Amanda Evert

Amanda Evert was once Lara Croft's friend and colleague and is the main antagonist of Tomb Raider: Legend and the secondary antagonist of Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Amanda Evert is an anthropologist whose interest in metaphysics and mysticism informed her theories about the world and the underlying truths that were lost to history. She always dreamed of rediscovering these truths and mystical knowledge driven from the world by modern science.

Amanda's story and motives, in the games, are based on an accident that occurred during her college days. She was trapped in a collapsing tomb and was presumed dead for years before she resurfaced during one of Lara's adventures.

Early Life
Amanda was a graduate student involved in an archaeological expedition with Lara Croft. They, along with a team of colleagues, were excavating an archaeological dig site in Paraiso, Peru.

One day, while at the site, Lara was checking the integrity of a climbing-rope scaffold when Amanda playfully taunted her that the team was about to “break through” to a new section of the excavated site. Lara cautiously followed Amanda down the rope system to the inside of the underground caverns of the site. Amanda ran ahead of Lara through tunnels and taunted her for falling behind, as if she were enticing Lara to race. Soon after entering the cavernous tomb, Lara and Amanda are separated by a rock slide that blocks Lara from following the same path that Amanda took.

Lara finds a different path through the site that takes her to a room reminiscent of a tomb decorated in meso-American stone sculptures. In this room, Lara finds one of her colleagues, Sarah, dead on the floor. Unable to figure out what's happening Lara makes her way through several spike-ridden booby traps left in the tomb. She comes across a gated doorway and finds her friend Kent acting erratically. She tries to keep him calm and find her way to him. While Lara attempts to reach Kent through a different doorway he hears Amanda screaming his name far down a cavernous hall. Kent, ignoring Lara's pleas, runs to go find Amanda. Kent is instead attacked by a shadowy figure. The shadowy figure grabs Kent and presumably kills or maims him before turning its sights on Lara. The shadowy figure is a monstrous, demonic, ghostly creature with large claws and fiery eyes.

The demonic creature chases Lara down a rocky passage to another room in the tomb's underground complex. It's here that Lara finds Amanda again. Amanda is frightened and frantic behind a locked, gated doorway. Amanda tried explaining to Lara that something was killing their friends and was coming after her. Before Amanda can explain anything in more detail, she sees it coming after her, screams, and runs from the doorway. The monstrous, shadowy figure then chases after Amanda.

Amanda and Lara flee to a central, open room in the tomb. Realizing they were trapped, Amanda asks Lara about removing a purple, tear-drop-shaped stone from a large stone door. She believed it was a key that could open the way out and away from the entity chasing them. Lara isn't fully convinced, but Amanda saw the entity coming ever closer and pried the stone from the wall. Just as the entity pounced at Lara and Amanda, Amanda freed the stone from the door and turned around. The entity suddenly dissolved into thin air and disappeared.

Suddenly, a tremor began and causes a cave-in. Parts of the tomb begin collapsing around them and water begins pouring from faults in the walls. While they run for an escape Amanda's foot gets caught between fallen rocks, pinning her down. A large gate then came crashing down between the main room and the cavernous hallway that Lara made it to. Lara caught the gate and tried lifting it to hold it open for Amanda. But, the room and surrounding corridors began to flood while Amanda was still trapped in the fallen debris. Lara held on to the gate as long as she could after submerging. With Amanda still stuck and the water level rising, Lara had no choice but to escape for air. Amanda was seemingly crushed and was not able to follow Lara out. The survivors of the ordeal, which included Lara and Anaya Imanu, closed the excavation site down and memorialized it for their fallen friends.

Many years later it is discovered that Amanda survived the collapse and flooding of the tomb in Paraiso, Peru. She did so with the aid of the very same Unknown Entity that chased and slaughtered her friends. Evidently, after pulling the Wraith Stone from the door, she and the Unknown Entity formed a mystical connection and Amanda learned to tame the creature. After escaping the tomb Amanda developed a deep resentment toward her former friends (namely Lara) for failing to attempt a rescue or recovery. After this ordeal Amanda adopted a new style of dress featuring stereotypical Gothic themes and she became more insistent on discovering ways to harness the powers of the mystical truths she believed existed.

At some point she met James Rutland and the two formed a romantic relationship. Through this relationship it is believed she gained significant financial influence and was able to fund her expeditions and research into mysticism and archaeology. She later discovered Jaqueline Natla and imprisoned her to serve as her own database of ancient knowledge. It is likely that Natla taught Amanda the truth about the myths of King Arthur and Norse mythology and their real world connections. Amanda coveted the supposed paradise of Avalon after learning of its real world connections.

