Tomb Raider Timeline
This history pertains only to the major releases in the
video game series. For info about the Tomb Raider movies, novels,
comics, animated series, models, etc., please see the
Links section below. This
page contains spoilers. So if you haven't played all of
the games, be warned.
Note that this timeline does not attempt to reconcile the sometimes
contradictory biographies established by the series' two developers:
Core Design (1996-2003) and Crystal Dynamics (2006-present). For detailed
plot summaries of each game, visit
WikiRaider
and Wikipedia.
Now that Tomb Raider 9 has been announced as another Lara Croft origin story, expect more updates to this page soon.
I welcome your corrections and suggestions. Click to contact me.
The Evolution of Lara Croft by Rivendell. Click for full-size image.
ABOUT LARA CROFT
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Birth Date: February 14
Birthplace: Wimbledon, London, England
Title: Countess of Abbingdon
Residence: Croft Manor, Surrey, England
Blood Type: AB-
Height: 5' 9" / 1.75 m
Weight: 130 pounds / 59 kilo
Measurements: 34D-24-35 / 86-61-89
Hair Color: Brunette/Auburn
Eye Color: Brown
Marital Status: Single
Parents: Richard Henshingly Croft, 10th Earl of Abbingdon (father); Amelia
Croft, Countess of Abbingdon (mother), both deceased |
LARA'S HISTORY
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February 14, 1968 – Lara Croft born Parkside Hospital, Wimbledon, London (original biography)[1]
Ages 3-11 – Lara received instruction from a private tutor. (Core)[2]
Ages 3-6 – Lara attended Abbingdon Girls School (Crystal)[3]
Age 9 – Lara and her mother, Amelia, were involved in a plane crash in the Himalayas, after which Lara's mother vanished under mysterious circumstances. (Crystal)[3]
Ages 10-15 – Lara accompanied her father on various expeditions. (Crystal)[3]
Age 11 – Lara explored a haunted island off the coast of Ireland. (Black Isle levels TRC)[4]
Age 15 – Lara's father disappeared in Cambodia. (Crystal)[3]
Ages 11-16 – Lara attended Wimbledon High School for Girls. (Core)[2]
Age 16 – Lara accompanied Werner Von Croy to Angkor Wat, Cambodia, to retrieve the Iris. (TRLR)[2]
Age 16? – Lara infiltrated a Russian military base attempting to retrieve an
artifact called the Spear of Destiny. (TRC)[5]
Ages 16-18 – Lara attended Gordonstoun Boarding School in Scotland.
Ages 18-21 – Lara attended an exclusive Swiss finishing school. (Core)[2]
OR
Ages 18-21 – Lara attended college, where she became friends with Amanda Evert. During this time, Amanda was trapped at an archaeological dig site in Peru. Although her remains were never recovered, she was presumed dead. (TRL)[3]
Age 21 – On the way home from a skiing trip, Lara's chartered plane crashed
in the Himalayas, leaving her the only survivor. After a 2-week trek through the wilderness, she returned
to civilization a deeply changed person. She has since devoted her life to solitary exploration and adventure.
(Core)[2]
AND
Age 21 – Lara visited Rome in search of the Philosopher's Stone. (TRC)[6]
OR
Age 21 – While traversing the waters off the coast of Japan, the vessel on which Lara is traveling is destroyed, leaving her shipwrecked on a mysterious island. The young relic hunter becomes the hunted as she struggles to survive. (TR9)[7]
? – After being disowned by her family, Lara inherited a mansion in Surrey
from a great aunt. (Core)[8]
?? – Since Lara's father's body was never recovered, a family feud over
the Croft title and lands ensued. Lara eventually won the legal battle but as a result is now
estranged from her relatives. (Crystal)[9]
? – Lara's first globe-spanning adventure involved the search for a
mysterious artifact called the Scion. (TR1/TRA) [6]
? – Lara returned to Egypt and Atlantis. (TRUB)
? – Lara hunted for the fabled Dagger of Xian. (TR2)
? – Lara visited Alaska to find the Mask of Tornarsuk. (TRGM)
? – Lara traveled the world in search of four artifacts forged from an
ancient meteorite. (TR3)
? – After learning of the existence of a fifth meteorite artifact, Lara
set out to recover it. (TRLA)
27 – Lara sneaked into Von Croy Industry headquarters to steal the Iris
artifact from her old mentor. (TRC)[10]
31 – On another visit to Egypt, Lara accidentally released the entombed
spirit of the evil god, Set, and had to re-imprison him in order to avert a worldwide cataclysm.
