<em>The Last of Us</em> Season 2: Who Is Joel's Father?

This story contains minor spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 6.

It's no secret that fatherhood is a major theme in The Last of Us. But while Joel exists as Ellie's surrogate father figure in both the original video games and the HBO television adaptation, who was Joel's father? The character has never been mentioned, let alone seen in any of the original video games. But on TV, The Last of Us season 2 just gave an answer to a question few fans probably didn't even think to ask.

In the newest episode of The Last of Us, "The Price," (season 2, episode 6) the series rewinds the clock to explore the years Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) spent together in Jackson. While their earliest memories are happy, their relationship strains over time. Not only does Ellie oppose some of Joel's actions—namely, how he kills an infected Jackson resident, Eugene (Joe Pantoliano), despite promising he wouldn't—but Ellie correctly suspects that Joel is hiding what happened in Salt Lake City.

But the top of the episode brings audiences back in time even further, to 1983. Before there were fungus zombies and survivalist factions, life for Joel and his brother Tommy was just as bleak under their father, Javier, played by guest star Tony Dalton. (You might recognize him from Better Call Saul, or the Marvel shows Hawkeye and Daredevil: Born Again.) While Javier's screen time is short, his appearance reveals a wealth about Joel, including the seeds that drive him to watch over Ellie like his own daughter.

On one fateful night in 1983, a young Tommy (played by David Miranda) gets into a fight with a neighborhood drug dealer, which compels a teenage Joel (Andrew Diaz) to step in. At home, Joel volunteers to take the blame for the whole incident to protect Tommy from a beating at the hands of their father, who is also a cop. Though Javier admits he's abusive, he argues that he isn't as harsh as his own father. "Okay, yeah, I've hit you. And I've hit Tommy," Javier admits to Joel. "But never like that. Not even close."

He continues, "But I'm doing a little better than my father did. And you know, when it's your turn, I hope you do a little better than me." Javier then offers his son a beer, a symbol of uneasy understanding between the two of them.

The backstory is basically Joel's origin story, showing how and why he was so driven to protect Ellie. He was a man who used violence to protect his loved ones and believed he was doing the right thing, even when his actions said otherwise. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, creator and series executive producer Neil Druckmann explains as much, revealing how the scene encapsulates Joel's outlook that follows him to the end.

Season 2, episode 6 of The Last of Us takes us back to a time when Joel and Ellie’s relationship wasn’t so strained.

"What the dad ultimately says is, 'I think I've done the right things, but I'm not entirely sure. I just know that I did things better than my dad, who beat me even worse,'" Druckmann said. "His insecurity about that stays with Joel as well. Joel's doing the best he can with the tools that are in front of him, but he loves Ellie unconditionally."

Javier is an original character invented for the HBO series; Joel never mentioned his father in any of the games. But his inclusion deepens our understanding of Joel, a man who had rough edges but held a warmth informed by inherited traumas. You might not agree with anything Joel did, but you can't argue he wasn't doing what he thought was best, even if it killed him.