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Lara Croft (1)Critics consider Lara Croft a significant game character in popular culture. She holds six Guinness World Records, has a strong fan following, and is among the first video game characters to be successfully adapted to film.[2] Lara Croft is also considered a sex symbol, |
Lara Croft (2) one of the earliest in the industry to achieve widespread attention. The character's influence in the industry has been a point of contention among critics; viewpoints range from a positive agent of change in video games to a negative role model for young girls.[3][4][5] |
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Lara Croft (3) Lara Croft is depicted as an athletic and fast woman with brown eyes and reddish-brown hair, frequently kept in a plait or ponytail. The character's classic costume is a turquoise tank top, light brown shorts, calf-high boots, and long white socks. Accessories include fingerless gloves, a backpack, a utility belt with holsters on either side, and two pistols. The video game sequels introduced new outfits designed for different environments, such as underwater and cold weather. In the later games, Croft wears a crop top, camouflage pants and black or light brown shirts. When exploring, she often carries two pistols, but has used other weaponry throughout the series. Lara Croft is fluent in several languages.[6][7][8] |
Lara Croft (4) Game manuals describe the character as the Wimbledon, London-born daughter of the fictional Lord Henshingly Croft[9] (Lord Richard Croft in Legend and its sequels).[10] She was raised as an aristocrat and betrothed to the fictitious Earl of Farringdon. Lara Croft attended the Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun and a Swiss finishing school. A plane crash left the character stranded in the Himalayas for two weeks; the experience spurred her to shun her former life and seek other adventures around the world. Croft wrote books and other published works based on her exploits as a mercenary, big-game hunter, and master thief.[11][12] The story was later changed to include her mother in the plane crash. While searching for shelter against the elements, Lara Croft witnesses her mother vanish after tampering with an ancient sword. Her father disappears in search of his wife.[13][14] |
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Lara Croft (5) Lara Croft primarily appears in the Tomb Raider video game series published by Square Enix Europe (previously Eidos Interactive). The action-adventure games feature the protagonist travelling the world in search of rare objects and mystical artefacts.[15] Croft first appeared in the 1996 video game Tomb Raider, in which she competes against a rival archaeologist in search of an Atlantean artifact.[15][16] Tomb Raider II (1997) centres on the search for the Dagger of Xian, which is sought by thieves. Tomb Raider III (1998) focuses on meteorite fragments that endow humans with supernatural powers. In Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999), the first depiction of a young Croft, she is accompanied by her mentor, Werner Von Croy.[15] Lara searches for artefacts associated with the Egyptian god Horus, and later encounters Von Croy as an antagonist.[15][17] In Tomb Raider Chronicles (2000), most of the game relates adventures told via flashbacks.[12] The first portable game, Tomb Raider (2000), was released on the Game Boy Color, and follows the character's search for the Nightmare Stone.[15] A second Game Boy Color title, Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword (2001), sees Lara Croft facing off against a cult.[18] The next portable game, Tomb Raider: The Prophecy (2002), was released on the Game Boy Advance, and focuses on three magical stones.[19] Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003) was released on home platforms, centring on the murder of Professor Von Croy.[20] |
Lara Croft (6)Eidos rebooted the series with Tomb Raider: Legend (2006), which focuses on Lara Croft's search for Excalibur and her mother, altering the character's backstory as part of the redesign. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (2007), a remake of the first game in the series, carried over design elements from Legend.[14] Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008) continues the plot introduced in Legend. The story centres on Croft's search for information about her mother's disappearance. In the process she learns of the existence of Thor's hammer, Mjölnir.[21][22] Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (2010) is a downloadable game that is set in a Central American jungle, and features an ancient warrior who works with Lara Croft.[23] In 2013, the series was rebooted a second time with the game Tomb Raider, which retold the story of Lara's origins and began a new continuity.[24] |
