There has been a lot of hatred towards a particular country bumpkin in the upcoming Left 4 Dead 2 and honestly I've had just about enough.


He's essentially Gilligan...the show was named after Gilligan...
Consider Seinfeld or Gilligan's Island, the simple fact is that the characters in those show only worked as an ensemble. You could never have a show that is just about George, or Kramer, or the Gilligan, because their wackiness only works when it is contrasted with the straightman Jerry or the Skipper. The same principle is applied here as well. Ellis is awsome because he is the Kramer, or the Gilligan, or the Costello to our happy safe-house sitcom. What I'm basicly saying is that the only reason why Nick seems like such a sauve mother fucker is because Ellis is a bumbling redneck. Coach only seems like such a badass because Ellis gets smokered, jockied, and chargered. They have these values intrinsicly but they are brought to light because of a character like Ellis and for that fact alone he deserves respect.



Bumpkins are funny, and important to character development
The second point here is that he is genuinely funny. That 'sucking heads' bit is about the funniest segment in the whole demo, and after playing it through about ten times I can say with a degree of confidence that it is the only out of action soliloquy that we are given. So clearly someone thought Ellis was worth giving lines to, bumkin or not, in the demo that was intended to sell lots of copies of the game. What can I say, Rednecks sell. Related to my previous point it doesn't take a genious to figure out that what makes it funny is everyone else's reaction. The line was programed to be delivered so that a random character reacts to it every time. Ellis helps to builds characters through these interactions but is particularly effective in his interactions with Nick.



He's young and sympathetic...or so Nick might tell us
Ok settle down before you go quoting the 'sunsofbitches' bit to me. Ellis is ignorant and a cockly loudmouthed idiot, but much of that comes from his age. According to the Left 4 Dead 2 wiki Ellis is only 21 making him the youngest survivor to date.( Admittedly there have only been two games in the series but does it seem likely that they'll go much younger?) Ellis is a bumbling idiot, but it is that very fact that makes him so endearing. As far as character development is concerned all you need to do is look at the relationship between Nick and Ellis to realize that there is going to be a real meeting of worlds and changes in attitudes throughout the game. As players we only have 20 minutes of the game, and already the only person that gets any sympathy from Nick when they die is Ellis. He is like the family dog, sure he is irritating when he comes in and tracks mud in the house but for every instance of that there are three family photos of him infront of the christmas tree.



He's not Rochelle
A character not having personality is no excuse not to hate her just for that fact. Lets face it if there was one character to leave behind it is Rochelle. Dragging along a cardboard cut out of a human being will just slow us down.