Which Characters Do You Think Will Stick Around in the Tomb Raider Mythos?

[Winter]

I want to talk about which characters will stay within the series and which will only appear here and there.

Obviously Lara will stick around but what about her supporting cast, the friends, the family and possible lovers. What characters will become part of this series so much that not including them will just seem silly because they add so much to Lara and the series' lore.

Lara's parents are a given in this as they are always at the core of why Lara goes on her adventures, in the Classic games Lara goes on her adventure because she refuses to get married despite her parents setting it up. However, in every other iteration it's her parents death that gets her started on her adventure as their deaths are usually tied to some great conspiracy and secret organization. This part of their stories has largely remained unchanged ever since the 2001 film.

As such it's more then likely that in every following continuity Lara's parents will be joining the club of chronically killed parents or loved ones in popular culture despite being alive and well in the original timeline.

Next up is Lara's faithful butler Winston who is also likely to remain a main stable of the series having appeared in every continuity of the series though to various degrees of importance. Sometimes he's the Alfred to Lara's Batman and sometimes he's just a butler and in the the first two movies he's Rimmer from Red Dwarf if he had a spin and was happy with his lot in life and named Hillary.

It will be interesting to see how Winston will change as time goes by whether he will go full Alfred or just be a character who's kinda there.

Zip is another main stay having also appeared in all three main timelines as the guy in the chair. There was another character in first two movies who played a similar role called Bryce but he's a completely different character and just not as interesting as Zip.

Zip hasn't changed that much in the series as a whole, he's usually a to cool for school sorta guy but also kinda laid back and you get the feeling that he and Lara are really good friends. The only notable change made to him in the recent Netflix show is he's now gay but honestly he's still pretty much the same as he ever was.

Then we have Kurtis who was introduced in what I believe is the last game in the Classic Timeline, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness which likely explains why he hasn't shown up that much after that seeing that AOD is seen as one of the weaker entries in the series and terrible ending for the classic continuity. Kurtis has only really shown up in the mobile game Tomb Raider: Reloaded and 3 issues of the comics, got one mention a few years later and has not been seen since.

While Kurtis might show up again part of me doubts it because he's just not that interesting. The only interesting thing about him is he was a possible love interest for Lara but that got lost because he was one of many men who could be in a relationship with her and none them have ever lasted. Alex West, only notable for being played by Daniel Craig, Whathisname from the sequel to the first TR movie, so forgettable that I keep forgetting he even exists. I think she's only had one actual boyfriend, who only appeared in the comics for one issue and is dead. And so uninteresting that no one remembers which issue he appeared in.

It doesn't help that there's nothing to make him stand out and nothing he adds to Lara's character. He's a guy Lara knows, has a boring design and a even more boring personality (if you can even call it that) and does nothing of note. And depending on things go in the future he might be forgotten altogether.

Then we have Lara's nemesis Jacqueline Natla and this one is interest as she's techinally appeared in all three mainline continuities and is seen as Lara's arch nemesis but not really. She only appeared in the first game of the classic games and then was quickly forgotten about. She had a more import role in the Legend games but from what I understand most saw her as a rather lackluster villain, especially when compared to Lara's Doppelganger and Amanda Evert.

She kinda shows up in the Survivor Continuity but that scene was patched out ending so her role in that series is not canon. She'll no doubt return but she her role in the series seems more like an obligation then anything truly important to Lara's character at least in the classic timeline.

By contrast we have Lara's Doppelganger and this is character that left one hell of an impact on the fandom so much so that it sort of appeared in the Survivor games in one of the DLCs The Nightmare. And anytime it seems that Lara is being evil or appears to have red eyes fans immediately assume/hope it's the Doppelganger. This is despite not having any dialogue and no real personality to speak off yet its such a interesting idea, someone who is as dangerous as Lara but is more like an animal who wants Lara's head.

I've no doubt that Lara's Doppelganger will become a part of the series' lore and that it will appear in many more times going forward mainly because there's more that can be done with it then just some rich bitch that just kinda hates Lara.

Finally heading over to the Survivor Timeline we have Jonah and Jonah is someone I have a very complex relationship with. He is the only character besides Lara to have appeared in every game in the Survivor Timeline, has had the most appearance in the comics besides Lara and Sam and was a major character in the recent Netflix show. And he's barely made an impact on anyone.

A big part of that is the reason Jonah was so heavily used throughout this series which was he was the safe choice to include. He wasn't really that popular with fans or writers as he was just a nice guy who was a friend of Lara's. But the studio wanted him because he was an option they felt save with. Sam, whom will be getting to soon, was viewed as a major risk because Square Enix were afraid that she might turn Lara gay and Reyes wasn't that popular with fans because she was seen as to harsh towards Lara.

