Story

The story's prelude begins in 1945 in Los Alamos, New Mexico; a mushroom cloud engulfs an abandoned town, uncovering a crystalline structure, sending an unidentified winged creature flying out. Fifty-one years later the game sends us to a cutscene set in Calcutta, India, in which the main story opens: Lara Croft, daughter of Lord Richard Croft is hired by renowned businesswoman Jacqueline Natla through an introduction by her long-time advisary Larson. Natla reveals she has found the location of one of the three pieces that comprise the Atlantean Scion , a mystical artefact buried in the heart of an ancient city, and she wants Lara to retrieve it for her. Lara, sitting back leisurely, leaps from her seat in the haering of this revelation. Fueled as much by her, and her father's, desires to find the artefact, Lady Croft travels on comission by Natla to the icey mountains of Peru to search for it in the lost city of Vilcabamba.

Through the Lost Valley teeming with thought-to-be-extinct dinosaurs and numerous booby traps, she enters a desolate tomb, seemingly undiscovered for milenias. In a further cutscene, Lara finds the corpse of Qualopec. Observing the inscriptions on the wall, it reads that he was one of the triumvirate of god-rulers of Atlantis before it fell beneath the waves, watching over his piece of the Scion even in death. As she peers closely in awe, one of the beast-like creatures roars hellishly at her before falling laboriously to the floor. Realising this tomb is not uninhabbitated after all, Lara takes the Scion. The tomb begins to crumble, and so Lara runs for an escape in haste. Qualopec rises from his seat, Lara looking round unnerved. Fortunately, the falling debris traps him, but Lara without time to abolish the problem before it escelates any further. Lara escapes, however, surfacing from the water to find Larson ready to relieve her of her hard earned work. Refusing to bestow the artefact upon him, they engage in a pulse-raising fight, Lara naturally coming out victorious. After giving Larson a good beating, he reveals that another archaeologist has been sent by Natla to look for the second piece, prompting Lara to pay a visit to Natla Technologies to search for more information. A video communication clip reveals Natla knew Lara would never disclose the artefact to her anyway, and the other of the archeaologist, Pierre Du Pont in front of the monastery she instantly recognizes; St. Francis' Folly, in the Greek Isles.

Here she races against Pierre DuPont, a rival archaeologist. Lara uncovers the Tomb of Tihocan, the second of the three god-rulers where she finds his empty coffin, the whereabouts of the body unknown. Pierre then catches up with Lara, threatning to kill her unless she gives him Qualopec's piece of the Scion. Lara refuses, attacking him until he flees from the tomb. However, two centaurs then awake, trampling Pierre to his death. After escaping Tihocan's tomb, she leaves for the Sanctuary of the Scion located in Egypt for the third and final piece. As soon as she obtains it, she leaves the Sanctuary and connects the pieces blanking out into a vision back to the dawn of time where the god-kings stood in counsel over the third ruler, revealed to be Natla herself. She is being expelled from their sacred order and condemned for unleashing Atlantis' own armies against it and trying to usher in the Seventh Age through the use of the Scion. She is then encased in the crystalline structure which was later uncovered in the blast in Los Alamos.

Natla then calmly takes the now complete piece away from the still shocked Lara, clutched by Natla's henchman "KOLD". Lara asks her what the Seventh Age was, Natla asking her how far she would go to find out. Natla orders her henchmen to kill her quickly. "Kid", another of Natla's henchmen goes to shoot Lara, but Larson pushes him out the way, purposely missing her with his shotgun. Lara escapes, diving over the edge of the cliff into the lake as Larson fires. Lara pursues Natla on her motorbike, managing to infiltrate Natla's boat undetected. They soon dock to an island which is a remnant of Atlantis, where Natla has mining operations. Inside she meets Larson again, holding a key trying to stop her from continuing further. Larson taunts her, betting she will not shoot him. Insistent on impeding her path, he tells her she would never shoot him because, "that's just not who you are." Lara replies, "I'm not who you think I am", resulting in her impulsively shooting him to his death. Larson falls to his knees, and lays down to the ground gasping for air, his hand reaching out to Lara for help. Lara rests her hand on his chest and turns him over, taking the key from his pocket. Looking at her hands horrified at what she has done, she vigorously dusts off the imaginary blood on her hands, greatly remorsing from her first human kill thus far. As she continues through, one of Natla's henchmen stands guarding the next chamber wielding a knife. Lara warns him, telling him he will end up like Larson if he does not let her past. Another of Natla's henchmen "Kid" emerges from the shadows with a pair of uzis. Lara shoots them in her defense, however, KOLD stabs Kid so he can kill Lara himself. KOLD pins Lara against the wall by her throat, but she is saved when Kid kills KOLD with his uzis from afar before dying of the stab wound. Lara finally catches up with Natla who has activated the Scion, along with the pyramid buried beneath it. Natla tells Lara she has reached the top, that it takes three to rule, that Tihocan and Qualopec were too weak to destroy what stands in the way of the Seventh Age, but Lara has the strength to claim the seat beside Natla's rule.

