Bianca Batti writes about mother and father figures in the
newly released Rise of the Tomb Raider. She talks about two characters,
specifically, whose roles, relationships and interactions with Lara act out as parental
roles. Batti believes that often in video games, father figures are often seen as both mentors and
protectors and mother figures are constructed as either victims or villains.
(Spoilers ahead.)
Firstly, Batti talks about Jacob, the leader of the
Remnants, which is the community that protects the key to immortality (called
the Divine Source) for which Lara is trying to find. Initially, Lara is reluctant
to trust Jacob, since she has a different goal for the Divine Source.
The second character is Ana, who is constructed as a mother
figure to Lara, having been Richard Croft's partner until he died and she has
become some sort of mentor to Lara after the death of her father.
Now as the plot twists, we learn that Ana is not the
positive influence on Lara's life as she first seems to be. She is revealed to
have been working as a spy, watching Lara's progress in her quest to find the
Divine Source.
Ana has been depicted as a liar, a spy and a villain. She is
not the good (stand-in) mother that she was initially made out to be. Rather
than being reveals as a maternal character who supports and guides Lara, she is
selfishly motivated and seeks the Divine Source in an effort to save herself
from a terminal illness.
"But what seems especially important, here, is the manner in which Ana’s bad motherhood is used as a means of introducing Jacob’s new role in Lara’s life and of colouring the manner in which we (like Lara) view this role. Indeed, because Lara has found that she cannot trust Ana, she doesn’t know if she can trust anyone, Jacob included."
Jacob's role as a father allows Lara to feel she can trust
him. His influence has been characterised as one of guidance and a positive
mentor. Batti continues to explain the fatherly role of Jacob:
"In this way, Jacob’s presence in the game shifts, from potential (and potentially untrustworthy) ally to trusted paternal presence, moral figure, and mentor. But, again, this characterization only begins to occur after Ana’s construction as bad maternal presence is revealed, thereby placing Jacob’s influence over Lara in opposition to that of Ana’s. Ana’s negative construction, then, works (at least, in part) in service of Jacob’s positive one, and the conversation between the two seems to perpetuate the narrative lineage of the bad mother and the good father, thereby problematically gendering the roles of parents and mentors."
Batti seems to be disappointed in the lack of positive
mother figures in video games and Rise of the Tomb Raider is just another one. From
my experiences of playing video game, I've seen plenty of positive father
figures, most of them even being the protagonist of the game; such as Joel from
The Last of Us, Ethan from Heavy Rain or Delta from Bioshock 2. Most of the time they are
portrayed as heroes for their sacrifices and willingness to do anything to
protect their family. I honestly can't think of a mother protagonist in a game.
They are often side characters such as the mother in Child of Light. She gives
her daughter strength to save the kingdom but we don't really interact with her
much. Mothers often have minor and simplistic narrative roles. I'd like to see a
Mother protagonist lead a game.
This Week in Videogame Blogging:
Bianca Batti: Heroes and Villains: Mother- and
Father-Figures in Rise of the Tomb Raider:
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