Nathan Drake (character)
Encyclopedia
Nathan "Nate" Drake is the fictional
protagonist
of the Uncharted
video game series, developed by Naughty Dog
. He is a playable character
in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and appears in the motion comic
prequel series Uncharted: Eye of Indra. He is voiced by actor Nolan North
, who influenced Drake's personality by ad-libbing
segments of the character's dialogue.
Naughty Dog based Drake's appearance and personality on daredevil Johnny Knoxville
, actor Harrison Ford
, and the heroes of pulp magazine
s, novels, and films. To make him relatable, the character was outfitted in jeans and a t-shirt, and given an "everyman
" persona; he is strong-willed, and often jokes and quips. The designers focused on giving him realistic reactions to his environment; for example, he stumbles while running, barely clears objects during leaps, and recognizes the absurdity of the situations in which he finds himself.
Nathan Drake has been called the mascot of the PlayStation 3
game console, and is increasingly identified with the platform. His design and personality have drawn comparisons to other video game and film characters, such as Lara Croft
and Indiana Jones
. Many reviewers have called Drake a likable and believable character, and have noted that he is a rare example of a physically attractive character who is not exploited by designers as a sex object
.
. Heinzen's initial concept differed little from the finished character. The production staff drew inspiration from the pulp adventure genre when creating the video games in the Uncharted series, and based Drake on the stereotypical characters of adventure films and novels, giving him wit, resourcefulness, and strong principles. Naughty Dog wanted to highlight Drake's personality through his interactions with the environment during gameplay. To do this, they developed a wide range of animations for Drake, allowing him to display reactions and his snarky disposition in context. These animations were designed to be fluid and believable; they removed any animation that did not promote this fluidity or took a large amount of time to execute. The blended animation system in the game, with more than 30 animations comprising one movement, was implemented to make Drake a more relatable character.
The Naughty Dog staff looked to several sources in creating Drake. His appearance and charisma were based on actor and daredevil Johnny Knoxville
. Lead game designer Richard Lemarchand wanted Drake to reflect the "coolness and goodness" he saw in Knoxville. Series writer Amy Hennig described Drake as a gritty, charming mixture of actors Harrison Ford
and Bruce Willis
, with additional influence coming from romantic action-adventure heroes, including Cary Grant
:
Lemarchand listed comic characters Doc Savage
and Tintin
, as well as Die Hard protagonist John McClane
, as inspirations for the character. Drake's physical prowess was modeled on that of Savage, and his personality inspired by the vibrant color and globetrotting identity of Tintin.
Naughty Dog wanted Drake to embody the everyman
archetype. E. Daniel Arey, former Naughty Dog creative director, stated that "there is a fine line between jerk and lovable rogue", and that they developed Drake to be more human and accessible. "If a hero constantly shows their human side," said Arey, "we relate and forgive any seeming overconfidence because we’ve all been there." Neil Druckmann, lead designer of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
, explained that Drake was meant to react to situations in the manner that the average player might. Hennig commented:
Josh Scherr, leader of the Drake's Fortune story sequence team, said that they created Drake as an "ordinary guy" with no special powers. Instead, Drake became visibly nervous at times, barely cleared objects while jumping, and stumbled while running. The characterizations were meant to show Drake as a frail character. He is not a master of hand-to-hand combat, and throws punches without style or skill. Sam Thompson, producer of Among Thieves, described Drake's martial arts abilities as "fallible." Sony Entertainment of America line producer Sam Thompson mused that Naughty Dog had created iconic characters before, including Crash Bandicoot
. With Nathan Drake, however, the company wanted to produce a more average character, one who did not possess the same amount of confidence and who was more realistic and humble.
Nolan North
, the voice actor
who played Drake, had a large role in defining the character's physical and vocal reactions. In the Uncharted series, the actors were used for motion capture
, and acted as if performing in a movie. Motion capture was done on a soundstage, and the dialog recorded during this process was used in the game. North was allowed to ad-lib dialog and insert aspects of his own personality into the character. In naming the character, the development team considered many different choices, including Ethan, Samuel, and John. Matthew Drake was seriously contemplated, but received a poor reaction from those it was presented to. Eventually, Naughty Dog settled on the name Nathan for its ability to be shortened to Nate, and the perception that it sounded historical. Drake's character design changed little between Drake's Fortune and Among Thieves.
of IGN
commented on the character's interactions during gameplay that reveal Drake's nature: "it's lighthearted and amusing, but it also demonstrates that Nate is aware of how absurd his predicaments sometimes are. It's a small, unimportant communication, but it makes sense that the two would behave exactly as they do."
