Nathan Drake

Nathan "Nate" Drake (born Nathan Morgan) is the main protagonist of the Uncharted franchise. In the video game series, he is the central character and playable protagonist. A professional treasure hunter, Nate is described as a "deep-sea salvage expert and action-pro" with a knack for surviving by the skin of his teeth. Known for being quick-witted in the face of danger, Nate possesses a deep knowledge of history, having spent most of his life studying it.

Since childhood, Nate and his older brother Sam have falsely claimed to be descended from the famous English explorer Sir Francis Drake in order to honor the research of their late mother, Cassandra Morgan.

As of the events of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Nate is married to Elena Fisher, and after the events of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, the two have a daughter named Cassie.

Nate is voiced and motion captured by Nolan North, and portrayed by Tom Holland in the 2022 film adaptation.

History

Background

Childhood with Sam

Nathan Drake was born in 1975 (as Nathan Morgan) [citation needed], the second son of American archaeologist Cassandra Morgan and her husband, and the younger brother of Samuel Morgan, who was older than him by five years.

In 1980, when Nathan was five, his mother Cassandra died due to an illness, never fully disclosed in the game. Following the death of Cassandra, Nathan and Samuel's father decided to give up his hold on them and surrender his sons to the state. Not long afterward, both boys were entrusted to the Saint Francis' Boy's Home, a Catholic orphanage ran by nuns and priests. All of their mother's possessions — including her archaeological works — were later sold by their father.

The two spent the next few years in the orphanage, during which Nathan took interest in books and was taught Latin by the orphanage's nuns, all while learning free-running and climbing from Sam. While growing up to dislike most of the orphanage staff such as Sister Catherine, he did become fond of Father Ryan Duffy, calling him "the only decent guy there". Eventually, Sam was kicked out of the orphanage due to criminal activities, before taking a job to support both himself and set Nathan up as best as possible for his eventual exit from the orphanage.

When Nathan was thirteen, he got in a fight one day with an older boy called Edward after the latter teased him by grabbing one of his books and insulting his parentage, leading to Nathan being suspended from a retreat with the rest of the orphanage. After receiving a harsh lecture from Sister Catherine, Nathan noticed light signals by Sam and ventures across the orphanage's rooftops and walls to find him.

Meeting up with Sam, Nate followed his brother out the orphanage's limits, before being presented with a 500cc motorcycle Sam bought him as a gift, which he realized was Sam's way to apologise; Sam then revealed his intentions to leave for at least a year due to his new job, in order to get money to eventually discharge Nate from the orphanage, much to Nathan's shock and dismay as he was tired of his life in the orphanage. Trying to cheer his younger brother up, Sam also revealed he tracked down their mother's possessions. The two then proceeded to plan on stealing them.

Breaking into the house containing their mother's journal, the two are confronted by the mansion owner. The owner at first mistakes Nate and Sam as trespassers and calls the cops. However the tension eases as Samuel tells her that they were just looking for their mother's stuff. The owner apologized to them for misunderstanding and reveals to them that she was a friend of their mom. The boys engage in a wholesome conversation with the owner who reveals her name as Evelyn. Evelyn tells them that she and their mother were good friends and worked together and bonded over their love for history, social studies, and archaeology. Evelyn then reveals to the boys that she and their mom believed in a theory that Sir Francis Drake had heirs. During the conversation, the three notice that the police officers have arrived outside (whom Evelyn called over a few minutes prior when she initially mistook the two as trespassers). Evelyn gives the boys their mom's journals, believing "they could finish what she started." Evelyn then attempts to walk outside and explain to the police that it was a false alarm, but as she exits her chair and walks a few steps, she suffers from a heart attack and dies immediately. Nate and Sam panic not knowing what to do, but as soon as they hear the police officers breaking the door open, the two escape out the window and try to exit the mansion grounds without the police officers noticing them. Unfortunately, the officers quickly spot them both and a chase ensues with Nate and Sam successfully losing the cops, managing to reach freedom. After motorcycling through the cities alleyway outskirts, the two stop for a break and to catch their breaths. Realising they cannot go back to their previous lives, the two decided to honour their mother - and her theory on Francis Drake's heirs - by changing their names to Nathan and Samuel Drake to restart their lives. With this, the brothers decide to become treasure hunters and explorers. the two would stick together for the coming years, going on many expeditions and winding up in multiple prisons for various reasons.

Meeting Sully

By the time he was around fifteen, a young Nate ended up in Cartagena, Colombia. Sam was in prison somewhere, leaving Nate alone to fend for himself.

Seeking to obtain the ring which once belonged to Francis Drake, Nate explored the Museo Marítimo and found it on display, before noticing a middle-aged man quietly copying the display case key's lock; before he could observe further, Nate was kicked out of the museum by one of the guards.

Nate decided to follow the man, stealthily tailing him up to a meet-up point with a blonde woman, before pick-pocketing his wallet. Much to Nate's surprise, the man noticed the theft and confronted the young Drake, forcing Nate to give him his wallet back but not before commenting on Nate's thieving skills. Unbeknownst to the older thief, Nate took the copied key before giving back the wallet.

By evening, Nate entered the closed museum but was soon confronted by both the man, Victor, and the blonde woman, revealed to be his employer, Katherine Marlowe. Refusing to give Marlowe the ring, Nate escaped her clutches and was pursued by her men, with Victor aiding in his escape before saving him from an agent holding the boy at gunpoint.

Later, at a bar, the man introduced himself as Victor Sullivan and treated Nate to a dinner. During their conversation, Nate introduced himself and explained his connection to Francis Drake and his ring, as well as possible secrets kept by Drake. Sullivan, who saw potential in Nate, took the boy under his wing and started teaching him what he knew.

Within a year of meeting Sully, Nate ended up in prison at the age of fifteen, but Sully had him released shortly thereafter. Sully also came to know Sam, but unlike with Nate the two didn't often see eye-to-eye, as Sam heavily mistrusted him.

Early treasure hunting

Throughout both his adventures with Sully and his brother Sam, Nate became an advanced shooter, weapons expert, martial artist, climber, explorer, swimmer, treasure hunter, and survivor gaining a noteworthy reputation within the treasure-hunting world. He would go on to meet and befriend several notable figures within the society, including the Indonesian pirate captain Eddy Raja, the British treasure hunter Harry Flynn, the American businessman Rafe Adler, British fortune hunter Charlie Cutter, and fellow American fortune hunter Jason Dante, all of whom except for Cutter, would become rivals and eventual enemies of Nate.

Nate's close friendship with Eddy came to an end when Nate betrayed him and kept the entire reward for himself. While Eddy continued to hold a grudge against him, Nate justified his betrayal due to Eddy having planned on double-crossing him beforehand.

Nate and Jason Dante worked together on several adventures and jobs. On one occasion, Nate woke up to find himself naked within the Taj Mahal after taking a "scenic route" with Dante. On another occasion, Nate recalls Dante crying as the two climbed on the mountain in Mason Varde.

At some point during his career as a treasure hunter, Nate met Chloe Frazer, an Australian treasure hunter known for her beauty and skills. The two entered into a relationship, but eventually, Nate left her under unknown circumstances.

Searching for Henry Avery's treasure

Around the year 1998, Nate and Sam got involved with Rafe Adler in their mutual search for the lost treasure of pirate Captain Henry Avery, despite Nate's dislike and distrust of Rafe. The trio used Rafe's wealth to bribe their way into a Panamanian prison, buying the services of a warden named Vargas to aid them in their search.

During his time in prison, Nate fought against Gustavo, a fellow inmate, in order to let Vargas take him to a tower that was once used as the cell of Joseph Burnes, a shipmate of Avery's. Before being released to explore the tower for clues, Nate was confronted by Vargas, who learned of the trio's intentions after reading Burnes' letter and demanded a cut from the treasure. Nate eventually found a cross of Saint Dismas engraved with the words "Digna factis recipimus," but decided to falsely claim to Vargas that the cell was empty due to many visits of looters since then

Back in the prison, Nate met up with Sam and Rafe in a laundry room to discuss his findings, eventually declaring that there is a St Dismas cathedral in Scotland, near Avery's last known sighting. The trio was then ambushed by Gustavo and his friends, leading to a short-lived brawl quickly ended by Vargas and his fellow wardens. Finding the cross on Nate, Vargas took the three treasure hunters to his office, angrily accusing them of cheating him, before being promised 25% of the treasure; Rafe kills Vargas in response, leading to an escape attempt from the prison.

Nate, Sam, and Rafe made their way through the prison, but during the escape, Sam was shot in the torso as Nate attempted to pull him up from a ledge, before falling through debris much to Nate's disbelief. Convinced by Rafe that his brother is dead, Nate reluctantly follows Rafe out the prison, and the two escaped by water.

Throughout the following months, the two continued to work together to find the treasure in Scotland, but eventually went their separate ways as Rafe's impatience grew in proportion to Nate's grief over his brother's apparent death. In disbelief of Sam's death and unaware that he was actually alive, Nate tried to find his brother by various methods but the guards who locked him up made sure he found leads confirming that his brother did indeed die during the escape, all in retaliation for Vargas' death . Nate was forced to accept the fact that his brother died and thus suppressed his memories of the prison incident, never mentioning him again.

Early To Mid 2000's

Uncharted comic

Nate and Sully get contacted by siblings Michael and Rose Ludlow to steal a book. Nate carries out the theft with Harry Flynn, and after narrowly escaping with their lives, Nate lets Flynn keep the gold that they stole with the book. Flynn leaves, and Nate becomes intrigued by the book, which is written in code. As they have time before the handover, Nate cracks the code and discovers that the book is, in fact, the journal of Sir Richard Byrd. The journal describes how Byrd was hired by the Russians towards the end of World War II to hide the Amber Room – a treasure consisting of several polished amber panels.^[1]

Byrd hid the Room in the underground city of Agartha, which he had discovered on an earlier flight to the Arctic. The coded coordinates of the entrance to Agartha were engraved on the Amber Seal, a panel from the Amber Room that Byrd had taken to prove that he'd had it.

