Lara Croft

Real Name: Lara Croft, Duchess of Saint Bridget

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Recoverer of antiquities

Affiliations:

Enemies:

Known Relatives: Lord Henshingly Croft (father, deceased); Lady Angeline Croft (mother, deceased)

Aliases: Tomb Raider

Base of Operations: Croft Manor, Buckinghamshire, England

First Appearance: Tomb Raider (computer game, Eidos)

Powers/Abilities: Incredibly agile and athletic, superhumanly accurate shot with almost all weapons.

History: Lara, the daughter of Lord Henshingly and Lady Angeline Croft (deceased), was raised to be an aristocrat from birth. She was privately tutored from the ages of three through eleven, then began formal schooling at Wimbledon High School for Girls until she was sixteen. Her parents then sent her to Scotland and Gordonstoun Boarding School, where she stayed for two years, and took up "exploring" as a hobby, dodging netball practice to go off rockclimbing instead. It was around this time she also took up shooting, only to be told off for showing "too keen an interest". At eighteen she went to a Swiss Finishing School, and it was in 1988, on her way home from a school sponsored skiing trip, her plane 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. By the time she walked into the village of Tokakeriby, Nepal, two weeks later, her experiences had a profound effect on her. Unable to stand the claustrophobic suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society, she realized that she was only truly alive when she was adventuring.

Over the following eight years she acquired an intimate knowledge of ancient civilizations across the globe, all the while continuing her education at Oxford, then at the University of Chicago in the United States. After graduating from finishing school at the age of twenty-one, Lara's marriage into wealth had seemed assured, but she opted instead to continue her education, which caused a rift with her father. He was intent on her marrying the Earl of Farringdon, but she wanted to go to University. They stopped talking entirely and he even stopped giving her her monthly allowance, until she "came to her senses" (he's still waiting). She turned to writing to fund her trips. She is currently employed as an associate researcher for the British Museum in London, and continues to write articles and abstracts for their various publications.

She is also famed for discovering several sites of profound archaeological interest, and made a name for herself by publishing detailed travel books (including 'A Tyrannosaurus is gnawing at my head' and 'Slaying Bigfoot'.) and adventure novels partially derived from her own exploits. She continues to write and publish this series of adventure novels (The Adventures of Rhonda Carmichael), and edits a creative writing journal for aspiring writers (The Croft Adventure Journal).

In the last few years she has discovered and recovered the Ark of the Covenant and the Hoard of Gabriel Croft, amongst other antiquities.

Comments: Created by Toby Gard (an Englishman, hence her being in the British hero section). After years of various models providing live action versions of Lara for photo shoots, Angelina Jolie played her in the live-action movies.

Yes, she is a superhero. Oh, come on! Have you ever played one of the Tomb Raider games - no normal human can do that stuff!

Thanks to Elle Aduial for additional information about Lara, and to DL Armstrong for identifying her creator.

Fen writes to say that it "maybe doesn't match the game history but in the comics (not sure Image or Cliffhanger I think - Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider Journies) she was engaged, and her fiancee and parents died in the plane crash she escaped from..." Thanks for this - anyone else out there able to point out more variations between the different versions of the character (movie, computer game, comics)?

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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