Drake says what he is thinking aloud, a feature designed to correlate with the likely thoughts and reactions of the player. Amy Hennig called Drake a "Die Hard guy that gets in there and just takes care of the situation; 'the fly in the ointment'." Drake's voice actor North was instructed to imbue his own personality into the character.
Drake's appearance underwent minor changes in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Hennig stated that Drake was skinnier than intended in the first game, and thus the designers bulked him up for the second.
Drake's shirt is always tucked into his pants on only one side, an attribute which commentators have labeled the "half-tuck". The term, first coined by video game designer Tim Schafer
, led to Naughty Dog altering Drake's appearance to have his shirt almost tucked in from the front, and half tucked in at the back, an inside joke Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells labeled a "three-quarters-tuck." The half-tuck was part of a larger effort to ensure Drake's design was asymmetrical. Tim Schafer commented "It was all super next-gen, but the most next-gen thing about it to me was Drake's shirt. Check it out: Somehow it's tucked in, and yet not tucked in, at the very same time. Of all the technical marvels contained in Uncharted, this was the one that really mystified me."
, recovers the coffin of his ancestor Sir Francis Drake, which he located from coordinates inscribed on a family heirloom: a ring Drake wears around his neck. The coffin contains Sir Francis Drake's diary, which gives the location of El Dorado
. Pirates attack and destroy Drake's boat, but Drake's friend Victor "Sully" Sullivan
rescues the two. When Sully and Drake follow the diary to the indicated spot, they learn that El Dorado is a large golden idol that the Spanish
had tried to remove from the island centuries ago. After finding a U-boat
, mercenaries led by Gabriel Roman intercept Drake, Fisher and Sully. Sully is shot but Drake manages to escape to an island where Sir Francis Drake's diary claims the idol is located.
On the way to the island, anti-aircraft fire
forces Elena and Drake to bail out of the airplane and they are separated. Drake heads toward an old Spanish fort to find Elena. Though briefly captured, Drake and Elena reunite and flee to the old customs house on the island. There they find that Sully has survived his gunshot wound. Drake discovers that the idol is located near the custom house, and finds and rescues Sully. Drake realizes that the idol is cursed, and that it turned the Spanish and Kriegsmarine
searching for it into zombified monsters. Drake attempts to stop Roman from removing the idol from the island, and arrives in time to see Atoq Navarro, a man hired by Roman, find the statue. Navarro tricks Roman into becoming cursed. Drake then jumps onto the statue and rides it as it is airlifted onto a boat in the bay. There he defeats Navarro and manages to sink the idol to the bottom of the ocean. Sully arrives and Elena and Drake leave the island with several chests of treasure, after displaying affection towards each other.
to steal a small lamp from a Turkish museum. Following the first game, Drake and Chloe develop a romantic relationship. Once in the museum, Flynn betrays Drake and Drake is imprisoned. Drake theorizes that the true goal of the theft was to discover the location of Marco Polo
's lost fleet. Flynn brings the information obtained from resin found in the lamp to his employer, war criminal Zoran Lazarevic, who seeks the Cintamani Stone that the fleet was supposedly transporting. Once Chloe and Sully secure Drake's release, Drake follows Lazarevic, and discovers that the fleet did not possess the stone, but had clues to the location of Shambhala
. Drake travels to Nepal
to find the next clue, although Lazarevic has initiated a civil war in the region in order to find the temple containing the clue. In the city, he finds Elena and her cameraman Jeff, the latter of which is executed by Lazarevic.
Drake pursues Lazarevic and then discovers the key to Shambhala, but the train they are traveling on explodes, leaving Drake stranded. Drake loses consciousness after finding the key (a Kīla) and awakens in a Tibetan village. Here, he finds Karl Schäfer, a German who had led a Schutzstaffel
expedition to Shambhala, though he had killed them all to stop the Nazis from obtaining the power in the city. Tenzin, a man who speaks no English, leads Drake through an ice cave, where they are attacked by giant horned monsters. Lazaravic attacks the village, kidnapping Schäfer. Drake and Elena track Lazaravic to a monastery, where they find the entrance to Shambhala. Once inside, they discover that the monsters are guardians of the city. Drake and Elena are apprehended by Lazaravic but escape him when the guardians attack. Drake confronts Lazaravic at the Tree of Life
, the sap of which comprises the Cintamani stone. Drake wounds Lazaravic, leaving the guardians to kill him, and returns to the village, where he and Elena kiss and begin a relationship.
turned Indonesia
n crime boss named Daniel Pinkerton. Drake seeks the fabled Eye of Indra
in India
, where he meets Eddy Raja – who appears in the first game – and Drake becomes romantically involved with Raja's sister, Rika Raja.
stressing Drake's everyman personality and showcasing his similarity to adventure film characters. Naughty Dog released an airsoft
replica of Nathan Drake's gun, a Beretta 92FS
.
