Joel has a past with Etho, and It is the one secret that he keeps from Lizzie.
The war was still going strong, and Coral Crest just had a victory on the outskirts of their border. They took many prisoners in the aftermath of this long and bloody battle. Among these prisoners was Etho.
By this point in time Etho was pretty infamous and it was a big deal that he had managed to be captured at all, so his arrival at the castle, of course, caused quite the uproar. Joel was too curious for his own good, so he couldn't help but sneak into the dungeon while Lizzie and his father were asleep to see if the rumors were true. He was shocked to find that they were.
Etho struck up a conversation with Joel the second he got close enough to the cell. Joel, who hadn't even realized he had been spotted, was scared at first. However, he couldn't deny his curiosity, so he stayed and talked with him.
Etho admitted to Joel that he got captured on purpose, and that he was just bidding his time until Coral Crest put him on trial and had him killed. He talked about wanting to be free; free from the war, free from Wintertide, just free from it all, and that the only way he thought he would ever find that was through death. Joel asked why Etho was telling him this and he just shrugged and said he was going to die soon anyway so he might as well get it off his chest.
Joel went back every night after that to talk to Etho, fascinated by the strange enemy solider. As time passed, he got to know him, and in turn opened up to him as well. They became friends of sorts, or at least as close to friends as two people on opposite sides of the war could be.
He then realized that he really didn't want Etho to die, something that was inevitable the longer he was in Coral Crest. Months had passed since the initial capture, and they had indeed put him through a trial at this point. His sentence was death, just as Etho had predicted, and the date was fast approaching.
So, Joel did as he does best; he acted brashly and with little to no second thought.
In the dead of night, Joel set fire to one of trees in the courtyard. He had carefully planned it out and made sure that it would not spread to anything else, but it was still enough to cause a panic. While everyone was occupied by the flames, he stole the keys to Etho's cell and set him free.
Etho was confused and at first refused to leave the cell, determined to meet his fate on the gallows, but Joel told him to go have his second chance, make amends, and be free. Etho still wasn't sure, but he eventually caved, unwillingly to let Joel's kindness go to waste.
Somehow, Joel got away with it. He hasn't told a single soul about the deed, because if he did, he would surely be charged with treason. On Etho's part, he never told the tale of how he escaped, because he knew that in doing so, he would put Joel in danger.
Lizzie knows, but she doesn't say anything. She watched Joel sneak out every night, she watched him set the fire, and she watched Etho make his escape into the dark. She kept her silence over the years only because she trusts Joel with her heart and soul; she trusted his judgement enough to keep his secret.
Neither of them could have anticipated that Joel would come face to face with that familiar scarred man when Lizzie sent him to Wintertide to get in contact with the resistance.
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