Father Figure
- Thread starter Jeff Dunn
- Start date
Thank you for that wonderful piece. The idea of fatherlessness has become such a cliche in fiction, but it's nice to see that people are still thinking about it and understanding the impact it can have on a character. Plus, it's nice to see Drake get a little love from someone who understands the character, rather than hearing people bash him because he's an attractive, wise-cracking white guy played by Nolan North.
I'm gonna be honest here and say that I hated the father/son relation between Sully and Drake in Uncharted 3. It's something that never needed to be established and putting an emphasis on it only cheapened what they had.
From the very first game Sully was simply a partner in crime who Drake got along with very well. That's it. If their relationship was really that deep, why did Drake brush off Sully's presumed death at the hands of Navarro so easily in Uncharted 1, and became so quickly suspicious of him when he found out he was still alive later on? Shouldn't he have been jumping for joy?
And if Sully did become a father figure for this 14-year old impressionable boy, it makes him a giant asshole that he made Drake an accomplice in his criminal ways, instead of turning over a new leaf now that he's responable for a child. So it was basically Sully that turned Drake into a graverobbing murderer. Heartwarming, indeed.
From the very first game Sully was simply a partner in crime who Drake got along with very well. That's it. If their relationship was really that deep, why did Drake brush off Sully's presumed death at the hands of Navarro so easily in Uncharted 1, and became so quickly suspicious of him when he found out he was still alive later on? Shouldn't he have been jumping for joy?
And if Sully did become a father figure for this 14-year old impressionable boy, it makes him a giant asshole that he made Drake an accomplice in his criminal ways, instead of turning over a new leaf now that he's responable for a child. So it was basically Sully that turned Drake into a graverobbing murderer. Heartwarming, indeed.
Liked the piece, games can explore plenty of relationship types, and ask why a character has come to be who they are.
Graverobbing murderer is a profession too you know?Casual Shinji said:
Lot to learn, a lot to earn. Makes him a deadly man, one with the mysterious "cool". Criminal families and fraternities exist, you can hate them, but part of the allure is excitement and an escape from normalcy. Sully is a crim, and also a father figure. This works well for the young Drake fond of history, ruins and tales of adventure. Yep Drake becomes a killer, and dangerous, and under constant threat. That is the cost.
No need to be so angry.
Lol, just imagined a party of typical adventurers saying, "hey, some of my best friends are graverobbing murderers!" lol.
It's still overemphasizes their relationship to a point where it doesn't make a lick of sense in hindsight.I say old chap said:
Remember in Uncharted 3...
...where Drake thought Sully had been kidnapped and takes on every pirate in the Middle East to rescue him? Or when he goes berserk because he thinks Sully's been shot dead?
Why didn't Drake act this way in Uncharted 1...
...when he sees Sully getting shot by Navarro?
There he just books it and goes on a fun-loving adventure with Elena, without even contemplating what had just happened to his supposed father figure who has been with him for atleast 15 years.
It's fucking stupid and it doesn't make sense.
Misread the title at first, thought it said "Father Fatigue", which led me to hoping this was an article about how the constant stream of father figures in gaming is great, but that there's a dearth of great mother figures that should be addressed. Then I started reading, and noticed you were just talking about the usual father figures, and picked an example, which was still good, though another anecdote on the non-father fathers that those of us with emotionally or physically absent fathers gather, and possibly hunt.
It stands as great characterization, though, because it does soundly resonate with so many of us. "All the best cowboys have daddy issues", it's said, and never has that been more true in gaming. Ezio Auditore, Nathan Drake, Kratos, plenty of Hawkes, Wardens, and Shepards, among many, many others, all have an overwhelming need to fill the hole in their life that a father left, whether intentionally or not. It might be an easy character to design, but there's reason for that.
It stands as great characterization, though, because it does soundly resonate with so many of us. "All the best cowboys have daddy issues", it's said, and never has that been more true in gaming. Ezio Auditore, Nathan Drake, Kratos, plenty of Hawkes, Wardens, and Shepards, among many, many others, all have an overwhelming need to fill the hole in their life that a father left, whether intentionally or not. It might be an easy character to design, but there's reason for that.