Shortly before the 2009 release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, four urban vinyl toys based on Nathan Drake were released. Erick Scarecrow, founder of ESC Toys, designed the dolls in a number of colors; only 2500 were released worldwide. Reviewers were not enthusiastic about the design, and Luke Plunkett of Kotaku
commented, "while none of them have names, it appears there's Drake, Hellboy Drake, Berlin Nightclub Drake and Radioactive Drake."
called Drake a "lovable jerk" who is "light, flippant, and just plain fun", calling him a perfect caricature of a scoundrel. Stephen Totilo of Kotaku
remarked that "the short take is that Nathan Drake has attitude without being a jerk, and he cheerfully but woefully gets in over his head. This helps make him charming rather than annoying." Comparing Drake to a similar character, Matt Casamassina at IGN claimed, "Nathan Drake, the hero in Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2, is more realistic, funny, charming, likable and altogether human in 30 minutes than Leon S. Kennedy is through an entire career of Resident Evil games." Rush Frushtick at UGO
admitted that Drake may appear to be "a dick", but that he was "a likable dick". GamesRadar
listed Nathan as one of the 25 best new characters of the decade, contrasting him with characters like Halo
protagonist Master Chief
and Marcus Fenix of the Gears of War
series in that unlike them, Drake is never in control of the situation.
Commenting on Drake's "everyman" persona, Tom Hoggins of the Daily Telegraph called the character's vulnerability "endearing", while Chad Sapieha of The Globe and Mail
labeled him "one of the most expressive video game characters ever created." However, Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica
criticized the "everyman" persona, stating that Drake was like numerous other characters, and lacked individuality. Develop
's Owain Bennallack further criticized Drake's blandness, doubting whether a player could adequately describe him as a character. Dan Hsu of Bitmob wrote that, though other characters like Master Chief may stand out more, Drake came across as an "old pal".
Drake's physical attractiveness has been another area of commentary, with at least one reviewer declaring a man crush
for him. Drake has been described as "dreamy", and a "handsome, charismatic hero." Claudia Black
, voice of Chloe Frazer from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
, admitted having a crush on Drake as well. Drake has been cited as an example of a character who, while attractive, was not designed to be a sex object. One commentator pointed out, "Nathan Drake is one of the few male video game protagonists not portrayed in a degrading, sexual manner." Steve McGarvey of GameSpy
wrote that Drake was "hardly oozing with machismo compared to the likes of most gaming protagonists". Drake's attractiveness drew criticism from Meagan Marie of Gameinformer, who stated that he did not "stand out much among the crowd of other ideally proportioned and intentionally unblemished gaming icons." GameDaily named Drake the third greatest gaming hunk. GamesRadar
named Drake "Mister 2007", stating that he was not picked just because they could "stare at his ass for hours on end", but because he is heroic and has a "winning attitude".
The good sales of the Uncharted series and the growing identification of Drake with the PlayStation 3 console have led some to claim he is now a de facto
mascot for the PlayStation 3. Adam Hartley at TechRadar UK claimed, that "throaty-voiced protagonist Nathan Drake is the rightful heir to the 'PlayStation Hero' crown", while Now Gamer claimed Drake as the new PlayStation 3 poster boy
. Drake was nominated for the "Most Compelling Character" award at the 2009 Inside Gaming Awards.
from the Tomb Raider
franchise and film character Indiana Jones
, due to the similarities between the characters and the narratives they appear in. Johnny Minkley of Eurogamer
and Lee Ferran of ABC News
called these associations "obvious" and "unavoidable". In fact, Drake has been called a mixture of the two characters. Drake was hailed as the "new Lara Croft" after the Uncharted series sold well, and his similarity to Croft has earned him the moniker "bloke raider". Michael Owen-Brown of the The Advertiser remarked that Drake distinguished himself from Croft with his wit, while director of the Uncharted series Bruce Straley claimed that Drake had equaled Croft in popularity. CBS
drew a strict distinction between Indiana Jones and Drake, pointing out that while Jones acts altruistically, Drake is in it for the profits. Avi Arad
, producer of a planned Uncharted film, drew a similar conclusion, remarking that while Jones was always good, Drake is not necessarily the good guy. Designer Neil Druckmann stated that he believes Drake stands apart from Jones and Croft. Other reviewers have compared Drake to different characters, including Jack Colton from the film Romancing the Stone
. North, who plays Drake, also voices The Prince
in the 2008 video game Prince of Persia, and comparisons have been made between the two characters. The Prince has been described as a rougher, more abrasive form of Nathan Drake.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of the Uncharted
Uncharted
Uncharted is an award-winning series of action-adventure/platform/third-person shooter video games developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation 3 video game console. The series follows modern-day treasure hunter Nathan "Nate" Drake as he...
video game series, developed by Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1986 as an independent developer, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001...
