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Lara Croft
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Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider video game series. Designed by Toby Gard, she has also been featured in movies (in which she was portrayed by Angelina Jolie), comic books, novels, and a series of animated short films. In 2006, Lara was honoured with a star on the Walk of Game, and was awarded a Guinness World Record recognising her as the "most successful human video game heroine." In 2008, she was named second on Gamefly's List of Hottest Chicks Ever.
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Encyclopedia
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider video game series. Designed by Toby Gard, she has also been featured in movies (in which she was portrayed by Angelina Jolie), comic books, novels, and a series of animated short films. In 2006, Lara was honoured with a star on the Walk of Game, and was awarded a Guinness World Record recognising her as the "most successful human video game heroine." In 2008, she was named second on Gamefly's List of Hottest Chicks Ever. In late 2008, MSN held a poll of who was the most Iconic video game character, in which Lara came 3rd but actually drew with Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Lara is generally presented as a beautiful, intelligent, athletic, and somewhat reckless English woman of noble birth who travels the world in pursuit of priceless artefacts. Known as both an archaeologist and an adventurer, she frequently ventures into ancient, and often very hazardous, tombs and ruins. In addition to traps and puzzles, Lara encounters a variety of enemies including rivals, gangsters, dangerous animals (including dinosaurs), legendary creatures, and supernatural beings. The fantastic nature of her archaeology related adventures have drawn comparisons to Indiana Jones.
Development
Initially, designer Toby Gard focused on creating the settings for Tomb Raider and the main character was essentially an Indiana Jones clone. When this character was deemed unacceptable, Gard placed his attention on designing a new one. One factor that influenced Gard to use a female character was that he noticed his male co-workers often preferred using female characters in Virtua Fighter, this idea to make the character a female was also kept as it was felt solving puzzles and exploration was more suited to a female character rather than a traditional male action hero. The redesigned character was initially a South American woman named Laura Cruz. She eventually evolved into an English woman named Lara Croft. Her surname was picked from a phone book for sounding "UK friendly", while the name "Lara" was chosen to appeal to American audiences. Toby Gard has stated that he created Lara to counter stereotypical female game characters, saying he felt they were mostly "bimbos" or "dominatrix" types at that time. Lara was originally going to be very militaristic and cold-blooded. In 2006, it was announced that Lara's large breast size and curves would be slightly reduced after Gard and fans felt that her appearance was being used too much to advertise the series and felt it was detrimental to the character's "tough as nails" persona.
Characteristics
Personality
Lara is consistently depicted as a highly confident, independent, and headstrong person. She is also very brave, rarely showing any sign of fear in very dangerous or lethal situations. In Legend, she is also shown to have a love for dizzying heights and dangerous ancient traps, much to the dismay of Zip and Alister. In Anniversary (a remake of the first game), what is implied to be her first human kill is portrayed, and she is visibly disturbed by the incident throughout the rest of the game. In Tomb Raider: Legend, human beings are the most common enemies Lara encounters, and it is necessary to fight many of them to progress. Lara's current voice actor described the character as "strong and powerful" but as having an "edge" to her.
Physical Appearance
Lara Croft is depicted as a young, athletic woman of white British descent. She has brown eyes and long brown hair that is often in a plait and sometimes in a ponytail. The timeline given in the Angel of Darkness companion book lists Lara's birthday as February 14, 1968. However, Eric Lindstrom stated in a BBC interview that Lara is "6 months younger than James Bond", she "transcends time [and] space", and "has her own world".
Lara's classic costume consists of a blue/green sleeveless shirt, light brown shorts, calf-high boots, long white socks, fingerless gloves, a small backpack, and a utility belt with two holsters. This outfit (or a close variation) has appeared in nearly every Tomb Raider game to date. Lara may also wear different outfits through the course of the games, such as a wet suit for a watery environment or trousers and a jacket for a colder area. In Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, Lara wears a black sleeveless shirt and camouflage cargo pants or shorts. In Tomb Raider: Legend, her original shirt is replaced with a light-brown short sleeved shirt (though the original is still unlockable and appears in a flashback). Her costume is shown to have changed again in Tomb Raider: Underworld, as she now wears a brown and black halter top with green and black shorts.
