With The Last of Us 2 on its way, now is a perfect time to take a look at Joel and his character from the original The Last of Us, specifically pertaining to his actions in the final chapter of the game. While it isn't clear exactly what kind of role he'll have in the new game, like whether Joel will be a villain or a helper, there is a chance that this new title will finally give the character the redemption that some players think he deserves.
Seeing as how players stepped into his shoes for the majority of the first game, if The Last of Us 2 decides to offer Joel a redemption, it would be a fitting catharsis for anyone who sympathized with the grieving father. While it has been said time and time again that Joel is less than the ideal hero in The Last of Us, there is plenty within the character's backstory and actions for players to relate with and love about.
All of that being said, if Naught Dog does decide to twist Joel even deeper into the selfish and harmful decisions he has made throughout his life and present him as something closer to David from the original The Last of Us, that could be a quality choice as well. However, looking at how the studio has previously treated its imperfect heroes, like Nathan Drake, it would be quite the leap to flip Joel so suddenly. Moreover, with a Last of Us HBO series in the works, it's not likely that either party involved would be to excited to see the lead of the new show turn full villain before his onscreen debut.
The ending to The Last of Us
One part of Joel's history that most critics of the character point to as a reason to condemn him is the way he chooses to kill the Fireflies and save Ellie at the cost of allowing the zombie scourge to continue ravaging the world. The final chapter puts players once again in Joel's shoes as he has to fight his way through a hospital filled with Firefly soldiers, kill a doctor performing a surgery on Ellie that would kill her, and caps off the scenario by shooting the Firefly leader, Marlene, in the head. As a result, Joel, and the player, have effectively destroyed any chance of the Fireflies stopping the Cordyceps fungus and sent the group into disarray without formal leadership, although the extent of the damage is still unknown even though alluded to in early trailers.
There isn't much good to be gleamed from the ending, except for the fact that Joel saved Ellie by doing all of this. Looking at another story driven game, this time developed by Dontnod Entertainment, the final and most important decision in Life is Strange is whether to let Chloe, main character Max's best friend and potential love interest, die and sacrifice the town or sacrifice her for Arcadia Bay. Since the game tracks statistics of every decision made by players who played online, we actually know that the decision to save one at the cost of many and vice-versa is actually around fifty percent, meaning about half of players, by comparison, would have sided with Joel in The Last of Us anyway.
Joel Abandons Ellie
It isn't entire clear what Joel's role in The Last of Us 2 will be, but in the reveal trailer that confirmed the character's return, we get a line that gives us an insight as to where he's been for the last five years. When Ellie first sees Joel in the trailer, she asks him why he's there, and the tone is firmly accusatory, as if he has been missing for some time or at least he left before the inciting incident of the new game. It's still unknown if Joel is somehow responsible for this mysterious incident, which is likely the death of the people Ellie has been shown to be living with in previous trailers, but he was clearly away when it happened.
To a degree, Ellie likely blames Joel for what happens, and that line leaves Joel and Ellie's relationship up in the air. As the trailers have been attempting not to give too much away, a lot of this has been left as a mystery, such as whether or not Ellie knows what really happened at the end of The Last of Us, or why Joel left. We'll likely be given some sort of reason for him to have abandoned his surrogate daughter for however long he did, but this continues to darken Joel's character, giving him even more reason to look for some sort of redemption.
Joel Needs to Make a Sacrifice
So far, Joel has lost a lot throughout both his twenty years living in the Cordyceps ravaged world, as well as in the character's last five years where tensions seem to be high between him and Ellie. Joel has had his world taken from him, both from Cordyceps destroying modern civilization, as well as the death of his daughter Sarah. However, over the twenty years leading up to The Last of Us, he also lost his brother to the Fireflies, his morals as a bandit, and during the course of the original game, his closest friend Tess.
That being said, Joel has never actually sacrificed anything, nor has he given anything up of his own free will, instead keeping whatever he has close and essentially killing anyone who gets in his way, showing his true selfish character as a terrible influence on Ellie. If The Last of Us 2 really wants to give Joel a proper redemption, he needs to sacrifice something by the end of the game, not just continue to have things taken from him. It has to be a conscious decision that Joel makes in order to give up either something he cherishes, or possibly even his own life for the sake of others, not as a means to his own ends.
In short, while it may be difficult for players to watch him go, Joel is likely going to have to sacrifice himself for his surrogate daughter, or to twist the knife deeper, he may have to sacrifice Ellie the way he should have at the end of The Last of Us in the first place. Fans will just have to wait for The Last of Us 2 to know for sure.
The Last of Us Part 2 is set to release on May 29th, 2020, for PS4.