Clearly understood it better than you guys.
The ending is interesting because it completes Joel's transformation into the villain. The quest is really Ellie's, Joel is just getting her there. If it were a film, Ellie would have been considered the protagonist. But gameplay requires action, so they have you control Joel to protect Ellie. There's a reason added on the front on the box, and why the DLC is about her.
For you guys, villains apparently have to be blatant and obvious. David is a villain to you guys because he's a cannibal.
But what Joel does is arguably worse. After all they have been through, Joel decides to rob Ellie of her agency, much like everyone you consider to be a villain in the game. What makes Joel different? That you controlled him at some point? Who cares?
If nothing else, the railroaded ending proves that they wanted Joel to go full villain at the end.
By the end, Joel doesn't view Ellie as her own person that can make their own choices, or as an adult. He doesn't respect her at all. Instead, he violently and selfishly takes away her choice, then lies to her face about it. And she knows it. She's stuck with yet another person who won't let her make her own choices. She's stuck with a man who will murder innocent people to ensure she doesn't get that choice.
So what game were you guys playing?
I really don't see it that way. You talk about people only seeing things that are "blatant and obvious", and yet you're only one step removed from that, instead of the extra step the game is trying to make you take. Which is that there are no villains or good guys, there are only people who are trying to survive, by any means necessary. Yes, even the fireflies and Marlene. Joel had Ellie to live for by the end, and yet you don't see that the only thing that pushed Marlene forward was "the cure at whatever cost", even while the world has LITERALLY fallen to shit around her, and she's part of a duo of factions fighting each other to the death; both of which are arguably far greater issues threatening humanity at this point, especially considering the seeming success of Tommy's settlement.
Also, there are way too many clues left throughout the game to at LEAST cast doubt unto the notion that Ellie actually meant to die by the end. There is also tons of symbolism and clues left throughout the game that show that, really, Joel didn't have a choice by the end of the game. We the player saw a choice, but to him, there was only one way that could have gone down.
Like, for example, the mirroring of events between the beginning of the game and the ending. Not just "Hey, that's neat. He ran with a little girl in his arms both times!". No, the beginning of the game and the ending of the game are, from Joels point of view, the EXACT SAME. Both times, an authority that were meant to protect him and his tried to take away the life of someone dear to him under the guise of "the greater good". First it was the government, so that they could stem the infection. Second time it was The Fireflies, so that they could get "A Cure". Joel already made that sacrifice once, and it did nothing for him, so I really don't see how you can come to the conclusion that the actions he undertook at the end were somehow meant to be villainous, especially considering that the cure would more than likely be meant for not only the people who just spent a year trying to kill him while getting to that hospital, but also the fact that he already saw that it's perfectly possible to restart civilization WITHOUT giving up the only thing that is dear to him (referring to Tommy's settlement). I can give more reasoning, but I think that's plenty enough.
As to clues dropped that that wouldn't have been Ellie's choice, twice she mentions things that they'd have to do after they're done with the whole vaccine thing: Right after the giraffe scene, where she says "after this, we'll go wherever you want to go" or something to that effect; and in the underground tunnels. Also, I really don't see how it would somehow be villainous to keep a suicidal girl for sacrificing herself for what is essentially a lost cause, because holy hell, have you seen the state of the world. A vaccine would have done fuck-all to make anything work.
So yeah. I love talking about this. Sorry