Talk:Lara Croft (Survivor Timeline)/@comment-36066194-20190617234728/@comment-2038153-20190619231213

I think the reason the developers chose Jonah as Lara's "Companion" is because he was the safe option. Jonah is just, there. He's had exactly Zero character development, he'll never be interested in Lara romantically and he doesn't do anything besides get captured and make the situation worse which makes Lara look better by comparison.

This gets especially bad when you take the comics into account where there's a LOT more emphases on Lara's character development, PTSD, her relationship with Sam, along with a great emphases on Sam's character development as I've said before. The reason the comics are so much better is that they are honestly trying new things instead of playing it safe like Rise and Shadow did.

IMHO, Tomb Raider: A Survivor is Born, is a Great game that was well written and had some fun gameplay elements. Rise and Shadow are just a retread of ASIB with the exact story beats and largely unchanged gameplay. Jonah is barely a character and his relationship with Lara boils down to Praise Lara for all she does except when the script says otherwise.

That's why both his arguments with Lara feel so forced, they're there to give the illusion of drama only for all his issues with Lara to just flat out disappear without any actual given reason. In one scene in both Rise and Shadow Jonah's all like "You're delusional and selfish Lara. Not everything is about you and you need to grow up." only to be like "Don't worry Lara I know you're right and I'll support you no matter what."

With Sam, in the Queen of Serpents arc, Sam calls Lara out on her obsession to play the hero and she still hasn't taken back what she said. And, by Pratchett's own admission, was by design as while Himiko was feeding Sam's own insecurity issues to make her say that the fact remains that is what Sam thinks.

So if/when Sam returns this HAS to be at the forefront of their relationship issues. Lara is over protective and Sam has inferiority issues steaming from how useless she feels. The reason that most writers like writing Sam so much is that she offers so much potential character wise, both for herself and for Lara.

Go watch/read any article when the writers are asked about writing Jonah for TR, it usually a few second long that boils down to, "He's nice and there for Lara." usually in a half hearted way. Ask any writer about writing Sam and you'll likely get a heartfelt bit about how much they love writing Sam and her relationship with Lara.

And the funny thing about Sam is that she was suppose to die in ASIB but due to how much test players liked her the ending was rewritten so Lara would be able to save her. Sam was saved because she connected with fans and there is Still a demand for her return six years later.

If Jonah leaves, and I really hope he does after Shadow with him just settling down with Abby, I'm sure no one will make note of his absence and that Sam comes in and takes on Jonah's role as Lara companion with her being given the full companion treatment and like Elizabeth, Atreus and Ellie joins Lara on her adventures with the main character focus being their relationship.

Again, I'm okay with it being left ambiguous so long as we get to see the two of them mend their relationship and Sam gets to keep all her wonderful character development from the comics. :D