#father patrick

Father Patrick: Actually telling somebody our sins is just an opportunity to admit that we are flawed.

Adam Petrazelli: You don't think we know we're flawed?

Father Patrick: Everyone's flawed. But admitting our flaws, that gives us the opportunity and the strength to face them. And that's why we confess.

Alright, so this is one of those aspects of Lara’s character that don’t get talked about much, likely due to their irrelevance to the game’s storylines. I think to figure it out, we should unpack Lara’s feelings on any kind of relationship. That should give us an idea.

The natural place to start is with her parents. As I stated in a recent post, Lara’s relationship with her parents is rocky at best, and non-existent at worst. Lara’s parents attempted to control her. To dictate her life and her life choices. Even arranging a marriage for her (I’ll get back to this). This likely drove Lara away, and is at least one of the reasons why she took up solo adventuring. This would later lead Lara to abandoning her parents. This to me, shows that Lara won’t tolerate another person attempting to exert control on her life, and that Lara likely holds no relationship too sacred to cut off if she feels she needs to.

Now let’s get back to the engagement thing. It is stated in Lara’s bio that her parents arranged a marriage between her and an Earl of Farringdon, and that when Lara began exercising her independence, she cut off the engagement. Beyond this, we don’t know much else. The character of this Earl of Farringdon boy is not at all expanded on, but it could have influenced the way Lara feels about relationships, especially he was her first time being in one. But, we don’t know what he was like. He could have been a pleasant boy, or a complete douche, or an egotistic sack of shit, or any number of other personalities. This personality could have skewed Lara’s perception of dating. This arrangement, combined with the cloud of control that Lara’s parents, and high society placed on her, could have given Lara a feeling that relationships would come at the cost of her freedom. Or, she could see that situation as a symptom of her parents’ controlling nature, and not indicative of love as a whole. We just don’t know.

We do know that Lara has a fair number of friends. The oldest (both in age and length of their relationship) is of course, Winston. We don’t know when Winston was hired, but it was likely before Lara’s birth. Winston is described as a genuine father figure for Lara. When the Croft Mansion was undergoing renovations/repairs, Lara lived with Winston in his cottage in Connusie, Ireland. That is a serious blending of professional and work lives to allow your boss’s daughter to live with you. Furthermore, in Tomb Raider 3, when Lara is on the obstacle course, Winston dons his WW2 uniform and armor, and allows Lara to use him for target practice. Winston trusts Lara so thoroughly, that he allows her to shoot at him with live rounds. This indicates to me that they had a very deep love for each other.

Then there’s Jean Yves, and Charles Kane (should be noted that Charles was only invented after the real life Jean Yves Empereur complained about the character of Jean Yves, but I view them as two different still canonical characters). Both have a friendship with Lara. Jean is featured prominently in Tomb Raider 4, and they seem to have a warm relationship. Charles is introduced in Tomb Raider Chronicles, and he is with Winston, and Father Patrick at Lara’s home after her memorial service. To me, these friendships are born out of Lara’s work, and we only see the characters when they are helping Lara on her adventures. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t friends, but this does mean that Lara is open to forming relationships with people she meets while adventuring or researching her upcoming adventures.

There’s also Father Patrick. He was also introduced in Chronicles, and at least accompanied Winston to Lara’s memorial service, if not performed the service himself. It’s not certain when Father Patrick met Lara, but we know he was met via Winston. At least, according to what the wiki says is his official bio. I know some speculate that he performed Lara’s baptism, but according to this bio, which is the only one I know of, he would have only been 14 or 15 when Lara was born, so I doubt that. Lara “accompanied” Father Patrick (without his knowledge) to the Black Isle in Tomb Raider Chronicles, and they would both brave the horrors of the Isle together. This, combined with the rest of his character in Tomb Raider Chronicles, tells me that Lara doesn’t just maintain friendships with people she’d meet in her field of play, but also others too.

Then there’s Kurtis. Kurtis seems to be the only canon love interest for Lara in the original games (though this has been contested, and the canonicity of it has been both supported and denied by Murti Schofeld, the main writer for Tomb Raider the Angel of Darkness). Now, others could give you a better, deeper description of their relationship than I but there does seem to be burgeoning relationship there. The way Lara touches Kurtis (in both playful and serious ways), and how Kurtis sacrifices both himself, and his revenge to face Boaz, entrusting the defeat of Eckhardt to Lara, is clear evidence that they have some kind of relationship. This is formed by their shared goal of killing Eckhardt, and their decision to work together. To me, this further demonstrates that Lara is able to form relationships in the field.

FATHER PATRICK ETUK-MSP FT ISAAC OMAYE & HIS GLORIOUS VOICE CHORALE GROUP – FILL US

Father Patrick Etuk-MSP is here with a new song titled “Fill us” featuring “Isaac OMAYE & his glorious voice chorale group”  The song was produced by “Niyi_P” and Mastered by Joshua Akoh (Bad Bishop)  Download and Enjoy below… DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE