<P> After surviving a bite from the Infected, Ellie is tasked to Joel to be escorted to the Fireflies . Initially annoyed by Joel's surliness, Ellie starts to feel a strong attachment to him . After experiencing a traumatizing encounter in the Winter, in which Ellie is nearly raped and murdered by a band of cannibals, she becomes withdrawn and introverted . When Joel finally gets her to the Fireflies, it is discovered that she has a mutant strain of the Cordyceps fungus growing on her brain, which may be used to create a vaccine; in order to extract the fungi, an operation on Ellie's brain is required, that will likely kill her . While she is being prepared for surgery, Joel makes his way to the operating room and carries her to safety . When Ellie awakens from unconsciousness, Joel lies by telling her that the Fireflies found many other subjects, and had stopped looking for a cure . Ellie later confronts him about it, demanding to know the truth . When he reassures her that he is telling the truth, she replies with "Okay". </P> <P> The team felt that the establishing the physical appearance of Ellie was "critical"; they felt that she need to appear young enough for to make her relationship with Joel believable, but old enough to be credible as a resourceful teenager capable of surviving . When questioned about the inspiration for Ellie as a gameplay feature, Druckmann recalled when he and Straley were brainstorming ideas for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and created a mute character who would summon the player to follow them, creating a "beautiful" relationship through gameplay alone . Though this concept was never included in the final game, the idea was raised when the team were discussing a new project, ultimately inspiring Ellie . Following the release of Left Behind, in which Ellie is seen kissing her friend Riley, Druckmann has confirmed that she is gay . </P> <P> Marlene (Merle Dandridge) is the leader of the Fireflies, a militia movement hoping to wrest control of the Quarantine Zones from the military . She was tasked by Ellie's mother, a close friend of hers, to look out for her daughter, but Ellie only met her after her infection . After being wounded in Boston, she offers to sell Joel and Tess the merchandise Robert stole from them and sold to her in return for smuggling Ellie out of the Quarantine Zone . Joel meets Marlene again at the Firefly hospital in Salt Lake City, where scientists are running tests on Ellie . Marlene reveals that they will operate on Ellie, which will result in her death; Joel disagrees with the operation and fights back . After Joel rescues Ellie, Marlene tries to stop him from leaving, insisting that taking Ellie will merely delay her death until a more gruesome one occurs, and Ellie's return to her would help to create a cure against the infection . Joel disregards her and instead shoots her in the stomach . She begs for her life, but Joel executes her with a shot to the head, ensuring that no - one is left to come after them . </P> <P> The team aimed for Marlene's physical design to make her look "capable and in control", while conveying compassion, to result in players believing that she does care for Ellie . Dandridge found the character of Marlene to be complex, believing that she "wants to do the best thing for the greater good", but events in her life have resulted in a confused moral standing . Though she personally believed that Marlene is a fundamentally "good" person, Dandridge felt that the ambiguous morality of the characters is a significant contributor to the interest in their humanity . Dandridge also appreciated the use of motion capture, comparing it to theater productions . </P>

Who plays marlene in the last of us