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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.
- Sam – “You saved me. I knew you would.”
- Lara – “I made you a promise.”
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.
- Sam – “You saved me. I knew you would.”
- Lara – “I made you a promise.”
Season of the Witch[]
Soon after returning home, to her and Sam's apartment Lara and Sam are both suffering from nightmares of Yamatai but Sam refuses to talk about it. Later Lara learns that she and her friends are being targeted by a cult that worships the Solarii and Himiko and kidnap Sam in order to draw Lara into a trap in order to resurrect Mathias who would then resurrect Himiko.
Realizing this Lara attempts to call Sam to warn her with an internal monologue revealing that Sam is the person she loves most in the world, showing just how deep the connection she has with Sam is. Unfortunately Sam is captured and Lara decides to return to Yamatai where Sam has been captured even knowing it's a trap as it's the only way to save Sam.
In the final confrontation with the cult Sam is able to break free and saves Lara from the cult leader and the two, along with Jonah and Reyes return to London.
Secrets and Lies[]
Soon after the confrontation with the cult Lara learned that Alex's sister was in danger and Lara decided to go and help her as a way to repay the debt she felt she owed to Alex for his help and sacrifice on Yamatai. Sam offered to come with Lara to help Kaz (Alex's sister) but Lara refused, not wanting to put Sam in any more danger. Lara was able to save Kaz and the two returned to London where, with Sam's help, they were able to create a false identity for Kaz to try and hide her from Trinity.
While in London Jonah had decided to produce a stage play of Pride and Prejudice with Lara as the lead after Lara scared off said lead. However, Lara was suffering from a serious case of stage fright but Sam was able to convince her to go through with it by going over why she, Sam, loves this play and how it reminds her of her love for Lara as it's a book that is over 100 years old which gives people who read it or watch the play the same understanding of why people like Lara and Sam love history.
This scene highlights what truly draws Sam to Lara and shows why they get along so well, because for all their differences they share a passion for history and uncovering lost truths.
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.
Rise of the Tomb Raider[]
In the collectables for Rise of the Tomb Raider there is a single document titled Sam which says that Sam and Lara are no longer on speaking terms due to Himiko's possession of Sam (though this isn't mentioned in the documents in question). It's clear that Lara is hurt over the fact that she is unable to help Sam and that she has to accept that there is nothing she can do right now to help her.
Spore[]
During this arc Lara finds herself thinking of Sam when she either is left with no distractions or is near death, at the end of the arc Jonah receives a call and tells Lara something has happened to Sam.
Choice and Sacrifice[]
Lara soon learned that Sam had escaped the mental hospital she was being held in which caused her to drop her quest to avenge her father as she felt that saving Sam was more important than finding revenge for someone she already lost. When Lara arrived she learned that Sam had been experimented on by Trinity as they believed she had some sort of connection to the Divine Source. However, the experiments only strengthened Himiko's hold on Sam which allowed The Sun Queen to take full control of her. When Lara learned this she became enraged and threatened to kill the man responsible for hurting Sam but with Himiko on the move she chose to escape and chase after the Sun Queen instead.
Desperate to find a way to free Sam of Himiko, which would also ensure that Trinity would no longer hunt her, Lara searched for and acquired the Wei Mirror. An ancient artifact that Himiko used in her rituals when choosing a new host which would allow her to remove the souls of said hosts so she could take them over with no resistance. However, there was a risk as it was entirely possible for Sam's soul to be drawn into the mirror along with Himiko but by this point there was no other option, either Lara used the mirror and hoped this would free Sam of Himiko or she would have to kill the person she loved most.
Lara was eventually able to capture Himiko and get her away from both the army she had been building and Trinity who was still hunting her. As Lara waited for the sunrise that was needed to activate the Wei Mirror's powers Himiko and Sam began fighting for control over Sam's body. However, Sam realized that if this failed and only her soul was removed Himiko would not stop until Lara was dead and was able to gain enough control of herself and stab herself in the stomach, ensuring that no matter what Himiko would not win and ensuring Lara was safe.
