In gaming, few characters have the depth and resonance of Ellie from The Last of Us. Across countless battles and brutal losses, Ellie has remained painfully real—stubborn, witty, heartbroken, hopeful, and flawed. Her words don’t just move the story forward—they pierce straight through the player’s heart. Some quotes make you laugh out loud. Others leave you staring at the screen, gutted. Every word Ellie speaks feels earned, steeped in a life of survival, loss, and fleeting moments of light in a broken world. Today, we’re diving deep into the ten best quotes that define Ellie’s character and show exactly why she remains a towering figure in gaming history.
#10: “After all we’ve been through… Everything that I’ve done. It can’t be for nothing.”
Late in The Last of Us, when Joel and Ellie finally reach the Fireflies, Ellie delivers this line—and it hits like a thunderclap. Players have watched Ellie grow from a wisecracking teen to a battle-scarred survivor, but it’s here we truly understand the weight she carries. Everything she’s endured—the deaths of friends, the trauma, the violence—has to mean something. Otherwise, it was all for nothing. Her voice trembles with desperation and a kind of aching hope that’s even more painful because we know the truth: survival alone doesn’t promise meaning. Joel’s silence in this moment is deafening. This quote slices right to the core of The Last of Us’s emotional heart: the human need for purpose, even in a world falling apart. Behind the scenes, Neil Druckmann revealed that this moment was carefully crafted to mirror real-world survivors of war and disaster, who often wrestle with guilt and the need to justify their survival. Ellie’s words aren’t just about the mission—they’re about trying to find a reason to keep breathing when so much has been lost.
#9: “You’re treading on some mighty thin ice here.”
In The Last of Us Part II, Ellie is no longer the scrappy kid Joel met. She’s colder, sharper, and carrying mountains of unresolved grief. When she delivers this line—with chilling calmness—to someone who dares to push her buttons, it’s a warning shot that needs no elaboration. What’s incredible about this quote is how much it says with so little. Ellie isn’t shouting. She isn’t posturing. She simply is dangerous now. There’s a weight behind her voice that only comes from someone who’s had to bury too many loved ones. Players who had grown accustomed to Ellie’s snark and humor in the first game are struck by how different she sounds now—measured, lethal. This evolution of her character speaks volumes about how trauma doesn’t just break people down; it reshapes them into something harder. Behind the voice acting, Ashley Johnson explained that her portrayal of older Ellie was inspired by real PTSD survivors, focusing on a quiet, simmering rage rather than loud grief. This line, simple as it is, perfectly captures the new Ellie—one who is no less vulnerable, but infinitely more dangerous.
#8: “You know what, Joel? We’re shitty people. It’s been that way for a long time.”
This brutal confession from Ellie is a major thematic turning point. It comes after the pair have survived winter’s horrors, after Ellie has been forced to kill to stay alive. She no longer clings to black-and-white ideas of good and evil. Instead, she fully understands that survival in their world demands moral compromise—and she’s not proud of it. What makes this quote so powerful is its raw honesty. Ellie doesn’t deliver it with anger. It’s said almost matter-of-factly, with a sad, hollow acceptance. In a world that constantly demands moral clarity from its heroes, The Last of Us dares to acknowledge that sometimes surviving means becoming something ugly. Ellie’s self-awareness here elevates her character from a simple “protagonist” to something much more real. Fun fact: Druckmann has said that early drafts had Joel pushing back against this statement, but they changed it after realizing Joel knows she’s right—and that his silence says more than a thousand rebuttals.
#7: “I’m still waiting for my turn.”
In The Last of Us: Left Behind, Ellie shares an unforgettable night with Riley—her best friend and first love. Amid stolen moments of laughter and hope, Riley asks Ellie what she’s most afraid of. After a pause, Ellie quietly answers, “I’m still waiting for my turn.” The line is devastating in its simplicity. While teenagers in other worlds worry about school dances or crushes, Ellie worries about death—about the inevitability of loss claiming her too. It’s a heartbreaking glimpse into the mental toll growing up in the apocalypse takes. Players who caught the full weight of this line realized that Ellie carries death like a shadow, never expecting a happy ending. Ashley Johnson has said this was one of her favorite scenes to record, emphasizing Ellie’s simultaneous innocence and crushing fatalism. It’s a perfect example of The Last of Us’s mastery: in just a few words, it conveys a lifetime of fear.
#6: “Everyone I have cared for has either died or left me.”
During the emotional explosion at the ranch house, Ellie lays bare her deepest fear. She’s not afraid of infected. She’s not afraid of soldiers. She’s afraid of abandonment. When she shouts this line at Joel, it’s a punch to the gut—not just because of the words, but because we know it’s true. Ellie’s life has been a series of losses: her parents, Riley, Sam, Henry, Tess, and countless others. Joel, by becoming someone she trusts and loves, now holds the terrifying power to devastate her all over again. The brilliance of this scene is how raw and messy it feels. There’s no neat catharsis—just pain. Ashley Johnson’s performance here is widely regarded as one of the greatest in video game history because it taps into a universal human fear: being left behind by those we love. It’s a quote that stays with players long after the credits roll because it feels so heartbreakingly real.
#5: “You’re not my daughter, and I sure as hell ain’t your dad.”
