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- You go. I go. End of story.
- —Dina to Ellie
EllieDina is the femslash ship between Ellie Williams and Dina from The Last of Us fandom.
Canon[]
A few days after Dina's break up with Jesse, there is a celebration in a church within the settlement. Dina dances with a man from the group, as Jesse and Ellie look on from afar. Dina later invites Elli to dance with her. Dina gets really close to Ellie, so Ellie tells her to be careful, as people are watching. Dina says those boys should be terrified of Ellie because she has more of a chance with Dina than they do, so Ellie says that she's just a girl, not a threat. At that moment, Dina kisses Ellie. But their moment gets cut by a homophobic man that tells them that they're on "a family event."
Ellie and Dina meet for the first time after the kiss they shared when they go on patrol together. Their interaction is very awkward. Both of them were fidgeting with their hands and avoiding direct eye contact. They both stumble over each other's words (Dina is even nervously sarcastic about it) and neither addresses the actual kiss they shared previously. The tension breaks when Ellie is hit by a snowball from off-screen. Dina's first reaction is to defend Ellie and their similarities start showing as soon as they start fighting back, with similar use of language and tone.
After they seem to be a bit more comfortable around each other, the both of them go on patrol together, alone. Ellie and Dina are riding horses down a peaceful creek trail and their dialogue immediately turns to discussing relationships. The both of them share a bit about their past relationships (Dina with Jesse and Ellie with Cat). Ellie wonders how come they never talked about their past relationships, while Dina tells her that Ellie never shared about Cat with her either. Both are nervous, overthinking, and worried.
The rest of their patrol is filled with awkward compliments and attempts to flirt, mostly from Dina. As well as attempts to setup a romantic moment or strangely timed compliments about how nice Ellie looks. From reading back in Ellie's journal to her reactions to Dina's advances, it's confirmed that Ellie is attracted to Dina and that she is wise to her attempts at flirting, but fears ruining their friendship. Eventually, they end up exploring a small abandoned neighborhood. They talk about how mundane this patrol really is, talking about what they are doing later that night. They also discuss movies and Dina tries to schedule more alone time with Ellie later.
Next, the two of them enter the first major combat encounter of the game where Ellie and Dina clear a strip mall and supermarket of infected. And here's where Dina saves Ellie's life, twice. This makes the two of them grow even closer together. As they leave, they find themselves in a blizzard and they make a desperate attempt to find shelter. While Ellie almost gets lost, they both eventually find themselves to safety in an old library. They are trapped by a storm, relatively safe from infected and coming down off some intense emotional highs.
As Ellie and Dina make their way through the library they discover that it is where a previously mentioned character, Eugene, must have had his own sanctuary. As they explore and discover Eugene's underground marijuana farm, Ellie and Dina eventually find some functioning marijuana to enjoy and their conversation quickly leads to the obvious, their own budding relationship. Dina turns the conversation to their previous kiss, as she bites the bottom of her lip and they share some nervous smiles. Dina asks Ellie to rate the kiss they had and Ellie is hesitant and nervous to do so at first. So they share some bickering, getting closer and closer to each other, until they finally share a passionate kiss, going for something even more passionate.
Aftter they made love, the two of them talk comfortably with one another, while lying next to each other. Ellie feels much more comfortable to share some of her scars with her, as Dina shares hers. But their moment gets abruptly cut when Jesse tells them that Joel hasn't been found yet, which sends Ellie to quickly go search for him. After this, Ellie ends up witnessing one of the most important and traumatizing moments of her life: the brutal murder of Joel, her father-figure, protector and the most important person left in her life.
After being knocked unconscious following Joel's death, Dina finds her, and she is the one who Ellie wakes up to. Ellie's survivor's guilt is thrust back into the forefront. At this moment in the story, Ellie has personally witnessed the death of everyone she has ever loved: Riley and now Joel. So Dina's presence is completely important to Ellie. As she decides to set out on a quest for revenge, Dina's role is not just as a friend. Now, Dina is shown not as a flirty love interest but also as a supportive and consistent partner. The next few scenes are filled with interactions and dialogue that reinforce the couple's deepening connection.
The dialogue in this section is so good because it slowly establishes the effect of the two spending more time together. At some point, while they're exploring an abandoned music store, their dialogue reveals that Dina's attraction to Ellie is not new at all.
- Ellie – “Uhh, okay, we only listened to it like a hundred times together.”
- Dina – “I was only listening to it because I thought you were cute.”
This playful admission creates an intro into an intimate guitar scene where Ellie starts playing the song Joel taught her, the acoustic cover of Pearl Jam's "Future Days", which is their goodbye theme. Dina asks what it is but Ellie is not yet ready to open up and she plays Dina a song from their past, a cover of "Take on Me" by Aha as Dina watches wistfully. Finally, they also discuss their past feelings honestly.
- Dina – “You should've kissed me then.”
- Ellie – “I wanted to...”
In the next few sections of the game Ellie and Dina go through more shared trauma and make their way across Seattle. It eventually culminates in the pair running away from a horde of infected and Dina witnessing first-hand that Ellie is immune. This revelation brings deception that damages their trust since Ellie was wearing her mask the whole time. Once they escape to a nearby theater, a tense exchange ensues and Ellie and Dina have a pretty upsetting fight. Dina realizes that Ellie was honest about her immunity earlier when she thought Ellie was joking, so this leads Dina to be honest about her pregnancy, even knowing that those news will not be well-received. Even so, Ellie's response is pretty cold. Dina tells her she didn't want to be a burden, but Ellie comes back at her saying that she's now one, which deeply hurts Dina.