Thus the developers decided on Jonah, he wouldn't be a love interest to Lara, wouldn't make her gay and wasn't a characters fans disliked. So he was included and in Rise, Shadow and most of the comics he does NOTHING! In Rise he has, no joke, about 5 or 10 minutes of screen time in 10 hour game and all he does in those 10 minutes is help Lara climb a mountain, get kidnapped, dies and comes back to life. If he was removed nothing would change.

Shadow tried to do more with him but in the end he just spent most of the game sitting on his ass and needed to be rescued 6 times (people complain about Sam getting captured all the time Jonah holds the record for most captured character in the series).

The only times he's been given a chance to show what he can do is in a filler arc in the comics and the recent TR show The Legend of Lara Croft. These stories do give him more to do but sadly it's not enough IMHO.

And what little he does is redundant, he's Lara's best friend, filled in by Sam and Zip. He's Lara Surrogate brother, Zip fills that role too. He's there to give Lara sagely wisdom which is can be and been done by Winston and Sam.

For a character who has appeared so much in this new continuity it's amazing how little has been done with him and that bugs because his voice actor is a really nice guy and talented actor and he is so wasted in this role.

For Jonah to stick around in the longer term he either needs replace Zip or Winston and that's not likely to happen. He could be Lara's partner in adventure but he's kinda failed in that area for almost 11 years and depending on what happens in the near future that role might be filled by someone else who is more qualified.

Then we have Roth and this is a character I can see becoming part of the lore of the series. Given that Lara is likely to lose her parents at a young age going forward she needs parent in her life and while that role can be filled by Winston, Roth is the more interesting character for that role because he also serves the role of Mentor.

He raises Lara and comes to see her as a daughter and he's nothing like Lara's biological parents. Lord and Lady Croft are often seen as overall regular people who stumbled upon this terrible secret society that killed them for finding out something they shouldn't have. But Roth is an adventure, someone who takes Lara out on adventures with him, he's the OG Twin Pistol wielder who teaches Lara how to fight, to survive and gives his life to save her.

He's only appeared in one game, a few comics and one animated series but he's left such a mark on Lara's character that I can see him returning in many iterations of the series going forward.

However, I doubt his daughter Camilla will be seen as anything special and mainly for the same reason Jonah will not be seen as anything special, she's redundant. There is nothing she does that isn't done by someone else. Close female friend, done by Sam, sagely advice, Sam and Winston. friend who's basically family, Zip. Someone who was close to someone she loved to give her a connection to that person or persons, filled by Roth. Someone who investigates a grand conspiracy theory, done by Sam and Lara.

Even her personality is basically Sam only without any of the depth the character created over the course of 27 comics and one game and likely will get more fleshed out in the next season. Like Jonah the only possible role she might be able to fill is badass sidekick who fights alongside Lara but just like Jonah there's someone else who can more easily fill that role.

This then leads us to the last character who's made more of an impact on the series then anyone else I've talked about so. You know her mainly because I won't shut up about her, Samantha "Sam" Nishimura. Despite not appearing in either Rise or Shadow Sam has left quite the impression on the fanbase of this series, both positive and negative and often the former rather then the latter.

Some of this is due to her being the first potential love interest for Lara who's a woman. Sure Lara's always had some homoerotic tension with women in the past, most notably with Sara Pezzini from Witchblade in many of their crossover comics but Sam is unique because she is the first time several writers have tried to make her Lara's first fully canonical love interest. Just about everyone who written these two try to get them together. Rhianna Pratchett, Gail Simone, Mariko Tamaki, Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly have all stated that they wrote this relationship with the mindset that Lara and Sam had romantic feelings for each other.

Lanzing and Kelly even wrote out a scene where Lara realized her feelings for Sam were romantic in the Inferno arc and had a scene where the two kissed before the studio found out and ordered it to be changed to a hug.

And now we have The Legend of Lara Croft where Lara's relationship with Sam is being promised as a major or THE major focus of a possible second season and there are a plenty of hints that it will be romantic.

But Sam offers more then just being a possible love interest for Lara. After all Kurtis was a possible love interest for Lara and he's been mostly forgotten about along with the rest of Lara's possible suitors.

One of the issues with Jonah and Camilla is that Lara never fully opens up to them. She tends to keep many things private never talking about things that really bug her unless they REALLY push her on the subject and even then it often takes a while.

Sam is someone who can get through to Lara almost immediately, she's someone Lara trusts like she no one else, willing to open herself up to her and be at her most vulnerable. And Lara goes through Hell to save her, more so then anyone else we've ever seen in any incarnation of this series.

But it's even more then that, Sam is a character who is just as complex as Lara and has a real arc in the comics. She goes from social butterfly to a hardened badass who is just as awesome as Lara yet never loses that fun part of herself. She goes from someone who's terrified of the situation she's found herself in to mocking her captures and making it clear that she if Lara doesn't end them she will if given the chance.

