Lara Croft

• 1. Introduction

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  In 2009, the English city of Derby let its residents vote on a name for a new ring road, and the winner was Lara Croft Way. More than 27,000 votes were cast, and the name took 89 percent of them. The road opened in July 2010.

  Lara Croft is a fictional English archaeologist and adventurer, the central figure of the Tomb Raider video games. She explores ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around the world, and she first appeared in 1996. Her creators worked at Core Design, a studio based in Derby.

  How did a character whose first sketch was a man with a whip and a hat become one of the most recognised faces in gaming? Why does she have three different childhoods? And why do critics still argue over whether she helped women in video games or held them back?

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• 2. Before Lara Was Lara

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  Development of Tomb Raider began in 1994 at Core Design, a subsidiary of the publisher Eidos. Lead graphic artist Toby Gard went through about five designs before he reached the final character. His first idea was a male hero carrying a whip and wearing a hat. Core Design co-founder Jeremy Smith felt it echoed Indiana Jones too closely and asked for something more original.

  Virtua Fighter pushed Gard in a new direction. Watching people play it, he noticed that they chose one of the game's two female fighters in almost every match he saw. He concluded that a female lead would work better as a design. Smith was sceptical at first, because few games of the time had women in the lead. He came to see a female hero as a great hook.

  Gard wanted to counter the stereotypes he described as "bimbos" or "dominatrix" types. He drew on the pop artist Neneh Cherry and the comic book character Tank Girl. His experiments included "sociopathic blonds, muscle women, flat topped hip-hopsters and a Nazi-like militant in a baseball cap". He settled on a tough South American Latina woman with a braid, named Laura Cruz.

  The name changed twice. Co-creator Paul Douglas consulted a baby names book and swapped Laura for Lara. He traced it to Larissa in Greece, meaning citadel, which he thought suited a personality he called "enigmatic and guarded". Scriptwriter Vicky Arnold later took Croft from the Derby phonebook. Cruz was Spanish and Portuguese for Cross, so the step to Croft was a short one. The first game design document, dated December 1994, already says Lara, yet even the final design documents still contain places where Cruz survived. The new surname brought a British backstory with it.

  In the first Tomb Raider, her three-dimensional model was made of around 230 polygons. Gard cared about lifelike animation, which he felt the industry of the time had ignored. He gave up quick animations for smoother movement, believing players would empathise with her more easily. Her twin pistols came from the film Hard Boiled and a short from Æon Flux.

  The braid was cut from the first model and returned in later versions. Programmer Gavin Rummery said it looked like an electric eel attached to her head during the acrobatic moves. He found a way to make it work on Tomb Raider II. A widely repeated story says Gard accidentally enlarged her bust by 150 percent and the team argued to keep it. Gard says the notion came from a silly remark in an interview.

  Core Design hired Shelley Blond as her voice once the game reached its beta phase. The Japanese publisher Victor Interactive Software then asked for a redesign with a larger head and eyes. Illustrations by Hiromasa Ota and a render were faxed over late in development. Gard did not want to change her look, so the compromise limited that version to the Japanese manuals and guide. Gard left Core Design after finishing the game, citing a lack of creative freedom and control over how his ideas, especially Lara, were marketed.

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• 3. The Core Design Years

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  Tomb Raider II, released in 1997, gave the model more polygons and more realistic curves, plus new outfits and manoeuvres. Core Design reportedly planned crawling for that game, but it did not arrive until Tomb Raider III. Actress Judith Gibbins took over the voice role and stayed through the third game. For Tomb Raider III, the model grew to about 300 polygons and gained more abilities.

  In Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, released in 1999, Core Design wanted to reintroduce Lara to players. It included a flashback with a younger Lara. The developers tripled her set of moves, adding actions such as swinging on ropes and kicking open doors. Her proportions became more realistic, and Jonell Elliott replaced Gibbins as the voice.

  By then the team had worked on the series nonstop for four years, and the staff felt their creativity was spent. They saw the series as lacking innovation, so they decided to kill the character. The final scenes show Lara trapped by a cave-in.

  Core Design ran market research, including fan polls. The team felt it could not alter Lara herself, so it put her in a situation unlike earlier games. The PlayStation 2 allowed more manoeuvres and a model of 4,400 polygons. Melee moves were added to match her backstory as an expert fighter, and movement shifted from the directional pad to the analogue stick.

  The result was criticised as poorly designed. The original team had joined the project after Chronicles, and there was excess material and missed production deadlines. Eidos also wanted the launch timed to the 2003 Tomb Raider film. Lara was brought back to life without explanation, and the controls lacked precision. Fearing financial trouble from another failure, Eidos moved development of future games to Crystal Dynamics, another of its subsidiaries.

