Joel (The Last of Us)

Joel is a major character and the playable protagonist of The Last of Us, the deuteragonist of The Last of Us Part II, and a supporting character in The Last of Us: Left Behind games.

Joel is a survivor in post-apocalyptic America that has been ravaged by the cordyceps brain infection, which has decimated 60% of mankind globally. After losing his only daughter Sarah in the early stages of the outbreak, Joel becomes a ruthless and cynical smuggler eventually tasked with smuggling and protecting Ellie, a young girl who is the key to mankind's survival. Joel eventually comes to form a strong bond with her.

Appearance
Joel's appearance indicates that he is in his late 40s. He has a heavy, muscular build, with dark, graying hair and a beard. According to sewage's water level ruler, he appears to be between 5 feet 10 inches (177.8cm) and 5 feet 11 inches (180.3cm) tall. Joel has many cuts and scars, which can be seen on his face and arms if the player equips Joel with a t-shirt.

Joel wears a watch that was a gift from Sarah for his birthday the day before the outbreak; twenty years later, it has broken, likely from two decades of surviving in a post-outbreak world. He keeps the watch in remembrance of Sarah. Joel seems to sigh sadly when Ellie mentions that it is broken in the early chapters of The Last of Us.

Joel also looks down at the watch when Ellie was mentioning how beautiful the view was to Joel as they were about to leave. The ending scene also shows Joel slightly rubbing his watch after he said he "struggled for a long time with survivin'" as he encountered major difficulties in accepting Sarah's death and sympathizes with Ellie's survivor's guilt.

He is most notably shown in a green checkered collared shirt, which is rolled up to his elbows, and jeans. He carries an old, worn canvas backpack which holds a gas mask and a flashlight attached to the strap. He was given this look by creative director Neil Druckmann due to him and his team wanting Joel to appear "as both a father figure to Ellie and a hardened survivor" at the same time, the costume bring almost "neutral" for such a setting.

Throughout the game, Joel picks up different items (pendants, letters etc.) and the player can have Joel craft Health kits, Molotov cocktails etc. which are stowed in his pack. Like Ellie, he also changes his appearance slightly in accordance to the seasons (e.g. in the winter, Joel is seen in a different shirt and a coat).

Personality
Described as being in his late 40's, Joel knows what the world looked like before it was devastated. Over time, he has begun to become less bound by morality and more driven by doing whatever is necessary to survive. "What he wouldn't do in the past is almost a daily occurrence at this point," Bruce Straley, the game's director, notes.

Joel has been described as a "violent thug, a brutal killer, and a torturer." He is shown to be able to kill his enemies with noteworthy brutality, earning his infamous reputation to those he encounters. David calls him a "crazy man." During the aftermath of the epidemic that struck the country, he has resorted to working in black-market dealings and smuggling items or people of interest through quarantine zones or other designated areas. Because of this, he has accumulated valuable knowledge in regards to surviving the post-apocalyptic environment. After the death of his beloved daughter Sarah, Joel has become more broody and damaged. His personality becomes darker and apathetic. Joel rarely shows signs of happiness and often cynical. Ellie notes that Joel has stained his hands with innocent blood when he reveals to her that he has been "on both sides", thus having the knowledge about a hunters' ambush and anticipating it. This dark past likely contributed to his experience as a hardened survivalist.

He also becomes extremely dedicated to Ellie, using any means possible to save her and keep her safe. He tortures several cannibals to find out Ellie's location, and then kills the other prisoner after he has gained information about Ellie's location. Ellie also cares greatly for Joel when she cares for him when he was injured, just as Joel cared for her and protected her throughout their journey. They had a father-daughter bond.

It is at strongly hinted that Joel suffers from PTSD due to losing his daughter and committing acts necessary for his survival. He is reluctant or simply refuses to speak about people he has lost along the way (Sarah, Tess, Sam, Henry). He has nightmares and does not speak about his time as a Hunter.

