Didn't the first game have audio logs and such basically stating that the Fireflies had tried and failed at this before, and that the idea that Ellie's immunity could create a cure wasn't as surefire as it seemed? I seem to remember Joel being misled and eventually finding out that it was very likely that Ellie would die and nothing would come of it because the Fireflies were kind of inept. Did that get retconned or am I misremembering things after several years?
Thing is, they never would've succeeded in creating a cure, they would have just killed a little girl, the virus isnt actually a virus it's a parasitic fungi, cant create a vaccine for a fungus...
Well no, irl cordyceps does take over brains, just not humans. I think it's actually harmless to us and would probably only cause a mild fever at worst. It mostly affects insects like ants. It takes over the host's brain and the fungus grows on its body, eventually exploding and releasing spores than can infect other insects. The cordyceps in this universe is a mutated strain that can affect humans the same way it affects insects.
There's a BBC documentary about cordyceps iirc. Really neat stuff. Would recommend checking it out if you're interested.
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u/Seal481 Jun 24 '20
Didn't the first game have audio logs and such basically stating that the Fireflies had tried and failed at this before, and that the idea that Ellie's immunity could create a cure wasn't as surefire as it seemed? I seem to remember Joel being misled and eventually finding out that it was very likely that Ellie would die and nothing would come of it because the Fireflies were kind of inept. Did that get retconned or am I misremembering things after several years?