Nathan Drake ( Morgan) is a character and the protagonist of the Uncharted franchise, most notably in the video game series, developed by Naughty Dog. He appears in all mainline games: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, the spin-offs Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Uncharted: Fight for Fortune, the motion comic prequel series Uncharted: Eye of Indra by DC Comics, and other related media. A charismatic and good-natured yet rebellious treasure hunter, the player controls Drake as he journeys across the world to uncover various historical mysteries. He is played through voice and motion capture by Nolan North, who influenced Drake's personality by ad-libbing segments of the character's dialogue.
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 long-sleeved Henley, 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.
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.
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 Dog. Heinzen's initial concept differed 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.
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, 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:
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 Computer Entertainment 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 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. According to animator Jonathan Cooper, Drake does not take bullet damage during gameplay; the red effect in-game indicates his luck running out before he is finally shot.
Attributes 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 dialogue and interactions with other characters, rather than exclusively through cutaway scenes. Drake reacts to events in a human-like way, often commenting and complaining on the absurdity or difficulty of his situation. While traveling through chapters, Drake frequently makes sarcastic quips and taunts. Self-educated in history and various languages, Drake is also highly intelligent. Matt Casamassina 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'". North was instructed to imbue his own personality into the character.
Outward appearance 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".
Appearances Main series In Uncharted: Drake's Fortune