Lara looks at her hands then apologizes to her father before shooting and destroying the Scion. Natla charges at her in rage, pushing her off the platform, with Lara pulling her down with her. Lara grabs the platform on the opposite side, Natla falling to her doom beneath the depths of the lava. Natla then confronts her, still alive, accusing Lara of having a heart as black as hers, after the blood she has spilled. Natla clutches Lara by her throat, stating she cannot be killed, and that she is immortal. Fortunately, Lara manages to pin her under a falling pillar. Natla screeches in agony as Lara escapes the now crumbling pyramid, the island violently erupting. Reaching the shore, Lara dives into the sea and getting onto a boat. She looks back at the exploding island, then at her bloodstained hands as she leaves the erupting island behind. Lara smiles, and sails off into the horizon.

Characters

Winston Smith

Lara's faithful butler. He has served the Croft family for generations. He became a live-in servant after his wife passed away.

(For more about Winston,visit Tomb Raider Legend page.)

Jacqueline Natla

Jacqueline Natla returns in Tomb Raider Anniversary, a remake of the original Tomb Raider game, developed by Tomb Raider: Legend developer Crystal Dynamics. In Anniversary, her role remains the same. However, Natla is visually depicted as having a much skinnier body frame as well as sharp and almost alien-like facial features, and also unusually long hair, pale skin and long fingers with long, sharp nails. She also no longer has a Texan accent. She is voiced by Grey DeLisle.
Unlike in the original Tomb Raider, Natla does not mutate into one of the Atlantean creatures, instead she is burned by the lava in the Great Pyramid.

Larson

A former United States Marine lieutenant with seven years Special Ops experience, Larson was given a dishonorable discharge after a violent disagreement with his commanding officer-the nature of which was never made public. Following his release from military prison, Larson put his military experience to good use, forging an admirable reputation with private mercenary forces around the world. Recently he has taken a contract with Natla Technologies, and that has brought him face to face with an old adversary from his past: Lara Croft.

Pierre DuPont

Pierre is one of Lara's archaeological rivals. In the history of the field, nobody has chased the spotlight more than him. Publicly, he has been credited with several high-profile archaeological discoveries, yet like Lara, he has been accused of tampering with the sites before informing other of his funds. Though he bills himself as the consummate archaeologist, among rich collectors he is known for what he is: a treasure hunter who is adept at finding what people want – for the right price. Pierre is good at what he does, but in the end he raids tombs for profit, not for any real love of the mysteries of the past.

KOLD

Kin Kade is Jacqueline Natla’s bodyguard. It is difficult to know what hols se has over him, because he is a brutal and vicious a killer, as his criminal record shows. Kin Kade spent 15 years in jail after being apprehended by police in the middle of a vicious and disturbingly elaborate murder. He earned the name "Kold" in prison, where his sociopathic behavior and the unexplained deaths of several cellmates resulted in him spending most of his term in solitary confinement. Despite all this, his tenure in lock-up only seems to have refined his innate talents. Over fervent protests from the prison psychiatrist, he was released on parole into the custody of Jacqueline Natla.

KID

The Kid was small-time gang leader in Los Angeles until his crew tried to carjack Jacqueline Natla's limousine. Natla's bodyguard, Kin Kade, eliminated the entire gang but spared the Kid at his employer's request. Natla needed a contact in the West Coast criminal underground and the fast-talking Kid fit the job description. The Kid holds a grudge against Kin Kade for the murder of his blood brothers, but he's just smart enough not to act on any retaliatory impulses.

Qualopec

One of the ancient rulers of the lost continent of Atlantis, whose tomb is located in Peru.

Tihocan

Another ruler of Atlantis, Tihocan was buried in Greece.

Locations

Peru

Locked behind giant stone doors lies the ancient city of Vilcabamba. Once the final hiding place of the Incans it's cavernous ruins are now the home to packs of wolves and savage bears. Find your way beyond its tunnel like paths to discover the Lost Valley, a lush ravine where dinosaurs still roam.

Egypt

Buried deep within these hidden Egyptian temple walls, lie secret chambers protected by wild animals and terrifying undead creatures. If you survive these and the rooms' deadly traps, prepare to uncover an immense Sphinx and scale the colossal statues of god-kings Anubis and Horus.

Greece

A treacherous and vertiginous underground tunnel lies at the centre of these Greek ruins, with catacomb like rooms hosting fiendish challenges based upon the Greek gods Atlas, Haephestos, Damocles and Poseidon. Passing these is just the start; the ruins, coliseum, and ancient cisterns hide greater dangers.

The Lost Island

A hidden civilization. A secret army.