Friday, May 29, 2020

Tomb Raider Timeline Updated!






The intention of this timeline is to work much of the Tomb Raider Franchise into one cohesive timeline. I am limiting this to event in Lara Croft’s life so no expansions on the history of the artefacts she finds. I am working on the assumption that the new “Survivor” game continuity is a prequel to the earlier games and that the “Legend” games are also part of this continuity. Any speculation on my part to explain any discrepancies will be clearly indicated.

There have been three games called Tomb Raider the 1996 original, the 2000 Gameboy game and the 2013 reboot. I will be referring to the games as Tomb Raider followed by their year. The 2018 movie will be referred to as Tomb Raider 2018. 

Other adventures will be referred to by their subtitles as we know they are Tomb Raider products. I will also be referring to the source for each entry and the media type (So the novel Tomb Raider: The Lost Cult will be referred to as The Lost Cult (novel))

I won’t be including fan productions as much as I have enjoyed many of them. I also won’t incorporating references to Lara Croft (in Rob Hayes Adventures Rob tells a female friend she is not Lara Croft) or characters dressing as Lara Croft (Ally McBeal, Looney Tunes, Dexter, How I met Your Mother.) The holographic projection of Lara in an episode of Totally Spies is also excluded.

I’m excluding advertisements that treat Tomb Raider as just a game for example one of the later Lucozade commercials has Lara drinking a Lucozade while the game is paused.

What’s new? 

Since I did the original back in 2017, Dark Horse released the two four issue miniseries Survivor’s Quest and Inferno, there was a new game Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and a tie-in novel Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Path of the Apocalypse. There was a new movie starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft.

This time I've decided just to list the games and not the expansion levels - the timeline is very long and Shadow of the Tomb Raider had seven DLC levels and they are effectively part of the games.

I did a deep dive into the Top Cow Tomb Raider comics including the appearances in other Top Cow titles. I was never happy with the original placement of the comics and I did a bit more moving things around. The biggest move was for Tomb Raider Journeys, the 12 issue series instead of taking place near the time of publication in 2001 was moved to 1994, a year that had very few adventures – which actually worked much better as issue 5 had Lara’s ten year high school reunion which would have been in 1994.

I didn’t realise that there were 3 different Tomb Raider/Witchblade titles only having one in the original timeline, I also had Dark Crossings and Monster War as one shots when there were two and four issues respectively in those miniseries.

To my eternal shame, I realised that I had forgotten U2’s Elevation video clip from the movie soundtrack in the original timeline, that has been fixed. As far as I can tell none of the songs from that soundtrack had a Lara Croft video clip.

Timeline 

14 Feb 1968 
Lara Croft born to Lord Richard Croft and Amelia Croft (Core Design Bio) (Legend - Game)

1971 - 1979
Private Tutoring Ages 3-11 (Core Design Bio)

1977
Lady Amelia Croft and Lara are in a plane crash. Amelia disappears and Lara walks out (Legend –game)

1979 - 1984
Wimbledon High School for Girls ages 11-16 (Core Bio)





1980
“Pre-Teen Raider” (Re/Visioned animation) (Gail Simone advises that Lara is about 12) Lara is a student at Croft Academy.

Speculationon: It may be that Lara was expelled after this exploit and moved to Wimbledon High School for Girls.

1984
Lara graduates Chesterfield Private Academy (Journeys 5)
Speculation: The book says class of 1992, this must be an error as Lara was 24 at that time. Chesterfield is a co-ed school so it cannot be Wimbledon School for Girls. It seems likely that Lara went to multiple schools and the Core Bio simplified her academic history.

Training with Von Croy in Ankor Wat (The Last Revelation –Game)

“Black Isle” (Chronicles Game)

1985
Lord Richard Croft dies (differing accounts are given in Rise of the Tomb Raider– Game, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – Movie and Legend –Game)

(The 2018 Tomb Raider movie has Lord Richard presumed dead and does not die until the events of that movie)

Speculation Lara is adopted by her uncle Lord Henshingly Croft and his wife. Neither are fans of Lara adventuring and try to mould her into a proper lady. The adoption explains why in 1996 her father is listed as Henshingly Croft in the first game.

