Does Dina Die in The Last of Us Part 2?

This THE LAST OF US PART 2 article contains spoilers.

While The Last of Us Part 2 shakes up the franchise quite a bit by introducing a variety of new stories, locations, and characters, Dina has quickly become one of the breakout new stars of the sequel.

The first time we ever saw Dina, she was dancing with Ellie during one of The Last of Us Part 2‘s earlier (and most memorable) trailers. At the time, many fans rightfully guessed that Dina was Ellie’s partner (or at least her eventual love interest). To the surprise of nobody, those guesses turned out to be right.

Yet, few people predicted the extent of Dina’s involvement in The Last of Us Part 2. Not only are Ellie and Dina in a committed relationship by the time the sequel starts, but Dina decides to join Ellie on her quest to hunt down Joel’s killer. Actually, in her role as Ellie’s traveling companion, we get to see Dina interact with Ellie throughout the game in a manner similar to how Ellie and Joel often bantered in The Last of Us.

Through those interactions, we come to learn that Dina seems to be the more “measured” member of the relationship who supports Ellie in her decision to avenge Joel and assist Tommy but is also thinking about the pair’s future more than Ellie. Later in the game, we even learn that Dina is pregnant. While the father of the baby is never named, it seems fairly clear that it’s Jesse: Dina’s former boyfriend and a resident of the Jackson settlement.

Closer to the end of The Last of Us Part 2, Dina is almost killed by Abby before Ellie intervenes and convinces Abby to let them go. After that event, Dina and Ellie decide to “retire” to a farm in order to raise their newborn son, J.J. You can get more information on that section of the game by checking out our breakdown of The Last of Us Part 2‘s ending, but the long and short of it is that Ellie decides to go after Abby once more only to return to the farm and find that Dina and J.J. are gone.

Dina’s disappearance has raised some questions among fans regarding whether or not we are supposed to believe that Dina is dead or that some other horrible fate has befallen her and J.J.

It’s understandable that some fans may think that. After all, The Last of Us Part 2 is a brutal game that leaves you believing that any character can die at any time. On top of that, we’re introduced to a faction of kidnappers and slavers late in The Last of Us Part 2, which would seem to suggest that there’s at least a possibility that Dina and J.J. didn’t voluntarily leave the farm.

Yet, the truth is that there’s no real indication that Dina is dead. In fact, the game strongly indicates that she has decided to leave Ellie and take J.J. with her. Dina warns Ellie that she can’t go through Ellie’s quest for vengeance again, which suggests that she was threatening to leave her if Ellie chose to go after Abby. Furthermore, Ellie returns to the farm to find that most of Dina and J.J.’s things are gone but that Ellie’s possessions remain. It would be odd for someone to have kidnapped or killed the two but only steal some of the things from the house on their way out.

The most likely possibility is that Dina and J.J. are alive and living in the Jackson settlement once more (or possibly another settlement where Ellie won’t be able to easily find them). However, we may have to wait for The Last of Us Part 3 before we discover Dina and J.J.’s exact whereabouts.