Uncharted Comic Gives Background To Nate & Chloe’s In-Game Relationship

In 2012, a graphic novel based on the Uncharted series released, and within its pages’ fans were given more background information on Nathan Drake and Chloe Frazer’s relationship prior to the games. Uncharted may have concluded in 2017 with The Lost Legacy, but the upcoming release of the Uncharted:Legacy of Thieves collection for the PlayStation 5 and PC, combined with the imminent release of a live action movie based on the games staring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, has bought the franchise back to the fore of many fans’ minds of late.

In Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, fans were introduced to Naughty Dog’s charming hero Nathan Drake. Taking inspirations from Indiana Jones and daredevil Johnny Knoxville, Drake swiftly became one of videogaming’s most recognizable faces. With his impressive upper body strength and pithy one liners, fans grew to love Drake. However, while Nate’s morals could often sway towards the darker end of the spectrum, his love interest Elena Fischer in Drake’s Fortune kept the hero rooted to the ground. Elena Fischer offered up an optimistic and somewhat pure element to the game’s overall narrative.

Even though the ending of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune left fans with the impression that Drake and Elena would become a couple, at the start of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, she is nowhere to be seen. Instead, players are introduced to Chloe Frazer, a mysterious and seductive thief who works alongside Nate to obtain Marco Polo’s oil lamp from a Turkish Museum. But despite first impressions, this is not actually the first time that Drake and Chloe meet. In-game dialogue reveals that the two had dealings before, although they never disclose this fact to fellow thief Harry Flynn. While no specific details are given of their past relationship in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (other than the fact that it was clearly a sexual one) a series of Uncharted graphic novels reveals how the duo met.

Uncharted: A Thief’s Beginning For Drake And Chloe

At the very start of the Uncharted graphic novels, Drake and Harry Flynn are shown to be taking heavy fire by some unknown bandits. However, the two escape, and with them they have a bounty of treasure. While Flynn is happy to go his own way with his new fortune, Drake instead obsesses over a journal that was also with their hoard. It transpires that it was actually the journal that Nate was after all along, and that he had been sent to obtain it by the Ludlow siblings, Michael and Rose. However, with Uncharted’s Nathan Drake story playing out as one might expect, he deciphers the journal’s contents himself before handing it over to the Ludlows. Here, he learns that it once belonged to Richard Byrd, and within the journal Byrd reveals that the only clue to finding the Amber Room is hidden on an amber seal that was taken from the Amber Room itself. As it happens, this very seal is now up for auction, and of course, Drake wants to get it before the Ludlows do.

This leads Drake and Sully to their next stop in the Uncharted comic: Volkov Castle, where the black market auction is due to be held. The duo decides that stealing the seal at the auction is the best plan of action, similar to their chase in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. As such, before the auction they scout out the areas around the castle during the dark of night, marking down patrol routes and happening upon a secret entrance. However, while conducting his reconnaissance, Drake comes across someone he wasn’t expecting: Chloe Frazer. It transpires that Chloe has heard of Drake before, and as she pulls a gun on him, Nate throws dirt in her face and flees.

The following day at the auction, it is revealed that Chloe is working for Mykola Rusnak, a Russian businessman with connections to the mob who is also interested in the seal. However, when Rusnak confronts Drake and Sully about their presence at an invite-only auction, Chloe intervenes, saving Uncharted’s iconic characters from coming to any harm. With Rusnak now aware of their presence, and the arrival of the Ludlow twins at the castle as well, Drake and Sully decide to steal the amber seal quicker than they had originally planned. Chloe and Drake come to blows, but Drake makes a note of a code on the back of the seal that, when combined with information from Byrd’s journal, will give the location of the Amber Room. During his subsequent escape with the seal, Drake is picked up by a mysterious vehicle where a gagged Sully and his captors are revealed – the Ludlow twins.

Uncharted: A Cold Reception

Following their capture by the Ludlows, who reveal that they are actually called Michael and Rose Doughty, Drake is forced to decode the amber seal in exchange for Sully’s life, but he gives them wrong coordinates and sends them off on a fool’s errand. Drake and Sully subsequently manage to free themselves and set off to find the Amber Room for themselves. Before they can make it out, however, Rusnak (having been tipped off by the Doughtys) captures Drake and Sully once more. This time, however, Chloe Frazer comes to the rescue, and the three companions escape together and begin to make their way to the North Pole and Agartha, the true location of the Amber Room.

