#joel who’s top priority is keeping ellie safe

[mariatesstruther]

it grinds some gears for me when tlou fans in fics or otherwise act like it’s completely unreasonable for maria to suspect joel of hurting ellie, or that she’s a bad person for advising ellie to be careful around him like. here’s this random ass grown ass man that you KNOW has been a hunter/raider/killer/whatever in the past, hauling around this tight-lipped and angry little girl who refuses to tell you anything about how or why she’s traveling with him.

sure, maria knows that joel is tommy’s brother and tommy loves him, but does that really mean much to her considering tommy hasnt seen or really known joel for years at this point (and considering tommy did LEAVE him because he didn’t know how much of his brother was left and couldnt handle it)?

and okay SURE, she knows that joel had a daughter Before and should know how to act around little girls. but LOTS of fucking men have daughters. theyre in the middle of the fucking apocalypse where men like david are just walking around willy nilly, looking for girls to take advantage of and control. and if you know anything about being as young as ellie and getting trapped in that type of situation, it’s entirely plausible for a victim to become attached and protective of their abuser in a way that looks like how ellie is sometimes with joel.

and who KNOWS what personal experiences maria has had that may make her even more on edge around joel being that close with ellie. i get really frustrated with the writers at this because it’s very clear that her caution comes from somehwhere real, but we know next to nothing about maria or what she’s gone through to make her that way.

all that being said, i completely get maria being suspicious of why ellie won’t tell her anything, and i completely get why she would advise ellie to be cautious around joel. she doesn’t push or pry beyond what’s reasonable, and she doesn’t try to force her own opinions on ellie. she just reminds her to be cautious and smart and mindful of the fact that she’s with someone capable of being dangerous, which is SO reasonable to me!! woman to woman, maria is just saying to be fucking careful.

and to be fair, maria definitely has a blind spot and bias when it comes to tommy. she gives him grace and understanding that she doesn’t yet know how to extend to joel. but this is her husband of however many years. theyve gone through shit together, built up a whole community together, been on a journey together. maria knows more of the good in tommy than the bad, JUST like ellie with joel.

i think in that particular scene and conversation, maria is just trying to do right by ellie and is looking out for her. ofc she doesn’t know the full truth of the situation, but considering what she does know, it’s a completely reasonable reaction. so it grinds my gears that she’s constantly shit on for it