Joel Miller

Shortly after Sarah was born, Joel's wife left him. Regarding his ex-wife, whatever occurred between them is painful for Joel to talk about. As a result, he raised their only daughter as a single father for the majority of his life and never had the opportunity to attend college. At the start of the pandemic, it was Joel's 32nd birthday, and was gifted a wristwatch from his only daughter Sarah. However, Sarah died in his arms, due to a soldier firing upon them. With the watch broken, he wears it to remember her to this day. He had suicidal thoughts after Sarah died and almost took his own life shortly after. About 20 years later, Joel became a ruthless black market smuggler dealing with contraband, taking numerous dehumanizing jobs over the years and doing anything to survive in this new post-pandemic world. Joel’s conscience slowly dwindles as he shuts down his emotions to cope with his new life. He is now in his late 40s and works together with his business partner Tess, most likely having a romantic relationship with her. However, Tess gets bitten by a clicker and chooses to sacrifice herself to let Joel and Ellie run away from FEDRA so that Joel can deliver Ellie to the Fireflies. Ellie is a young girl who is the key to mankind's survival due to her immunity. Joel and Ellie's relationship was rocky at first, but Joel eventually establishes a father-daughter relationship with her. When Joel delivers Ellie to the Fireflies at St. Mary's Hospital, he finds out that Ellie must die for a cure to be made. Joel, unable to cope with Ellie dying, chooses to kill all the Fireflies, including the doctor, saving Ellie's life. He also kills the Leader of the Fireflies, Marlene in the process of escaping. Joel then lies to Ellie about what happened at the hospital. Joel and Ellie eventually go back to Jackson, a town that Tommy built from the ground up. Joel and Tommy eventually make up and they stay at Jackson during this time.