Great scene, Joel says we don't have to go on from here to the hospital and I almost didn't. I took a 2 day break after seeing more infected down that stairs after this beautiful, hopeful scene.

It actually made me depressed to see what was going on down there after this.

As to where the giraffes came from, you see a sign for the zoo on a wall just a few minutes before this scene in the game. I think the sign even had giraffes on it.

Best ending ever. The creators did a perfect job wrapping up the story. I was left with such a hole after the game was done, like a Dostoevsky novel.

Although Joel lied to Ellie at the end, which was wrong, he ultimately did the right thing. 1. he saved a little girl. 2. It was not healthy for Ellie to feel responsible for everyone's death due to their unlucky times. She has the right to live a life, just like everyone else does. Its not right and not healthy for a little girl to want to die for other people's suffering, especially since she didn't cause it, she was a victim like everyone else was. 3. the Individual trumps the collective. If an individual's rights are protected, then so is the collective. Sacrificing a child (like the Aztecs did to the son God) to save 100, a 1000, or a million is not right, unless that one person is attempting to kill all of those people. Once it's been decided that one person must be sacrificed for the 'greater good' then it is easy to justify anything immoral by twisting definitions and preserving what someone believes is for the greater good. the fact of the matter is that the greater good is preserved by the individual having his rights and having them respected. 3. Ellie is proof that people can and will eventually evolve to immunity towards the sickness. Allowing her to live and procreate will abolish the sickness, so she still would save lives down the road, without loosing her own, and building a society off of sacrificial worship of a vaccine; I am sure the Fireflies would have marketed it as a way of attaining power and control over people and the government (not saying the govt. was good, but that's a different argument). I mean they sacrificed a child, they will sacrifice any child, much like Joel's daughter... she was killed for the perceived greater good.

Busy as I am I haven't played a story game in so long, but I am glad that this was the game I played.