Most people love a good love story.
No matter what culture you’re a part of
or what part of history you live in, people
have always cared about love.
It’s hard to escape.
It’s in our books.
Our movies.
Our music.
Billboards and ads.
Even video games.
Despite love being such an important topic
to us, we tend to be very selective in what
parts of it we chose to dwell on, which overtime
can actually leave some harmful messages to
society.
For starters, most love stories just focus
on the aspect of falling in love.
There’s desire, and there’s tension.
We often experience stories that take us to
the point where the passion is at its height
and two characters finally confess they love
each other and want to be together, aaaand
that’s it.
That’s all there is to it.
That’s the hardest point of any relationship,
right?
It’s happily ever after from here on out
and we rarely ever get to see what happens
next.
Forget if the characters still have serious
flaws that need to be worked out.
Love heals all.
To us, the story is complete.
But in reality, anyone who’s ever been part
of a romantic relationship knows that’s
a joke and it’s actually just the beginning.
Because what comes next is often less exciting
and thrilling on the surface level, we don’t
often get to see the lifelong relationship
that proceeds.
The mundane life tasks.
Learning to communicate.
Learning to become more selfless and to serve
the other.
Learning to become best friends.
Learning to tackle life together as a team.
The part that really is the hardest YET most
rewarding.
Finding that lifelong partner you want by
your side through thick and thin.
In video games in particular, this aspect
is so rarely seen that it’s practically
non-existent.
Plenty of games include romance.
There’s the classic “get the girl” trope
from old school platformers.
Some more modern games even give you options
and let you choose your partner to woo.
But again, it’s all about the chase.
The trying to win over.
Passion.
Infatuation.
And then it ends.
I didn’t realize how starved I felt for
a deeper look at a realistic lifelong relationship,
particularly a marriage, in media until I
played a game that made me pause completely.
And this game came from one of the most unlikeliest
series, Uncharted.
Now if you had told me prior to Uncharted
4’s release that I would be making this
video on it as a positive example of marriage
and relationships, I would have thought you
were crazy.
Now don’t get me wrong.
I love Uncharted, and I love Nate and Elena.
But anyone who played the original trilogy
would not call their relationship very stable.
In fact, every game started off with Elena
completely out of the picture because something
caused a rift between them.
To really help paint the picture for Uncharted
4, I wanted to first dig a bit deeper into
the original Uncharted trilogy for the PS3.
Nate and Elena’s relationship followed a
very typical route for the action/adventure
genre.
Nathan Drake is your typical action hero.
He’s charming and charismatic.
He’s good-looking and athletic.
Aaaaand he can’t seem to keep a stable relationship.
While he doesn’t have as many girls at his
side as say James Bond or Indiana Jones, his
drive for adventure does make it hard to maintain
a relationship once an adventure comes to
a close.
This issue is highlighted by the fact that
the woman he really loves is journalist Elena
Fisher.
While she is competent, smart, and has a knack
for adventure herself, she is far more cautious,
reserved, and caring.
This often drives a wedge between them, as
Nate is willing to be far more reckless and
get into deeper trouble than Elena is.
You’d think the type of person who would
be good for Nate is someone like Chloe.
She is just as much into adventure.
She thinks like him.
She is willing to do the selfish thing.
But there is where Uncharted 2 highlights
the issue with someone like Chloe: she is
not actually a good match for Nate.
She is self-preserving while Nate will be
selfless to protect those he cares about,
which is more something Elena would do.
You can’t always trust if Chloe is loyal,
while Elena is nothing but.
The elements that sometimes drive a wedge
between Nate and Elena are also the things
that make them good for each other.
They can bring out the best in each other.
By the end of Uncharted 3, Nathan finally
gets that, and Elena does too.
One subtle thing the original Uncharted trilogy
did different from many other action series
was that it didn’t paint Nathan Drake’s
inability to keep a consistent relationship
as a positive.
While many series praise men for having a
fling and then tossing the woman aside for
the next installment, Nathan’s difficulty
to keep Elena was always a weakness of his.
It was rooted in fear, often hidden under
his snarky nature.
Something he’d have to work through to overcome.
The original trilogy ends with Nate’s friend
and father-figure, Sully, encouraging him
that Elena and his relationship is worth fighting
for, and handing him Nate’s wedding ring,
which Nate thought he had gotten rid of.
Nate shows Elena that he is committed to her
and loves her, and they walk off holding hands
and arm in arm and being all adorable.
Everything seemed perfect, and that was where
the story was supposed to end.
And for many years, it did.
Then Uncharted 4 was announced.