This brutal line comes during one of the most painful exchanges between Joel and Ellie in The Last of Us. After surviving together for months, building trust and a bond neither of them wants to admit, Joel makes the decision to leave Ellie in the care of his brother Tommy. He’s terrified of losing her the way he lost Sarah—and so he tries to emotionally sever their connection before it grows deeper. When Ellie confronts him about it, desperate and heartbroken, Joel lashes out with this line. It’s a knife to the heart. For Ellie, who has already been abandoned by everyone she’s ever cared about, this rejection cuts deeper than any physical wound. What’s heartbreaking is that players know Joel doesn’t mean it. His voice cracks slightly as he says it, betraying the war inside him. He’s not pushing her away because he doesn’t care—he’s pushing her away because he cares too much. In post-release interviews, Troy Baker (Joel’s actor) said this was the hardest line to deliver because Joel’s cruelty in that moment was born out of pure fear. It’s a raw, ugly moment of emotional self-sabotage, and it perfectly encapsulates the tragic human defenses we all sometimes raise when love feels too dangerous.
#4: “It’s okay, baby girl. I got you.”
This quiet, devastating moment occurs after Ellie kills David during the horrific winter chapter. Ellie, bloodied, traumatized, and trembling, is found by Joel, who doesn’t scold her or ask what happened—he simply wraps her in his arms and calls her “baby girl,” the same term of endearment he once used for his daughter, Sarah. This quote is seismic because it marks the moment Joel fully accepts Ellie as his daughter in his heart, even if he never says it outright again. Players who have followed Joel’s emotional journey recognize the weight behind these four simple words. It’s not just comfort—it’s a promise, a vow that he will never let her face the darkness alone again. Naughty Dog developers revealed that this line almost didn’t make it into the final script because it felt “too on the nose,” but they kept it after seeing how profoundly it moved play testers. The tenderness and fragility of this scene, set against the sheer brutality Ellie just endured, make it one of the most emotionally powerful moments in gaming history.
#3: “If somehow the Lord gave me a second chance at that moment… I would do it all over again.”
This quote from The Last of Us Part II might be one of the most haunting, complex lines Joel ever delivers, but its emotional weight rests entirely on Ellie’s shoulders as well. Spoken during a flashback, Joel justifies his decision to save Ellie from the Fireflies, even knowing it doomed humanity’s hope for a cure. What makes it so devastating is how clearly Joel’s love for Ellie eclipses everything else including the fate of the world. When Ellie hears these words, her face—a mixture of anger, grief, and reluctant understanding—tells the whole story. She knows Joel betrayed the world for her. She knows she can never fully forgive him. But she also knows that Joel’s love was real, messy, and absolute. This quote reframes everything about their relationship, casting their bond as something beautiful and tragic at the same time. Behind the scenes, the development team said they wanted Joel’s confession to reflect the bittersweet reality of love: it’s rarely neat or noble, but it’s powerful enough to drive impossible choices.
#2: “I was supposed to die in that hospital. My life would have fucking mattered.”
In The Last of Us Part II, Ellie’s pain boils over into rage and bitterness. After discovering the full truth about what happened at the Firefly hospital—that Joel stole her chance to save the world—Ellie confronts him. Her voice cracks with betrayal and unbearable grief. For Ellie, learning that she was denied the chance to make her survival mean something is a psychic wound she can’t heal. This line crystallizes Ellie’s entire struggle with survivor’s guilt, purpose, and self-worth. It’s an emotionally raw admission that she sees her continued life not as a gift, but as a betrayal of all those who died for the hope she represented. Developers have discussed how this confrontation was designed to be the emotional core of Part II—the point where love, guilt, and anger collide in a way that leaves no one truly whole. Ellie’s broken fury in this moment feels almost unbearable to witness, and that’s precisely why it’s unforgettable.
#1: “I don’t think I can ever forgive you. But I’d like to try.”
Near the end of The Last of Us Part II, players are gifted one final, bittersweet glimpse into Joel and Ellie’s relationship before Joel’s death. Sitting on her porch, Ellie tells Joel she’s willing to try to forgive him for lying to her about the Fireflies. It’s not a neat, happy reconciliation—but it’s real, raw, and achingly human. In a world where life is short and brutal, the idea of trying to forgive is as close to hope as many characters can reach. The brilliance of this quote is how perfectly it embodies Ellie’s complexity: she loves Joel, she hates what he did, and she is brave enough to face both truths at once. Ashley Johnson has called this scene her favorite moment in the entire franchise, because it captures the bittersweet messiness of real relationships. Tragically, Ellie never gets the chance to complete that journey toward forgiveness. But the fact that she wanted to try shows her immense emotional strength—and cements her legacy as one of gaming’s most powerful characters.
Ellie’s journey across The Last of Us series isn’t just a tale of survival—it’s a profound exploration of what it means to love, to lose, and to live with both. Through every heartbreaking confession, every angry outburst, and every moment of fragile hope, Ellie’s words have carved themselves into gaming history. She reminds us that being human isn’t about being perfect—it’s about being willing to fight for something even when the world has fallen apart. And that’s why Ellie remains not just one of the best characters in gaming—but one of the most unforgettable.
