‘The Last of Us’ Episode 8 Ending Explained: Anything to Survive

Episode 7 of HBO’s The Last of Us allowed us to learn more about Ellie and her past as this episode introduced Riley and the Left Behind storyline that some fans could play in the video game version of The Last of Us. Of course, at the end of that episode, we saw that Ellie could stitch Joel’s wound up to ensure he stayed alive, as she no longer wanted to lose someone important to her.

Meanwhile, episode 8 opened up with Joel still unconscious and ill. He may have survived his wounds, but he was ill due to an infection that he had suffered. As such, it was up to Ellie to keep him alive and ensure he stayed strong enough for them to continue their journey. But Ellie found trouble in the form of a group led by a man named David. As such, we are here to look at what happened in episode 8 of The Last of Us and how it ended.

Ellie Hunting

With Joel still suffering from the effects of the infection he sustained from his stab wound, it was up to Ellie to ensure he stayed alive. That meant that she had to be the one who needed to find food for them, as it was important for Joel to keep his strength up the entire time so that he could fight off his wound sepsis. And Ellie had to go out in the wounds to go look for something to eat.

It was during the time she was out hunting that she found a stag big enough for her and Joel for days. Food was scarce during the winter, and it was important for them to stock up on food because Ellie didn’t know how long Joel would be in his condition, given that it had already been a while since she stitched up his wound. But while she successfully shot the deer, it wasn’t a kill shot that immediately took the animal down.

David and James Meet Ellie

David and James were introduced quite early in the storyline as the leaders of a group of survivors that lived in a community. David led the entire group by spending his days as a preacher that instilled faith into the other people that belonged to the group. The episode started with a eulogy to one of the group members that passed away. Meanwhile, James was David’s right-hand man but harbored doubts about whether their leader was leading them correctly.

Nevertheless, James followed David as they entered the woods to find food for their people. That was when they stumbled upon the stag’s carcass Ellie shot as they were looking to bring it back home. However, Ellie stopped them from doing so by threatening to shoot them down.

Cooler heads prevailed, and Ellie convinced David to give her medical supplies for Joel’s infection in exchange for half of the deer. But while James went back to their settlement to get the medical supplies, David revealed that he knew all about Ellie and Joel because it was Joel who was responsible for killing one of their own back in the university during the events of episode 6.

As such, James returned with his gun pointed at Ellie. He wanted revenge for what Ellie did to one of their friends. However, David let Ellie take medicine for Joel’s infection as he had other plans for the girl.

David Goes After Ellie

Back in their settlement, David told the group about Ellie and how she and Joel were responsible for the death of one of their own. While the members of his group wanted blood, David decided it was best to take Joel and Ellie by following Ellie’s tracks so that they could hit two birds with one stone. And it was clear that David had something planned for Ellie.

Back in their hideout, Ellie administered the medicine for Joel’s infection, hoping it would work. However, she realized that David and his group had followed her as she took her horse to lead them away from Joel, who was still recovering from his infection. And Ellie had the money to leave Joel with a weapon in case someone found him.

Ellie was able to lead David and his men away from her but ended up losing her horse when James shot it. She fell from her horse and was in no shape to fight back. Meanwhile, James was about to kill Ellie right then and there for revenge and because he didn’t want to take her back to the camp because she was just going to be another mouth to feed. But that was when David stopped him from killing Ellie because he wanted to take her back to their camp.

Joel Wakes Up

While David and James were on their way back to their settlement with Ellie’s unconscious body, other men were left behind to try to look for Joel so that they could kill him out of revenge for what he did to one of their own.

The good thing was that Joel had already awakened from his long sleep and was already healthy enough to fight the leftover men. He decided to tie them up so that he could interrogate them and learn more about where their camp was. And while Joel successfully interrogated the two men he captured, he executed them on the spot out of anger.

The Truth Behind David’s Group

In David’s camp, Ellie was locked up in a cage where she could understand what David’s group had been up to the entire time. Looking at the chopped-up pieces, she learned that David’s men were cannibals that ate humans to survive. And that was when she confronted David about this, as he readily admitted that his group was indeed composed of cannibals.

However, only a few people in David’s group knew the truth about what they had been doing to survive because he knew that the other group members would have lost faith in him as their leader if they found out that they had been eating human flesh the entire time. And David tried to dismiss his actions as his way of ensuring he and his people survived the Cordyceps outbreak.

When Ellie asked David whether or not he had plans to chop her up as well, he told the young girl that he wanted to groom her to be his partner in leading their people because he saw her potential as a leader. He described Ellie as a shepherd, while all the other people in his group were sheep who needed someone to guide them. But Ellie decided to reject his offer by biting David’s hand. This forced David to chop Ellie into pieces so that he and his people would feast on her flesh.

David and James were ready to cut Ellie into pieces until the young girl said she was infected and bit David on the hand. This caused James to hesitate as he wanted to confirm whether or not David was indeed infected. Ellie told them to look at her bite mark, which showed signs of infection. As James was still in shock, Ellie used the confusion to take the cleaver from him and kill him.

Ellie escaped from David, who went after her for what he did to him and James. However, Ellie did not have a way of escaping the building because David had locked up all the doors, which prompted her to burn the place down. A final confrontation between Ellie and David led to the young girl killing the cannibal as she released all her frustrations on him. 

Joel and Ellie Reunite

When Ellie was in David’s custody, Joel went to their camp to try to rescue the young girl. He was able to take out some of David’s men but could not make it in time to Ellie when she was fighting David. However, Ellie could kill David herself and leave the burning building alive.

With all the other men guarding the place dead due to Joel’s actions, Ellie reunited with the man she always treated as a father figure. Afraid and in shock, Ellie hugged Joel, who tried to calm her down by calling her “baby girl” for the first time. And this was a nickname that he often called Sarah when she was still alive.

In that regard, Joel and Ellie reaffirmed their relationship as a father and daughter duo with that chapter in their journey. That was when it was made clear that Joel saw Ellie as a daughter and that Ellie saw Joel as the father she never had.