With that, everyone knew Nate and Elena’s
story wasn’t going to end where Uncharted
3 left it off.
But this new game decided to go in a different
direction, and instead of seemingly focusing
on Nate and Elena, it was instead going to
focus on Nate and his just announced long-lost
brother Sam.
Details prior to release were rather silent
on Elena.
We knew that she and Nate had settled down
to live a normal life since the events of
Uncharted 3, and we saw that one clip of her
looking worried and disappointed as she turned
around in all the trailers, but… that was
it.
It was almost as if to say that Elena wasn’t
really important to Uncharted 4.
She wasn’t going to be completely forgotten,
but there really wasn’t anything new to
add.
Her arc was pretty much done.
At least, that’s the impression I got.
It’s even the impression I got while playing
the first half of the game.
But boy was I wrong.
Uncharted 4 was a lot more emotionally complex
than I would have expected.
I’d argue that it successfully subverts
expectations, by setting itself up to be one
thing, but instead takings things in a deeper
and more satisfying direction.
When booting up the beginning of the game,
it immediately starts off by showing the player
that Nate will be back to his old shenanigans
soon enough, but then the game calms down
to before that point to see the normal life
he is currently living.
Our hero now salvages metal.
His dives give him that bit of adventure,
but it’s obviously not the same.
He also completes mountains of paperwork.
But while it is obvious Nate doesn’t feel
as fulfilled, he is COMMITED to working on
a strictly legal basis, even when others around
him try to encourage him to blur that line,
like his boss Jameson asking him to take a
salvage job in Malaysia where they don’t
have the permits.
At Nate’s home, we get to see even more
of his “normal” life.
He lives in a modern and tidy house that looks
fresh out of a magazine.
There are super cute photos in an album of
Nate and Elena’s wedding (with Sully crying
– it’s adorable).
Nate’s old trinkets from his adventures
are hidden up in the basement out of sight,
but he seems to enjoy spending his time up
there and reminiscing about the good ol days.
We also get to learn that Elena now writes
articles on her computer.
Gone are the days of filming, traveling the
globe, and tracking down war criminals.
When both of them talk about their days, you
can sense the dissatisfaction in both of them
towards their work.
They’re just doing what needs to be done.
However, you can also tell that they are still
very much in love.
They still love to banter.
They smile just looking at each other.
The way they play video games to help see
who will do chores is so sweet.
But the seeds of their dissatisfaction are
deeply planted in the player’s mind, especially
from Nate.
When Elena is telling Nate about her paper,
he gazes off and dreams of adventure.
But when Elena also encourages him to take
the Malaysia job, he firmly turns her down,
saying they agreed not to do that kind of
work anymore.
Elena is worried about her husband, but Nate
wants to uphold his part of the promise because
he loves and cares for his wife, and he knows
his adventuring in the past had caused her
pain.
There are so many emotions present in this
scene.
It’s joyful and sweet and yet there is also
emptiness and a deeper longing inside for
both of them.
You can tell that when Elena asks Nate: “Hey,
are you happy?”
(plays scene)
And with that fade, that’s the last we see
of Nate and Elena interact in person for a
good chunk of the game.
Nate’s brother Sam gets introduced, and
he drags Nathan back into adventure in order
to save his life.
Nate knows that this is the wrong thing to
do, but it’s being done for an important
and noble cause, so he makes the impulsive
decision to call Elena and say that the Malaysia
permits have arrived.
Oh yah.
That’s right.
Instead of explaining the situation to his
wife, he lies.
Honestly, at this point, I thought I knew
exactly where this would go for Nate.
This story was no longer about him and Elena,
and it was going to tread the path that so
many stories before it took.
What do I mean?
The lie would drag on and go deeper.
Oh.
Ok.
Check.
We’d find out that Nate really hasn’t
matured that much as a character after all.
Yup.
Elena would eventually find out about being
deceived and there would be a huge confrontation
where she refuses to listen to Nate’s justification
for his actions before she storms off.
Oh yah, uh, Super check.
Ok, an just a quick side note - the frustrating
thing about this last part is that, when I
played the game for the first time, since
I had just finished playing one of the most
epic set piece sequences ever, I actually
wanted to justify Nate’s actions even though
I was also angry at him for lying to his wife
the whole time.
Like I wanted to view Elena as a bad guy for
trying to stop her husband from saving his
brother, but like no.
She has a point.
He straight up deceived her for weeks.
He could have died and she wouldn’t have
even known and then he announces he has secret
family she was never told about.
Like how does she even know the man she married?
Has she just been deceived in lies this whole
time they’ve been together?
