We do call soldiers and murderers badass, actually. But that doesn't mean they're heroes, or even admirable. Lara has always been a morally ambiguous anti-hero. That fact alone is established in the title of the franchise.



Old Lara was a better character than LAU Lara, or reboot Lara. She didn't need to spend her time ruminating or introspecting about her past and familial legacy (her parents were both alive and well in the original timeline, and her father wasn't an archaeologist. She was her own woman.



She was mythic in exactly the right ways, with a distinctly British sensibility. She was playful yet stoic, reckless yet controlled, polite but not obsequious, tough but not pretentious, ruthless but not vengeful, and impossible yet somehow plausible. "I only play for sport" is the best summation of her character ever written. Pity this statement is a lie in the LAU story arc and beyond. Core Lara had a zen-level of calmness about her, and understood herself completely. She was neither a stubborn Scully-esque skeptic nor a credulous fool. She had instead an almost innocent sense of acceptance, a constant "yes" to the world and all of its dangers and mysteries. She wasn't overwhelmed by angst or trauma, because she had much better things to do. She did what she did because she LOVED it. With the exception of AOD, she was there for the same reason you played the game: because she also wanted a challenging adventure.