Joan (Video Game)

"The real question is how could I not? What would happen without your fertilizer, Clint? Or your pills, Paul? Do you think our community would survive? I did what I had to, to ensure that we would. It wasn’t easy... I took the hard decisions on myself. You all remember the winter — how much we lost. Friends. Lovers. Children. I made a promise — it would never again. The raids were just to keep up us going, ‘til Richmond reached sustainability. We’re so close. So close to our dream. Do we really want to risk it all by fighting amongst ourselves? We should be all on the same side of this, David. On Richmond’s side. Surely you can see that?"

- Joan about the raids. (Determinant)

Joan is a main character and an antagonist who first appears in Telltale Games' The Walking Dead: Season Three. She is one of four leaders of the New Frontier alongside David García, Clinton Barnes, and Paul Lingard, and acts as the group's head of diplomacy. In reality, she is also the mastermind behind the New Frontier's raids on other settlements, her motivation spurred from their loss of people and supplies from the past winter. Despite not appearing until "Above The Law", she serves as the primary antagonist of Season 3 since she's the one pulling Badger, Max, and Lonnie's strings in the first two episodes.

Location Unknown
Joan was a divorced single mother, a driven child of immigrants, who worked her way up to COO of her furniture manufacturing company, running the factory as both den mother and disciplinarian. She knew every employee’s name, but also everyone’s weak spots.

"Above The Law"
Joan is first shown in the Richmond church when David takes Javier to meet her and the other leaders of Richmond; Paul and Clint. Joan is with Clint arguing about his spinach and Joan's gateau, to which Javi can say which he prefers. Clint then starts questioning Javier with Joan.

Max is brought into the church meeting by Clint's orders to bring up his experience with Javier with the leaders to inform them of what he has Seen Javier doing outside of Richmond. Max is hesitant with his words, knowing that David is Javier's brother and trying to show no disrespect to David. Max reveals that he caught Javier "stealing" gas from them, despite Javier's claims, Max stands his ground trying to sound justified. Max then reveals more information about Javier's situation with Rufus: either he killed him or he Clementine ran him of the road to free Javier.

Javier can also tell the leaders of Mariana's death and how she was brutally killed by members of the New Frontier. The leaders don't take it too well, and Javier and his group are kicked out.

Joan is shown later with David confronting her about the raids. The ending depends on what you did with Max.

If Max was spared: If Javier decide to keep Max alive, he will then tell everyone how he, Lonnie and Badger were raiding towns on Joan's orders. As everyone appears shocked, Joan explains how Richmond lost people in the winter, and says she was gonna keep the raids going until Richmond develops. Joan manages to convince the council that her reason for ordering the raids is justified, because of this, the council decides to side with her and has Javier and David locked away.

If Max was killed: If Max was killed however, David and Javier's defense are broken as Lonnie is now the only witness to the whole thing, framing David to be behind the raids in order to protect Joan. Lonnie's defense begins to sound more credible by blaming David for Badger and Max's deaths. Joan, successfully covered, scolds David for his "raids" and then has him and Javier arrested to answer for their "crimes". Lonnie then mocks David for killing their "family", which causes David to snap, attack Lonnie and incite a shootout, killing Lonnie.

"Thicker Than Water"
Joan appears in the New Frontier's jail cell where David and Javier are trapped in. She demands to talk to David about some problems and issues, then she takes David away. She leaves Javier locked in, but he later breaks out.

Joan begins her speech, and sentences David to death by hanging for his actions. After David accuses her of lying, Joan reveals one (Badger), two (Badger and Dr. Lingard), three (Badger, Max, and Lonnie) or four (Badger, Max, Lonnie, and Dr. Lingard) corpses of people Javier and David killed as evidence.

Joan notices Javier, and invites him to speak publicly in front of the crowd. She reveals that she has had a conversation with Eleanor, with her revealing the group's plan - which she has either done intentionally or accidentally, depending if you killed Conrad or not back in "Ties That Bind - Part 2", and knows Javier's plan to take her out/rally the people against her, and commands two of the guards to bring out Ava and Tripp, which have been both captured.

