Movies - TV
Last of Us: Ellie's Room Is Packed With Game Easter Eggs
By VALERIE ETTENHOFER
Spoiler Warning!
This story contains spoilers for HBO's “The Last Of Us,” as well as Naughty Dog's video games, “The Last Of Us” and “The Last Of Us: Part II.”
Until Episode 7 of “The Last of Us,” fans had not actually gotten to see what being a kid looked like for Ellie before Joel entered her life. The episode offers a glimpse into what Ellie was like before the series started and reminds viewers that, despite everything, she really is just a teen trying to grow up in the relative safety of the Quarantine Zone.
A time capsule
The purposeful clutter in Ellie’s room harkens back to a time before the world ended and makes for an incredible set design. From a poster for “Mortal Kombat II” to a concert flier for a real White Stripes concert that took place months before the fictional outbreak, it’s a microcosm of found objects and visions of a time long gone.
A love of outer space
Space is a major theme in Ellie's bedroom, a detail that will resonate with anyone who's played “The Last Of Us Part II.” While a poster with the moon phases adorns her bedroom, the video game features Joel and Ellie in the Wyoming Museum of Science and History, where they climb inside a rocketship, and Ellie even tries on an astronaut's helmet.
The outside world
Ellie has set her sights far beyond the walls of the Boston QZ, exemplified by her love for space. By retconning events from “The Last of Us Part II” to moments in Season 1, which draws upon the first game, the series’ creators manage to break the hearts of many fans early on by adding hand-drawn spaceships and astronauts to Ellie’s walls.
Savage Starlight
Foreshadowing occurs as she reads “Savage Starlight,” a comic from the game where Dr. Daniela Star tries to save the galaxy after making a rare scientific discovery while powerful groups get in the way. The pages Ellie reads depict an older man with a young woman seemingly on a perilous mission, deepening the connection to her own story.