Difference between revisions of "Lara Croft"

Revision as of 10:57, 20 February 2009

This article is about the fictional character, not the computer game character, movie heroine or cultural phenomenum.

Vital statistics

Name: Lara Croft
Current Title: Countess of Abbingdon
Previous Title: Duchess of Saint Bridget
Nationality: British
Original Date of Birth: February 14th 1968
Place of Birth: Wimbledon, London (original version) / Surrey's Parkside hospital (revised version)
Current Residence: Croft Manor, Surrey, England
Marital Status: Single (once engaged to the, now deceased, Earl of Farringdon)
Current Family (deceased): Richard Croft, 10th Earl of Abbingdon (father); Amelia Croft, Countess of Abbingdon (mother). A grandfather, Richard (Underworld) and an aunt - who owns Corgis - have been mentioned in the past, as well as possibly a niece, Melissa (TRLE).
Blood Type: AB-
Height: 5ft 9inch / 1.75 m
Weight: 9st. 4lb / 59 kilo
Vital Stats: 34D-24-35 / 86-60-89
Dress Size: 8
Hair Colour: Brunette/Auburn
Eye Colour: Brown
Favourite Weapon: 9-mm Twin Colt 45s
Favourite Movies: Deliverance, Aguirre, Wrath of God
Favourite Music: classical, U2, Nine Inch Nails
Favourite Food: Beans on toast
Favourite Transport: Norton Streetfighter Motorbike
Distinguishing Features: Dual 9 mm pistols/ .357 Desert Eagles/ .45 Heckler & Koch USPs (Match Variant)
Sports: Freeclimbing, Shooting, Riding, Canoeing
Education:
Private Tutoring (Age 3-11)
Wimbledon High School for Girls (Age 11-16)
Gordonstoun Boarding School (Age 16-18)
Swiss Finishing School (Age 18-21)

Discoveries

Games, with a possible chronology

• Bestiary (1984 'in game'), (Tomb Raider: Chronicles; in Black Isle - Ireland, after the discovered the Iris in Cambodia)
• Ark of the Covenant (1993), (before the events of Tomb Raider I).
• Bigfoot (1995), (before the events of Tomb Raider I)
• Philosopher's Stone (1995), (Tomb Raider Chronicles; in Rome - Italy)
• Atlantean Scion (1996), (Tomb Raider I; in Peru, Greece and Egypt)
• Dagger of Xian (1997), (Tomb Raider II; in The Great Wall - China)
• The Golden Mask of Tornarsuk (1997), (Tomb Raider II: The Golden Mask; in Alaska)
• The Iris (1984, 1997), (Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation/Tomb Raider Chronicles; first discovered in Cambodia in 1984, recovered from Von Croy's V.C.I. Headquarters around 1997)
• The Meteorite Idols (Infada Stone, Element 115, Ora Dagger, Eye of Isis and Hand of Rathmore) (1998), (Tomb Raider III; in India, Area 51, South Pacific Islands, London and France respectively)
• The Spear Of Destiny (1998), (Tomb Raider: Chronicles; in Russia)
• The Armour of Horus and Amulet of Horus (1999), (Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation; in The Valley of the Kings - Egypt)
• The Obscura Paintings, Sanglyph and Periapt Shards (2003), (Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness; in Paris and Prague)
• Excalibur, Lancelot's Shield and Ghalali Key (2006), (Tomb Raider: Legend; in Japan, Ghana, Kazakhstan, England and Nepal)
• The King Arthur's tomb (2006), (Tomb Raider: Legend; in England).
• Thor's Hammer, Thor's Belt and Thor's Gauntlets (2008) (Tomb Raider: Underworld; in Mediterranean Sea, Croft Manor, Mexico and Valhalla)
• The Underworld (2008) (Avalon, Helheim, Xibalba) (2008), (Tomb Raider: Underworld; Arctic Sea)

The in-world chronology of the games is a matter of some debate.

Movies

• The All-Seeing Eye, (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider; in her home)
• Triangle of Light, (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider; in Cambodia and Iceland)
• Alexander, The Great's Orb (Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life; in Santorini, Greece)
• Pandora's Box, (Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life; in Africa)

Original biography from Tomb Raider

Lara on her motorbike

She is the daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft and was raised to be an aristocrat from birth. After attending finishing school at the age of 21, Lara's marriage into wealth has seem assured, but on her way home from a skiing trip her chartered plane had crashed deep in the heart of the Himalayas. The only survivor, Lara learned how to depend on her wits to stay alive in hostile conditions a world away from her sheltered upbringing. 2 weeks later, when she walked into the village of Tokakeriby her experience had had a profound effect on her. Unable to stand the claustrophobic suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society, she realised that she was only truly alive when she was travelling alone. Over the 8 following years she acquired an intimate knowledge of ancient civilisations 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.

Biography from The Last Revelation

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 for Girls from the age of 11 years, Lara's parents decided that now she was 16, she should broaden her education by studying for her A'levels at one of England'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 National Geographic 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 Asia, 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 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 the Henshingly Crofts 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 cheque. 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...

