Ellis

"Folks call me Ellis. I run an auto shop with a couple of my buddies. We're also in a band. I play bass."

- Ellis

Ellis is one of the four playable Survivors in Left 4 Dead 2. He's a goofy, beer-loving smart guy that likes to work with machines. According to Chet, he is "extremely excited" about everything, like managing to visit a concert and kill a lot of zombies, making him more of an optimist like Louis of Left 4 Dead, but like Francis, Ellis believes himself to be indestructible.

Official Description


Age: 23 Hometown: Savannah, GA

Ellis is a mechanic with a love of life, a firm belief in his own immortality, and the ability to treat any setback as a fun dare to impress his friends. Born and raised in Savannah, Ellis divides up his time working at the local garage, hanging out with his buddies, and dropping by for Sunday dinners with Mom—why’d anybody want to live anywhere else?

Then the zombies had to go and spoil it. Now Ellis is looking for new things to occupy his time, and finding plenty. It turns out the zombie apocalypse is one big dare, and there’s no shortage of crazy stuff he can try to impress his new buddies.

Relationships with other Survivors
Ellis is naive and optimistic, possibly due to his age and seems to lack comprehension of the seriousness of his current situation, and has a mixed relationship with the other survivors.
 * Coach: Coach and Ellis have a friendly relationship, possibly a father-son relationship, with Coach occasionally calling Ellis "Son" or "Young 'un." Coach is the least annoyed with Ellis. Despite having a large age gap (21 years), both have similar interests, both like Jimmy Gibbs Jr., the Midnight Riders and have a fondness for Whispering Oaks amusement park. Their friendliness could simply stem from both of them being native Georgians.
 * Nick: Nick subtly insults Ellis and makes fun of him on several occasions, but this dislike is seemingly one sided, as Ellis is hardly aggressive towards Nick in return but is not beyond simple retaliation. Nick is not beyond complimenting Ellis and even vague attempts to bond with him (Asking if the Midnight Riders are "any good"). However, Nick has aimed insults at Ellis by insulting the Midnight Riders and Jimmy Gibbs Jr. (both of whom Ellis is a big fan). Ellis is sad to see Nick die, but Nick is sometimes negative toward Ellis even when he dies. Though, occasionally, Nick will say something to indicate he is sad that Ellis has died.
 * Rochelle: Rochelle is more lenient towards Ellis, referring to him as "Sweetie" whenever Ellis trails off in to one of his long winded stories. Although Rochelle seems to have a more realistic grasp of the situation and sides with Nick, she is neither aggressive or insulting toward Ellis and has patience with him. Ellis is polite toward Rochelle, referring to her as "Miss" throughout the first "Dead Center" scenario. Despite having the shortest age gap (6 years), Rochelle treats Ellis like a child, even like a little brother at times.

Quotes
"See: Ellis/Quotes"

Trivia

 * Ellis is normally the focus of the phrase "Not right in the head" by each of the survivors, including himself.
 * In the Zombie Survival Guide trailer, Ellis is the only one that is attacked by Special Infected. The other survivors each save him once (Except Rochelle who is attacked by a Spitter along with him). A Jockey, Charger, Spitter, and a Smoker and a Tank all try to attack him (after punting a car, the Tank almost punches Ellis). This could imply that he is reckless and/or extremely unlucky.
 * Alongside Bill, Ellis is the only one of the Left 4 Dead 2 cast to wear some kind of a hat(a military beret in Bill's case; mechanic's cap in Ellis'). This is ironic, looking at how they are each other's opposites (Bill is the oldest Survivor ever and has a serious and pessimistic attitude. Ellis is, debatably, the youngest one - Zoey's age is not known - and appears to have fun even in the apocalypse and hardly even understands what's going on).
 * At 23 years old, Ellis is the youngest character in Left 4 Dead 2, like Zoey in Left 4 Dead. (Rochelle is 29, Nick is 35, Coach is 44).
 * Ellis' "Bull Shifters" shirt can be unlocked via achievements for Xbox 360 avatars for winning 10 games of Versus.
 * Ellis appears to have the largest number of lines of all the Survivors (1900 lines; 100 more lines than Coach and Nick have). This implies he enjoys talking, though anyone who's played L4D2 already knows this.
 * Ellis has (or had) a friend named Keith who is the topic of many of the story's he tells to the other survivors. According to his stories, Keith seems to suffer from many near fatal accidents, often involving Ellis.
 * In one of Ellis stories, he confuses a real life experience he shared with the other survivors to a story about Keith. This suggest Keith may not actually be present in some of Ellis' stories. He ends the story saying 'I can't wait to tell Keith about this one', implying Keith was or still is alive last time Ellis saw him.
 * Ellis is the only character to hold his pistol with one hand. He also does the same with the Magnum. Coach also does this when his health is below 40, but this is due to him being in pain or tired.
 * Ellis' line 'Die, die, die my darlings' is the same as the lyrics to the song 'Die, Die My Darling' by the Misfits. Another line of Ellis' is "I ain't no goddamn sonofabitch"-- another line used in a song by the Misfits: "Where Eagles Dare". Thus it is possible Ellis, or at the very least someone at Valve, is a big Misfits fan.
 * Like Louis, Ellis mentions plans (usually when something is going wrong) though neither he nor Louis mention exactly what they entail.
 * Ellis' cap and T-shirt can be purchased from the Valve Store.
 * Ellis has apparently been interested in firearms since a very young age, according to one of his lines when picking an Assault Rifle: "Man, I've wanted this rifle since I was nine."
 * This could be supported by when Ellis sees Whitaker's Gun Shop, he occasionally says "Hey, I know this place! It's the gun shop!".
 * There is a meaning behind Ellis' tattoo, answered during the ferry ride in Swamp Fever, it simply means he is 'one badass zombie killing machine', to which Rochelle responds by jokingly commenting on his amazing "foresight."
 * In The Concert finale, Ellis will often sing when he approaches the microphone on the stage, just like Coach.
 * When Ellis picks up a chainsaw, he says "Man, if I lose my hand, I'm stitchin' this thing onto the stump" a possible reference to the cult classic horror movie Evil Dead II where the main character replaces his right hand with a chainsaw.
 * Early in production during voice actor casting Ellis was going to be more of a bragger and boaster, having many lines bragging over his kills; even talking much like the Scout would in Team Fortress 2 (The voice actor of the Scout even applied). However the lines were trimmed back to make Ellis more realistic and sane.
 * Ellis used to run an auto repair shop together with his friends before the apocalypse started. They were also in a band in which Ellis played bass.
 * Ellis mentions building an armored truck that was '99% zombie-proof' and it was destroyed by the other 1%.
 * Ellis' cap carries the same symbol as a scrap metal removal poster seen in The Parish.
 * When you need to travel through some vents in Dark Carnival, Ellis will sometimes say, "If video games have taught me one thing, it's that good shit is always in vents." This is an obvious reference to Half-Life, another one of Valve's popular franchises.
 * Ellis has an account on Youtube and Facebook. These could have possibly been made by Valve to make Ellis more believable or just a fan account. The link to the Youtube account is here and the Facebook link is here
 * Ellis mentions that jars are not a place for bodily functions when picking up a bile bomb. This may be a reference to Team Fortress 2 in which The Sniper has Jarate, a weapon that is basically pee in a jar.
 * It is odd how Non-serious Ellis takes the infection, as he sometimes will say that he runs an auto shop and plays bass in a band, and doesn't use past tense. Meaning that he either still does, or he doesn't think that the infection really is as dangerous as it is.