| “ | Make me proud Ellie!
―Anna to her daughter Ellie, in a letter.[1]
|
” |
Anna is a character mentioned in The Last of Us: American Dreams, The Last of Us, and The Last of Us: Left Behind. She is the mother of Ellie Williams and a close friend of Marlene.[2]
Biography[]
Background[]
Before the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak, Anna worked as a nurse and at some point became good friends with Marlene. Although they fought a lot due to Anna's stubbornness, they were close.[3][4]
After the outbreak, she became pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, who she named Ellie, sometime in 2019. She died within a day of giving birth to her, but she had the time to write Ellie a letter.[1] Before Anna died, Marlene promised to look after Ellie in her absence. She would keep her promise despite her position as leader of the Fireflies.[5]
Events of American Dreams[]
Marlene took care of Ellie for a while, but eventually put her in an orphanage and later a military boarding school. Shortly after Ellie turned 13, she was captured by the Fireflies where she met Marlene for the first time. Marlene gave Ellie an envelope addressed to her, with a letter from Anna inside. Marlene revealed that she made a promise to Anna to look after her and Ellie asked what her mom's name was, to which Marlene replies. She also gave her a switchblade that once belonged to Anna.
Ellie is later seen sitting on her bunk bed at the Boston military boarding school, listening to music with Anna's switchblade and letter by her side.[6]
Events of Left Behind[]
During the summer of 2033, Ellie and Riley Abel play a brick throwing game at the Liberty Gardens mall in Boston. After winning, Ellie can ask Riley if Marlene has ever mentioned her mom. Riley answers, saying her mom was close friends with Marlene even before the outbreak and that she was a nurse.[3]
Events of The Last of Us[]
Ellie carries Anna's letter with her in her backpack, along with her mother's switchblade. When searching for a deer during the winter, she can read the letter and will comment "I'm trying to make you proud".[7]
When Ellie was finally brought to Salt Lake City to reverse engineer a CBI vaccine, Marlene grudgingly gave the doctor the go-ahead to perform the surgery on Ellie. Knowing the operation will kill her friend's daughter, Marlene "speaks" to Anna and promises her that Ellie "will be with [her] soon."[8]
Personality and traits[]
Anna described herself as being stubborn, tending to give people a hard time, and not liking children, especially infants. Despite that, her letter showed how she loved and valued Ellie in the short time they spent together. Additionally, Anna also states in her letter to Ellie that she knew she was going to die, but knew that Ellie would grow strong and make her proud.[1]
