Character from The Last of Us by Naughty Dog
Joel's daughter — twelve years old on Outbreak Day, dead before the opening credits, and the ghost that haunts every decision Joel makes for the next twenty years.
Sarah exists in the narrative for approximately twenty minutes and defines the entire series. She gives Joel a watch for his birthday. She wakes up to find the world ending. She runs. A soldier shoots her. Joel holds her while she dies. The watch breaks. Joel wears it for twenty years. She is the reason Joel can't let Ellie die. She is the reason Joel can't trust anyone. She is the reason the watch never comes off. Every act of protection, every act of violence, every lie Joel tells — all of it traces back to a dark road in Austin, Texas, and a girl who bled out in her father's arms.
A twelve-year-old girl with brown hair and hazel eyes — her father's eyes. She wears pajamas in the opening sequence. She looks like a normal kid, which is the point: the world she dies in hasn't become the apocalypse yet.
Also known as: Sarah