Finished last night and I'm honestly broken! I echo everything said. I don't know what the fuck I was worried about and I even feel bad for questioning it at all - this was beautiful, harsh storytelling and there is nothing else like it. As an emotional experience it definitely digs deeper than the first even if I preferred the first one's overall package.
They did not ruin Ellie, it's actually just a fairly accurate depiction of how a horrible ruined world can destroy someone's hopes and innocence etc and what it can turn people into. This idea of society turning against each other has been around FOREVER because, understandably, it's a huge fear, so the game explores that. I don't feel anything violent is glorified at all. It's graphic as fuck but there's a purpose here, and the game and characters always make you question it, along with people's motives and why they do what they do. It's deliberately uncomfortable and not once does it feel like it's saying this is okay. Plus, you know...it's just a horror game. It'll stay with me like an especially incredible miserable film and I'm fine with that.