. He is a playable character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is an action-adventure platform third-person shooter video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to the 2007 game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It was first shown and announced on December 1, 2008...
, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is the third game in the Uncharted series, created by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 3, and was released in North America on November 1, 2011, Europe on November 2, 2011 and Australia on November 3, 2011. It is the sequel to 2009's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. It was...
, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and appears in the motion comic
Motion comic
A motion comic is a form of comics combining elements of print comic books and animation.-History:The earliest examples of motion comics are found in independent creations such as Broken Saints....
prequel series Uncharted: Eye of Indra. He is voiced by actor Nolan North
Nolan North
Nolan Ramsey North is an American actor and voice actor born in New Haven, Connecticut. He has been described as "the nearest thing the games industry has to a bona fide leading man."-Biography:...
, who influenced Drake's personality by ad-libbing
Ad libitum
Ad libitum is Latin for "at one's pleasure"; it is often shortened to "ad lib" or "ad-lib"...
segments of the character's dialogue.
Naughty Dog based Drake's appearance and personality on daredevil Johnny Knoxville
Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp , better known by his stage name Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, stunt performer, best known for being the co-creator and principal star of the MTV reality series Jackass, with the catchphrase "I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Jackass."-Early...
, actor Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
, and the heroes of pulp magazine
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
s, novels, and films. To make him relatable, the character was outfitted in jeans and a t-shirt, and given an "everyman
Everyman
In literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances...
" persona; he is strong-willed, and often jokes and quips. The designers focused on giving him realistic reactions to his environment; for example, he stumbles while running, barely clears objects during leaps, and recognizes the absurdity of the situations in which he finds himself.
Nathan Drake has been called the mascot of the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
game console, and is increasingly identified with the platform. His design and personality have drawn comparisons to other video game and film characters, such as Lara Croft
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world...
and Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
. Many reviewers have called Drake a likable and believable character, and have noted that he is a rare example of a physically attractive character who is not exploited by designers as a sex object
Sexual objectification
Sexual objectification refers to the practice of regarding or treating another person merely as an instrument towards one's sexual pleasure, and a sex object is a person who is regarded simply as an object of sexual gratification or who is sexually attractive...
.
Character design
Illustrator and designer Kory Heinzen worked on pre-visualization, concept and character design on the video game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, developed by Naughty DogNaughty Dog
Naughty Dog, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1986 as an independent developer, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001...
. Heinzen's initial concept differed little from the finished character. The production staff drew inspiration from the pulp adventure genre when creating the video games in the Uncharted series, and based Drake on the stereotypical characters of adventure films and novels, giving him wit, resourcefulness, and strong principles. Naughty Dog wanted to highlight Drake's personality through his interactions with the environment during gameplay. To do this, they developed a wide range of animations for Drake, allowing him to display reactions and his snarky disposition in context. These animations were designed to be fluid and believable; they removed any animation that did not promote this fluidity or took a large amount of time to execute. The blended animation system in the game, with more than 30 animations comprising one movement, was implemented to make Drake a more relatable character.
Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp , better known by his stage name Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, stunt performer, best known for being the co-creator and principal star of the MTV reality series Jackass, with the catchphrase "I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Jackass."-Early...
. Lead game designer Richard Lemarchand wanted Drake to reflect the "coolness and goodness" he saw in Knoxville. Series writer Amy Hennig described Drake as a gritty, charming mixture of actors Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
and Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
, with additional influence coming from romantic action-adventure heroes, including Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
:
Lemarchand listed comic characters Doc Savage
Doc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
and Tintin
Tintin (character)
Tintin is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Tintin is the protagonist of the series, a reporter and adventurer who travels around the world with his dog Snowy....
, as well as Die Hard protagonist John McClane
John McClane
John McClane is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Die Hard film series, portrayed by Bruce Willis.-Development and description:...
, as inspirations for the character. Drake's physical prowess was modeled on that of Savage, and his personality inspired by the vibrant color and globetrotting identity of Tintin.
Naughty Dog wanted Drake to embody the everyman
Everyman
In literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances...
archetype. E. Daniel Arey, former Naughty Dog creative director, stated that "there is a fine line between jerk and lovable rogue", and that they developed Drake to be more human and accessible. "If a hero constantly shows their human side," said Arey, "we relate and forgive any seeming overconfidence because we’ve all been there." Neil Druckmann, lead designer of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is an action-adventure platform third-person shooter video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to the 2007 game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It was first shown and announced on December 1, 2008...
