3.28.2013

Tomb Raider: Lara Croft a Villain?

     Let me start this post off with- I absolutely love this game, and I think it's a great thing that they've made Lara Croft more than the object her character had become.  In fact I hope they make many more games in the series.  BUT...
     ...Ok, this is gonna sound VERY terrible- but I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here- but what if Lara was the villain?  No, really- think about this. 
     I'm just throwing this out there because I see all this hubbub about Uncharted's Nathan Drake being less realistic.  I've read people saying that he makes jokes about all the people he kills.  He doesn't show remorse, he doesn't regret the things he does.  Well, Lara does... once.  After her first actual kill... for like a minute.  (not including the deer she hunted)

     Think about this, the first person to die as a result of her actions was the crazy beard guy in the cave where Lara awakens hanging upside down.  The man with the beard that claims he's there to "help" her- and you know what?  I believe he was there to try and help her.  Look at the state of this man- beard, back pack, worn attire.  He was trying to get to her in a swift manner, possibly so the guards wouldn't spot him.  This isn't just a random goon.  He's someone that was on the run and hiding from the rest of the people on the island.  In Lara's defense, he did go about trying to "help" her in a poor manner.  Granted, his time on the island, presumably scavenging and scrounging for sustenance, may have made him lose some of the general courtesy of introducing oneself to a person in need.
     But anyways- this man died in a botched attempt to assist Lara.

     Later, after wrestling with a man definitely intent on killing her, shoots a man in self defense.  Shortly after that she comments to Roth that it was almost too easy.  (I believe the quote is, "It's scary just how easy that was.")  Could this be the start of another Drake?  Give this some serious thought.  After a single kill, she goes on what appears to be a murder spree.
     She displays sadness for learning (or re-learning) how to use a bow by killing a deer for food. That lasts until she's stuffed her cake hole and moved on.  Really, the mechanic wasn't to learn to hunt and forage for things to keep you alive. It was just for one moment of feeling an ounce of emotion.  And it ended up being the perfect foreshadowing for her killing her first human later on.  A minute of regret and she's off to slay any number of enemies in her path.
     I would say it's pretty damn similar to Drake, because she slays hundreds of others on Yamatai.  All of them would probably rather be alive.  All of them would kill her if it meant surviving.  I would even go as far to say they would even kill to save their friends-   Just.  Like.  Lara.

     Why didn't the game makers show the struggle a bit longer. (perhaps have a stealth option for a NO kills run, like many other recent games)  Make her have extra wobbly hands and horrible accuracy?  It's one thing to be able to hunt animals, but it's a different thing to kill other people.  So I can account for a little of her great initial skills with weapons.
     What might be nice to point out that this situation on the island is a life or death occasion.  Kill or be killed.  Mathias wants to find the Sun Queen's new vessel so she might be appeased into letting people get off the island.  He wants to help his people, just like Lara.  Trying to save their friends.

     In the end, to save her friends, Lara kills a majority of the inhabitants of Yamatai.  In the end it's either Himiko the Sun Queen or Sam.  One would die.  (Also of note, the only human female I recall Lara killing is Himiko)
     Nobody thinks they are the villain, and I suppose to the people that were already struggling and holding on for dear life on the island, Lara was it.  Lara has become just like all of the "enemies" on the island, savage and brutal in their learning to survive.  They should be hiding.  She is coming for them. 

RUN!!!   Even bunnies aren't safe.
     I can only imagine this is what it was like for Robert Neville at the end of Richard Matheson's "I am Legend" -that disturbing moment when he realizes he's become their legendary killer, the stalker in the night, he's become their "Dracula."  He is the villain.

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