Lara Croft

Lara Croft is the main protagonist from the Tomb Raider franchise.

Lara is an English archaeologist. Lara is in the formative years of her career, expanding her already extensive knowledge and skill set and becoming a hardened survivor, preparing her for future expeditions to find secrets of the past, while facing harsh environments and deadly foes.

Appearance
Lara is an attractive young woman she has elegant facial features, light peach skin complexion and deep brown eyes. She has thick, dark brown hair (which she keeps tied up in a pony tail, though she keeps the front in a layered and choppy style). She has a slender and toned physique and stands roughly 5'6" (168cm) tall.

After her first stint on Yamatai, Lara has gained numerous scars, mostly on her arms, though the worst was the first one she received from a puncture wound in her side, which she later cauterized.

Personality
Lara doesn't seem to care much for her aristocratic background, though she later made a point of restoring her family's name. Lara was always friendly attempting to impress girls at her school with a bone she found, though they fled in terror. as a result, Lara didn't have many friends and seemed to prefer the solitude of books, and became quite an introvert. Winston once stated to her father that Lara may have trouble relating to girls her age as she had no female role models. After her chance meeting with Sam, Lara started coming out of her shell, and made more friends.

Lara had never needed to kill to survive prior to Yamatai. After being forced to kill a deer to eat, Lara is saddened by what she had done, even apologizing to the dying creature. However after her first human kill she is emotionally shaken, she even attempts to avoid killing any more people, trying simply to threaten them with her gun, to no avail. Understanding that it is a necessity to survive the island she resigns herself to killing those who would kill her given the chance. However, Lara will not kill where it is unnecessary, seen when she attempts to sneak into Pripyat, she knocks a guard out cold and takes his gun, she also is reluctant to shoot a pack of dogs that surround her. Lara also doesn't kill a doe that follows her, whilst in the city, even offering it some of her Jaffa Cakes. She even refuses to shoot an unarmed man who his fleeing from her after a brief skirmish.

Lara displays perseverance, and while she shows fear at certain points, even being on the verge of tears as she begs Roth to come get her, she keeps to the mantra "Just keep moving". She is willing to do everything she can to help someone in need, even if it is ill advised to do so.

Perhaps Lara's most prominent trait before being stranded on Yamatai, is her bibliophilia. She is an avid reader, having a particular love of ancient legends and adventure stories, though her primary passion is for historic and archaeological books, showing vast knowledge in the field as a result of earning a degree at UCL. Lara's intelligence shines through as she identifies relics, and knowledge of cultures they come from. As well as this she is easily able to overcome puzzles of the tombs she uncovers. Lara takes her work seriously, almost to the point of being obsessive, studying charts repeatedly.

At first, Lara is timid and unsure about herself which she often hides behind an aloof exterior. After her first stint on Yamatai, Lara becomes more assertive when presented with challenges. She begins to display a cold, calculated, and deadly demeanor during times of danger, even insulting her foes at times before dispatching them. Lara seems to develop a liking towards violence, shown when she smiles, whilst beating two muggers in self defense, and how she has a meeting with her uncle, she imagines, herself violently beating him, and throwing him out a window.

Despite her more violent tendencies she developed after her traumatic experiences, Lara is capable of great affection and empathy and is very protective of her friends, going as far as threatening to break Dr. Taffe's legs for hurting Sam. This care is especially shown with Roth, Sam and Alex. Lara felt extremely helpless when Roth was dying, pleading that she wouldn't be able to cope without him, but Roth stated she would survive saying "she's a Croft". After she witnessed Jonah being on stabbed by Konstantin, Lara was horrified and enraged, asking other prisoners to look after him, before she killed the remaining soldiers in the area.

Lara is deeply haunted by the events of Yamatai. She begins to suffer from Survivor's guilt, symptoms of which include flashbacks, recurring nightmares and even hallucinations, mostly of those who died saving her (Mostly Alex) and of Himiko. As a result, Lara is restless and impatient barely able to keep still, wringing her hands and tapping her foot, constantly.