Natla's influence and information eventually brought Amanda in direct opposition to Lara Croft. Their individual goals became intertwined during one of Lara's adventures. This reignited a complicated relationship and a race to find powerful artifacts.

Tomb Raider: Legend
Amanda travels to Tiwanaku, Bolivia with a small army of mercenaries and her partner, James Rutland, in order to research a stone dais found there. Her search is interrupted by Lara who is also there to research the dais for her own interests. Rutland confronts Lara while Amanda (unknowingly to Lara) hangs back in a helicopter and listens in on their conversation. Rutland questions Lara's reasons for being there while brandishing a black and green stone. He calls this stone a 'piece' of something and asks Lara if she has found one herself. He also makes mention of Amanda and Paraiso to Lara. Lara was caught off guard by this information, but gave Rutland nothing. He realized she doesn't know as much as he does and that she hasn't found anything. He writes Lara off, calling her “sloppy,” and leaves on the helicopter with Amanda. Their mercenaries open fire on Lara as she runs across a fragile rope bridge to the stone dais. She survives the encounter, wipes out the remaining men, and makes a plan to continue studying Rutland and his motives.

Lara adventures to Peru and revisits the fated excavation site of the tomb that she thought Amanda died in. In the tomb she discovers that Amanda is in fact alive and escaped all those years ago. Lara explores a new section of the tomb complex and discovers the resting place of the last queen of Tiwanaku. Next to the queen's body she finds a ceremonial sword that resembles both a fragment of stone she had seen before in Japan and the 'piece' Rutland was holding in Bolivia. Lara realized that each was a piece to this larger sword, a replica of which was right in front of her. Lara travels to Japan to retrieve the piece of the sword that she saw in Japan before. Lara retrieves the piece that was then in the possession of Shogo Takamoto, a Yakuza boss.

Amanda sends Rutland to Ghana to collect a piece of the sword while she attempts to retrieve a piece herself. Lara's tech assistant, Zip, discovers that Rutland is in Ghana and informs Lara. While in Ghana Lara explores a temple and fights off Rutland's mercenaries. When she arrives at the innermost sanctum she finds Rutland. He taunts her about her ignorance of the sword fragments and how Amanda believes Lara's father actually found an important piece, the Ghalali Key. It is believed to be the piece needed to repair the sword. Rutland then engages in a fight with Lara and loses. Lara claims his fragment of the sword, but Rutland then lets Lara know Amanda is at her manor right now looking for the Ghalali Key.

While Lara was chasing Rutland down in Ghana, Amanda travelled to Lara's manor in England to search for the Ghalali Key. She leaves empty-handed and damage in her wake. Zip and Alister mention to Lara that Amanda had a 'thing' with her that was like 'black smoke.' This indicated that Amanda has some connection to the Unknown Entity; even after escaping the tomb. Amanda then makes her way to Kazakhstan to retrieve another piece of the sword.

Amanda arrives before Lara at a military station in Kazakhstan. Amanda orders the slaughtering of the soldiers stationed at the facility and finds a way to travel from the station to a laboratory connected by train, but further away. Lara discovers this from surviving soldiers at the station and chases Amanda's train on a motorcycle, again fending off mercenaries. Lara explores her way through the old soviet laboratory and finds Amanda tinkering with a machine. They come face to face for the first time in years.

Amanda scolds Lara for bothering her and tells her she's busy with things Lara can't imagine. Lara tries to apologize, though her words are ignored. Amanda's resentment has grown strong and she calls out Lara for not trying to “dig” for her even though that's what archaeologists do. Amanda scoffs at Lara's response and orders her men to not allow Lara to follow after her, before disappearing behind automatic doors to an unaccessible section of the facility. Lara discovers that the facility was used by the KGB to study an artifact recovered from somewhere in England many years ago. She believes this to be yet another piece of the sword that she is searching for. While Lara figures out how to reactivate the Tesla-based electrical systems in the facility, Amanda hijacks her communications with Zip and Alister. Amanda explains to Lara that the KGB called the research into this sword fragment "Project Karbonek" and asks Lara if she knows what that is. Lara answers and says it's the castle where Lancelot searched for the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. Amanda mocks her for calling it a myth and calls her limited for thinking that way. She explains to Lara that the Soviets were too literal when studying the artifact that they obtained and it killed many of the researchers in the facility. She left the conversation by ominously warning Lara not to “press the wrong buttons.” This hinted at some deadly power that the artifact possessed that Amanda was trying to access. This is confirmed by notes left behind by deceased KGB scientists throughout the facility. Soon after, Lara finds an English knight's shield that holds a map on the inside. She tasks Alister with decrypting it and discovering where it leads.

