Lara Croft: Straight, lesbian or bisexual?

CardinalX · Lara Croft: Straight, lesbian or bisexual?

This isn´t so much intended to become a serious discussion (though it´s fine if it does becomes one) as it´s simple pondering on my part, it´s something I´ve been thinking about in the past, and the recent LG article on questioning the sexuality of gamecharacters has made me ponder it again, so I thought I´d get it out there to hear other peoples thoughts, and this forum seemed like the perfect place for it.

It´s no secret that ever since her conception, Lara´s been hugely popular among the lesbian community (just look at the LG banner, and the list of "girls we wish were" on the main page), and there´s also been lots of speculation that Lara´s a lesbian, apparently so much so that Eidos released a statement saying that Lara´s not a lesbian. At least, that´s what an article posted during the late nineties on then-official TR fansite The Croft Times stated, but the link to the actual statement never worked for me, and I´ve never seen the statement referred to anywhere else, leading me to sometimes wonder if there´s been a mistake somehow (the article wasn´t printed on April 1st, however, I checked that long ago). But all this leads me to wonder; why do so many people (well, many in relative terms, enough for it to be noticeable) consider Lara to be a lesbian? I don´t believe in the existence of gaydar, and unless somebody outright announces they´re gay I wouldn´t be able to tell them apart from straight people, but perhaps I´m just oblivious to the little hints and indications that gives homosexual people away. I´m asking this not just for the reasons above, but also because I´m working on a TR fanfic in which I´ve come to develop a (suggested, if nothing else) mutual attraction between Lara and her female opponent/rival in the story. This came about as I thought it made for an interesting hero/villain relationship if there was an attraction between them that their opposing goals prevented them from acting on, and as for why it´d be between two women, that came from wanting Laras opponent to be her physical and mental match, and a man would be stronger than Lara while she herself would be more agile, hence she´d be more evenly matched with a female opponent (provided said opponent is as welltrained as Lara is). But this decision has also caused me some personal conflict, since a) one thing I always found hugely refreshing about Lara was that she was one actionhero who didn´t have the obligatory loveinterest/story written in, and now I´m writing one into my story myself, and b) I´m trying to stay as close to canon as possible, and by implying that Lara´s attracted to women, am I then not breaking canon if she isn´t? As I wonder whether or not Lara´s straight, I keep thinking that I could well picture her to be at least bicurious, as she (Classic Lara anyway, I refuse to accept any but Core Designs Lara as the real thing) is always looking for new thrills, and as such, might be curious as to what being with a woman is like (provided she´s not already lesbian or bisexual), and since she went to an all-girls school, there´s a chance she´s already had some experience with the fairer sex (I´m not implying that everybody who went to an all-girls school has dabbled with lesbianism, I´m just basing that thought on what I´ve been told by people who did go to all-girls schools, according to whom the lack of boys combined with raging hormones drove lots of the girls into each others arms, any port in a storm as the saying goes).

So in short, do you imagine Lara to, shall we say, swing one way, the other way, or be dangling in the middle? And why do you think that, is it something she´s said or done, or is it something in her appearance that leads you to that conclusion?

Well, I think those were all my thoughts and conflicts on the matter, now I´ll rest my tired fingers and await your thoughts and comments, provided you bothered to read through all that.

TLC DEMON

you should write a book that has to be the longest post ever

Babycha

I dunno, I have a feeling she isn't. Unless for some reason at some point in time the creators decide to say that she is.

TLC DEMON

Earrame

I get the feeling Lara is bi. Either bi curious or bi sexual. Take your pick. She just doesn't strike me as all out lesbian.

Sugar Rune

She's probably like, tri or something.

iLove2run4fun

(Yep I just joined I know)

Angelina Jolie was quoted in an interview once saying that it'd be awesome if Lara were a lesbian.

I Vitality I

iLove2run4fun

Sami · !

Hmmm, well when I played Tomb Raider when I was a kid Lara didn't do much for me, but thinking about Angelina Jolie in the movie...mmmmmmm! I was totally hot watching that, for sure! But I am an Angelina fangirl all the way! ^^;;

I guess I gotta play the new Tomb Raider... hehehehe!

oerbadiavanille

O_O That's a long post! You have a lot more patience with ideas than I do, lol.
You also put up some pretty convincing points, I think I could believe that she would get adventurous in her love life! My vote would have to go with canonically straight, yet bi curious.

I Vitality I

Pescean

tsurara_mai

1) because strength in a woman is associated with being "butch" or with feminism, both things that tend to be tied rather strongly to the lesbian community.

2) because heterosexual men aren't threatened in the least by female homosexuality as long as both girls are half-naked and hot... so there's no danger of alienating the male fanbase by playing with gender roles or in making Lara a bit of a badass.

and 3) because if you want to see the subtext there... you do. (this can apply to anything)

Since Tomb Raider games aren't about romance on any level... I don't think it really matters either way *shrug*

Thisbedutch

To be honest I always thought Lara was too involved in her work to be interested in romance whether with man, woman or crazy supernatural fish creature. But then, I get really annoyed when games take strong characters like Lara and make them go all gooey-eyed when they could be out pillaging tombs Smile

tilatequilarules

idk just as an instinct she seems very lezzie to me <3

Hating on you

Being that she is an animated character, she is whatever sexual orientation the writers make her. And they made her straight clearly.