Early Life[]
Joel Miller was born on September 26, 1981, and is the older brother of Tommy. Growing up in Texas, Joel raised his younger brother, something that was hard to do. According to Joel, he was inspired to become a singer and intended to play guitar once he reached adulthood.
At some point of his life, Joel married his future wife, and later, the couple had their first and only daughter, Sarah, born in 2001. Shortly after Sarah's birth, Joel and his wife divorced, and the woman then left and never returned.
As a result of having to take care of a child, Joel couldn't attend college, or inspire to be a singer. Joel raised Sarah through adulthood, living in a two-story house, and spent much quality time with her. He worked as a carpenter in construction, and was ambitious to start his own business, as their is a book on starting one in his home.
Outbreak[]
| “ | Don't do this to me, don't do this to me baby girl... come on... God. | „ |
| ~ Joel during Sarah's death. |
Joel returned home to his daughter, having been late for work, and tucks Sarah into bed after watching television with her. The infection outbreak occurs, with Joel having to kill his neighbor, Jimmy Cooper to protect Sarah.
Joel meets with Tommy, and the group leave their home to escape the outbreak. While leaving, they are hit in a collision, and the group is forced to walk through the streets, as Tommy holds off the Infected.
Making it up to the highway, Joel and Sarah meet a soldier, who is ordered to kill them (since it's believed that they are infected). The soldier shoots, and is killed by Tommy, but the former was able to wound Sarah. Joel attempts to keep Sarah alive, but she dies from blood loss, leaving him in a devastated state.
Surviving[]
| “ | Joel: From all those goddamn years I took care of us. Tommmy: Took care? That's what you call it? I got nothing but nightmares from those years. |
„ |
| ~ Joel and Tommy amidst their argument. |
The brothers made their to a triage clinic, where Joel considered committing suicide, but found "something to fight for." During the 2010s-2030s, the brothers slowly fell into a sinister life, hurting people, killing, deceiving, and torturing survivors. It's also assumed that Joel became a hunter, since he tells Ellie that he's been on both sides, and learned tactics on ambushing others.
Tommy had enough of Joel's philosophy when smuggling themselves into Boston, abandoning him to join the Fireflies. Marlene, the "queen" of the Fireflies, persuaded Tommy to join, leaving Joel alone for a while. Joel would meet and partner up with Tess, and the two worked by helping others get things they couldn't. In addition, they also worked with Bill and Robert, with the former owning Joel favors, and the duo greatly distrusting the latter.
It's unknown if Joel and Tess had a romantic relationship, but it's implied, and the two do care for each other.
The Last of Us[]
| “ | I swear. | „ |
| ~ Joel to Ellie, affirming his lie about what happened at the Fireflies' hospital. |
In 2033, Joel learns from Tess that Robert has betrayed them, as two men were sent by him to kill the two. Deciding to confront him, Joel and Tess deal with Robert's men before capturing him. The two learned that Robert sold their weapons to the Fireflies, and Tess kills him before a wounded Marlene arrives. She informs that they can make a deal - she will give them guns in exchange they transport something to the Fireflies at the capitol building. Joel and Tess assist Marlene in reaching her location, and learn that she wants them to take a young girl named Ellie to the Fireflies. Though initially reluctant, Joel and Tess agree and the two take Ellie across the land while dealing with Infected.
During their travel, they are stopped by military patrol who proceed to check them for infection, and Ellie panics and attacks one of them. After dealing with the patrolmen, Joel and Tess learn that Ellie is infected, but the latter reveals that is immune since her bite is three weeks old. Despite being angered at the revelation, Joel and Tess continue their way to the capital building with Ellie, but find that all of the Fireflies there have been killed by the military. Tess then reveals that she is infected, and persuades Joel to continue on their journey while she buys them time. Joel is upset at the loss, but decides to keep it to himself and tells Ellie not to bring her up again. He decides to receive assistance from Bill since he owes him, and the two enter his town where he has set up traps for the Infected.