However, Joel's other side is also portrayed. Prior to the apocalypse, he worked hard to raise his daughter by himself. The outbreak and Sarah's death changed him into an apathetic, ruthless, and estranged man. He wears the watch that Sarah gave him the day before the initial outbreak as a reminder. Upon meeting Ellie, he initially has a rocky relationship with her. However, Joel later grows to trust her and finds her reliable at most times such as Ellie spotting for Joel or providing support. As time passes, Joel establishes a father-daughter relationship with Ellie, reminding him of his beloved daughter, Sarah.

Whether being selfish, or not wanting to lose another 'daughter' to the whim of another again, he chose to save Ellie and try and start some semblance of a normal life again. His decision to kill Marlene inside the Fireflies facility in Salt Lake City is to ensure that no one will have the knowledge of Ellie and thus no one will go after her in the future. In this sense he is the opposite of Marlene, who intended to sacrifice Ellie for a chance to save the rest of humanity. Joel's choice also reflects on the hardships that he and Ellie have suffered at the hands of humanity itself during their journey to find a cure, particularly David, which leads Joel to decide that what is left of humanity might not be worth saving after all, especially at the cost of Ellie's life.

Abilities
As a hardened survivalist, Joel displays terrifying intensity, strength, cunning, and fierce fist-fighting prowess; he can perform fatal chokeholds, string combinations of hard punches, and other miscellaneous attacks with little fatigue or hesitance, and he has become adept to the point where he can out-brawl and overwhelm opponents half his age quite quickly. Joel is able to use these attributes very efficiently and this often strikes fear into the hearts of human enemies, as evidenced by the fact that after Joel physically overwhelms survivors, they will beg Joel not to kill them.

He can also hold his own against competent combatants. Despite Henry surprising him, Joel successfully overpowered and badly beat him and later easily parried his gun from him while shoving him to the ground. He could pin Robert and break his arm, shove his brother Tommy against a locker, tackle a soldier and overpower Ethan (a trained Firefly) despite the man holding him at gun point. He could even overpower two cannibals, despite not having fully recovered from his life-threatening wound. Undeterred after a car crash, Joel was also able to overpower a Hunter and impale him on a shard of broken glass.

However, Joel's strength occasionally lapses. Having been dazed due to falling from a great height, he was tackled by a Runner, unable to force it of off without assistance. He was subdued by Bill, almost bitten by a Clicker when tackled by it (having to be saved by Tess), and was nearly killed by a Hunter who held him underwater, needing Ellie to intervene. A cannibal also managed to wrestle him off a ledge, leading to him being critically wounded by a piece of rebar. Ethan also knocked him to the ground with a blow to his thigh.

Joel is also an expert at wielding a wide range of weapons, from handguns to rifles and bows, which he can use with great proficiency. He is shown to be an expert tactician, able to use both stealthy and overt means to overcome overwhelming odds. He is also adept at crafting improvised weapons and tools (possibly due to his background in construction), and possesses an acute sense of hearing that allows him to pinpoint the relative location of those around him when focused. Joel is also a strong swimmer and can also hold his breath for a relatively long period of time.

Joel is still human, however, and is just as vulnerable to death and injury as other survivors. Unlike Ellie, he is not immune to the cordyceps infection and thus cannot survive in a spore-filled environment without a gas mask. When he was mortally wounded, he was unable to move faster than a walk and struggled to climb over obstacles or stay on Callus. The wound also caused him to contract sepsis, leaving him bed-ridden for several weeks, needing antibiotics to cure him.

