Grandfather's Journal

Grandfather's Journal refer to special collectible Documents found in Rise of the Tomb Raider.

There are five total Grandfather's Journal documents in the game.

Dear Nadia
Nadia, my Granddaughter. By now you already know: I am going into the Vale to kill the Witch, Baba Yaga. I have gone to seek revenge for your Grandmother. There are newcomers in our valley, armed men arriving in helicopters. I do not know what they want, but I know if I am to go, this is my last chance.

You deserve to know the truth, to know why. Your Grandpa is not a wise man. I have become, with hard work, a good man, for your Grandmother's sake. But it was not always so.

I came from the West, where even a small village has thousands of inhabitants. I was a lazy young man, and I dreamed of an easy life when I joined the Party, a comfortable desk in the big city. But they sent me here, to the ends of the earth. To watch men and women work and starve and die. To participate in their punishment.

I knew it was evil. But I did not know how to fight. Until I met her.

Lara's Thoughts
Grandfather Ivan must have written this for Nadia.

Meeting Serafima
When the guilt of working in the gulag became too strong, I would lash out. A stolen screwdriver. Misplaced paperwork. Futile gestures that would never balance the scales. One day, I was caught taking a stupid risk.

Your grandmother, Serafima... she spoke up, took the blame. They beat her, mercilessly. But I was saved. When I found a moment to thank her, she spat at my feet, told me I had risked my life for nothing. Challenged me to do more. You have so much of her in you, Nadia.

At first I thought her cruel. She gave me no credit for my little acts of disobedience. That place, the gulag... it crushed hope and ate what little scraps of dignity remained. Every day I did not fight it with my whole heart, she said, I was complicit in atrocity.

She demanded my honesty, because she knew I was capable. It was the greatest kindness anyone had ever shown me. And I loved her for it.

Lara's Thoughts
Ivan describes meeting Serafima for the first time, in the Gulag.

Taking Risks
We decided to wait until the winter passed. We hid supplies, we made maps. We planned. I got her a work detail indoors. She helped me find ways to slow the grinding gears of the Gulag. If I could disable a hydraulic lift, I could keep a hundred men from one day in the mines. Cut the wiring of few trucks, there would be no special work projects for another week.

I took greater risks. But once I had met your Grandmother, I could not return to the sin of ignorance. We knew that the child would complicate our escape, and she hid it as long she could.

And then, without warning, they took her away. Our daughter was given to a nursemaid among the native prisoners, and they dragged Serafima away to the Vale.

I tried to stop them, fighting in the open. I stood in front of the transport truck, prepared to kill to save her. But there were too many of them. I screamed my farewell as they dragged me away. I don't know if she heard.

Lara's Thoughts
Ivan and Serafima planned to escape together, but they were caught...

The Gulag Burns
They put me with the other Russian prisoners. I could see the hate in their eyes, and I didn't blame them. To them, I was just another instrument of their humiliation and degradation. I didn't tell them what I had tried to do. It could never be enough.

When the revolt came, I was ready. The native prisoners, the ones the Gulag recruited from this very village, were kept apart from the Russians. They had known of my resistance, and that kept them from killing me, along with the other guards.

I held my daughter, your mother, for the first time as the Gulag burned around us. The people of the village took us both in, and against their own superstition, agreed to help me rescue your Grandmother from the Vale.

Lara's Thoughts
Ivan and his daughter survived the fall of the gulag, but Serafima did not...

Among the Remnant
The officer wandered out of the Vale, just as our rescue party prepared to enter. His body bore the marks of torture, a sight we knew well.

The Witch descended on them during revolt, killing Serafima along with her captors. He told us of the house that walks, of her fearsome voice, a child's story made flesh. He died the next day. Baba Yaga leaves no survivors. I wanted to go on, to bury your Grandmother, but no one would enter the Vale after that.

In the village, I learned to be a good man. I lived, to honor her. I worked hard, but I dreamt of killing the Witch, every night. I might. I might have gone, years ago, had the fever not taken your mother. I stayed for you, Nadia.

I am a lucky man. I lived a good life I did not deserve. A new fight is coming, but it is not mine. If I am to find revenge for Serafima, it must be now. I go to kill the Witch. To lay your Grandmother to rest. I will not be coming back.

Forgive me.

Lara's Thoughts
Ivan lived among the Remnant, all the while dreaming of revenge...