Of course, this being Uncharted, things are not going to be easy for the heroes. It transpires that the Doughty’s discovered Drake’s rouse, and when Drake is trying to commandeer their plane, the twins instead turn the tables on the adventurers and force Sully to fly them to the Amber Room’s location in the North Pole. On their arrival, the plane is badly damaged, and Sully stays behind to fix it. Meanwhile, Drake and Chloe, along with the twins and their mercenaries, head on into Agartha and the Amber Room’s location. It’s quickly discovered that the Amber Room has been destroyed, and Byrd’s dead body is found. The discovery crushes the Doughty twins, and the two begin to fight with each other, allowing Nate and Chloe to slip away deeper into Agartha. They come across an inscription drawn by Byrd that depicts strange monsters, and they soon realize that the doors sealing Agartha and the Amber Room away were not to keep people out, but to keep Uncharted’s cursed monsters in.

Before Drake and Chloe can ponder this further, the Doughty siblings begin to catch up with them. In reaction to this, Drake and Chloe flee further into the depths of Agartha. They make good progress until Chloe stumbles and falls down a cavernous hole. When Drake tries to help her, the twins finally catch up, but the group is suddenly confronted by multiple glowing eyes staring at them through the darkness: the strange monsters from Byrd’s artwork known only as the Smoking Gods. A fight between the monsters and the humans ensues, and Chloe eventually uses a rocket launcher from one of the fallen mercenaries to destroy the tunnel behind them. It’s at this point that Drake and Chloe realize that they have made it to the center of Agartha.

Uncharted: Yet Another Lost City Destroyed

In true Uncharted fashion for Nathan Drake, a magnificent city of riches lies before them, with some interesting flying technology that Chloe swiftly photographs. Before Drake can question Chloe about her sudden photographic interest, however, he is shot in the shoulder by Michael. Chloe rushes to defend Nate, but she too is then struck down by Rose.

With Michael holding Chloe and Drake at gunpoint, Rose begins to ascend a set of stairs within the great city. She heads towards a towering wall of diamonds that seem to shine like the sun. When her bother tries to talk her away from the wall, Rose’s greed takes over, and she shoots Michael dead. After she throws her brother’s dead body back down the stairs, Rose proceeds to pluck one of these diamonds from its place in the wall, not for a moment wondering what it was that gave them their amber glow. As soon as this diamond is removed from the wall it becomes all too clear, and a flood of lava proceeds to burn Rose to death and consume the room.

With Michael and Rose Doughty now dead, the city filling with lava around them, and their luck running out, Uncharted‘s Drake and Chloe flee the scene. The tunnel floor collapses around them, and Nate is thrown down into the lava. Luckily, he lands on a floating piece of city debris and is unharmed. Chloe then leaves Nate, but not before telling him that she has an idea that will save him.

Uncharted: Empty Hands But Full Hearts?

All seems lost for Nate when Chloe does not return, and Uncharted’s hero is left to climb and jump from floating rock to floating rock to save himself. Sully’s plane soars into view, with Chloe hanging out the side, and the trio finally make their escape through the mouth of a volcano, crash landing in the sea and washing up on a (thankfully populated) tropical island.

While there may be no physical treasure in their hands, Drake and Chloe have other things on their minds. After a night of drinking on the beach, Chloe and Drake leave Sully for a tryst in Drake’s hotel room. The final picture of Chloe in the Uncharted graphic novel then reveals her true intentions for wanting to find Agartha and the Amber Room. She was hired to take photographs of the Agarthan flying machines for her employer – someone she calls Roman. Chloe then drives off into the distance.

Drake then awakens alone in his hotel room with a note from Chloe on his pillow. He goes to find Sully, who remarks that he doubts that that will be the last they see of Chloe. He then announces that he has a new job lined up for them in the States. However, given that they walked away from the Amber Room with no riches, they will have to get there in a rusty old boat. The scene is already set for future Uncharted adventures, and fans of the series will be able to get a glimpse at how the games found their trajectory.

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Victoria Phillips Kennedy
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