Richard James Croft
Richard Henshingley Croft is Lara's father.
In the pack insert for the original Tomb Raider game we are told that Lord Henshingley Croft had his daughter brought up as an aristocrat, sending her for example to a Swiss finishing school. However after the Tokakeriby plane crash, thanks to her rebellion against the stifling demands of the English aristocracy, her family disowned her. We are led to assume that Lara lives alone on the family estate, the Croft Mansion, attended by old retainer Winston. The whereabouts of her parents is not revealed.
Contents
Tomb Raider Chronicles
At the beginning of Chronicles Lara is missing in Egypt presumed dead. The FMV shows her memorial statue being visited by a huddled couple in the rain. It was generally supposed by the TR fandom at the time that the couple were Lara's parents, both apparently still alive and visiting their daughter's grave.
Lord Richard Croft (Movie)
In the first Tomb Raider movie Lara's father - renamed Richard Croft - was played by Angelina Jolie's real-life father John Voight. Lord Croft was an archaeologist (now deceased) and a former member of the Illuminati. Lara finds an old letter from Croft hidden in the Croft Mansion telling her about the society's agenda. Flashbacks establish that Lara and her father were close when she was a child, and imply that her mother is dead.
Tomb Raider Legend
In Tomb Raider Legend, Richard Croft was again an archaeologist. From what Winston says, we are inclined to believe that he had quite a collection of artefacts. After the death of his wife, Lady Amelia Croft, he travelled all over the world with Lara investigating archaeological sites and ruins in search for a stone dais, similar to the one that had killed her. During this time, he raised and taught Lara alone. However, he disappeared and was declared legally dead, although his remains have never been found. Even Lara unearthed human remains that could not be identified as his. (The accuracy of this section needs to be verified - refs?)
Tomb Raider Anniversary
“Lord Richard Croft, was tutored at Eton in anthropology and archaeology. With the considerable wealth of the Croft family behind him, Richard spent his younger years mounting innumerable expeditions to historical sites world wide in an effort to support his unconventional hypothesis of a base culture that predated known history. Richard and his wife, Lady Amelia DeMornay, had Lara only a year after marrying. Nine years later, after Amelia disappeared in a plane crash, Richard sank further and further into obsession, consumed with discovering what had become of her. A few years later, he himself died while on a dig in Cambodia.”
Gallery
Jon Voight as Lord Richard Croft
Lara as a child with her father
Portrait of Lord and Lady Croft from Legend
