'The Last Of Us Part 2' Player Spots Detail That Completely Changes The Ending

Big, juicy spoilers for the ending of The Last Of Us Part II in this article. You've been warned.

If you've played The Last Of Us Part II all the way through to the end, odds are you were feeling pretty emotionally conflicted by the time the credits rolled.

On the one hand, Ellie had decided to let Abby go and end the cycle of revenge that had driven the entire game up to that point. On the other, her inability to let go sooner cost her everything. The very end of the game sees a seemingly broken Ellie head back to the farm house where she lived in domestic bliss with Dinah and her baby JJ (Jesse Joel), only to find it completely empty... save for a room full of Ellie's stuff that's all been packed into boxes.

The immediate implication is that Dinah took JJ away from the farm and back to Jackson, clearly wanting nothing more to do with Ellie's toxic and dangerous obsession with revenge over the woman that killed Joel. The final shot of the game sees Ellie set down the guitar she's no longer able to play, and head for a destination unknown.

Powerful stuff, but not entirely a "happy" ending, right? But as it turns out, The Last Of Us Part 2's final moments might not actually be as gloomy as we first thought... and it's all down to an incredibly minor detail that was pointed out by in a YouTube comment section before being shared on Twitter.

The gist of the theory is that Ellie has returned to the farm after already having gone back to Jackson to make amends with Dinah. The fact that Ellie isn't carrying any weapons and her wounds seem to have been completely cleaned up seem to support this. The user also points out that Ellie doesn't call out to Dinah or act at all surprised when she discovers the empty house.

So why would Ellie go back to the house at all? The thinking is that she went back to say one last goodbye to Joel. The guitar he gave her is one of the few physical links she has to him, which makes the final shot of her setting it down and walking away from it once and for all even more poignant.

Is this the "correct" interpretation? We have absolutely no idea, and we doubt Naughty Dog would confirm or deny it. I'm certainly more than happy to entertain the notion that Ellie found peace in the end, though.