Ellie does, which is what caused a big rift in their relationship before, but she'll be damned if they do anything to Joel in return. Her efforts are in vain, however, as the Fireflies kill Joel in front of her and Tommy, possibly accompanied with some comment as "That was for Marlene and all our friends", or "That's for stealing mankind's cure." Ellie and Tommy break free, kill the present Fireflies right back in exploding grief and anger and make their way back to Jackson. Ellie can't bear with the loss of Joel, realizes he was right about the Fireflies and why he saved her from them before, and thus she'll "finish it" (stated in the 2019 trailer) aka. "finish" what Joel started by "killing the rest of the Fireflies". This is also why Tommy comes to her house with a sad expression, why she discusses what she'll do with him and him telling her she "has no idea what [she's] up against": he's a former Firefly and is warning Ellie about taking them all on. There's no stopping Ellie, however, and she leaves on her infamous quest.
- Played With. Joel is killed, and the people responsible are from Seattle, but he isn't killed there.
There will be a flashback to when Ellie and Joel buried Sam and Henry.
- Jossed
Dina will be the Big Bad.
The early trailers were designed to mislead Dina as main love interest or possible victim. The main game will have Ellie wanting revenge against Dina for a personal betrayal. Joel will help her only out of parental love.- Jossed
The Fireflies are extinct.
The groups we've seen thus far in demos do not appear to be Fireflies, and I don't recall them being referenced outside of some graffiti in the 'through the valley' trailer. Now I recall Joel, early into the first game, suggesting they were certainly almost wiped out in Boston, and given that Joel killed a bunch of them, including their leader, to rescue Ellie, it is possible that, in the 5 years since then, the group simply died out. As for the graffiti, it could be years old, in an apocalypse people probably don't care all that much about removing graffiti.- Partially Confirmed. The Fireflies are officially disbanded as of the events of the second game. However, the Fireflies have begun rebuilding on Catalina Island.
Plot Twist will reveal Ellie to be the Big Bad of the game.
Arguably, Joel proved to be the Big Bad at the end of the first game, because he chooses to kill all the fireflies who were trying to make a cure for the pandemic, with Ellie's permission. History will repeat itself. Players will be helping Ellie slaughter and kill their way through the game, thinking they are getting justice for Ellie because she had been wronged. However, a plot twist will reveal that Ellie's actions are far too extreme, the people she is killing aren't so bad after all, and the main one causing all the conflict and violence the whole time, is Ellie herself. At this point, players might take control of another character, who wants revenge against Ellie, and kills her before the end credits, highlighting the brutal cycle of revenge.- Mostly Confirmed. Ellie wants to get revenge on Abby, who killed Joel. Abby fights back when Ellie kills most of her friends.
Laura Bailey's character is Ellie's older sister or half-sister, unbeknownst to either of them.
They somewhat resemble each other, and little is known of Ellie's mother, Anna; it's not out of the question she may have become separated from the rest of her family in the 6 years between the outbreak and Ellie's birth.- Jossed. See "Laura Bailey's character is Ellie's mom, Anna" for details.
Post-Release/In-game theories
The California Fireflies don't exist.
- While searching for the Fireflies in Santa Barbara, Abby comes across a working radio and gets into contact with someone. However, the person she talks to never actually says anything that verifies they're actually Fireflies, as it's Abby divulging all of the crucial information in the conversation. She's the one who tells them first that she's a Firefly and is looking for them, and more crucially, she tells them her exact location. In addition, the person on the other end doesn't warn her about the presence of the Rattlers, who appear to have been active in the area for quite a while. Meanwhile, the Rattlers are already waiting to ambush Abby and Lev the moment they leave the outpost, suggesting that the rumors of the Fireflies regrouping in Santa Barbara are simply a honey trap set up by the Rattlers to lure in victims they can capture.
A later DLC release will be about Abby and Lev searching for the Fireflies in Santa Barbara
- Like the past couple of major NaughtyDog releases, this game will also have a DLC released in a future date. The additional content will mainly detail how Abby and Lev arrive on the Island where the Fireflies are possibly rebuilding, only to discover dangers they must overcome. At the same time, Ellie's fate will be shown either during the campaign or at the end setting up how the story for the final game will possibly go. One give away is the title screen showing the Island after beating the game.
The DLC will have Joel as the main protagonist
- It will start off with Joel and Tess before the events of the original game while halfway through a time skip will happen to give us Joel’s POV during the flashback sequences of the second game with some new events added.
- Alternatively it could be about Ellie post-game and her Redemption Arc ending with reuniting with Dina and J.J.
I'm not saying Abby's eating the zombies but...
- The internet haters are asking how she can have that bod without a diet of supplements and cordyceps is a known protein supplement.
Ellie was never going to hurt Lev
- While she did put a knife to his neck to get Abby to fight her it’s possible that Ellie was just bluffing especially since she could have just killed him right away to get Abby to fight her.
The natural history museum building was set up by Joel.
