Sarah
Sarah is Joel's daughter, whom he had when he was in his late teens, and the game's first playable character. The posters and photos on her wall suggest that she was a keen soccer player. At the start of the game, she gives her father a new watch for his birthday. In the early hours of the next day, she is awoken by a commotion and the sound of Tommy phoning Joel. Later, Joel bursts into his office, pulls a revolver out of his desk drawer and shoots their neighbor. Sarah leaves with Tommy and Joel, but her leg is hurt in a crash, forcing Joel to carry her. On the outskirts of their hometown, they come across a soldier, who follows his orders and shoots them. Sarah is fatally wounded by a bullet and dies in Joel's arms.
The team felt that Sarah's physical appearance should feel authentic, displaying her relationship with Joel, while simultaneously establishing her as a distinct character. They aimed to establish the character as "a down-to-earth girl who shares many qualities with Ellie". On the relationship between Joel and Sarah, Hayes felt that they are "more like best friends than father and daughter", citing their playfulness and humor with each other. Hayes felt intimidated during her audition, due to her inexperience with video game performances. She found it difficult to perform lines in the recording studio, preferring to perform them with the body movements; she believed that the latter felt more natural. To perform Sarah's death, Hayes forced herself to remember and experience previous moments in her life, such as her grandfather's death.
