Lara Croft (Original Timeline)

Lara Amelia Croft (born 14th February, 1968) is the main protagonist of the first game, as well as its five sequels (; ; ; ; ), three sequels (; ; ) and three books (Amulet of Power; Lost Cult; Man of Bronze).
She is a beautiful, strong-willed archaeologist and explorer with an appetite for adventure and discovery.
She was voiced by in the first game, then by Judith Gibbins in Tomb Raider II-III, and by Jonell Elliott in the next three PlayStation games.
She reappears in .
==Biography==
===Early life===
Lara was born in , on in 1968, and raised at Croft Manor in a world of aristocracy. She had private tutoring from age 3, which ended when she was 11, at which point she attended the for girls until age 16. In 1984, at age 16, Lara went to stay with Winston and his wife for a while in their small house in Connussie, off the coast of , while repairs were being carried out in Croft Manor.
One evening, she overheard a talk between Father Bram Patrick Dunstan and Winston, and being intrigued, followed the Father to his boat. Sneaking aboard, she accompanied him undetected to the Black Isle, where strange things were happening and the demon Verdilet, who was imprisoned between running water (which he - being a demon - could not cross), was trying to escape.
Later that year, after finishing high school, Lara requested to accompany renowned archaeologist Werner Von Croy, whom she had previously met when he'd lectured at her school, on an expedition to , to search for the Iris. Her parents agreed, and it was her first of many expeditions around the globe. The daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft, Lara was brought up in the secure world of aristocracy. Wanting for nothing, she was surrounded by servants, social events, and high society.
Having attended Wimbledon High School from age 11, Lara's parents decided now that she was 16, she should broaden her education by studying for her s at one of 's most prominent boarding schools. An adventurous soul, Lara found the idea of being sent away from home an exciting prospect. By chance, one day, Lara came across a copy of on the hall table. The front cover featured a familiar name - Professor Werner Von Croy. A respected archaeologist, Von Croy had once lectured at Lara's school to pupils and parents alike. The experience had a profound effect on Lara, triggering a desire to travel to remote locations in search of adventure. In some ways, Von Croy had become an inspirational figure for Lara.
As Lara read further, she learned that Von Croy was currently preparing for an archaeological tour across , culminating in a potential new discovery to be made in Cambodia. Unable to contain herself, Lara burst into the room, thrust the article in front of her parents and without hesitation demanded without hesitation that she accompany Von Croy on his expedition. Lord Croft could hardly disagree that travel was an education in itself. As Lara argued the case further, he found himself walking over to the desk and penning a letter to Von Croy, introducing himself as an influential society figure and offering financial assistance in exchange for his daughter's place on the expedition.
Von Croy's reply assured Lord Croft that the territories were friendly and that he had ample experience to look after both his and Lara's well-being. Lara's company as an assistant would be welcome, as was the offer of such a generous . He remembered Lara from his lecture - her incessant yet insightful questions had made quite an impression upon him. And so it was agreed by all that Lara would accompany Von Croy for the duration of the tour. Unfortunately, during the expedition, Von Croy got trapped in the tomb upon their discovery of the artifact known as the Iris, with Lara unable to save him. After her expedition, she resumed her studies, attending Boarding School, in . Here, she discovered her love for climbing, , , and .
After finishing school in 1989 at the age of 21, Lara's marriage into wealth seemed assured, but on her way home from a skiing trip, her chartered plane had crashed deep in the heart of the . The only survivor, Lara learned how to depend on her wits to stay alive in hostile conditions a world away from her sheltered upbringing. Two weeks later, when she walked into the village of Tokakeriby, her experience had had a profound effect on her. Unable to stand the claustrophobic and suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society, she realized that she was only truly alive when she was travelling alone.
Over the eight following years, she acquired an intimate knowledge of ancient civilizations across the globe. Her family disowned their prodigal daughter, and she turned to writing to fund her trips. Famed for discovering several ancient sites of profound archaeological interest, she made a name for herself by publishing travel books and detailed journals of her exploits. From 1991 to 1996, Lara made many important archaeological and histological discoveries. Among others, she found the , which can be seen displayed in the hall of Croft Manor in 1996. She also had a run in with .