However, the seal was lost in the war. Nate and Sully then meet with the Ludlows to hand over the journal. The pair take an interest in Nate's ancestry and let it slip that they plan to acquire the Amber Seal at an auction. Sully and Nate resolve to steal the Amber Seal and find the Amber Room before the Ludlows do.^[1]

Using Sully's underground contacts, they discover that the Amber Seal is being auctioned at Volkov Castle by its owner, Russian crime lord Mykola Rusnak. Nate and Sully plan to break in and steal it. While performing a recce of the castle, Nate narrowly escapes from Chloe Frazer, who attempts to kill him.^[1]

Nate is caught as he attempts to steal the seal during the auction, however, Chloe convinces Rusnak to let Nate go. After learning that the seal will not be sold until the next day, Nate and Sully return to the castle that night and break inside. While Sully remains outside, Nate enters the castle, where he runs into Chloe. They agree to a brief truce and work together. Nate manages to get the coded coordinates off the seal before Chloe lifts it off its podium, triggering an alarm. As they escape, Chloe leaves the Seal with Nate as she flees.^[1]

Upon exiting the castle, Nate is taken to a secure location by the Ludlows, who have also kidnapped Sully. The Ludlows reveal that they are descendants of Thomas Doughty - a friend of Francis Drake who was executed for treason on Drake's evidence - and they want revenge. After getting Agartha's coordinates from Nate, they leave Nate and Sully to their fate at the hands of Rusnak. Despite Rusnak's attempts to extract the coordinates from them, the pair are rescued by Chloe, and the three agree to work together. Sully remarks that Nate is only allowing Chloe to help because Nate is attracted to her.^[1]

As the trio attempt to take the Seal and journal back, the Ludlows take Chloe hostage and force Nate to fly them to Agartha, knowing that the coordinates Nate originally gave them were wrong. They fly to the Arctic.^[1]

After the plane is damaged while landing in turbulence, the group find themselves in an underground cavern, surrounded by the remains of Byrd's camp. Sully is ordered to stay behind and fix the plane, while the rest advance. They find the Amber Room, which is smashed and worthless. Angered, Micheal attempts to kill Nate, who escapes with Chloe into the city of Agartha. Michael and Rose catch them and in the standoff, they are ambushed by the Smoking Gods.^[1]

Escaping from the Smoking Gods, in the central cavern of Agartha, the group discover several flying machines, along with the Second Sun - a wall of shining diamonds. Michael wants to get an army to stake a claim to Agartha, but Rose refuses and shoots him, before removing a single large diamond from the wall. This causes a breach and allows lava to begin flowing through, flooding the city. Rose is incinerated.^[1]

Nate and Chloe escape with Sully in the plane that they arrived in, although it is caught in the volcanic eruption and crashes into the sea. They wash up in an unknown tropical country and they take the opportunity to relax. While Sully chats up beautiful young women, Nate and Chloe spend the night together, and when Nate wakes up in the morning he finds a message from her - "See you around, cowboy. No regrets." It is revealed that her true motivations were to capture images of the flying machines of Agartha for her employer: Roman.^[1]

Nate and Sully meet at the dock the next morning, with Sully observing that they probably haven't seen the last of Chloe. In the meantime, he's got a job lined up for them in the States. The two set off on a rusty boat - which was all Sully could afford as they didn't exactly walk away from Agartha with a lot of treasure. Nate points out that they did walk away - sometimes that's enough.^[1]

Golden Abyss

Before Drake's Fortune, Nate has been hired as an expert by Jason Dante to investigate a dig site on a ridge in central Panama. At the dig site, they encounter Marisa Chase, Dante's "partner," who, as a result of her distrust, had tailed them. Dante receives an erratic radio call from Roberto Guerro, the leader of a revolutionary army based in the surrounding forest, and leaves, while Chase helps Nate examine the dig site, both unimpressed that Dante had not informed them about Guerro's presence. They find the remains of a group of Spanish conquistadors who were murdered - poisoned by forces unknown.

The only clue to why the soldiers were killed is a grave marker carved with a symbol Nate recognizes as being of Visigoth origin. Chase reveals to Nate that she possesses an Amulet that Dante doesn't know about, and refuses to let Nate examine it unless he agrees to her offer of partnership. Before they can learn more they are interrupted by the arrival of Guerro's men. As Chase refuses to use a gun, Nate kills them all and the two attempt to escape. It is revealed that Dante has been working with Guerro. Nate tries to escape by attacking the soldiers but is knocked unconscious.^[2]

Nate wakes up in a burning warehouse. Escaping, he finds himself in a shanty town that acts as Guerro's base and meets up with Chase. She explains she escaped Guerro after a brief interrogation and set the warehouse alight as a diversion. Nate decides to rescue Dante and escape, but Chase refuses to leave without her Amulet, so reluctantly Nate agrees to help her retrieve it. After defeating a number of Guerro's guards, they reach his office where they learn that Dante has already cut a deal with him, and given Guerro all the research he and Chase collected. Nate and Chase retrieve the Amulet from Guerro's office and narrowly escape the compound while being shot at.^[2]

Chase takes Nate to the house of Vincent Perez, her grandfather, and explains that he found the Amulet among the ruins on the ridge, and spent twenty years trying to figure out what it was. The year before, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, which made him desperate to solve the mystery. He contacted Dante, who was able to negotiate with Guerro for access to the site, but three months ago he disappeared, and Dante took over the excavation. In Perez's study, Nate discovers a symbol from the grave marker on the cover of a book about the Sete Cidades, an obscure Christian religious order with roots stretching back to the Visigoths.^[2]

When the Islamic Moors invaded Spain in the Eighth Century, seven Spanish bishops set sail with the treasures of Spain. Apparently they went on to find the seven cities of gold, and the Sete Cidades was an order dedicated to finding these cities. Using Perez's research, Nate is able to translate the words written around the edge of the symbol, "The Sword of Stephen shall bear witness to our sacrifice in the Chamber of the Seven Fathers." Perez also noted that this Chamber would have been a holy place, a sanctum for the secrets of the Order, and a potential location for it. Nate accepts Chase's earlier offer to be partners as they depart.^[2]

Arriving at this location - Spanish ruins next to a large sinkhole - Nate and Chase enter catacombs at the bottom of the sinkhole and find the Chamber of the Seven Fathers, along with Perez's camp and his journal. The journal sheds more light on the Sete Cidades, specifically referring to Frair Marcos de Niza, a Spanish priest who was also a High Priest of the Sete Cidades, who was noted for claiming to have discovered the Seven Cities of Gold. As it turned out, Marcos lied, and his seven cities were simply native American villages. While they are investigating, they are ambushed by Guerro's men, who had followed them. Nate kills them and insists they hurry it up.^[2]

When the journal refers to Marcos' guide, Esteban, Nate realizes that the Sword of Stephen is the sword of Esteban. After solving a puzzle, Nate and Chase discover Esteban's tomb and find the body of Vincent Perez inside. While Chase mourns for her grandfather, Nate takes the Sword of Stephen. Engraved upon the blade are symbols, which Nate takes charcoal rubbings of before he returns to Chase. He tells her that, when they find Quivira, it will be Perez's discovery, but she turns him down - it will be their discovery, as partners.^[2]

They are interrupted by the arrival of Dante, who takes Chase hostage right before Guerro arrives in time to hear Dante insult him. Guerro then calmly drops Dante off a balcony and forces Nate to hand over the Sword of Stephen while he leaves with Chase as a hostage. Dante regains consciousness, as the fall wasn't fatal, and he and Nate work together to escape the sinkhole that was rigged with Guerro's explosives. They kill a multitude of Guerro's men trying to save Chase before she is taken, but when they finally get out of the sinkhole, they are too late. Dante vows to go hire his own army and go after Guerro while Nate seeks help from Victor Sullivan.^[2]

Nate has assembled the charcoal rubbings of the symbols on the Sword of Stephen, revealing a map to the location of the Temple of the Serpents, which Friar Marcos stated: "guards the gateway to hell." Nate and Sully make their way to the Temple while Dante's mercenaries fight Guerro's revolutionary army. Along the way, Sully falls down a hole and injures his leg. He suggests that Nate should go on alone, while he steals a helicopter to be their getaway vehicle.^[2]

Nate continues alone to the Temple of the Serpents, where he learns that Dante's mercenaries have Guerro trapped in the lower caverns. Nate descends to a large doorway at the base of the cave where Guerro's men have Chase captive. They are setting up explosives on the supporting columns of the cavern. After Nate deals with them, Chase refuses to leave - Quivira is just behind the door. Nate realizes that her Amulet is, in fact, the key to Quivira, and uses it to open the combination lock on the door.^[2]

Beyond the doorway, they gain access to the Golden Abyss. This cavern has numerous enormous veins of gold all over its walls, and in the center is the Throne of Gold. Sitting on the Throne is the corpse of Esteban, impaled through the heart with the dagger of Marcos de Niza. Esteban was a Sete Cidades offering, a sacrifice of blood to seal the gates of hell.^[2]

A Geiger counter in Chase's pack indicates that the gold is radioactive. Dante arrives and reveals he knew about the treasure being radioactive and plans to strip-mine Quivira and litter the gold through the black market. Nate and Dante get into a fist-fight with Nate being the victor. Nate and Chase leave Dante by the Throne of Gold, and Chase detonates the bombs in the caverns to seal it. As she and Nate flee, the caverns begin to collapse, killing Dante and any of his mercenaries still in the cave system. As they reach the exit, Guerro appears and fires an RPG into a stone column, causing it to collapse and fall onto Chase's leg. Guerro reloads the RPG and says he has only one cause left without his army: to die with honor. Nate confronts Guerro and he is able to trick him into charging out onto a burning bridge, which collapses and plunges the General into the abyss.^[2]

Nate returns to Chase and manages to lever the stone block off her leg before the two flee to the exit - where they find Sully waiting with his helicopter to winch them out. They land to splint Chase's leg, and while Sully checks the chopper has enough gas to get them home, Nate reveals he saved Chase's Amulet. She takes it, and hurls it into the jungle, stating that Marcos was right - it belongs in hell. Sully interrupts before the two can kiss, and as they head back to the helicopter he begins telling them his story about the nurses in Buenos Aires. Again.^[2]