Weapons and equipment
Lara's typical armament consists of matching handguns. Lara's most recent equipment in terms of handguns seem to be the Heckler and Koch .45 USP Match. In every game, her handguns have unlimited ammunition (the only exception being The Angel of Darkness) but starting with Tomb Raider: Legend, they must be reloaded when the magazines empty. Lara has handled many other weapons throughout the series as well, such as shotguns, uzis and often more powerful pistols, such as magnums. Lara has also used explosives. In earlier games Lara had an unlockable grenade launcher, while in Tomb Raider: Legend she simply throws grenades. In Tomb Raider: Underworld her grenades are replaced with sticky bombs. Additional equipment she has used includes several types of grapple hooks, a shoulder mounted utility light, a digital video camera, and a PDA, which has sonar mapping technology in Underworld.
Appearances
Video games
1996-1999
Lara Croft first appeared in the 1996 video game Tomb Raider, in which she was voiced by Shelley Blond. The game manual introduces Lara as the daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft. At the age of 21, Lara was the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Himalayas. The incident inspired her to travel around the world alone, in search of ancient civilisations and artefacts. This led to her being disowned by her parents and she became a writer to fund her trips, although this back story has never been mentioned in games. The game itself follows Lara's search for an artefact known as the Atlantean Scion, and her encounter Jacqueline Natla, an ancient ruler of Atlantis whose use of the Scion would put the world in danger.
Following the success of Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II was released in 1997 and featured Judith Gibbins as the voice of Lara. Tomb Raider II centres around Lara's search for the Dagger of Xian, an artefact loosely based on Chinese mythology. During her search, Lara is faced with a cult who are obsessed with using the artefact's power to their own ends. Lara's in-game model was updated as Lara now had a visible ponytail.
Judith Gibbins reprised the role of Lara in 1998's Tomb Raider III. In Tomb Raider III Lara searches for fragments of a meteorite which struck the earth millions of years ago. The fragments offer their possessor strange powers, and became artefacts associated with various cultures' myths.
In 1998 and 1999, three expansion packs were released that expanded the gameplay of Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II, and Tomb Raider III. The first, entitled Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business (Tomb Raider Gold in North America), continued the story of Tomb Raider, showing Lara escaping the Great Pyramid and then returning to Egypt. Tomb Raider II: The Golden Mask featured Lara searching for an artefact with the power to resurrect its wearer. The third expansion pack, The Lost Artefact continues the story of Tomb Raider III, as Lara learns of and searches for a fifth meteor artefact called the Hand of Rathmore.
1999-2003
.]]Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, released in 1999, featured Jonell Elliott, who would also voice Lara Croft in Chronicles and Angel of Darkness. The Last Revelation expanded Lara's backstory by showing how, at the age of 16, she accompanied a famous archaeologist named Werner Von Croy on an expedition to Cambodia. The events there created a rift between them, but also fostered Lara's interest in ancient civilisations and artefacts. The game's present day events take place in Egypt, where Lara searches for artefacts associated with the god Horus so that she can defeat Set, who has possessed Von Croy. Though Lara accomplishes her goals, she appears to fall to her death in the game's surprise ending.
Lara also appeared in an extra level made for Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, known as the "Times Exclusive Level". The level opens with Lara being hired by The Times newspaper to explore some new passages found under Tutankhamun's tomb. Lara eventually finds the passages lead to an altar where a Tutankhamun Golden Mask rests.
In Tomb Raider Chronicles, released in 2000, Lara is presumed to be dead throughout the course of the game. Because of this, most of the game focuses on Lara's previously untold adventures prior to The Last Revelation. These adventures are presented as flashbacks, introduced by some of Lara's close friends and mentors. The chapters feature Lara finding the Philosopher's Stone in Rome, the Spear of Destiny in a Russian submarine, helping in an exorcism as a teenager, and breaking into a company building to steal an artefact known as the Iris. In the game's present, Von Croy is shown to be searching for Lara in Egypt but her fate is left unresolved.
