That also comes with playing as someone with a child and understanding their motives, which would have made Neil's original dark ending more powerful.
No one cares about the honor of their revenge did Abby care about hers?
Did Abby care when Joel saved her? Nope REVENGE comes first and she made sure his death wasn't easy. Yet with the immense satisfaction came with further loss of her humanity, and therefore new enemies that fukked up her life as consequence, even though she as well of all of her friends most likely dying on Scar Island during the climatic fight in the end, the irony.
It's about revenge and nothing else
The honor of it has nothing to do with it notice how you don't care about all the pawns who got fukked up in between like a pregnant Mel, Owen who isn't innocent but tried to see humanity in others but lost his life for it, Jessie, Tommy getting fukked, etc.
Her having a random flashback out of nowhere makes a lot less sense and is honestly a more of a cop out move. Why have Abby and Lev live if they weren't in the original draft other than to maybe use them again in Part 3? If that's the case it's a cop out even if with the required work it works as an ending. Of course Ellie's unconscious conveniently has a moral epiphany that love for your humanity can be just as satisfying as the satisfaction of revenge, as she is choking the cause of her revenge in the first place, and makes an alternate choice. Never seen a movie, show, or story where this occurs so conveniently ever.
Haley Gross was the influence and I find it odd why she wanted Neil to change that ending so bad, when it is logically consistent with the character's actions, dark theme of the game, and the classic patterns of revenge. In fact, killing Abby and therefore Lev by association, a child who spared my life by making Abby stop (who wouldn't care if Ellie and Dina were WLF let's be honest) in that weakened state would have been more of a powerful message showing revenge down to the nasty gritty details. You want revenge? This is what it looks like. Would have been a more powerful message showing us exactly why these cycles can't stop and why Abby turned into what she did to Joel coming full circle, instead of cliched forgiveness and stopping cycles.
By the end of it, it could show Ellie not really being healed but instead having experienced incredible satisfaction while being left with almost non-existent humanity to enjoy her life, be happy, and give herself meaning, losing an opportunity to enjoy life as a human being by only defining herself in terms of revenge for Joel like she only defined herself as the cure in Part 1, this time it was her choice vs. Joel making the choice for her in Part 1
But with the required work and reframing the change they made also works even though I think Neil should have stuck to his dark theme staying true to the dark nature of TLOU series.
against humans
Abby in the final fight and left without fingers.
