Joel Miller

Age: 56 years. Height: 182 cm. Weight: about 90 kg. Date of birth: September 26, 1981 Origin: European.

Tommy (younger brother) Sarah (daughter, died at 13-14 years old) Maria (daughter-in-law, Tommy's wife) Ellie (adopted daughter).

Builder (before the epidemic) Smuggler (while living in Boston).

Austin, Texas, USA (before the outbreak) Boston, Massachusetts, USA (post-pandemic to 2033) Jackson, Wyoming, USA.

9mm pistol, revolver, knife, shotgun, hunting rifle.

Brunette with gray hair and beard. Wears a beard and moustache. Green eyes with a brown tint. Thick eyebrows. Gloomy, a little sad, but cold look. Strong build, large palms with thick calloused fingers, sinewy hands.

Joel is a physically and mentally strong man who is able to survive a monstrous epidemic. Many hardships have made him rough and seemingly unfeeling, but he is capable of passionately loving his loved ones. He can be rude and sullen, sometimes ruthless, especially with enemies, but with loved ones he is always more friendly, kind, open and cheerful. He sincerely cares and worries about people dear to him. He still takes Sarah's death hard, which is why he does not talk about her as well as about Tess, with whom he lived in Boston during the times when he was engaged in smuggling.

Joel says he never liked video games, but he does like music. He claims that as a child, he dreamed of being a singer. He also played guitar before the outbreak and intended to teach Ellie when he returned from his trip. Before the outbreak, Joel enjoyed hunting as a hobby, judging by the paintings of it and a photo of a deer above his bed in his Austin home before the outbreak. Joel's weapon of choice is a revolver. He keeps it in two promotional posters, in trailers, and in his house in the game. Loves coffee and silence.

Life before the epidemic Joel was born on September 26, 1981 and grew up in Texas with his brother Tommy. In the Fall season of the main campaign, it is confirmed that Joel raised Tommy and that it took a lot of effort for both of them. In his youth, Joel married and had a daughter, Sarah, but the marriage was short-lived. Burdened with great responsibility, he was unable to attend college. There is no mention of the subsequent fate and whereabouts of Sarah's mother. However, in a conversation with Ellie, Joel revealed that Sarah's mother left him shortly after the birth of their daughter, and he, being a single father, raised and educated Sarah alone. They lived in a two-story house somewhere in Austin County, Texas. Joel worked in construction, as a carpenter. Long before the outbreak, Joel was interested in music; he owned a guitar and a fairly large collection of music on both CDs and vinyl records. Despite his constant work delays, Joel still found time for Sarah, as can be seen in other photos of them together on a cruise, at a carnival, and at a football match. Hours before the outbreak, his daughter gave her father a watch to replace the one he had broken a few months earlier, in honor of his 32nd birthday, and Joel would never part with it again in memory of her - this is associated with one of the remarkable moments during his first meeting with Ellie.

When the outbreak begins, Joel and Sarah try to get out of the city and are joined by Tommy in his jeep. After running into a huge traffic jam and realizing that the further path is blocked, they try to get out by another route through the crowds of people running towards them in panic. The car gets into an accident in which Sarah injures her leg - then everyone is forced to continue the journey on foot. While Tommy fights the infected they encounter, Joel, carrying Sarah in his arms, tries to escape, but stumbles upon an armed Soldier. The Soldier reports to his superiors that two survivors have been found on the perimeter, but instead of helping him, he is ordered to eliminate them. After a short hesitation, he nevertheless carries out the order, opening fire with a rifle. Joel tries to cover Sarah from the bullets and throws her and himself aside. Tommy arrives and shoots the soldier in the head with a pistol, but Joel runs to his daughter lying on the ground nearby and discovers that she has been fatally wounded. Having lost a lot of blood, Sarah dies in the arms of the crying Joel. Twenty years after the outbreak that killed millions of people in the United States, Joel works as a smuggler in the Boston quarantine zone. Initially, Joel looked out for Tommy, but the actions the brothers took to survive cause Tommy remorse and nightmares, forcing him to abandon his brother and join the Fireflies, led by Marlene, who promised him hope for a better life. However, over time, he leaves the Fireflies and leaves Boston. During this time, he meets Tess, a fellow worker who ran a Boston underground market.

Because the seller sold the battery to the Fireflies, Joel and Tess wanted to get it back, but they met Marlene, the Fireflies' boss, who offered them a deal: they would deliver some cargo to a group of Fireflies waiting in the Capitol, and in exchange, she would return the weapons and even throw in some extra cash. Joel and Tess reluctantly agree. The "cargo" ends up being a 14-year-old girl named Ellie, who is immune to the spores and fungal infection. As a result, on the way to the Fireflies, Joel finds Tommy in Jackson, and then still gets to the Fireflies with Ellie, but takes the girl from there, since in order to study and develop a vaccine, it is necessary to get the cordyceps in the girl's brain, but it is impossible to get it without killing her, so Joel kills almost all the people in the Fireflies organization and saves Ellie, returning to Jackson.