, explained that Drake was meant to react to situations in the manner that the average player might. Hennig commented:
... when we set out to do Uncharted, we decided we wanted to tackle one of these beloved action-adventure games in the spirit of this whole tradition. We knew that in order to pull it off, we had to have a hero who was completely relatable, just a regular guy. So when people saw him and said "Why do I want to play a guy in t-shirt and jeans" that was a deliberate move on our part, to say look, he's just a guy. He's just like you and me.
Josh Scherr, leader of the Drake's Fortune story sequence team, said that they created Drake as an "ordinary guy" with no special powers. Instead, Drake became visibly nervous at times, barely cleared objects while jumping, and stumbled while running. The characterizations were meant to show Drake as a frail character. He is not a master of hand-to-hand combat, and throws punches without style or skill. Sam Thompson, producer of Among Thieves, described Drake's martial arts abilities as "fallible." Sony Entertainment of America line producer Sam Thompson mused that Naughty Dog had created iconic characters before, including Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot (character)
Crash Bandicoot, or simply Crash, is a video game character and the primary protagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. Introduced in the 1996 video game Crash Bandicoot, Crash is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot that was genetically enhanced by the series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and...
. With Nathan Drake, however, the company wanted to produce a more average character, one who did not possess the same amount of confidence and who was more realistic and humble.
Nolan North
Nolan North
Nolan Ramsey North is an American actor and voice actor born in New Haven, Connecticut. He has been described as "the nearest thing the games industry has to a bona fide leading man."-Biography:...
, the voice actor
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
who played Drake, had a large role in defining the character's physical and vocal reactions. In the Uncharted series, the actors were used for motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
, and acted as if performing in a movie. Motion capture was done on a soundstage, and the dialog recorded during this process was used in the game. North was allowed to ad-lib dialog and insert aspects of his own personality into the character. In naming the character, the development team considered many different choices, including Ethan, Samuel, and John. Matthew Drake was seriously contemplated, but received a poor reaction from those it was presented to. Eventually, Naughty Dog settled on the name Nathan for its ability to be shortened to Nate, and the perception that it sounded historical. Drake's character design changed little between Drake's Fortune and Among Thieves.
Personality
Drake has a distinct personality, as the creators did not want him to appear as a caricature or "cardboard cutout". Hennig constantly elaborated Drake's personality through in-game dialog and interactions with other characters, rather than exclusively through cutaway scenes. Drake reacts to events in a human-like way, often commenting on the absurdity or difficulty of his situation. While traveling through levels, Drake frequently makes sarcastic quips and taunts. Matt CasamassinaMatt Casamassina
Matt Casamassina is a video game journalist who worked for IGN until April 23, 2010. In his time at the site, he was the author of many reviews and previews of Nintendo games. He resides in Los Angeles, California, is married and has two daughters, Zoe and Fiona Jade, and a son named Rocco Archer...
of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
commented on the character's interactions during gameplay that reveal Drake's nature: "it's lighthearted and amusing, but it also demonstrates that Nate is aware of how absurd his predicaments sometimes are. It's a small, unimportant communication, but it makes sense that the two would behave exactly as they do."
Drake says what he is thinking aloud, a feature designed to correlate with the likely thoughts and reactions of the player. Amy Hennig called Drake a "Die Hard guy that gets in there and just takes care of the situation; 'the fly in the ointment'." Drake's voice actor North was instructed to imbue his own personality into the character.
Outward appearance
Drake's outward appearance is fairly generic, consisting of a simple white shirt and blue jeans in the first game, and a brown henley in the second. He was deliberately costumed in a simple shirt and jeans to provide a "blank slate" on which the everyman persona could be imposed. The programmers designed a layered-animation system to make Drake's motions realistic by blending multiple poses and reactions together. This allowed a complex facial and wrinkle mapping system, which provided Drake more human emotional reactions. Drake's physique is fairly fit, but not overly muscular.Drake's appearance underwent minor changes in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Hennig stated that Drake was skinnier than intended in the first game, and thus the designers bulked him up for the second.
Drake's shirt is always tucked into his pants on only one side, an attribute which commentators have labeled the "half-tuck". The term, first coined by video game designer Tim Schafer
Tim Schafer
Timothy Schafer is an American computer game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in January 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts...
, led to Naughty Dog altering Drake's appearance to have his shirt almost tucked in from the front, and half tucked in at the back, an inside joke Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells labeled a "three-quarters-tuck." The half-tuck was part of a larger effort to ensure Drake's design was asymmetrical. Tim Schafer commented "It was all super next-gen, but the most next-gen thing about it to me was Drake's shirt. Check it out: Somehow it's tucked in, and yet not tucked in, at the very same time. Of all the technical marvels contained in Uncharted, this was the one that really mystified me."