Trust was completely shattered.
It was all fitting into the cliché plotline
I felt I had seen before, and I ignorantly
thought I had it figured out.
Now all that was left was for Elena to disappear
from the story for a large portion of time
until either A) Elena gets kidnapped and Nate
has to save her and of course she is totally
forgiving of his actions once she is saved
or B)
Nate comes back a hero which again allows
her to move on from any hurt feelings and
everything is excused and hunky-dory.
And the reason I found this so frustrating
in this case is because Elena is fully capable
of being part of the action.
She’s not a bystander.
She was involved in the adventure for the
last 3 games.
But since this game seemed to be about Sam,
I thought she must have been forgotten.
But again, I didn’t give the creators credit,
and I was so dead wrong.
Things in the game reach another emotional
peak quite a bit later on when it is discovered
that Sam has been lying to Nathan this entire
time.
Nate left his job, potentially ruined his
marriage, and hurt others to save his brother
who didn’t need saving.
Then an altercation with Rafe leaves Sam captured
and leaves Nate at the bottom of a ditch left
for dead.
The only person still there for him at the
time, Sam, was not there to help, and the
wounds of his betrayal were still fresh and
deep.
When all seems lost, the person he needs most
finds him and comes to his aid.
Elena.
It’s unexpected, but it’s thrilling.
She’s back!
And when Nate wakes up begins my favorite
section of this game… and trust me, there’s
a lot of parts I love in this game.
It begins with Elena tending for Nate as he
finally comes clean to her about his brother
and why he had never told her about him.
The first steps of healing begin, but it’s
obvious there is a lot of hurt between them.
Elena is not sure how to take this information,
but you can see her begin to connect the pieces
and to understand where her husband was coming
from, and you can tell Nate is very cautious
and worried about her as he speaks.
He knows he has messed up royally and honestly
doesn’t deserve to have her there.
He discovers that Elena and Sully had been
looking for him all over the island, and were
able to find him just in time, when this powerful
moment happens.
“Thanks.
For saving me.
Again.”
“I almost didn’t this time.”
“Right.”
The look in both Nate and Elena’s eyes tell
so much about their feelings and thoughts.
This won’t be an easy patch-up.
There was a lot of trust that was broken and
there’s a lot of work to do in their marriage.
But Elena reassures him and they continue
their journey.
It’s a somber beginning, but they quickly
find themselves back in usual trouble – solving
puzzles and getting into gunfights with Nadine’s
men.
One can see glimpses of their old selves in
their adventuring, but you can never fully
move past the emotional weight that lays on
them.
Things proceed to take the next step forward
when Nate and Elena take the ancient lift
up, look over the beautiful scenery, and Nate
finally takes the opportunity to ask her why
she came back after all.
Her first answer is typical of the couple,
making light of the situation and giving him
a rough time.
Then she pauses and says, “And you know,
there’s that whole, marriage vow thing.”
“For better or worse.”
“Yah.
For better or worse.”
To Elena, her vows hold meaning and weight.
She didn’t marry Nathan Drake lightly.
She understood she was marrying someone with
history and baggage.
She knows a lot of the growth he has made
and where he still falls short.
But she sees the bigger picture and she loves
him, even when his shortcomings wound her.
But Elena also uses this time to express her
frustrations with the situation and why she
was so hurt and mad.
She says that Nate hiding the information
from her to protect her is not the right approach.
As a married couple, they are a team, and
they should work through these difficult things
together.
This is a really helpful truth to hear.
Marriage isn’t about one person going rogue
and being self-reliant.
It’s about teamwork.
It’s about working through fear and trusting
someone else to accomplish your goals… together.
Some journeying later, another breakthrough
happens after Nate barely escapes with his
life.
Elena’s previous words to him about not
hiding information to protect her apparently
was still running through his head.
He begins to see that what she said wasn’t
quite right.
The issue is deeper than that, and more selfish.
Yet here she is selflessly standing by his
side.
Nate comes clean about the final piece of
the puzzle that led them to this mess, which
was probably a truth he didn’t even recognize
in himself before.
(Show scene)
There is so much self-realization about this
statement.
He doesn’t shift the blame.
It’s not Sam’s fault.
It’s not Sully’s fault.
It’s not Elena’s fault.
It’s his.
He cares about her, but he was more afraid
of what she would think of him, so he chose
to escape potential consequences, wounding
her in the process.
He was afraid because he knew she had every
right to leave him for his actions.
Every right to say enough was enough and that
he would never change.
But despite the pain he caused, there his
wife was.
Right in front of him.