Lara was a skeptic prior to Yamatai, disbelieving in supernatural notions of witchcraft and magic and only being concerned with the truth. However after Yamatai, Lara is more uncertain of the difference between myth and truth, and thus begins dedicating herself to finding the answer. However, Lara will still not outright accept that magic is responsible.

Lara has been shown to be quite good with children, being quick to offer them help, often being more willing to listen to them than other adults, and being polite and soft spoken towards them. Ironically, in her youth, Lara was shown to not get along well with people her own age and even admitted to preferring the company of adults as a child.

Abilities

 * Peak-Physical Condition: She appears to be in peak-female human conditioning, having the strength, speed, acrobatic prowess, stamina, reflexes, hand to eye co-ordination & durability that are greater than olympic-level athletes, she is able to push herself for several hours at a time. She has also learned all the ancient meditation techniques of the Byzantine Era, allowing her an improved healing speed.
 * Marksmanship: Lara was taught how to shoot by Roth and refined her skills at her school's rifle club. She has shown remarkable skill with many different firearms, including pistols, shotguns and automatic weapons. Roth believes that Lara had received her sharp eye and steady hand from her mother, who was an artist.
 * Archery: Lara is also a very skilled archer, having taken it up during her school days, and continuing to practice during her college days by joining an archery club called the Sisters of Artemis. She expanded her skill further after discovering codices detailing Byzantine archery techniques, she can rapidly fire up to three arrows within a few seconds or hit multiple targets simultaneously.
 * Combat Skills: She has decent hand-to-hand combat skills, and was said to have a "heavy swing" by Reyes' friend Diana, who is a combat instructor. Lara has also shown that she is strong enough to snap a man's neck, with her thighs. She was even able to defend herself from two muggers by using an umbrella as a weapon. Lara can even fight blindfolded. The fighting style she used while fighting Diana, resembles kickboxing.
 * Guerrilla Warfare: This is her most prominent skill. She was able to hide in the trees in order to ambush the Trinity forces from above in a stealthy manner. This, combined with her bow, allows her to silently eliminate all the threats in the given vicinity. Her guerrilla tactics were put to their ultimate test when she battled Konstantin, who was the most highly trained person she had done battle with at that point.
 * Hunting/Tracking: Lara has shown to be quite adept at hunting, for the purposes of catching food and resources. She was able to track a pack of wolves to their den for the purposes of retrieving Roth's distress beacon, and has helped the remnants gather food in preparation for Trinity's attack.
 * Foraging: Lara is able to distinguish edible, poisonous and medicinal plants for various uses.
 * Superior Athleticism: Lara took gymnastics when she was younger. As a result, she is very acrobatic and has great finesse, performing wall scrambles to reach higher levels or swinging on cloth banners as if it were a trapeze. As she hardens into a survivor, she can combine her scramble move to attack enemies in their weak spots. Lara is a strong swimmer, and can hold her breath for a decent amount of time. She has even learned all the advanced mountaineering skills of the ancient Byzantine Era.
 * Pain Tolerance: Her tolerance for physical trauma & fatigue is far greater than the average human being. She even learned ancient meditation techniques that allowed her to ignore pain. Combined with her tenacity, has given her a high resistance to torture, refusing to give any information to Dr. Taffe despite the severe beating she was getting from the giant goon with him.
 * High-Level Intelligence: Lara has spent years studying different aspects of archaeological and anthropological fields, being able to easily identify buildings and artifacts to their time period of origin from nothing more than what she can see, ranging from at least the Kamakura period (possibly before) right up to the Second World War and Cold War Era, as well as the Byzantine elements of the Remnants attire. However Lara's brilliance is not just limited to her field of study. Lara also has a good memory, as she was able to recognise the cross of the Deathless Prophet which she'd previously seen in a book years earlier.
