# CORDECEPT a private &. highly selective JOEL MILLER from the last of us video game duology. smuggled by jason ( 23 - he/him )
rules & regulations
JASON / 23 / HE/HIM / EST TIMEZONE
01 this portrayal will discuss highly triggering content. please proceed with caution if you have not played the games. joel has had some incredibly dark times in his past, including a time where he actively hunted other survivors. here is a great post discussing some of the triggers present in tlou. not all of that pertains specifically to joel, but it is something to keep in mind. i tag things in a "trigger name tw" format. however, the grief of losing a child is heavily prevalent throughout joel's characterization and might be unavoidable. that being said, i will never explicitly depict sarah's death. == due to the potentially triggering nature of this blog, i do not follow first == 02 just don't be a jerk and we'll have a lovely time writing together! i'm incredibly easygoing and don't have any requests outside the standard rp etiquette. if you're homophobic, racist, abelist, transphobic, etc you aren't welcome here & you wouldn't like me very much anyway. and absolutely dni if you age up canon minors for smut purposes, write noncon, or write incest. this goes without saying, but if you ship joel/ellie i will set your crops on fire. 03 if you would like to break mutual, please hard block me. i don't want to make things awkward by refollowing you because i think it was a glitch. 04 i'm just going to get this out there: while this portrayal is canon divergent for obvious reasons, i do generally like tlou2. i also like abby and i'm happy to interact with abby writers. this blog is not a space for drama. i don't care if you like the game or if you hate it. i'm just here to write my favorite character. joel means the world to me and has for a very long time. 05 i generally only follow one version of each muse. i will not write with more than two different portrayals of the same character. if we are mutuals, it means that i genuinely care about you and your portrayal. i love mains and exclusives so please don't hesitate to reach out if that is something you are interested in. 06 if we are not shipping, please assume that this portryal of joel is romantically involved with cordrot's tess! any other ships will be placed into their own au verse. 07 i use triple spacing, text formatting, and icons in my replies. if this is a problem, please let me know. i would be happy to change my formatting for you. you're worth more than aesthetics. i am also using the beta editor so i will be cutting your reply completely and copying it into the beginning of mine with a blockquote. 08 howdy! i'm jason (23, he/him, queer + trans). i am autistic and have adhd so it takes me a little while to respond to things. my discord is always available to moots. 09 please do not take any inspiration from this blog without explicit permission. this portrayal is very dear to my heart. ★ joel miller and the last of us are property of naughty dog and i claim no ownership nor do i gain any profit. however, all writing, graphics, virtual photography, etc belong to me. i am game based so all icons are made using the in-game model and my own personal screenshots. psds are all either made by me or eyeh8riot.
MAINS & EXCLUSIVES
| raylan givens | exclusive | g1vens |
| colton rhodes | exclusive | 0shit |
| kayce dutton | exclusive - [ ♡ ] | duttoned |
| tess | affiliate & exclusive - [ ♡ ] | cordrot |
| vinicia mikhailovna andreyeva | affiliated | pistoiet |
| mike wheeler | affiliated | mw0407 |
| simon "ghost" riley | main | azraelreckoning |
| kendra wolfe | main | wolfehunt |
character information
" i struggled for a long time with surviving... no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for " JOEL MILLER is a hardened survivor in a world that has been ravaged by cordyceps (a fungal brain infection that turns people into zombie-like creatures.) when it comes to protecting his loved ones, there is no line that he would not cross.
| ⸻ basics | |
| name : | joel miller |
| nicknames : | texas, old timer |
| born : | september 26th (in arlington, texas) |
| age : | 48 (verse dependent) |
| gender : | male (he/him) |
| sexuality : | bisexual & biromantic |
| religion : | secular jewish |
| ethnicity : | chilean american |
| marital status : | divorcee |
| diagnosis : | c-ptsd, depression, anxiety, hypertension, & ulcers. |
| ailments : | hard of hearing in his left ear. pain in his right knee. |
| scars : | rebar wound in his low abdoman. |
| ⸻ personality | |
| positive : | loyal, dedicated, resourceful, creative |
| negative : | selfish, cynical, ruthless, sarcastic |
| likes : | music, hunting, rodeos, hiking, nature |
| dislikes : | cowardice & cruelty for its own sake |
| fears : | outliving the people he loves & loss of control |
| habits : | touching the watch given to him by sarah |
| hobbies : | guitar, singing, woodworking, luthiering, |
| primary vice : | tba |
| primary virtue : | tba |
| alignment : | true neutral |
| color : | green |
| music : | hard rock & country. |
| movie : | curtis and viper (80s action movies) |
| book : | moby dick |
| sport : | soccer & football. |
| beverage : | coffee |
| food : | chicken fried steak |
| living style : | messy, but he keeps shared areas tidy |
| ⸻ appearance | |
| height : | 5'10" |
| weight : | 200lbs |
| build : | stocky |
| fitness level : | high, especially strength & endurance |