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
In the 2007 video game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Drake tracks a treasure located on a remote tropical island. As the game opens, Drake, accompanied by reporter Elena FisherElena Fisher
Elena Fisher is one of the protagonists of the Uncharted series created by developer Naughty Dog. Fisher appears in all the three video games in the series: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. While not a playable character, Fisher acts as...
, recovers the coffin of his ancestor Sir Francis Drake, which he located from coordinates inscribed on a family heirloom: a ring Drake wears around his neck. The coffin contains Sir Francis Drake's diary, which gives the location of El Dorado
El Dorado
El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
. Pirates attack and destroy Drake's boat, but Drake's friend Victor "Sully" Sullivan
Victor Sullivan
Victor "Sully" Sullivan is a protagonist from the Uncharted video game franchise. He is voiced by Richard McGonagle, who also did the motion capture for the character. In the games, he is a friend and mentor to Nathan Drake, the main series protagonist. He is a man with large debts and a criminal...
rescues the two. When Sully and Drake follow the diary to the indicated spot, they learn that El Dorado is a large golden idol that the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
had tried to remove from the island centuries ago. After finding a U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
, mercenaries led by Gabriel Roman intercept Drake, Fisher and Sully. Sully is shot but Drake manages to escape to an island where Sir Francis Drake's diary claims the idol is located.
On the way to the island, anti-aircraft fire
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
forces Elena and Drake to bail out of the airplane and they are separated. Drake heads toward an old Spanish fort to find Elena. Though briefly captured, Drake and Elena reunite and flee to the old customs house on the island. There they find that Sully has survived his gunshot wound. Drake discovers that the idol is located near the custom house, and finds and rescues Sully. Drake realizes that the idol is cursed, and that it turned the Spanish and Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
searching for it into zombified monsters. Drake attempts to stop Roman from removing the idol from the island, and arrives in time to see Atoq Navarro, a man hired by Roman, find the statue. Navarro tricks Roman into becoming cursed. Drake then jumps onto the statue and rides it as it is airlifted onto a boat in the bay. There he defeats Navarro and manages to sink the idol to the bottom of the ocean. Sully arrives and Elena and Drake leave the island with several chests of treasure, after displaying affection towards each other.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Drake returns as the protagonist of the second game in the series in 2009. A wealthy benefactor hires Drake, Harry Flynn, and Chloe FrazerChloe Frazer
Chloe Frazer is a fictional character in the Uncharted series, and serves as a female protagonist of the 2009 video game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Frazer was designed to provide a darker counterpart to main series protagonist Nathan Drake, and to highlight these facets of his personality. She is...
to steal a small lamp from a Turkish museum. Following the first game, Drake and Chloe develop a romantic relationship. Once in the museum, Flynn betrays Drake and Drake is imprisoned. Drake theorizes that the true goal of the theft was to discover the location of Marco Polo
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
's lost fleet. Flynn brings the information obtained from resin found in the lamp to his employer, war criminal Zoran Lazarevic, who seeks the Cintamani Stone that the fleet was supposedly transporting. Once Chloe and Sully secure Drake's release, Drake follows Lazarevic, and discovers that the fleet did not possess the stone, but had clues to the location of Shambhala
Shambhala
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala or Shangri-la is a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia...
. Drake travels to Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
to find the next clue, although Lazarevic has initiated a civil war in the region in order to find the temple containing the clue. In the city, he finds Elena and her cameraman Jeff, the latter of which is executed by Lazarevic.
Drake pursues Lazarevic and then discovers the key to Shambhala, but the train they are traveling on explodes, leaving Drake stranded. Drake loses consciousness after finding the key (a Kīla) and awakens in a Tibetan village. Here, he finds Karl Schäfer, a German who had led a Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
expedition to Shambhala, though he had killed them all to stop the Nazis from obtaining the power in the city. Tenzin, a man who speaks no English, leads Drake through an ice cave, where they are attacked by giant horned monsters. Lazaravic attacks the village, kidnapping Schäfer. Drake and Elena track Lazaravic to a monastery, where they find the entrance to Shambhala. Once inside, they discover that the monsters are guardians of the city. Drake and Elena are apprehended by Lazaravic but escape him when the guardians attack. Drake confronts Lazaravic at the Tree of Life
Tree of Life
The tree of life in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden , whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . According to some scholars, however, these are in fact...
, the sap of which comprises the Cintamani stone. Drake wounds Lazaravic, leaving the guardians to kill him, and returns to the village, where he and Elena kiss and begin a relationship.
