Francis Drake owned a silver, engraved ring, which was worn by his self-proclaimed descendant Nathan Drake, who wore it around his neck by a lanyard. The ring was also a makeshift key to decode Enochian script using the cipher disk.
History[]
Supposedly, the ring was made prior to the 29th of January, 1596, which is the date engraved on it. It was engraved to honor him following his death on 28 January 1596, when he was buried in the sea, in a lead box wearing full set of armor. It was worn by him to find the secret treasure according to the game hence it was made earlier and the date was engraved on it later.
Following Francis Drake's supposed death, the ring was stored in the Museo Marítimo in Cartegena, Colombia along with the cipher disk. Katherine Marlowe, a British leader of a 400-year-old secret order, had her man-for-hire, Victor Sullivan, attempt to steal the ring and the cipher disk; however, a teenage Nathan Drake got to it first, believing that it was rightfully his, due to believing himself to be a descendant of Francis Drake. Events that followed led to Victor and Nathan forming a mentor-protégé friendship, with the latter in possession of the ring and Marlowe the cipher disk, thus the situation remained a stalemate.
In adulthood, Nathan merely claims that he inherited it. He carried the ring with him throughout the majority of his adventures and exploits. When Nathan and Elena Fisher were in the Customs House, the latter mistakes it for a trinket from a loved one. It is there that Nathan informed Elena of its history and his 'inheritance'. He also shows her the coordinates engraved on it. Elena remarked that only a clever person could figure that out, in an attempt to bait him back into the hunt for El Dorado.
When Nathan discovered Francis Drake's body in the Treasure Vault, he left the ring with the former explorer's dead body, stating that Drake "wasted his life". Elena would later return the ring to Nathan and explained that she took it because she thought that Nathan might miss it.
Twenty years after Cartegena, Nate and Sully were accosted by Marlowe again in London when they tried to con her and her crew into buying a false ring, and faked their deaths to cover up their plan to steal the cipher disk. Breaking into a secret underground museum, Marlowe and her crew soon realized they had been duped and set out to track down the two con men. This allowed Nate and Sully to acquire the cipher disk and escape London.
Traveling to Yemen to finally uncover the location of Atlantis of the Sands and finish what Francis Drake started, the ring caused confrontation between Nathan and his wife Elena, who felt that he cared more about the late explorer's ring than her own wedding ring. Nathan was eventually captured by Marlowe's crew and the ring and cipher disk were taken from him. Eventually, he and Sully found Iram, and discovered it was the home of a hallucinogenic agent even more powerful than the one that Marlowe's crew had been using to control individuals through fear. The resulting confrontation caused the entire city to collapse, and Marlowe was dragged into a sink hole of sand, taking with her the ring of Francis Drake.
Trivia[]
- The main inscription on the ring is "Sic Parvis Magna". According to Nathan Drake, this was Francis Drake's motto, which means "Greatness From Small Beginnings."
- The date inscribed on the ring is the 29th of January 1596, the day after Francis Drake supposedly died. This is what made Nathan believe Francis Drake faked his death.
- Also inscribed on the ring are the coordinates of Francis Drake's empty coffin, found just off the coast of Panama, which contained his diary.
- On the replica of Sir Francis Drake's ring, it says the co-ordinates are "9-32-79."
- Nathan Drake also wears the ring throughout Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, but it has no significance to the plot of the story.
- A full-sized replica of Sir Francis Drake's ring was given to those who pre-ordered the Explorer or Collector's Edition of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, complete with the engravings present in the Uncharted series.
- Katherine Marlowe tried to offer Nathan Drake the ring back in exchange for him saving her life, saying that he, like Francis Drake did from Queen Elizabeth, could earn it, and questioned if he was worthy of using the surname "Drake."
- The ring influenced Nathan and Elena more than any of the other characters, causing strife between them in their marriage. Excluding Nathan himself, Elena also had a closer connection to it than any other character, examining it and questioning Nathan the most about it and even returning it to him when he believed he lost it.
- While the ring says "Sic Parvis Magna" and Drake says it means "Greatness From Small Beginnings", it translates to "So Great and Small."
- The ring appears as a collectible in The Last of Us Part II, once obtained, players will unlock a trophy titled "So Great and Small".