The Fourth Labyrinth

At an unspecified time before Drake's Fortune, after completing a job in Ecuador (stealing the Staff of Ayar Manco and rescuing hostage Alex Munoz from drug runner Ramón Valdez), Nate is called to New York by Sully to investigate the murder of Sully's old friend Luka Hzujak. Sully wants to help Luka's daughter (and his god-daughter) Jada find out who killed Luka and why. Nate agrees to help and learns that before his death Luka worked on a secret project for weapons company Phoenix Innovations, supposedly on the trail of a lost treasure. From what Luka told Jada before he died, the project has something to do with the ancient labyrinth on Crete, the source of the Minotaur legend, designed by Greek mythic figure Daedalus.^[3]

They go to an exhibition on ancient labyrinths at a nearby museum to speak to an expert, Dr. Maynard P Cheney and arrive seconds after Cheney was stabbed to death. A graduate student, Gretchen Welch, explains that Luka spoke to Cheney about an excavation in Egypt where her brother is a site manager before traveling out there. She confirms that Luka believed both labyrinths were designed by Daedalus and that Luka also believed there was a third. After they depart the museum, their attempt to search Luka's apartment is derailed when the entire building burns down. Following an attempt on their lives immediately afterward, they leave America for the next step on the trail - the dig site in Egypt.^[3]

In Egypt, a search of the hotel room where Luka stayed on his visit reveals his journal, concealed within an air conditioning unit. It confirms Luka's theories surrounding Daedalus and the Mistress of the Labyrinth and states that Tyr Henriksen is not interested in the first three labyrinths - he wants the treasure in the Fourth. That night Nate, Sully, and Jada have dinner with Ian Welch, who agreed to meet them after the call from his sister, and he explains that Luka's theories are supported by evidence from the dig site, including references to alchemy, a mysterious honey, and how the Mistress of the Labyrinth received more tribute than all the other gods combined.

The dinner date is interrupted when Jada's stepmother, Olivia, arrives looking for her. She claims to be concerned for her and afraid of Henriksen, but Jada refuses to speak to her and marches out of the restaurant when Nate and Sully invite Olivia to talk. Nate follows and finds Jada being kidnapped by suited men. In the ensuing fight, men dressed in black hooded robes appear and kill the thugs, warning Jada to "go home". In the confusion, Ian left having agreed to get them into the dig, and Olivia mysteriously disappeared.^[3]

Nate, Sully, and Jada meet Ian the next day at the dig site – The Labyrinth of Sobek – and learn that Tyr Henriksen has taken over the funding of the dig and is being shown around. They have time to examine the central chamber while Henriksen views the above-ground facilities, and while they do so Nate uncovers references to the Minotaur and a secret passage beneath the altar. Inside, they find a deformed human skeleton wearing a horned headdress, and three separate worship chambers each dedicated to different gods and decorated with ancient scripts.

The chamber dedicated to Sobek is decorated with Egyptian hieroglyphics, while a chamber decorated in a Cretan script (or Linear A) is dedicated to Dionysus, obviously representing the labyrinth on Crete. The third chamber, however, is decorated in a script Ian deduces to be an unknown variant of the Linear B script, and what he can translate reveals the chamber is dedicated to Poseidon, and the third labyrinth is on the island of Thera. They are interrupted (again) by an attack by the hooded men, who kidnap Ian and drive the others back to the altar chamber, where Tyr Henriksen, Olivia and security guards await them. Jada pretends to be glad to see Olivia and convinces them to let her go outside for some air, escorted by Nate and Sully.^[3]

As soon as they leave the labyrinth, Nate, Sully, and Jada leave the dig and go straight to their car. They travel to the Santorini archipelago in the Aegean Sea, all that remains of Thera after a volcano on the island erupted. Using Luka's journal, they find the entrance to the third labyrinth beneath a medieval fortress, as well as the safe route towards the center. Along the way, they find extensive damage to the labyrinth by the eruption and successive earthquakes, which has allowed the sea to flood some caves. At one point, they are forced to double back - and find that Henriksen, Olivia, and some thugs have been following them. Henriksen is shocked by their accusation that he murdered Luka, and reveals he thinks it may have been another warning to "go home." He also admits that Olivia's charade about being afraid of him was a ploy to try and find out what they knew.^[3]

Henriksen is about to order Nate, Sully, and Jada to lead them to the center at gunpoint when they are again attacked by the hooded men. This time, however, they kidnap Sully and drag him deeper into the labyrinth. Nate and Jada immediately pursue them, following them all the way to the central chamber, where they ultimately lose their quarry. Nate opens the secret door, hoping to find evidence of the Fourth Labyrinth. Like in Egypt, there are worship chambers in the secret passage, although two of them have collapsed into a sea cave. However, while in Egypt there were only three chambers, here there are four. One of the two is dedicated to Dionysus, while the other is dedicated to an unknown god and decorated in Chinese writing.^[3]

Henriksen's group catches up with them, and while Olivia examines the chamber Nate agrees with Henriksen to settle their differences later. Olivia deduces the Fourth Labyrinth is in China and is based on the Chinese hell - Diyu. She theorizes that all the treasure was moved there after Daedalus was chased off Crete, the priests abandoned the Labyrinth of Sobek and the volcano destroyed Thera. As the treasure was moved, the fourth chamber was built to honor the fourth god, although something stopped Daedalus adding four chambers to the other two labyrinths. The discussion is interrupted by a rumbling throughout the labyrinth, as the hooded men detonate explosives to collapse the medieval fortress over the entrance and trap them within. Nate, however, realizes there is another way out and leads the others to the sea cave. He stows a radio and his clothes in a waterproof pack and swims out alone to find a safe path. Once he finds one leading out to the open ocean, he goes back and helps the others get out.^[3]

Together, Nate and Jada travel with Henriksen and Olivia to China, and they share their research. Daedalus was a con-man, who would convince kings and priests to let him build the labyrinth as the ultimate treasury - only to steal the gold once it was safely placed in the center. While the labyrinth on Thera was being built, a fourth ruler fell for the con and ordered the construction of another labyrinth in Yiajing, China - modern-day Nanjing. However, Daedalus died before construction of the fourth labyrinth was complete, so his nephew Talos took over the con and must have halted the addition of four chambers to earlier labyrinths. He altered the design of the fourth labyrinth and demanded an army of slaves to build it. Olivia also reveals that a flower motif discovered in earlier labyrinths represents the extinct plant White Hellebore, but they don't know it's significance in relation to the labyrinths.^[3]

Before they land, they discover that their co-pilot has been somehow brainwashed by the hooded men to kill both the pilot and himself, but Henriksen is able to land the plane safely and they are eventually released by Chinese police after the intervention of staff from the Norwegian and American embassies. A call to one of Nate's contacts, Margaret Xin, reveals a likely location for the Fourth Labyrinth - the only place in Nanjing without underground transport tunnels is an ancient site where excavation has been banned by the Chinese government. Using Luka's journal, the photos from the worship chambers and the historical record, they find the entrance to the labyrinth and Nate deduces that the path to the center will be marked with tracks from dragging all the gold there. Along the way, they find that the extinct White Hellebore is still alive and well within the labyrinth.^[3]

In a cavern with a mural showing the Mistress of the Labyrinth offering seven slaves a chalice, Olivia plays her hand and reveals the mercenaries Henriksen hired have been loyal to her all along. In the midst of an attack by the hooded men - or the Protectors of the Hidden Word - Nate, Jada, and Henriksen escape together, and Henriksen explains he's been researching the labyrinths for years. The White Hellebore is used to make a solution, the honey, that can render a man docile and obedient, but will sometimes trigger mutations when ingested - creating the Minotaurs. This honey was also known as the Hidden Word, and he thinks Daedalus used it to con workers into believing he was paying them in gold to reinforce the idea he was valuable to rulers. The treasure Henriksen was searching for was the secret of the White Hellebore, to sell it to the highest bidder, while Olivia will probably use it to make rulers her puppets. Nate, Jada, and Henriksen decide to continue to the center, each for their own reasons.^[3]

As they close on the center, they come under attack from six Protectors, one of whom is immediately killed by Henriksen, revealing his identity as Ian Welch - brainwashed with the honey to protect the labyrinth. Nate is attacked by Sully, also brainwashed, and the two tumble into an underground river where they fight. Nate knocks Sully out and carries him to the bank while Jada and Henriksen deal with the other Protectors before carrying Sully further into the labyrinth, to the center. Jada opens the secret passage - and the Minotaur charges out to attack. Olivia arrives and orders her mercenaries to fire upon it. At this point, Sully has woken up but remains disorientated, and Nate and Jada drag him into the secret passage. There they find the last Mistress of the Labyrinth, ministering to a dying Minotaur. She orders her guards to attack, but Nate and Henriksen hold them off long enough for Olivia to kill the younger Minotaur and come to them. She and her last few mercenaries kill the guards, only for the Mistress to attack and kill Henriksen before being shot herself.^[3]

Olivia examines the chamber, looking at the gold piled around the walls, and the three tombs in the center. She picks up a gold Minotaur statue, which triggers a trap and floods the secret chamber. Sully, now more aware and back to his old self, pulls Jada out of the chamber while Nate goes after Olivia. However, the Minotaur seizes her and drags her beneath the water to drown, while Nate escapes. Nate, Sully and Jada leave the labyrinth, aware nobody else will discover it and the White Hellebore while the ban on excavation remains in place.^[3]

Soon after, Nate, Sully, and Jada attend Luka's funeral in New York. As Jada leaves to talk with her relatives after thanking Nate and Sully, Sully tells Nate about a friend's cousin who recently left the Vatican, and brought with him a map to the lost Inca city of Paititi. Sully states that, if anybody were to find Paititi, he'd rather it be him and Nate. Nate agrees - it looks like they're headed to Peru.^[3]

