50 Fun Facts About Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider's first design starred a male hero, dropped for being too similar to which film adventurer?

Indiana Jones loomed over the first sketches, a man with a whip and a hat, until Core Design's co-founder asked for more originality. The switch to a woman followed.

Which actress played Lara Croft in the 2001 Tomb Raider film and its sequel, The Cradle of Life?

Angelina Jolie acted opposite her real father, Jon Voight, who played Lord Croft, and the two wrote their scenes together.

Which butler can players trap inside the walk-in freezer at Croft Manor in Tomb Raider II?

Winston follows Lara around the house so slowly that players lead him into the freezer and shut the door. The remaster even awards an achievement for it.

Tomb Raider II opens with Lara Croft hunting the Dagger of Xian beneath which famous landmark?

The Great Wall hides the Dagger's chamber, and Lara's escape at the end of the game blows part of it apart.

Which secretive US site does Lara Croft infiltrate to recover the artifact Element 115 in Tomb Raider III?

Area 51 holds the artifact inside an alien spacecraft guarded by the US government, reached after Lara crosses a Nevada desert canyon.

Which legendary sword does Lara Croft race her former friend Amanda Evert to find in Tomb Raider: Legend?

Excalibur turns out to be one of many ancient swords, broken into pieces and scattered across the world by King Arthur's knights.

Which mythical weapon, the key to Helheim, does Lara Croft seek in Tomb Raider: Underworld?

Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, kills most enemies instantly once Lara finally wields it in the last two levels.

Scenes for the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider were shot at the Ta Prohm temple in which country?

Cambodia had not hosted a major film shoot since Lord Jim in 1964, before the years of Khmer Rouge rule.

Which British actor played American treasure hunter Alex West in the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider?

Daniel Craig took the part five years before his debut as James Bond in Casino Royale.

Which mythical object, said to hold a deadly plague, does Lara Croft hunt in the film The Cradle of Life?

Pandora's box floats in a pool of black acid when Lara finds it, a nod to one of the myths about it. MI6 tips her off to the hunt.

Which console received the original Tomb Raider first in 1996, shortly before it reached the PlayStation?

Sega Saturn owners in Europe played it first under a timed exclusivity deal, which forced the developers to finish that version six weeks early.

In which English city did Core Design create Lara Croft and the first six Tomb Raider games?

Derby now has a road named Lara Croft Way and gives the character a place on its walk of fame.

Which artist created Lara Croft, left Core Design in 1997 and returned for Tomb Raider: Legend?

Toby Gard went through about five designs before settling on Lara's final look, and co-wrote the story of Legend on his return.

What was Lara Croft called during early development, when she was written as a South American adventurer?

Laura Cruz became Lara after a look through a baby-names book, and her new surname was picked out of a local phone book.

Which British publisher released the first Tomb Raider in 1996 and owned its developer, Core Design?

Eidos Interactive later licensed Lara out to television adverts selling Visa cards and SEAT cars.

Which Japanese company took ownership of Tomb Raider in 2009 by buying Lara Croft's British publisher?

Square Enix oversaw the 2013 reboot and its two sequels, then sold the series to Embracer Group in 2022.

Which American studio, makers of Legacy of Kain, took over the Tomb Raider games from Core Design?

Crystal Dynamics started work in 2004 in California, and its first effort, Legend, arrived two years later.

Which Tomb Raider game's troubled 2003 release cost Core Design control of the series it had created?

Angel of Darkness arrived after a production beset by problems, and its planned sequels were scrapped. The next game went to an American studio.

Which 2007 Tomb Raider game is a full remake of Lara Croft's original 1996 adventure?

Anniversary began as a Core Design project to mark the first game's tenth birthday, but that version was cancelled and the series' new studio built the remake instead.

Which Tomb Raider game came with a level editor on PC, letting fans build tombs of their own?

Chronicles was the last game built on that generation of technology, so Core Design put its level-building tools on a second disc.

The 1996 Tomb Raider begins with Lara Croft seeking the tomb of Qualopec in which country's mountains?

Peru is the first of the game's four zones, followed by Greece, Egypt and the lost island of Atlantis.

The first Tomb Raider sends Lara Croft after three pieces of which artifact from Atlantis?

The Scion was split between three rulers, and the businesswoman who hires Lara to find it turns out to be the one who betrayed the other two.

Which businesswoman hires Lara Croft in the first Tomb Raider, then proves to be the game's villain?

Jacqueline Natla returns as an enemy in Underworld, more than a decade after Lara first sent her tumbling into a crevasse.

In which Italian city does Lara Croft race a speedboat to an abandoned opera house in Tomb Raider II?

Venice gave the game's composer one of his favorite pieces, written to sound like Baroque music in the style of Vivaldi.

Which vehicle does Lara Croft ride through the foothills of Tibet in Tomb Raider II?

A snowmobile was one of the vehicles newly added for the sequel; the original game had kept Lara on foot.

