Difference between revisions of "Richard James Croft"

Revision as of 12:34, 4 September 2009

Lord Richard James Croft (also known as Henshingley Croft in the earlier games or Richard Henshingley Croft in the movies) is Lara's father, and the husband of Amelia Croft.

The original Tomb Raider biography

In the pack insert for the original Tomb Raider game we are told that Lord Henshingley Croft - at that time there was no mention of the name Richard - had his daughter brought up as an aristocrat, sending her to a Swiss finishing school. However after the Tokakeriby plane crash, thanks to her rebellion against the stifling demands of the English aristocracy, her family disowned her. We are led to assume that Lara lives alone on the family estate, the Croft Mansion, attended by old retainer Winston. The whereabouts of her parents is not revealed.

Tomb Raider Chronicles

At the beginning of Tomb Raider Chronicles Lara is missing in Egypt, presumed dead. The FMV shows her memorial statue being visited by a huddled couple in the rain. It was generally supposed by the TR fandom at the time that the couple were Lara's parents, both apparently still alive and visiting their daughter's grave.

Movie Storyline

In the first Tomb Raider movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Lara's father - now named Richard Croft and played by Angelina Jolie's real-life father John Voight - was an archaeologist (now deceased) and a former member of the Illuminati. Lara finds an old letter from her father hidden in the Croft Mansion telling her about the society's agenda. Flashbacks establish that Lara and her father were close when she was a child, and imply that her mother is dead.

Tomb Raider Legend

According to the storylines told in Tomb Raider Legend, Anniversary and Underworld Lara's father Richard Croft was an archaeologist, who after his wife's disappearance travelled all over the world investigating archaeological sites and ruins in search for a stone dais, similar to the one where she had disappeared. During this time, he raised and taught Lara alone. However, he disappeared and was declared legally dead, although his remains have never been found. Even Lara unearthed human remains that could not be identified as his. From what Winston says, we are inclined to believe that he had quite a collection of artefacts.

Tomb Raider Anniversary

According to the Tomb Raider Anniversary storyline, Lord Richard Croft was tutored at Eton in anthropology and archaeology. With the considerable wealth of the Croft family behind him, Richard spent his younger years mounting innumerable expeditions to historical sites world wide in an effort to support his unconventional hypothesis of a base culture that pre-dated known history. Richard and his wife, Lady Amelia DeMornay, had Lara only a year after marrying. Nine years later, after Amelia disappeared in a plane crash, Richard sank further and further into obsession, consumed with discovering what had become of her. A few years later, he himself died while on a dig in Cambodia. Template:Citation needed

Tomb Raider Underworld

In Tomb Raider Underworld, it is revealed that Richard found one of Thor's gauntlets and hid it in his manor in England. He also worked for Natla, but then discovered her true plans. As a clue he leaves behind a note signed as "RJC" - Richard James Croft -, which according to Lara he never did before, which points her to his father, her grandfather, Richard James Croft Senior's tomb under Croft Manor. Later in the game, Natla claims to have killed Richard Croft in Thailand.

Gallery

• 

  The mourners in the rain from the opening of Chronicles

• 

  Jon Voight as Lord Richard Croft

• 

  Lara as a child with her father

• 

  Lord Croft's memorial stone from the movie.

• 

  Portrait of Lord and Lady Croft from Legend

References