 * Archaeological / Occult Knowledge: Lara has vast knowledge of ancient history and culture, as shown when she could read the scroll inside the hilt of the katana, which is used by the Stormguard General to commit seppuku. She was even able to recognize the powers of certain supernatural beings, such as the sorcery of Himiko, or the immortality & healing of the Prophet.
 * Acute senses: Lara has very acute senses which give her excellent situational awareness, to the point where she is even capable of fighting blindfolded. Her senses also help her tracking and hunting skill.
 * Attention to Detail: Lara is capable of picking out details in her surroundings to both aid her in combat and remove obstacles and hazards from her path. Lara has also shown that she's able to spot an empty cylinder on a revolver.
 * Deductive Reasoning: Lara has great deductive skills. Lara was able to discover Mathias' intentions for Sam to be used as a vessel for the return of Himiko. She completed her father's research and found the Tomb of the Deathless prophet, and when the Tomb was empty she made the connection between the Oasis & the lost city of Kitezh, when even her father & Trinity's most brilliant minds could not. She was also able to figure out Jacob's true identity, as well as the Identity of Baba Yaga.
 * Multilingual: Lara can understand several languages, including Japanese (though she has difficulty with Kanji), Ancient Greek, Mongolian, Russian and Mandarin and German (Though she admitted to being rusty the the latter two.)
 * Navigation: Lara has an excellent sense of direction, and can set herself on the right path with minimal information.She also seems to have studied cartography and orienteering, as she can find hidden areas from directions on monoliths, and map out areas.
 * Astronomical Knowledge: Adding to Lara's sense of direction, she can navigate by stars, likely taught to her by Roth. Even knowing about Axial Precession and it's effect on where stars appear in the sky. She used this to deduce that a riddle in Mexico had directions leading to Peru.
 * Toxicology: Lara has some experience in first aid, which she learned during her time working as a barmaid. She was able to treat Roth's leg which had been mauled by a pack of wolves. She was also able to tend to her own wounds which she received on the island of Yamatai. Upon her being in Siberia, she was able to utilize herbs in order to heal extensive physical injuries that she received. She was even able to craft Poison Arrows from mushrooms found around Siberia.
 * Resourcefulness: Lara has shown to be very resourceful, using salvage found around various parts of Yamatai to improve her weapons. This is shown clearly when she discovers a metal rod in a nearby bunker when searching for a way to light the fuel to signal the plane, strapping it to her torch to remove her reliance on lit objects. Another example is when she uses a nearby grenade launcher to kill a Solarii at the burning stronghold, later strapping it to her assault rifle. Lara is also able to use her environment, throwing dirt to stun foes, and use rocks to bludgeon them. Lara learned how to pick locks, using nothing more than a hair pin. She even learned the formula for Greek Fire.
 * Acting Ability: Lara was initially shown to be a poor actress, though she improved considerably, to the point she was able to convince agents of Trinity that she was unconscious to make them leave her unsupervised so she could escape captivity.
 * Unbreakable Will: Lara has shown on many occasions that she is incredibly tenacious, and will do anything in order to accomplish her goals and do what she believes is right.
 * Pickpocket: Lara has nimble hands, as she was able to steal a remote detonator from Konstantin without anyone noticing.
 * Escape Artistry: Lara has been captured numerous times, usually relying on herself to be freed. Lara has escaped from a snake pit and a gulag using nothing but what was in her vicinity, and has even managed to escape armed men, on multiple occasions, using improvised weapons and clever tactics.
 * Driving Skill: Lara has shown to have excellent control of vehicles, able to lose a tail while driving a van. Lara was also shown to be a competent motorcyclist both on and off road telling Jonah she owned a bike prior to being shipwrecked on Yamatai.
 * Piloting Skill: In the final issue of Survivor's Crusade it's revealed that Lara can fly a helicopter, she was also able to level a plane whilst it was falling out of the sky.

