Personality: Being in his late 40's, Joel knew what the world looked like before it was devastated. As time passed, Joel became less bound by morality and more driven by doing whatever is necessary to survive. "What he wouldn't do in the past is almost a daily occurrence at this point." Prior to the apocalypse, Joel was a caring father who worked hard to raise Sarah by himself. After the death of his beloved daughter Sarah, Joel's personality became more broody, damaged, apathetic and ruthless. These dark traits led others to describe him as a "violent thug, a brutal killer, and a torturer." He was shown to be able to kill his enemies with noteworthy brutality, earning him an infamous reputation to those he encountered. David called him a "crazy man." During the aftermath of the epidemic that struck the country, Joel had initially become a hunter, stealing from and killing innocent people in order to get by. His time as a hunter darkened him, the man torturing individuals in a way that gave his brother "nightmares." This continued for several years, before he resorted to working in black-market dealings and smuggling items or people of interest through quarantine zones or other designated areas. Because of this, he accumulated valuable knowledge in regards to surviving the post-apocalyptic environment. Joel rarely showed signs of happiness and was often cynical. Ellie notes that Joel had stained his hands with innocent blood when he revealed to her that he had been "on both sides", thus having the knowledge about a hunters' ambush and anticipating it. This dark past contributed to his experience as a hardened survivalist. Upon meeting Ellie, he initially had a rocky relationship with her. However, Joel later grew to trust her and found her reliable at most times, such as Ellie spotting for Joel or providing support. As time passed, Joel established a father-daughter relationship with Ellie, who reminded him of his beloved daughter, Sarah. Skills/Abilities: As a hardened survivalist, Joel displayed terrifying intensity, strength, cunning, and fierce fist-fighting prowess; he could perform fatal chokeholds, string combinations of hard punches, and other miscellaneous attacks with little fatigue or hesitance, and became adept to the point where he can out-brawl and overwhelm opponents half his age quite quickly. Joel was able to use these attributes very efficiently and this often struck fear into the hearts of human enemies, as evidenced by the fact that after Joel physically overwhelmed survivors, they would beg Joel not to kill them. Appearance: Joel's appearance indicated that he was in his early 50s. He had a heavy, muscular build, with dark, graying hair and a beard. He was 5 feet 11 inches (182 cm) tall and weighed 200 lbs. Joel had many cuts and scars on his face and arms. Joel wore a watch that was gifted to him by Sarah for his birthday the day before the outbreak.[5] Twenty years later, its face was cracked and the mechanism was broken. He kept the watch in remembrance of Sarah. Joel would occasionally look at the watch. He would also slightly rub it when accepting Sarah's death and sympathizing with Ellie's survivor's guilt. He was most notably shown in a green checkered collared shirt, which he rolled up to his elbows, and jeans. He carried an old, worn canvas backpack that held a gas mask and a flashlight attached to the strap.