===Game Boy Color===
Lara has been contacted by her good friend Professor Igor Bowmane, who works in the Ancient Artefact department of . He has told her of an old manuscript which recounts the last few years of the reign of Moctezuma II, found by a captain under the leadership of . The manuscript tells the legend of the Nightmare Stone, one of the few religious icons the Spanish failed to plunder. It also tells of an evil ruler named Quaxet, who ruled the Aztec, Mayan, and Inca lands.
To stop the evil force, all three cultures joined together. Three High Priests battled and defeated Quaxet and entombed his spirit into a crystal orb. From that day, the crystal orb was named the Nightmare Stone. The stone was then sealed into a vast Obelisk forever. The Obelisk was then sealed inside a vast temple built by the Priests, to prevent anyone ever unleashing Quaxet again.
Professor Bowmane tells Lara that he has been in contact with his friend Illiat, a fellow curator in Peru, who warns him that there have been "interested parties" inquiring about the whereabouts of the manuscript. Illiat, unsure of their motives, told them nothing. Bowmane wants Lara to find the stone before anyone else. Lara immediately embarks for Peru to meet Illiat at the temple entrance, where the stone was kept. On arrival at the camp beside the temple, Lara finds nobody waiting for her; the only thing she does find is the remnants of a struggle, and Illiat's broken glasses. Lara follows the trail of debris to the Temple entrance. Being the inquisitive explorer she goes inside to investigate
===Curse of the Sword===
Lara visits her friend Jane in the in . She is shown the recently recovered Paveaux Sword that was found near the coast of on a shipwreck. They are suddenly attacked by thieves who steal the sword. Lara offers to get the sword back, but first she has to find her guns in the museum. Lara uses the fire exit to get to the rooftops, and chases the thieves to a helicopter. Lara fights Bokor and gets slashed by the Paveaux Sword when she leapt to grab it.
Upon returning to the museum with sad news, Jane was worried of the rumored curse that followed the sword. Anyone who gets slashed with the sword are marked to become the vessel for Paveaux. Jane asked Lara to visit Pino Lamor in the disused part of the subway beneath the old Bergen Street line. Pino is an old shaman who dedicated his life to the defeat of the Bokor, but now being too old was in hiding.
Lara searched the tunnels quite a bit before finding Pino. Pino had already heard from Jane that Lara is looking for him. Pino explains the powers of the sword and what the cut exactly means. He then directed Lara towards a warehouse on the harbor. They hatch a plan to find out where exactly the Bokor are going, so they can retrieve the sword. Lara uses a minisub to plant a tracker to the Bokor ship.
Lara rendezvous with Jane at in . They wait until the ship has stopped in near Backlin Islands. Lara takes a private plane, but before she had a chance to land, the plane was shot down with a heatseeker missile. Lara jumped out and parachuted to the jungle. After a short trek, Lara found the Bokor base and fought the priest again. This time, Lara was victorious.
Lara returned to Museum of Antiquities two days later, bringing with her only a handle of the Paveaux Sword.
===Prophecy===
Lara attempts to retrieve three magical stones that are said to bring about the end of the world, as prophesised in the Tome of Ezekiel. Lara faces off against the evil cult, the Teg-Du-Bhorez, and their leader, the Great Grey One. This game takes her to , Cambodia, , and .
===Tomb Raider===
In 1996, Lara discovered the lost city of , in the mountain region, resulting the finding of one part of the Atlantean Scion. Looking for the two remaining parts, Lara travelled to , where she explored a giant ruined monastery called St. Francis' Folly and an amphitheater, as well as a palace devoted to , before obtaining the second Scion part. Visiting and the , Lara discovered the third and final part of the Scion. Following her adversary Jacqueline Natla, Lara finally managed to get to the lost continent , whose secrets she would finally uncover.