Trivia

 * Lara's new "realistic and "more human" portrayal has led to several comparisons to the character Nathan Drake, the protagonist of the Uncharted series, which was created by Amy Hennig, who is a former employee of Crystal Dynamics, and writer and director of the Legacy of Kain series.


 * Interestingly enough, Uncharted has been dubbed as "Dude Raider", due to its similar nature to Tomb Raider.
 * Lara's Grey and Blue Henley outfit in Rise of the Tomb Raider, bears significant resemblance to Drake's signature look, as he wears long sleeved t-shirts with the sleeves pushed up in all media he's featured in.
 * Lara and Drake both have similar stomach wounds which they must endure until they can be treated, however Drake was unable to treat his wound himself and passed out from blood loss.
 * This is the youngest incarnation of Lara to be focused on, for the entirety of the games she's featured in, being 21 during the events of Tomb Raider, 22 during the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider and 23 during the events of Shadow of the Tomb Raider. She also briefly appears at the age of 11 during flashbacks. Previous incarnations of Lara have appeared at the age of 9 and 16 in previous games, though only briefly.
 * This incarnation of Lara doesn't wear the trademark short-shorts, of the earlier timelines. However, she did wear them during most of the comic arc "Queen of Vipers" (Issues 14-17).


 * Lara was a member of an archery club called, "Sisters of Artemis" named after the Greek Deity. As seen by the thermal mug on her desk during the the opening of the game.
 * Artemis was the goddess of several things, most notably (and fittingly) hunting, wild animals and the wilderness. Symbols of Artemis include a bow and arrows, and the Deer is a sacred animal of her.
 * Rhianna Pratchett has stated in an interview that a part of her would have loved to make Lara a lesbian, and that she liked how fans had speculated about the relationship between Lara and Sam. It is unknown if anything will ever come of this as Lara's sexuality is never directly stated during the game or the tie-in canon comics.


 * This incarnation of Lara has similarities to the character John Rambo.
 * Both wear Jade pendants, though both have different reasons for doing so.
 * Both receive a stomach wound, caused by impalement. Both later cauterize the wound themselves. Lara cauterizing her wound is a reference to how Rambo did it in Rambo III.
 * Both suffer from vivid flashbacks from harrowing ordeals they went through. (Yamatai for Lara, the Vietnam War for Rambo)
 * Both also use bows and explosive arrows as Lara later receives bow upgrades the final bow resembles the bow used by Rambo in First Blood: Part II and Rambo III, while the explosive arrows may be a reference to the explosive arrows that Rambo uses in First Blood: Part II and Rambo III.
 * Both fall from a tree & hurt themselves after hitting their ribs against its trunk.
 * Both have to storm enemy strongholds to rescue their best friend. (Samantha Nishimura and Samuel Trautman respectively.) Both scale large canyon walls in order to do so. As well as this, both had previously been to the same stronghold to attempt a rescue (though Lara was trying to save someone different the first time.)
 * Both are captured by enemy forces multiple times and escape. (Rambo is captured in First Blood by the local police and in Rambo: First Blood Part II by Vietnamese and Russian Soldiers, Lara is captured on multiple occasions, throughout both games and the comics, Lara however relies a lot less on sheer brute force to escape, though she does occasionally have to use it.
 * Both improvise weaponry and equipment in the field. Though Rambo's almost all revolve around his signature Combat Knife. Lara's mostly revolve around her bow.
 * Lara is also very similar to Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Due to her love of books, exceeding beauty (which she doesn't flaunt for attention), want for adventure, and their overall designs are similar.
 * Lara is shown to have a love of Jaffa Cakes in the comics. Which feature in several moments:
 * She gave some to Sam when they first met, to as an alternative to allowing Sam to take a photo of her.
 * During one of her trips with Sam she was shown to carry a bag full of them around.
 * She hid an artifact in a box of Jaffa Cakes, in a hypnotized state.
 * In a flashback to the Endurance, Lara sneaked into the kitchen to find some, though she was caught by Jonah who had bought an entire case for her.
 * She even took some with her to Pripyat when she went looking for Kaz, she ended up feeding some of them to a local deer.
 * Sam tried to offer Lara some as a way to cope with her stage fright, though Lara wasn't able to stomach food at the moment.
 * While in Cozumel, Jonah asks Lara if she'd want some if he saw anyone selling them. Lara replied that she would.
 * Lara's name (at least in the context of this particular incarnation) was chosen by her father as a nod to the Egyptian sun god, Ra.
 * He did this as he believed that Lara was most likely conceived in Egypt.
 * In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, in Cozumel, Lara can find a motorcycle and will tell Jonah she used to have one just like it prior to going to Yamatai.