Nathan Drake

Lore & Background

Naughty Dog based Drake's appearance on the heroes of pulp magazines, novels and films. To make him relatable, the character was dressed in jeans and a Henley long sleeve, 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. 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. 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, said 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, 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: "... 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

In Their Own Story

In Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Drake tracks the lost treasure of El Dorado located on a remote tropical island. As the game opens, Drake, accompanied by reporter Elena Fisher, recovers the coffin of his "self-proclaimed" 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 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.

Reader's Guide

The design and personality of Drake 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 noted that he is a rare example of a physically attractive character who is not hypermasculine. Drake's outward appearance is fairly generic, consisting of either a plain T-shirt or henley, jeans, and a gun holster on his back. 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 said 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 that "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".

Did You Know?

• Nolan North ad-libbed segments of Drake's dialogue, influencing the character's personality.
• Drake's shirt is deliberately half-tucked—a design choice called the 'half-tuck' or 'three-quarters-tuck' by Naughty Dog.
• The blended animation system in the game uses more than 30 animations to comprise one movement.
• Drake does not take bullet damage during gameplay; the red effect indicates his luck running out before he is finally shot.
• The development team considered names including Ethan, Samuel, John, and Matthew Drake before settling on Nathan.