Virtual Lara
  • News
  • Main Games
    • TOMB RAIDER 1
    • TOMB RAIDER 2
    • TOMB RAIDER 3
    • TOMB RAIDER: THE LAST REVELATION
    • TOMB RAIDER CHRONICLES
    • TOMB RAIDER: THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS
    • TOMB RAIDER LEGEND
    • TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY
    • TOMB RAIDER UNDERWORLD
    • TOMB RAIDER (2013)
    • RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER
    • SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER
    • TOMB RAIDER 12
  • OTHER GAMES
    • EXPANSIONS >
      • TR1: UNFINISHED BUSINESS
      • TR2: GOLDEN MASK
      • TR3: THE LOST ARTEFACT
      • TOMB RAIDER THE TIMES EXCLUSIVE
    • HANDHELDS >
      • TOMB RAIDER (GBC)
      • TOMB RAIDER CURSE OF THE SWORD (GBC)
      • TOMB RAIDER THE PROPHECY
    • TOMB RAIDER MOBILE GAMES
    • iOS/ANDROID >
      • LARA CROFT RELIC RUN
      • LARA CROFT GO
      • TOMB RAIDER RELOADED
    • SPIN-OFF GAMES >
      • LARA CROFT AND THE GUARDIAN OF LIGHT
      • LARA CROFT AND THE TEMPLE OF OSIRIS
    • TABLETOP RPG GAMES >
      • TOMB RAIDER TRADING CARD GAME
      • LARA CROFTS TOMB RAIDERS
      • TOMB RAIDER SHADOWS OF TRUTH RPG
      • TOMB RAIDER THE CRYPT OF CHRONOS
    • TOMB RAIDER TV GAMES
    • TOMB RAIDER CASINO GAMES
    • REMASTERED GAMES >
      • TOMB RAIDER 1-3 REMASTERED
      • TOMB RAIDER 4-6 REMASTERED
  • MOVIES/TV
    • LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER
    • TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE
    • TOMB RAIDER (2018)
    • TOMB RAIDER REVISIONED
    • NETFLIX TOMB RAIDER
    • PRIME TOMB RAIDER LIVE ACTION
  • BOOKS/COMICS
    • BOOKS
    • COMICS
  • LARA CROFT
    • BIOGRAPHIES
    • LIVE MODELS
    • LARA'S HOME
    • INTERVIEWS WITH LARA
  • MERCHANDISE
    • MERCHANDISE OVERVIEW
    • PRESS DOCUMENTS
    • LARA C DEVELOPMENT
    • PROTOTYPES
    • OFFICIAL STORES
    • MERCH STORE GALLERIES
  • TRLE
    • TRLE OVERVIEW
    • TRLE DOWNLOADS
    • TRLE HISTORY
    • TRLE ENGINES
    • TRLE CHALLENGES
    • TRLE GLOSSARY
  • FRANCHISE
    • SERIES OVERVIEW
    • THE TOMB RAIDER SUITE
    • TOMB RAIDER THE LIVE EXPERIENCE
    • CANCELLED MEDIA >
      • TOMB RAIDER 4 GOLD
      • TOMB RAIDER THE SECRET OF SHANGRI-LA
      • TOMB RAIDER 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
      • RAIDERS
      • CROFT ACADEMY
      • LARA CROFT REFLECTIONS
      • CANCELLED TOMB RAIDER 4 MOVIE
    • SPONSORS
    • FRANCHISE ANNIVERSARIES
  • TOMB RAIDER HISTORY
    • TIMELINE
    • TR UNIVERSE TIMELINE
    • CORE DESIGN HISTORY
    • CORE DESIGN PRESS DOCUMENTS
    • CORE DESIGN TEAM PICTURES
    • CRYSTAL DYNAMICS TEAM PICTURES
    • CAMEOS
    • CROSSOVERS
    • TIDBITS
  • FUN
    • TR AT VALENTINES
    • TR AT CHRISTMAS
    • FUN AND MINI GAMES
    • TR WEBSITES REVISITED PORTAL
    • CALENDAR
  • Links
Picture
Early Biographies
​Classic Biography
TR4 Young Lara Biography
​The Angel of Darkness Biography
Legend Biography
Tomb Raider (2013) Biography
Tomb Raider Movie Biography
Other Biography Details
​Live Models
​
Lara's Home
​TR Universe Timeline
Interviews with Lara
Vertical Divider

Tomb Raider Legend Biography - 2006

Picture
Lady Lara Croft is an 11th generation Countess. The Croft family was granted the title and rights to Abingdon, Surrey by King Edward VI in 1547. The Croft Estates are comprised of three separate manor houses, two of which are maintained by the National Trust, and the third is home to Lady Croft. 