Lara manages to catch up to Amanda deeper into the facility and finds her in a control booth trying to unlock the Tesla-powered mechanism holding the sword fragment. Lara again strives to apologize and explain what happened in Peru. But, Amanda once again brushes her off and said her only company down in the tomb was the stone hanging on her necklace. She claims that she tamed the Unknown Entity and now uses the stone to release the it at will— much to Lara's horror. She warns Lara to stay out of the Unknown Entity's way as she doesn't control it, she only unleashes it. Lara worked to activate the machinery and power system in the room while dodging attacks from Amanda's demonic pet. Lara succeeds in, once again, activating the long forgotten Soviet experiment and uses the Tesla coil gun in the room to retrieve the sword fragment before Amanda can. True to the tales of the experiment's previous failure, the machinery goes haywire and fires electrical arcs all over. The research facility begins melting down. Both Amanda and Lara successfully escape from the facility before they can be harmed.

Amanda's final stand against Lara took place back at the stone dais in Bolivia. She, Rutland, and their mercenaries arrive to the dais site ahead of Lara and the reforged Excalibur. Lara approaches the dais and demands they all stand down, or suffer death at her hands. Amanda refuses, Lara swings Excalibur at the group, and a bright wave of green particles and light throw them off their feet. Rutland then order the men to attack. Lara uses King Arthur's sword to kill the mercenaries. After she is finished, Rutland succumbs to his injuries from the sword's energy attack and says goodbye to Amanda, stating he'll see her “in Avalon.” Enraged and heartbroken, Amanda rips the Wraith Stone from her necklace. She commences a short ritual where the Wraith Stone begins spinning in midair between her palms and emanates a red-purple, ghostly energy. Amanda's eyes roll to the back of her head until only the whites of her eyes show. Amanda levitates in the air as the shadowy figure of the Unknown Entity is summoned. Instead of unleashing the creature, however, Amanda merges with it. She engages Lara in a deadly fight. The attacks she used were like those seen by the Entity before, but with vastly more power. Waves of red-purple energy are thrown at Lara while the creature darts and dashes around the battlefield in an attempt to dodge Excalibur's energy attacks. Throughout the battle Lara weakens the amalgamation enough to temporarily separate Amanda's body from the Entity; which lay motionless on the ground. Though powerful, and deadly, Amanda is once again unsuccessful, as Lara plunges Excalibur through Amanda's incorporeal body in her vulnerable state. The final stab of the sword permanently separates Amanda from the Unknown Entity for the final time. The remnant of the ghostly entity rises in the air, hunched over, before exploding and dissolving into a cloud of energy and whimpering sparks. Amanda is knocked unconscious and Lara confiscates the Wraith Stone from Amanda, removing the source of her threatening power. Lara finally, and calmly, approaches the Dais and begins a ritual to activate its mystical properties.

Lara successfully uses Excalibur to open a portal by thrusting the sword into the stone at the center. A large stone ring, encircling the circumference of the dais, rises overhead and locks into place in front of Lara. A green, misty energy begins glowing from the center of the stone ring. Lara was astounded to see her mother and quickly realized she was looking through the portal into her own past. As Lara attempts to communicate with her confused mother in the past, Amanda regains consciousness and calls out to Lara. She is adamant that Lara must remove the sword from the stone, or the dais will explode. Amelia, hearing through the portal from the distant past, believed this to be a direction to her or a threat. Amelia doesn't hesitate and quickly pulls out the sword, severing the connection made by the portal. The present-day dais that Lara and Amanda fought over begins shaking. Lara runs and dives away from the ring as it explodes with a bright green light. Lara recovers and realizes that Amanda is the one to blame for her mother's disappearance. She threatens Amanda's life and demands to know where her mother is. Amanda reveals that Lara's mother is in Avalon, and that the paradise of Arthurian legend is not, in fact, a myth. Lara, enraged and flustered, knocks Amanda out with the butt of her pistol handle and leaves.

