The ruins have been swallowed by jungle for centuries. Beneath their roots sits a golden disc said to contain the location of a lost observatory. Its chamber is protected by collapsing bridges, ancient mechanisms and the sort of traps that make most treasure hunters turn around.
Most treasure hunters aren’t Lara Croft or Nathan Drake.
Lara has followed the trail to keep the disc out of the hands of an antiquities broker. Nathan has arrived with a map, a climbing rope and every intention of getting to the artefact first. Both know the ruins are dangerous. Neither was expecting competition quite like this.
Two legendary adventurers. One ancient prize. Who would win?
Pick your winner before the fight and tell us in the comments!
The Rules
We’re using Lara from the end of the Survivor trilogy and Nathan during Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Each has their usual experience but no supernatural artefacts or outside help. They arrive separately, without preparation specifically for one another.
Lara carries her bow with a limited supply of ordinary arrows, a climbing axe, a pistol and a rope arrow. Nathan has a pistol, his climbing rope and a limited supply of ammunition. Both can use the ruins and whatever they find there. Neither begins with knowledge of the temple’s traps.
The winner must recover the disc and get it out of the central chamber while leaving the other unable to prevent the escape. Neither needs to kill the other. The ratings below are our interpretation of this particular matchup, not a scientific measurement of fictional adventurers.
Lara Croft vs Nathan Drake: The Stats
Each score is out of five. The table reflects the skills that matter most in this scenario.
| Attribute | Lara Croft | Nathan Drake |
|---|---|---|
| Climbing and traversal | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Ranged combat | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Stealth | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Puzzles and research | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Improvisation | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Close-quarters combat | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Survival skills | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Durability | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Meet the Combatants
Lara Croft
By the end of the Survivor trilogy, Lara has explored lost cities, survived hostile environments and dealt with opponents who were better equipped and far more numerous. Her bow is both a weapon and a tool, while her climbing axe gives her another way to navigate dangerous terrain. She is patient when she needs to be, but her determination can also push her deeper into trouble.
Strengths
- Excellent with a bow, including when a quiet approach matters.
- Experienced in wilderness survival, stealth and navigating hazardous tombs.
- Uses climbing equipment and the environment to create routes others might miss.
- Brings research and archaeological knowledge to ancient puzzles.
Weaknesses
- Her supply of arrows is limited in this fight.
- Her concern for the disc could be exploited if she commits too early.
- A bow takes room and time to use when an opponent closes the distance.
Nathan Drake
Nathan is a treasure hunter who has spent years following historical clues into places that would send a sensible person home. He’s an accomplished climber, an experienced gunfighter and a remarkably quick thinker when a plan falls apart. Give him a rope, a crumbling building and a few seconds to react and he has a habit of finding a way through.
Strengths
- Outstanding climber with a versatile grappling rope.
- Experienced at solving historical clues and navigating dangerous ruins.
- Resourceful under pressure, especially when the environment starts collapsing.
- Capable with firearms and in a close-range scrap.
Weaknesses
- His pistol is louder than Lara’s bow and can reveal his position.
- His ammunition and the places he can secure his rope are limited.
- Crossing open ground gives Lara an opportunity to control the engagement at range.
Lara’s bow and climbing axe are familiar tools from the Survivor trilogy, while Nathan’s adventures across the Uncharted series have repeatedly tested his climbing, puzzle-solving and survival skills.
3… 2… 1… FIGHT!
The rope bridge had already collapsed once. Nathan knew this because half of it was still hanging from the cliff, swinging gently above a river he couldn’t see.
“Good start,” he said.
He tested the stone column beside him, looped his rope around it and backed towards the edge. Across the gap, an enormous doorway rose between the roots of two trees. The carved sun above it matched the symbol in his map. Somewhere behind that door was the disc, and somewhere behind Nathan was an antiquities broker who had paid several very unpleasant people to find it.
Nathan jumped. The rope went taut. He swung across the chasm, caught the far ledge with both hands and pulled himself up just as a stone broke loose beneath his boot.
On the other side of the ruin, Lara watched a trail of disturbed vines lead towards the same doorway. She had seen the broker’s men at the river and followed them here. Whoever had beaten them to the temple was either working for the broker or looking for the disc themselves.
Neither possibility made her comfortable.
Two Ways In
Lara climbed a broken wall, found a narrow opening and slipped into the temple above its main chamber. Below her, a stone bridge crossed a deep shaft. At its centre stood a circular pedestal surrounded by three carved pillars. High on the far wall, the same sun symbol appeared above a locked door.
Nathan entered from the opposite side. He took one look at the chamber, then at the map in his hand.
“Three pillars, one door. That’s never just three pillars and one door.”
“No,” a voice called from above. “It isn’t.”
Nathan looked up. Lara stood on a ledge with her bow lowered, an arrow in her hand rather than on the string.
“You’re not with the broker,” she said.
“That depends. Is the broker the guy whose men have been shooting at me?”
“Yes.”
“Then definitely not.”
For a moment, neither moved. Nathan noticed the bow. Lara noticed the map folded in his hand. Both noticed the heavy slab beginning to slide down over the entrance behind him.
“Did you do that?” Nathan asked.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.”
The slab hit the floor with a boom. Dust drifted from the ceiling. A click sounded beneath Nathan’s boot.
He looked down at the pressure plate.
“Okay. That one might be me.”
Lara spotted a row of narrow openings in the wall. “Don’t move.”
She nocked an arrow and shot a hanging counterweight above the plate. The weight dropped into a slot with a heavy thud. Nathan shifted his foot slowly. Nothing fired.
“Thanks,” he said.
“You can thank me by leaving the disc alone.”
“See, I was about to suggest the exact opposite.”