So after this fight, they both spend time away from each other for the first time in weeks. Ellie eventually falls asleep alone and for mental comfort returns to a happy memory of Joel. Later, Ellie returns to find Dina vomiting but also trying to help track-down WLF members via the radio. Ellie hurt Dina but she is still trying to help Ellie on her quest. And there is somewhat of an apology from Ellie and she comforts a sick Dina. As they try to leave, Dina is struggling and Ellie decides to leave her at the theater. But before she leaves, Dina gives Ellie her bracelet for good luck.
Ellie returns in the next section with Jesse, Dina's previous lover and father of her baby. Dina continues to invest in Ellie, but still, Jesse's presence sows uncertainty in Ellie, even though Dina reinforces that she wants re-connection with Ellie not Jesse. Dina stitches Ellie's wound and tenderly cuts the thread with a bite/kiss. Dina wants Ellie to embrace their love over hate, and to choose her over her continued obsession with revenge. Dina is subtly upset at Ellie's desire for revenge but keeps it in.
Ellie rushes out after this scene to go to the hospital in search of Abby and eventually finds Nora and tortures her to get answers. Upon returning, Ellie is traumatized by her actions. She starts to finally examine the choices she is making and grappling with the cost of her hatred. Dina embraces Ellie out of her continued love and support. Ellie tells her that she doesn't want to lose her, and Dina kisses her, just whispering "I know." Shortly after this scene, dialogue with Tommy reinforces that Ellie has made the choice to put Dina's first. Ellie has not let go of her guilt yet but she is suppressing it because she loves Dina and wants to commit to their life together. However, while it was Ellie's intention to leave, Abby shows up and kills Jesse and nearly kills Tommy and Dina. But Ellie and Dina survive.
A year later, the two of them start leaving together with their son, J.J., on a farm, seemingly leaving a peaceful life. However, Ellie is still haunted by her PTSD flashbacks and her need for revenge. So much so that she barely eats and sleeps at night. So when Tommy comes to visit them at the farm and reveals that he knows where Abby is, Ellie initially suppresses her hatred once again but eventually decides that she no longer can, with her guilt rising to the surface. Wearing Joel's jacket and packing in the middle of the night, she decides to go after Abby.
Just when she was about to leave, Dina finds her and pleads with her to stay. Reminding Ellie that she chooses to love her despite the difficulty and the pain. They are partners, they have a life together and their trials and tribulations are shared. Dina reminds her that they are a family and that Abby can't be more important than that, but Ellie can't let go of her revenge of Joel's death, so she decides to leave, leaving an extremely hurt Dina behind.
In the end, Ellie doesn't kill Abby and allows empathy and forgiveness to heal her guilt. When she comes back home to her and Dina's farm, Dina and J.J. are no longer there, and they left everything except for the room with her paintings and Joel's guitar. Ellie still wears Dina's bracelet from Seattle and she draws Dina and J.J. on her journal, as she writes about her shame and whether or not she deserves to be loved or if it will poison her loved ones. She believes that she should be dead, that her life should have given meaning to Riley and Joel's death, but she is finding new importance in Dina and J.J's life.
Children[]
J.J.
While on their peaceful, domestic life in their farm, Dina and Ellie were raising J.J. The first time J.J. was shown, he was crying on his crib, wanting Ellie to hold him. She gently grabs him in her arms and carries him downstairs, where Dina was doing the dishes. Dina asks Ellie to put some music, and she then goes near her, to grab her by the waist, as the three of them dance together. Later, Ellie and J.J. go out to take some fresh air and she carves J.J., Dina and her name on the tree on the farm. Then, the two of them sit and watch the sunset together.
When Ellie goes back inside to check on Dina, she sees her hanging the laundry, so she goes to hug her by the waist again, with a reluctantly cute Dina telling her to focus on the animals. JJ accompanies Ellie during her chores on the farm, but while in the barn, Ellie suffers a panic attack from her PTSD, remembering Joel's death. And when she calms down, still out of breath, J.J. was crying on her arms. Dina rushes to the barn and quickly calms JJ down in her arms. She sits down next to Ellie as soon as J.J. stops crying, and comforts her during her panic attack.
Fanon[]
EllieDina is the most popular romantic ship within The Last of Us series. It's also one of the most memorable femslash ships in the game industry, as Ellie was a very revolutionary character when it comes to lesbian representation in games. Her love story with Dina was revolutionary representation of femslash relationships in the game industry. Fans were also excited to see positive bisexual (or pansexual) rep from the character of Dina.
After Episode 6 of the HBO adaptation, fans noticed a cameo of a girl watching Ellie upon her arrival in Jackson, who seems to be Dina. This got the phrase "WAS THAT DINA" trending on Twitter. The official podcast seemingly confirmed the speculations.[1] This got fans excited, especially now that they've gotten a glimpse of Ellie and Dina's first interaction.
This ship currently has over 1750 works on AO3. It is second only to the familyship/friendship between Joel and Ellie in terms of popularity.
Fandom[]
FAN FICTION
- Dina/Ellie tag on AO3
- Ellie/Dina on FanFiction.Net
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Lists[]
| 6th | JUN 29th, 2020 |
|---|---|
| 8th | JUL 6th, 2020 |
| 20th | JUN 22nd, 2020 |
Gallery[]
References[]
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| The Last of Us Ships • The Last of Us Characters | |||
| SHIPS | het | Joel x Tess | |
| slash | Bill x Frank | ||
| femslash | Ellabs • EllieDina • EllieRiley | ||
| family | Joel & Ellie | ||