November 15, 2013 by

Disclaimer: This is strictly my analysis of what I have discovered in the teaser trailer. Weigh in on the findings if you'd like.

First off, I don't see why Naughty Dog would rid Nathan Drake of his role in the Uncharted Series. To me, that would be silly. However, I picked apart the recently release Uncharted teaser trailer and these are now my theories.

Edit: 11/14 at 10:39PM corrected Cipher mentioning.


The series will possibly revolve around the SE to East side of Africa roughly 17th - 18th century. It shows in the teaser trailer the Cape of Good Hope (aka Cape of Storms), located on the southern tip of Africa, is home to the phantom "Flying Dutchman". The "Flying Dutchman" is ship that disappeared/wrecked mysteriously and is now known to be seen around the Cape glowing with an eerily faint light. This would very well fit with the supernatural portions that the previous Uncharted's have been known to deem.

Eventually the teaser trailer moves north on the eastern coast of Africa revealing "I have lost everything" indicating... somebody lost everything with the drawing of a ship to follow (possibly a hint towards the "Flying Dutchman"). It then reveals a cryptograph which I will touch on later. The camera pans to the east eventually focusing on the southern tip of Madagascar (The Seychelles area) revealing "Every betrayed us all". Although this sounds like a case of bad grammar it very well may point towards Henry Every. Henry was known as the "anti-pirate" and/or "the ultimate pirate". He was extremely notorious for being good at what he did for his very short 2 year piracy career. In 1659 Henry Every, his crew aboard the Fancy, set sail up to the Bab el Mandeb (North Eastern canal in Africa) with fellow pirate captains Thomas Tew (Amity), Joseph Faro (Portsmouth Adventure), Richard Want (Dolphin), William Mayes (Pearl), and Thomas Wake (Susanna). Rumor was that a large fleet, Grand Mughal, had an extreme amount of riches aboard their ship which would be considered the largest treasure, possibly, in the world! Once arrived Every and other captains fought until their very last breath, losing many crew members in the process. They came away with the loot and looked to divide it among every crew. It has been noted that Every used his persuasive skills to ease his way into being the caretaker of all the loot. Afterwards, he boarded all the loot and set sail stealing all that was won. Every and his crew eventually landed at the fabled "Libertatia (Libertalia)" (I will touch on this later as well.) losing half of his crew to the utopian qualities of the establishment. Every sailed off with the crew with a target on his head for those he betrayed. They all eventually retired from piracy and were never heard from again. Some legends speak of Every dying in poverty from being rooked in a deal with some bristol merchants and the other says that he retired and died peacefully several years later.

The camera pans north along the east coast of Madagascar following a blood trail. You eventually read "Abandon your hopes" followed by a drawing of a sunken ship. I still have not figured this one out. It could possibly reference a revenge plot. The camera pans out drawing a circle around an island. That island is known as "Island of Saint-Marie" and currently known as Nosy Baraha. This island is the hostess for the fabled pirate establishment of Libertatia.Libertatia consisted of both the "Island of Saint-Marie" as well as Antongil Bay (which served as a refuge from storms for pirates). It was known as the "Pirate Utopia". It was visited by many of the famed pirates such as William Kidd, Robert Culliford, Olivier Levasseur, Henry Every, Abraham Samuel, and Thomas Tew.

Once the camera continues to pan out, the circle is marked with an 'X' and the phrase "For God and Liberty" is revealed. "For God and Liberty" is the official motto for Libertatia further signifying that it will play some part in the story. Again, the camera continues to pan out to a skull and cross bones with the latin phrase "HODIE MECVM ERIS IN PARADISO". It roughly translates to "This day, you shall be with me in paradise." (Please correct me if I'm wrong)

HODIE - today, nowadays, at the present time

MECVM - I, me; myself

ERIS - owner, master

PARADISO - paradise, garden of eden

Before the camera cuts out four marks are made on the skull's forehead. Three vertical marks and one horizontal through the middle. Again, please weigh in if you have a theory as to why this is.

Now, back to the cryptograph during the middle of the teaser (fully revealed at :24 of the video)! From all that I could tell it could be a hint to Olivier Levasseur who coded the location to a hidden treasure on 17 lines which was contained in his necklace. He stood on the scaffolding before being hung for piracy yelling "Find my treasure, the one who may understand it!" and throwing the necklace off into the crowd below. Regardless, user zapFinch42 used a Pigpen Cipher (grid x grid x) to decode the cryptograph. It read Memento Mori, which is a famous philosophical latin phrase. When translated it reads "remember, you will die...".


With all my elaborate blabbering aside, my conclusion is that Nathan Drake is on his way to find the lost treasure of the Grand Mughal. There very well may be some supernatural revenge elements tied into it with the "Flying Dutchman" and/or the pirates who were left behind from Every's raid of the Grand Mughal fleet. The narrated words "Some chains can never be broken. I lost 15 years. Buried alive. Erased. You left me rotting in that hell hole and never looked back. But you can’t outrun the past, and when it catches up, when all your lies collapse around you, I’ll be there sifting through the wreckage. You owe me." can be heard in tandem with the trailer. Unfortunately, with the latest finding of the cryptograph, I do believe that an important character in the Uncharted series will die. I'm not exactly sure, but I guess we'll find out.

Needless to say this was a fantastic tease trailer to Uncharted fans! The eerie revenge plot narrative with the voice of Todd Stashwick definitely adds to the excitement.

Thanks for either skipping to the end or actually reading what I had to say. Please leave your thoughts, questions, and/or corrections in the comments below. I would love to hear your weigh ins.

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