Hypothetical Question: You Have Been Hired to Write a Tomb Raider Film/Show/Game Which Characters Would You Use?

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Winter
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Hypothetical Question: You Have Been Hired to Write a Tomb Raider Film/Show/Game Which Characters Would You Use?

Post by Winter »

Obviously Lara is the main character but who else?

Lara's parents are kinda a given as is Winston but who do you include in Lara's support cast. Would you include a love interest, who are the supporting characters and who are her adversaries?

In my story Scars of the Survivors I have Sam as the Deuteragonist but mostly an original cast of new characters, 3 main villains, 1 secondary villain, and around 6 or 7 support characters that come and go throughout the story. For the reboot idea it's Lara and Sam again in the co-lead role then with Zip, Jonah, Amanda, Himiko, Roth, Winston and maybe Natla and Reyes along with one original character of mine.

You?
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Re: Hypothetical Question: You Have Been Hired to Write a Tomb Raider Film/Show/Game Which Characters Would You Use?

Post by Nealithi »

Why is Lara obvious?

Use the parents as the adventurers who have two daughters at home. The series is called Tomb Raider, not the Lara Croft Adventures. Set it up as a prequel to the games and where Lara got into everything instead of being an English lady.
Really want to mix things up. Have the parents sent out due to expertise. Duty to the crown after all.
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Winter
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Re: Hypothetical Question: You Have Been Hired to Write a Tomb Raider Film/Show/Game Which Characters Would You Use?

Post by Winter »

Yeah, like that will go over well with fans, it's not like Lara's parents taking over the narrative has been a massive criticism over the decades. Want a fastest way to unite the fandom, say Lara's parents are the real stars of the series and they will all agree... that you need to die.

All jokes aside I think Lara's parents work best as just regular people who suffered tragic deaths when Lara was young leaving her alone but ignited her passion for archeology.

Now personally, in regards to a more original story, I would go for a retelling of A Survivor is Born (stranded on a Island, evil Lovecraftian monster as the main villain, evil cult, save the girl all that jazz) but with a few changes. For example I would drop Whitman and replace him with Amanda Evert, have her be the one who betrays Lara and giving Sam up to the Solarii in an attempt to get off the island. This results in Lara Amanda being left on Yamatai after Lara saves Sam leading to Amanda's vendetta against Lara.

This creates an interesting scenario as Amanda is the one who betrayed Lara first and Lara then left her on a place she was desperate to escape. This makes Amanda a perfect foil to Lara as both were friends but one was willing to betray her friends while the other did everything she could to save everyone and it could be argued that Lara abandoning her on Yamatai, while understandable, was needlessly cruel and morally wrong.

I would also remove Alex as, let's be real, no one cares about him. He's just another person for Lara to feel guilty about not saving even though his death was 100% his own fault and if removed it would change nothing.

Roth would still be here and would still die, Jonah, Reyes and Zip would also be included, Grim like Hell he's dying I still refuse to believe he's actually dead in the original game. Mathias stays but maybe gets a bit more development and we get a few hints of Sam either gaining or already having magic alongside Amanda.

The only other notable change would be to give Lara a bit more of a sass and wit while maintaining her more human elements. Basically taking the Vi approaching from Arcane, she is both an absolute badass with a lot of sass and wit but also very human and relatable. This is someone we see cry and show use her more vulnerable side and still do ultra cools things, the two do not need to be mutually exclusive.

I'm still not sure about Natla as I just don't think she's that interesting of a villain or character as she comes off as very shallow to me, I honestly don't get the appeal to this character. Given their personal history I find Amanda to be a much more interesting adversary for Lara alongside the Doppelganger.
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Re: Hypothetical Question: You Have Been Hired to Write a Tomb Raider Film/Show/Game Which Characters Would You Use?

Post by TGLS »

I mean if I was hired, I might be inclined to write it like an 80s-90s garbage tie-in cartoon. On the good guys side there'd be the unflappable hero, the action girl/damsel (though this may be gender flipped on account of Lara being the hero), the weak smart guy who provides exposition, and the pet. On the bad guys side there'd be the villain who comes up with the plans, the competent henchman, and the comical henchman. After coming up with that, I'd take an hour and read the wiki to decide who fills what spot, or create new characters if needed.
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