1984-1987
Gordonstoun Boarding School ages 16-18

1987-1989
Swiss Finishing School ages 18-21

1989
Plane crash 21 year old Lara is only survivor (Core Bio)

1990
Excavation Massacre (Legend – Game)


The Beginning (Dark Horse Comic)

Tomb Raider 2013 (game)

Speculation: The Tomb Raider 2018 (movie) – could be viewed as a simplified version of this game but I’ve gone with a different interpretation and placed it after Shadow of the Tomb Raider. YMMV. (Basically the movie is too different from the game to be an adaptation of the game but has enough elements from the game to make it hard for it to be its own story and to make it work either way requires a fair amount of damage to the movie))

The Ten Thousand Immortals (novel)

Season of the Witch (Dark Horse Comic 1-6)

1991 
Secrets and Lies (Dark Horse Comic 7-12) 

Queen of Snakes (Dark Horse Comic 13-18)

1992 


Rise of the Tomb Raider (Game)

Spore (Dark Horse Comic 1-6)
Speculation: Spore features a 1996 flashback this must be a 1976 flashback.

Trial and Sacrifice (Dark Horse Comic 7-12)

Survivor’s Quest (Dark Horse Comic Miniseries 1-4)

Inferno (Dark Horse Comic Miniseries 1-4)

1993




Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Path of Apocalyse (Novel)
This is a novelisation of the early part of the Shadow of the Tomb Raider Game.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Game)

Tomb Raider (2018) (Movie)
Speculation: After the apocalyptic events of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara temporarily retires from tomb raiding and becomes a cycle courier before being drawn into a mystery about her father’s death which ends with her buying her trademark weapons. The movie uses some elements of the 2013 game but is a different adventure. (Basically the movie is too different from the game to be an adaptation of the game but has enough elements from the game to make it hard for it to be its own story and to make it work either way requires a fair amount of damage to the movie)

1994 
Tomb Raider Journeys 1-7 (comic)

Finds Bigfoot (Tomb Raider 1996 – Game)

Tomb Raider Journeys 8-12 



Finds Ark of the Covenant (Tomb Raider 1996 - Game)

1995
Mean Machines (comic)

Philosopher’s Stone (Chronicles – Game)

1996 


Tomb Raider 1996 & Anniversary (Games)

1997 
Vendetta (Tomb Raider/Witchblade 1 - comic)

Witchblade/Tomb Raider ½ (Comic) This comic is a sequel to Vendetta.

Tomb Raider II (Game)

Tomb Raider/Witchblade (Top Cow Comic)



Lucozade (commercials) (the last commercial is not counted)




PlayStation Commercial



ZDnet Commercial

“Tibet Air” (Short Story)

1998
Witchblade/Tomb Raider 1 (Comic)



PlayStation Commercial

Tomb Raider III (Game)



Seat Cars (Commercials)

Spear of Destiny (Chronicles –Game)





Die Artze “Manner Sind Schweine” (Music video)

Tomb Raider 2000 (Game)

1999

Dark Aeons (Comic)

The Medusa Mask 1-4 (Comic)



Brigitte Magazine (Commercial)



“Hemos terminado con él” The Companeros (Spanish TV Episode)

The Time’s Exclusive Bonus Level (Game)

The Last Revelation (Game)

Tomb Raider Chronicles (Framing Sequence – Game)



The Amulet of Power (Novel)

Dark Crossings: Dark Clouds Rising (Comic)

Dark Crossings: Dark Clouds Overhead (Comic)

The Merlin Stone 5-6 (Comic)



The Resurrection of Taras (Fathom 12-14, Fathom Crossover Tour Book – Comic)
(The Crossover Tour book seems to be set during the events of issue 13 – and is five page story where Aspen recaps the first issue. The artwork does not appear in the three issues. There is also a three page bit where we see a drawing of each of ladies in the story Aspen Matthews, Lara Croft and Sara Pezzinni and a paragraph from the other two characters about that character.)