Tomb Raider: Underworld
After the destruction of the Dais in Bolivia, Amanda tries to find another way to reach Avalon. After extensive research (likely guided by Natla's influence), she discovers that there is a Norse parallel to the Arthurian paradise. Using Natla and her army of private mercenaries, Amanda scours several locations around the world in an attempt to locate the real-world artifacts that inspired the Nordic myth of Thor and his hammer, Mjölnir. To acquire the Hammer, Amanda must collect both of Thor's gauntlets and his belt. Her research soon leads her to the location of the first gauntlet: Niflheim, another place of afterlife in Norse legend, located in the Mediterranean Sea. However, her men arrive just after Lara Croft, who has already put on the first gauntlet, causing it to mold to the size of her hand permanently. Her men take the gauntlet from Lara, knock her out, and return to the ship they were using as a base of operations. Lara follows them out of Niflheim, and fights her way through the ship. She reaches an inner room containing gas canisters. A careless guard shoots at her as she ran past the containers and creates holes for the gas to escape. Lara hears the gas hissing and leaking out and runs out of the room and the guard shoots one last bullet, which ignites the gas in the chamber. This starts a chain reaction that causes the ship to explode, set fire, and begin sinking.

Amanda, meanwhile, is conversing with Natla as she attempts to put the gauntlet. The gauntlet doesn't fit her hand, however. Natla reveals that since Lara has already worn it, it is now only compatible with her, much to Amanda's anger and dismay. Amanda notices the emergency sirens blaring on the ship and leaves quickly to escape the sinking vessel. Lara discovers that Jaqueline Natla is still alive and has a short conversation with her about the true Nordic parallel of Avalon, Helheim. Their conversation is interrupted by a helicopter hoisting Natla's containment tube through the ceiling of the ship. Lara escapes the ship before it is fully capsized and notices Amanda on a ladder hanging from the helicopter. Lara begins shooting at Amanda as she wants to retrieve the gauntlet before she makes a getaway. Amanda's cheek is grazed by a bullet and she throws the gauntlet into the sea. It is likely that Amanda knew she had no choice but to give the gauntlet back as Lara is now the only way of reaching and accessing Helheim.

While Lara explored Natla's lead in Thailand, Amanda worked with Natla to create another Doppelgänger of Lara. This replica of Lara would be used to retrieve the Wraith Stone for Amanda and destroy Croft Manor. The pair send the Doppelgänger to Croft Manor while Lara is there in search of the second gauntlet that her father found years earlier. As Lara emerges from the Croft family crypt under the manor an explosion rocks the basement and foundation. Fires break out all over the manor as Lara traverses her damaged home to get to safety. In the main foyer Zip shoots at Lara upon first sight. Lara threatens Zip into dropping his weapon as she wonders why he's attacking her. He claims Lara (or something that looks identical to her) opened the vault to retrieve the Wraith Stone. Lara doesn't believe what she's hearing and makes her way into the tech room. Once she reaches the room she has little time to assess the security footage before the new Doppelgänger appears. She mimics Lara's movements, acting as a shadow through the tech room glass wall. When the Doppelgänger walks into the light, Lara recognizes what she is. Just as Lara's realization hits, Alister comes from a doorway right next to the tech room and the Doppelgänger wastes no time and shoots him point-blank in the chest. Lara gasps and turns to grab at something, but she is stopped immediately. The Doppelgänger attacks Lara with blindingly fast speed and attacks. She only incapacitates Lara temporarily before fleeing the manor.

Amanda and the Doppelgänger later appear on Amanda's second ship in the Andaman Sea. Lara slaughters the mercenaries on her way to seek vengeance on Amanda and Natla. She finds the pair (and her replica) in the heart of the ship and shouts at Amanda for destroying her home and killing Alister. Amanda brushes this criticism off and brandishes her Wraith Stone. Reunited with her source of mystical powers, Amanda assumes a defensive stance and begins using the stone to emanate red, smokey energy. During this confrontation with Lara and her newly acquired Mjolnir, Natla and the Doppelgänger betray Amanda by throwing her over a balcony and down a shaft of the ship's innards.

Amanda, hurt but not dead, follows Lara, Natla, and the Doppelgänger to the Arctic Circle and into Helheim. Amanda stumbles upon Lara as she is being attacked by the Doppelgänger (on Natla's orders) and uses the Wraith Stone's dark powers to levitate the Doppelgänger away from Lara. Amanda then uses her power to throw the Doppelgänger into a pool of deadly Eitr, removing one obstacle from Lara's way. Lara, confused by Amanda's assistance, is told that Natla plans to activate the Midgard Serpent, an ancient device that would tear the world apart. Amanda begrudgingly knows that Lara and Mjolnir are the only hope of stopping the cataclysm that Natla hopes to enact. Yeti thralls begin to attack the two and Amanda insists that Lara go and stop Natla while she stays to hold off the mindless sentinels attempting to kill them. As Lara makes her way around the Midgard Serpent and disrupts Natla's progress, Amanda is eventually force to retreat to the same inner cavern due to the overwhelming amount of thralls attacking her. While attempting to attack a Yeti thrall, Amanda is knocked off a high ledge and falls on her leg. She painfully limps away, desperate to escape the horde of thralls following her. In one last effort to hold them off, Amanda turns and uses the Wraith Stone to create a magical barrier between her and the thralls. Her attempt to corral the creatures is interrupted by Natla who attacks Amanda with a fireball projectile. Amanda is knocked off her feet and thrown a distance while the thralls begin swarming the cavern.