The Observatory Key
The three pillars each bore a different symbol: a sun, a crescent moon and a star. Nathan’s map showed the same markings in the margin, but the sequence was smudged. Lara found matching carvings above a shallow channel in the wall. Water stains ran beneath the sun and moon, but not the star.
“It’s a reflection,” she said. “The star belongs on the ceiling.”
Nathan looked up at the faded mosaic. One tile was missing. He glanced down at his map and smiled. “And the sun faces the entrance.”
They reached the same conclusion at almost the same time. Then they both moved.
Lara dropped from her ledge onto the first pillar. Nathan sprinted across the bridge towards the second. She turned the sun carving towards the entrance; he rotated the moon towards the water channel. The pillars locked into place, and a section of floor rose beneath the third.
Nathan swung his rope around a beam and crossed to the raised platform. Lara fired her rope arrow into a wooden brace above the star pillar and pulled herself across. They landed on opposite sides of the mechanism.
“You know,” Nathan said, “we could probably work this out together.”
“We just did.”
They both grabbed the pillar. Nathan pushed; Lara pulled. The star aligned with the empty space in the ceiling, and the locked door began to rise. Beyond it, the golden disc sat on a pedestal.
For half a second they stared at it. Then Nathan grabbed his rope and swung for the doorway.
Lara caught the back of his jacket. The movement spun him off course and he landed in a crouch on the bridge. He tugged free, rolled behind a pillar and drew his pistol. Lara had an arrow ready before he could aim.
“We don’t have to do this,” he said.
“Then step away from the door.”
“That’s the part I was hoping we’d negotiate.”
The Bridge Gives Way
Nathan kicked a loose stone across the bridge. Lara’s eyes followed it for an instant. He dashed for the doorway, keeping the pillar between them. Her arrow struck the wooden railing ahead of him, close enough to stop him short.
He pulled the arrow free and tossed it into the shaft. “Sorry.”
“That was a warning.”
“I got that.”
Nathan fired at a stone bracket above her. It shattered, dropping a curtain of dust and rubble between them. By the time it cleared, he had crossed into the disc chamber. Lara followed the sound of his footsteps, but stopped at the threshold. A thin groove ran across the floor in front of the pedestal.
“Nathan, don’t—”
He lifted the disc. The pedestal sank. A deep grinding sound rolled through the temple.
“Yeah,” he said. “I heard it too.”
The bridge lurched. Lara jumped back as a section dropped into the shaft. Nathan made a running leap from the chamber, landed badly and slid towards the broken edge. He caught the stone with both hands. The disc skidded from his grip and stopped beside a carved counterweight on Lara’s side of the gap.
She could reach it. She could also see the cracks spreading beneath Nathan’s fingers.
Lara slung her bow and ran to the counterweight. Her remaining rope arrow was already anchored behind her, where she’d used it to cross to the pillar. She pulled the rope around the counterweight, braced her boots against the stone and hauled. The weight moved just enough to draw a fallen slab across the gap.
“Can you reach it?” she shouted.
Nathan swung one hand onto the slab. Stone ground against stone as he pulled himself across. He rolled onto solid ground, breathing hard.
“I was going to say I’d buy you a drink,” he said, “but I’m getting the impression you’d rather have the disc.”
She picked it up. “You’re learning.”
He lunged for it.
Lara stepped back, but Nathan caught her wrist. The disc fell between them. He hooked a foot around it and sent it sliding towards the exit. Lara shoved him away and sprinted after it. Nathan swung his rope over a beam, trying to cut her off from above.
She saw the rope tightening and used her climbing axe to pull down a rotten wooden brace in his path. Nathan released the rope before the brace could strike him, landing on the broken bridge. The impact sent the last intact section cracking apart.
He jumped for Lara’s ledge and caught the edge. Again.
“This is getting embarrassing,” he called.
Lara reached the disc first. She held it under one arm and extended her free hand. Nathan looked at it, then at the widening crack beneath her boots. He took her hand.
She pulled him up. The two scrambled through the doorway as the bridge vanished behind them. At the end of the passage Lara spotted a release lever beside a narrow exit. She slipped through, pulled the lever and sent a stone gate rumbling down between them.
Nathan reached it a second too late. Through the bars, he watched Lara climb the steps beyond, disc in hand. The ceiling above him was stable and another passage led back towards the entrance; the gate had stopped him, not trapped him.
“So that’s it?” he called.
“The broker doesn’t get it,” Lara replied.
“I wasn’t giving it to him.”
She paused, considering him. “Then we agree on something.”
Outside, Lara disappeared into the trees with the disc. Nathan studied the locked gate, then unfolded his battered map and began looking for another way out.
“Definitely buying that drink,” he muttered. “After I find the car.”
Winner: Lara Croft
Lara takes the win in this scenario by reading the temple, maintaining her distance when she can and reaching the disc at the decisive moment. Her rope and climbing axe give her options when the bridge fails, but the fight is close enough that one different move could have handed Nathan the prize.
Why Lara Wins
- Control at range: Her bow stops Nathan’s first run for the chamber without forcing a lethal confrontation.
- Reading the environment: She spots the pedestal’s trap and later uses the counterweight to make a route across the gap.
- Keeping her objective in sight: After the final scramble she reaches the disc and uses the gate to prevent pursuit.
Nathan has a strong case too. He helps solve the puzzle, beats Lara to the chamber and twice turns his rope into a way to change position. On open ground, or with a safer route out of the ruins, his improvisation could easily put him ahead. Here, the narrow exits and Lara’s timely use of the terrain give her the edge.
Have Your Say!
Did Lara deserve the win, or would Nathan find a way to snatch the disc at the last second? Tell us who you think would win and how the adventure would unfold in the comments!
