Original Timeline

The Original Timeline is the first timeline and the beginning of the Tomb Raider franchise.

Lara Croft[]

The initial Lara Croft is portrayed as an explorer with a "take no prisoners" attitude who engaged in her adventures in large part just for the thrill of it.

Raised in British Aristocracy, Lara lived a life of luxury, though surviving a plane crash, and being forced to survive in the wilderness on her own, changed her. Bored by upper class society, Lara decided to live a life of adventure, much to the dismay of her parents, who disowned their prodigal daughter. Lara turned to writing to finance her adventures, writing a series of travel guides and books about her adventures.

Lara was heralded as a gaming icon and even as a sex symbol, and the pinnacle of a strong female lead.

Media[]

Games[]

The initial timeline, has the most games that tell a chronological story, although all of them tell individual adventures and do not connect with each other.

• Tomb Raider
  • Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business
• Tomb Raider II
  • Tomb Raider II: Golden Mask
• Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft
  • Tomb Raider III: The Lost Artefact
• Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
  • Tomb Raider: The Times
• Tomb Raider: Chronicles
• Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Novels[]

A series of novels was written to chronicle what happened, between The Last Revelation and the Angel of Darkness

• Tomb Raider: The Amulet of Power
• Tomb Raider: The Lost Cult
• Tomb Raider: The Man of Bronze

Chronology of Events[]

Millions of years BC^[1]

• A large meteorite falls into the jungles of Antarctica.

Unknown Time

• One of the rulers of Atlantis, Natla, is imprisoned for abusing her powers of the Atlantean Scion. She is put in frozen hibernation beneath the desert of Los Alamos, New Mexico

Unknown Time

• The Polynesians of Antarctica sculpt five artifacts out of meteorite material. Soon, mutations started occurring in their newborn and they fled Antarctica for Polynesia leaving the artefacts there.

Unknown Time

• The monks of Tibet stand in the way of Chinese Dragon Emperor's conquests where they do battle at the Great Wall. The Emperor would be defeated and the Dagger of Xian returned to its resting place.

2900 BC

• The Egyptian god Set is outwitted by his nephew, Horus and is imprisoned in a secret tomb at the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It is said that Set will return seeking vengeance at the turn of a distant millennia.

1445

• Pieter Van Eckhardt is imprisoned

1573

• Brother Herbert of St. Francis' Folly writes his prayer journal which mentions rumors of Tihocan's tomb and his piece of the Atlantean Scion being buried beneath their monastery.

1809

• Charles Darwin is born.

  

1812

• Paul Caulfield is born.

1834

• Charles Darwin's expedition travel on the HMS Beagle around the world. At Antarctica, the five sailors discover four meteorite artefacts. Paul Caulfield is killed by a wolf and the remaining four travel around the world where the artefacts end up. India, Nevada, South Pacific and England.

1924

• Winston is born.

1940

• Werner Von Croy is born.

1944

• Grant Muller is born.

1945

• In April, a German U-Boat submarine carrying the Spear of Destiny sinks.
• May 24th - a Newspaper featuring an Inuit whale hunter holding what appears to be the Mask of Tornarsuk is published.
• August 13th - Margot Carvier is born.
• July 16th - Natla is freed from her imprisonment when a US bomb test explodes near her prison.
• Pieter Van Eckhardt escapes from confinement and takes one of the three Periapt Shards with him.

1947

• Igor Yarofev is born.

1949

• Charles Kane is born.

1951

• January 17th - Pierre Dupont is born.
• February 28th - Peter Stothard is born.
• October 25th - Bernard is born.
• December 9th - Marco Bartoli is born.

1954

• Bram Patrick Dunstan is born.

1956

• Louis Bouchard is born.

1957

• February 3rd - Mark Willard is born.

  

• John is born.

1958

• Sergei Mikhailov is born.

1962

• Marten Gunderson is born.

1964

• Chan Barkhang is born.
• Robert Smith is born.

1965

• Anton Gris is born.

1967

• Kristina Boaz is born.
• Larson is born.

1968

• February 14th - Lara Croft is born.