And if Netflix gives TLOLC a second season and they utilize Sam's character as well as those in the comics did Sam can become so much more. Not the tech savvy friend in the chair, not the love interest or even Lara's best friend, but her partner in Tomb Raiding. The Aeryn to Lara's Crichton, the Asami to her Korra, the Elana to her Drake. Someone who's just as awesome as her, who can fight alongside her and give her more to fight. Her parents are dead, the thrill of adventure can lose it's luster and her other friends are just there for support but Sam is someone who Lara save and someone who can save her. Someone she can share her discoveries with and be just as existed for those discoveries as Lara is.

While there will be many mainstays in this series like Winston and Zip I think Sam has the potential to become something more. To give someone for Lara to talk to and to have something more then just the thrill of danger.

TLOLC is kinda already on the right track, implying that Sam has been on her own adventures for at least a year. Sure she's been captured again but she was captured because she was seen as a threat but one that needed to be taken alive and she put up a fight. And as far as we know she did this all on her own. And hey, only counting the games she's only been captured 3 times vs. Jonah's 9 or 10 times (I've honestly lost count) and if we count the comics that number only goes up to 6 (Jonah's is 14 or 15 for the record if we count the comics).

I know some will see this as a downgrade saying that Lara should be a lone wolf but Batman was suppose to be a solo act and that only last for 2 years before he adopted his son and got a father figure and now he has like 8 or 9 kids, several allies and hopefully a wife in the near future.

Kratos has a Atreus, Peter has MJ, Miles and Cindy, Superman has Krypto and Kara along with Lois and Jimmy, Aloy has her found family, Geralt has to many people to count and Judge Dredd has Anderson. These are all characters who were supposed to be lone wolves and they all ended up with families to help them. Why should Lara be any different?

But those are my opinions, what about you?

[CharlesPhipps]

I wish we could get Winston back.

But they seem to have settled on Tomb Raider's reboot as the official canon.

[Winter]

I wish we could get Winston back.

But they seem to have settled on Tomb Raider's reboot as the official canon.

Winston is back, he's appeared in the Survivor Timeline 3 times now. Once in Rise (Blood Ties DLC), Once in Shadow (in the ending) and once in The Legend of Lara Croft (in a flashback).

What sort of character do you think Winston should be because he kinda confuses me. Sometimes, like in Blood Ties, he's basically Alfred serving as a faithful Butler who is also a surrogate father to Lara and other times he's just a butler, there to serve Lara tea and get locked in the walk-in freezer by players.

For the most part Lara and Zip have remained unchanged throughout the series but Winston seems almost in flux most of the time. Then again I'm not a huge TR fan for the whole series, just the Survivor Timeline.

[Thebestoftherest]

I know some will see this as a downgrade saying that Lara should be a lone wolf but Batman was suppose to be a solo act and that only last for 2 years before he adopted his son and got a father figure and now he has like 8 or 9 kids, several allies and hopefully a wife in the near future.

Kratos has a Atreus, Peter has MJ, Miles and Cindy, Superman has Krypto and Kara along with Lois and Jimmy, Aloy has her found family, Geralt has to many people to count and Judge Dredd has Anderson. These are all characters who were supposed to be lone wolves and they all ended up with families to help them. Why should Lara be any different?

But those are my opinions, what about you?

I think as long as it doesn't hurt the gameplay, that is a good idea. Remember as a video game, I feel the gameplay need to be accounted for.

[Winter]

I know some will see this as a downgrade saying that Lara should be a lone wolf but Batman was suppose to be a solo act and that only last for 2 years before he adopted his son and got a father figure and now he has like 8 or 9 kids, several allies and hopefully a wife in the near future.

Kratos has a Atreus, Peter has MJ, Miles and Cindy, Superman has Krypto and Kara along with Lois and Jimmy, Aloy has her found family, Geralt has to many people to count and Judge Dredd has Anderson. These are all characters who were supposed to be lone wolves and they all ended up with families to help them. Why should Lara be any different?

But those are my opinions, what about you?

I think as long as it doesn't hurt the gameplay, that is a good idea. Remember as a video game, I feel the gameplay need to be accounted for.

No argument there, in fact in my own TR project I took a lot of time to try and figure out how gameplay with Sam as a constant companion to Lara would work. I decided on something similar to Atreus from the 2018 God of War game while also changing up Lara's gameplay to work with someone else while still making Lara the main focus.

Lara has a greater set of moves, more weapons while Sam is there to help with crowed control so Lara never gets overwhelmed. In this scenario Sam has magic (not as a result of Himiko possessing her but rather something she learns after being possessed so she can protect herself against possession again). This would help her stand out from Lara in gameplay and play a very specific role in gameplay as Sam's magic would be more stun focused while Lara does the real damage.