No, I don’t mean Lara’s obsessions, that nearly kill her many times over the course of the Tomb Raider games and movies. I’m talking about mine. But let’s start over. Hi, my name is Emily, and I’m a queer nerd with some small background in archaeology, and a much bigger background in google-fu. My obsession isn’t with my father’s research (which in my case, focused on stress in education; rather than immortality) but on the Tomb Raider franchise itself. My primary focus is specifically on the Survivor timeline. These newer games reframe Lara as a flawed but earnest adventurer who faces multiple traumas from being orphaned young, neglectful guardianship, and then the multiple near death experiences that begin with her first major expedition being shipwrecked (or, begin with being attacked by militia and a crocodile in the new “Unified” retelling).

Part of my draw is to the character of Lara herself as an ideal – someone who is born into the aristocracy that is ever present in my culture, but rejects it. Someone that chases fact and truth, but also mostly puts the needs and wellbeing of others over her goals. Someone who frankly – I have a lot of body envy over – a truth that also gives me a lot of respect for Noelle Adams, another queer creator in the Tomb Raider fandom who really embodies her “Live More Lara” philosophy in a very literal, musculoskeletal way.

But an equal or greater draw for me is the realism of the modern Tomb Raider games – not in the magical artefacts, Lara’s jumping skills or bullet resistance – but in the way the games’ environments, tools and artefacts are largely built from real world objects. Every piece of climbing gear attached to Lara at the beginning of Rise of the Tomb Raider is an identifiable product from a real brand, not just her iconic DMM Rebel axes. Similarly, as Kelly M of Tomb Raider Horizons notes in one of her own artefact explorations, many of the cultural ‘relics’ Lara comes across are also based on real world historical objects. I find this attention to detail and realism one of the more addicting parts of the games, and it’s a primary motivator for this website – where I plan to explore some of the real scenes of Tomb Raider to the best of my research ability.

I’m greatly inspired by other people in this fandom – cosplayers like Noelle and Raymond Croft, researchers like Kelly (though believe it or not, I started working on this project years before I found her site – much less her awesome Arte-Factual series which you should go read!) and artists like Phương, also known as Cammy Croft. Hopefully I can make some work that is at least a tenth as great as theirs!

Part of that, hopefully, will be exploring these real-world objects tangibly – there’s an element of cosplay in it, though I am not a cosplayer – where possible I want to explore these things practically, with hands on looks at the reality of these objects, and how realistic their existence was in the games. I confess it’s kind of an expensive hobby, but – a fun one! Over the next year, we’ll explore a lot of the things that make up this world. Hopefully, you enjoy these explorations as much as I do! Oh and – for the avoidance of doubt, I don’t plan to break into any museums to try grinding corn on an ancient Metatl. Where I can’t see real objects, I’ll explore reproductions or work virtually. Just felt it was important to make clear that I don’t plan on any Tomb Raiding of my own! There’s #LiveMoreLara, and then there’s going to far, you know?

This site is going to be my primary target for publication. Written media is still the most accessible, and for me for a bunch of reasons – the least difficult platform. I do hope to make some videos though, in time, and you’ll find those initially on YouTube: @TheTombRaiders and @TTRCreates – my “second channel” where I’ll detail the processes behind some of my less off-the-shelf projects. You’ll also find me on BlueSky (also known as “the least problematic social networking site” for now) – as predictably enough, @tombraide.rs.

Emily.