In the 2003 game, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, Lara appears alive and well but the segment explaining her survival was cut from the final game. A novelisation of the events in between The Last Revelation and Angel of Darkness was also published by author Mike Resnik called Tomb Raider The Amulet of Power. In which Lara is rescued beneath the ruins of the collapsed pyramid.
The plot revolves around the Nephilim and an artefact created for them. Lara is drawn into the search for this artefact when she is wrongfully accused of murdering Von Croy. Angel of Darkness also introduced Kurtis Trent, the first playable character besides Lara in the series.
2006-present
.]]Tomb Raider: Legend, released in 2006, featured Keeley Hawes as the voice of Lara Croft. Legend, like previous games in the series, does not use the backstory provided in the orginal game's instruction manual and even contradicts it.
Several flashback sequences in Legend depict a 9-year-old Lara (voiced by Charlotte Asprey) surviving the plane crash in Nepal with her mother, Amelia Croft. Amelia disappears after pulling a sword from a stone dais. Lara then somehow managed to survive a ten day journey to Kathmandu where she was able to contact her father, Richard Croft. Lara spent the remainder of her childhood under the care of her father, an archaeologist. At the age of 18, when her father died under unknown circumstances, Lara inherited the Croft estates along with the title "Countess of Abbingdon."
In Legends present, Lara is searching for a dais similar to the one she and her mother found. Throughout the course of the game Lara finds fragments of an artefact associated with Excalibur of Arthurian legend. However she is faced by James Rutland and Amanda Evert, an old friend Lara's who was believed to be dead. She is successful in finding the entire artefact before them and opens the portal at dais. She learns that her mother may still be alive "in Avalon", and the game ends as Lara sets off to find answers about this.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary, released in 2007, is a remake of the first game in the series with Keeley Hawes reprising the role of Lara. Anniversary makes numerous changes to the original story, making it consistent with Lara's backstory as seen in Legend. An early scene in Anniversary implies that Lara had searched for the Atlantean Scion with her father, Richard, who believed the artefact held answers about Amelia's disappearance. Lara is forced to destroy the Scion before learning if her father was right.
Lara appeared in the 2008 game Tomb Raider: Underworld. Olympic gymnast and stunt woman, Heidi Moneymaker, provided Lara's movements through motion capture, and Keeley Hawes returned to voice Lara. In Underworld, Lara is searching for Thor's hammer, Mjöllnir, and the truth about her mother's disappearance. She first becomes aware of the hammer when she encounters Jacqueline Natla, an old nemesis long thought to be dead. Natla states that Lara's mother is in Helheim and Thor's hammer is needed to enter. Lara travels the world and acquires Thor's gauntlets, belt, and hammer. In Helhiem, beneath the Arctic Sea, Lara finds her mother, Amelia, has been killed but her body remains animate through the substance eitr. Natla arrives and explains that she was aware of Amelia's state, and used this knowledge to manipulate Lara's father into working for her, but killed him when he refused to cooperate. The game ends with Lara defeating Natla who has been trying to bring about "the Seventh Age" by using an ancient device in Helheim to disrupt the tectonic plates. After destroying the device, Lara escapes with the help of Amanda Evert. Underworld ends in Nepal, where Legend began, with Lara saying a final goodbye to her mother.
Handheld games
In 2000, Lara made her first appearance on a handheld game console in a Game Boy Colour game simply entitled Tomb Raider. Though it shares its title with the original Tomb Raider, the story is unrelated and follows Lara's search for an artefact known as the Nightmare Stone. This would be the first of three Game Boy exclusive Tomb Raider games.
In 2001, Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword was released, exclusively for the Game Boy Colour. The story sees Lara facing off against a cult who plan to use her body to revive an evil witch.