| hair color: | black, with some grey |
| hairstyle : | cut short with knife |
| prefered clothing : | function pieces in earth tones |
| voice : | southern drawl with a texan regional dialect |
| scent (before) : | mint. |
| scent (now) : | everyone smells gross after outbreak day tbh |
| scars : | rebar wound in stomach, multiple others |
| ⸻ pre-outbreak | |
| career : | carpenter |
| company : | superior builders |
| education: | high school diploma |
| aspiration : | guitarist & singer (unpursued) |
| residence : | austin, texas |
| vehicle : | a white GMC sierra 1500 (truck) |
| ⸻ post-outbreak | |
| residence (2033) : | the boston quarantine zone |
| residence (2034-) : | jackson, wyoming |
| ⸻ family | |
| children : | sarah ( † ) & ellie (surrogate daughter) |
| brother : | tommy miller |
| mother : | eva miller ( † ) |
| father : | henry miller ( † ) |
| ex-wife : | haley reynolds |
joel has three distinct characterizations due to the trauma responses he has developed. his interactions with other characters will vary incredibly based on when they meet him. arc 01 spans the years that sarah is alive. this is joel's happiest time and he is generally a very kind & neighborly man. he's an incredibly involved father and has good relations with the people around him. arc 02 spans the twenty years after sarah's death. this is joel at his lowest. he's cruel and singularly focused on survival by any means. ( post-apoc joel is incredibly ruthless, do not cross him without prior plotting. i will not be nerfing his responses ) arc 03 begins on the day he meets ellie. joel learns to care again and finds a balance between who he was and who he became. once he settles in jackson, wyoming he begins to rebuild his life. he's generally well-liked and respected around town. arc 04 is entirely my own creation. it spans onward from the time that the salt lake crew catch him.
history
001 page under co. will be up 1/5
arcs & verses
ARC .01 PRE-OUTBREAK
joel becomes a father at seventeen; his world starts and ends with sarah. he works as a carpenter throughout the week and picks up side-jobs on the weekends. he isn't home as much as he'd like, but when he is, he's an incredibly involved father. he makes time for all of sarah's interests and can often be found at the side of a soccer field.__ __ ARC .02 THE NIGHTMARE YEARS - [ THE FIRST 20 YEARS AFTER THE OUTBREAK ]
joel and tommy wind up in a fedra emergency center shortly after sarah's death. things don't last long. one night, someone turns and the camp is thrown into chaos. the millers are able to escape and hit the road together. they make their way east. years later, they fall in with a group of survivors. things devolve from there. they wind up doing horrific things to other survivors, all in the name of their own survival. eventually, tommy wants to break away from the group. joel winds up killing the leader to protect tommy. the two hit the road again. they eventually wind up in the boston QZ. eventually, tommy and joel have a massive falling out and don't see each other again. joel continues to work as a smuggler in the QZ.__ __ ARC .03 FROM THE DAY HE MEETS ELLIE ( this is the canon game era & joel's main verse )
joel is tasked with smuggling ellie out of the boston QZ to a rendezvous point with the fireflies. things don't go as planned, so joel and ellie embark across the country to find the fireflies.__ __ ARC .04 FROM THE DAY THE PAST CATCHES UP WITH HIM ( canon divergent )
four years after ellie and joel settle in jackson, joel's choices catch up with him. joel is brutally tortured by abby anderson and other members of the washington liberation front. he almost loses his life and slips into a coma due to the massive amounts of physical trauma. by the time he wakes up, it's to a mess of bandages and the absence of his left eye. maria tells him that ellie and tommy have taken off on a quest for retribution on his behalf. while he is cooped up in recovery, joel adopts and dog and begins training it to be a faithful apocalyptic companion.
| * MUSICIAN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE hoping to make some extra money to send sarah to a prestigious soccer camp, joel starts spending his friday nights performing at a small bar in austin. one night, the right person hears him perform. it doesn't take long before joel is performing on a stage. |
| * SUPERNATURAL ALTERNATE UNIVERSE on september 26th, joel is woken up by a loud crash downstairs. there's someone in the house. he runs to sarah's room but he's too late. there's a creature in there with her. he manages to kill it, but it isn't enough. she dies in his arms before the first responders can arrive. joel hits the road when the police rule it a homicide, knowing that it's only a matter of time before they blame him. he dedicates his life to hunting and dodging the law. |
| * YELLOWSTONE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE tba |
| * MARVEL / DC ALTERNATE UNIVERSE tba |
| * STAR WARS ALTERNATE UNIVERSE joel works as a smuggler or bounty hunter, depending on which trilogy the thread is set in. |
| * RED DEAD REDEMPTION ALTERNATE UNIVERSE joel runs a moonshine business in west elizabeth with a hidden bar in the basement. he can often be found playing his guitar there. |
| * STRANGER THINGS ALTERNATE UNIVERSE tba |
| * NO OUTBREAK ALTERNATE UNIVERSE joel opens his own carpentry business with tommy. just as things are starting to take off, sarah is killed in a tragic hit and run after her soccer game. |