1969

• Sophia Leigh is born. (likely to be a false birth date created by Sophia)

1970

• Ahmed Ben Trayal is born.

1971

• Lara Croft begins private tutoring.
• Tony is born.

1972

• June 26th - Kurtis Trent is born.

1974

• Zip is born.

1979

• Lara Croft enrolls at Wimbledon High School.

1982

• April 23rd - Lara Croft stowaways on Father Bram Patrick Dunstan's hired boat and travels to an island in Connussie, Ireland.^[2]

1984

• Lara moved to Gordonstoun Boarding School in Scotland.^[3] Here, her History teacher was Charles Kane.
• Lara Croft accompanies Professor Werner Von Croy on an expedition to Cambodia. Lara returns alone.

1986

• Lara Croft enrolls at Swiss Finishing School.

1987

• Kristina Boaz survives a plane crash which leaves her with a permanent scar.

1989

• Lara Croft survives a plane crash in the Himalayas.
• July 15th - Lara Croft searches for the Philosopher's Stone in Rome where she is rivaled by Larson and Pierre Dupont.^[2]

Unknown Year

• After her plane crash and before the search for Scion, Lara discovers the Ark of the Covenant.

1995

• February 15th - Lara Croft searches for the Spear of Destiny. She's not the only one. A Russian mafia led by Sergei Mikhailov has bribed the navy to use one of its submarines to go in search of the Spear.^[2]

1996

• Lara Croft is hired by Ms. 'Jacqueline' Natla of Natla Technologies to recover the Atlantean Scion.
• Lara Croft recovers a couple statues of Egyptian goddess Bastet and puts a final end to Natla's mutants.

1997

• Lara Croft searches for the Dagger of Xian where she is rivalled by the Fiamma Nera led by Marco Bartoli.
• Lara Croft searches for the Mask of Tornarsuk in Alaska.

1998

• Lara Croft recovers the Infada Stone in India and is soon hired by Doctor Mark Willard of R.X.Tech to recover similar artefacts found in Nevada, the South Pacific and London.
• Lara Croft learns of a fifth meteorite artefact and goes in search of it across Scotland, England and France.

1999

• Lara Croft breaks into Von Croy Industries and steals the Iris.^[2]
• Lara Croft is hired by The Times to continue Howard Carter's exhibition as new tunnels have been discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb.
• December - Lara Croft recovers the Amulet of Horus and has released the Egyptian god Set. Lara is also rivaled by her former mentor Professor Werner Von Croy. Lara must use all her wit and skill to reimprison Set and save the world from Armageddon.

2000

• Lara Croft is presumed dead and her closest friends, Winston, Father Bram Patrick Dunstan and Charles Kane hold a memorial service for her where they remember Lara's past adventures. Meanwhile, Professor Werner Von Croy coordinates a dig at the Great Pyramid in Egypt to discover Lara's fate.
• Lara's father and mother visit her memorial statue.

2003

• Lara Croft resurfaces in Paris.
• Werner Von Croy is killed by "The Monstrum".
• Margot Carvier is killed by "The Monstrum".
• Daniel Rennes is killed by "The Monstrum".
• Mathias Vasiley is killed by Pieter Van Eckhardt.
• Thomas Luddick is killed by Pieter Van Eckhardt.
• Grant Muller is killed by Kristina Boaz.
• Kristina Boaz is killed by Kurtis Trent.
• Pieter Van Eckhardt is killed by Joachim Karel.

Notes[]

• The birth dates of many characters were first established in Editions Atlas' Tomb Raider Official Fact Files with the exception of those already established like Lara Croft, Kurtis Trent and some characters from Tomb Raider: Chronicles.
• In the Tomb Raider: Chronicles Press Kit Lara is mentioned to be sixteen in 1982 Black isle adventure, but considering Lara's birth year of 1968, she should of been fourteen then.^[2]
• In the Tomb Raider: Chronicles Press Kit Lara goes after the Iris in 1999, but the artefact already appears in her collection in Tomb Raider III, which takes place in 1998.

References[]