For eight of the show’s 11 seasons, Chandler Riggs portrayed Carl Grimes on The Walking Dead, the young but brave son of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) who fought for a better future until his dying day. On the latest zombie horror phenomenon, The Last of Us, fans easily compare the lead character Joel (Pedro Pascal) to Rick, but it’s just as easy to compare Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to Carl.

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Born into the apocalypse, Ellie joins Joel on a cross-country adventure fighting the dead and striving for a better future, and while there are notable differences between the two young characters and their stories, there are far more similarities between these two fan favorites.

1They Both Grew Up In An Apocolypse

The zombie apocalypse – known on TWD as the outbreak and on TLOU as when the infection spread – became simply a new way of living for the adults of the two shows. But when it came to the children, it was almost all they ever knew.

The 14-year-old Ellie was born years after the infection spread, not knowing a world before zombies and becoming amazed by the idea of cars and airplanes. While Carl wasn’t born into it like his little sister, he was merely 10 years old when the outbreak happened, leaving both characters to have to grow up in the new world.

2They Like To Wise Off

Image via HBO

TWD is full of wise guys fans will miss, from Daryl’s (Norman Reedus) attitude to Carol’s (Melissa McBride) snarky remarks to Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) hilarious but insulting one-liners, but no character compared to Carl. Especially as a pre-teen, Carl was known for telling off his father, rolling his eyes at Michonne (Danai Gurira) when she first joined the group, and even throwing it down with Negan.

Aside from being the key to a cure that will save humanity, Ellie is known for her wise-guy attitude throughout TLOU, wising off to Joel or letting out one of her famous, “motherf***er”s. But unlike Carl, whose attitude is mostly ignored by the adults, Ellie is generally put back in her place by Joel’s similar attitude.

3They Never Stay Put

It became a running joke within the TWD fandom that Carl just never did as he was told, never staying where his father told him to and often winding up in dangerous situations because of it. Carl almost died on several occasions due to his curious and tenacious nature which always led him into trouble.

Ellie tends to be just as curious, not always doing as Joel tells her and often doing a little too much exploring. It was her decision to sneak out of the QZ that – despite alerting Marlene (Merle Dandridge) she was immune to the infection – wound up with her getting bit.

4They Both Stole Guns

Image via HBO

Carl and Ellie both strived to be fighters, wanting to be just like the brave adults in their lives. This desire led them both to steal a gun, starting with Carl, who stole a gun from Daryl in Season 1 of TWD and failed to kill a walker that later killed a member of their group.

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On TLOU, it was in the beloved third episode that Ellie found a lone gun in a drawer at Bill’s (Nick Offerman) house and sneaked it into her backpack despite Joel’s continued insistence that she doesn’t carry one. Fortunately for Ellie, her situation had a much better outcome than Carl’s when her possession of a gun helped her save Joel’s life.

5Both Children Of The “Rick” Character

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Something that makes both Carl and Ellie stand out in their respective shows is being the child – or child companion – of the Rick Grimes characters, who on TLOU is Joel. On TWD, Carl is the actual son of Rick, who enters the apocalypse with only his mother and his dad’s best friend, and later remains by his dad’s side for battle after battle.

Although Joel had an actual daughter, Sarah, who lost her life early into the spread, when Ellie came along, she brought those fatherly instincts back into Joel’s life, allowing him a second chance at fatherhood. The adult-child duo is now among the best on TV, as, like Rick and Carl, Joel and Ellie are easy to root for.

6They Both Like To Read

A love of reading is necessary when you’re growing up in a world without electronics and the internet, and Carl and Ellie both seem to have similar tastes. For Carl, while it’s not mentioned often amid fighting walkers and battling villains, he memorably read an Invincible comic in Season 6, a secret nod to the TWD comic creator’s other work.

When Ellie isn’t busting guts with her hilarious puns from her copy of the fictional book No Pun Intended: Volume Too, she also reveals a love of comic books while playing with her friend Sam (Keivonn Woodard), telling him she has several editions of his favorite comic book.

7They Both Save Their Father/Father Figure

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Something both characters get good at is being in the right place at the right time and saving the lives of those they love. For Carl, while he helped save plenty of members of Rick’s group, it was in the memorable Season 4 episode “After” that he protects his unconscious father.

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Ellie saves Joel time and again throughout the show, most notably in the Season 1 episode “Long, Long Time” when an enemy attacks Joel, just about to kill him when Ellie sneaks up from behind and shoots, assuring Joel she’s capable of carrying a gun.

8They Both Killed Someone They Love

For Carl, one of the defining moments of his childhood that forever changed him was the day his little sister was born. After watching his mother give birth and then hemorrhage in one of the most unforgettable character deaths on TWD, Carl decided he needed to be the one to put her down before she turned, shooting her.

Ellie had a similar experience with her girlfriend long before she met Joel. When both Ellie and her girlfriend Riley (Storm Reid) sneak out of the QZ and wind up getting bit, it’s Ellie who has to kill her zombified girlfriend in self-defense, a trauma Ellie keeps hidden deep down.

9They Both Lost Their Mothers

Carl’s mother’s death is something that haunts him long after it happens, something he knew he needed to do but remained a traumatic story he retold to several people he met as the show went on. Despite losing his mother, Carl wound up with a mother figure in Michonne until he passed.

Ellie also had a mother figure for most of her life in Marlene, who looked out for her and later discovered Ellie had the potential to save the world. While Ellie may not be aware of who her mother was, it’s made known Ellie’s mother Anna (Ashley Johnson) passed away not long after Ellie was born.

10They Both Got Bit

What’s devastating for one character became unexpectedly great for the other when both Carl and Ellie got bit by a zombie. When Carl got bit in Season 8 (in what is still one of the worst decisions TWD ever made), the reveal went from a shocking Season 8 mid-season finale to one of the saddest episodes of the show when he succumbed to the bite.

While viewers don’t initially see Ellie get bit, the reveal is just as shocking until she announces the bite is weeks old, assuring Joel and Tess (Anna Torv) that she hadn’t succumbed to the infection and just may be the key to saving humanity.