At the end of this adventure, Lara was trapped in a collapsed temple and presumed dead. (TRLR)[11]
31 – Lara's friends gathered at Croft Manor to mourn her loss. Meanwhile, in
Egypt, Werner Von Croy attempted to find Lara, dead or alive. (TRC)[5]
? – Werner Von Croy was murdered and Lara became a suspect. In order to
clear her name, Lara sought to discover the real killer. In the process, she came up against a
sinister cabal and joined forces with another young adventurer, Kurtis Trent, to foil the cabal's
evil plot. (TRAOD)
?? – Lara searched for the fragments of a sword rumored to be King
Arthur's weapon, Excalibur, in the hope that it would help her locate her mother, who disappeared when
Lara was a child. Amanda Evert, an acquaintance from Lara's college days, who had also vanished under
mysterious circumstances, reappeared. She was also searching for this legendary weapon, though for
different reasons. (TRL)
?? – Lara continued to pursue the truth behind her mother's disappearance.
Following leads left by her father, she sought a set of artifacts—the gauntlets, belt, and
hammer belonging to the Norse god Thor—which Lara hoped would enable her to gain entrance to a
mystical underworld where she believed her mother was imprisoned. (TRU)
?? – Lara returned to the ruins of Croft Manor
(destroyed in TRU) to locate a powerful artifact her father had hidden there. She encountered the
doppelganger created by Natla (in TR1/TRA) and enlisted her to help finish Natla once and for all...perhaps. (BTA/LS) |
TOMB RAIDER WORLD MAP
Map showing the locations of each of Lara's major adventures courtesy of Wikipedia. Check out the Wikipedia Tomb Raider page for full-size map and loads of other game info.
GAME CHRONOLOGY
Note that most of the major games in the series had staggered release dates for various platforms and regions. The dates listed are the main launch dates.
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November 1996 - Tomb Raider
November 1997 - Tomb Raider II: Starring Lara Croft
March 1998 - "Unfinished Business" and "Shadow of the
Cat" free bonus levels for TR1
November 1998 - Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft
April 1999 - "The Golden Mask" free bonus levels for TR2
November 1999 - Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
December 1999 - The Times exclusive free bonus level for TR4
March 2000 - Tomb Raider: The Lost Artifact stand-alone expansion for TR3
June 2000 - Tomb Raider (Game Boy Color)
November 2000 - Tomb Raider Chronicles and the Tomb Raider Level Editor
July 2001 - Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword (Game Boy Color)
November 2002 - Tomb Raider: The Prophecy (Game Boy Advance)
June 2003 - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
November 2003 - Tomb Raider: The Osiris Codex (Java mobile)*
September 2004 - Tomb Raider: The Quest for Cinnabar (Java mobile)*
September 2004 - Tomb Raider: Elixir of Life (Java mobile)*
April 2006 - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend
June 2006 - Lara Croft's Poker Party (Java mobile)
July 2006 - Tomb Raider: Puzzle Paradox (Java mobile)
November 2006 – Tomb Raider: Legend (Game Boy Advance)
November 2006 - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Action Adventure (DVD)
December 2006 – Tomb Raider: Legend (Java mobile)
June 2007 - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary
December 2007 - Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Java mobile)
November 2008 - Tomb Raider: Underworld
December 2008 - Tomb Raider: Underworld (2D and 3D Java mobile)
February 2009 - "Beneath the Ashes" expansion for TRU (Xbox 360)
March 2009 - "Lara's Shadow" expansion for TRU (Xbox 360)
August 2010 - Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
TBA 2012 – TOMB RAIDER (currently in development)
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*The mobile game release dates may not be accurate, since the games came
out at different times in different countries. To the best of my knowledge, these are the North American release dates.
LARA CROFT VOICE & MOTION CAPTURE ACTORS
Minnie Driver
(Re\Visioned Tomb Raider animated series 2007)
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Heidi
Moneymaker
(motion capture
2008)
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Dana Reed
(motion capture
2008)
web site
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Chrissy Weathersby Ball
(motion capture
2008)
web site
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Photo credits appear below.
TEN YEARS OF TOMB RAIDER: A GAMETAP RETROSPECTIVE
This 42-minute documentary, featuring a brief history of all things Tomb Raider, ran in nine installments on GameTap.com in the spring of 2007. It was also included on a bonus DVD with the Tomb Raider: Anniversary Collector's Edition. Keeley Hawes, the current voice of Lara, narrates.
Special thanks to Guns and Grapple for sharing it on YouTube.
