Lara Croft — Tomb Raider

The Endurance’s wreck strands Lara and the surviving crew on Yamatai, where the Solarii, led by Mathias, seek a new vessel for the spirit of Himiko. They seize Sam, whose family claims descent from the ancient queen. Lara comes to understand that Himiko’s presence and the island’s violent storms are linked, and that simply fleeing will not break the trap holding the survivors.

Roth repeatedly helps Lara, but he dies protecting her from the Solarii. Other expedition members are also lost, and grief puts strain on the remaining crew. Lara persists through the island’s defenses, confronts Mathias, interrupts the attempt to use Sam as Himiko’s host, and destroys the force sustaining the curse. The surviving expedition members escape; Lara’s understanding of the supernatural has changed, and she is no longer content with ordinary explanations of the past.

In Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara follows clues about the immortal Prophet and the Divine Source from a tomb in Syria into Siberia and the lost city of Kitezh. Trinity seeks the same relic; the organization had already assassinated her father during his own investigation. In Siberia, Lara faces Trinity commander Konstantin and Ana, his sister and a former lover of Richard Croft who is secretly working with Trinity. She also meets Jacob, the man behind the legend of the Deathless Prophet, and encounters the people who have protected his secret for centuries.

The Divine Source grants immunity to aging, illness, injury, and death, but takes the soul of anyone who gazes upon it. Lara reaches it before Trinity can secure its power and ultimately destroys it. Doing so denies Trinity an instrument of immortality but also ends Jacob’s unnaturally extended life. Jonah, who has warned that the search can consume her, remains a vital companion; when he is in danger, she is forced to confront the cost of treating discovery as her only priority.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara and Jonah track Trinity into Mexico. Fearing that Trinity will seize a sacred dagger, the Key of Chak Chel, Lara takes it herself. Without the companion Silver Box of Ix Chel, removing the dagger initiates the Cleansing. A tsunami devastates Cozumel. In the aftermath, Jonah sharply challenges Lara’s insistence that pursuing Trinity must take precedence over helping the people around them. Her good intentions do not undo the harm caused by acting too quickly.

Their search leads into Peru and Paititi, whose conflict is entwined with Trinity’s leader, Dr. Dominguez, also known as Amaru. Lara encounters Unuratu, the city’s rightful ruler, and becomes implicated in the struggle over the Key and the Box. After Rourke kills Unuratu, Lara must carry forward the effort to stop the Cleansing. Her willingness to surrender the Silver Box when Jonah is threatened also reveals that she can choose a person over a powerful relic.

At the City of the Serpent, Lara allies with the Crimson Fire and the Yaaxil against Amaru. When she defeats him, the power of Kukulkan passes to her and tempts her with the prospect of restoring the lost childhood she wanted with her parents. She refuses to remake reality for herself. Submitting to the ritual administered by the Crimson Fire, she allows that power to be sacrificed so the Sun can be restored.

With Trinity defeated and the Cleansing stopped, Lara returns to Paititi and talks with Jonah about remaining there for a while. Having spent so long pursuing the next answer, she now wants to spend time among living people. Shadow ends the Survivor game trilogy on a change in her priorities rather than another search for a relic.