Summary
Lara Croft has been on a plethora of adventures in her time, and it’s fair to say that along those many journeys, she’s come across some incredibly dangerous yet intriguing villains who have pushed her to her limits on numerous occasions. Because a big part of theTomb Raidergames is exploring environments and uncovering secrets, it means that the major villains of the games often linger behind the scenes and will only face Lara head-on when absolutely necessary.
With that being said though, there are some who have gone to some drastic lengths in an attempt to stop Lara in her tracks, and this has ultimately made them extremely memorable to a lot of longtime fans of the series. With the original trilogy remaster just around the corner, there’s no better time to reflect on the greatest villains who have appeared throughout theTomb Raidergames and what exactly makes them so iconic.
Not long after Lara and her crew crash onto a mysterious island inTomb Raider(2013), she eventually comes to learn that the island itself has actually been completely overrun by a dangerous cult led by a charismatic but maniacal leader known as Mathias. Similar to Lara’s group, Mathias’s plane landed on the shores of the island many years before the beginning of the game, but his isolation eventually led him to insanity and made him a devout worshiper of the Sun Queen, whom he believes is actually in control of the island’s weather.
He may have lost his mind, but Mathias is still an incredibly influential leader, with each of his many cult members following his every command, no matter how ruthless or violent it may be. He comes very close to killing Lara on numerous occasions and even succeeds in capturing her friend Sam as part of a disturbing ritual. Although he doesn’t show up in person until near the end of the story, even just hearing about Mathias is enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.
During the events ofRise of the Tomb Raider, multiple groups set their sights ona mystical artifactknown as The Divine Source, which is said to be able to grant immortality to whoever uses it. One of these groups is Trinity, a ruthless organization that does everything they can to get their hands on the artifact by any means necessary and their leader, Konstantin, is a merciless but ultimately very complex villain whose devious tactics push Lara to her absolute limit.
Konstantin is a deeply religious man and believes that God has allowed only him to retrieve the Divine Source so that he can rid the world of din, even if this means taking an immense number of lives in the process. He also longs to retrieve the artifact for his sister, Ana, who is implied to be dying from a severe illness that will take her life very soon if Konstantin doesn’t complete his mission in time. Therefore, it’s fairly understandable why Konstantin would need the Divine Source, but his merciless way of going about retrieving it makes him incredibly vicious all the same.
After accidentally freeing the Egyptian god of evil and chaos, Seth, from his tomb inThe Last Revelation, Lara finds herself in a race against time to recapture him, knowing fully well just how much carnage this ancient entity could cause if he’s let loose for too long. After his throne was stolen from him by Horus, Seth has long intended to one day be restored so that he could unleash his vengeance and terror across the world, something he would have nearly pulled off if not for Lara’s intervention.
What really makes Seth such a stand-out villain, aside from his incredibly uniqueancient Egyptian design, is just how scary he actually is as an antagonist. It’s made very clear throughout the game that Seth possesses an immense amount of power that can destroy the world very easily, with even Lara herself showing fear at the mere sight of him. He’s definitely one of Lara’s most intimidating foes, and that’s saying something considering the sheer amount of villains she’s come across in her time.
Lara actually comes across her first doppelganger inTomb Raider: Anniversary, and while it definitely seems unusual and very peculiar to the adventurer, she pays it no mind and quickly re-adjusts her focus to the mission at hand. InTomb Raider: Underworld,though, her second doppelganger becomes a much bigger hurdle for her to overcome, being an upgraded version of the real Lara in every way possible, including her physical strength, which she demonstrates on numerous occasions.
The doppelganger goes to some extreme lengths to tear Lara down, including placing a bomb inthe Croft Manor, which takes a massive toll on Lara’s mental state, with even Zip coming to believe that it was the real Lara who initiated the attack because of their similar appearances. The doppelganger will occasionally show up to try and apprehend Lara throughout her journey and always puts up an incredibly difficult fight thanks to her combat expertise, such as in Helheim, where she even comes close to killing Lara if not for Amanda’s interruption.
At the beginning ofRise of the Tomb Raider, Ana starts off as a close companion of Lara who tries to play herself off as a caring and considerate person who just doesn’t want her to go on any adventures that may be considered dangerous. However, it turns out a few hours into the game that this was actually all a facade, and Ana had been monitoring Lara and the Divine Source all along and was willing to turn on Lara the moment she got the chance. Ana may not be very threatening from a physical standpoint, but she’s a master manipulator who can turn anyone to her side with just a few simple words of encouragement, even going as far as to try and recruit Lara into Trinity in an attempt to subdue her.
What also makes Ana a villain that fans just love to hate is howshe was previously romantically involved with Lara’s father, which wasn’t something she did out of love but simply because she was ordered to spy on him due to his intriguing research on the supernatural, which Trinity felt like could be useful to them. She’s a truly unforgivable antagonist, and the way she double-crosses Lara without a second thought shows just how ruthless and selfish she really is.
Widely considered to be the most recognizable villain of the entireTomb Raiderseries, Natla is a sharp-tongued, cunning, andincredibly influential businesswomanwhose obsession with “progressing” the human race through any means necessary makes her very dangerous as an individual. After seeing the Atlantean people as inferior beings who were not fit to live in the world, she decided to try and make use of an incredibly powerful artifact known as the Atlantean Scion in order to create what she envisioned as being a “Superior Race.”
After being frozen in a stone capsule, NatIa eventually awoke from her slumber in 1945 and quickly used her tech expertise to found NatIa Technologies, which she would use to help achieve her goal. NatIa initially intended to use Lara for her own purposes before betraying her, but once the clever archaeologist caught on to her plans, the two engaged in quite a heated rivalry that would span across the entire first game. NatIa’s weird backstory and twisted ideology have made her quite a fascinating villain, and she became so popular that there have even been other iterations of her that have appeared throughout the series since.
