LaraSam

LaraSam is the femslash ship between Lara Croft and Sam Nishimura from the Tomb Raider fandom.

Canon
Sam and Lara met at UCL, where Lara was studying archeology, while Sam was studying film. Despite the fact the two were polar opposites, they were instantly drawn to each other. They became so close that Sam helped Lara "come out of her shelf." And they started travelling the world together and going out on dates to clubs and museums.

"I was the posh London girl, trying not to show it, and she was the gregarious Yank who drew attention wherever she went."

- Lara talking about her "meet-cute" with Sam.

The two of them became so close that Sam confided in Lara that her family has ties to the lost Kingdom of Yamatai, which fascinated Lara and led her to study it. Sam was adamant to help Lara start her career in archaeology, even going as far as to secure funding for the voyage to find Yamatai after Whitman's show was cancelled.

Expedition to Yamatai
Six weeks after their shipwreck on the Island of Yamatai, Lara, Sam, and their friends Jonah and Reyes, find their lives threatened by a group of people who don't think they're worthy of worshiping Queen Himiko, the ancient weather-goddess ruler of Yamatai, directly. Instead, they worship her island servants, most notably Mathias, their leader. Despite not remembering this, Lara's friends reveal that they each brought a gold artifact back from Yamatai with them. Since the Solarii-worshippers need them, and they also need Lara's blood, in order to resurrect Mathias, the cult takes the easiest route to getting Lara's attention: they kidnap Sam and drag her back to Yamatai. Indeed, Lara goes to extreme lengths to rescue Sam, fighting her way through multiple armies to rescue her, and carrying her down a mountain in her arms after succeeding.

After Yamatai
After the incident in Yamatai, Sam gets taken over by Himiko, and begins having strange mood swings, memory lapses, and fainting spells. Lara, once again showing just how important Sam is for her, travels all over Europe to track her down and break the possession.

Soon after encountering one of Trinity's best assassins, a woman named Nadija, Lara is forced to eat the bark of a tree believed to be the Tree of Eden which causes her to have violent hallucinations. During the hallucinations, Lara sees Sam and, unlike many of the other hallucinations she has, Sam tries to help Lara through her situation by trying to draw her away from the memories of those Lara had killed and those she failed to save. When Lara begins to regain control of herself and banish the memories of her enemies, Sam appears before her again and asks what Lara would do with the memory of her. Lara chooses to hold on to her memories of Sam instead of choosing to forget about her, showing, yet again, how much Sam means to Lara.

Cold Light of Day
Lara continues to have nightmares about Yamatai and Himiko. After Mexico, where she killed a man for the first time, Sam's mood swings worsen, and her relationship with Lara deteriorates until the two are barely talking. Sam hasn't told anyone about her visions of Himiko. Still feeling emotionally unstable after her experiences on Yamatai, Lara considers seeing a therapist, but ends up running off on another adventure trip.

Sam is arrested for assault, but (like her earlier episodes) she can't remember anything about the incident, and due to her violent behavior while being arrested, her bail is denied. She refuses to speak to Lara in prison after Lara admits that she might be going away, screaming at her to go.

At some point between the events of Inferno and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Sam had called Lara while she and Jonah were in Bali and Lara states that she has been meaning to get back to her. This implies that the two are beginning to mend their relationship after everything that happened with Himiko.

Fanon
LaraSam is the most popular ship in the Tomb Raider fandom. It has been almost a consensus amongst fans for years that the two of them should be a romantic couple. And with every new release, fans anticipated the confirmation of their romantic relationship. However, the news of the mutual feelings they have for each other were bittersweet for fans since on the one hand, they were confirmed and fans felt like they were right all along; but on the other hand, their love and feelings were censored. Nevertheless, fans adored this confirmation and it's always cited as Lara's "one true love," as it's the only romantic interest of Lara's in the series so far.

Fandom
FAN FICTION