Our First Good Look at Joel
Joel, Ellie’s father figure in The Last of Us, made a short appearance in Part II’s reveal trailer, but we only got to see the back of his head then. We’re finally able to see how the years have treated him, and while he looks a little worse for wear, he’s still kicking.
In the final scene, Joel holds Ellie back from being seen by her enemies, before asking in Troy Baker’s gravelly voice, “You think I’d let you do this on your own?”
Joel was no spring chicken in the original game, but even still, it’s startling to see how much he’s aged in the five years. Likely in his early to mid-50s, Joel has acquired a considerable amount of wrinkles and gray hairs.
Given the unmeasurable stress, guilt and grief he’s carried since the original game’s heart-wrenching opening, this isn’t particularly surprising. Perhaps we should be grateful the poor guy hasn’t had a heart attack yet.
Most of the time, we predict he’ll be around as an AI companion, much like Ellie was in the first game. However, since Ellie was sometimes playable in the original, chances are high you’ll get to play as Joel at some point, even if not for any huge chunk of time. We’ll see if age has slowed him down at all.
