The Last of Us: How was Eli immune? The final episode answers the question

Warning, spoilers. It is advisable to watch the last episode of The Last of Us before continuing reading this article.

The first season of Us ended with the ninth episode, “Look for the Light”, which marks the end of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsay) journey in an America that has been ravaged by an epidemic caused by the Cordyceps fungus. .

The duo tried to track down the Fireflies, a rebel organization that survived against martial law. This popular militia thinks they can find a cure or vaccine for the infection thanks to Eli, who is miraculously immune.

And the latest episode of The Last of Us answers the big question every fan has been asking: How did Ellie become immune to Cordyceps. The answer lies in the first sequence of the episode.

Eli’s immunity explained!

The last episode of The Last of Us begins with an important twist: it’s about the birth of Eli. We find her mother Anna, played by Ashley Johnson, the translator and voice of Ellie in the video game, running through the woods. Up to her neck pregnant, she runs away from the infected.

He eventually finds refuge in an abandoned house and locks himself in an upstairs room. But the infected comes and attacks him viciously. Anna manages to kill him with a knife and discovers that she gave birth to Eli during the attack. But first, he realizes that the infected bit him on the thigh.

Anna cuts the umbilical cord with the same knife used to kill the infected and soothes her baby, whom she names Ellie. Later in the episode, Anna and Alice are found by Marlene (Merle Dandridge) and the fireflies. Marlene retrieves Eli and kills Anna at her request.

It is an intense and tragic birth that allows Ellie to be immunized, as her mother is bitten at this very moment and she cuts the umbilical cord with a knife that pierces the head of the infected.

Later in the episode, Marlene explains this to Joel “The cordyceps in Eli’s body grew in him from birth”. And this makes the “normal cordyceps” think that it is also a cordyceps creature. That’s why he’s immune and why the Fireflies want to operate on him to find a cure. But people who saw the episode know that’s not how Joel is going to handle things.

The Last of Us series is available in its entirety on Prime Video.