Eye of Indra

Nate is hired by crime lord Daniel Pinkerton to locate the Eye of Indra, the third and final piece of the treasures of Indra. Pinkerton's collection already contains the other two pieces - the Path of Indra and the Wrath of Indra. Nate accepts the job, knowing that we will be compensated handsomely.^[4]

Nate looks over Pinkerton's documents in a bar, two thugs came up and told him the bar is not a library but Nate ignored them and they threatened him but as he fights them, one goon points a gun at him but is saved by the bar's owner, Rika. As they left, Nate asks for Rika's help translating the documents in exchange for paying for the broken table when Nate punched one of the goon's at it. They discover that the Eye of Indra is in fact hidden within the other two treasures, which are locked inside Pinkerton's safe. Rather than inform Pinkerton that he already has the Eye, Nate chooses to steal the artifact from him.^[4]

Nate and Rika spend the night together, and the next morning Rika reveals she has already got somebody to help them with the theft. Nate is unhappy about this, but while they argue, armed pirates storm the room and apprehend them. The pirate's leader is revealed to be Eddy Raja, Nate's old rival. It is revealed that Eddy is Rika's brother, and she has asked him to help them with the theft. Eddy becomes enraged when he realizes that Nate and Rika have slept together, and he threatens to kill Nate.^[4]

After Eddy calms down, they make their plans for the theft. Nate demands that they follow his rules if Eddy is to help. After her brother leaves, Rika apologizes to Nate for involving Eddy and asks Nate how he knows him. Nate explains how Eddy had planned to double-cross him on a previous job, but he had "beat him to the punch."^[4]

The three gather outside Pinkerton's mansion at night, ready for the heist. Eddy and Nate persuade Rika to stay behind and cover them. To create a distraction, Eddy blows up Pinkerton's cars, and they lead him and Nate into the mansion amid the confusion.^[4]

Nate and Eddy are discovered soon after entering the mansion and are pinned down with barely any bullets left. After their final detonator fails to open the safe, Nate quickly devises a plan, and they allow themselves to be captured. They tell Rika to do the same and hide Eddy's gun underneath a table. Pinkerton tortures the two and eventually brings in Rika as a bargaining chip. Once Rika is in the room, Nate tells Pinkerton that the Eye is in his safe. With Pinkerton briefly distracted opening the safe and looking at the Eye of Indra, Rika breaks loose and take's Eddy's gun from beneath the table. She shoots Pinkerton, wounding him. Nate explains to Pinkerton that after their detonator failed, being captured and getting him to open the safe was the only way they could get the treasure. Rika then summarily executes the wounded Pinkerton.^[4]

Later, they stand at a dock discussing a fine job. However, Rika betrays both Nate and Eddy by taking the amulet for herself, holding them at gunpoint and repeating Nate's earlier statement, that she simply "beat him to the punch". Nate assures Rika that he will find her, and she replies that she will look forward to it. As they watch her sail away, Eddy orders Nate not to say a word.^[4]

Three days later, Nate relaxes at a beach bar, telling Victor Sullivan of the recent events. Sully finds the story amusing and tells Nate that he should have known better than to have teamed up with Eddy, or any of his family, but questions how Nate now plans to find Francis Drake's coffin without any money. Nate reveals he does actually have a plan, though he will be needing Sully's help this time. Pointing to a television featuring a report by Elena Fisher, Nate tells him he is meeting her tomorrow, and the best part is that Elena's producers have agreed to fund the whole expedition. Sully laughs and says he'll believe it when he sees it.^[4]

Late 2000's To Mid 2010's

Drake's Fortune

By 2006, Nate and Elena went on an expedition in Panama to recover the coffin of Francis Drake from the ocean floor. Elena recorded the opening of the coffin for a documentary. Once Nate pried the lid off, he discovered nothing but Sir Francis' diary, which pointed to the location of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold that Sir Francis was searching for, and they also learned that Sir Francis had faked his death and was onto something big. They were soon ambushed by a gang of pirates led by Eddy Raja. They were eventually saved by Victor Sullivan, who arrived in his seaplane, the Hog Wild.

Back on land, Sully and Nate discussed Sir Francis' mission involving the treasure, and before they set off on their adventure in the Amazon rainforest, they decided that they should leave Elena behind, as they would have a good chance of retrieving the treasure without any competition. At the Amazon rainforest rainforest, the two discovered the ruins of an ancient South American civilization, along with clues that El Dorado was a large gold statue, and that it was removed long ago by the Spaniards. Searching further, Nate and Sully discovered a long-abandoned German U-boat stuck in a river, containing its dead crew and a missing page from Sir Francis' diary. This pointed them to a southern tropic island where El Dorado was likely taken.

After trekking through the old temple, Nate and Sully discovered a German U-boat stuck in the jungle. After Nate searched the vessel alone, in search of clues to there the statue was, he and Sully encountered Gabriel Roman, another treasure hunter who has hired the services of mercenaries led by Atoq Navarro, Roman's lieutenant and an archaeologist with knowledge of the statue. Upon their encounter, Navarro confiscated one of the maps Nate found and held him and Sullivan at gunpoint, as the latter owed Roman a lot of money.

After a brief conversation, Roman, who initially threatened to shoot Nate, shot Sully in the chest, enraging Nate into trying to snatch Navarro's rifle. However, within seconds, the U-boat exploded due to a torpedo Nate unintentionally triggered. The explosion was enough of a distraction to allow him to escape from Roman and Navarro, leaving the dead Sully behind. Nate ran into Elena, who hit him in the eye for leaving her behind. After Nate explained what happened with Sully, the two teamed back up to fight their way past the mercenaries and escape the temple. Once they got to a jeep, Nate showed her the map to the island where they took El Dorado. After leaving the Amazon rainforest, Nate and Elena set off for the island in Sullivan's seaplane and soon ended up being shot down in an anti-aircraft fire.

Having been shot down over the island and separated from Elena, Nate trekked across the jungle to find the smaller map he managed to keep from Navarro, and search for clues to Elena's whereabouts. This led him to a fortress, where he spotted Elena's parachute. After fighting through many groups of pirates, Nate was soon captured and imprisoned in the fort. After Nate had a short confrontation with his old colleague Eddy Raja, Elena rescued him by pulling out the back wall of his cell. The two fled through the jungle on a jeep, being pursued by Eddy and his gang until they ran out of road, ultimately ending up at a long-abandoned port city, located directly below them.

At the flooded colony, Nate realized that with the intense odds, it was no longer worth it to go after the treasure and was more eager to get out of the city. However, as they searched further through the city, he and Elena discovered, through a logbook in the city's customs house, that the statue was moved further inland. It was not long until they found out, through camera footage, that the supposedly dead Victor Sullivan was working with Navarro and Roman, who were escorting the old man onto a helicopter, which took him north to the monastery. After going upriver and eliminating the mercenaries in their way, Nate and Elena rescued him, he revealed that he survived the gunshot thanks to Francis Drake's journal blocking the bullet.

They found a series of catacombs beneath the monastery. In these tunnels, Nate overheard an argument between Roman and Eddy, which revealed the latter being hired by Navarro to aid in capturing Nate and securing the island, all with the reward of a share of the gold. Roman doubted Eddy's abilities to do his job further and ignored his superstitious claim that something cursed on the island was killing his men, leading him to dismiss him and his crew.

Currently separated from Sully, Nate and Elena found a passage leading to a large treasure vault. There, they found the dead body of Francis Drake. Upon seeing him, Nate realized that he just died on the island, not having found the treasure at all. The saddened Nate left Sir Francis' ring beside his corpse. Before moving on, they encountered Eddy and one of his men (Prakoso) running for their lives, chased by the Spanish descendants.

After Eddy was killed by the mutants, Nate managed to escape with Elena, running down a tunnel that led them to a control room for an abandoned German submarine base. After finding out there was no power, Nate ventured alone out into the base to find the generator room and restore power so that they could escape the descendants for good. While doing so, he discovered through old footage of Sir Francis' expedition that the Germans had sought the El Dorado statue during World War II but, like the Spaniards before them, they were mutated by the statue. Sir Francis, knowing the statue's power, was actually trying to keep it on the island, before he too was killed by the descendants.

Nate attempted to return to Elena, but found that she has been captured by Navarro and Roman. As he set out for them, he reunited with Sully outside of the monastery. After battling past two hordes of mercenaries, Nate and Sullivan entered the catacombs beneath the church. They soon entered a cavern where they saw that Roman and Navarro already managed to procure El Dorado. As Nate and Sully quietly drew their weapons, they ended up captured at gunpoint and were ordered by Roman to drop their weapons in the water below. With shotguns pointed at them, Nate and Sully were forced to wait where they were and see what would happen.

Navarro urged Roman to open the shell that contained the true treasure: the Mummy of El Dorado. As Roman opened it, he inhaled an airborne virus that was carried by the rotting corpse and began to mutate. Navarro shot the mutated Roman and revealed that he had planned all along to steal the statue and sell the virus as a biological weapon. As descendants flooded the room and began attacking Navarro's men, Navarro, still holding Elena hostage, began making his escape to a helicopter that was airlifting the statue. Nate ran after him, while Sully covered for him. Once Nate managed to jump onto the net of the statue, a ground troop noticed Nate and radioed Navarro, who then spotted Nate below. Dillon, one of Navarro's mercenaries, attempted to shoot Nate off the net, but was kicked out of the chopper by Elena. The plummeting mercenary unintentionally fired his weapon at the pilot's head, killing him and causing the helicopter to crash land on a tanker ship.

Nate fought against Navarro and his men until he managed to knock him unconscious. After Nate pulled an injured Elena from the wrecked helicopter, Navarro regained consciousness and was prepared to kill them both. Nate acted quickly by pushing the helicopter off the tanker. The rope connecting the helicopter to the statue, which has become tangled around Navarro's leg, pulled both Navarro and the statue into the ocean.

