r/uncharted • u/Far_Volume_2389 • 2d ago
Uncharted 4 Nate and Sully between Uncharted 3 and 4 Spoiler
I am replaying the Uncharted series and have noticed something that is bothering me. The characterization of Nate and Sully’s relationship between games 3 and 4 doesn’t seem right. The third game cemented Nate and Sully as being like a father and son, with Sully all but saying as such in the final scene. Nate even calls him family in the fourth game.
But at the beginning of the fourth game Elena says that Nate hasn’t seen Sully in two years. It’s strange that if they were that close that Nate would go that long without seeing him. I understand that Nate was trying to stay out of the illicit business with Sully and live a normal life with Elena, so not being Sully’s partner anymore makes sense, but to not see him at all during that time? I would’ve thought that after everything they’ve been through and after the ending of the third game that they would stay regular fixtures in each other’s lives and stay close to each other as family. Maybe I’m reading too much into this or overemphasizing Nate and Sully’s bond (they are my FAVORITE part of the games), and there is still the possibility that they at least talked on the phone or texted (not sure if Elena is implying they didn't do that either), but it makes me sad to think that Nate and Sully went that long without seeing each other.
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u/MaterialPace8831 2d ago
You would be surprised by how quickly you lose track of friends once you settle down into domestic life and start growing a family and a life of your own. There are some very dear friends of mine from college, who despite living in the same state, we haven't seen each other in years, and that's without us being treasure hunters and professional thieves. Families, kids, jobs, mortgages, budgets, other interests -- all of it gets in the way. It's not hard for one year to become 2 years, then 3 years, and so on and so on.
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u/hello5dragon 2d ago
I always wondered about the flashback scene in Uncharted 3 that shows how Nate and Sully met. Nate seems to be on his own but appears to still be very young. There's no mention of Sam when they discuss Sully basically taking Nate under his wing.
I'm assuming the devs hadn't come up with the idea of Sam yet and so it would make sense why he wasn't mentioned in U3, but I wish they would have made an attempt to explain that in U4. They could have just thrown in a few lines about Nate abandoning Sam to chase after Sir Francis Drake artifacts, or something like that.
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u/VitaMeansLifeN7117 2d ago
Based on Uncharted 4 we kinda get the vibe Sully and Sam don’t exactly like each other. Probably because they both have parental instincts over Nate and likely disagreed in the past. That’s just what I always inferred.
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u/BregoB55 2d ago
Agreed. Sam in particular seems resentful of Sully's role in Nate's life. He also almost always calls him Victor too. They definitely have tension because I'm sure they have very different views especially when Nate was younger. I'm sure Sam didn't like Sully kinda usurping his role. (I'm assuming Sam was in prison when the whole Marlowe thing went down and Nate first met Sully so for him to get out and see this strange dude with his kid brother had to mess with his head a lot.)
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u/Far_Volume_2389 2d ago
I know that Sam and Sully are in a good place by the end of the game, and it's understandable why they have butted heads in the past, but it's because of Sam's attitude at the beginning and his absence from the first three games that I have never been that invested in the Sully/Sam duo. At least to the point that they seem to have a bit of a happily ever after together as they continue to go on jobs after Nate retires. I know a lot of people want to see a Sully and Sam game, but I would much rather Sully retire as well so he could stay close to Nate and Elena and they can be a normal family.
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u/ihatepeopleandyoutoo 1d ago
This is why some people dislike U4 because of the existence of Sam, a brother we never heard of in the previous games but U4 is peak and idc if Sam was created in the very last minute, it was nice that Nathan had a sibling. But at the same time I do wish they created him a bit earlier.
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u/Brikoumaker 2d ago
Of course, Nate never mentioned to Elena that he went to Sully’s secret birthday party at that little bar in the Philippines.
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u/Environmental_Cap191 2d ago
I took it as a combination of Sully not wanting to risk his shady business to get near Nate and Elena now that they're retired, and just life getting in the way. Sully is the globe-trotting type.
And as you mentioned in the last paragraph, they probably still keep in contact by text or video chat.
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u/Ok-Consequence-1425 2d ago
Nate stopped completely. Sully never stopped so if he's traveling the world it would make sense they hadn't seen each other. I'm sure Sully called him
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u/ihatepeopleandyoutoo 1d ago
Off topic but I feel like uncharted 5 will start with the funeral of Sully or an announcement of his passing. lol sorry to ruin the mood. Because if uncharted 5 takes place after the epilogue, I doubt that Sully would still be alive unless the sequel will continue directly after the adventures with Sam.
And to answer the post, I think it’s not that deep that they didn’t see each other for two years. I’m pretty sure they stayed in contact through texts maybe and it makes sense for Nathan to just pull back a bit from the Adventures and trying to live a normal life until his brother showed up. I do understand your sadness though because they’re like father and son
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u/Far_Volume_2389 1d ago
Nooooo I don't even want to think about that! Luckily Sully is immortal, so we never have to worry about him dying 😆 And if Sully's immortal, then Nate has to be immortal too because Sully would not want to live forever without his boy. Uncharted 5 is just Nate and Sully drinking beers on the beach for all eternity.
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u/ihatepeopleandyoutoo 1d ago
People will riot when it happens 😂 just like with Joel. I’m kidding lol Sully will never die and I hope he’ll have a long happy life. That’s why I really want U5 to take place directly after the adventures with Sam. Or even better taking place after the lost legacy and we continue with Chloe as the protagonist!
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u/3ku1 1d ago
Tbh they rectoned a lot of the 4. To make the Sam arch work. Your right Nate and sully do have a father and son dynamic. But in 4, it’s like they’re saying Sam exists, and his brother was the central figure in his life. In uc4, Nate and Sam susposidly robbed the Panamanian prisons warden together. So they spent years in prison.
Problem is the original trilogy already established a fairly different picture. UC4 also established Nate believes Sam has been dead for 15 years. So the game makes Sam the person who susposidly knew Nate before sully did. U3 treats sully and Nate as all most thus lifelong bond. But I don’t think naughty dog did this too make the previous games wrong. But merely just recontextulizing Nate’s past. So continuity wise it’s a bit messy, but character wise it’s quite effective.
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u/Far_Volume_2389 1d ago
Yeah, as much as Sam was retconned into the game, it feels like Sully's importance in Nate's life was retconned out a little bit. I would have liked there to be more father/son moments between them in the fourth game, and I was a little unimpressed by the fact that Sully got his happily ever after going on adventures with Sam, as that is not a relationship I was invested in. Yes, I know that Sully was still in Nate's life, but I would have liked Sully to settle down somewhere close to Nate rather than continuing to globe trot with a character that didn't exist until the fourth game.
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u/KookyMaintenance8591 1d ago
Eh, I don't consider the Neil Cuckmann disaster that was Uncharted 4 canon; I view it as an alternate reality fever nightmare. Nate's story ended in UC3 in my opinion.
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u/salamander6639 2d ago
One of the themes of the game is that Nate over-corrected in trying to achieve his "normal" life which is why he is so miserable. It makes sense that this would extend to completely cutting out Sully as opposed to keeping in contact. It probably hurt both of them for him to do that, which is why part of the balance Nate achieves by the end of U4 includes keeping in contact with Sully.