- I don't think it's circumstance that a Firefly dropped dead in that building that Joel claimed he hadn't checked (like he wouldn't go over the whole land with a fine tooth comb before bringing Ellie there). With some inspiration from the underground town in Pittsburgh, he uses someone's long dead body, some spray paint, and a pen and paper to make a haunted house to justify himself against the Fireflies.
Sequel Theories
Ellie will reunite with Dina
- This seems likely to me. Dina likely went back to Jackson, and once Ellie explains what happened with Abby and how she was able to let go, they have a good chance at reconciling. Especially since if you look in the art room at the farmhouse when you return at the end, you'll notice that unlike the other rooms that one is mostly intact save for Ellie's portrait of Dina on the easel which is missing. That tells you that Dina still has feelings for Ellie and has not completely given up on her yet.
Ellie will sacrifice herself at the end of Part III to create a vaccine
- Ellie was devastated when she learned the truth from Joel about what actually happened in Salt Lake City. The thought of her immunity having the potential to cure the Cordyceps outbreak is likely heavy on her mind and if Part III serves as the series' Grand Finale, it's likely its plot will conclude with her entering another hospital, this time undergoing the surgery that will lead to the outbreak's cure.
Part III will focus on Ellie's redemption
- As Part II focused on her fall from grace, Ellie will redeem herself through either one of the two above WMGs, depending on how the developers want to end things for Ellie.
Ellie's surname, be it Williams or not, will be revealed
Abby and Ellie will become unlikely allies in the final game of the trilogy.
- With the Fire Flies rebuilding, the events will make the possibility of a vaccine doable again. Abby will already be a member of the group, and through events, Ellie will once again be in the middle of all the drama. By the end, Ellie will once again be given the chance to sacrifice herself to save the world, making things right between the two.
The protagonist of the next game will be Dina's son JJ
- Though this would require one hell of a Time Skip, the game could be about his years as a teenager facing a world where humanity is almost completely gone and learning of Ellie's immunity will go look for her. The subsequent journey will play out like her and Joel's story. It can even be revealed that Dina told him stories about her in the faint hope she'll come back someday.
Abby and Lev will return as playable protagonists in Part III
- A shot of Catalina Island is shown in the opening screen after beating the game, meaning Abby and Lev were able to get there after escaping Santa Barbara. The Fireflies are regrouping and rebuilding, and it is very likely they will send Abby and Lev to conduct operations on the mainland. What their mission is and what their interactions with established and new characters will be like are yet to be seen, but it seems very likely that we haven't seen the last of the two.
Part III will reveal Ellie committed suicide
- The plot involve JJ returning to the farm to find Ellie, only to discover her dead. On the plus side, though, he's able to extract her blood to use in a vaccine.
- Alternatively, Abby or Lev are the ones who a stumble on her corpse.
Abby will turn out to also be immune and will sacrifice herself for the cure
- Given that Abby told her dad that if it was her that was immune that she would want her dad to go through with the operation, it would make perfect sense for it to be revealed that she too is immune. Ellie sacrificing herself for the cure would be all too predictable and Naughty Dog definitely does not do predictable, so it would be much more fitting if Abby, still guilt-ridden over her actions, to sacrifice herself for the good of humanity and giving Ellie a chance to live a normal life.
The protagonist of Part III will be a black man or kid
- Just spit-balling honestly. Bonus points for a native born African.
- Regardless of their race I’d imagine the next protagonist could end up becoming a darker, grittier reflection of Joel’s violent tendencies in the first game as an elaborate slap on the face to the fans mad about his treatment in this game.
Ellie had already returned to Dina and JJ in Jackson at the end
- I think the real reason Ellie is at the farmhouse is to finally lay her memories with Joel and her past to rest. Which is why she recollects her “forgiveness” memory with Joel.
A central theme in '’Part III'' will be identity
- If that's the case Lev would be the perfect protagonist. As a trans-man, Lev is the perfect person for this theme along with being a Fish out of Water thanks to being a Seraphite/Scar now traveling through "the Old World" with Abby.
- One of the possible storylines could be him facing the ethical same choice like Joel killing the Fireflies at the end of I and Ellie breaking the Cycle of Revenge at the end of II.
Ellie will become a sadistic killer in Part III
With nothing left and no one to fight for but the delirium of slaughtering countless people, Ellie will go off the deep end and seek the rush of killing others as a substitute to the family bonds she’s lost.- Rather than just becoming a mindless killer, she might retract her forgiveness of Abby and continue to hunt her down to take revenge.
- If they want to go dark with it, if Ellie tracks down Dina and is unable to win her back, she may murder her and kidnap JJ to raise as her own son.
The Fireflies will be doing research into a vaccine/cure and part of the game's narrative will discovering the origins of the fungus
- ...or not. Given the game has been focusing on people living in a post-apocalyptic world and not on actually saving, it could end being a Riddle for the Ages.
Tommy will be the main antagonist
- There's been speculation that Abby and/or Lev will be the main protagonists to Part III, so it only makes sense that he, unlike Ellie, will attempt to seek out his own vengeance especially as he lost his eye, use of his leg, and his marriage in a fruitless endeavor for revenge.