In Tomb Raider II, anyone who plunges the Dagger of Xian into their own heart becomes which creature?

A dragon is what cult leader Marco Bartoli becomes for the final battle, which Lara ends by pulling the Dagger back out of his heart.

On which continent, the site of an ancient meteorite crater, does Tomb Raider III reach its finale?

Antarctica closes the game with water so cold that Lara can swim in it for only a few seconds.

Taking the Amulet of Horus frees which god in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation?

Set, the god of chaos, breaks loose from his tomb, and Lara spends the rest of the game trying to summon his rival to lock him away again.

Which mentor of the teenage Lara Croft turns against her in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation?

Werner Von Croy's haste sets off a trap in the opening flashback, forcing Lara to escape without him. Years later he pays her guide to betray her.

In the classic Tomb Raider backstory, Lara Croft survives a plane crash at 21 in which mountain range?

The Himalayas left her stranded for two weeks, an ordeal that turned her away from her old life and toward adventure.

On which lost island off Japan, once ruled by a Sun Queen, is Lara Croft stranded in 2013's Tomb Raider?

Yamatai has trapped Portuguese traders, US Marines and a Japanese military project over the centuries, as the relics Lara finds there reveal.

Which writer, who also worked on Heavenly Sword and Mirror's Edge, was lead writer of 2013's Tomb Raider reboot?

Rhianna Pratchett, whose father was Terry Pratchett, also wrote a graphic novel about how the game's doomed voyage came to be.

Rise of the Tomb Raider sends Lara Croft hunting the legendary city of Kitezh in which frozen region?

Siberia's lost city was designed after research trips to Turkey, including Cappadocia, Istanbul and Ephesus.

Which ancient order of knights turned paramilitary force battles Lara Croft in Rise of the Tomb Raider?

Trinity returns in the next game, where its leader admits to ordering the death of Lara's father.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft triggers an apocalypse foretold by which civilization?

The Maya apocalypse, known as the Cleansing, begins when Lara takes a dagger from a temple and would end in a permanent solar eclipse.

Which Grey's Anatomy actress played Lara Croft in the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot and its two sequels?

Camilla Luddington was revealed as the new Lara in June 2012, a month before she joined the hospital drama as Jo Wilson.

Which pick-up restores Lara Croft's health in the original Tomb Raider, in small and large sizes?

Medi-packs sit in Lara's inventory beside ammo, keys and the artifacts needed to finish each stage.

Which comics publisher launched the first Tomb Raider series in 1999 and paired Lara Croft with Witchblade?

Top Cow kept the monthly series going for fifty issues, until 2005, having won the rights only after a long struggle.

Which ability in 2013's Tomb Raider highlights enemies, collectables and puzzle objects around Lara Croft?

Survival Instinct returns in both sequels, and in Shadow of the Tomb Raider it can even warn whether a stealth takedown will alert nearby enemies.

Which Swedish actress took over as Lara Croft for the 2018 Tomb Raider film?

Alicia Vikander's film borrows its island, shipwreck and lost queen from the 2013 reboot game rather than from the earlier movies.

Which British actress voices Lara Croft in Netflix's animated Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft?

Hayley Atwell's series picks up after the reboot trilogy of games and bridges the gap to the classic adventures.

Which British star of Line of Duty became Lara Croft's voice in Tomb Raider: Legend?

Keeley Hawes went on to voice Lara in more games than anyone else, though rumor had first given the part to Rachel Weisz.

Which British actress, later the lead in the film Doomsday, was Lara Croft's official live model in 1997?

Rhona Mitra was one of a long line of models that earned Lara a Guinness World Record for the most official real-life stand-ins.

Which Swedish pop star was an early inspiration for Lara Croft's design?

Neneh Cherry, the singer of Buffalo Stance, and the comic-book character Tank Girl both fed into the design as the artist tried out a string of very different heroines.

Which drinks brand did Lara Croft promote in television adverts, alongside Visa cards and SEAT cars?

Lucozade's commercials were later hailed by Retro Gamer magazine as some of the most memorable adverts to use video game elements.

Which John Woo action film inspired Lara Croft's trademark habit of firing a pistol from each hand?

Hard Boiled, made in Hong Kong in 1992, shares the credit with a short from the animated series Aeon Flux.

Which secret society races Lara Croft for the Triangle of Light in the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider?

The Illuminati need both halves of the artifact, which can control time, before a solar eclipse completes a planetary alignment.

In the 2018 Tomb Raider film, how does Lara Croft earn a living after her father disappears?

As a bike courier she is short of money because she has not claimed her inheritance, still believing her father is alive.

Which British newspaper's 1997 front page is credited with starting Lara Croft's mainstream fame?

The Financial Times was reporting her publisher's strong results and chose a picture of Lara to illustrate the story.

Which Sun Queen, said to control the weather, is worshipped by a violent cult in 2013's Tomb Raider?

Himiko's worshippers, the Solarii Brotherhood, are a mix of criminals, mercenaries and shipwreck survivors.