A lot of the locations, names and costumes from the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot will look and sound familiar to fans who recognize the fact that the film will be adapting quite a few different elements from across the rebooted video game franchise. But while the studio and director clearly aimed to adhere closely to the source material, they seem to have mixed a few concepts and characters here and there, to adjust for the nature of film as a storytelling medium.

Yamatai, for example, appears in the film. Like its video game counterpart found in 2013's Tomb Raider (often referred to as A Survivor Is Born), the island seems to be trapping people on its shores, as Mathias Vogel indicated in the trailer when he told Lara that he has been there for seven years. As we see from that same trailer, the island also possesses at least one ancient Japanese structure that bears some resemblance to those found in the game, particularly around the Mountain Temple.

RELATED: What Separates Tomb Raider From All Those Other Video Game Movies

There are also several hints that the film will adapt elements from other games in the franchise. Lara Croft, by the end of the first official trailer, holds up her iconic dual pistols, but that's not all. Her braided hair and outfit are reminiscent of the classic Tomb Raider video games such as Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, and those that preceded it.

With all this mixing and matching, it might be difficult to recognize a lot of the characters, but that won't mean that all (or any of them) are exactly "new." They may look new, they may bear different names, but from what we've been told about their characters, the film will draw inspiration from multiple figures in Lara's world.

Here, we go through the characters that will make an appearance in the film, comparing them to the characters found in the video games to show you just how much of the games the movie will likely be adapting.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Lara%20Croft%2C%20Her%20Dad%20%26%20the%20Main%20Villain']



Lara Croft

For  the most part, it seems the film will draw inspiration for Lara from Square Enix's Tomb Raider game series. Alicia Vikander will be playing a younger Lara, one who is inexperienced and certainly not as trigger happy as the Lara Croft many of us played when we were younger.

RELATED: How the Tomb Raider Reboot Can Outdo Its Predecessors

As we mentioned earlier, her costume and much of her character has been taken straight from A Survivor Is Born, which told the story of Lara's transformation from eager and naive student to bold and experienced explorer. The clips we've seen here and there indicate that Vikander's Lara won't be as afraid and hesitant as her video game counterpart was initially, but she will undergo some form of struggle and in her fight against Trinity, she will eventually develop into the tomb raider that we all recognize.

Richard Croft

Tomb-Raider-Richard-Croft

Lara's father has been mentioned a few times throughout the franchise, however, other than his name, we knew little about him until Rise of the Tomb Raider expanded on Richard Croft's story and his impact on Lara. That video game featured Lara's investigation into her father's search for the lost city of Kitezh and the treasure within it: The Divine Source.

In the games, we find that Richard Croft inspired Lara's passion for history and archaeology, however, he was somewhat distant, often burying himself in his work. Unfortunately, though he was dedicated and certain that a path to immortality was possible, the archaeological community ridiculed him and dismissed his studies as being pure fantasy, which, according to official reports, contributed to his suicide. The truth behind his death is far more complex and involves Trinity.

The film seems to be quite faithful to the source material in that Richard Croft was an archaeologist who more or less inspired his daughter's passion for adventure, puzzles and history. Nothing we've seen indicates that his reputation as an archaeologist has been tarnished, but we do know that his research revolved around "The Mother of Death," whose tomb he presumably found on Yamatai. This is to be expected since the film seems to be combining facets of A Survivor Is Born with Rise of the Tomb Raider, the latter of which focuses on Richard Croft's work.

Mathias Vogel

Tomb-Raider-Mathias-Vogel

The main antagonist of A Survivor Is Born makes an appearance in the upcoming Tomb Raider. Aside from the obvious differences in costume, Mathias doesn't seem to be as crazed as his video game counterpart, though he does share a single similarity: his apparent entrapment on the island of Yamatai.

RELATED: Tomb Raider Trailer Compared to Video Game Scenes in New Video

In the video game, Mathias is the leader of the Solarii, a group of shipwreck survivors who worship the Sun Queen, Himiko, out of fear and desperation as opposed to genuine admiration or respect. Father Mathias spends 31 years trapped on Yamatai and in that time, he was slowly driven insane.

The film's Mathias Vogel has spent a fraction of that time on Yamatai and seems to be working with the shadowy organization, Trinity, which his video game counterpart had no affiliation with. He also seems to know a lot about Lara's father which, once again, his video game counterpart had no affiliation with. This may indicate that the film has used elements from the character, Ana, from Rise of the Tomb Raider, who did in fact know quite a lot about Richard Croft and his work.

Page 3: [valnet-url-page page=3 paginated=0 text='Lara%27s%20Allies%20-%20and%20Potential%20Magical%20Foe']



Lu Ren

Described as being the ship captain Lara turns to for help in the film, Lu Ren seems to be an amalgam of the characters from A Survivor Is Born, presumably the ones that survived the wreck of Endurance alongside Lara and helped her grow. Jonah, Reyes and Grim specifically.

Lu-Ren-Tomb-Raider

Jonah is one of Lara's most trustworthy and level-headed friends, Reyes is the distrustful former cop who isn't easily swayed in her beliefs and Grim is the ship captain who doesn't shy away from a fight. From what we've seen, Lu Ren isn't easily persuaded to sail straight into danger but when he's there in the middle of it, he takes up arms and readily watches Lara's back.

RELATED: Tomb Raider: Everything We Unearthed From the First Trailer

Combining the crew of Endurance is a wise creative choice given that a movie doesn't have time to expand on the backstories of supporting characters, interesting as they may be. We can only hope that Lu Ren has as much depth and impact as the crew did in the video game.

Ana

Tomb-Raider-Ana-Miller

A notable character from the trailer is Ana Miller, who seems to be an associate of Richard Croft. She seems more than just a little familiar with Lara which might indicate that Ana's name is more than just a coincidence. Her age and familiarity with the Croft family, hints that she'll being playing the same role as Ana from Rise of the Tomb Raider, which is that of a family friend.

The video game introduces Ana as a former girlfriend of Lord Richard Croft. After his death, Ana and Lara remained quite close until the events of the game in which Lara discovers that Ana is actually a high ranking agent of Trinity. While there's a chance that the film's Ana could end up playing a similar role, nothing is certain at the moment.

Those Who May Appear

There are a few characters we're completely uncertain about. For example, we know that the film includes a character by the name of Nitin, played by Antonio Aakeel. Aakeel has described his character in an interview as being a close friend who is very much in love with Lara. To fans of A Survivor Is Born, that might sound reminiscent of Alex Weiss, who was also in love in Lara, though it was unrequited and generally unnoticed.

Then there's Himiko, the Sun Queen. We haven't seen or heard much about Yamatai's immortal goddess, but we know that the villain may be in the film in some form. Credits list Rae Lim as "Himiko's Grave Worshipper" which means it's very likely the film adapt more than one aspect of Yamatai. Right now we're just uncertain of whether or not Himiko will still be the mystical and memorably horrifying goddess she was in the video games.


Tomb Raider arrives in theatres March 16th. Directed by Roar Uthaug, the film stars Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, Dominic West as Richard Croft, Daniel Wu as Lu Ren, Kristin Scott Thomas as Ana Miller, Hannah John-Kamen as Sophie and Walton Goggins as Mathias Vogel.