The Last Of Us: Joel’s 5 Best Traits (& 5 Most Unredeemable)

The announcement of The Last of Us TV series adaptation has been welcome news due to it being one of the best story-driven PlayStation game series. The winning quality is due to the protagonists being such layered characters, with traits of good and bad present in their characterizations.

Joel is easily a polarizing figure because of the severity of his actions, which were all in the name of his loved ones. However, simply being a protagonist doesn’t mean his worst traits can be excused, as there were some things about him that were unredeemable. Still, there were also good attributes Joel displayed that provide a balance to his role in the series.

10 Best: Not Outwardly Exhibiting Fear

Even in times where antagonists had Joel cornered, he refused to display his fear. This made him unpredictable in many ways, as his enemies didn’t know if he truly was beaten or if he had a plan in the works to beat them instead.

Joel definitely did display fear but these moments were only shown to the player rather than Joel exhibiting it in front of characters in-universe. His lack of outward fear also meant that others couldn’t intimidate him, as Joel didn’t give them an opening to capitalize on since he never looked intimidated.

9 Unredeemable: Giving Up When There’s Still Hope

This aspect will probably be changed in the TV series, seeing as Joel’s habit of losing hope also took away a lot of his sympathy factor. Had Tess not forced him to go along with the plans of the Fireflies as part of her dying wish, Joel would have simply headed back home and abandoned Ellie.

The problem is that he gave up on things that mattered, such as finding a reason to live or to fight for others. The times when he did have hope involved doing something sinister like mowing down the doctors at the climax of The Last of Us, meaning Joel didn’t separate the good from the bad when it came to accepting a hopeless situation.

8 Best: Having Value For The Connection Of Family

It seemed as if Joel didn’t care much for Tommy anymore, only for it to be shown that he still looked out for his brother. Joel considered Ellie to be his family, for whom he would do anything to be with even when she hated him for lying to her.

As mentioned by Tommy, Joel did whatever he could to keep him safe, where it was implied that he had acted the same as the villains who killed passersby in order to take their resources and ensure Tommy survived.

7 Unredeemable: Using Killing As A Way Out Of A Situation

While there’s no doubt that fans are excited for The Last of Us series, it’s going to be interesting to see how Joel’s tendency to use killing as an excuse to end a situation works in live-action. After all, he indulged in this practice far too much.

Rather than walk away from something he didn’t agree with, Joel took to killing the people who stood in his way as he justified it by claiming that the world had simply become this way. That’s not really an excuse, though, since there were people who outright begged for mercy, only for Joel to ignore their pleas.

6 Best: Adapting Into Dangerous Scenarios

Whenever things went south, Joel would be the first one to instantly adapt himself to the situation. He was constantly alert for any signs of escalation, wasting no time diving into action and surviving ambushes that others wouldn’t.

In The Last of Us, Joel was shown traveling across the country in all the seasons of the year and still coming out on top of the dangerous scenarios he found himself in. Whether it was a sneak attack or a battle situation, Joel wouldn’t have trouble getting into survival mode.

5 Unredeemable: Being Rude And Apathetic To People He Doesn’t Know

No matter which character from the games appears in the series, it’s more than likely that Joel won’t be the most welcoming person. He was never a kind soul but he had a worse attitude when coming across new people due to his distrusting nature.

Not only would he be unhelpful, but Joel would also show disregard to the people’s problems, not flinching if they died before him either. When he met Ellie, he made it clear he didn’t have any care for her or if she died, which isn’t exactly the thing one should say to an orphaned teenager.

4 Best: Accepting Death If There’s No Way Out

Fans were generally angered with how Joel was killed off, but one of the details in the second game was how he accepted his death rather than beg for his life. This wasn’t hopelessness on his part but an act of defiance as he refused to give in until the end.

Knowing that there was no point in fighting due to his injury and that indulging in Abby’s mocking would only satisfy her, Joel simply told her to cut the speech and get it over with. There was a definite heroic spirit in his last moments that should be respected.

3 Unredeemable: Perfectly Willing To Doublecross Others And Holding Grudges

Joel got better at keeping the faith in later times but it was revealed that he had doublecrossed numerous factions he and Tommy had been a part of whenever he saw a way out that benefited him.

What’s hypocritical of him is how he would seek revenge against the people who had wronged him, even having a grudge against his own brother. Considering his history of backstabbing, Joel didn’t have any moral high ground in this regard.

2 Best: His Fatherly Instinct

Joel wouldn’t exactly be the best Valentine’s Day date, but he was a pretty good father. He became a parent at a very young age but was able to provide a very good life to his daughter and raised her with enough love that she didn’t feel the absence of her mother.

Moreover, Joel became the father Ellie never had, being the only one who stayed in her life on a constant basis and a shoulder for her to cry on. His greatest fatherly moment was when he consoled Ellie after her fight against David, embracing his “baby girl” and trying to get her out of her depression.

1 Unredeemable: Lying To Fit His Own Needs

Among all the heroic things he did, Joel also had a bunch of villainous traits. More so than anything else, it was his manipulation that was inexcusable, with the worst case being his lie to Ellie that the Fireflies had willingly let her go over the truth that he had killed all of them.

Joel wasn’t above lying to either gain advantages or place himself in a good position instead of facing the consequences of his actions. By the time he did tell Ellie the truth, it was already too late and she still found it difficult to forgive him even after his death.

About The Author

Saim Cheeda
(1348 Articles Published)

Saim Cheeda is an entertainment writer covering all of Film, TV, Gaming and Books. He’s been a writer for Valnet since 2017, contributing 500+ articles for The Gamer, The Things, Game Rant, Comic Book Resources and Screen Rant. Apart from freelance writing, Saim is a lifestyle blogger, co-owning the blog 3 States Apart.

http://3statesapart.com

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