After Elena returned Sir Francis' ring to Nate, the two leaned in to kiss, but were interrupted by Sully, who arrived on a small speedboat loaded with boxes of treasure that he took from pirates who were "too dead to care". As the three of them sailed off towards the sun, she reminded Nate that because she lost her camera, he still owed her a story, and Nate assured her he was "good for it".

2007–2008

Three years prior to The Fourth Labyrinth, Nate decides to branch out with his treasure hunting by working for different people. Ecuadorian drug runner Ramón Valdez hires Nate to retrieve the Staff of Ayar Manco from Pacariqtambo. Once Nate delivers it to him, Valdez betrays him and Nate barely makes it out of Ecuador alive.

Among Thieves (2009)

Two years after the events of Drake's Fortune, Nate is offered a job by Harry Flynn and Chloe Frazer: stealing an oil lamp from the Istanbul Palace Museum's Marco Polo exhibit. Initially, Nate is reluctant, knowing that three people had attempted to steal something from the museum, with two of them dying and the third, Nate, barely making it out alive. However, after realizing that it may lead to the Marco Polo's lost fleet and the Cintamani Stone, a great treasure said to grant invincibility, Nate accepts the job. The three plan to double-cross Flynn's employer and keep the reward for themselves. Nate is later joined by Chloe in his room, and they plan to run away together when the job has been completed.^[5]

During the heist, Nate breaks open the lamp to uncover blue resin and a blank piece of paper. He burns the resin which reveals a hidden map on the paper. Flynn then double-crosses Nate, who, despite his efforts to flee, is arrested and imprisoned for three months before Chloe, who was also betrayed by Flynn, asks for Victor Sullivan to help bail him out. Sully uses Nate's remaining cash from their El Dorado expedition, and a good deal of his own, to get Nate released.^[5]

Flynn and his employer, Serbian war criminal Zoran Lazarević have discovered the remains of Polo's fleet in Borneo. They travel there, and with Chloe working within Lazarevic's camp as a mole, manage to discover the remains of Polo's crew in a series of caverns. In the caverns, they discover the Phurba, a golden dagger which will grant entrance to the fabled city of Shambhala. They also find a clue that points towards a temple in Nepal. They are ambushed by Flynn, who learns of the Nepalese temple. After they narrowly escape, Sullivan decides that the quest is too risky for him to carry on. Nate and Chloe arrive in Nepal, finding that Lazarević and his soldiers have plunged the city into a civil war, if not the brink of it, as they look for the temple.^[5]

En route to the temple, Nate and Chloe run into Elena Fisher and her cameraman Jeff, who are attempting to prove that Lazarević is alive. He had been presumed deceased following a NATO bombing raid which caused severe scarring to his body. The four reach the temple and discover that the stone and Shambhala are in the Himalayas. Just as they are about to leave, the group is ambushed outside the temple, and Jeff is severely wounded. Despite Chloe's insistence to leave Jeff behind, the group pushes on further until they are finally caught by Flynn and Lazarević. Chloe reluctantly pulls her gun on Nate to protect her "cover", while Lazarević executes Jeff. Lazarević and Chloe then leave for a train, but Nate and Elena manage to narrowly escape just as Flynn and the soldiers are about to kill them. The couple rushes to the train yard and catches up with the train on a stolen jeep.^[5]

Nate boards the train, and after fighting his way through Lazarevic's lines of defense, comes across Chloe, who is upset about how Nate had insisted that they take Elena and Jeff along with them earlier. She refuses to go with him, instead, telling him to get off the train, and as the two argue Flynn arrives and shoots Nate in the abdomen. As he is about to fire again and kill Nate, Chloe causes Flynn's next shot to miss Nate by pushing his arm aside. Nathan takes the opportunity to flee back through the train. Badly wounded whilst being pursued by Lazarević's soldiers, Nate shoots a pile of propane tanks, causing several of the train carriages to derail and crash over the edge of a cliff.

Nate escapes the crashed train and trudges through a snowstorm, eventually falling unconscious due to his wounds and exhaustion. He wakes up in a Tibetan village, where he is reunited with Elena and is introduced to an elderly German man named Karl Schäfer. Schäfer tells Nate that the phurba is the key to finding Shambhala, but Nate tells Schäfer he is no longer interested. Schäfer sends Nate and a villager, Tenzin, to find the remains of the men in Schäfer's expedition, who were looking for Shambhala and the stone 70 years earlier.^[5]

They find the expedition inside a huge temple, hidden in a series of ice caves. Nate and Tenzin discover that Schäfer's men were SS members on an Ahnenerbe expedition. After seeing what had become of them after they ate the blue resin, Schäfer had killed them to protect the world from the power of the stone. Nate and Tenzin are attacked by yeti-like creatures as they escape from the temple. They return to find Lazarević's men attacking the village.^[5]

After securing the village, Nate and Elena find out that Schäfer has been kidnapped and the couple track Lazarevic's convoy to an abandoned monastery. The two locate a mortally wounded Schäfer, who tells Nate that he must destroy the Cintamani Stone. They uncover the entrance to Shambhala but are taken hostage by Lazarević, who forces them to take him into the city. On the way, they are attacked by the yeti-creatures from the ice temple. Lazarević kills one of them and reveals it to be a mutated human in a yeti suit; transformed after eating the blue resin. Lazarević describes it as a "Guardian" - a scarecrow to frighten trespassers. As they enter the city, the group are attacked by another wave of Guardians. In the chaos, Nate, Elena, and Chloe escape.^[5]

Inside the city, they discover that the "Cintamani Stone" is, in fact, the petrified blue resin of the Tree of Life. Nate has seen the damage that the resin has already done, and decides that Lazarević must be stopped before he can harness its power. As they prepare to go after Lazarević, a badly wounded Flynn arrives and detonates a grenade, killing himself and seriously wounding Elena. Nate leaves Elena in Chloe's care and sets off to confront Lazarević at the base of the tree. Nate arrives just as Lazarević drinks the tree's sap, which heals his scars and renders him nearly indestructible. Detonating the pockets of explosive resin in the tree, Nate defeats Lazarević and leaves him to be killed by the Guardians. Nate reunites with Chloe and Elena and they escape the city as a series of explosions begins to destroy Shambhala.^[5]

Back in the village, Chloe asks Nate if he loves Elena. He does not deny it, and Chloe bids Nate goodbye as Sully carries a recovering Elena over to him. While Sully chases after Chloe, Elena and Nate pay their respects at Schäfer's grave before embracing. They share a kiss and together they walk over to the edge of a cliff and watch the sunset behind the mountains as Nate mentions that he is afraid of clowns.^[5]

2009–2010

Nate and Elena marry in unknown circumstances. However, Nate's phobia of commitment and lust for adventure places great strain on the marriage, and the two separate, becoming estranged. Elena keeps her wedding ring, and Victor Sullivan looks after Nate's without his knowledge.

Drake's Deception

By 2010, Nate and Victor Sullivan head to the Pelican Inn, a pub in London. They meet with Charlie Cutter and Talbot to sell Francis Drake's Ring. Nate and Sully decide that Talbot's money is counterfeit, and a brawl ensues. Cutter and his thugs gain the upper hand and subdue Nate and Sully. Katherine Marlowe arrives and takes Francis Drake's ring from Nate. Cutter then shoots both Nate and Sully, angering Marlowe who leaves the scene with Talbot.^[6]

When Marlowe leaves, Nate and Sully get up, having faked their deaths, and it is revealed that Cutter is, in fact, working with them. The three meet up with Chloe Frazer, who directs them to the warehouse that Marlowe went to following the shooting. From the warehouse, they follow underground tunnels to a secret library, where they find the journal of T. E. Lawrence, Francis Drake's cipher disc, and a map.^[6]

Nate learns that Sir Francis Drake along with John Dee was hired by Queen Elizabeth to go to Arabia to look for a lost city: "a city of immeasurable wealth" - The Atlantis of the Sands. He had also been documenting sites that he went to, the only two that were documented by him and the crusaders, who were also looking for the lost city, were in France and Syria.^[6]

Nate and Sully travel to France to investigate the chateau. There, they find half of an amulet. They express the hope that the other half is in Syria. As they leave, they are attacked by Talbot and his men, who take the amulet and set the chateau on fire. They escape the burning building and travel to Syria, suspecting that Chloe and Charlie will also be ambushed.^[6]

The four reunite in a castle in Syria, where the find the second half of the amulet. However, Talbot again ambushes them and takes the amulet, along with Lawrence's journal. While escaping, Cutter's leg is broken, and he and Chloe decide to sit the rest of the adventure out. Nate and Sully travel to Yemen, where they meet up with Elena Fisher.^[6]

Elena gives the pair journalist permits, allowing them access to the city. She is dubious of Nate's true motivations and expresses her concern for Sully, but Nate is more interested in the fact that she is still wearing her wedding ring from their estranged marriage. She claims it 'helps in this part of the world'. Nate spots Talbot and manages to get Lawrence's journal back off him in a fight. They quickly duck off the streets and into a hidden underground tunnel system. After navigating their way through a series of puzzles they are shown a map of star constellations, which pinpoints the Atlantis of the Sands. As the only one who can read the star chart, Sully notes the location of the city. As they leave the area, Talbot drugs Nate. Hallucinating, Nate pushes Sully and Elena away and follows Talbot's voice until he finally blacks out.^[6]

When he wakes up, Nate is confronted by Marlowe, who begins recounting his life in detail. Nate acts as if he doesn't care, but is terrified to see that Marlowe has full details on Elena. Marlowe promises that nothing will happen to her if he helps them locate Sully. When Nate refuses, Marlowe goes on to explain that Sully hasn't tried to find him, and that "Victor is only ever in it for Victor."

