About

Ellie Smirk, also known as Ellie Smirking, refers to a reaction image of The Last of Us video game character Ellie Williams smirking and looking directly at the viewer. The image comes from a scene in the 2020 video game The Last of Us Part 2 (TLOU) when the player can control the funny faces Ellie is making in a bathroom mirror. Predominantly shared in TikTok comment sections and used in image macros, the Ellie Smirk image spread as a meme in 2025.

Origin

On March 29th, 2024, Pinterest ^[6] user iza.ᐟ shared an image of Ellie Williams from The Last of Us smirking at the viewer. Over one year, the post garnered 379 likes. It is currently the first known upload of the image online.

The screencap seemingly comes from a scene in The Last of Us Part 2, "Chapter 2: Seattle Day 1 – The Birthday Gift (Part 18)," in which the player is able to control the faces that Ellie makes in a mirror.^[2][3]

Spread

On October 1st, 2024, Redditor incredibleheadgiver reposted the image in a three-photo slideshow in the /r/thelastofus^[5] subreddit, gaining over 1,300 upvotes in a year.

On February 1st, 2025, Pinterest^[1] user Jamie ☆ reposted the Ellie Smirk image, gaining over 670 likes in nine months.

On May 22nd, TikToker^[4] @starlitgabs shared a video that used the Ellie Smirk image, gaining 137 likes in six months.

On October 13th, 2025, X^[7] user @lesbinof tweeted a low-quality version of the Ellie Smirk meme that came from a TikTok comment, per a watermark on the bottom right. The tweet's caption read, "When Dan and Phil upload a 'truthful video' but they’re STILL pretending to be British." Over one month, it gained over 30,000 likes.

On October 18th, TikToker^[8] @fartknightmaster shared a video meme that showed the Ellie Smirk image dividing like a cell undergoing mitosis, gaining over 7,000 likes in a month.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References