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• 4. Rebuilding Lara

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  Chip Blundell, Eidos's vice-president of brand management, said the new designers understood that fans saw Lara Croft and her brand as their own, not as Eidos's. Crystal Dynamics assigned its Legacy of Kain team to Tomb Raider: Legend, with Toby Gard returning as a consultant. The team retooled the series around what had made the original game unique. The planned trilogy that began with The Angel of Darkness was dropped, and a new plot was written.

  The designers framed their choices around a single question, "What could Lara do?" They aimed for believability rather than realism. Her moves were reworked to look more fluid and continuous, and she could interact with objects around her. After swimming her skin and clothes looked wet, and after rolling on the ground they looked dirty. The model rose past 9,800 polygons. She received a V-neck crop top, more muscle tone, and a ponytail in place of the braid.

  Rachel Weisz was rumoured to be the new voice, but the role went to Keeley Hawes. The next game, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, remade the first adventure and kept the new look. Its designers wanted more emotional depth. The story builds to Lara killing an antagonist, and the developers used guilt afterward to show that shooting a person should be a difficult choice.

  Tomb Raider: Underworld pushed the model to 32,000 polygons for seventh-generation consoles. Spherical harmonics gave her indirect lighting, and her hair became a real-time cloth simulation. The developers kept it tied back because a real person would not want hair flying around during dangerous moves. Her body size grew and her bust shrank. For the first time the movement came from motion capture. Stuntwoman and Olympic Gold medalist Heidi Moneymaker performed it and advised on practical movement. After Underworld's lackluster sales, Eidos reportedly considered changing Lara's appearance to appeal more to female fans.

  Japanese company Square Enix acquired Eidos in April 2009, and Crystal Dynamics stayed on as developer. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light added cooperative play. Brand director Karl Stewart said this was meant to "show Lara as a more humanistic character". Still, the studio believed the series needed further reinvention.

  In late 2010, Square Enix announced a darker, grittier reboot, simply titled Tomb Raider. The studio decided Lara's biggest failing was her "Teflon coating" and that she needed a more human version. It trialled dozens of relatively unknown performers, and Camilla Luddington won the voice. The team wrote her biography before touching her looks. It then began from simple sketches and added back what made her iconic: a ponytail, "M-shaped" lips, and the spacing of her eyes, mouth and nose. Clothing aimed to be "relevant" and "youthful" without being too "trendy" or "hip". Eye-tracking studies compared the new design with older ones.

  Face and voice were captured alongside the body, and a free aiming system made combat feel "raw, brutal, and desperate". Karl Stewart tied that desperation to her inexperience with violence. He said she is thrust into a situation where she must kill, a traumatic and defining moment for her.

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• 5. Three Lives

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  In the first era, which began with the 1996 game, the manuals call Lara the Wimbledon-born daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft. She was raised as an aristocrat and betrothed to a fictitious Earl of Faringdon. She attended the Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun and a Swiss finishing school. At twenty-one she survived a plane crash and was stranded in the Himalayas for two weeks. The ordeal made her reject her old life, and she wrote books about her exploits as a mercenary, big-game hunter and master thief. Those books paid her way after her father disowned her.

  The second era started with Tomb Raider: Legend in 2006. Now she was the daughter of archaeologist Lord Richard Croft, the Earl of Abingdon, and she was identified as a gifted child at the Abingdon Girls School. The plane crash moved to when she was nine, travelling with her mother, Amelia Croft. Sheltering in an ancient Nepalese temple, Lara watched her mother vanish after tampering with an ancient sword. Her father later disappeared while searching for his wife, and Lara set out to learn what happened.

  The third era, set by the 2013 game, departs from the original plot even more. As a child, Lara joined her parents on many archaeological expeditions. On one of them Amelia vanished and was presumed dead. A few years later her father Richard presumably took his own life, and Lara was left in the care of Conrad Roth.

  She inherited a vast fortune that could have taken her to Cambridge, but she chose University College London. The harder path, the story says, kept her grounded and level-headed. There she met her best friend, Samantha Nishimura, whose free spirit showed her more of London than its universities and museums.

  After travelling the world, the two friends joined an expedition to the Dragon's Triangle off the Japanese coast, searching for the lost civilization of Yamatai. Lara ended up stranded on a remote island full of natural, human and supernatural dangers. The ordeal turned an untested young woman into a survivor. After seeing the powers of the ancient world, she realises her father was right about his theories, and her hunger for adventure awakens.