Uncharted: Eye of Indra
Uncharted: Eye of Indra is a 2009 prequel series of motion comics. Their events occur before the first game, but the series was released after the second. In order to raise the money to find Sir Francis Drake's coffin, Nathan Drake works for an AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
turned Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n crime boss named Daniel Pinkerton. Drake seeks the fabled Eye of Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, where he meets Eddy Raja – who appears in the first game – and Drake becomes romantically involved with Raja's sister, Rika Raja.
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
2011's third installment of the franchise, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, focuses on Drake's relationship with his mentor and father figure, Victor “Sully” Sullivan, and has him searching for a legendary lost city that will ultimately take him to the Arabian Peninsula and the vast wasteland of the Rub' al Khali Desert, also known as the Empty Quarter.Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Drake returns in 2012's Uncharted: Golden Abyss, which will be released on Sony's upcoming PlayStation Vita. The game's events will take place sometime before those of Drake's Fortune, though developers have stated that it is not a prequel to Drake's Fortune but rather a separate original story.Merchandise and promotion
In 2007, Sony placed promotional material in Empire MagazineEmpire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
stressing Drake's everyman personality and showcasing his similarity to adventure film characters. Naughty Dog released an airsoft
Airsoft
Airsoft is a sport in which participants shoot round non-metallic pellets launched via replica firearms.Gameplay varies in style and composition but often range from short-term skirmishes, organized scenarios, military simulations, historical reenactments, to competition target shooting events...
replica of Nathan Drake's gun, a Beretta 92FS
Beretta 92
The Beretta 92 is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and manufactured by Beretta of Italy. The model 92 was designed in 1972 and production of many variants in different calibers continues today...
.
Shortly before the 2009 release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, four urban vinyl toys based on Nathan Drake were released. Erick Scarecrow, founder of ESC Toys, designed the dolls in a number of colors; only 2500 were released worldwide. Reviewers were not enthusiastic about the design, and Luke Plunkett of Kotaku
Kotaku
Kotaku is a video games-focused blog. It is part of Gawker Media's "Gawker" network of sites, which also includes Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker, io9 and Jezebel. Named to CNET News' Blog 100, Kotaku is consistently listed in the top 40 of Technorati's Top 100...
commented, "while none of them have names, it appears there's Drake, Hellboy Drake, Berlin Nightclub Drake and Radioactive Drake."
Reception
Nathan Drake has attracted mainly positive reviews, many focusing on his likability. Tom Cross of GamasutraGamasutra
Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...
called Drake a "lovable jerk" who is "light, flippant, and just plain fun", calling him a perfect caricature of a scoundrel. Stephen Totilo of Kotaku
Kotaku
Kotaku is a video games-focused blog. It is part of Gawker Media's "Gawker" network of sites, which also includes Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker, io9 and Jezebel. Named to CNET News' Blog 100, Kotaku is consistently listed in the top 40 of Technorati's Top 100...
remarked that "the short take is that Nathan Drake has attitude without being a jerk, and he cheerfully but woefully gets in over his head. This helps make him charming rather than annoying." Comparing Drake to a similar character, Matt Casamassina at IGN claimed, "Nathan Drake, the hero in Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2, is more realistic, funny, charming, likable and altogether human in 30 minutes than Leon S. Kennedy is through an entire career of Resident Evil games." Rush Frushtick at UGO
UGO
UGO Entertainment, Inc. is a website providing coverage of online media in entertainment targeting males age 18–34. The company is currently based in New York, New York, United States. On July 24, 2007 it was announced that Hearst Corporation would acquire UGO Entertainment...
admitted that Drake may appear to be "a dick", but that he was "a likable dick". GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
listed Nathan as one of the 25 best new characters of the decade, contrasting him with characters like Halo
Halo (series)
Halo is a multi-million dollar science fiction video game franchise created by Bungie and now managed by 343 Industries and owned by Microsoft Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant...
protagonist Master Chief
Master Chief (Halo)
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is a fictional character and protagonist of the Halo fictional universe, created by Bungie. Master Chief is a player character in the trilogy of science fiction first-person shooter video games Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3 and will appear in the...
and Marcus Fenix of the Gears of War
Gears of War (series)
Gears of War is a science fiction video game franchise created and owned by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios. The three games that currently make up the series take place on the fictional planet Sera and focus on a war between humans and creatures known as Locust...
series in that unlike them, Drake is never in control of the situation.
