Mythology

Ammit, as seen in Lara Croft & the Temple of Osiris

Gods & Demons: Ammit

This blog post is dedicated to Luke Abbott, The Oracle of Film, as a way of saying “thank you” for his generous donation towards my Extra Life 2014 fundraising efforts. Cheers Luke! The highly-anticipated Lara Croft & the Temple of Osiris has finally hit the stores and those of you who’ve already played the game will no doubt be familiar with at least some of the game’s key enemies and level bosses. In the last edition of ... [Continue Reading]

12/12/2020 // 7 Comments

Apep as seen in Lara Croft & the Temple of Osiris

Gods & Demons: Apep

This blog post is dedicated to John T, author of the blog JhnWrites About Games, as a way of saying “thank you” for his generous donation towards my Extra Life 2014 fundraising efforts. Thanks, John! I hope you don’t have a phobia of snakes… In their second developer diary “Puzzles 101″, Executive Producer Scot Amos and Lead Level Designer Jeff Wajcs introduced us to another of Lara Croft & the Temple of ... [Continue Reading]

20/11/2020 // 5 Comments

5 Fantastic Online Resources on Norse Mythology

Valhalla, Mjölnir, Asgard, Thor, Helheim... All of these names will be familiar to those who have played Tomb Raider: Underworld or are fans of Marvel Comics’ long-running Thor comic-book series. But if you’re longing to learn more about the Norse myths and legends that helped inspire the narrative of TR:U, check out the five fantastic websites and online databases listed below! 1) Wikipedia’s Norse Mythology section ... [Continue Reading]

10/11/2020 // 1 Comment

Statue of Aztec maize goddess seen in Tomb Raider 1

Arte-Factual: Tomb Raider 1: Aztec Maize Goddess

When I first played Tomb Raider 1 back in 1996, I never realized how many real-life Pre-Columbian (and other) artefacts could be spotted throughout the game’s Peru levels. Some of them, such as the Chimú bird carving, were already familiar to me as I had studied Peruvian art and archaeology for a GCSE art project. But it wasn’t until I started working on this blog and replaying this 1996 classic that I began to notice that the ... [Continue Reading]

11/07/2020 // 0 Comments

The god Horus as seen in Tomb Raider: Last Revelation

Oh My Gods! 5 Online Guides to Egyptian Gods and Religion

Back in March, I compiled a little list of online resources on Aztec mythology for those who wanted to learn more about Xolotl and the other gods mentioned in the popular co-op game, Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light. And now that the Egypt-centric Lara Croft & the Temple of Osiris is heading our way later this year, I thought it fitting to put together a list of some of my favourite online guides to Ancient Egyptian gods, goddesses, ... [Continue Reading]

02/07/2020 // 4 Comments

It might not be archaeology but Tomb Raider can still serve an educational purpose (Photo credit: Katie's Tomb Raider Site)

Unearthed: 23rd-29th June 2014

Another week is drawing to a close and what a week it’s been for the Tomb Raider fandom. Not only was issue 5 of Dark Horse’s Tomb Raider comic series released this week, Crystal Dynamics also confirmed that a new Tomb Raider novel will be published this autumn. And that’s not all. Here’s a round-up of the blog posts, articles, and tweets that caught my attention this week! Tomb Raider News & Views: Survivor Reborn ... [Continue Reading]

29/06/2020 // 0 Comments

Guest Blog: Thoughts on Aztec Philosophy

Guest blog by C.T. Murphy. Games are an excellent medium for modern storytellers to explore ancient cultures and their mythologies. While many series, such as Tomb Raider, do so with some sense of realism, it’s the games that repurposed ancient mythological ideas into their own entities that first introduced me to a wider world of beliefs. For instance, the player ability to summon a flying feathered serpent capable of conjuring storms and ... [Continue Reading]

05/03/2021 // 3 Comments

The Aztec god Xolotl as seen in Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light

5 Fantastic Free Resources on Aztec Mythology

In the co-op action/adventure game Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Lara and the Aztec warrior Totec find themselves in a race against time to stop Xolotl, the Keeper of Darkness, from destroying the world. Players may come across a number of relics throughout the game that are named after Aztec gods and mythological creatures, such as the Mask of Tezcatlipoca and Eye of Cipactli. But if you can’t tell your Cihuacoatls from ... [Continue Reading]

02/03/2021 // 6 Comments

Guest Blog: Gates of Hel: The Norse Cosmology Behind Tomb Raider: Underworld

By Anya Martin. In Tomb Raider: Underworld (2009), we follow Lara as she visits a number of Norse ‘underworlds’, scattered across locations including Mexico, the Mediterranean, and Thailand. Here she finds a series of artefacts allowing her to wield Thor’s legendary hammer Mjölnir, the key to opening the gates of Helheim, where she discovers the truth of her mother’s disappearance (following on from Legend’s plot). Unsurprisingly, ... [Continue Reading]

06/08/2020 // 7 Comments