In 2002 the third and last Game Boy exclusive Tomb Raider game was released, named Tomb Raider: The Prophecy. In this game Lara learns of an ancient prophecy which tells of three magical stones which, when found, will unleash "The Great Grey One", who will end the world. Lara fights to prevent this from happening, as the game's antagonist, Teg-du-Bhorez, searches for the stones. Lara defeats The Great Grey One in the final boss fight.
Lara has also appeared in Handheld versions of Legend, Anniversary and Underworld. Her role in these games is the same as their Home Console counterparts.
Other media
Lara Croft's first major appearance outside of video games occurred in 1999 with the launch of a Tomb Raider comic book series by Top Cow Productions. Lara's backstory varied from the then current Core Design games in that both of Lara's parents and her fiancé (a character unique to the comics) died in the Himalayan plane crash. Throughout the series, Lara encounters various characters from other Top Cow comics, most frequently Sara Pezzini of Witchblade.
In 2001, Lara was brought to life by actress Angelina Jolie for the film Tomb Raider. In a flashback sequence, young Lara is portrayed by Rachel Appleton. The film follows Lara's race against time and Manfred Powell, the main antagonist, as well as his mercenaries to find the Triangle of Light. This artefact is said to give its owner the power of God. Lara finds the first piece of the Triangle in Angkor Wat. Lara then travels to Siberia to aid the Illuminati in finding the second piece, only to destroy it before they can use it. The film also depicts Lara's father, Richard, who was killed by Manfred Powell.
For the film, Jolie had to learn her own stunts as no stunt double was used for Lara during the film. Jolie has been praised for her portrayal of Lara Croft, with Maxim stating "Jolie makes a sensational action woman".
After the success of the first film, Jolie reprised the role of Lara Croft in 2003, in Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. The film sees Lara being hired by MI6 to find Pandora's Box is the large jar carried by Pandora that contained evils to be unleashed on mankind ? ills, toils and sickness ? and finally hope....
before it falls into the hands of the main antagonist. To help her, Lara releases a friend named Terry Sheridan, who was imprisoned in Kazakhstan. The two travel across the world, most notably China and Africa to find the box before the main antagonist does, who plans on using it to rule the world. In the film it is implied that Lara served with the Royal Marines. This had previously been alluded to in the first film, where a photograph can be seen showing Lara at the centre of a small military unit. The appearance of Terry Sheridan also marked a rare instance where Lara is given a romantic interest, something the games generally avoid. During the filming, Jolie overcame her fear of water when filming a scene where Lara found a temple lost under the sea.
Angelina Jolie has expressed interest in portraying the character in a third film.
In the 2007, Lara appeared in the Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider Animated Series, a series of short animated films created for GameTap TV. Lara was voiced by Minnie Driver in all 10 episodes.
Models
Lara has also been portrayed by various models for public appearances and promotions. The first Lara Croft models appeared at the European Computer Trade Show in 1996. The four models hired by Eidos include Jordan (Katie Price), Nathalie Cook, and two unidentified models. Nathalie Cook became better known for her portrayal of Lara following appearances in PC Zone in 1996, and The Mirror in 1997.
The next Lara model was Rhona Mitra, who portrayed the character from 1997 to 1998.
Nell McAndrew was the official Lara model from 1998 to 1999. McAndrew was immediately axed from her stint as Lara in 1999 after posing nude in an issue of Playboy. Though she was not posing as the character, Playboy printed references to Lara Croft and Tomb Raider on the cover (which were quickly removed when Eidos threatened with a lawsuit).
After dismissing Nell McAndrew, Eidos hired Lara Weller, who was the official Lara model from 1999 to 2000. Lucy Clarkson was the official Lara model from 2000 to 2002. Clarkson was the youngest official model, as she was only 17 years old when she was first hired. The next official Lara model was Jill de Jong, who portrayed the character from 2002 to 2004.
From February 2006, the model role was played by a previously unknown sales assistant from London, Karima Adebibe, then aged 20. Her last official appearance as Lara was in 2008.
In May 2007, Nell McAndrew, Lara Weller, Lucy Clarkson, Jill de Jong, and Karima Adebibe were united for a photo shoot by FHM to celebrate the release of Tomb Raider: Anniversary.