ABBREVIATION KEY:
TR1 (Tomb Raider)
TRUB ("Unfinished Business" and "Shadow of the Cat"
bonus levels for TR1)
TR2 (Tomb Raider 2)
TRGM ("The Golden Mask" bonus levels for TR2)
TR3 (Tomb Raider 3)
TRLA ("The Lost Artifact" expansion for TR3)
TRLR (Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation)
TRC (Tomb Raider Chronicles)
TRAOD (Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness)
TRL (Tomb Raider: Legend)
TRA (Tomb Raider: Anniversary)
TRU (Tomb Raider: Underworld)
BTA/LS ("Beneath the Ashes" and "Lara's Shadow"
expansions for TRU)
TR9 (TOMB RAIDER, release date TBA)
REFERENCES:
(1) Lara's original biography lists her birth year as 1968. Apparently the
developers didn't foresee how long the series would endure. Later biographies don't mention
the year, enabling our heroine to remain forever young.
(2) The biography created by the developers at Core Design described Lara's early education and upbringing. It was later expanded to incorporate additional backstory in TR: The Last Revelation.
(3) When Crystal Dynamics took over development for TR: Legend, Lara's history was revised. (See below for links to Lara's original and revised bios.)
(4) According to WikiRaider's well-researched timeline, Lara's adventure in Ireland took place after her trip to Cambodia with Von Croy. The Official Tomb Raider Files, written by Core Design's Susie Hamilton, and the Tomb Raider Chronicles video trailer (referenced below in #5) both list the Irish story first.
(5) The official preview video trailer for Chronicles (available on YouTube) gives the 1968 birth date for Lara. It also dates the flashback episodes in that game as follows: VCI - 1995, Rome - 1989, Russia - 1984, Ireland - 1979. It seems unlikely that Lara single-handedly infiltrated a Russian military base at age 16, but this is what the developers would have us believe. The Official TR Files book places the Russian adventure between Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider 2, which seems more reasonable.
(6) It is unclear whether Lara's adventure in Rome in Chronicles occurred before or after the events in the original Tomb Raider. In Rome, when Lara is supposedly 21 (see note 5), she seems to be acquainted with Larson and Pierre, who also appeared in Tomb Raider, and she apparently kills both men in both games. The Official Tomb Raider Files is no help here. On its world map page, the note on Rome says: "Here she meets her old enemies Larson and Pierre..." but the book's timeline page refers to Rome as "Lara's first solo adventure" and lists it before the events in Tomb Raider. So perhaps she met them before the events in either game.
(7) In Tomb Raider (TR9) to be released in 2011, instead of a plane crash Lara survives a shipwreck and must fight for survival on a remote island.
(8) The events marked with a '?' are from the Core Design timeline and are
ordered according to The Official Tomb Raider Files. In some cases this sequence differs from the
WikiRaider timeline. Lara's exact age at the time of these events is unknown.
(9) The events marked with a '??' are from the Crystal Dynamics timeline. Again, Lara's exact age for each event is unknown.
(10) According to The Official Tomb Raider Files, the VCI HQ adventure in Chronicles occurred after Tomb Raider 2 & 3, yet Lara has the Iris artifact in her trophy room in Tomb Raider 2. Contradictions abound!
(11) The Chronicles trailer video gives 1999 as the year Lara disappeared at the end of The Last Revelation, the same year the game was released in real time.
SOURCES & OTHER LINKS:
Hamilton, Susie. The Official Tomb Raider Files. London: Carlton Books, Ltd., 2001.
Personal correspondence with Brian Chew of the Tomb Raiders Traveler's Guide and the late Kerrie Reay, of MacRaider, who encouraged me years ago to finish this page. I'm sorry she couldn't be here to see it. I miss you, K.!
WikiRaider.com
(great source for all things Tomb Raider)
Wikipedia: Tomb Raider and Wikipedia: Lara Croft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider#Canon
(overview of contradictory bios)
http://www.wikiraider.com/index.php/Lara_Croft
(original and new bios)
http://trinity.westhost.com/tomb/lara.html
(slightly augmented original bio)
http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/lara/old_bio.html
(original bio)
http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/lara/info.html
(new bio)
PHOTO CREDITS:
Shelley Blond - spotlight.com
Judith Gibbins - goodcomps.com
Jonell Elliot - fanpix.net
Keeley Hawes - keeley-hawes.com
Minnie driver - minniedriver.net
Heidi Moneymaker - facebook.com
Dana Reed - v10stunts.com
Chrissy Weathersby Ball - chrissyweathersbyball.com
Audio icon by Tonev
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instead.
