Recurring Characters in The Tomb Raider Game Series - Jacqueline Natla

Jacqueline Natla

Jacqueline Natla is the primary antagonist of the entire Tomb Raider series. Natla was one of the members of the triumvirate ruling the lost continent of Atlantis. However, she was later condemned for her misuse of power and was imprisoned in a capsule by the other two rulers, Qualopec and Tihocan. After escaping from her prison in 1945 during a nuclear test in Los Alamos, New Mexico, she took on the name Jacqueline and founded her own company called Natla Technologies using her scientific expertise and cunning. In 1996 she hired adventurer Lara Croft to search for Qualopec's piece of the Atlantean Scion in his Tomb located in Peru. Shortly after finding the artefact, Lara was attacked by another adventurer Larson under orders by Natla. Knowing Natla had betrayed her, Lara went in search for the remaining two pieces in Greece and then Egypt. After obtaining the final piece, Lara was ambushed by Natla and her men. Stealing the now assembled artefact, Natla ordered Lara to be killed and left Egypt in her boat heading to Atlantis.

It is inside the Great Pyramid of Atlantis that Natla's grand scheme is revealed: to use the Scion's powers to breed a new race of mutant creatures. Realising this, Lara made her best effort to destroy the Scion. Refusing to let her work be destroyed, Natla charged towards Lara sending them both falling into a deep abyss. While Lara managed to grab a ledge, Natla continued to plummet into the lava pit below. As Lara tries to escape the pyramid Natla, who survived the fall, confronts her a final time, revealing her true appearance. In the end, Lara defeated Natla and escaped the pyramid, leaving Natla inside when it exploded.

Jacqueline Natla returns in Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a game inspired by the original Tomb Raider game, developed by Crystal Dynamics. Here she is voiced by Grey DeLisle. In Anniversary, her role remains the same. However, Natla is visually depicted as taller and as having a much skinnier body frame as well as sharp and almost alien-like facial features, unusually long hair, pale skin and long fingers with long, sharp nails. She also loses her Texan accent.

In this game she also describes herself as immortal and sought to bring about the 'Seventh Age' though what this was remained ambiguous.

In Tomb Raider: Legend, several crates containing the "Natla Industries" logo can be seen throughout the final level. Before the release of Tomb Raider: Underworld it was not known whether this was meant to imply Amanda Evert, the apparent owner of the crates, had some connection to Natla or if it was merely an easter egg.

Jacqueline Natla returns in Tomb Raider: Underworld as a prisoner of Amanda Evert, held prisoner on Amanda's boat in a stasis capsule. Early in the game she tells Lara about Helheim and Avalon being one and the same and informs Lara that she needs Thor's relics to gain access. After visiting Jan Mayen Island to retrieve Thor's hammer, she sets off to the Andaman Sea on the coast of Thailand to find Amanda's ship again. Lara confronts and threatens to kill Natla, but is stopped when Natla explains that a ritual is also needed to open the gates of Helheim; a ritual that only Natla knows. Realising she has no choice if she wants to enter Helheim/Avalon, Lara then smashes the capsule open, allowing Natla to escape. After arriving at Avalon, Natla reveals that she was manipulating Lara to reach an ancient device called the Midgard Serpent to bring about the 'Seventh Age.' Lara manages to destroy the device and strike Natla with the thrown Thor's hammer, which causes an explosion that throws Natla into the eitr surrounding the mechanism as it collapses.

In Lara's Shadow, shortly after the events of Underworld, Natla is found to be alive and having escaped from the eitr. Although appearing somewhat thrall-like, she retains her mind. The doppelgänger drags Natla to a machine which was used to create it. The doppelgänger is instructed to activate the machine, which it does. It is then given one final order: to kill Lara Croft, and to take its own life once it is finished. After being released from Natla's control by Lara, the doppelgänger destroys the machine, which causes Natla to be pinned down by the debris. Natla is last seen trapped in a rising pool of eitr, pleading for help as the doppelgänger looks on.

In 2010 IGN ranked Jacqueline Natla 86th in "Top 100 Videogames Villains" saying than "Besides the usual powers that come with being an immortal demon of sorts, Jacqueline has the typical bad guy ability of being able to talk her way out of situations that would otherwise lead to her death".