Nathan Drake

Nathan Drake
Nathan Drake as he appears in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.
Basic Information
Creator(s)	Amy Hennig
Series	Uncharted
Biographical Information
Date of Birth	c. 1976
Family	Cassandra Morgan (mother, deceased) Unnamed father Samuel "Sam" Drake (brother) Elena Fisher (wife) Cassie Drake (daughter)
Gender	Male
Nationality	American
Personal Information
Occupation Treasure hunter

Nathan "Nate" Drake (born Nathan Morgan) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Uncharted series created by Naughty Dog. Drake is a playable character in all of the games until Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.

A treasure hunter with a quick wit and large repertoire of historical knowledge, Drake travels the world to uncover various historical mysteries, often crossing numerous powerful enemies along the way.

History

Early History

Born Nathan Morgan, Nathan is the youngest son of archeologist Cassandra Morgan. His mother died at the age of five (there are conflicting accounts of a suicide and illness being the cause), after which his father relinquished custody of him and his older brother Sam to the state. The two were eventually placed inside a Catholic orphanage, which Sam was eventually expelled from.

At the age of 15, Nate discovered the location of Francis Drake's ring: a museum in Columbia. While examining the ring, he noticed a thief named Victor Sullivan discretely getting the shape of the case's lock.

In 1999, Nathan and Sam teamed up with Rafe Adler, a businessman and aspiring treasure hunter, to break into a Panamanian prison in order to investigate a lead on the Gunsway Heist. Nathan recovered a broken St. Dismas statue from the ruins of the 18th century prison nearby, pointing him and his companions to a cathedral in Scotland. However, before they could leave the prison, the three were attacked by prisoners and discovered by the warden Vargas. When Vargas demanded a cut of the treasure, Rafe murdered him, forcing the three to flee the prison. During their escape, Sam was shot and presumed killed by prison guards.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

With funding from journalist Elena Fisher, Nathan uncovers the coffin of Sir Francis Drake from the ocean, using coordinates from Drake's ring to locate it.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Nathan and Elena would get married, but separated sometime later due to Nate's inability to leave treasure hunting behind.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Two years later, Nathan has retired from treasure hunting, settling down in New Orleans with Elena and taking a job with a salvaging company. While insistent on living a normal life and avoiding illegal activity, Nathan misses the thrill of exploration.

Nathan is called back to adventure when he is reunited with his brother Sam, who survived his wounds and managed to get out of the prison. After catching up, Sam tells Nathan that he was broken out by an infamous crime loss named Hector Alcázar, who is demanding half of Avery's treasure within three months. Nathan reluctantly agrees to pick up Avery's trail, lying to Elena that he'll be in Malaysia for work.

Contacting Sully, Nathan and Sam travel to Italy, where Sam has found a second St. Dismas cross up for auction.

Characterization

Nathan Drake was designed to be an "everyman" character, intended to be relatable and a step away from hyper-masculine game protagonists.

Personality

Drake has often been described as a "lovable jerk". He is well-known for his dry sense of humor even in the most dangerous of scenarios, and frequently makes quips along his journey. While he has no qualms with killing the people in his way, he is against murdering in cold blood. Drake labels himself as the illegitimate descendant of British explorer Francis Drake, a belief that is partially a way of honoring his late mother.

Drake can speak in several languages (fluent in Spanish and Latin, and is at least conversational in Indonesian and Tibetan) and has a large repertoire of historical knowledge.