im talking about the one where joel almost died by getting jumped and eating it head first in that huge puddle. after thinking about it and hearing joels take on how its not easy to 'take the easy way out' when he sees that dead body in the tub with ellie. i think the reason he was so bitter with ellie when she saves him is not that he was humiliated but that he wanted to die... intresting take anyways funny how many layers there are in this game.

Interesting take on Joel, though I don't completely agree with it. For me Joel seems like a survivor, someone who is willing to do almost anything to survive, which we already see in the opening of the game: where Joel, Tommy and Sarah is in the car and Joel tells Tommy to keep driving even though they had room for that other family on the road. But Joel didn't want to take any chances, for him it was all about survival and protecting him and the ones he love first and foremost.

Anyways I won't write too much cause I'm thinking of writing a character analysis of Joel.

On a side note, a month after finishing the game I look back at it far more fondly. While playing I was just constantly stressed (great gameplay, but so damn tense on hard).

This post got me thinking about it in ways I absolutely couldn't while in the thick of it.

Heh, I know what you mean. I was so tense after the game deliberately makes it unclear whether or not Joel survived. Great game, it's already found it's way into my favourites, despite it being out for less than a year.

As for Joel's character, I agree with @castiel in that I think he was a survivor more than anything. In several instances the game hints towards Joel doing terrible things in order to survive, even forcing his brother to do the same. And he cared too much about Ellie at that point to simply leave her all alone in the world.

Yeah, me too. Playing through GTA V has really made me think of that game, of how much I appreciate the kind of emotional maturity games like The Last of Us have. Not that I hate GTA V or anything, it's just that I think that that sort of thing is maybe not so much for me any more.

I dunno why you'd come to the conclusion that he wanted to die just because he got all hot and bothered after having his ass saved by a 14 year old girl. He was fighting for his life moments before she showed up, not resigning himself to death. His comment about the suicide seems pretty logical to me, it can't be easy to go through with ending your own life.

true its just the lead in though, he was saying that you have no idea how hard it is to kill your self, as in its not 'an easy way out' about the lady in tub. AND he never thanked her for saving his life...

the way i see it he wants to die but just keeps going in order to help those around him. and he just got to the point that all those he tries to help end up dieing anyways. perhaps he just didnt want to deal with 'that shit' anymore, as he says when he is in the hotel.

The way I felt about Joel's reaction to that and later on is that he doesn't want Ellie to kill. He see's her more as like something pure and innocent, like his daughter. However, that's not really the case with Ellie since she has already been exposed to death around her and the world she lives in is not a peaceful one.

ive been back and forth on this topic. in the end i do think joel was so destroyed by his daughter dieing that the only thing keeping him alive was tess. now we dont know her story, but we do know that they where lovers. and then comes ellie, she replaced tess in a way, his daughter figure so to speak. he was long broken and just wanted it all to end. they only things in his life that kept him going was tess, then ellie. i think he would of gladly excepted death, as long as it wasnt by his own hand or will...