Dead Centre 7-10 (comic)

2000 
The Tomb Raider Technical Manual (Book)

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Movie + Novelisation)



U2 “Elevation” (Music Video)

Tomb Raider/The Darkness 1 (Comic)

Chasing Shangri-La 11-12 (comic)

Grim Reaper 13-15 (Comic)

Tomb Raider 0 (Comic)

2001 
Pieces of Zero 16-17, 19-20 (Comic)

Year of the Cat 18 (Comic)

Curse of the Sword (Game)

The Trap: Path of the Tiger 21-23 (Comic)



Scarface’s Treasure (Comic)

Medusa’s Garden 24 (Comic)

2002 
The Prophecy (Game)



The Osiris Codex (Game)

The Quest for Cinnabar (Game)

The Elixir of Life (Game)

Endgame (Tomb Raider 25, Witchblade 60, EVO 1 – Comic)

Abyss 26-28 (comic)

Strange Flesh 29- 30 (Comic)

Tomb Raider: Apocalypse (Game)

2003
Conquista 31 (comic)

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life (Movie + Novelisation)



Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness (Game)
(The Action Adventure/The Board Game/Flash Game versions and comic adaptation issues 32-34)

Epiphany (Top Cow comic One Shot)

Black Legion 35-37 (Comic)



G4 – (Commercial)



Visa - Monster Chase (Commercial)

The Lost Cult (novel)

The Man of Bronze (novel)

2004
Sphere of Influence (comic)

Takeover (comic)

Bloodstone 38-39 (Comic)

Risen 40 (Comic)

Spirit Walker 41-42 (Comic)

Arabian Nights (Comic)

Tower of Souls 43-44 (Comic)

Signs and Portents - Witchblade 78 (Comic)

Inner Demons 45 (Comic)

Gathering Storm 46-48 (Comic)

2005 
Vendetta 49 (Comic)

Alpha/Omega 50 (Comic)
In this comic Lara finds the Fountain of Youth and is seen adventuring into the far future.

Monster War (comic 1-4)

The Greatest Treasure of All (comic)

2006 
Legend (game)

The Reckoning (game)

Puzzle Paradox (Game)

2007


The Keys to the Kingdom (3 Parts) (Re/visioned Animation)

Revenge of the Aztec Mummy (Re/Visioned Animation)

Angel Spit (2 Parts)( Re/Visioned Animation)

Lara Croft Legacy (Re/Visioned Animation)

Raising Thermopolis (Re/Visioned Animation)

A Complicated Woman (Re/Visioned Animation)

2008
Tomb Raider Underworld (Game - also has a board game)

2010
Lara Croft and Guardian of Light (game)

2013
Lara Croft Reflections Card Game (Game)

2014 
Lara Croft and Temple of Osiris (Game)

2015
Lara Croft Relic Run (game)

Lara Croft Go (Game)

Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen (comic)

2016
Lara Croft and the Blade of Gwynnever (novel)

TOMB RAIDER MEDIA ITEMS 

Games

The Core Series –Original Timeline
Tomb Raider 1996

Tomb Raider II 1997

Tomb Raider III 1998

Tomb Raider: The Times Exclusive 1999

Tomb Raider the Last Revelation 1999

The Tomb Raider Chronicles 2000



Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness 2003
(The Action Adventure/The Board Game/Flash Game versions and comic adaptation) 

Crystal Dynamics – Legend Reboot
Tomb Raider Legend 2006

Tomb Raider Anniversary 2007

Tomb Raider Underworld 2008

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light 2010 

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris 2015

Survivor Reboot
Tomb Raider 2013

Rise of the Tomb Raider 2015

Shadow of the Tomb Raider 2018

Gameboy Games
Tomb Raider 2000

Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword 2001

Tomb Raider: The Prophecy 2002

Interactive TV Games
Tomb Raider: Apocalypse 2002

Tomb Raider: The Reckoning 2006

Mobile Phone Games 
Tomb Raider: The Osiris Codex 2003

Tomb Raider: The Quest for Cinnabar 2003

Tomb Raider: The Elixir of Life 2003

Tomb Raider: Puzzle Paradox 2006

Lara Croft Reflections 2014

Lara Croft Relic Run 2015

Lara Croft Go 2015

Board Games
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness 2003 

Tomb Raider: Underworld 2009

DVD Game 
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Action Adventure 2006
(adaptation of Angel of Darkness)

Flash Game Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness 2004

Books 
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Tech manual by Michael Jan Friedman 2001

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Movie Novelisation by Dave Stern 2001

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life Novelisation by Dave Stern 2003

Tomb Raider The Amulet of Power by Mike Resnick 2003

Tomb Raider The Lost Cult by E.E. Knight 2004

Tomb Raider The Man of Bronze by James Alan Gardner 2005

The Ten Thousand Immortals by Dan Abnett & Nik Vincent 2014

The Blade of Gwynnver by Dan Abnett & Nik Vincent 2016

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Path of the Apocalypse by S.D Perry 2018
(Fun fact S.D. Perry is the daughter of Steve Perry who wrote Indiana Jones and The Army of the Dead)

Short Stories
“Tibet Air” in Lara’s Book: Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider Phenomenon by Douglas Coupland 1998 (reprinted in Tomb Raider Archives Vol 3.