Lady Croft herself has suffered several personal tragedies, including the deaths of both parents on separate occasions before she came of age. Reputably an accredited genius and Olympic-standard gymnast, Lady Croft is the focus of wild speculation and intense debate in both the scientific and political communities in addition to the popular press. Idealized and vilified in equal measure, she is perhaps one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures of our time.

​Lara Croft was born in Surrey's Parkside hospital to Lady Amelia Croft and the notorious archaeologist Lord Richard Croft, the late Earl of Abingdon. Between the ages of three and six, she attended the Abingdon Girls School, where it quickly became clear that she was an exceptionally gifted child. 


At the age of nine she survived a plane crash in the Himalayas that took the life of her mother. In perhaps the first story of her prodigious indomitability, she somehow survived a solo ten-day trek across the Himalayan Mountains, one of the most hostile environments on the planet. The story goes that when she arrived in Kathmandu she went to the nearest bar and made a polite telephone call to her father asking if it would be convenient for him to come and pick her up.

For six years following the plane crash, Lara rarely left her father's side, travelling around the world from one archaeological dig site to another. During this period she was ostensibly given a standard education from private tutors, but it would probably be more accurate to say she was her father's full time apprentice. 

When Lara was fifteen, her father went missing in Cambodia. Extensive searches by the authorities and Lara herself turned up human remains that could not definitively be identified. Since Lord Croft's body was not officially recovered, Lara could not directly inherit the Croft title and Lara was thrust into a bitter family feud over control of the Abingdon estates with her uncle Lord Errol Croft. Lara eventually won the legal battle, and took possession of her inheritance but at the cost of a deep rift in the Croft family that left her estranged from her living relatives. 

Lady Lara Croft has already eclipsed her father's career; as of this writing she is credited with the discovery of some fifteen archaeological sites of international significance. These sites are still yielding new and exciting insights to the past on an ongoing basis. No one can deny Lady Croft's incredible contribution to the field of archaeology; however she is not without her detractors. 
Lara's methods have been frequently called into question by government officials and other practicing archaeologists. She has been described variously as anything from cavalier to downright irresponsible. Some scholars have suggested that her notorious lack of documentation and brute force methodology have contaminated countless sites and done more harm than good. There have even been (unsubstantiated) allegations that Lara actually takes items from these sites before informing the international community of their locations, and that she is nothing more than a glorified treasure hunter. 
​
Despite the tabloid press's infatuation with her, Lara Croft guards her privacy with complete determination. She has never granted an interview nor made any personal comment to any of the rumours associated with her, preferring to express herself through brief formal statements given by the family solicitors, Hardgraves and Moore. 

Predictably there have been a number of unofficial biographies printed about the young Countess, that attribute wild and fantastic feats to her exploits, ranging from the discovery of living dinosaurs in the Congo to infiltrating the infamous Area 51 in Nevada. The official line from the Croft Estate to these works is simply that "...these books are utter rot: disgraceful, trashy works of total fiction." 

Nevertheless if you even make a cursory search on the Internet for the unexplained, the mysterious and the downright unbelievable, time and again you will find Lara Croft's name appearing. She appears to be a hero to conspiracy theorists and alternate history aficionados alike. 
​
It seems the further you dig into Lady Croft's life, the more bewildering and mysterious she becomes. Perhaps like the archaeological sites she discovers, we have only scratched the surface of this incredible woman and the complex and inscrutable secrets buried deep within her.

