Ever since eagle-eyed gamers spotted the word “Croatoan” written in the book seen in Tomb Raider 2013’s closing scene, there has been a lot of speculation as to what this may mean for the future of the Tomb Raider series. Were the development team hinting at the storyline or location for the next game, perhaps a mission to find the Lost Colony of Roanoke? Were there any other clues to Lara’s next adventure scribbled across the pages visible in the closing scene? Did the note written in Cyrillic actually mean anything? And could the logbook have belonged to a Trinity agent?

These and many more questions were raised by fans over on the official Tomb Raider discussion forums as they tried to analyze every square inch of the screenshot below, poring over every detail in an attempt to make sense of the maps, illustrations, and cryptic messages found within the weathered logbook, which Lara had grabbed from a table in the cliffside bunker.

Some fans were so desperate to know what the book and its contents meant for the upcoming sequel that when Game Informer asked fans to submit questions for a special Q&A podcast with Rise of the Tomb Raider’s game director Brian Horton, one fan (“William Croft”) put forward the question “What about Croatoan?”, prompting Horton to talk a little about the journal/logbook and its role in the Tomb Raider franchise.

Horton: “The journal played a significant role in…setting up some mysteries for the franchise. We weren’t planning on expressing a specific nod to the sequel with that…. There are going to be further stories and adventures for Lara Croft in the future and this journal was going to be an important part of her discovery.” (Transcribed from the Game Informer podcast)

So while Rise of the Tomb Raider will be focusing on the lost city of Kitezh and not the Lost Colony of Roanoke as some originally thought, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there won’t be a Lost Colony-based storyline further down the line, whether it’s in the comics, games, or even in the planned Tomb Raider reboot film. In fact, the original synopses for Tomb Raider #9 and #10 suggest that a Roanoke story *had* been planned but later ditched in favour of the extended Pripyat and “Pride and Prejudice” storylines. It’s possible that we might still see it crop up again in a future comic…or perhaps even as story-based DLC for Rise.

As for the logbook itself, it’s clear that it will play a role in Lara’s future quests even though we don’t know much about its contents at this time. In the novel, The Ten Thousand Immortals, Lara constantly referred to it as “The Book” and came to see it as a valuable resource in her research. While the novel doesn’t explicitly point out that this book is the same one Lara found on Yamatai (this is just an assumption on my part), it describes it as “a collection of bits and pieces of information: notes, drawings, clippings, and references collected and added to over a long period of time” and states that it had “passed through any number of hands, had been annotated over and over again, and was a rich and wonderful resource”. To me, it certainly sounds like “The Book” could very well be that old logbook based on the physical description alone.

And what is perhaps more interesting in retrospect is the fact that “The Book” had a whole section devoted to immortality myths and spiritual transference, something that ties in well with the upcoming game. Brian Horton and franchise creative director Noah Hughes have both talked about Lara’s growing obsession with immortality myths following the events of Tomb Raider 2013, explaining that she is desperate to find clues that would validate what she saw on Yamatai (namely Himiko’s apparent immortality and the ritual that almost killed her best friend Sam). Sadly, the novel doesn’t really delve into any of the myths mentioned in the early chapters, which include those of the Irish goddess Airmid (a master herbalist and healer), He Qiong (one of China’s legendary Eight Immortals and better known as He Xiangu), and the Sámi sun goddess Beaivi.

Nevertheless, it’s now apparent that despite its lacklustre writing, shoddy characterization of our heroine, and countless wasted opportunities, The Ten Thousand Immortals must have been part of a larger picture that is only now coming into view. In his Q&A session with Game Informer, Brian Horton stressed that Crystal Dynamics are “very much involved and vesting in making sure that the stories [in the comics and novel]…map very well to [their] plans for the game” and that all the supplemental material will “feather directly into the Rise of the Tomb Raider“.

In other words, don’t underestimate the importance of that mystery book within the grand scheme of things. That battered old logbook may have more in store for Ms Croft’s tomb raiding career than we previously thought…

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