Thankfully Sam was able to force Himiko to look upon the Mirror which resulted in The Sun Queen's soul out of Sam's body and Sam was able to keep her soul within her body. Lara then rushed Sam to the nearest hospital where she was treated for her wound and saved. However, seeing Sam come so close to death Lara chose to cut Sam out of her life in order to protect her and told Sam's mom to keep her daughter safe. Before leaving, Lara made sure Sam got a box of Jaffa Cakes (a sweet both women liked) to let her know she still cared for Sam.
Inferno[]
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.
At one point Lara repeats the memory of her argument with Jonah only what Jonah says is different and is clearly Lara's guilty conscience for her treatment of her friends. Jonah says at one point that while he has seen Lara smile he's only seen her happy once which is followed by a vision of Sam asking Lara why she left her. This makes clear that Lara is only ever truly happy when she was with Sam and that after the two have parted ways Lara has been miserable without her.
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. As Lara says that she wants to hold onto her memories and feelings of Sam, the two embrace one another.
- Sam – “And what do you have for me?.”
- Lara – “A Beautiful Dream.”
Shadow of the Tomb Raider[]
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.
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft[]
At some point between the events of Shadow of the Tomb Raider and the first season of Netflix's Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft Sam stopped trying to reach out to Lara due to Croft's refusal to just speak to her directly for over 2 years. After noticing Lara’s disappointment at Sam not showing up, Jonah suggests that Lara just call Sam but Lara simply said good night to Jonah, but to his annoyance of his two friends not speaking to each other. We later see Lara having a nightmare of her time on Yamatai where she lost Roth, during the nightmare Sam appears and at first comforts and supports Lara while defending her from Rayas. However, Sam soon turns against Lara and begins blaming her for Roth's death much to Lara's horror showing that Lara's worst nightmare is Sam turning against her.
Later, Lara calls Sam only for Sam not to pick up, Lara hesitantly admits she doesn’t know why she’s calling and just wanted someone to talk to before hanging up her phone, only saying Sorry at the end.
During another nightmare Lara sees her own funeral only all the seats are empty and we hear Jonah saying that Sam told him that she and Lara are no longer on speaking terms.
In the final episode, during Jonah and Abby’s wedding, Lara gets a phone call from Sam but the line cuts off before much can be said. Lara senses that Sam must’ve gotten into some trouble at her job overseas and excuses herself from the wedding, rushing over to Sam’s place. She finds signs of a struggle and information that Sam had been investigating a crime syndicate. Lara takes the clues and leaves, determined to save Sam.
A second season of the show has been confirmed by Netflix. It will feature Lara and Sam joining forces in a new adventure.[3]
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
- Lara/Sam tag on AO3
- Lara & Sam tag on AO3
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Tomb Raider has reposted a SamxLara ship video talking about the Netflix Tomb Raider show episode 3 “is it casual that Sam is still in Lara’s favorite contacts after years of not talking to each other?” Followed by a #wlw tag in the caption.
- Jackson Lanzing (Co-Writer for Survivor Crusade and Inferno arc in the Dark Horse Comics) has stated that originally during Lara's toxic drug induced hallucination that Lara would come to understand that her feelings for Sam were romantic and that the page where Lara and Sam hug was suppose to be the two kissing. Phillip Sevy also said that he had drawn the image in question but by the time it went into the publishing state the kiss had been redrawn into a hug.
- Had the film not been cancelled the sequel to the 2018 adaptation of Tomb Raider would have featured Sam as a prominent character. And according to the cast and grew the sequel would have focused on Lara's relationship with other female characters with one of said characters being a co-lead alongside Lara. There is currently no information if this film would have been about the relationship between Lara and Sam specifically but the fact that Sam was going to be in this film does highlight just how popular Sam and her relationship with Lara is as she is one of only 7 characters to appear in both the games and the movies.
- Sam was supposed to be in Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider but was written out in favor of Jonah.
- LaraxSam are a popular pairing among several writers and artists of the series the most notable being Gail Simone, Jackson Lanzing, Phillip Sevy and Rhianna Pratchett. Even those who do not really ship them admit to finding the relationship between the two fascinating and how much it adds to both characters.
References[]
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| SHIPS | femslash | LaraSam • Lara x Sofia • Lara x Unuratu • WonderCroft | |