What happened to Ellie’s mom in ‘The Last of Us?’

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us HBO series and video games.

HBO’s latest series, The Last of Us introduced us to a girl named Ellie. Aside from the fact that she’s immune to the Cordyceps fungus, information about her remains a complete and total mystery. In episode two, she told Tess and Joel that she was an orphan, hence why no one will be looking for her during her travels outside the Boston Quarantine Zone.

Despite this character’s shrouded history, pieces of the episode and outside information about the game itself revealed that Ellie had a mother. Fireflies’ leader Marlene revealed that she was friends with her and that she promised that she’d take care of Ellie during her absence. So, where was Ellie’s mom before the girl’s adventures across a post-apocalyptic America with Joel?

What happened to Ellie’s mom in The Last of Us?

Ellie’s mom, Anna, is a character that was mentioned throughout The Last of Us franchise and will be played by Ashley Johnson in the HBO series. Ellie doesn’t know much about her mother, but the people close to her do, so she attempts to get some information just to know what she’s like.

In the games, Anna gave birth to Ellie after the initial Cordyceps outbreak. While she was able to give birth to her child, she unfortunately died just days after Ellie’s birth. Fortunately, Anna was able to write her daughter a letter, telling her that Marlene will look after her and that “life is worth living.” Sadly, Marlene decided to put baby Ellie in the FEDRA Military School for orphans, and only provided her little information about her birth parents, through a handwritten letter addressed to her.

It is currently unknown what was the cause of Anna’s death, but it was certainly not the Cordyceps. When Marlene and Ellie met once again when she was older, the young girl was provided with items that once belonged to her mother.

The show’s trailer hinted that a later episode in season one will reveal more of Ellie’s past, as well as a brief appearance of Anna. Hopefully, viewers will then get to learn more about the parents of The Last of Us’ only known immune character.

New episodes of The Last of Us will be released on HBO and HBO Max.