Despondent, Nate sits in silence as Talbot informs Marlowe that they have apprehended Sully. Nate chases Talbot through the streets and buildings of Yemen's market district, eventually catching up with him in a private garden. After a brutal fight, Nate is knocked out by the pirate Rameses.^[6]

Nate is taken by Rameses to a ship graveyard, which the pirate has been using as his base of operations. He tortures Nate so that he can learn the location of Iram for himself, but when Nate refuses to break, he says that he will torture Sully instead. Nate breaks free and navigates his way through the graveyard to Rameses' cruise ship - The Seaward. In the hold, Nate learns that Rameses never had Sully, it was a ploy to get him to talk. Nate causes an explosion which tears a hole in the ship's hull, and he barely escapes as it sinks. He washes ashore in Yemen.^[6]

He makes his way to Elena's apartment. Elena is overjoyed to see Nate, believing that he was dead. She leads him to the sofa where he rests his head on her lap. She updates him on Sullivan's situation: he, Marlowe, and her crew are in a convoy heading into the desert. Marlowe had a two-day start, so catching up to them on foot or motor vehicle would be impossible. Elena discovered that an airplane would be making a supply drop to the convoy, so she planned on sneaking onto the plane, dropping in on the convoy, and rescuing Sullivan. Since the plane wasn't taking off until dawn, Elena insisted Nate rest. Nate asked Elena if she planned on rescuing Sullivan by herself, to which she replied she'd do anything to save him. Nate tells her that he likes the way she thinks. As he drifted off into sleep, he took Elena's hand (the one with the wedding band still on it) and apologizes to her, to which she simply responds "I know."^[6]

The next morning, Nate manages to get aboard the cargo plane, while Elena remains behind. Hours later, as the plane flies over the Rub' al Khali desert, he is found by one of Talbot's thugs. In the ensuing fight, the plane is badly damaged. It rips apart, and Nate is sucked out. He manages to grab a cargo container mid-air and deploys its parachute, which carries him safely to the ground.^[6]

Nate treks through the desert for days, suffering from exhaustion and dehydration. He experiences multiple hallucinations, before finally arriving at a ghost town. He finds that Marlowe's men have occupied the town, and is rescued by a Bedouin tribe. Salim, the Sheikh of the tribe takes Nate to his camp, telling him that his scouts have been tracking Marlowe's convoy for two days. Nate explains how Marlowe has Sully and in turn, explains that Sully knows the location to the lost city of Iram. Salim tells Nate that the city was cursed three thousand years ago when Solomon took control and commanded the power of the spirits of Djinn. Afterward, many Djinn rebelled and Solomon imprisoned them in a brass vessel which was drowned in the city's central cistern.^[6]

With Salim's help, Nate rescues Sully from the convoy and they enter Iram. Upon entering, Nate drinks some of the city's water and experiences a hallucination in which Talbot kills Sully, in the hallucination Nate wants to make him regret revenge. When the hallucination ends, Nate realizes that the water's contaminant is what Talbot and Marlowe want - Solomon's vessel of brass. He also realizes that is what Sir Francis Drake was sent after by the queen, although once he realized what he was searching for he abandoned the mission, lied to the queen, and then hid all evidence of his voyage.^[6]

Nate and Sully manage to destroy the winch that is being used to retrieve the vessel, and by doing so cause the city to crumble and sink into the desert. Marlowe is trapped in the quicksand but persuades Nathan to help her escape. He is unable to reach her, and she dies, taking Francis Drake's ring with her. Nate and Talbot engage in a knife fight. Nate used his pistol to kill Talbot and save Sully. After Nate emerges victorious, he and Sully escape the city on horseback with Salim.^[6]

Nathan and Sully arrive at an airport, preparing to leave Yemen. Sully takes a moment to tell Nate that "we don't get to choose how we start in this life; real greatness is what you do with the hand you're dealt." He gives him his wedding ring and tells Nate that he has been carrying it around for too long. Elena arrives at the airport and tells Nate that she is sorry about Drake losing Francis Drake's ring. Nate tells her that he traded it for "something better", letting her see that he is wearing his retrieved wedding ring. The two leave Yemen together, with Sullivan, hand in hand. Sully leads them to a new plane, modeled after the Hog Wild which Nate and Elena destroyed during the events of Drake’s Fortune.^[6]

A Thief's End

By 2013, three years since his last adventure, Nate has settled into a normal life with his wife Elena in a suburban home in New Orleans, Louisiana, not seeming to have changed much in regards to personality and still having remnants of his old obsession as he is seen throughout the game picking up objects, surprising himself in his inventions and making some excuses. He is now working as a diver for a local salvage company owned by his boss Jameson. After successfully salvaging a sunken train car with its cargo intact, Nate was offered a salvage job in Malaysia by Jameson which he declines due to the lack of legal permits required.

Later that day, Nate joins Elena for dinner and the two exchange their day. While listening to Elena, Nate remembers his past life as a fortune hunter and stops listening. Elena then assumes he is troubled about the Malaysia job and after a discussion and some playtime, the two share a kiss.

Sometime later, as Nate works in his office, he is visited by his brother Sam whom he thought was shot and killed in a Panamanian prison escape fifteen years prior. After Nate tells Sam of his previous exploits and adventures, Sam narrates how he had escaped the prison. His cellmate, drug lord Hector Alcazar breaks him out in exchange for half of Henry Avery's lost treasure. Sam then forces Nate back into his former life of fortune-hunting in order to save his brother. Just before they leave, Nate lies to Elena that he had taken the Malaysia job.

Sam presents Nate with a promising lead on Avery's treasure, a cross of Saint Dismas, similar to the one they had found in the Panamanian jail fifteen years ago, but intact and is being sold for auction in the Rossi Estate in Italy. Nate and Sam head to the estate with help from Nate's mentor, Victor "Sully" Sullivan whom Nate hasn't seen or talked to since their last adventure. Sully secures their invitation to the auction and they plan to steal the cross before it is put up for auction. However, before they could get the opportunity to do so, the order was changed and the cross was suddenly put up for auction. Nate and Sam plan to kill the power in order to steal the cross from the display.

Meanwhile, Sully bumps into Nadine Ross, head of private military army Shoreline and Rafe Adler, a rich fortune hunter who was with Nate and Sam in the Panamanian jail looking for clues to Avery's treasure. Sully learns that Nadine and Rafe had partnered and are aiming to outbid everyone to get the cross. Sam impersonates a waiter in order to get as close to the cross as possible. Just as Nate arrives in the power room, the bidding for the cross starts. Sully tries to outbid Rafe in order to buy time for Nate to kill the lights.

Once the lights go out, Sam steals the cross and he and Sully leave the room, just before the emergency lights turn on. Nate exits the power room and makes his way to Sam and Sully while trying to avoid security. En route, he encounters Nadine and she immediately and swiftly subdues Nate, demanding the cross. Nadine unintentionally throws Nate out of a window and he makes his way to Sam who is pinned down by security in the auction room. After fighting their way through security, Nate and Sam are rescued by Sully in a limo and they escape the Estate and head to their hotel. Once at the hotel, they break open the cross and find a paper that points to a specific grave near the Saint Dismas cathedral in Scotland.

The three head to Scotland in Sully's Hog Wild seaplane. The Saint Dismas cathedral area is now owned by Rafe Adler who had purchased the area after recovering the previous cross in the Panamanian prison fifteen years ago. The cathedral is now a dig site occupied by Shoreline mercenaries while the adjacent graveyard is untouched. Nate and Sam make their way to the graveyard and find a grave that fits the description found on the paper in the cross. After finishing a test, the grave points them to a cave underneath the cathedral.

Nate and Sam make their way through the cave, pass tests and eventually find themselves in a chamber with a scale that has a jeweled cross on one end and a pile of coins on the other. Picking up a coin from the pile they pass the test and a map of Madagascar is shown pointing to King's Bay. Nadine enters the chamber and Sam tricks her into picking up the cross, setting off a trap. The brothers fight their way out of the cathedral and make their way to the plane and head straight for Madagascar.

The coin is minted with a mark of a volcano that coincides with a volcano near King's Bay. Nate, Sam, and Sully make their way to the volcano and find towers marked with the sigils of pirate captains from Avery's time. They eventually find a tower marked with Avery's sigil and discover the map that reveals the locations of all twelve towers and their sigils. Using the coin, which is also minted with a sigil, they narrow the best possible location of Avery's treasure to two towers on opposite ends of King's Bay. The trio split, with Sam, headed to Joseph Farrell's tower and Nate and Sully headed to Edward England's tower.

Nate and Sully solve the puzzles in their tower and learn that theirs is the correct tower. However, they didn't find the treasure but they found only a map marked with Pro deus qoud licentia. Before Sam could make his way to Nate and Sully's tower, Rafe calls Nate and informs him that he hacked their phones to get their location and Shoreline mercenaries to ambush the three in their towers. Nate, Sully, and Sam are chased all though out the city and countryside by mercenaries until they finally lose them and meet up at their motel room.

The Latin cipher Nate and Sully discovered points to the existence of Libertalia, the legendary pirate utopia which was likely founded by Avery and the eleven other pirate captains he had recruited. Just before they could leave, Nate is confronted by Elena, who is upset over Nate lying to her about the Malaysia job and Sam's existence. Elena walks out on Nate and is followed by Sully who stays back to watch on her.

Nate and Sam continue on to head towards an island that was pointed out in the map they had discovered. On the island, they solve elaborate puzzles which point them to another, larger island where they hope Libertalia is located. Just as they were about to leave, Rafe and Shoreline mercenaries arrive and a storm brew. Nate and Sam race towards the larger island while being attacked by Shoreline vessels. Before they could reach the island, their boat is rammed by a larger Shoreline ship, separating Sam and Nate and marooning them both on the island.

Nate awakes in the middle of the storm and attempts to make his way to Sam until he passes out. The storm passes and Nate wakes up to a Morse code signal from Sam. He climbs and fights his way through the island jungle and eventually reunites with Sam. Nate expresses his concerns over Sam's obsession with finding the treasure, what he had sacrificed and that his feelings about giving up. Then they suddenly discover the remains of civilization and later find themselves standing in the commercial district of Libertalia. Sam expresses his excitement for the discovery and they make their way to the treasure building. On the way, they find clues about a rebellion and a civil war that deserted the legendary pirate utopia.

