HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us is expected to incorporate Ellie’s renowned tattoo, according to preliminary footage from the second season of the show. In The Last of Us season 2, Bella Ramsey’s character Ellie is more of a seasoned survivor. The overall plot of the second game is anticipated to be followed by the television adaptation, with Ellie and Joel (Pedro Pascal) moving to the Jackson neighborhood and joining Joel’s brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) after the horrific conclusion of The Last of Us season 1. Over the course of the nine-episode season, Joel takes Ellie to a Salt Lake City Firefly hospital.
Upon discovering that Ellie is resistant to the deadly Cordyceps fungus infection that sparked The Last of Us’ catastrophic pandemic, Marlene (Merle Dandridge), one of the Firefly commanders, requests that a Firefly physician examine Ellie’s brain in order to discover a treatment. Marlene neglects to disclose that Ellie will die as a result of the treatment, though. Joel murders everyone involved because he is unable to allow the Fireflies to kill his surrogate daughter. The truth of the hospital incident, despite Joel’s first deception to protect Ellie, lays the setting for Ellie’s tale in The Last of Us 2 and even has a connection to the significance of her tattoo.
Ellie’s Bite Mark is Covered by her Tattoo in The Last of Us Part 2
While not formally announced, a number of set photographs from The Last of Us season 2 revealed that Ramsey’s Ellie will have the show’s signature arm tattoo in the second season. Though it doesn’t play a major role in any of the game’s flashbacks, The Last of Us Part 2 sheds some light on Ellie’s tattooing process and motivation. Ellie’s fern and moth tattoo was created by Jackson-based tattoo artist Cat, Ellie’s former girlfriend. Ellie’s right forearm is mostly covered by the large piece, and for good reason—that’s where her bite mark is.
A bite mark from a zombie-like, Cordyceps-ravaged creature is usually fatal. The Last of Us episode 7, “Left Behind,” has Riley (Emmy-winning actress Storm Reid), a buddy that Ellie has developed a crush on, and Riley getting bitten by an Infected. Ellie makes it through the entire event without turning into one of the series’ ferocious monsters, but Riley does not. In the sometimes extremely deadly world of The Last of Us, Ellie is unique due to her immunity. Ellie’s visible bite mark is covered by the fern and moth tattoo, which eliminates the need for bandages or long sleeves.
The Significance of Preserving Ellie’s Tattoo Story in The Last of Us Season 2
Apart from being a defining feature of the persona, Ellie’s tattoo accomplishes other utilitarian goals. In addition to keeping her bite mark hidden from anyone she doesn’t want to tell—or, in Dina’s case (Isabela Merced), isn’t comfortable revealing just yet—the fern and moth imagery also serves as a point of reference in The Last of Us Part 2. Ellie only covers up the bite with a bandage in the flashbacks from the sequel, which take place shortly after the conclusion of season 1, but as the plot of The Last of Us progresses, Ellie’s tattoo gets darker and darker.
It’s unclear if Ellie’s tattoo update would refute widely held TLOU beliefs about the chronological sequence of events in the second season. The plot isn’t conveyed in a linear fashion in the second game, and there are early hints that HBO’s adaptation would also mix up the story’s chronology. All of which means that the storyline of The Last of Us is connected to Ellie’s tattoo and how it looks. Even better, preliminary video from season 2 indicates that it will reveal the “unseen story” of The Last of Us, including how Ellie acquires the tattoo and possibly why she specifically selected the fern and moth images.
