Mars

22/22 #ellabs canon

It's about showing a person who knows you a certain way you aren't that way anymore…That’s the interesting part.
Finding meaning after losing everything.

21/22 #ellabs canon

And now they are stuck together, having gone through all these changes, unmoored by the other's action, then saved by them. That’s why forced #post-canon proximity is so compelling: you take two people bound by hatred and explore how long it takes for their biases to crumble.

20/22 #ellabs canon

Joel butchered dozens of people to save her. Abby tracked and killed him. Ellie killed Abby's friends and had to confront her own violence, then her own selfishness by going after her instead of staying with her family. If she lets Abby go, then this will have been for nothing.

19/22 #ellabs canon

Ellie, as we know, is not a psychopath; her violence isn’t for fun. She’s shaken by Abby’s state and only realizes last-minute that sparing her means all of this was for nothing-the one thing Ellie can’t accept. She desperately wants all of this to have been for something.

18/22 #ellabs canon

But I don’t think she waited for Abby to set Lev on the boat to act. She followed because she had no idea what to do next. She traveled for months to avenge Joel, only to confront the reality that Abby isn’t the monster she imagined-just a human who suffers like everyone else.

17/22 #ellabs canon

Yet Ellie’s violence also shows she’ll slaughter those outside her tribe without hesitation. Abby also witnesses what she thinks is Ellie’s mercy (she's cuts down). That's why she says "there are boats". She’s offering an olive branch, thinking Ellie extended one first. (oops)

16/22 #ellabs canon

Also, Abby knows Ellie isn’t a heartless monster. Yes, Ellie murdered all of her friends, but she also confessed and basically sacrificed herself to save Tommy, which is proof she operates by a code. Militia logic dictates that codes matter.

15/22 #ellabs canon

Abby stuck with Lev, who's a kid and therefore a "burden" (which Ellie tells Dina point blank), and THEN LEFT THEM. I think unconsciously this is a big blow to Ellie who can't help be see the ways Abby did "better" than her.

14/22 #ellabs canon

Ellie knows Abby is not as ruthless as the act of killing Joel made her seem: Lev’s stayed with her for over a year, and Abby clearly cares for him deeply. This likely also sends Ellie back to her failure as a "mom".

13/22 #ellabs canon

This also means Ellie realizes Abby has changed. The woman who brutalized Joel with a golf club (yet spared her and Tommy) is now restrained by Lev’s influence (re: theatre scene, where he stops her from killing Dina by calling out her name).

12/22 #ellabs canon

Ellie's desperate for either death or something new to care about. She’d never bend for Abby, but Lev-an innocent kid who showed her mercy (stopping Abby from killing her and Dina)-could make her stick around. She also feels gratitude; without Lev, she and Dina would be dead.

11/22 #ellabs canon

(Dina broke up with her, there's no going back to a happy family. Dina tells her she's not doing this again, which is funny bc it's also what Abby says at the beach. Ellie's quest for revenge lasts longer than everyone else's in the game. She is the LAST one to change)

10/22 #ellabs canon

We know this shift is possible because we've literally just seen it happen: Abby abandoned her loyalty to the WLF to help the Seraphite kids, despite owing Isaac everything. We also know Ellie is now utterly alone.

9/22 #ellabs

We’ve seen Joel break through Ellie’s walls (& viceversa), so we’re subconsciously aware that under different circumstances, Ellie&Abby would get along, since Abby is also a version of Joel (as we have seen through 95% of Abby's actions, Joel's murder notwithstanding).

8/22 #ellabs & why they make sense

It’s about the reinvention of self and the deconstruction of old beliefs in the presence of someone deeply traumatized by those very beliefs.

7/22 #ellabs & why they make sense

And so Ellie and Abby perceive each other through two conflicting lenses simultaneously: the monster the other knows me to be vs. the person I’m trying to become now.
And that’s why Ellabs is such an interesting ship to explore.

6/22 #ellabs & why they make sense

He's someone Abby already connected with (meanwhile Ellie raised JJ who I'm pretty sure is a huge reason why Ellie didn't fully spiral upon returning: he gave her something to do/look out for).

5/22 #ellabs & why they make sense

They’re both projecting who they want to be now onto Lev. He’s the only unbiased person left. He’s a child + also doesn’t know their complicated past.

4/22 #ellabs & why they make sense

The level of vulnerability here is insane : fear of judgment, fear of being seen as fake, fear that the new versions of themselves might still be awful and that the other might call them out on their bullshit or worse, expose them.

3/22 #ellabs & why they make sense
So now, they’re effectively new people, trying on new skins and personalities while standing beside someone who has seen them at their absolute lowest (Abby torturing and killing Joel. In Seattle, Ellie picks off all of Abby's friends.)

2/22 #ellabs & why they make sense
Granted, Abby had already begun changing earlier (she’s the one who refused to initiate a fight after the Rattlers and let Ellie and Dina live in Seattle), but by the time they stop fighting in the Pacific, Ellie has now also chosen to change (give up revenge).

1/22
Ok so I see a lot of people who don't understand the point of #ellabs (EllieXAbby) and I want to attempt to explain why.
The thing is, they don’t know each other.
By the time they interact in any part II post canon fic, it’s their first real interaction after deciding to change.

ELLABS CANON