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Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. This name strikes the new cord that will echo throughout "The Croft Chronicles". This story deals with ancient mysteries, unsolved riddles dating back to biblical times, and the heroine who unlocks the secrets and discovers the meanings: archaeologist-adventurer, Lara Croft. This site deals with the story and mythology behind "The Angel of Darkness". There are several different sections to the page, and each will cover different aspects of the game. This Home page will give anyone who has not heard of Lara Croft or Tomb Raider before a breifing on what it is about. The Mythology page will give information on the Egyptian gods, who may appear in flash backs during "Angel of Darkness", the cities of paris and Prague, two main locations in "Angel of Darkness", and the Nephilim, demonic beings from the Christian Bible. The picture page will have shots of Lara and the settings of "Angel of Darkness", and the Links page will provide other sites with simmilar content. I hope you enjoy this page!
Tomb Raider: The History of Lara Croft
LaraÕs story began in 1996, when the first game in a series, titled Tomb Raider: The Atlantian Scion. This game introduced Lara in one of her first adventures, on the quest to discover the lost power of Atlantis. Through the next five years, LaraÕs story grew to encompass five games, each with a different scenario in her life. In the last game, Lara was locked in a more-than-mortal combat with the ancient Egyptian god of storms, Set. After a laborious trek across almost all of Egypt, Lara dueled with this deity beneath the Giza Plateau, in the Temple of Horus. Trapping him with her wits, Lara stumbles upward, trying to escape. But Set, in a final burst of godly energy, set about collapsing the underground temple. Aided by a fellow archaeologist, Werner Von Croy, Lara struggled to climb from the ruins, but the exit hallway caved in, and she was sealed inside. Von Croy escaped, and commissioned a rescue for Lara. Before they reach her, however, the temple ruins stir one last time. Something happened in the depths, that none would ever know of, save, if she survived, Lara herself.
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The Croft Chronicles: Part One
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, picks up the story three years after the disaster in Egypt. Lara has escaped from the ruined pyramid to live once again. However, she underwent a change down in the depths. The experience of the battle with Set and her near escape from the pyramid made Lara reconsidor her life. She became alsmost something of a recluse, and there have been unconfirmed rumours that she spent time with obscure North African tribes. After arriving back in England, she hangs up her equipment, swaring that she would no longer deal with mysteries of the past. She would be a normal Brittish citizen, and leave her past behind forever. Her name and face were still famous, however, and were used as a national icon for archaeology. She lets that be, not knowing that soon, her past stardom would turn harshly against her.
Troubled by memories of Egypt, Lara cuts off cominication with old friends. She is still at odds with Von Croy, who is now living in Paris, France. Von Croy does, however, ask Lara for a favor to make up for past differences. His request seems simple enough: To locate five 14th century paintings, called the "Obscura" works. Lara, unaware of the coming events, embarks for Paris. Upon arrival, she is thrust into an unfamiliar world of danger, discovering that Von Croy had been murdered, and that she is framed. The police are on the alert, thinking that she is the serial killer "Monstrum", whom had already killed three other people. Lara, desperate for safety, flees through the city streets. She is alone, weaponless, and facing the whole world as her enemy.
Now, Lara has to conceal herself utterly from the public, who would recognize her anywhere because of her former notariety. She is alone, and has to defend herself in ways she would never have dreamed of. Recovering from her shock, Lara tries to peice together the evnts leading up to her present criminal state. Who could be framing her for this murder? And more important, why?
Lara retreats into the parisian underworld, where she meets with a shadowy character named Eckhardt. This man seems connected with the real "Monstrum", and also had strange affiliatians with Von Croy. Lara does not remain in contact with this character very long in this first part.
Another new aquaintence is a man named Kurtis Trent. He is also after the "Obscura" paintings, but for more personal reasons. He is the last of a long line of trained warriors, sworn to protect the paintings for all time. But a killer has assasinated all of Kurtis's family except for him. Now, kurtis must work with Lara in reaching their simillar goals.
Lara also discovers, after breaking into the Lourve museum to regain one of the paintings, that Eckhardt, the man she met just a few day's before, is actually Von Croy's killer. And the man who framed her for the crime. He is working to resurect the Nephilim, the mysterious half-angles, half-giants, spoken of in the biblical Exodus. To acheive this goal, Eckhardt is preforming several experiments on humans in his laboratories in Prague: The Strahov Complex.
Lara and Kurtis pursue Eckhardt and hiss many affiliates through the catacombs beneath Paris. This section will contain classic tomb-raiding boulders, spike pits, and will be a fammilier place to any vetran of the series. In these caverns, Lara will face several "bosses" of Eckhardt's, that she must defeat before continuing on her quest.
After Lara defeats the bosses, and has succesfully recovered the "Obscura" paintings, she tracks Eckhart to his Strahov Complex. There, she and Kurtis find dark and deformed creatures down in the basements, and signs of horrific experimentations. Eckhardt uses obscure magic and ancient customs, including the use of the "Hand of Fate", a hand cut from a hanged man's arm, which gives power to the possesor.
What Next?
The story following will be reveiled this November when The Angel of Darkness is officially released. A few details are known, though:
There will be at least some portion of the game that will be played under water.
Several costume changes will occur. Lara will wear her usual shorts and black tank -top, a denim set of jacket and pants with a black t-shirt, and a black tank-top with camoflagued brown pants and combat boots. She will also dive in a slim wet-suit.
Kurtis will fight with a bladed disc, which he calls his "frisbee." His limited tele-kenetic power will enable the player to move the disc in mid-flight.
Lara will fight bats, security gaurds, police, and some of the mutated remains of humans down in the Strahov.
This is definitly a darker game, aimed at more mature audiences then in the past. The blood will not quite be enough for an M rating by ESRB, however.
The Game
The Game, "Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness", will be available in November, 2002, from Eidos Interactive and Core Design.Now, if you havn't already, check out the pictures, links, news, and of course, the mythology, of Tomb Raider.
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