Joel and Ellie manage to get a car from Bill after helping him find a car battery, but Bill tells Joel to not come back since his debt has been repaid. In Pittsburgh, Joel begins to develop a bond with Ellie after she saves him, and allows her to use a rifle to help him deal with hunters. During their travel, the two come across brothers Henry and Sam, and the group decide to work with each other to reach their hideout. Though the group are able to bond with each other, it comes to an end when Sam becomes infected and tries to kill Ellie, but is stopped by Henry, who then commits suicide out of guilt. Joel and Ellie continued to survive into the fall, where the former reunited with his brother Tommy, who is heading a community of people with his wife Maria.
Joel attempts to persuade Tommy to take in Ellie in exchange for gear, but he refused, which led to an argument with Tommy believing Joel's way of keeping him alive wasn't worth it. Though tensions, the community is attacked by bandits, and Ellie later leaves after overhearing of Joel's intentions. Joel and Tommy then work together to reach Ellie, and the former decides to continue on while Tommy returns to his community. Reaching to a university where the Fireflies are supposedly held, they discover it has been overrun by survivors and decide to leave. During their escape, Joel is impaled by a piece of rebar and later falls unconscious, forcing Ellie to take care of him and find medical supplies. Joel later awakens and discovers Ellie is gone, and heads into the cold to find her. He encounters a group of cannibals, and after interrogating two of them, manages to reach to Ellie. Finding that she had to kill a man to protect herself, Joel provides comfort before leaving the town.
Reaching Salt Lake City in the spring, Joel's bond with Ellie has grown to the point that he sees her as a daughter, but she is still troubled by the trauma from dealing with the cannibals. Joel initially wants to help Ellie deal with her trauma by returning to Tommy's community, but she declines, believing that by reaching the Fireflies, her trials and tribulations will be for something. While crossing through the sewers, Ellie nearly drowns and Joel saves her, but is knocked unconscious by the firefly Ethan. Awaking in the Fireflies' building, Joel is informed by Marlene that Ellie is being prepped for surgery, as the doctors believe they can make a vaccine due to her immunity. He begins to protest due to the procedure potentially killing her, but he is knocked down by Ethan, and Marlene decides to send him away to prevent him from trying to rescue Ellie.
Not wanting to lose his surrogate daughter, Joel kills Ethan and rescues Ellie, but in the process kills Fireflies including Dr. Jerry Anderson. Before leaving the building, Joel is confronted by Marlene, whom he proceeds to kill before driving away to Jackson. Once Ellie awoke, Joel lies to Ellie that there was no cure, and when asked again by her, he swears that he's telling the truth.
Living in Jackson[]
| “ | Making a vaccine… would have killed you. So I stopped them. | „ |
| ~ Joel admitting the truth to Ellie. |
Reaching the Jackson community, Joel admitted the truth to Tommy, who told his brother that he understood why he did it and probably wouldn't done anything different. Joel and Ellie would become residence of Jackson, with the former being assigned a patrolmen to deal with infected. He would have his own home where it appeared that he went back into carpentry, taught Ellie how to swim and played the guitar. During this time, Ellie continued to question Joel about what happened at the hospital, and later travelled there and found a tape recorder that revealed the truth. Confronting Joel, he admitted the truth, and Ellie told him that though she would return to Jackson, they were done. Joel would later speak with Ellie, reconciling as she wanted to rebuild their friendship and was willing to forgive him.
The Last of Us Part II[]
| “ | What are you doing, kiddo? You really gonna go through with this? | „ |
| ~ Joel to Ellie in the first trailer. |
Joel and Tommy were sent out to patrol over Jackson when a blizzard came over, and the two rescued a girl named Abby Anderson from a pack of infection. Abby then took the two to her hideout where her friends were waiting, and enacted her revenge by shooting his leg and torturing him with a golf club. Ellie soon arrived and witnessed his death, with Abby bashing his skull in with a golf club before leaving with her group.
Legacy[]
Joel's death affected the Jackson community, with both Ellie and Tommy deciding to get revenge on Abby and her group for killing him. Ellie would soon learn that Abby enacted revenge because Joel killed her father at the hospital, and the former was left to live by Anderson, who decided to spend her time in raising Lev. Though Ellie would later try to enact revenge on Abby, she recalled her last conversation with him and spared Anderson. Returning to her ranch, Ellie finally forgives Joel for his actions and heads to find Dina and JJ.