Then going on saying to saying "you have no idea what loss is", showing that his daughter was one of his greatest losses. If you find a secret area in Pittsburg, you find a family in a bathtub. They committed suicide, and when Ellie finds it, she says "[they] must have taken the easy way out," and Joel says "it aint easy" implying that it was much harder than she thought to commit suicide. It takes him to the end of the game to finally talk to Ellie about Sarah. His life has moved on to another thing to fight for, Tess.
Tess is Joel's partner in crime after he tries to commit suicide. They became hunters and smugglers together, and they grew in a relationship. They are good friends, and even hint at it more on their journey. After Joel loses Tess, he is again riddled with lesser pain then with his daughter, but still pain. The scene where Joel leaves Tess proves how hard it was for the duo to leave each other. It was shown as Tess pushes Joel away saying "make this easy for me", as she is left alone. You can hear his pain as Ellie starts to argue about leaving Tess behind. He struggles with giving orders to the girl as he walks away and sees her lifeless body. He forbade Ellie of speaking of Tess, fearing she will bring up unwanted memories. After they get to Bill's town, Bill keeps bringing up Tess, and Joel dodges everything about her. After Tess's sacrifice, Joel then takes on protecting Ellie, fighting for her. .
Along their journey, Joel and Ellie stumble into another city, meeting Henry and Sam, a group of survivors who were broken up by a couple of thugs in an armored car. Henry and Sam agree to take them along, and among the fighting they get broken up and Joel and Sam are forced to have some time. They don't bond much, but the adults bond when they get to a meeting point set by the group, and the kids bond a bit before Ellie goes to bed, and Sam shows that he has been infected.