She places an ultimatum on Javier, choose one of them to spare. Clint is reluctant, but stays silent after Joan defends her actions. After either choosing to spare Ava or Tripp, Joan betrays Javi's choice, and shoots the person you chose. Either Ava dies by being shot in the head, or Tripp dies by being shot in the neck.

Clint, after witnessing Tripp/Ava's death, attempts to resolve the conflict and urges to strike a deal with Javier - take David and the rest of his group out of there, and do not come back. Joan disagrees, but Clint forces her to cooperate. David, enraged, tells Javier to shoot Joan. At this point, the player is presented with a choice, negotiate and accept the deal, or shoot Joan dead.

If Javier Shoots Joan: (Dead) Javier rejects Clint's deal and immediately shoots Joan in the eye, killing her instantly, which sparks a shootout within the square. During the chaos, a New Frontier member kicks the chair out from under David, who begins to suffocate. Javier and Gabe quickly rush the stage in an attempt to save David. Reaching the stage, Gabe manages to hold David up by his legs as Javier cuts the rope, narrowly saving David's life. Clint attempts to escape amid the chaos, but is seen by David, who gives chase, along with Ava (Determinant) and Gabriel. (Determinant)

If Javier Accepts The Deal: (Unknown) Javier accepts Clint's deal. Clint unties David, who ends up going against the deal by disarming a New Frontier member and holding Clint hostage. While David is distracted, Clint manages to break free of David's grip and attempts to wrestle the gun away from him, causing the gun to go off, which sparks chaos within the square. Seeing his dad in danger, Gabe runs up to the stage and attempts to pull Clint off of David, distracting him long enough for David to grab the gun, who proceeds to shoot and kill Clint without hesitation.

"From The Gallows"
Regardless if Javier shot her in the previous episode or not, Joan does not make a returning appearance in this episode. If she was spared, her fate is ultimately unknown. If she was killed however, a picture of her is seen a memorial wall.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Joan has killed:
 * Mariana García (Indirectly Caused)
 * Francine (Indirectly Caused)
 * Ava (Caused, Determinant)
 * Tripp (Caused, Determinant)
 * A few members of the Kingdom (Caused, Off-Screen)
 * Numerous counts of Prescott residents (Caused)
 * Numerous unnamed people.
 * Possibly numerous counts of zombies.

Killed By

 * Javier García

After Javier witnesses Joan order the execution of either Ava or Tripp, Clint attempts to resolve the conflict between Javier's group and Joan in a non-violent manner. Javier, however, refuses to capitulate to Clint's offer, shooting Joan in the eye, killing her instantly.

David García
"Don't try and drag him into your mess. The things you've done, They're an assault on what we built here. You and your brother -- you're going to have to answer for them."

- Joan betraying David (Determinant)

Joan appeared to threatened by David's position as one of the four leaders of New Frontier after he discovered her hidden agenda and sought to have him killed in a public execution for his 'crimes'. David is openly hateful towards Joan upon her betrayal and seeks to kill her if Javi does not.

Clinton Barnes
"Joan, are you sure about this? We never agreed to killing all these people!"

- Clint to Joan. Joan appeared to have a positive relationship with Clint and he allowed her to control Richmond. However, upon learning of her raiding, Clint becomes doubtful of her leadership and admits that this was not the kind of leadership he agreed to.

Paul Lingard
"Despite all her pleasantries, she's a cruel bitch."

- Lingard giving his opinion about Joan to Javier.

Joan and Paul appeared to have a positive relationship, or at least a neutral one. She did not seem distressed by his death and displayed his corpse to the crowd to win over their favor. (Determinant)

Javier García
"You've put me in a no-win situation here! So I'm gonna do the same thing to you. Both of them deserve to die for their crimes. However, Javi - I'll let you spare one of them. Just one."

- Joan presenting Javier with a choice to save Tripp or Ava.

At first, Joan was friendly towards Javier, expressing hope that he could stay in Richmond. However, after learning that Javi had a conflict with New Frontiersmen who were raiding other settlements on her orders, she wants Javi and his people gone, understanding that Javi's presence in Richmond could cause further problems.

