The Last of Us Part 2: Ellie’s Mum, past timeline and a cult?

Since the Last of US Part 2 was announced there has been rabid speculation by fans as to what the story will be about.
This has caused theories about the next installment to run rampant, both plausible and ridiculous.
I, for one, think the theory of Joel being dead and Ellie hallucinating him to be one of the worst theories.
Now that a new trailer has been released theories are, once again, running rampant, although these theories seem much more plausible than previous ones and I actually believe some of them are true.
The newest trailer is especially brutal as we see an unknown woman about to be gutted and hanged by a group of people who are apparently from some kind of cult, due to the fact that they use biblical words like sin and apostate.
However, before the woman can be killed, two guards bring a woman named Yara before the leader of the group who orders her arm bashed in with a hammer saying, “clip her wings.”
This torture is especially brutal and nothing like what we saw in the previous games.
However, before the group can break Yara’s other arm they are set upon by arrows and, with help from the unknown woman, Yara is able to kill the leader.
The archer, named Lev, emerges from the woods and tends to Yara who tells him to cut the woman down from the noose.
Disturbingly, Lev does not want to do so saying, “she’s one of them,” showing how little death matters in this world as he has almost no reaction to a woman hanging feet away from him.
Yara insists and Lev relents, cutting her down, only for the trio to be attacked by a group of Clickers.
The title appears and the trailer ends.

This trailer naturally generated much confusion due to the absence of Joel and Ellie and was a bold move on Naughty Dog’s part.
To show a trailer that does not focus on the main characters at all but instead a group of new characters was a risky move but it definitely paid off because of the level of speculation it has generated.
Already theories are running rampant, the biggest one being that the unknown woman in the trailer is actually Anna, Ellie’s mother.
Now I actually believe this theory.
For months there have been rumors that The Last of US Part 2 will take place in two different timelines, one in the future, with Joel and Ellie, and one in the past.
If this is true, then this trailer most likely takes place in the past.
As to the theory of this woman being Anna, there are three things that support this.
First of all, the woman does bare a slight resemblance to Ellie, although this may be stretching it.
The second thing that supports this theory is not from the trailer at all but an Easter egg  from Uncharted 4.
In the game you can find a poster called The Last of Us: American Daughters, which has a pregnant woman wearing a gas mask that strongly resembles Ellie.

Given that I do not believe in the Ellie being pregnant theory either, I think this person is most likely Anna and this is hinting at her appearance in The Last of Us Part 2.
The final piece of evidence to support this theory is Naughty Dog released the names of all the characters in the trailer but blanked out the woman’s name.
However, we can tell from the blanks that the woman’s name is four letters long, just like Anna.
Therefore I think this is most likely Anna and she will appear in a past storyline in The Last of Us Part 2, which will detail the events of Ellie’s birth.
If this is true then the past story line will probably take place six years after the outbreak began, since Ellie is 14 in The Last of Us and the outbreak started 20 years ago.
The idea of The Last of US Part 2 going back and forth from past to present is certainly an interesting one.
If this is Anna, then I wonder how it could tie into Ellie’s story, considering Anna died shortly after giving birth to Ellie.
Maybe Anna’s story could give an explanation to Ellie’s immunity?
Maybe something happened while Ellie was in the womb that made her immune?
Of course this is just speculation so it is possible all of this will not happen.
Still though, I really like the idea of it constantly cutting back and forth between timelines because it could offer the opportunity for us to see the same characters in both timelines.
For example, if these new characters Yara and Lev live through the past storyline then we could see them interact with Joel and Ellie in the future years later, which would be really interesting.
Another thing we can guess from the trailer is who these new enemies are.
It appears that these enemies are from some kind of cult, due to the leader saying the woman is nested with sin and asking Yara where the other apostate is.
A cult being the main enemies of the game would certainly be unexpected because most people thought the Fireflies would be the main ones.
However, just because the Fireflies may not be the main threat does not mean they will not be in the game.
If this woman is Anna, then we will most likely see Marlene as well in the past storyline because the two were close.
There is also the fact that the leader of the cultists says, “clip her wings,” when telling her men to break Yara’s arm, leading some people to believe that Yara is a firefly, which could certainly be possible.
However, there is also the possibility that Yara and Lev were actually a part of the cult because they refer to the Clickers as demons.

But, although the cult does take up a big part of this trailer, there is a possibility that they could just be a side enemy like the hunters were in The Last of Us and they might only take up a small part of the game.
Speculations aside, I feel that I have to talk about the graphics of this game in the trailer, which are nothing short of stunning.
Naughty Dog have really outdone themselves this time.
If this is in-game footage, then The Last of Us Part 2 is going to be an incredibly beautiful game.
So, those are my thoughts on the second The Last of Us Part 2 trailer.
I cannot wait for this game to come out, although unfortunately that probably will not be until late 2018 or early 2019.
However long we have to wait, I will be sure to buy it when the game comes out.