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Revision as of 16:17, 29 January 2020

Template:Appearances

File:Picture of a Descendant.jpg

The Descendants[1] are supporting antagonists in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. They were a race of zombie-like creatures that lived on the Pacific island holding El Dorado. They were the inbred descendants of Spanish colonists who were infected by a virus contained within the El Dorado sarcophagus.[2]

Overview

Descendants were vicious, inbred, man eating zombie-like creatures that crawl on all fours and moved with ape-like agility, allowing them to scale walls and ceilings like insects and jump several feet through the air. Despite their lanky build, they were strong enough to overpower humans and kill humans with relative ease, often by breaking their necks, tackling them or striking with their clawed hands. They were devoid of hair, had pitch black, dilated eyes and wore only loin cloths and seemingly ceremonial strappings. They had albino or tan skin, abnormally large fingers, and two toes on each foot. They could not speak, and only produced feral growls, screeches, and roars. These creatures appear in chapters 17, 18, 19, and 21.

History

Discovery

Approximately 400 years before the events of Drake's Fortune, Sir Francis Drake was competing with the Spanish to find the fabled gold of El Dorado. The Spaniards found the treasure first, which was revealed to not be a city of gold as widely believed, but a gold sarcophagus. They relocated it to an island in the Pacific. The Spaniards opened the sarcophagus, and inside lay a mummified corpse. The mummy carried an airborne virus, and the Spaniards were infected, turning them feral and savage. Drake recorded these unholy events in his diary. He then destroyed all of the Spanish ships so that the evil "curse" could never be transported off of the island. Drake was soon killed by the Spaniards, his body left lying inside the vault, bloodied and clawed upon. Nathan found Sir Francis's body before he was attacked by the Descendants himself.

File:Owned.jpg

A descendant pulling Eddy Raja to his death as Drake tries to help.

Soldiers of Nazi Germany searched for the gold of El Dorado in the Amazon. A German U-boat got caught in the jungle during flood season and was stuck. While stuck, they were brutally "ripped to shreds." Although never explained, it would appear to be a second colony of descendants in the Amazon, possibly a remnant of the original Amazon ruin's populace, that murdered them. When the Germans found the sarcophagus on the Pacific island, they took it further inland. They too fell victim to the virus, and filmed at least one of their soldiers in front of the sarcophagus, roaring, foaming at the mouth and lunging at the camera.

Re-emergence

Several decades later, explorer Nathan Drake became engaged in searching for El Dorado. He, Victor Sullivan, and Elena Fisher all became caught up in unraveling the fable. After finding Drake's lost diary with Elena's help, Nate went with Sully to the island where El Dorado had first been. There, they found the underground temple where the idol had once resided. Depicted on the walls were carvings of what appeared to be humans worshiping the treasure. They later came across the abandoned U-boat. Nate went inside to investigate, and found the several dead Nazis, disgusted at how they had been "ripped to shreds".

Eddy Raja found that he and his men were not safe on the island. He became emotional and enraged that large numbers of his men were being killed by something. Several spike traps were set up around the island. Upon inspection of one of the traps, Nathan Drake noticed odd two-toed footprints in the ground, indicating "something" had been by since the trap was sprung. Elena also noticed that the trap wasn't even ancient, but recently made; it had been made from parts of the crashed plane. Nathan then listened closely at the unsettling silence, and suspected he and Elena were being watched. Not wishing to worry Elena, he acted as if it was nothing, and suggested they leave before they ran into "whatever's been chewing on this guy."

File:257.jpg

Nate about to be drowned by a Descendant in a Game Over scene (appears in chapter 21).

Later, the two began exploration of underground tunnels beneath the island's monastery. It was down here that Nate heard an argument between Eddy Raja and Gabriel Roman. Roman was upset that Eddy was not doing his job by letting Nate roam free and leaving the island less secure. Eddy told him that his men were getting slaughtered by something other than Nate and that the island was cursed. Roman and Navarro dismissed Eddy as being a superstitious idiot and informed him that he and his crew would not be getting a share of the gold, telling him to leave the island. Angered by Roman not heeding his warning and trying to cut him loose, Eddy left him.

Despite Roman telling him to depart, Eddy continued to look for El Dorado with his men, separate from the mercenaries. Deeper in the tunnels, Nate began to notice signs of the Descendant's existence, such as feral screeches and roars or strange figures quickly moving about in the distance. Nate and Elena soon reached the treasure vault, but found that El Dorado was missing. They also found Sir Francis Drake's corpse. Meanwhile, Eddy and a pirate, probably the last one alive, ran into the vault, frightened by a monstrous noise outside. The pirate was grabbed from behind by a Descendant and dragged down into a pit. He and Nate soon came back-to-back as the ravenous monsters entered the vault through holes in the wall, fully revealed for the first time. Nate and Eddy resolved to work together to try and fend them off. Eddy was pulled into a hole by one of them, despite Nate's efforts to save him. Nate managed to escaped shortly after.

