Is Joel Dead in The Last of Us? His Fate Explained

Episode 6 of The Last of Us finally allowed us to see some sort of development in the unlikely father-daughter relationship between Joel and Ellie as they end up learning more about each other. On top of that, they were able to inch closer to their goal of finding the Fireflies and reach their ultimate goal of helping them synthesize a cure for the Cordyceps Brain Infection. However, while they were in the university that once served as a base for the Fireflies, Joel got stabbed by a raider and even collapsed and fell from his horse. So, is Joel dead in The Last of Us?

Joel does not die in HBO’s The Last of Us. For now, at least. That’s because he will survive his stab wound due to Ellie’s efforts in treating his wound. In the game, Ellie spent weeks trying to find a way to treat Joel, who ended up getting sick from the illness he suffered from his infected wound.

Even though Joel ends up getting stabbed and badly wounded during the events of episode 6, he survives and lives through the events of the storyline up to the time when he has to confront the Fireflies in relation to what they had planned for Ellie. His wound is also an opening for Ellie’s character development and eventual rise as a true daughter figure to Joel.

Did Joel Die In The Show?

While there were hardly any action scenes in episode 6 of The Last of Us, it was clear that the entire episode was dedicated to the development of the relationship between Joel and Ellie. It might be true that they have been traveling together for months, but Joel and Ellie hardly know anything about each other. Ellie didn’t even know that Joel had a daughter before the Cordyceps Brain Infection outbreak.

However, things eventually changed during the events of episode 6 when they had a breakthrough in their relationship. After they found Tommy in a small town in Jackson, Wyoming, Joel and Ellie argued about their future as traveling companions. The teenage girl felt that she was safer with Joel despite the fact that Joel didn’t want to take her to the Fireflies because the people that were close to him always got hurt.

Nevertheless, they ended up agreeing about how they loved each other’s company, which was why they ended up continuing their journey together when they traveled to the University of Eastern Colorado, which Tommy said was a Firefly base. After five days of traveling together and learning more about each other, the duo got to the university.

Joel and Ellie looked for any signs related to the Fireflies, only to find out they had already abandoned the university. But while the Fireflies had abandoned that base, there were still raiders that were within the premises. And the duo needed to leave on their horse as soon as possible before the raiders found out that they were there.

But before they could leave the university, one of the raiders caught up to them and attacked Joel and Ellie. They were successful at beating that raider, only for Ellie to find out that Joel had been stabbed right in the gut. Ellie tried her best to put Joel on the horse so that they could escape.

While the duo did indeed escape the raiders, Joel fell off the horse due to the fact that he had become so weak from the wound he suffered from the stab. Ellie panicked as the episode ended. So, is Joel dead in The Last of Us?

Joel does not die in The Last of Us. However, we are talking about the fact that he does not die from the wound he suffered at the hands of the raiders. That means that his fate in the TV show is something that is yet to be decided despite the fact that he will survive the wound that he suffered in that attack from the raiders.

In the game, Joel survived his wound due to the first aid that Ellie tried to administer. This allowed Joel to stay alive but still sick due to the complications he suffered from the infection on the wound. As such, Ellie needed to find penicillin to help Joel, who ended up recovering from his illness.

Did Joel Die In The Game?

Of course, while Joel will survive his stab wound in the HBO version of The Last of Us due to the fact that his story is yet to see its conclusion, what we know is that his story doesn’t end really well in the video game series. Joel survives the first game’s events, but that isn’t the case in the second game.

In The Last of Us 2, Joel was captured and tortured by Abby, the daughter of one of the Fireflies that Joel killed during the events of the first game. Abby, one of the playable characters of the second game, dedicated her life to avenging her father’s death. And when she got her hands on Joel, her goal was within range.

Despite the fact that Ellie was pleading for her to spare Joel, Abby used a golf club to bash Joel’s head and kill him. In that regard, while Joel does indeed survive the events of the first game, he never makes it past the second game because of Abby’s quest for revenge.

In the HBO version of the storyline, it is possible that Joel will indeed survive until the end of the events of the first season. However, if the live-action adaptation plans on staying true to the main flow of events of the game, then there’s a good chance that he will also die somewhere down the line, especially if the series is going to adapt Abby’s quest for revenge.