Doppelgänger (Tomb Raider)

“	I am you, with the flaws removed	„
	~ The Doppelganger to Lara Croft.

The Doppelganger is an antagonist in the Tomb Raider franchise.

She serves as the guardian of the Atlantis in Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and Tomb Raider: Underworld.

In the game Tomb Raider Underworld, she was voiced by Keeley Hawes, who was also the voice of the real Lara Croft.

Biography[]

Original timeline[]

The Doppelgänger was a replica of Lara Croft that appeared within a puzzle room in Atlantis. Whenever Lara shot the creature, it caused damage to Lara herself. Lara was eventually able to trick it into jumping into a pit of molten lava, destroying it. It is hypothesized that this doppelgänger was just an Atlantean creature copying Lara's every move because it did not have a motive.

Legend timeline[]

Anniversary[]

In the remake of the 1996 original game, set within the Legend timeline and a prequel to Tomb Raider Legend, the Doppelgänger appears once again in the same puzzle room of the pyramid in Atlantis. Like the original game, it was mostly copying Lara's movement, and was immune to damage, as shooting it causes Lara to take the damage. The remake Lara also managed to trick it into jumping into a pit of molten lava, destroying it.

Underworld[]

Natla and Amanda Evert created this new doppelganger after the former's downfall in Anniversary. During the course of Tomb Raider: Underworld, the Doppelgänger is ordered to place a bomb in Croft Manor, which ultimately destroys the mansion. Zip, unable to tell the difference, later opens fire on the real Lara, believing that the bomb was her doing. Lara returns to the burning main hall to check the security cameras, where she encounters the Doppelgänger face to face. She attempts to manipulate its behavior as she did the first Doppelgänger, but it only plays along for a few moments before murdering Alister Fletcher and fleeing the manor. They had a second encounter on Amanda's ship at the Andaman Sea. There, she was able to subdue Amanda and dodge several lightning bolts from Thor's Hammer before escaping again. They met later in Helheim where she disarmed and almost killed Lara, their encounter was cut short by Amanda, who, using her Wraith Stone, levitated her and threw the creature seemingly to an eitr pool.

Beneath the Ashes[]

The doppelganger appears in this extension of Tomb Raider: Underworld. Here, the real Lara Croft has returned to her ruined manor, now under renovation, searching in her father's hidden study beneath it for an artefact with the power to create and control thralls. Venturing further, Lara finds the artifact with a strange phrase carved into it, "Ohk Eshivar", which is used to control a thrall. The Doppelgänger suddenly appears and charges towards Lara, who orders the thrall to "kill", but the Doppelgänger easily destroys it. Lara says says the phrase again, just as the Doppelgänger reaches her, forcing the latter to stand still and await Lara's orders. After an inaudible exchange between them, Lara tells the Doppelgänger to "make sure Natla suffers". Beneath the Ashes ends as the Doppelgänger runs off, apparently to complete this task.

Lara's Shadow[]

This second extension of Tomb Raider Underworld takes place after the main game's events, like Beneath the Ashes. Here, the doppelganger is the main protagonist.

After Amanda flung it away in the main game, it is revealed that the doppelganger only landed into the shores of an eitr pool, knocked out temporarily. When she awakes, she traverses to the upper levels and fights dozens of enemies. The Doppelgänger finds a nearly dead Natla in Helheim who uses the control phrase "Ohk Eshivar", to order the Doppelgänger to return her to her birthplace. The creature agrees and does the job, placing her in its creation machine. When Natla discovers that Amanda cut the power, she orders the Doppelganger to restore it, which the latter complies.

Once the machine is stabilized, Natla orders The Doppelgänger to kill Lara, then herself. The Doppelgänger is horrified at the prospect of self-termination, but, being bound to commands, is unable to rebel. As the Doppelganger travels to the ruined Croft manor, unknown to her and Natla, the real Lara had already learned the command necessary to control her. With the arrival of the doppelganger in the deep dungeons beneath the manor, the real Lara uses it to stop her.

During a brief conversation, in which Lara questions her nature, the creature reveals itself to be only a slave, and it becomes clear that Lara does not hold her double responsible for Alister's death as she was just Natla's puppet. Lara sets her free of Natla's control, and because she was a copy of herself, knew what the doppelganger was about to do next. The real Lara asks her doppelganger to kill Natla.

Now freed from servitude, the Doppelgänger returns to her birthplace, battling tons of thralls to get to the machine where Natla is suspended. Destroying the machine's power circuits, the regeneration pod Natla is in falls and unassumingly crushes her. Threatened by a slowly rising pool of Eitr, Natla orders Lara's Shadow to help her but the latter remarks in a sarcastic voice that the machine must have suffered some damage after all. The clone gives a sadistic smile as she is submerged in the Eitr.

The fate of the Doppelgänger after this event is unknown.

Characteristics[]

Personality[]

The original and Anniversary versions seemed to have very limited intelligence, as they were only able to mimic or mirror Lara's every movement. However, in Anniversary, the creature appeared to mostly serve as a preventive measure against intruders, who got through the pyramid. This version also seemed to have some level of an independent mind of its own as it was seen screaming in fear when falling into the pit.

Unlike the first two, the new doppelganger seen in Underworld is easily able to pass for human. Mentally, the Doppelgänger is more intelligent, much like the real Lara herself, sharing a similar personality and intellect. While it can think independently, the main difference is her compulsion to follow the orders of anyone who knows the proper command word, which is "Ohk Eshivar", where it is easily controlled with the phrase. Despite being bound to the control phrase, she didn't necessarily want to carry out any orders. This is seen when Natla orders her to kill herself, she is seen to frown for the first time. After Lara freed her from the control phrase, she seemed grateful and bore no ill-will towards her. Taking Lara's advice, she sets out on a personal mission to eliminate Natla for good.

The Underworld doppelganger was also brash, cocky, and somewhat arrogant.

Appearances[]

Both the original and Anniversary incarnations sport an appearance of a skinless human with no hair.

The Underworld Doppelgänger was more elaborately constructed and was very much identical to Lara but had some visible differences, the most notable of which are her glowing gold eyes, red hair, and ivory skin, which appeared to be translucent, as its veins were visible. She donned black leather vest, trousers, boots and gloves, and carried the same pistols as Lara. Her overall appearance is closer to that of Lara's traditional Tomb Raider character model, with the red hair, brown lips, and a plaited/braided hairstyle similar to that seen in Tomb Raider II.

Skills[]

While the original and Anniversary doppelgangers did not attack directly, any shot fired at them causes damage to the intruder, as they fired shadow blasts from their hands, in lieu of shooting pistols.

The Underworld Doppelgänger, however, although unable to throw energy blasts, exhibits even more powerful skills: it can move faster than the eye can track, and is strong enough to kill creatures many times larger than itself with just its bare hands. In physical terms, the Doppelgänger is far superior to Lara, possessing far greater speed, strength, and agility.

Trivia[]

The skinless appearance of the original doppelganger caused fans to dub it as 'Bacon Lara'.