When they arrive at the treasure building, the treasure was no longer there. According to manifests and evidences, Nate and Sam conclude that the twelve pirate captains who were the founders of Libertalia stole from the colonists and kept the treasure for themselves. They also concluded that the most likely place the founders took the treasure is to a place called New Devon, the residence of the founders, in the northern part of the island. As they make their way to a tall tower, they are ambushed by Shoreline mercenaries who destroy the tower and Nate and Sam are confronted by Nadine who single-handedly hustles the two Drakes.

Just as the brothers get the upper hand, Rafe and other mercenaries arrive. After attempting to strike a deal, Rafe reveals that he was the one who had freed Sam from prison and that Hector Alcazar has been killed over six months prior. Furious, Nate still attempts to bargain with Rafe to let them go home. However, Rafe intends to execute Nate but shoots Sam instead when he takes the bullet for Nate, accidentally pushing his younger brother off the cliff in the process. Nate ends up hitting his head on one of the rocks, knocking him out as he falls into the river.

Unconscious, Nate awakens to find that he is found by Elena, who had changed her mind about walking out on her husband and followed him to the island with the help of Sully. Nate finally reveals his true identity and past to Elena and the two head to New Devon where Sam is likely to be taken. On the way, the two reconcile about their marriage and remember their promises to each other not to go back to a life of fortune-hunting.

When they arrive at the walls of New Devon, they find hundreds of colonists who were imprisoned in gibbets by the founders for acts of rebellion. Once they scale the wall, they find the place completely flooded and deserted. While traversing through some of the pirate captain's individual residences, Nate and Elena learn that after squashing the rebellious colonists, the founders turned on each other for the treasure. Upon arriving at the residence of Thomas Tew, second-in-command of Henry Avery, Nate and Elena find the corpses of the ten founding pirate captains who were invited by Tew to 'abandon their animosities' and were subsequently poisoned by Tew and Avery, who wanted the treasure for themselves.

They finally arrive at the residence of Henry Avery, where Nate and Elena find a letter that suggests Avery and Tew turned on each other for the treasure. They find footprints, left by Shoreline mercenaries and Sam, and follow them through the catacombs beneath Avery's mansion. Avoiding traps set by Avery to prevent anybody from following him to the treasure, they follow the catacombs to a ship graveyard where a fight ensues between Sam and Shoreline mercenaries.

Nate and Elena reunite with Sam, then later with Sully and they plan to leave while they can. A reluctant Sam begs Nate that they go and find the treasure, assuring a safer shortcut to Avery's ship which is located on a cove underneath the mountain. Nate ultimately refuses to which Sam finally agrees to and the four head towards Sully's plane which is docked nearby. However, an accident causes Sam to be separated from the group and against Nate's orders, Sam leaves to find the treasure.

Nate, Elena, and Sully chase after Sam but after another accident, Nate is forced to go alone and leave Elena and Sully behind. Nate chases after his brother up and inside the mountain and eventually spots the grounded Fancy, Avery's ship, inside the mountain in its cove. He overhears a conversation between Nadine and Rafe with the former expressing doubt over recovering the full haul of Avery's treasure since she had lost so many men on the island. After attempting to leave with a box full of gold, her own mercenaries turn on her and side with Rafe and he demands that they board the ship to recover the full haul to which Nadine complies. Sam steals one of their boats and arrives at the ship first, followed by Rafe and then later Nate.

A trap inside the ship explodes, setting the ship on fire and killing most of the remaining mercenaries. Nate arrives in the ship's treasure hold and finds Rafe and Sam, who is stuck underneath a collapsed beam. Nate begs Rafe to help him save Sam so they could go home. Nadine arrives, disarms both Rafe and Nate and points out to the corpses of Avery and Tew who had killed each other for the treasure and says that obsession over the treasure will land them the same fate as the two men. Nadine leaves the three inside the burning ship hold and Rafe, furious over Nate and Sam's achievements, engages Nate in a duel. At first Nate refused to fight, but Rafe provoked him by saying that despite his greatness he was nothing, and when he vowed to kill Elena and Sully along with the brothers, Nate was more than willing to fight.

Rafe eventually gets the upper hand but Nate kills Rafe by dropping a pile of treasure over him. Nate then blows up a hole in the ships hold, flooding the area in order to lift the collapsed beam and free Sam. They swim through the hole and escape the collapsing ship and cove, making it to safety outside where Elena waits for them and are picked up by Sully. They head back to Madagascar where Nate and Sam part ways. Nate fully retires to a life with Elena and Sam partners with Sully.

Sometime later, Jameson informs Nate that he is selling his company to him. Elena arrives and tells Nate that they are buying the company using Libertalia coins Sam had managed to sneak from the hold. Elena also reveals that normal life isn't for them and that she missed the adventure. Using the company and the money, she will attempt to resurrect her old show and go on adventures with Nate to continue treasure hunting together on a strictly legal basis. Their first adventure; the salvage job in Malaysia that Nate refused earlier.

Later years

Nate goes on to form D&F Fortunes with his wife Elena. Throughout the years following the events of A Thief's End, they have uncovered numerous archaeological discoveries from various parts of the world and have received wide media coverage. Nate and Elena have a daughter, Cassie, named after Nate's late mother, Cassandra Morgan. They also adopt a dog, which they name Vicky, calling back to a previous conversation between Nate and Sully while on their way to Edward England's tower in Madagascar.

Their daughter grows up to share the same interests as her parents and later accompany them on their other archaeological expeditions. Nate retains contact with Sam and Sully, and the two occasionally visit him and his family. By the time Cassie discovers his past life as a fortune hunter, Nate along with Elena share their past exploits with their daughter.

Characteristics

Appearance

Nate is a Caucasian male, with dark brown hair and eyes which have changed throughout the games. They appear both blue and green at different points if one looks at the in-game shots in the Official Game Guide for U3. He has a lean muscular physique, a tan skin-tone, and was 5'11 (1,80) as showed in a mugshot in Uncharted Official Artbook.^[7] His height was then changed in Uncharted 4 and revealed by a former Naughty Dog employee on Twitter as 6'2 (1,87).^[8] He has been described as "ruggedly handsome". Nate's face is square and angular, with a cleft-chin and squinty-eyes. His hair is short and spiky, and he usually sports a five o'clock shadow. He usually wears his Shoulder holsters and carried a journal. When he carried weapons, his secondaries are put into the holster while the primaries are put on his back.

Personality

Nathan Drake's most prominent trait is his dry humor, even in dangerous situations. This can cause him to appear unprofessional, and Neil Druckmann has suggested Nate's sarcasm to be a slight front for his dark past, which he often keeps to himself. Nate is usually calm and collected, operating well under pressure; however, he can sometimes still let his emotions get the best of him, especially during times of great stress or when things don't go too well for him. This generally leads to bouts of anger and nervous panicking, which are followed by a cynical and dry remark. Drake is also highly intelligent, being self-educated in world history and able to read 15th century Latin and Spanish. Nate is outwardly and genuinely an "everyman" type of person, relating to Naughty Dog's original intention when creating the character.

Even if he struggles to contain his obsession with treasure hunting, he can keep it in check if it becomes too dangerous, such as with El Dorado, Shambhala and Libertalia. However, he did not believe in the risks that came with treasure hunting when it concerned his wife Elena. Despite struggling to put his obsession with treasures behind and leave that part of his life in the past, after the events of Drake's Deception, he seemed to be more resistant to it due to his commitment to Elena. However, he resumed his old career in order to help his brother Sam to help him with a debt from the drug dealer Hector Alcázar as an excuse for the excitement of looking for the pirate's treasure Henry Avery. Coming to lie to himself, he even turned down Sullivan's advice and irritably snapped at him to follow Elena if he wants to be so helpful after she confronted Nate about lying to her for weeks about where he was. He and Sam continued onto Libertalia, but he began to run out of excuses when he learned that his Sam had abused his trust to find the treasure.

As a treasure hunter and thief, he is often confronted by various types of enemies, a prospect that doesn't always deter him. The dangers of his work are part of why Nate is drawn to it, typical of an adrenaline junkie. As a result, he has a callous and somewhat sadistic disregard for his adversaries and kills without remorse, albeit in self-defense. However, he is against cold-blooded executions, as shown when he refused to let Sam kill Nadine, expressed shock and anger at Rafe for killing Vargas even after the latter tried to blackmail Nate, Sam and Rafe for a cut of Avery's treasure they would obtain, or killing defenseless enemies, even offering his help to them after their defeat, such as the case with Flynn and Dante. He also refused to kill a defeated Lazarević to focus on escaping Shambala, though he did leave him to be killed by Shambhala's Guardians (not that he could have saved him anyway). He even attempted to save Marlowe from sinking in the quicksand (albeit in vein), whilst the Lost city of Ubar despite countless efforts of her trying to have him killed. Despite that, he is able to simulate a cold-blooded execution warning without even pulling the trigger, as happened when he grabbed one of Lazarević's soldiers to keep them at bay.

Nate is easy to provoke, makes absurd complaints and sometimes gets violent when an enemy angers him. Most notably when he (albeit a hallucination) believed Talbot and Marlowe had just shot Sully, he became completely enraged and pursued them for revenge.

Nate is extremely loyal to his friends and family, as he risks his life on multiple occasions just to help them. He has a slight phobia of commitment; though willing to get close to others, he simultaneously distances himself — an example being how he and Elena became estranged following their marriage until their reunion at the end of U3. The epilogue of U4 reveals they are still together some years later and even have a teenage daughter.

Abilities

Even when he was a teenager, Drake was an incredibly skilled free runner and climber. He is able to jump from high distances without any harnesses or security, and he possesses massive upper body strength, as well as tolerance for pain. He was able to climb a derailed train despite the fact that he was shot and confused of his surroundings. Though his gunshot wound was clearly hurting him, he was strong enough to not let go. As he was a thief since his teenage years, Drake is skilled at pickpocketing, being able to steal Victor Sullivan's wallet from him. Despite Sully noticing this, Drake was still able to swipe the key he was searching for in the first place. Another example of his thieving skills was when he and Harry Flynn broke into an Istanbul museum without any of the guards noticing until Flynn revealed his treachery and purposefully shot a glass case to attract the guards. Despite his "shoot first, ask questions later" persona, Drake is also skilled with stealth takedowns and chokeholds, being able to overpower and knock out multiple security guards without killing them. He normally stealthily snaps his enemies' necks while creeping upon them.

