The Last Of Us Story Is Odd

The last of us story is odd

Since season 2 is airing and I am in love with Bella Ramsey, I was just thinking about the show and what I know of the story (I haven't watched a playthrough so I only know stuff from googling and the show) and the whole reason for the first game is a little dumb to me. Spoilers possibly ahead

I would like to say, I know that this shit might just take away the impact of Joel's choice in the end. That being said, i'm gonna say it anyway.

So we know that Eliie is born immune because her mom was bit during child birth and the fungus is just... in her brain. Marleen knows Ellie is immune, Marleen was there when Ellie was born - well after Ellie was born.

The whole plot of the first game and season of the show is Joel taking this immune girl across the country from Boston to Colorado so that the fireflies can make a vaccine and protect, I assume, themselves and others.

First of all, Fungus ain't a Virus. Vaccine's don't really work for Fungus (though there is research trying) so the whole plan wouldn't have worked. The doctor, Abby's dad Jerry, wouldn't have been able to do shit. Jerry would have killed an innocent girl, presumably the only immune person known about at that point, for a plan he didn't have one hundred percent certainty on. They just assumed something would work without any ideas to test their theory.

Marleen was leading them - I think - and as I said, Marleen was there after Ellie was born and her mum was infected... she killed Ellie's mum. So Marleen should have put two brain cells together and thought about the possibilities of how Eliie was immune, there would have been only one real way for it to happen - The cordyceps from the bite on her mother travelled through the umbilical cord and infected the baby but in such a small amount that it didn't harm baby Ellie. Even if momma said she was bit after, she shouldn't have believed her after seeing Eliie survive a bite and not turn.

That brings me to how they should have gone about testing before going to last resort of killing Ellie.

First idea is a long con, it would take years.

If Marleen thought of the whole 'momma infected caused newborn baby to be immune' thing and decided to test it. It would be very inhumane but in a time of murder and betrayal and anarchy, I doubt it would matter much. They grab a woman, someone from their enemy or someone who wronged them, a traitor or spy, whatever and lock them up. Get a male member to act like they are seducing or being seduced by the prisoner and they have sex, woman gets pregnant - as Isabella Merced said, people in times of high stress feel the need to procreate - and she stays locked up, fed enough and kept safe for 9 months. Close to the due date of the baby, maybe while she's in labor, get her bitten and deliver the baby (either push or c-section, idk) and then kill the mother so she doesn't turn... or keep her as a captive infected for future turning. Raise the child and then, at some point have the child get bitten and take note of what happens. If the child doesn't turn then hooray, you've found a way to make guaranteed immune kids and can use more enemy's to create these kids... when they grow up and procreate, their immunity will hopefully pass onto their babies. Boom, infected are no longer a threat other than y'know, being ripped apart and bleeding out kinda shit.

If it doesn't work and the kid isn't immune then fuck- now you have to kill a kid.

Second Idea is a bit quicker, could be done at the same time as the baby plan.

Somehow get infected blood and study it a bit and then find - once again - an enemy or traitor, whatever to use for the lab rat. Put them in a cage, inject them with a bit of infected blood and monitor results.

If they turn, the plan is trashed.

If they don't however, monitor the effects and possibly inject more, get more varied subjects and use the same conditions to test if it was dependent on genes or not. After some time and possibly several injections of infected blood, send them out or get them bit somehow and then lock them back up and monitor them.

If they turn, it didn't work.

If they don't turn, congrats, you found a way to make everyone immune to the fungus. Now do that to everyone and hooray you good, just gotta not be ripped apart.

This leads to me saying, the entirety of part 2 (and season 2 of the show) happened because Abby was sad about her dumb dad dying. Reasonable to be sad, not reasonable to go off and hunt Joel down and kill him... especially after he saves her life from a horde!

This would have also meant Ellie and Dina could be happy! No revenge plot!

(Take this with a grain of salt, I do not have any qualifications and am making assumptions and shit about the universe... this just came to my head one night and would not leave!)