After Lara successfully destroys the Midgard Serpent, she and Amanda find each other. The cavern quickly fills up with Eitr after the destruction of the apocalyptic mechanism. Amanda attempts to use her power to destroy boulders and debris that have blocked the exit from the cavern. The energy emanating from her stone quickly dissipates, however, and Amanda realizes the stone's power is diminished. Amanda laments that even though they saved the world, they would die in the cavern. She also makes a snide comment about Lara's mother. Lara turns as though to hit Amanda, but stops, noticing another dais in the distance of the cavern. She runs to it as Amanda confusingly limps, and follows her to it. The dais is damaged and will not stay active unless a heavy stone is held in place. Lara holds it together and asks Amanda to activate the dais's portal by pulling out the sword that was lodged in it. Amanda, shocked that Lara would trust her, glances back and forth between Lara and the dais. She considered whether to travel through the portal herself or to begrudgingly take her former friend and save both their lives. Amanda decides to save Lara and the pair activate the dais. Amanda pulls the sword and immediately reaches for Lara's hand. The two are transported through the dais' portal to the Nepalese monastery where Lara's mother disappeared decades ago.

Once the pair are through the portal, Amanda gets up and brandishes her Wraith Stone at Lara, looking for yet another confrontation. It weakly glows and Lara asks if killing her would make them even. Amanda doesn't answer and the stone's glow, again, dissipates. She turns and walks away, leaving Lara alone in the room where she lost her mother.

Alternate Ending
* ''This ending was not used in the final game. It is non-canon''.

Amanda and Lara leave the temple separately and venture out into a harsh blizzard through the Himalayas. As Lara treks through the howling wind and snow Amanda comes running from behind and attempts to kill Lara using a large rock. Lara hears Amanda coming, however, and shoots her in the leg. After contemplating whether or not to finish off Amanda, Lara walks away instead, leaving an injured Amanda behind in the snow. Amanda calls out to Lara while attempting to stand, but her injured leg collapses and she falls, agonizing. Lara ignores her and leaves her to succumb to the elements.

Tomb Raider: Underworld: Lara's Shadow
Amanda is seen when she saves Lara from the Doppelgänger, throwing her into an Eitr pool with her powers.

The Doppelgänger survives the fall, and returns to an injured Natla. She takes Natla back to the place where she was created so Natla could use an ancient machine, powered by Eitr, to heal and recover. However, when Natla tries to activate the machine, it doesn't start. Natla concludes that Amanda disabled the machine and orders the Doppelgänger to reactivate it.

Powers
Wraith Stone Powers: Through the use of the Wraith Stone, Amanda could unleash the Unknown Entity, although her control over its actions is debatable. Amanda was also capable of merging with the entity by directly inhabiting its form and controlling its powers herself. This was only done once and seemed to drain the Wraith Stone of its power afterwards. The Wraith Stone evidently did not contain a limitless source of power as extensive use of it would drain the stone of power, leaving Amanda unable to use it.

Amanda also used the stone without summoning the Unknown Entity that inhabited it. She used it to:


 * Create bursts of magical energy to destroy objects/kill enemies
 * Manipulate objects/enemies with telekinesis
 * Create barriers of energy

Abilities

 * High-Level Intelligence: Amanda is incredibly intelligent and gained a deep knowledge of ancient, mystical rituals. She was capable of strategizing several steps ahead of Lara during their opposing adventures.

Trivia

 * Amanda's standard outfit and her winter outfit both appear as costumes for Lara in Tomb Raider: Legend.
 * In Tomb Raider: Legend when Lara first meets James Rutland, Amanda can be seen sitting on the edge of the helicopter.
 * In Tomb Raider: Underworld, a cut ending is still present on the PlayStation 2 version because the developers of the PlayStation 2 port forgot to remove it. The ending shows that Lara and Amanda were to escape together, however, Amanda tries to hit Lara with a rock but Lara shoots Amanda and leaves her in the snow to freeze to death. The ending was cut because the Developers decided the real ending ties up loose ends and shows Amanda and Lara make amends.
 * Amanda has tattoos in Legend, but they don't appear in Underworld. It was later explained that the tattoos seen in Legend were henna.