Nate and Elena ran from the Descendants, making it to a German submarine bunker and locking the door behind them. They found a map showing that the Nazis moved the statue under the monastery. Nate went to restore power to an old elevator in the facility, so that they might escape. Elena stayed behind since she was unable to follow. He encountered and fought more Descendants in the dark corridors of the facility, finding dead bodies and blood splattered all over. The confusion soon came to a close when Nate, after activating the generator, re-entered a mysteriously lit room and witnessed an old projector on a table playing the black-and-white film strip of the German expedition. He also found Sir Francis Drake's letter explaining the "curse" in his last hours of life. Nate understood that the creatures stalking everyone on the island were in fact the Spaniards. He then went on fighting the horrifying creatures while trying to reunite with Elena.

Nate went back to the outer base, only to find that Elena had been captured by Roman and Navarro. As he escaped, he fought both mercenaries and Descendants. He and Sully regrouped and entered the catacombs below the monastery. They located El Dorado, which was being examined by Roman and Navarro, but were unable to rescue Elena, who was being held at gunpoint. Roman approached the sarcophagus and admired it, but was told by Navarro that the real treasure was inside and that he should proceed and open it. He opened the statue, and found the mummy inside. He inhaled the virus and began coughing, gasping for air. Navarro smiled, fully aware of what was happening. Roman then turned around when his transformation took hold, his eyes pitch black and his mouth foaming. The berserk Roman moved to attack Navarro, but was swiftly shot through the head. Nate urged Navarro that the virus wiped out an entire colony, but Navarro dismissed his warnings, pointing out he knew more than anyone realized.

Navarro revealed that the entire time he knew of El Dorado's true nature and planned to sell the virus to the "right buyer" for an immense sum of money. He then had the statue lifted out of the cave via helicopter. Soon, growling was heard, and the Descendants crawled down the walls into the chamber. The Descendants began attacking the mercenaries as they tried to fight back, having little luck as they were pounced upon and murdered. Navarro fled with the captive Elena in tow. Nate ran after Navarro and successfully grabbed onto the statue as it was lifted out in a net. Below him, the Descendants continued to kill the soldiers. He was able to stop Navarro aboard a boat he had set up just off the island's coast, sending him to the bottom of the sea with El Dorado. It is unknown if there are any remaining descendants.

Attacks

The Descendants have two attacks, one is a Swipe, which takes about 60% health, even on Easy and a neckbreaker which kills Drake instantly. The Neckbreaker happens after a charge, so it is best to avoid them when they are charging. The Neckbreaker can be stopped by moving the left and right stick to and fro to shake them off Nate. The swipe is extremely deadly due to the number of descendants in Chapter 17, 18 and 19, and they will do it often, so be careful.

Trivia

  • The Guardians in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves had a very similar role as the Descendants; both were supernatural creatures enslaved to defend the mythological object that transformed them, El Dorado and the Tree of Life, respectively. However, the Guardians seem to be much more intelligent and muscular than the Descendants.
  • In the mission "Desperate Times", after Chloe Frazer got trapped in an elevator, Nate muttered, "Great, power's out, and a girl's trapped. I swear to God, if there's a zombie around the next corner..." as he walked, alluding to the Descendants. He made this reference because of how similar the scenario was in comparison to when Elena had to wait for Nate to activate the elevator in the German outpost by going to the generator, fighting Descendants on his way from and back.
  • The Descendants were also referenced in Nate's journal on the 'scare-o-meter,' where they were referred to as the "slippery naked people."
  • When chasing Navarro and El Dorado, if you were to try taking a shortcut by jumping directly forward instead of taking the path down to the left of where Sully is, you will land in the pool of water and a Descendant will emerge from it, and eventually grab and drown Drake in the process.
  • The Descendants have a striking similarity to the creatures in the 2005 horror film The Descent, which featured underground, hairless, zombie-like creatures called "crawlers", almost identical to the Descendants in this game.
  • Despite them appearing to be unintelligent, it would appear that the Descendants were the ones who set up the spike traps around the island, unless the traps were made by others who were keeping trespassers from reaching El Dorado.
  • During the game, Drake finds a footprint with two toes (most likely from a descendant); later on in the game, however, the descendants appear to have five claw-like toes.
    • This trait may be the result of mutations caused by inbreeding.
  • Although Drake does not encounter the descendants outside of the chapters that take place underground (chapters 16-21), it is suggested several times throughout the game that they do surface above the ground and roam the entire island. Such clues include the remains of the dead left on display in the plane-wreck jungle chapter, and the footprint Drake finds in the "Sanctuary?" chapter.
  • Even though the creatures can climb walls and jump around with dangerous agility, if you get on a box that proves tall enough, you can shoot them without taking damage.
  • In PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Drake's level 3 Super Move turns the opponents into Descendants.
  • After Patch 1.13 in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, a Descendant Mask was available for Custom Hero and Custom Villain by completing the Decorative Pendants treasure set in Team Deathmatch.
  • The Descendants can be regarded as the 'Spiritual Predecessors' of The Last of Us' Infected, another game created by Naughty Dog. Both came into being in similar fashion, the Descendants with the airborne virus from El Dorado and the Infected from the spores of the parasitic Cordyceps fungus (and also via bites in the case of the infected). Regardless of cause, both degenerated into feral creatures that attack humans on sight.

References