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• 6. Selling Lara

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  Eidos's German branch and an agency called KMF handled marketing for Lara Croft. Eidos says it consulted no focus groups or scientific studies when devising the strategy. Marketing manager David Burton led efforts to show her as attractive and pleasant. Dealing with the press, especially in Europe, led to promotional images with less clothing. Ian Livingstone, Eidos's product acquisition director, said the company declined most merchandising proposals, because it saw outside promotion mainly as exposure for the character.

  In 1997 the Financial Times put Lara on its front page, which PlayStation Magazine credits as the start of her mainstream attention. Jeremy Smith recalled that the paper was serious and sober, and the last place anyone expected to find her. Eidos had announced strong financial results, the paper ran the company's artwork, and Lara illustrated the story. Smith said Eidos had not courted her early magazine covers. She went on to appear on The Face, Time, Newsweek and Focus. By April 2025 she had made over 2,300 covers, a Guinness World Record for most magazine covers by a video game character.

  Eidos licensed her for television advertisements, including Visa, Lucozade, G4 TV, Brigitte magazine and SEAT cars. Retro Gamer staff credit the Lucozade commercials for part of her iconic status. Irish rock band U2 commissioned custom renders for its 1997 PopMart tour, and the German band Die Ärzte put her in the 1998 video for "Men are Pigs". An album titled A Tribute to Lara Croft gathered songs from Depeche Mode, Moby, Faith No More, Jimi Tenor and Apollo 440.

  The Gordonstoun school asked to use her for a commercial tied to the 2001 film. Eidos granted a free one-time licence, because Core Design had placed the school in her fictional biography without permission. Near the end of 2006, she became spokesmodel for the Skin Cancer Awareness Foundation of Minden, Nevada, whose Sun Smart Teen Program saw her as a picture of a healthy body.

  Toy Biz made the first action figures, and Playmates Toys later made more, including ones modelled on Angelina Jolie. Designer Marc Klinnert of Studio OXMOX built model kits and then a full-scale version. Eidos released an apparel and accessories brand labelled "LARA", with wallets, watches, bathrobes and Zippo lighters. After a rumour that Eidos sent autographs, fans wrote in such numbers that the company printed autographed cards. In October 1997, Eidos held an art exhibition called "Lara Goes Art" in Hamburg, Germany, to promote Tomb Raider II.

  Eidos hired real people to be Lara at events. At first it sent four models in costume to a trade event, then saw the unusually large crowd and chose to cast one official Lara. Nathalie Cook played her from 1996 to 1997, followed by British actress Rhona Mitra from 1997 to 1998. Core Design only let Mitra answer in character if it had reviewed the questions and scripted the replies. Vanessa Demouy filled in briefly before Nell McAndrew took over at the 1998 Electronic Entertainment Expo, chosen from around 150 women. McAndrew had auditioned with a shaved head and was surprised to win.

  Eidos fired McAndrew in 1999 after she posed for Playboy, which used the character to promote her issue without approval. Core Design won an injunction, and Playboy had to cover the reference to Tomb Raider with stickers. Eidos donated her costume to a UNICEF charity auction. Lara Weller followed from 1999 to 2000, then Lucy Clarkson from 2000 to 2002 and Jill de Jong from 2002 to 2004. Karima Adebibe played Lara from 2006 to 2008 and was the first allowed to perform beyond photography. She trained in combat, motorcycling, elocution and conduct. Gymnast Alison Carroll took over in 2008 and trained in survival skills with the Special Air Service, weapons and archaeology. Crystal Dynamics ended the use of models with its second reboot, but the number had already earned Guinness World Records' official 2008 record for most official real life stand-ins.

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• 7. On Screen

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  Paramount Pictures acquired the film rights in 1998 and released Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001. Producer Lloyd Levin said the filmmakers tried to capture the spirit of the games rather than copy them. Director Simon West wanted an actress with both acting ability and a physical resemblance. Pamela Anderson, Demi Moore and Jeri Ryan were rumoured, but Academy Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie got the part. She had not been a fan of the character and felt the role was a big responsibility.

  Jolie braided her hair and used minimal padding, taking her bust to 36D. She thought the game proportions were unrealistic and did not want to show them to young girls. Her stunt training was hard and occasionally left her injured, which discouraged her, but she kept going. She also struggled with the guns, bungee jumping and the braid. West had not expected her to do her own stunts. He and stunt coordinator Simon Crane were impressed by her effort.

