Lara Croft

Lara Croft

Pre-Legend Biography

Born on 14th February 1968, in Wimbledon,London. The daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft, Lara was brought up in the secure world of aristocracy, surrounded by luxury and wealth. Lara's parents never gave her much attention, especially her father, and in the rarity that she spoke to them it was very brief. However, little did she know this distance from her parents would have a significant impact on her say in what she would choose to do as an adult. From the ages of 3-11, she received private tutoring at home, where she received a standard education, later moving on to Wimbledon Private School in London. During her school years she became a grade A student, excellent at both academic and physical subjects at school, thriving in individual sporting activities, rather than team games.

At the age of 16, Lara then went on to the renowned school of Gordonstoun in Scotland, where she developed a love of rock climbing. One day at Gordonstoun, Lara attended a lecture by renowned archaeologist Werner Von Croy, sparking an interest in archeology, and in the hearing of a Cambodian expedition to Angkor Wat, Lara pursued Von Croy, persuading both him and her parents to allow her to go with him. Lara's father soon wrote out a large sum of money out in cheque form for her to go to Cambodia. The expedition would leave Lara passionate about archeology and shape her future career, and at this point she admired Von Croy more than her own father (who was rumored to have an archaeological background himself), but the expedition ended in disaster, with Von Croy's carelessness and arrogance triggering a trap resulting in him being sealed inside a tomb - Lara having to leave him in order to avoid the same fate. Von Croy survived, but the incident caused a grudge between them that lasted for years. Before the incident, he said to her,"disrespect is the route to carelessness", which, ironically, is what he seemed to have been the victim of. When Lara was 18, both her parents decided it would be wise to send her to a finishing school in Switzerland, so she could learn how to fit in among high society Britain. Later, at her Swiss finishing school, she took to the art of extreme skiing and spent a holiday in the Himalayas with her great aunt, searching for more challenging terrain. However, on her return trip, the plane crashed deep within the mountains, leaving Lara as the sole survivor.

Lara spent two weeks wandering alone through the Himalayas before walking into the remote Tibetan village of Tokakeriby. Her harrowing experience had a profound effect on her. No longer able to stand the suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society, she realized she was only truly alive when she was travelling alone, becoming aware her life had so far been unfulfilling and shallow. The fact she had always been unhappy in the world of high society had only furthered to justify the reason to leave her old way of life. "I make my own luck", she said to Von Croy in Cambodia, and this would prove to be true for the following years to face her. In the following eight years she travelled the globe in search of thrill, adventure, and most of all, freedom.

Despite this drastic life change, Lara still retained some essence of her upbringing - most notably her polite, upper-class accent.

Lara's parents though were less than convinced about the benefits of this chosen lifestyle. They ceased to associate with their daughter, terminating her monthly allowance.

While staying in England, Lara lived in a mansion in Surrey which she inherited from an aunt many years ago. At one time she saw little use for it but now realises that, if nothing else, it at least proved handy for storage of the various artifacts she has acquired on her travels. The mansion is looked after by her butler Winston, who has been with her since her childhood, and as a result has developed a fatherly bond with her. She has also had a custom-built assault course constructed on the grounds for training purposes.

Although Lara never attended a full-time university, Lara has gathered an intimate knowledge of archaeology, history, religion and various cultures through her travels across the globe, and has, since the plane crash, become fluent in over a dozen languages while also gathering information from many visits to other universities. Despite Lara being a renowned archaeologist, her methods have been severely critisized by her peers, and even described as unprofessional, unorthodox or otherwise careless. Furthermore, Lara often takes artifacts home illegally without the permission of the archaeological boards. But even with the bad publicity, Lady Croft remains to be (one of) the most recognised archaeologists worldwide, credited with the discovery of a plethora of age old artifacts and archaeological sites.

Lara doesn't consider tomb raiding as a job, but as a way of life - although she has been known to uncover archaeological artifacts on commission. To fund her radical lifestyle, Lara writes travel books. Titles so far have included 'A Turonassaurus is Jawing at My Head' and 'Slaying Big Foot'. Her common complaint, though, is that she doesn't have enough time to put pen to paper.

As well as uncovering many notorious archaeological sites - including the Atlantean pyramid and the last resting place of the Dagger of Xian, Lara has found fame in other areas. She has driven the dangerous Pan American Highway from Tierra De Fuego in South America in record time (although this was later denounced by the Guinness Book of Records due to her "reckless driving") and she hit the headlines again when she hunted down and killed Big Foot in North America. She also became the youngest ever to climb Mount Everest.
Lara Croft remains to be one of the most studied and debated figures of our time, and due to her hectic lifestyle, rarely has the time for interviews, adding to the fog of mystique that surrounds her. It is undeniable that she has made some of the biggest archaeological breakthroughs of our time, and will be remembered for many years to come.

Retconned biography(Legend & Anniversary)

Lara's biography was drastically changed for the Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider Games.

In 1547, King Edward VI granted the title of Abingdon to the Croft family, making Lara Croft the 11th Countess. The Croft Estate is composed of three buildings. The main house is occupied by Lara, while the other two are maintained as historic sites by the National Trust. Lara Croft was born in Surrey to Richard and Amelia Croft and attended the Abbingdon Girls' School from three to six years old where she excelled.

Her parents both died while she was young. When she was nine, a plane that she and her mother were on crashed in the Himalayas, where her mother disappeared. She hiked for ten days to Kathmandu before turning in to the local bar. For the next six years, she traveled around with her father, participating in his archaeological digs and receiving education from tutors. When she was fifteen, her father was lost in Cambodia.

Without a body to prove he was dead, Lara was forced into a legal battle to inherit the estate and the title of countess. She won, but at the cost of bitter resentment by the rest of her family.

While turning up some very important artifacts, Lara is not an archaeologist in the classical sense. Some have described her as nothing more than a grave robber, stealing artifacts and contaminating dig sites.
Croft is a very private person. She does not do interviews or comment on public perception of her. Instead, she issues statements through family solicitors Hardgraves and Moore.