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When drafting Rise of the Tomb Raider (opens in new tab), writer Rhianna Pratchett drew upon her relationship with her late father (and author of the Discworld novels) Terry Pratchett to create a compelling connection between Lara Croft and her dad. But beyond using her own life experiences to fuel the creative process, Pratchett included one specific reference to her father that fans of both Tomb Raider and Pratchett Sr. can appreciate.
“There is one journal … when my dad was being interviewed about his Alzheimer’s, he said that there was one particular memory he didn’t want to lose,” Pratchett said on a recent GamesRadar+ How It’s Done livestream (opens in new tab). “It was about the time I was born. The night I was born. I immortalized that memory in one of Richard [Croft]’s diaries. So it’s a little– it’s a riff on that memory of my father’s, rolled into Richard’s memories.”
Pratchett said that she found it particularly poignant in light of her interweaved history with both Tomb Raider and her father. Her dad introduced her to the series with the original PlayStation game, her first video game industry event was a Tomb Raider 3 launch, and so on. Rise of the Tomb Raider, then, was a chance to explore the parallels between Pratchett and Lara with regards to their fathers. It also proved to be a healing exercise.
“I do think about my dad when I think about Tomb Raider,” Pratchett said. “I really enjoyed writing Richard’s diaries and his thoughts back to Lara. That was, I don’t know, a little bit cathartic.”
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