Recurring characters in the Tomb Raider game series

A list of recurring characters that appear throught the succesful game series, Tomb Raider.

Jacqueline Natla
Natla was one of the members of the triumvirate ruling the lost continent of Atlantis. However, she was later condemned for her misuse of power and was imprisoned in a capsule by the other two rulers, Qualopec and Tihocan. After escaping from her prison in 1945 during a nuclear test in Los Alamos, New Mexico, she took on the name Jacqueline and founded her own company called Natla Technologies using her scientific expertise and cunning. In 1996 she hired adventurer Lara Croft to search for Qualopec's piece of the Atlantean Scion in his Tomb located in Peru. Shortly after finding the artifact, Lara was attacked by another adventurer Larson under orders by Natla. Knowing Natla had betrayed her, Lara went in search for the remaining two pieces in Greece and then Egypt. After obtaining the final piece, Lara was ambushed by Natla and her men. Stealing the now assembled artifact, Natla ordered Lara to be killed and left Egypt in her boat heading to Atlantis.

It is inside the Great Pyramid of Atlantis that Natla's grand scheme is revealed: to use the Scion's powers to breed a new race of mutant creatures. Realizing this, Lara made her best effort to destroy the Scion. Refusing to let her work be destroyed, Natla charged for Lara sending them both falling into a deep abyss. While Lara managed to grab a ledge, Natla continued to plummet into the lava pit below. As Lara tries to escape the pyramid Natla confronts her a final time, revealing her true appearance. After a fearsome battle, Lara defeated Natla and escaped the pyramid, leaving Natla inside when it exploded.

Jacqueline Natla returns in Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a remake of the original Tomb Raider game, developed by Tomb Raider: Legend developer Crystal Dynamics. In Anniversary, her role remains the same. However, Natla is visually depicted as having a much skinnier body frame as well as sharp and almost alien-like facial features, and also unusually long hair, pale skin and long fingers with long, sharp nails. She is voiced by Grey DeLisle.

In Tomb Raider: Legend, several crates containing the "Natla Industries" logo can be seen throughout the final level. It is unknown if this was meant to imply Amanda Evert, the apparent owner of the crates, has some connection to Natla or if it was merely an easter egg.

In May 2008, when asked if Natla was dead or if she would be appearing in Tomb Raider: Underworld, Creative Director Eric Lindstrom replied: "Natla is immortal, she can't die, but I'm not saying she's in the game or not!"

Larson
Larson was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S., in 1967. In 1995, he is working with Pierre Dupont in an attempt to acquire the Philosopher's Stone in Rome. He meets with Lara during an opera performance to exchange the Mercury Stone for money. As Lara prepares to hand over a suitcase full of cash, Pierre shows up with a pistol aimed at Lara's head - planning on taking the money and keeping the stone. As Larson and Pierre prepare to leave, Lara kicks the stone out of Larson's hand and jumps off the balcony onto the stage. Escaping the opera house, Lara rides off on a scooter with Larson and Pierre trailing behind. Sliding beneath a half-closed gate, Larson and Pierre continue after her only to crash their car. Larson and Pierre continue to stalk Lara throughout Rome as she collects three more stones to open a gateway that will lead her to the Philosopher's Stone. After finding the final stone, Lara is confronted by Larson and the two fight outside the stone gateway. Wounding Larson, Lara notices three gargoyles animating from the stone building. Despite her warnings, Larson refuses to believe her until it is too late, and is tossed across the garden. He is portrayed as being something of a halfwit, which Pierre attributes to the fact that Larson was "kicked in the head by a horse" at some point in his life.

In 1996, Larson meets with Lara in India on behalf of Jacqueline Natla, CEO of Natla Technologies. While Lara was hired to retrieve a portion of the Scion artifact in Peru, Larson was hired to ambush her and take the artifact. Lara defeats him and is told that Natla has sent Pierre on the trail for the second piece. Larson shows up again later in Egypt just before Lara can obtain the final piece, and she kills him in cold blood.

Larson returns in Crystal Dynamic's remake of the original game, Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Larson has a more muscular body compared to the original, now wears a dark blue shirt in place of his red one with the vest, a belt with a buckle shaped of the state of Texas and a slightly different haircut. He is also now equipped with a shotgun.

In the opening cutscene in which Lara is hired by Natla to find the Atlantean Scion, she acknowledges Larson that they have met before. He was voiced by Dave Wittenberg.

His character was changed into a bit of a nicer guy, albeit still an enemy willing to kill, as it is his job. This is especially displayed through his disdain of killing her whenever he actually does (saying things like "It didn't have to be this way," "What a waste..." and "Damn..."), whether he does it or not. As a matter of fact, upon their encounter in Peru after Lara finds the first piece of the Scion, he and Lara engage in a battle, and he only resorts to trying to either knock Lara down, or simply stun her, and begins attempting to use his firearm only when frustrated. After finding the last piece of the Scion in Egypt, Natla's group ambushes Lara, and as she escapes Natla's thugs, Larson pushes off "The Kid," who was preparing to shoot her, and takes aim at her. However, at the last second, he purposefully aimed to the right, away from Lara, and fired. What more, as she breaks free from their grasp, Kold and The Kid attempt to, respectively, stab or shoot down Lara, while Larson only attempts to knock her down with his firearm.

In Natla's Mines, Larson reveals himself, blocking Lara from continuing any further, confident that Lara won't go as far as to kill him for just doing his job, and because it's just not who she is. However, Lara's obsession with the Scion pushes her into proving his assumption wrong, as she fires at Larson, who, between each of Lara's shots, attempts to raise his own weapon to defend himself. Finally, he suffers one shot too many, and falls down. Before quickly dying, he reaches out his hand towards Lara.