Just got this dunno if anyone else has seen it so thought I'd post it. New Lara Bio from Eidos

Lara Croft Bio

Lady Lara Croft is an 11th generation Countess. The Croft family was granted the title and rights to Abbingdon, Surrey by King Edward VI in 1547. The Croft Estates are comprised of three separate manor houses, two of which are maintained by the National Trust, and the third is home to Lady Croft.

Lady Croft herself has suffered several personal tragedies, including the deaths of both parents on separate occasions before she came of age. Reputably an accredited genius and Olympic-standard gymnast, Lady Croft is the focus of wild speculation and intense debate in both the scientific and political communities in addition to the popular press. Idealized and vilified in equal measure, she is perhaps one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures of our time.

Personal History

Lara Croft was born in Surrey?s Parkside hospital to Lady Amelia Croft and the notorious archeologist Lord Richard Croft, the late Earl of Abbingdon.

Between the ages of three and six, she attended the Abbingdon Girls School, where it quickly became clear that she was an exceptionally gifted child.

At the age of nine she survived a plane crash in the Himalayas that took the life of her mother. In perhaps the first story of her prodigious indomitability, she somehow survived a solo ten-day trek across the Himalayan mountains, one of the most hostile environments on the planet. The story goes that when she arrived in Katmandu she went to the nearest bar and made a polite telephone call to her father asking if it would be convenient for him to come and pick her up.

For six years following the plane crash, Lara rarely left her father?s side, traveling around the world from one archeological dig site to another. During this period she was ostensibly given a standard education from private tutors, but it would probably be more accurate to say she was her father?s full time apprentice.

When Lara was fifteen, her father went missing in Cambodia. Extensive searches by the authorities and Lara herself turned up human remains that could not definitively be identified. Since Lord Croft?s body was not officially recovered, Lara could not directly inherit the Croft title and Lara was thrust into a bitter family feud over control of the Abbingdon estates with her uncle Lord Errol Croft. Lara eventually won the legal battle, and took possession of her inheritance but at the cost of a deep rift in the Croft family that left her estranged from her living relatives.

Professional History

Lady Lara Croft has already eclipsed her father?s career; as of this writing she is credited with the discovery of some fifteen archeological sites of international significance. These sites are still yielding new and exciting insights to the past on an ongoing basis. No one can deny Lady Croft?s incredible contribution to the field of archeology, however she is not without her detractors.

Lara?s methods have been frequently called into question by government officials and other practicing archeologists. She has been described variously as anything from cavalier to downright irresponsible. Some scholars have suggested that her notorious lack of documentation and brute force methodology have contaminated countless sites and done more harm than good. There have even been (unsubstantiated) allegations that Lara actually takes items from these sites before informing the international community of their locations, and that she is nothing more than a glorified treasure hunter.

Summary

Despite the tabloid press?s infatuation with her, Lara Croft guards her privacy with complete determination. She has never granted an interview nor made any personal comment to any of the rumors associated with her, preferring to express herself through brief formal statements given by the family solicitors, Hardgraves and Moore.

Predictably there have been a number of unofficial biographies printed about the young Countess, that attribute wild and fantastic feats to her exploits, ranging from the discovery of living dinosaurs in the Congo to infiltrating the infamous Area 51 in Nevada. The official line from the Croft Estate to these works is simply that ?...these books are utter rot: disgraceful, trashy works of total fiction.?

Nevertheless if you even make a cursory search on the Internet for the Unexplained, the Mysterious and the Downright Unbelievable, time and again you will find Lara Croft?s name appearing. She appears to be a hero to conspiracy theorists and alternate history aficionados alike.

It seems the further you dig into Lady Croft?s life, the more bewildering and mysterious she becomes. Perhaps like the archeological sites she discovers, we have only scratched the surface of this incredible woman and the complex and inscrutable secrets buried deep within her.

Tom

Thanks for posting, that was interesting.

I hate it tho. The old bio had much more substance to it. It was just 543029 times better. I mean:

made a polite telephone call to her father asking if it would be convenient for him to come and pick her up.

come on. It just contradicts hard the old bio, why did they even changed her father?s name? They managed to do a mess and they dont seem to even care. Lara?s old bio will always be better, and it makes her much more of an interesting character than this new biography.

BTW, o @ what The Croft States says about those "trashy rumors"

Legend Raider

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I can see the press release of Lara actually confirming them:

"Lara Croft has been to Peru where she discovered dinosaurs, been to a world full of green in another dimension, Area 51 where she found aliens were real and battled an ancient 14th Century alchemist to save the world from the biblical Nephilms."

The world:

"Och noo, the lass is aff her tattie!"

"Why Charles, the girl is very off her head, we shall have to phone her immediately."

"Mon ami! Lara Croft est la tete bravard!"

"G'day mate, this Lara Croft girl is off her head. Blimey!"

(Forgive the very bad French)

I think it's quite good she deconfirms them - otherwise she would be deemed mental. "This is the mental ward coming through!" :laralaugh

Anyway, I'm not too bothered by it anymore. I still don't agree with it but they've tried to combine all the TR franchise world into it and they've did not a too bad job.

Lara Man

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Makes it sound like the Von Croy story of Last Revelation was actually Laras father :-?

And "utter rot: disgraceful, trashy works of total fiction", a little bit harsh on the old games.

But I like it more than the old bio, makes Lara seem like a deeper character. Thanks for posting it, very useful info to have (can't seem to find the official guide).

CS

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I think you're getting a bit confused with the bio in the part where Lara (or a member of her law area) disguises her previous adventures. I think they put that in there so that they can show that Lara is very secretive about her previous life/adventures. I just think they are trying to justify Lara's secrets, after all, for what she did in those games, she could get arrested.

I'm not too bothered about the bio change, if anything, it makes her seem a bit more realistic (Although a 9 year old travelling through the Himalayes all by herself for a couple of days is a bit much!). But then again, I can't see it affecting my game enjoyment, as after all, to me it's just a bio.

MsC

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I get that the Croft States denied the rumors about those adventures for obvious reason. I just dont think it was necessary to call them "trash" or whatever, they could have just said "It is all fiction".

I was noticing, what on this new bio cancells or edit events on previous games? I counted these:

[Not counting how her parents died, or how her father had another name and how their family dineied Lara, because thats doesnt affect the games itself]:

1. Last Revelation?s flashback on Cambodia doesnt exist on this new bio. Ih her father missed on Cambodia when she was 15, I doubt she would come back there at 16 to visit a archeological site with Von Croy. Especially because he booklet of the game says how her parents allowed her to go. So probably Von Croy doesnt exist neither. (wich cancels the whole Last Revelation game).

2. The fact that Lara never gives interviews or talk about her adventures kinda cancells TR1?s first FMV. They show the books she wrote, wich according to this bio, would never happen.

Legend Raider