Joel DeSilvia

About
Joel DeSilva is the 13/14 year old son of the late Mr. and Mrs. DeSilva, the older brother of their late younger son and one of the main male protagonists of the Pegasus series.

He has a crush on Emily. Though he has little to no POV chapters, he is sometimes considered a main character.

Early Life
Joel was born in Rome, Italy to Mr. and Mrs. DeSilva who later had another son. Some years later, the family moved to Connecticut after Mr. DeSilva got a job at The United Nations. Then, when Joel was about ten years old, his family decided to go on a weekend break but a drunk driver lost control of his car and crashed into the DeSilva's one. Joel survived but his mother and brother were killed instantly, his father dying soon after. After this incident, Joel was placed in a foster home, but left sometime after because he didn't get along with his foster parents. He was placed in another home where he shared a room with some other boys who kept stealing his possessions. Joel went to his social worker to ask if he could be put into another home but they refused, saying he should be happy that he had a place to live.

The Flame of Olympus
Emily needed help to pull a spear out of Pegasus and she thought of Joel. Trying to convince Joel to come wasn’t easy, as he was a pretty ferocious bully back then, but he eventually agreed to come with her. Joel decided he wouldn’t be returning to his foster home and also wanted to go with Emily and Pegasus. As the story continued, Joel and Emily grew a close bond and Joel decided to join Emily and tagged along with her adventures. He, too, was captured by the CRU along with Emily and Steve.

Pegasus and The Fight for Olympus
Joel was with Emily in Olympus, and because of Emily's mourning for her father, Paelen, Emily, Joel, and Pegasus went to New York to find her father and found out that Cupid was following them. The team then told him to go home but he refused. At a Halloween fair, they bumped into CRU Agent O, who swears to continue to capture Emily and Pegasus as they’re escaping. Joel and Emily got taken to the Nirad world, which was controlled by two Gorgons named Euryale and Stheno. Joel was turned to stone by the Gorgons, destroying his right arm and part of his right ear, but Emily saved Joel simply by laying a hand on him. His arm and ear, however, are permanently gone, even with Emily trying to restore them. Vulcan made a new metal arm for Joel and another leg brace for Emily out of Olympian Silver, to replace the missing ones. They were made out of the Olympian silver as Olympian gold is harmful to their new Nirad friends.

The New Olympians
Joel first appears during the soccer tournament. Having kicked the ball into the goalkeeper's net,(Who was a Sphinx) He was tackled to the ground by Alexis, who meant no harm and was playing around, and was kissed by the Sphinx, fueling Emily's jealousy enough to make her order Alexis to get off Joel. He supported the idea of going back to earth in order to learn more about Tornado Warning. Around the middle of the story, he was stuck in Las Vegas with Paelen and Frankie. He was persuaded by Paelen to look around, due to not knowing where the others were. While they were seeing shows, stealing from casinos, and sightseeing, they were grabbed by a group of men who mistaken the real Paelen with his clone. They got out of there eventually after tying the gang, Joel announced that Paelen needed some sugar in order to help Paelen's wound. He succeeded in persuading Paelen to give his search for his clone and got him to eat some sugar. When Paelen talked about the CRU with an army of Nirad Clones with no one to stop them, he flatly pointed that the only thing they had done was get in trouble and get Paelen shot in the head. Joel was not able to stop the fight between Paelen and his clone, ending up in jail, and was then left behind after convincing Paelen to go get help. He was brought to Area 51 and his metallic arm was cut off, landing him unconscious in a CRU hospital bed when Emily finally showed up. He was the one who reassured Emily when she was deeply upset, kissing her forehead, and eventually simply kissing her. He was the one who rode on Chrysaor, following Pegasus and Emily back to Olympus with Paelen close behind.

The Origins of Olympus
The Olympians discover that the jungle world where Emily sent Pegasus and Alexis to is the lost world, Xanadu! Jupiter believes that Emily is not human OR Olympian. She is Xan!

They all travel to Xanadu. Mercury comes and tells Jupiter that Juno and other Olympians are sick. The Olympians go back to Olympus. As Jupiter is dying, he tells Emily that Saturn made a rock that could rapidly age time and was going to send it to Olympus, but the Big Three embedded it in the ground before he could detonate it in Olympus. Emily and Joel use the Solar Stream to go to where it had been found by archaeologists. Emily asks Stella, one of the archaeologist's daughter to find the rock. The CRU tell Emily that they sent it to Olympus, and she almost destroys the world. Emily is infuriated and Rizal attempts to calm Emily down. Emily relaxes, but then panics when she realities that Joel and Stella are suffering in the burning museum. She gets them and Mike and teleports them using the gem, back to Olympus.

The three arrive back in Olympus and Emily realizes sadly that every Olympian was dead, for there was no sound in the still air. She and the two hear sounds coming from Jupiter's palace and they approach quietly. They soon discover that CRU agents were raiding the palace in space suits, and this makes Emily furious. The CRU mention the upper rooms were clear and that there was no sign of Emily and Joel. One of them says that Olympus is theirs and at that moment, another man floats into the room and states that there was a portal sighted nearby. Emily realizes that he meant the portal to Xanadu and the three discuss a plan to stop them. They considered trapping them, but the number of CRU agents on Olympus was unknown, and they dismissed the plan. The three decide on distracting the agents and heading back to Xanadu, whilst destroying the portal so they couldn't be followed.

The End of Olympus
After Emily's appearance changes and she is given a new body, Joel hides away in Vulcan's forge because he is scared this perfect new Emily won't want him. Emily becomes confused and angry, so she decides to go and rescue her friends without Joel. Later on, Paelen, Joel, Lorin, and Vulcan embark on a quest to stop Emily. Then he apologies for being an idiot after she saved the Rheans and she punched him in the arm and tells Joel if he ever does that again she'll send him far across the universe, so that not even Riza could find him.

Appearance
Joel is described as a well-built boy with wide shoulders, wavy black hair and chocolate-brown eyes. In the second book Joel loses his arm in the battle with the gorgons. Even Emily can’t heal him so Vulcan makes him another arm of Olympian silver. His new arm gives him a lot more strength and arm power. He probably has some Italian traits in appearance, since he has an Italian lineage. He is described as handsome quite a few times throughout the book. His height is about one head taller than Paelen. Joel is also very attracted to Emily. He most likely has several noticeable scars from the car accident that killed his family and previous fights with other students at school.

Personality
When Joel lived with his foster family in New York, he was angry, defensive and bullied nearly every other person in his school, getting caught up in several fights. At first Emily described him as "the meanest boy in her class, probably the meanest boy in the whole school", but since living in Olympus, Joel has become happier and friendlier. He still loses his temper occasionally, especially with Cupid, but he's much calmer than he used to be. He’s also very protective of his friends especially Emily