Crystal Dynamics Biography, from Tomb Raider Legend (official site)

Portrait of Lara's Parents

Lara Croft is the 11th Countess of Abbingdon. The Croft family was granted the title and rights to Abbingdon, Surrey by King Edward VI in 1547. Lara was born on February 14th, 1968 to Lady Amelia Croft, Countess of Abbingdon and to the notorious archaeologist Lord Richard Henshingly Croft, 10th Earl of Abbingdon.

Reputably an accredited genius and Olympic-standard gymnast, Lady Croft was the focus of wild speculation and intense debate in both the scientific and political communities in addition to the popular press. Lara's methods are frequently called into question by government officials and other practising archaeologists. She has been described variously as anything from cavalier to downright irresponsible. Some scholars suggest that her notorious lack of documentation and brute force methodology had contaminated countless sites and done more harm than good. There have even been allegations that Lara actually took items from these sites before informing the international community of their locations, and that she is "nothing more than a glorified treasure hunter".

At the age of nine, Lara survived a plane crash in the Himalayan mountains that resulted in the death of her mother. After miraculously surviving a ten-day solo trek from the crash site to Katmandu, she spent the rest of her childhood under the close tutage of her Archaeologist father - the late Earl of Abbingdon, Richard Croft.

At the age of eighteen, after the death of her father, Lara inherited the Croft estates and became Countess of Abbingdon. Since then she has been credited with the discovery of some sixteen archaeological sites of international significance.

She has been hailed both as an Archaeological Wunderkind and a glorified Treasure Hunter, depending on whom you listen to. There are thousands of rumours surrounding Lady Croft's exploits, invariably involving the unexplained or outright unbelievable. Lady Croft herself is, unfortunately, never available for comment, which further adds to the veil of mystery that surrounds her life and work.

Consequently, Lady Croft continues to be the focus of wild speculations and intense debate. Idealized and vilified in equal measure, she is perhaps one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures of our times.

Biography from Tomb Raider Anniversary

Lara Croft is an adventurer, world traveler, and archaeologist who seeks out tombs and relics, fuelled by an obsession to uncover the secrets of the great, ancient civilizations. She is a superb athlete, fluent in a dozen languages, and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Images of the Game Lara

Lara in Tomb Raider	Lara in Tomb Raider II	Lara in Tomb Raider III	Lara in The Last Revelation	Lara in Tomb Raider Chronicles
Teenage Lara in TR IV and TR V	Lara in The Angel of Darkness	Lara in Tomb Raider Legend	Lara in Anniversary	Lara in Tomb Raider Underworld

More Bios

Lara from the Comic
Lara from the Movie

Academic articles about Lara and Tomb Raider

• Mary Flanagan, "Mobile Identities, Digital Stars, and Post-Cinematic Selves", Wide Angle, Volume 21, Number 1, January 1999, pp. 77-93.[2]

• Anne-Marie Schleiner, "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games," Leonardo, Volume 34, Number 3, June 2001, pp. 221-226.[3]

• Sidney Eve Matrix, PhD dissertation,, "Cyberfigurations: Constructing cyberculture and virtual subjects in popular media," specifiically chapter 6, "Technoeroticism, Cyberfeminity, and Interactivity: The Lara Croft Phenomenon", University of Minnesota, 2003.[4]

• M. Mikula, "Gender and Videogames: the political valency of Lara Croft," Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2003.

• Kurt Lancaster, "Lara Croft: The Ultimate Young Adventure Girl or the unending media desire for models, sex, and fantasy," PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art (Volume 26, Number 3), September 2004, pp. 87-97.[5]

The "Classic Lara" character

Fan opinion: This section contains personal opinions from a Tomb Raider fan.
(This notice may only be removed by a Lead Editor.)

It is a matter of debate as to how much input Toby Gard had into Lara's original biography [6].

To quote a portion of the debate;

"Again, you're giving Gard too much credit. I'm not trying to dismiss or downplay his considerable contribution to the TR universe, but he was not responsible for every aspect of Lara or the first TR game. You focus on the notion that Lara's character has been "reinterpreted" by people other than Gard - the fact is that he never fully created her character in the first place. He designed her physical appearance and gave her the briefest of back stories - the fact that she was British and upper-class - and then other Core employees like Vicky Arnold and Susie Hamilton filled in her bio and character."

(Other view-points are given in the discussion thread at the official Eidos Tomb Raider forums [7].)

It is impossible to verify this fan speculation at the moment, but given the changes in the Lara biography that have occurred since Toby Gard has been involved once again in game development, it would be ironic if the original "masculine" version of Lara was designed by women, whilst the most recent "feminine" version of Lara was designed by men.

Miscellaneous images

Lara enjoys a cigar (Core Design, circa 1999)

Lara takes her top off (Core Design, circa 1999)

Lara models in the magazine The Face, July 1997[1]