Commenting on Drake's "everyman" persona, Tom Hoggins of the Daily Telegraph called the character's vulnerability "endearing", while Chad Sapieha of The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
labeled him "one of the most expressive video game characters ever created." However, Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
criticized the "everyman" persona, stating that Drake was like numerous other characters, and lacked individuality. Develop
Develop (magazine)
Develop is a monthly trade magazine for the video games industry. Based in Hertford, Hertfordshire, the magazine allows participation by anyone working in the video game industry. Develop is the only European-based website and print magazine aimed exclusively at the development community...
's Owain Bennallack further criticized Drake's blandness, doubting whether a player could adequately describe him as a character. Dan Hsu of Bitmob wrote that, though other characters like Master Chief may stand out more, Drake came across as an "old pal".
Drake's physical attractiveness has been another area of commentary, with at least one reviewer declaring a man crush
Bromance
A bromance is a close but non-sexual relationship between two men, a form of homosocial intimacy.-Etymology:Bromance is a portmanteau of the words bro or brother and romance...
for him. Drake has been described as "dreamy", and a "handsome, charismatic hero." Claudia Black
Claudia Black
Claudia Lee Black is an Australian actress and voice actor, known for her portrayals of Aeryn Sun in the science fiction television series Farscape, Vala Mal Doran in the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, Chloe Frazer in the Uncharted series, the witch Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins and...
, voice of Chloe Frazer from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is an action-adventure platform third-person shooter video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to the 2007 game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It was first shown and announced on December 1, 2008...
, admitted having a crush on Drake as well. Drake has been cited as an example of a character who, while attractive, was not designed to be a sex object. One commentator pointed out, "Nathan Drake is one of the few male video game protagonists not portrayed in a degrading, sexual manner." Steve McGarvey of GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
wrote that Drake was "hardly oozing with machismo compared to the likes of most gaming protagonists". Drake's attractiveness drew criticism from Meagan Marie of Gameinformer, who stated that he did not "stand out much among the crowd of other ideally proportioned and intentionally unblemished gaming icons." GameDaily named Drake the third greatest gaming hunk. GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
named Drake "Mister 2007", stating that he was not picked just because they could "stare at his ass for hours on end", but because he is heroic and has a "winning attitude".
The good sales of the Uncharted series and the growing identification of Drake with the PlayStation 3 console have led some to claim he is now a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
mascot for the PlayStation 3. Adam Hartley at TechRadar UK claimed, that "throaty-voiced protagonist Nathan Drake is the rightful heir to the 'PlayStation Hero' crown", while Now Gamer claimed Drake as the new PlayStation 3 poster boy
Poster Boy
Poster Boy is a 2004 gay-themed drama film. It toured the gay and lesbian film festival circuit beginning in 2004 before a limited theatrical release in 2006.- Production :Some scenes were shot on campus at Wagner College in Staten Island, New York....
. Drake was nominated for the "Most Compelling Character" award at the 2009 Inside Gaming Awards.
Comparisons to other characters
Nathan Drake has been compared to several other video game and film characters, most notably video game adventurer Lara CroftLara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world...
from the Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn, with MS-DOS and PlayStation versions following shortly thereafter...
franchise and film character Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
, due to the similarities between the characters and the narratives they appear in. Johnny Minkley of Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
and Lee Ferran of ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
called these associations "obvious" and "unavoidable". In fact, Drake has been called a mixture of the two characters. Drake was hailed as the "new Lara Croft" after the Uncharted series sold well, and his similarity to Croft has earned him the moniker "bloke raider". Michael Owen-Brown of the The Advertiser remarked that Drake distinguished himself from Croft with his wit, while director of the Uncharted series Bruce Straley claimed that Drake had equaled Croft in popularity. CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
drew a strict distinction between Indiana Jones and Drake, pointing out that while Jones acts altruistically, Drake is in it for the profits. Avi Arad
Avi Arad
Avi Arad is an Israeli-American businessman. He became the CEO of the company Toy Biz in the 1990s, and soon afterward became the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, a Marvel director, chairman, CEO and the founder of Marvel Studios....
, producer of a planned Uncharted film, drew a similar conclusion, remarking that while Jones was always good, Drake is not necessarily the good guy. Designer Neil Druckmann stated that he believes Drake stands apart from Jones and Croft. Other reviewers have compared Drake to different characters, including Jack Colton from the film Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone is a 1984 American action-adventure romantic comedy. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film was followed by a 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile....
. North, who plays Drake, also voices The Prince
Prince (Prince of Persia)
The Prince is the title given to the collective group of protagonists from the Prince of Persia series of video games. There are three different Prince characters in the Prince of Persia series. Each Prince character appears in a universe almost unrelated to the other Prince characters, save for...
in the 2008 video game Prince of Persia, and comparisons have been made between the two characters. The Prince has been described as a rougher, more abrasive form of Nathan Drake.