She discovered that Natla was the one of three legendary rulers of Atlantis and had been imprisoned for her crimes against the kingdom. After being released, she decided to succeed where she failed before and use the scion's power and the ancient pyramid to create new monstrous life forms. However, Lara stopped her by destroying the scion. After a final battle, she killed Natla and left the pyramid before it exploded.
===Tomb Raider II===
In 1997, Lara travelled to the in search of an artefact called the Dagger of Xian. Lara is accosted by a member of the Fiamma Nera, an Italian cult obsessed with the Dagger. Before killing himself via drinking poison, the cultist reveals that his master Marco Bartoli seeks the Dagger, and she tracks the Fiamma Nera to an abandoned opera house in . Stowing away aboard a seaplane leaving Venice with Bartoli on board, Lara overhears Bartoli discussing the Seraph, an object key to retrieving the key to the Dagger's chamber that was with his father Gianni when his luxury liner Maria Doria was bombed and sunk.
From the wreck, she claimed the Seraph, an artefact with the power to unlock a door in a Tibetan monastery. Another artefact she discovered, before finally finding the Dagger of Xian, is the Talion. She finally opened the door to the Temple of Xian, but the place was booby-trapped; by the time she got through, mafia boss Marco Bartoli had already used its power to become a huge Dragon. Lara shot the Dragon and, as it lay stunned, she pulled the Dagger out of its, belly causing the Dragon to disintegrate to a skeleton. She then escaped before the temple exploded.
===Tomb Raider III===
In 1998, Lara travels to India to claim an artefact called the Infada Stone where she meets a -crazed madman named Tony who has stolen the artefact for himself. She ultimately kills Tony to obtain the first piece called the Infada stone and also awakens the great god Shiva within the Caves of Kaliya the original location containing the artifact. Lara then meets Dr. Mark Willard who tells her that the artifact she has obtained is one of four artifacts made from an ancient meteorite and requests for her to find the other three. Lara agrees.
She firstly travels to the where she battles a deformed native and obtains the Ora Dagger piece. She then travels to and enters , which holds a actual extra-terrestrial spacecraft and obtains the Element 115 piece. She finally travels to , where crazed cosmetics company owner Sophia Leigh is using the Eye of Isis piece for her own sinister objectives. Lara eventually kills Sophia and obtains the final piece. With all four artifacts in her possession, Lara goes to meet Dr. Willard in to hand them to him.
There, she discovers after seeing one of Willard's mutated employees that he plans to use all four pieces of the accursed meteorite to obtain great power in evolution. Lara fails to stop him from forging the meteorite with the pieces and watches as he undergoes a mutant transformation into a large extra-terrestrial arachnid. She reclaims the artefacts, kills Dr. Willard, and leaves Antarctica for good.
===Missing in Egypt===
Lara went on an expedition to and accidentally found the tomb of the ancient Egyptian god called Set, ruler of the underworld, that had been imprisoned for centuries. She goes over to the sarcophagus and retrieves an interesting artifact called the Amulet of Horus, not knowing that removing it could set that ancient evil god free. Later, Lara reads the inscription on the Amulet that warns that if it is removed, Set would be released to cause chaos in the world. She then finds out that she has her former mentor, Von Croy, on her trail who is also interested in the Amulet.
Lara goes in search of her friend Jean-Yves and tells him her story, he explains that Lara has now released an ancient evil into the world and our heroine decides to set things right. She opens another tomb with the Amulet, but Von Croy steals the artifact which seals her in. After facing many dangers, Lara arrives outside and sneaks aboard Von Croy's train that is going to the location of Alexandria.
In , she meets Jean-Yves again who explains that finding the ancient armor could prevent the evil from spreading. Lara sets off and when she returns, she finds Jean's study ransacked and a note left by Von Croy demanding the armour for her friend's life. As they are driving with Jean as their hostage, the ancient evil of Set suddenly takes over Von Croy's body. Lara goes into the in and after dodging many traps finally finds where Jean is being held. Her friend warns her that Von Croy has now been possessed by Set and fears for her life. Lara assures him that everything will be alright.