Drake is very capable when it comes to unarmed fighting, close to being a one-man army. He is able to overpower Navarro's mercenaries and Lazarevic's soldiers despite their militaristic background and training; this also includes much larger and stronger soldiers who are more advanced in combat than he is. He is also highly intelligent. From an early age and well into adulthood, Drake is a voracious reader of history books and is able to draw from his historical knowledge when searching for treasure. He is also very adept as problem solving when confronted with the elaborate puzzles his predecessors, such as Francis Drake and Henry Avery, constructed in order to hide their treasures (though this is also dependent upon the problem-solving abilities of the players themselves). When given additional evidence throughout the course of the games, he is able to make sound assessments regarding the modus operandi of Drake and Avery when analyzing why they hid their treasures in the first place. He is also bilingual, being able to read and speak fluent in Latin and Spanish from the 14th and 15th centuries (having learned it as a boy at the insistence of the nuns and priests at the orphanage). He also deduced that Lazarević, who he believed was searching for the Cintamani Stone, was actually looking to drink from the sap of the Tree of Life, which would make him invincible.

Drake's main proficiency is with guns. He possesses a trained hand and is a very good marksman, skilled with handguns, semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and even crossbows. He is also good with grenades and other explosives. However, Drake is not invincible and can also be overwhelmed or overpowered by an opponent. An example was in the Rub Al' Khali when he was pinned down by countless of Marlowe's agents. Drake, for a moment, believed it was the end for him.

He can also be injured or ambushed. An example is when Harry Flynn shot him with the Desert-5 on-board a train while he was arguing with Chloe Frazer. Though he was able to tolerate the pain from a 50. AE gunshot wound, he slowly succumbed to it because of the harsh conditions. His improvised and self-made fighting style, while effective against most opponents, can be overcome by more trained and smarter combatants such as Nadine, who quickly defeated Drake in a one-on-one fight in their first encounter.

Relationships

Elena Fisher

Nate and Elena Fisher have a complicated, and later, intimate relationship, which develops into love^[5] and marriage^[6] over the course of the series. When he first met her, he was immediately attracted to her. Nate quickly developed an admiration for Elena and her ability to handle herself in a fight, while Elena was impressed by Nate's heroism. In Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, it is implied the two were briefly together following the events of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune but had broken up. During Uncharted 2, it becomes clear that they both still harbor feelings for each other when they unexpectedly meet again in Nepal, and they reconcile at the game's conclusion. In Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, it is shown that Nate and Elena have married during the interim between games, and it's implied that the marriage was challenged by Nate's inability to commit to a normal life, leading to another break-up.

However, Nate and Sully call on Elena for help in Yemen, and at the end of Uncharted 3, Nate finally commits to Elena by wearing his wedding ring, and they enter a relationship once again. However, their relationship is tested again in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, when Nate lies to Elena about finding Avery's treasure with Sam, his reasoning being that he didn't want to lose her. Many years later in the epilogue, Nate and Elena are shown to still be happily married and raising their daughter, Cassie.

Victor Sullivan

Victor Sullivan has been Nate's mentor since they met in Colombia and while teaching him the nuances of treasure hunting, Sully quickly became a father figure for Nate. The two met when Nate was a teen when Sully assisted Nate who was being chased by Marlowe's agents.^[6] Sully was impressed by Nate's potential as a thief and as he was an orphan, Sully took him on as a protégé. Oftentimes, Sully is a repository of advice that he never fails to dole out to Nate, even if he doesn't ask for it, especially when it comes to the latter’s marriage and relationship with Elena. Over the years, Nate would often call on Sully for help whenever he was in trouble.

Chloe Frazer

Nate describes his relationship with Chloe Frazer as "complicated". The two of them have history and Nate once walked out on her. Despite this, they plan to run away together in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, although this plan is interrupted by Flynn's betrayal.^[5] During Uncharted 2, Nate and Chloe's romance is challenged when they run into Elena, causing Nate to become torn between them. Nate demonstrates a great deal of care for Chloe when she is abducted by Lazarevic, as he battles unsuccessfully through a train of mercenaries to save her. Eventually, after their ordeal, Nate and Chloe part on good terms when she notices his affection for Elena and they remained good friends (as seen in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception).

Samuel Drake

Being his closest companion throughout his childhood, Nate obviously cared for Samuel Drake, his brother, and was visibly distraught when he was forced to leave him to die. His "death" left him emotionally scarred to the point that he avoided speaking or reminding himself about Sam, refusing to look at photographs of their childhood and not even making a mention of him to Elena. Even after finding out that Sam had lied to him about Hector Alcázar, he was instantly willing to forgive and rescue him from Rafe and Shoreline. In addition, Nate was willing to let go of Henry Avery's treasure and even sink it, just so he could save his brother from certain death. Nate always tries to look out for the wellbeing of his brother, trying to convince him to give up Avery's treasure for the sake of his safety and to stop his obsession with it. Because Sam is his brother, Nate is extremely protective of him and will do everything in his power to save him.

Charlie Cutter

Little is known about Nate and Cutter's history, but in Drake's Deception they appear to be good friends. When Cutter was drugged, he was brainwashed into mistrusting Nate, leading him to attack Nate a little later. In Uncharted 4, Nate refers to Cutter as his "go-to-guy".

Tenzin

After he fought Zoran's soldiers and stuck in the cold. Tenzin nurses Nate back to health while Nate is out cold for a few days. Despite the language barrier they bond through body language. They help each other out from exploring the mountains, stopping the Shambhala guardians and saving his town from the Warlord's attack. Nate remarks that he missed him while looking at a photograph taken of the two of them in A Thief's End.

Harry Flynn

Harry Flynn was an old associate of Nate's. The two of them having partook in various treasure hunting missions. However, their alliance came to an end after Flynn began working with Zoran Lazarević and betrayed Nate.

Katherine Marlowe

Rafe Adler

Nate and Sam were initially allies with Rafe in order to retrieve a clue from a Panamanian jail that would help lead them to Avery's treasure. However, this partnership would crumble and years later both Rafe and the Drake brothers competed with each other in finding the treasure.

Marisa Chase

Nate meets Marisa Chase in Uncharted: Golden Abyss through Jason Dante.

Multiplayer

Nate appears as several multiplayer skins throughout the series. One of them, Doughnut Drake, is featured in Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves, and Drake's Deception. In the Among Thieves chapter "Breaking and Entering", when Harry Flynn lifted Drake onto a roof, he commented "You put on weight mate" and "Whew, alright, no more doughnuts for you."

Doughnut Drake is a massively overweight version of Nathan Drake. His voice is also much deeper than Drake's voice. In Drake's Fortune, Doughnut Drake can be unlocked in the single-player skin store when the player earns 1000 medal points (which is the maximum number of points available in the game).

In Among Thieves, Doughnut Drake can be bought in the single-player skin store. He can also be purchased in the multiplayer store for the expensive price of $2,000,000. In multiplayer, he can only be purchased after the player has reached level 60 (X).

In Drake's Deception, it can be unlocked in the Monastery Co-op adventure in the hard or crushing mode. Players should note that the hematite skull bead treasure is no longer glitched, as of the 1.04 update in early February 2012.

It can also be unlocked by beating the remastered versions of Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves, and Drake's Deception on the normal difficulty.

Behind the scenes

Development

Nathan Drake's personality was based on the stereotypical romantic action-adventure hero, with inspirations stemming from early movie serials to modern action films.^[9] Creative director Amy Hennig singled out the main characteristics of this stereotypical hero - an "irreverent, roguish sense of humor", and "charm."^[9] Inspiration was also taken from various screwball comedies, with the aim being a game that didn't take itself quite as seriously.^[9] At the 2008 Game Developers Conference, lead game designer Richard Lemarchand revealed that Nate's character was based in part on Johnny Knoxville.^[10]

Lemarchand went on to say that they wanted to capture Knoxville's "coolness and goodness" in the character.^[11] Amy Hennig later clarified that Knoxville was just one of the people that influenced Nate's design, with others including actors like Cary Grant.^[9] She also attributed much of Drake's charm and charisma to Nolan North, saying that he was, in a way, their greatest inspiration.^[9]

Lead cinematics animator Josh Scherr said that the ultimate intention with Nate was to create a character with an everyman persona; an "ordinary guy...who really had to work hard for every leap and climb, and who got visibly nervous when under fire."^[12] His hand-to-hand skills are described by Sam Thompson, producer of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, as "fallible."^[13]

Animation

A procedural blended animation system was developed to realistically allow Nate to react to his surroundings in the game.^[14] Animations that felt sluggish or unresponsive were removed and alternate methods were used to create the desired effect. In some cases, over thirty animations are used to comprise a single movement.^[14] Naughty Dog co-president described this realistic animation system as the "number one priority" when developing Uncharted.^[14]

Other appearances

Drake's Trail

Drake's Trail was a web game that was exclusive to the European site for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It was made to promote the new series. In it, a private detective is hired by Elena Fisher to locate Nate, who is researching Sir Francis Drake and his voyages.^[15] It is also stated in this game that Key West, Florida is Nate's hometown, in which the player visits Nathan Drake's apartment, and in his journal, where his address is scribbled on a scrap of paper.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

Nathan Drake is a playable character in the exclusive fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. This marks his first appearance in a game outside the Uncharted series. He can perform three special "super" moves in a match: throwing a propane tank and shooting it mid-air, pushing over a large statue and crushing his opponents, and summoning El Dorado, which opens and turns his opponents into descendants. He also has his own story in the game's arcade mode, where he and Sully are searching for treasure with the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, a book from Sucker Punch Production's Sly Cooper franchise. As such, his in-game rival is the titular character.

Uncharted (2022 Live-Action Film Adaptation)

Nathan Drake is portrayed by Tom Holland in the Uncharted movie.

Notes

References