After seven years of waiting, fans of The Last of Us were ecstatic to get their hands on the game’s sequel, The Last of Us Part II, which served as the direct continuation to the events in the first game. It puts players in the shoes of Ellie, the only known individual immune to the cordyceps brain infection that devastated the rest of the country.

While players can jump right into The Last of Us Part II after completing The Last of Us, the DLC, The Last of Us: Left Behind, provides further backstory into Ellie’s past, while also shedding more light on what Ellie did after Joel found himself impaled during their trip to a Colorado university. While many players might overlook The Last of Us: Left Behind, there are a few details from the DLC that will make all the difference for players when they actually jump into 19-year-old Ellie’s shoes in the long-awaited sequel. Of course, there will be some slight spoilers (nothing too major), so players who haven’t yet been fortunate enough to get their hands on the game should proceed with caution.

10 Ellie Didn’t Have Many Friends In Boston

Given how much of a chatterbox Ellie was during her initial adventure with Joel, it was pretty obvious that she didn’t have many friends growing up. When she and Riley are making their way to the Liberty Gardens mall in The Last of Us: Left Behind, Ellie even tells Riley that in the days of her absence, she didn’t really talk to anyone. She even lived without a roommate, which only furthered her sense of isolation.

She’s someone who puts a lot of value in her interpersonal relationships, and as The Last of Us Part II clearly shows, has an appreciation for the relationships shared between others.

9 She Lacks Knowledge Of Pre-Pandemic Society

In The Last of Us: Left Behind, Ellie is only 14, meaning that by the time of her birth, Quarantine Zones and Infected were accepted parts of human life. She doesn’t miss what life was before the pandemic because she’s never experienced it. The Last of Us: Left Behind makes this all the more evident when after an impromptu photoshoot with Riley, she has no idea what Facebook even is.

Her lack of knowledge about what life was like before the outbreak means that players of The Last of Us Part II will likely see a version of Ellie that remains undisturbed by a reality that’s just as normal to her as the one they’re living in.

8 She Has A Vivid Imagination

Despite living in such a bleak world, Ellie has always had a creative imagination. During their mall excursion, she and Riley stumbled upon a busted arcade machine. All it took was for Riley to narrate a fictional fight scene, and Ellie was quickly immersed in a game that she wasn’t even really playing.

Given that The Last of Us Part II only takes place 5 years after Left Behind, she’s most likely kept this vivid sense of imagination intact, just in time for another cross-country trip.

7 A Switchblade Was Always Her Go-To Weapon

Ellie always carried her switchblade on her, which came in handy whenever she had to go up against other people or even Infected.

The Last of Us: Left Behind shows that even before the events of the main story, she slept with her trusty switchblade tucked away under her pillow just in case she would have to stab an Infected if one ever managed to find its way into her room.

6 Ellie Was Bitten By A Runner In An Abandoned Mall Three Weeks Before The Last Of Us

By the time players meet Ellie in The Last of Us, she’s very aware of her immunity to the cordyceps brain infection, but The Last of Us: Left Behind shows the exact moment she was bitten.

After their attempts to escape from the Runners that attacked them during their trip to an abandoned mall, Ellie is attacked by a Runner who bites her arm, infecting her just three weeks prior to the events of The Last of Us. This means that she barely got the chance to come to terms with her immunity before she was upheld as the world’s only source of a cure.

5 Ellie Was Drafted For The Military

While playing through The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind and The Last of Us Part II, players will undoubtedly find themselves questioning the legitimacy of a teenager like Ellie being so adept with any weapon she touches.

The Last of Us: Left Behind reveals that she was actually partaking in routine military drills during her time in Boston. This means that from an early age, Ellie received some instruction regarding firearms, stealth, and vital points of the body. It shouldn’t be a surprise that she feels like a one-woman army in The Last of Us Part II.

4 The Fireflies Let Teenagers Join Their Organization

The Fireflies is an organization that many fans have a mixed relationship with; they were focused on creating a vaccine for the virus, but in The Last of Us, Joel took several of them down, effectively making them an enemy.

At the young age of 16, Riley became a Firefly, and despite just how unbelievable it might seem that they let people so young join their organization, it’s also a fairly important detail to remember in The Last of Us 2, given the fact that there might just be some younger Fireflies waiting to get their revenge on Joel for killing some of their elders…

3 Riley Died From The Cordyceps Brain Infection

Not everyone who gets bitten by an Infected becomes one themselves. Unlike Ellie, Riley wasn’t immune, but she didn’t just become a Runner. Instead, the brain fungus that began to grow as a result of the infection killed her.

Of course, there’s no explanation as to why some people don’t survive the fungal growth and why others do, but it’s important to remember this fine detail going into The Last of Us Part II, since being bitten can mean death just as easily as it can mean turning into a mindless zombie.

2 Riley Was Ellie’s First Love Interest

Not only was Riley Abel Ellie’s best friend, but she was also her first love interest. Seconds before they were attacked by Infected during their trip to the mall, they shared their first kiss, and even after both being bitten, they were fine with becoming Infected and staying with one another together, even if they lost all sense of who they formerly were.

Fans shouldn’t be shocked to see Ellie with a girlfriend in The Last of Us Part II, given the fact that her preferences were already put on display.

1 Ellie’s Inability Led To Riley Getting Bitten

In The Last of Us: Left Behind, Riley and Ellie nearly escaped the Liberty Gardens mall un-bitten. Riley had already made it to the window that served as their only exit! Ellie unfortunately, wasn’t so lucky, and fell to the ground where she was bitten. Riley had every opportunity to escape, but instead, she jumped back down and saved Ellie’s life, which led to her being bitten herself.

This was the start of Ellie’s survivor’s guilt that she carried around with her for the rest of The Last of Us. If it weren’t for her blunder, Riley wouldn’t have died, and yet Ellie was the one who lived through the experience. In a world where many important characters die left and right, Ellie will definitely still be carrying around this guilt, especially as those closest to her inevitably lose their lives as a result of her actions, or in some cases, inaction.

NEXT: The Last Of Us 2: Ranking The 10 Strongest Characters