Naughty Dog is a fascinating game company that has taken many different directions over the years. Initially focusing on more cartoonish franchises like Crash Bandicoot or Jak and Daxter, Naughty Dog has in more recent times, shifted focus to include some amazing properties with a much more serious tone and realistic tone both visually and narrative-wise.

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With these more serious and critically acclaimed recent additions have come some truly incredible video game characters. Female representation in video gaming has improved a lot over the last decade, and many would count Naughty Dog characters at the very top of the list of reasons these improvements have continued to find such success.

9 Katherine Marlowe

Ruthless Hermetic Order Leader

Naughty Dog Game Appearances

• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

A fascinating character from the Uncharted games, Katherine Marlowe was the reason that Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan even met, having hired Sully to help her find the ring of Francis Drake. When a young Nathan Drake stole it from them both, Sully joined Drake and took him under his wing.

Marlowe served as the antagonist of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. The leader of an ancient Hermetic Order, Marlowe proved to be a completely ruthless villain, torturing Drake after capturing him by speaking about his mother’s suicide and commanding his death on multiple occasions. Marlowe’s ambition would be her downfall, and this fascinating villain sank to death in quicksand, after failing to grab the bandoleer that Drake threw to try and save her.

8 Keira

Genius Mechanic & Inventor

Naughty Dog Game Appearances

• Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
• Jak 2
• Jak 3
• Jak X: Combat Racing
• Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier

Another love interest and great side character, Keira, was the love interest of Jak in multiple games of the Jak and Daxter series, which has been largely and unfairly forgotten about today. Originally presented as an inventor who created gadgets that helped Jak and Daxter traverse new areas, she moved on to a variety of other roles in later games.

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When the main characters were transported to the future in Jak 2, Keira became a race mechanic. In The Lost Frontier, she started training to become an Eco Sage, since the world was running out of Eco. Her selflessness and ingenuity have always been shown in the games, despite her not often receiving the level of attention she deserves.

7 Nadine Ross

Paramilitary Leader & Treasure Hunter

Naughty Dog Game Appearances

• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

One of the stranger characters introduced in the Uncharted series, Nadine Ross is a great character who has complicated morals. She was a treasure hunter and the leader of the Shoreline paramilitary group, which she took over from her father. Nadine is a dangerous individual with quite a reputation, which has been damaged when she first appears.

Nadine takes on the role of an antagonist in Uncharted 4 but is later one of the protagonists of The Lost Legacy's grand-scale adventure alongside Chloe Frazer. This fascinating change in roles showcased a complicated character, one capable of beating Nathan Drake in a fight with ease, who deserves to be highlighted in more future appearances.

6 Tess

Courageous Underground Rebel

Naughty Dog Game Appearances

• Jak 2
• Jak 3

First appearing in Jak II, Tess is another great underrated character from this fantastic Naughty Dog property. Originally a valued member of the Underground Rebels in Haven City, she met Jak and Daxter when they were brought to the future. She was working as a bartender to stay undercover and spy on Krew, the crime boss.

Later, Tess took on a variety of different roles, becoming the main love interest for Daxter despite him being an ottsel and her a human. This was later dealt with by having Tess also become an ottsel at the conclusion of Jak 3, which was her last significant appearance in the franchise.

5 Elena Fisher

Fearless Journalist & Investigator

Naughty Dog Game Appearances

• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Nathan Drake’s primary love interest in the Uncharted series, Elena Fisher, was a journalist and TV personality in America. She joined him for an adventure that she could use as a report in the first Uncharted game and has since become a staple of the games, as well as having fallen in love with Drake, and at times suffered for it.

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Originally, the two married after the conclusion of the second Uncharted game. But Nathan fled the marriage and the two were separated until Drake went back to her, begging forgiveness, and allowed them to settle down more happily at last. Elena always stood up to Drake, called him out, and was shown capable enough to stick with him through his adventures, proving herself an amazing character.

4 Coco Bandicoot

The Smartest Of The Bandicoot Family

Naughty Dog Game Appearances:

• Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
• Crash Bandicoot: Warped
• Crash Team Racing

The characters of the Crash Bandicoot franchise aren’t often given a lot of focus. The gameplay and quirkiness of the world have always been bigger factors in the games than character work. But Coco Bandicoot is an exception, a female character who can actually speak, unlike Crash Bandicoot himself, and serves as one of the main voices of later games in the franchise.

Having been introduced as Crash’s younger sister in Crash Bandicoot 2, Coco was immediately shown to be great with technology, helping Crash figure out Cortex’s plan in that game. She became playable in Crash Bandicoot: Warped, helping Crash gather crystals scattered throughout history. Always a fascinating character and almost as well-known as Crash himself, Coco has gone from a side character to incredibly significant to this beloved series.

3 Abby Anderson

Controversial Revenge Seeker

Naughty Dog Game Appearances:

• The Last Of Us Part 2

Possibly the most controversial character in video game history, Abby Anderson was introduced as a vicious young woman out for revenge on Joel Miller, who had previously killed her father. Many fans of The Last of Us hate Abby for killing Joel, but the truth is that she was just a young lost woman who loved her father and couldn’t see her way to a life without him until she’d had vengeance.

Abby is one of the main playable characters in The Last of Us Part 2, something which enraged many fans. Despite the controversy, her story is fascinating, as players will see her side of the story that paints her as the villain, and makes matters complicated for Ellie's revenge story as she travels to Seattle to find and kill Abby. This cycle of vengeance is explored deeply, and The Last of Us games, always incredible at telling brutal but honest stories, make this character the focus of an incredibly thought-provoking tale.

2 Chloe Frazer

Nathan Drake's Likely Replacement

Naughty Dog Game Appearances:

• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Definitely the most intriguing female character in the Uncharted games, Chloe Frazer is a treasure hunter and thief but is usually depicted as a heroic character in the games, and in the film adaption in which she plays a major role. Having debuted in the second game as a love interest for Drake and a double agent helping him against Lazarevic, she realizes that Nathan is in love with Elena and walks away to pursue her own journey.

Despite this, she remains an associate of Drake and helps him in Uncharted 3, before teaming with Nadine Ross in The Lost Legacy and becoming the main playable character within that story. Chloe has always been a fan-favorite character in the series, and it is no surprise she’s the only character to effectively get their own game besides Drake himself.

1 Ellie Williams

A Woman On An Odyssey To Endure & Survive

Naughty Dog Game Appearances:

• The Last Of Us
• The Last Of Us Part 2

Of all the female characters created by Naughty Dog, or any game company, few have ever been explored quite so deeply and personally as Ellie Williams. Moving from an innocent child to a veteran warrior of a harsh world, Ellie explores every human emotion and can easily be considered one of the greatest video game characters of all time.

In her two major game appearances, as well as in the TV adaption that followed, Ellie is portrayed as someone who moves from a positive, if cautious, young woman into a more seasoned, gritty survivalist. The world she is in shapes her, and it is a brutal world. She throws all caution to the wind in her attempt to seek vengeance for Joel’s death, leading her down an incredibly dark path, one which remains one of the best character studies in all gaming, despite also being an incredibly sad one.

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