Related to the one above, the Infected are evolving and some will begin to display evidence they can think
- It's revealed during one of the flashbacks that the Infected have begun to travel in herds and follow migration seasons like animals as opposed to mindless killing machines they were in the first game. It may turn into something similar to I Am Legend note where there's the mindless infected and there are a group of intelligent ones who have begun to cobale together their own society and culture.
- It's possible that they'll also display some type of control over the mindless infected who will act as footsoldiers for the stronger more intelligent Infected.
- Seems likely. So far, the oldest infected seen have been bloaters and shamblers as well as the Rat King. Patient Zero, the first and truly oldest Infected that started Outbreak Day, started off as a basic Runner, going through each cycle over the years until perhaps it reached a Bishōnen Line where it could pass for human that commands the horde like a hive mind.
At some point in the game, someone will serenade Ellie on the guitar
Since she can’t do so with her missing fingers. Possibly while she is dying. Maybe Tommy, Dina or Abby. We will find out there is no cure/there was never a cure
- We learned in the first one that the infection is caused by a fungal infection and that Ellie is immune. Once Ellie is at the firefly base they were going to crack open her head and examine her physical brain to find a cure. The thing is there are ways to examine the brain or examine brain/body/spinal fluid with out killing the subject. This means that the Firefly's believed they had narrowed it down to a physical structure in the brain. The problem is if Ellie is immune because of a physical feature in her brain, that can not be replicated, you can't develop a drug/treatment to physically change some one else's brain. This more then likely means there is no cure/will never be a cure. For further proof look at the second game, time has passed and from what we are shown the infected are dying off, and humanity is rebuilding. Not quickly or easily but with enough time more then likely eventually it will become manageable on its own to the point of, we think we see some growth that might lead to an infection outbreak, burn the area to the ground pre-emptively and then life goes on with no out break.
Tommy will feel awful about what he said in the farm
- After realizing that he ruined (or nearly ruined as the ending doesn’t make it clear) Ellie and Dina’s relationship he will show regret during his scenes in the third game and try to make things right.
The events of Part II were just a dream all along.
- Ellie wakes up in Jackson and explains to Joel that she saw a vivid vision of the future, of some weird person named Abby. Alas, it was All Just a Dream, and Joel teases Ellie for being so worried about things that didn't actually happen.
Part III will be about Ellie exploring areas in part I as a way to cope with losing Joel.
- After the dark and action filled part II the next game will be about Ellie going back to the places she went to with Joel in part I with the game ending with Ellie finally coming to terms with Joel’s death and deciding to move on and also decides to try to make things right with Dina finally giving Ellie a happy ending.
Ellie will have a teenage co-protagonist in III that will be a Foil to her 14 year-old self in the first game.
- Due to the losses Ellie has experienced in II, she is not so different from Joel in the first game (as he grieved over Sara for 20 years before finally accepting her death). In III, Ellie will soften up and become fiercely protective of the girl the same way Joel was for her.
- To take the contrasting further, perhaps the girl would also be a "what-if" of Sara if she survived the first night of the outbreak and got sheltered too much by Joel. Ellie would become her Big Sister Mentor and teach her how to fend for herself in a zombie apocalyptic world.
Ellie will kidnap JJ
In a darker spin on the above, Ellie will begin the third game traipsing with a teenage JJ, feeding him a story about either her being his mom or her being his mom's friend/girlfriend/wife who raised him since she died. Flashbacks, or the story in whatever manner, will then reveal that Ellie tracked down Dina and JJ when he was still a baby. When a still bitter Dina rejected her, Ellie kidnapped JJ so she won't be alone again, possibly even (probably accidentally) murdering Dina when she tried to stop her. Ellie will try to keep JJ from knowing the truth so that he doesn't leave her as well.- Alternatively, by the time Ellie finds her, Dina is already dead or dying and Ellie gets JJ with no blood on her hands.
Abby will discover that she is also immune to the virus and will end up being the one to sacrifice herself
- With everything Ellie still has to live for (it's strongly hinted that she has reunited with Dina) it's unlikely she would want to sacrifice herself and in flashbacks Abby insisted to her father that she was willing to sacrifice herself for the cure if need be, I doubt Naughty Dog would've had her saying that without it paying off later at some point. So I think part 3 is going to focus on Tommy finding out that Abby is still alive and setting off to finish her off once and for all with Ellie and Dina both trying to stop him from getting himself killed, he's about to kill her when he's stopped by the other fireflies who inform him that Abby is also immune (earlier she got bit when defending Lev from the infected) and is planning on sacrificing herself for the cure and Tommy has to get over his desire for revenge and protect Abby so that Ellie does not have to sacrifice herself for the cure.
Abby will try to save Ellie
Ellie either gets herself captured, trapped or otherwise screwed due to her suicidal recklessness and needs Abby to rescue her or becomes an amoral selfish mercenary who Abby tries to redeem. Ellie is less than thankful for her intervention because of, well, everything.