Now under the influence of Set, Von Croy tries to bribe Lara and grant her ultimate power in return for the armor. However, Lara takes back the Amulet and locks Von Croy in the crypt, along with four . She finally finds the Temple of Horus and in a large water based cave, she precedes to place the pieces of the armor on the statue with the Amulet in place. After she has finished, the light of Horus comes down onto the statue and Horus begins to awaken. However, Set's destroy the statue and armor before the process is complete. Horus' light now enters Lara.
Set now stands where Horus should be. Set gloats about ruling over the world once more and wants Lara to kneel before him before he extinguishes her worthless life. Finding that she cannot kill him, Lara instead grabs the artifact and makes her way out of the cavern finally using the Amulet to seal Set in forever. Lara returns to the opening of the tomb on shaky legs with great chunks of rubble falling around her. Von Croy suddenly appears and tries to save her, but Lara is unsure whether he is still possessed by Set and ends up hanging for her life on a ledge. Suddenly huge chunks of rubble fall from the ceiling and Von Croy flees before he is buried.
He stares at the remains of the tomb and takes off his hat in a moment of silence sure that Lara is now dead. A giant statue of her with the inscription "Lara Croft, once and future adventurer. For her.", is placed in England and a memorial service is held in her honour.
===Return to the Living===
After the events in Egypt, Von Croy along with a team of excavators dig up the ruins of the tomb to find answers of what happened to Lara. Later, one of Von Croy's men tells him that he has found something, he takes him to an area where they are digging and they find Lara's backpack. Von Croy holds it in triumph and says that they have found her. It is not mentioned whether they found Lara alive or dead, but Angel of Darkness confirms Lara to be very much alive, concluding that she may have returned to her original stately home in England.
===Death of a Mentor===
When asked to come to by Von Croy, Lara set out to find what he wanted, slightly resentful that Werner left her for dead back in Egypt. When speaking to Von Croy, the two argued. During the argument, Lara lost consciousness, only to awaken over Von Croy's dead body. Uncertain what happened, Lara fled the scene to escape the police - who would immediately suspect her - to uncover the mystery behind the occurrence herself. This whole episode placed Lara in a new situation, one she has never been in before, being suspected of murder and being on the run, trying to clear her name at the same time.
==Appearance==
Lara is a beautiful Caucasian woman with auburn hair, brown eyes, and an ; her are an unrealistic /24/35. She weighs between 110 lbs (50 kg) and 132 lbs (59.9 kg), and is 5' 9" (1.75 m) in height. Lara almost always wears her hair in a or , though she always styles her differently. Lara's default attire usually consists of an aqua , brown , a small , and s.
==Chronology==
Year 	Game 	Event 	Lara's Age
Prehistory	Tomb Raider III 	Polynesians discover meteor and sculpt it into 4 artefacts	N/A
210 BC 	Tomb Raider II 	Dagger of Xian causes chaos in Ancient China 	N/A
1834 	Tomb Raider III 	A crew in Antarctica find and take the 4 artefacts 	N/A
1945 	Tomb Raider 	A nuclear test opens a crater, revealing a woman in ice 	N/A
1984 	Chronicles 	Chronicles Prologue 	16
1984 	Last Revelation 	Last Revelation Prologue 	16
1996 	Tomb Raider 	Tomb Raider 	28
1997 	Tomb Raider II 	Tomb Raider II 	29
1998 	Tomb Raider III 	Tomb Raider III 	30
1999 	Last Revelation 	Last Revelation 	31
2000-03 	Books 	Amulet of Power, Lost Cult, Man of Bronze 	32-35
2003 	Angel of Darkness	Angel of Darkness 	35
==Gallery==
Lara Croft.jpg
007E02A6-0E2D-484D-8B80-9BE468386C59.png
Lara Croft (Original).jpg
LaraCroftCoreDesign.png|Game renders of Lara.
==Trivia==
*According to her passport in the first game, her is AB-.
*Contrary to popular belief, Lara's parents are alive within this timeline.
*Lara is assumed to be a baptized Catholic, given her affiliation with Father Bram.
*Lara was partially based on Toby Gard's sister Frances, who was apparently an adventurous person.