On 11 August 2008, Alison Carroll was revealed as the new promotional face of Lara Croft and she is the current official model. Carroll is noted for her background in gymnastics.
There have also been Lara Croft models hired to promote Tomb Raider in specific regions. These include Vanessa Demouy, hired in 1997 by a French video game magazine for a photoshoot, and Ellen Rocche, hired in 2000 by the Brazilian distributor of Eidos' games to promote The Lost Artefact.
Reception
Popularity and Cultural Impact
Lara Croft is considered by critics and fans alike as one of the most significant game characters in popular culture, and the most famous female video-game character, as listed by The Guinness Book of World Records. She was also voted the third most iconic video game character in an MSN poll held in late 2008, although she actually drew with Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog who were listed as coming second and first.
Lara appeared in many "Lucozade" advertisements during the late 90s, and was the cover girl for popular style magazine The Face in 1997. In addition, writer Douglas Coupland dedicated a book to her, simply called "Lara's Book", which analysis the effect of her on pop culture.
Lara made a guest appearance during U2's PopMart Tour and appeared in a music video by the German punk band Die Ärzte. She has also been featured in SEAT car commercials, and three G4 commercials. In all of these appearances, Lara was represented by computer animation. Lara also appeared in a Visa commercial which featured a live-action Lara, portrayed by Sofia Vergara, interacting with her in-game counterpart. The website Education City parodies Lara Croft in a series of games starring "Klara Loft".
Lara is the subject of a song, "Amami Lara" (Love me Lara) by the Italian songwriter Eugenio Finardi. The song was presented during the 1999 edition of the Festival della canzone italiana in Sanremo.
Roger Burchill of PlayStation: The Official Magazine said if he had to choose between Lara Croft and Tyris Flare, he would go with Lara. "Playstation: The Official Magazine" described Lara as a "Comeback Queen" after the good reception of Tomb Raider: Legend after the previous game (Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness) was panned by critics. "MSN Gadgets" described Lara as "Gaming's most Important Leading Lady" and gaming site "Ugo" listed her as number 1 one their list of the "Top 11" of female game characters.
Merchandising
Since becoming a popular video game character, merchandise such as countless action figures and models, have been released of the character. Action figures of Lara Croft from the first Tomb Raider film were released and also one of her as she appears in Tomb Raider Legend. A Lara Croft Premium Format Figure was released of Lara in her "Legend" outfit with Excalibur. A model of Lara in her swimsuit in the Second Tomb Raider film was also made. Pens, with images of the character, Tomb Raider Wallets, mobile phone covers, mobile phone holders, mouse mats and Tomb Raider Playing Cards are also among the merchandise released featuring Lara Croft. Tomb Raider Chocolate bars were also produced, both featured images of Lara Croft on the packaging. Books have also been released, one analysing Lara's effect on popular culture and an "Official Lara Croft Style Guide".
Controversy
Lara's original designer Toby Gard, considered Croft's growing status as a sex symbol in the video game fandom through each progressive game sequel—with increasingly gratuitous artwork and advertisements—detrimental to the character, who gained more attention from her appearance than her tough-as-nails spirit and determination. In response to this, it was stated that she would undergo a redesign and become more "demure" in Tomb Raider: Legend for the sake of becoming more appealing to female gamers. However, some of the outfits she wears in this game are more revealing than costumes seen in previous games, with many of them showing cleavage and/or midriff (though most of the available outfits are fairly modest).
Also critical is the character being portrayed seemingly in an increasingly bloodthirsty manner in the first two sequels of the series, and occasionally not giving Lara the option to avoid lethal force against human characters. Tomb Raider III was heavily criticised for showing Lara having to fight security guards and military police officers. However, to tackle this issue, Tomb Raider Anniversary added a subplot where Lara felt guilty when she was forced to kill for the first time, with Toby Gard stating "We wanted to make Lara's first kill more meaningful".
See also
- Girl Heroes
- List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture
External links
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