About Us | Blog | Tomb Raider Encyclopedia | Site Updates 
Virtual Lara ~ Official Tomb Raider Fansite
Circa 2020


Tomb Raider © Crystal Dynamics group of companies. TOMB RAIDER, LARA CROFT, and
CRYSTAL DYNAMICS are trademarks of the Crystal Dynamics group of companies. 
  • News
  • Main Games
    • TOMB RAIDER 1
    • TOMB RAIDER 2
    • TOMB RAIDER 3
    • TOMB RAIDER: THE LAST REVELATION
    • TOMB RAIDER CHRONICLES
    • TOMB RAIDER: THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS
    • TOMB RAIDER LEGEND
    • TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY
    • TOMB RAIDER UNDERWORLD
    • TOMB RAIDER (2013)
    • RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER
    • SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER
    • TOMB RAIDER 12
  • OTHER GAMES
    • EXPANSIONS >
      • TR1: UNFINISHED BUSINESS
      • TR2: GOLDEN MASK
      • TR3: THE LOST ARTEFACT
      • TOMB RAIDER THE TIMES EXCLUSIVE
    • HANDHELDS >
      • TOMB RAIDER (GBC)
      • TOMB RAIDER CURSE OF THE SWORD (GBC)
      • TOMB RAIDER THE PROPHECY
    • TOMB RAIDER MOBILE GAMES
    • iOS/ANDROID >
      • LARA CROFT RELIC RUN
      • LARA CROFT GO
      • TOMB RAIDER RELOADED
    • SPIN-OFF GAMES >
      • LARA CROFT AND THE GUARDIAN OF LIGHT
      • LARA CROFT AND THE TEMPLE OF OSIRIS
    • TABLETOP RPG GAMES >
      • TOMB RAIDER TRADING CARD GAME
      • LARA CROFTS TOMB RAIDERS
      • TOMB RAIDER SHADOWS OF TRUTH RPG
      • TOMB RAIDER THE CRYPT OF CHRONOS
    • TOMB RAIDER TV GAMES
    • TOMB RAIDER CASINO GAMES
    • REMASTERED GAMES >
      • TOMB RAIDER 1-3 REMASTERED
      • TOMB RAIDER 4-6 REMASTERED
  • MOVIES/TV
    • LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER
    • TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE
    • TOMB RAIDER (2018)
    • TOMB RAIDER REVISIONED
    • NETFLIX TOMB RAIDER
    • PRIME TOMB RAIDER LIVE ACTION
  • BOOKS/COMICS
    • BOOKS
    • COMICS
  • LARA CROFT
    • BIOGRAPHIES
    • LIVE MODELS
    • LARA'S HOME
    • INTERVIEWS WITH LARA
  • MERCHANDISE
    • MERCHANDISE OVERVIEW
    • PRESS DOCUMENTS
    • LARA C DEVELOPMENT
    • PROTOTYPES
    • OFFICIAL STORES
    • MERCH STORE GALLERIES
  • TRLE
    • TRLE OVERVIEW
    • TRLE DOWNLOADS
    • TRLE HISTORY
    • TRLE ENGINES
    • TRLE CHALLENGES
    • TRLE GLOSSARY
  • FRANCHISE
    • SERIES OVERVIEW
    • THE TOMB RAIDER SUITE
    • TOMB RAIDER THE LIVE EXPERIENCE
    • CANCELLED MEDIA >
      • TOMB RAIDER 4 GOLD
      • TOMB RAIDER THE SECRET OF SHANGRI-LA
      • TOMB RAIDER 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
      • RAIDERS
      • CROFT ACADEMY
      • LARA CROFT REFLECTIONS
      • CANCELLED TOMB RAIDER 4 MOVIE
    • SPONSORS
    • FRANCHISE ANNIVERSARIES
  • TOMB RAIDER HISTORY
    • TIMELINE
    • TR UNIVERSE TIMELINE
    • CORE DESIGN HISTORY
    • CORE DESIGN PRESS DOCUMENTS
    • CORE DESIGN TEAM PICTURES
    • CRYSTAL DYNAMICS TEAM PICTURES
    • CAMEOS
    • CROSSOVERS
    • TIDBITS
  • FUN
    • TR AT VALENTINES
    • TR AT CHRISTMAS
    • FUN AND MINI GAMES
    • TR WEBSITES REVISITED PORTAL
    • CALENDAR
  • Links