*Although she has killed many men, the law only came after her when she was accused of killing Von Croy.
*In the first game, her long braid does not appear in gameplay, due to technical limitations regarding the game's physics.
*Lara's middle name is Amelia, which would become her mother's forename in ' subsequent timelines. This is Lara's only version to have a middle name.
*Her passport displays her middle name (Amelia), making this the only timeline where her middle name is known. From the Legend timeline onward, this is her mother's forename.
*In the first game, if Lara stands on ' hand statue and dies when she turns to gold, the version makes Lara shiny and reflective, whereas the and PC versions just make Lara light brown.
*Lara's is black in the first game, but red in the two sequels, as passports in the were black in 1988-1996. In 1997, just before Tomb Raider II, Lara got her passport renewed by the .
*Her large bust was an "accident"; when was making her character model, he "accidentally" made her bust 150% the size of what he intended; when Gard was going to fix it, his colleagues told him that they liked the large size.
*In the Japanese versions of the first two games, her name was slightly changed to Leila Croft (レイラクロフト Reira Kurofuto), possibly due to it being hard for some Japanese players to pronounce her first name. This was reverted in the rest of the series starting from Tomb Raider III.
*All the games except Chronicles take place in order of release (I, II, III, Last Revelation, Angel of Darkness), while Chronicles actually takes place throughout the other five games. However, Last Revelation does have a prologue starring a 16-year-old Lara, taking place shortly after the Chronicles prologue.
*Lara's classic attire of a vest, shorts, and combat boots may have been inspired by Ellie Sattler's outfit from . The outfit has become a recurring garb of female explorers within the genre, similar to how more classic movie heroes would wear a fedora and leather jacket, which is notably worn by David Jones in China, Fred C. Dobbs in , Harry Steele in , and Indiana Jones in .
*The first game would initially give players the choice of the protagonist's gender, but after making the female one, the male Lara was scrapped after the developers realised that two optional protagonists would double the amount of work required for cutscenes and voice acting.
**It was also due to the similarity with Indiana Jones, as the game was initially set to star a character reminiscent of a moustachioed Indy, right down to attire.
**During development, when the male character was scrapped, the original female redesign led to a South American mercenary named Laura Cruz, inspired by Swedish singer , and comic book heroine . later decided to rename her Lara and make her a hometown hero, changing Lara's origin to . Going through the phone book to find a name that sounded similar to the name they had, they found the name Croft and renamed their character, giving her an upper-class upbringing.
**Lara was also initially going to be more militaristic and cold-blooded.
*In the first five games (I, II, III, Last Revelation, Chronicles), her two pistols are modelled after the , yet the inventory model in Last Revelation and Chronicles displays the .
**Instead of using dual pistols in Angel of Darkness, Lara uses a , , , , and .
*Lara Croft has been massively popular since her debut in 1996.
**When the PS1 needed a mascot, Lara was considered, before being passed on for being too sexual.
**She is seen by many to be the number one heroine in gaming history, surpassing the likes of Samus Aran.
**Lara and the Tomb Raider series currently have six official , including "Best Selling Video Game Heroine".
**Before the area was renovated, Lara had a star on the in , along with Mario, Link, Sonic, Master Chief, , , and .
**Lara's popularity lead to her being adapted to other forms of media as well as being used in advertising for products such as , seat cars, Visa, and even a line of chocolate bars. She was portrayed by in a Visa ad.
**In 2009, a ring road in was named "Lara Croft Way" after the local council opened a vote to the public to decide the road's name. Lara Croft Way won the public vote with a landslide 89% of overall votes numbering over 27,000.
**Lara has garnered status as a of gaming, leading to her being portrayed by various models for photo-shoots. However, this has lead to some backlash from feminist groups who took issue with Lara's sex appeal being used for marketing purposes, as well as by parental groups who objected to sexual content in video games. Moreover, a model was fired from playing Lara after posing nude for .
==Licensing==
This article contains content derived from the "Lara Croft (Original Timeline)" article on the Tomb Raider Wiki, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
==External Links==
*Tomb Raider Classic Timeline - The Complete Story
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