Joel vs. Nathan Drake: Who is the Bigger Jerk?

[Dante9]

Signalstar said:

I just finished The Last of Us Remastered and Uncharted 4 A Thief's End pretty much back to back (Played some Ratchet & Clank in between). Both are amazing games as you probably already know but something has been bothering me about them.

Both main characters are huge jerks and damn unlikable if you think about it.

For Joel:

-Kills plenty of people without giving them a chance to surrender.

He lives in a dog eat dog world.

-Lies to Ellie

True, but he kind of thinks it's the right thing to do to save Ellie. It's also selfish, because he just can't give her up. Cut him some slack?

-Treats his brother poorly.

How? Because they had a disagreement over something? They resolved it in the end.

-May or may not have doomed humanity.

I'll give you that one.

 

For Drake:

-Kills an astonishing amount of people.

Yup, although those people would surely kill him, if they saw him first.

-Is a thief whose primary motivation is greed.

No, it's the adventure and mystery itself, plus he really has respect for ancient treasures and knows his stuff. In fact, they kind of joke about how after all his exploits he doesn't have very much to show for anything.

-Leads friends and family into dangerous situations.

His friends are in the business with him, they are his partners in what he does. He doesn't force anyone to come along.

-Lies to his wife.

True. He wanted to spare her from all the worrying.

Of course Joel had to suffer some real despair in losing his daughter (and presumably his wife before that). Joel also lives in a harsher world where the only way to survive is not to trust anyone.

Drake however, I am surprised that none of the games featured a plot where he was hunted down by Interpol. I doubt most of his kills were legal or justified. Yeah he was an orphan and thought his brother died but he has a suprisingly clean concious for the crap he has done.

Thoughts?