Later, when Javier and David learn from Max that Joan is behind the raids, they confront her. Joan successfully denies their accusations if the player chose to kill Max earlier, making Lonnie the only witness alive. If Max is alive, he confirms Joan's involvement, but Joan succesfully justifies her actions to the rest of the council, leading to David's and Javier's arrest.

Joan visits David and Javier in the cell, telling them that they have gone against the laws of Richmond and therefore have to be punished for it. At that point, Javier can be compliant or aggressive towards Joan.

In truth, Joan sees David and Javier as a major threat to her position, determined to get rid of them at all cost. Joan plays with Javier, giving him a difficult choice between saving Ava or Tripp. Whoever Javi chooses to save gets shot instead, which infuriates Javier, to the point where Javier can choose to shoot Joan in the eye. Should Javier take Clint's deal, Joan protests, claiming she didn't say they could go, but she reluctantly allows David to be freed.

Lonnie
"We did that, raided those communities. Hurt those people... Because David told us to. Not Joan."

- Lonnie covering for Joan after Javier reveals that she ordered raiding and looting on other settlements. (Determinant)

The two seem to have a fairly positive relationship, Lonnie willing to lead raids on her orders behind the backs of other leaders, warn her and cover up for her when it is discovered. He also seems upset at Max should he reveal that Joan was the mastermind behind the operations.

Joan too seems to trust Lonnie. However, she has no qualms about using Lonnie's dead body to accuse David for murders. (Determinant)

Max
"Me, Badger and... and Lonnie, we ran the ops. On Joan's orders!"

- Max reveals the truth about Joan's ordering for looting and raiding on other settlements as proof for Javi.

Joan seems to trust Max enough to let him lead the raiding operations on other settlements. She seems very dissapointed in Max when he exposes her crimes to the rest of the council.

Joan has no qualms about using Max's dead body to accuse David for murders. (Determinant)

Kate García
Despite the fact that Kate is David's wife, Joan does not seek to harm her, telling her that she doesn't need to worry.

Clementine
The two barely had any interaction, though it is apparent that neither of them trust one another. Joan had no problems ordering her soldiers to point guns at Clementine to intimidate Javi.

Eleanor
"I had a very interesting conversation with your friend Eleanor last night. Isn't that right, Eleanor?"

- Joan to Javi about Eleanor.

Joan seemed to see Eleanor as an useful asset to Richmond because of her medical knowledge and also a source of information regarding Javier's plans.

Tripp
"Such language!"

- Joan commenting on Tripp's outburst at Javier. (Determinant)

Joan doesn't seem to care at all about Tripp, not hesitating to shoot him to teach Javi a lesson. (Determinant)

Ava
"Shoot her."

- Joan ordering a soldier to shoot Ava. (Determinant)

Despite being part of her group, Joan doesn't seem to care at all about Ava, not hesitating to shoot her to teach Javi a lesson. (Determinant)

Gabriel García
Joan has no qualms about ordering his soldiers to point guns at Gabe to intimidate Javi.

Badger
They are never seen interacting with one another, though Joan seemed to trust Badger, ordering him to lead raids on other settlements.

Joan does not have qualms about using Badger's dead body to accuse David for murders.

Season 3

 * "Above The Law"
 * "Thicker Than Water"
 * "From The Gallows" (Photograph, Determinant)

Trivia

 * Joan is the fourth major recurring antagonist in the Video Game, the first being the Save-Lots bandits leader, the second being the Stranger, and the third being William Carver.
 * After the confirmation of Clint's full name via an AMA on the Telltale forums, Joan is now the only co-leader of The New Frontier without a known last name.
 * Joan was originally designed as Eleanor's mother in an early version of the story.
 * Joan would originally appear in From The Gallows depending on who died in the previous one: If Joan is to survive in "Thicker Than Water", she would appear, and the player would decide her fate: Execute her, exile her from Richmond, or let her stay. This was scrapped due to unknown reasons, likely time constraints.