A bond… a covenant… that ties them deeper
than their emotions, than their shortcomings,
and it becomes clear that both of them are
now on the same page about being open, honest,
and wanting to make their relationship work.
With most of the hurt out in the open, Nate
and Elena’s relationship can finally begin
to mend.
The emotional weight begins to subside and
they get more opportunities to be themselves
again.
And when they do, they begin to remember what
made them fall for each other in the first
place and re-discover what a great team they
make.
For Nate, that moment comes when the two of
them are spying over Libertalia’s wealthy
area of New Devon.
Not only does their banter play well off of
each other, but Nate realizes he had forgotten
just how good his wife was at this kind of
life… deducting history and clues and adventuring.
For Elena, it is when Nate discovers the founders
of Libertalia dead at the feast table and
pieces together what happened to them.
She sees the passion in his voice and eyes.
She sees how alive he feels as he begins to
see the bigger picture.
And she begins to realize that maybe the way
they had done things in their normal life
wasn’t the best for them.
Then Nate looks to her and apologizes, still
knowing he broke his promise to leave the
adventuring life.
The couple work through puzzles and survive
terrible exploding perils, and despite the
danger and the desire to protect the other,
they both fully enjoy being back in the action.
Towards the actual climax of the game, Nate
and Elena get separated as Nate needs to find
and rescue his brother Sam one final time.
(what Elena says)
You can see the worry and the love in her
eyes.
She understands that she cannot be there for
him during this part of his journey, but she
years for him to come back safe.
The next powerful moment for their marriage
comes after the adventure is over.
Everyone is safe.
Sam gets to integrate back into normal life.
And Nate and Elena get to go back to their
everyday lives as well.
We see Nate back doing paperwork when his
boss comes in and announces he is very close
to selling his business and retiring.
Nate discovers that the potential new owners
are him and Elena.
When he talks to her about it, she shares
that they may have oversteered in trying to
live a normal life.
Their strengths lie in working as a team,
and they both missed the adventure.
She proposes that Nate can continue to explore
and discover lost artifacts, while she can
go back to filming and reporting his discoveries.
AND they will work on a strictly legal basis.
This proposition seems to be a perfect balance
for the couple.
While Nate did break his promise and went
back to the adventuring life, Elena realizes
that they were forcing themselves to be people
they weren’t, which was not healthy either.
Not only did this adventure help Nate work
through his insecurities with relationships
and himself, but Elena also learned how to
encourage both of their passions into healthy
ways that would help both of them flourish.
They learned to be more open and honest with
each other.
They learned how to better communicate.
Learned how to work through really difficult
conflict.
They learned how to tackle things together
as a team.
Both of them left that island with a renewed
commitment to their marriage and understanding
on how to work through adversity and come
out stronger through it.
And the player gets to see the fruit of that
growth in the epilogue.
Gone is their tidy house and sterile environment.
Laundry is left around and items are where
they don’t belong.
Photos of their accomplishments hang on the
walls.
And then there’s Cassie.
Their daughter.
It’s obvious they love her, as they love
each other.
They have raised her with their best effort.
Nathan Drake, the outcast boy who sought adventure
found it in his family – Elena, Cassie,
and even Sam and Sully.
It’s the people in his life that have truly
brought contentment.
They’re the ones worth fighting for.
Now why is all of this so significant?
Again, this look at relationships and marriage
is practically unseen in the medium of video
games.
And while Uncharted 4 in many ways isn’t
necessarily a game to take life lessons from
(I mean, murdering hundreds of people is toootally
ok because their boss is a jerk), in terms
of relationships, love, and marriage, it made
me pause, reflect, and in ways – I think
taught me something.
This video has been incredibly difficult for
me to write.
I had the idea for it back when I started
this channel about a year and a half ago,
and have slowly been working on it since then.
But it has been harder than I thought to capture
my emotions and thoughts on it.
Even now I wish I could better explain how
I really feel.
But it was time to bite the bullet.
To finally wrap things up, even if I don’t
think it’s perfect.
And it comes at an appropriate time I could
not have planned better, as I just got married
myself.
My life is very different from that of Elena
and Nate, but there are still things I can
learn from them.
I am also excited because I’ve been having
my husband play through the Uncharted series
for the first time, and I can’t wait for
him to finally play Uncharted 4 so we can
talk about it together.
Video games are a really important medium
for storytelling and connection, and I would
love to see more aspects of life, family,
and relationships be portrayed.
Uncharted 4 is just one step in that direction.
I hope many more games to come continue that
trend.
Thank you so much for watching!
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This has been the Girl with the controller,
and I hope you have a lovely day!
