In midtown Manhattan on March 8, 2015 there was a women’s march for International Women’s Day. It was a fun and empowering movement for women of all ages. Later that year in November, my father bought a game that we took turns playing. As an 11 year old girl, I loved that game. It was fun and made me feel so happy playing it. What I didn’t know is that the reason I loved this game so much was because of its main character.

A photograph I took at the 2015 march for women’s rights.

Rise of the Tomb Raider has been a popular game since its release in 2015. It’s a third person adventure game that revolves around users playing as Lara Croft, a strong female protagonist. She’s on a quest to use her dead father’s research in order to discover a lost city with the promise of immortality.

For anyone who has played third-person games such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, they know that 99% of the main characters are male protagonists. The first Tomb Raider game of this series came out in 1996. This was during the start of something known as the “third wave of feminism”. From the 1990s up until the mid-2010s, feminism was on the rise. Women of all ages began to voice their opinions on matters such as the wage gaps between men and women, reproductive rights, and more.

The release of this game in 2015 was seen as a win for many women, as it features Lara Croft as a strong, independent and resilient woman. Through the course of the game, she gets shot at, trapped under stone, burned, shanked, and more. However, she still makes it to the end of the game to finish her father’s work.

I believe the argument made in this game, though not directly stated, is that women are just as capable as men, if not more. Though the things Lara Croft goes through in the game are unrealistic and made up, the meaning behind her journey holds true. Rise of the Tomb Raider never makes Lara, as a woman, seem weaker than any of the male characters in the game. They focus more on her abilities and her fearlessness. Even when she hit dead ends during gameplay, her character thought outside of the box and pulled through. 

A picture of my original copy of Rise of the Tomb Raider that my dad bought me at age 11.

Overall, I believe Lara Croft in Rise of the Tomb Raider is an amazing representation of a strong female protagonist and a great role model for women. There are a total of 19 Tomb Raider games that have been released as of today, and each of them have been super engaging for all of its players.

Sadly, Lara Croft has slowly been viewed as a sex symbol in recent years. In the male-dominated field of video game design, female characters have the possibility to be presented as a symbol of female empowerment or objectified beyond belief. Hopefully, Lara’s legacy continues on a positive path, as she’s one of the few female video game protagonists who stand for women’s capability and strength.