Trivia

 * The Japanese version of The Last of Us manual lists Joel's last name as "Miller".
 * In Sarah's room above her computer is a certificate. The last name is blocked by an award, however the first letter was identified as "M". Since the release of The Last of Us Remastered and its Photo Mode, the whole award can now be seen and displays the last name of "Miller" as well, further confirming the name listing. His last name was removed by Naughty Dog early in development and is not considered canon.
 * During the design development of Joel's physical appearance, the developers worked to make him look "flexible enough" to appear as both a "ruthless operator in the underground of a quarantined city" as well as a "caring father figure to Ellie". His appearance was intended to evoke "rural American", referencing values of self-reliance and ingenuity when facing hardship and deprivation.
 * Upon writing Joel's character, Druckmann initially took inspiration from Josh Brolin's portrayal of Llewelyn Moss in No Country for Old Men (2007), whom he noted for being "very quiet, very cool under pressure". However Troy Baker's interpretation of Joel as a more emotional person who evolved the character in a different way. Ultimately, the narrative became an exploration of how willing a father is to save a child; initially, Joel is willing to sacrifice himself, before evolving to where he is willing to sacrifice his friends, until finally feeling that he would sacrifice all of humanity in order to save Ellie.
 * During an optional conversation with Ellie, when a banner about the football team Bighorns is examined, she'll ask if people were like idol worshipers. Joel replies, "when it comes to sports? Hell yeah."
 * He also may or may not have been a fan of the UEC football team, as he somewhat dryly remarked "Go Bighorns." at Tommy's mention of the campus.
 * It is suggested that either Joel or someone he knew has struggled with suicide. After Ellie comments about the "easy way out" when finding the corpses of two suicide victims, Joel heavily says "Trust me, it ain't easy." Based on the loss of his daughter and him saying that he struggled with staying alive, it is quite possible that Joel considered suicide after Sarah's death.
 * Joel says that he was never fond of video games before the outbreak, although his house had a PlayStation 3 in the family room. This suggests that this PS3 belonged to Sarah and she used to play with Joel.
 * Joel is a fan of music, and stated that as a kid he wanted to become a singer. He owned a six string guitar as well as an extensive music collection (including CD & Vinyl). Additionally he personally intended to teach Ellie to play after their journey was over.
 * Joel stating he wanted to be a singer as a kid and his ability to play the guitar are likely a reference to his voice actor, Troy Baker, who is a singer and guitar player in real life.
 * By The Last of Us Part II, Ellie can play the guitar and sings in the reveal trailer.
 * Joel appears to have been very fond of coffee before the infection left the world in ruins, as he mentions to Ellie that he always went to coffee shops and purchased coffee.
 * He even laments on the lack of the beverage while in Pittsburgh.
 * Before the outbreak, Joel possibly enjoyed hunting as a hobby, seeing that there was a framed painting or photograph of a deer above his bed.
 * It also foreshadows Ellie's encounter with one in the winter chapter.
 * Joel's birth date was first speculated to be September 26, as it was the date seen in the Texas Herald newspaper at the beginning of the game.
 * A tweet by Naughty Dog developer Mark Richard Davies confirms this date.[52]
 * Joel's weapon of choice seems to be a revolver. He is seen holding it in both promotional pictures, and trailers. He also kept one in his house, before the outbreak.
 * He also uses one again in the reveal trailer for The Last of Us II.
 * Though it is never explained where Joel was born, he was most likely born in Austin, Texas or somewhere in Travis County. This is also hinted at when Tommy says that he "went to Texas, back home" shortly before he attempts to give Joel a picture of him and Sarah.
 * Joel was named after Joel Coen, who directed No Country for Old Men and True Grit.
 * The Winter chapter is the only section of The Last of Us in which Joel never encounters any Infected.
 * He also doesn't meet the primary antagonist of that section, David.
 * Joel is officially ranked as the sixth sexiest male video game character of all time.
 * Joel was possibly a Bandit or Hunter before he became a smuggler, since he told Ellie he has "been on both sides". An audio file unused in the game also has Joel blatantly state he was a Hunter.
 * Further evidence to this would be when Joel reminded Tommy of the things he did to keep them alive, and how Tommy said the years after the outbreak gave him nightmares.
 * Bill also makes a remark that suggests Joel was once a Hunter, saying "It's the normal people that scare me. You of all people should understand that."
 * Expanding on this, Joel demonstrated knowledge of the Hunters' tactics, knowing beforehand that a Hunter was feigning injury when he remarked "He ain't even hurt!" shortly before running him over. He was also experienced in interrogating and torturing people, such as Robert, the Cannibals he captured, and the Firefly Ethan.