  She returned for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life in 2003. Director Jan de Bont said he "hates women in distress" and praised Jolie's grasp of the role. The film was poorly received, but Paramount stayed open to a third. A reboot was announced in 2009 with producer Dan Lin, aiming for a young Lara in an origin story. In 2011 Olivia Wilde denied rumours that she would star. Alicia Vikander was cast in 2016, and Tomb Raider, directed by Roar Uthaug, came out in 2018, drawing mostly on the 2013 game. A sequel was cancelled in July 2022 after MGM lost the rights.

  Filming the first movie at the Cambodian temple Ta Prohm made the locals call it the "Angelina Jolie Temple". Local restaurants advertised "Tomb Raider cocktails" in honour of her favourite drink. Yahoo! Movies and IGN credit the role with raising Jolie's profile. By 2008 the first film was the highest-grossing video game film and the largest opening for a movie headlined by a woman.

  The comics came first, in 1997, from Top Cow Productions. Lara appeared in a Witchblade crossover and then in her own series in 1999. Dan Jurgens wrote it with art by Andy Park and Jon Sibal. Its stories stayed separate from the games until issue 32 adapted The Angel of Darkness, and it ran 50 issues plus specials. Three novels followed, in 2003-2004 and 2005, by Mike Resnick, E. E. Knight and James Alan Gardner.

  In 2007, GameTap released Revisioned: Tomb Raider, ten animated shorts by animators and artists including Jim Lee, Warren Ellis and Peter Chung. Minnie Driver voiced her, and each episode ran five to seven and a half minutes. The creators did not consult the game designers, only a guide of dos and don'ts. Hayley Atwell voices her in Netflix's Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, and Sophie Turner is set to play her in a series being made for Amazon Prime Video.

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• 8. Icon or Fantasy

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  Psychologist Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University called Lara a psychological tabula rasa. Richard Rouse of Midway Games said her loosely defined personality lets players imprint their own, and Jeremy Smith said players felt they were sharing the experience with her. David Burton noted that audiences saw her differently around the world: the French focused on sex appeal, while Germans liked her aggressiveness and Britons her aloofness.

  By the end of 1998, more than 100 fansites existed in several languages. In 2000, a HotBot search of her name returned around 4,700 pages. Fans collected merchandise, wore cosplay and got tattoos. One admirer cycled over 500 miles from Amsterdam to Derby in Lara Croft-brand clothing to meet the developers, who welcomed him.

  Toby Gard intended her to be sexy "only because of her power", yet Time's Kristina Dell called her the first sex symbol of video games. Griffiths found that players interviewed in 1998 regularly mentioned her breasts. A rumour of a cheat code to remove her clothes spread after the first game, and Core Design denied it. Eidos management saw the rumour as good publicity, and PlayStation Magazine ran an April Fool's parody called "Nude Raider". Underworld creative director Eric Lindstrom said provocative poses were out of character and that fans respond better to a more conservatively dressed Lara.

  The reaction was divided. Feminist scholar Germaine Greer criticised her as an embodiment of male fantasies. In 1996, Electronic Gaming Monthly argued she continued the habit of large-breasted, scantily clad female characters. PlayStation Magazine's staff said she could be a role model for independent girls or a male adolescent fantasy. Ismini Roby of WomenGamers.com said she was no sexist influence in 1996, because prominent female characters were scarce, and called her "a breath of fresh air".

  Lara still drew women. Eidos estimated that by 2000, female consumers made up 20-25 percent of Tomb Raider purchases. Jeremy Smith said the series brought more women into gaming, especially in Japan. Mark Cohen argued she succeeded where other erotic leads failed because the games also offered action, graphics and puzzles.

  Her reputation rose and fell with the games. IGN's Colin Moriarty said she began as an intelligent and strong character but became a "virtual blow-up doll" as the games grew bland, with The Angel of Darkness often cited as her low point. Game Informer ranked her the sixth top video game hero of 2006, crediting Legend. Chris Slate of PlayStation Magazine wrote "Lara is finally back". Others disliked the makeover, and fans mourned the braid.

  The Face's cover, Computer and Video Games said, signalled that video games were shifting from "geeky" to mainstream. Critics credit her debut with spurring more female leads and use her as the standard for later heroines. Derby honoured her with a blue plaque in 2007 and a star in the Made in Derby walk of fame in 2019, the only fictional character there. In 2020, the Royal Mail issued four stamps with her image. A 2024 BAFTA poll of around 4,000 respondents named her the most iconic video-game character of all time. She also holds a Guinness World Record as the most recognized female video game character. In November 2025, Guinness named her the best-selling video game heroine after the Tomb Raider franchise passed 100 million units sold.

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