Movies
Lara Croft Tomb Raider 2001

Lara Croft Tomb Raider Cradle of Life 2003

Tomb Raider 2018

TV
The Companeros “Hemos terminado con él” 1999 (tie in for Last Revelation) 

Commercials
PlayStation 1997 & 1998

Lucozade 1998 & 2001

Seat Cars 1999

Brigitte Magazine 1999

ZDnet 2000

Visa Monster Chase 2003

G4 2003

Video Clips
Die Artze “Manner Sind Schweine” 1998

U2 “Elevation” 2001

Re/Visioned 2007
The Keys to the Kingdom (3 Parts)
Revenge of the Aztec Mummy (1 part)
Angel Spit (2 Parts)
Lara Croft Legacy (1 part)
Pre Teen Raider (1 part)
Raising Thermopolis (1 part)
A Complicated Woman (1 part)

Comics
Mean Machine Sega #46 (reprinted in Tomb Raider Archives Vol 1)
Untitled story that I called “Mean Machine” predate the release of the first game 

Glenat
Dark Aeons 1999

Top Cow Comics

Top Cow Crossovers
Tomb Raider/ Witchblade 1997

Witchblade Tomb Raider ½ 2000

Witchblade/Tomb Raider 1 1998
 (Tales of the Witchblade 9 is a follow up to this story -while Lara appears on the cover she does not appear in the story)

Dark Crossings: Dark Clouds Rising 2000 

Dark Crossings: Dark Clouds Overhead 2000

Fathom the Resurrection of Taras 12-14 2000-2002,  Fathom The Crossover Tourbook 2000

Tomb Raider The Darkness 2001

Top Cow Book of Revelations 2003

Monster War 2005
     1 Magdalena vs Dracula
     2 Tomb Raider vs The Wolf-Men
     3 Witchblade vs Frankenstein
     4 The Darkness vs Mr Hyde

Tomb Raider 25 (Endgame part 1)

Witchblade 60 (Endgame part 2)

EVO 1 (Endgame part 3)

Witchblade 78 (Lara cameo)

Witchblade 84 (Witchblade lists Lara as a friend and an image of Lara appears)

1999-2005 Tomb Raider Series
       The Medusa Mask 1-4
       Merlin Stone 5-6
       Dead Centre 7-10
       Chasing Shangri-La 11-12
       Grim Reaper 13-15
       Pieces of Zero 16-17, 19-20
       Year of the Cat 18
       The Trap: The Path of The Tiger 21-23
       Medusa’s Garden 24
       Endgame 25 (Crossover with Witchblade #60/EVO #1)
       Abyss 26-28
       Strange Flesh 29-30
       Conquista 31
       The Angel of Darkness 32-34 (Comic Adaptation of Game) 
       The Black Legion 35-37
       Bloodstone 38-39
       Risen 40
       Spirit Walker 41-42
      Tower of Souls 43-44
      Inner Demons 45
      Gathering Storm 46-48
      Vendetta 49
      Alpha/Omega 50

Tomb Raider Journeys 1-12 2001-2003

Top Cow One Shots
Tomb Raider Origins 2000

Scarface’s Treasure 2003

Epiphany 2003 (AOD tie-in)

Takeover 2004

Sphere of Influence 2004

Arabian Knights 2004

The Greatest Treasure of All 2005

Dark Horse Comics
The Beginning 2013 (Digital only)

Tomb Raider 
     Season of the Witch 1-6
     Secrets and Lies 7-12
     Queen of Serpents 13-18

Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen 1-5

Tomb Raider II
      Spore 1-6
      Trials and Sacrifice 7-12

Tomb Raider: Survivor’s Quest 1-4

Tomb Raider: Inferno 1-4

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