I’m not usually one for the old rumours, however last night while playing Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection one came to mind. To be a little more specific I had just started Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves, and during the prologue and museum sequences, I think I may have caught a slight glimpse into what happened to Nate’s brother, Sam.

The first thing we have to ask ourselves is what exactly do we know for certain about Sam’s disappearance? The answer: not much. We know that the last time the Drake brothers saw each other was prior to the events of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and we know that Nate believed Sam was dead.

During the recent PSX trailer for Uncharted 4: A Thieves End we saw Nate and Sam being reunited, and the following was said:

Nate:   How? How, I’d thought you’d… I saw you get shot.

Sam:    Yes you did, right there [shows wounds].

Nate:   Jesus.

Sam:    The doctors they, “doctors,” they patched me up and they tossed me right back into the cell.

Nate:   But I, I made calls, I checked everywhere. Everything I heard, everything I found, it all confirmed you were dead

Sam:    Nathan we killed a guard, ok, so they wanted to see me rot in that cell for the rest of my life, and I nearly did.

Alright, I’ll come back to that dialogue, but first let’s take a look at Uncharted 2’s prologue. During the first flashback Nate is confronted by an old friend, Harry Flynn, who has a job offer. After telling Nate he has a client Harry says:

Harry:  Now you’re not going to like this [he places a pamphlet for The Istanbul Palace Museum on the table].

Nate:   Oh no, no you’re out of your mind.

Harry:  Just hear me out.

Nate:   Flynn, we both know two people who were killed trying to lift something out of this place.

Harry:  And one who made it out.

Nate:   Yeah barely.

Now I’ll move my crazy person theories into the museum itself. When Nate and Harry reach the first door that they need to unlock, Harry crouches down to pick the lock and Nate stops him by saying ‘wait! There’s an alarm. That’s new since last time.’

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the alarm scene proves Nate was in the previous museum heist, because he knew there wasn’t an alarm there before. The scene before that that proves that three people took part in that heist, but only Nate made it out and the other two were killed. The PSX trailer proves Sam got shot because they killed a guard, and Nate thought that Sam was dead. Then you also have to remember three other things from Uncharted 2: Nate was reluctant to kill the museum guards (perhaps because of what happened the last time), and Nate was imprisoned when he was caught (just like the PSX trailer confirms Sam was). Thirdly you have to remember Neil Druckmann was a writer on Uncharted 2, but not 3, and he’s back as a writer and Creative Director for Uncharted 4, so if there is a specific link between 4 and another of the games that link will probably be with Uncharted 2.

If you still haven’t put two and two together yet then allow me. Nate, Sam, and one other character went to lift an object out of the the Istanbul Palace Museum prior to the events of the first Uncharted game. During the heist, things went wrong and Sam and the unknown third character were shot. Nate assumes they’re dead, so he runs and manages to escape. Sam, however, is still alive and imprisoned. Fifteen years later he escapes, and the events of Uncharted 4 take place.

Rantings of a crazy man (who may or may not have being sipping away at the Cabin’s home brew), or does that actually make sense? Let us know what you think in the comments. If you want to check out any of the videos I mentioned they’re all down below. The PSX trailer is first, followed by the flashback of Harry and Nate (which starts around 4.34 in the video), and lastly the clip with the alarm (which is around 9.45 in the video).