- I'm imagining...and I don't get it. Elaborate, perhaps?
- Because she has really big feminine aspects?
- There was a special comic series where Lara had a crossover with Witchblade.
- She found another time portal and used it to get to Avalon. However, thousands of years previously another portal was opened in ancient Atlantis. Amanda inadvertantly travelled back to this point and the Atlanteans declared the mysterious future woman to be their ruler. They had her DNA mixed with Atlantean DNA, so she could gain their powers (immortality, wings, etc.) but still retain her (slightly modified) human appearance. Amanda took the name Natla from the weird crates she'd seen lying around...
- And then, upon returning to the present as Natla, had the crates put there so that her past self would see them and take her name from them. How's that for a Stable Time Loop?
- Well, Natla was only one of three rulers of Atlantis - Tihocan and Qualopec were the others.
- Megajossed by Underworld.
- She's apparently indestructible. Lara kills her with electrocution in TRIII, then again with the radioactive meteorite in The Lost Artefact. However, theres no indication that she actually died the second time (we get the same pyrotechnic display on both 'deaths'). Quite likely she's out there somewhere, horribly mutated by the slime and unable to die, with her only wish to exact revenge on Lara...
- The biggest change that Anniversary made to the plot of the original game was the introduction of a backstory about Lara's father searching for the Scion, we also know from Legend that he always believed his wife was alive and was searching for Avalon. It's hard to imagine that the search for the Scion came first (Lara was nine when her mother "died", but she was old enough to help her father look for the Scion) so perhaps he had reason to believe that the Scion would help him in his quest. And of course, the return of Natla suggests that we haven't seen the end of the Atlantis plot.
- Underworld has Natla but no Atlantis. Jossed.
- Why do you say that? Clearly the presence of a winged, fireball-throwing Atlantean demigod would imply the existence of said former kingdom?
- Underworld has Natla but no Atlantis. Jossed.
- Jossed. Legend is a soft reboot on the franchise, keeping the vague concept of the character and taking Broad Strokes approach to everything that happend previously. Meanwhile Anniversary is different from the original first Tomb Raider not only because it's a remake, but because it's part of a different continuity. And technically, AoD never happend at all. It's all backed by Word of God. Still I must admit this is the best attempt to weld together both continuities I've read in a while.
SPOILERS!
From Tomb Raider: Legend, the two sides of the conversation through the portal edited together:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiFlkeNlFtE
The whole thing started when young Lara messed with the sword in the dais in Nepal, after the plane crash. They've miraculously survived a plane crash in the mountains, but surviving the night will be just as tough. Listen to Amelia, "Lara, have you found anything for the fire?" That's a mother putting on a brave face for her child, holding tight to the necessities of survival. Lara repays her care and worry by making more trouble, ultimately causing her mother to vanish.
Again, observe Amelia. "No, get back!" while quickly and instinctively moving her daughter away from this new unknown danger. Then young Lara's "There's something in the light," causes her mother to move back into danger, while ordering "Stay here." The future Lara speaks, "It's Lara, your daughter."
In Amelia's current state of mind this is a powerful trigger phrase. Facing a terrifying unknown she turns to look at young Lara while asking "What about my daughter?", then a plaintive "You stay away from her. She meant no harm."
Then Amanda, despite being abandoned by Lara to drown; despite Lara's bull in a china shop approach that led to the death of Rutland, her benefactor; despite her defeat at Lara's hands in unnecessary combat, Amanda still tries to help.
Even now if Lara had listed to Amanda's advice all would have been well. Her half-hearted attempt to pull out the sword turns into a cowardly retreat, sealing her responsibility for her mother's fate.
Lara suffers a psychotic break, screaming and shooting, but not to kill, not even to wound. She does finally lash out physically, "From now on your every breath is a gift from me," is a reflection of Lara's realization that's a gift she stole from her own mother.
From now on she'll consciously blame anyone but herself for Amelia's doom, but she knows who's responsible. Older Lara puts a brave face on it.
Younger Lara notes carefully the configuration of the stones, leaving behind the drawings of the Yeti along with her childhood. Lara's "This is what it's always been about" is oh so true.
But not half as true as, "Amanda said you were sloppy."
When Lara meets her mother in Underworld she goes into full denial, shouting whiny self-justification for having to finally deal with the mess she's made of her life, her father's life, and most horrifyingly, her mother's life.
At the end of Underworld Lara no longer cares what Amanda does, "Would killing me make us even?" as she sheathes the weapon that had defeated Amanda before. Perhaps she's hopeful that Amanda will take her burdens from her. What's Lara to do with her life-long motivation not only gone, but an abject failure?
Then she picks up her childhood drawings of the Yeti. She's returning to her childish fantasies in an attempt to escape from the reality of her guilt.
At the end Lara's Shadow she goes even farther in projecting her guilt. Instead of just blaming Amanda, she turns to pointlessly torturing others.
- JoveHack
- I think Natla is still alive but trapped in that pool until the end of time.
- Only that it's strongly implied it's a philosopher's stone, not the Philosopher's Stone.
- Canon with Rise, where they are the main antagonists.
- Seconded. Personally, I think the Trinity refers to her, Tihocan and Qualopec. Not to mention, it has been fashionable as of late to introduce the expected arch nemesis later (e.g. Dark Knight Trilogy, Man of Steel, Iron Man Trilogy, Sherlock Holmes, etc.)
- Jossed. The alternate ending for Shadow was going to tie this in by having Lara recieve a letter from Natla, but the team decided they didn’t want to tie the new trilogy down to any existing continuities.
- Which as far as anyone is concerned, is established lore ever since Tomb Raider I and kept canon by everyone and their dog within the entire franchise.
My theory is that these tombs themselves have possessed or otherwise got into the animals and forced them to act as their guardians. Tihocan, for example, could have possessed the animals that were once used for entertainment on the Colisseum, giving them the ability to live for far longer than what they should and not requiring food or water to survive. Essentially, Tihocan and his brother Qualopec, did this so the animals could serve as the eternal guardians of the tombs. They could not grant them complete invincibility, which is why Lara can kill them with normal weapons. They only gave them the ability of not dying due to old age and not succumb to hunger or thirst.
This could help explain the odd locations of the animals and why they were able to survive for so many centuries. It was all the work of Qualopec, and Tihocan to ensure their tombs and the Scion would at least be a bit more protected, being wise enough to not rely only on the traps that were already built. I am not sure if the dinosaurs from the Lost Valley were also subjected to this or if they truly did manage to survive there for so long on their own.
