The Name's Winston (1999)

The Croft Times

Have you ever wondered if Lara's elderly butler has an "official" name? Although he has made a triumphant return in the TR3 training level, his name has still not appeared in the game or any of the accompanying documentation. In the past year, most TR fans have been referring to him as "Jeeves." This started after Alex K put up his humorous site, "Jeeves: A Butler's Tale".

Recently, the December '98 issue of Gamers' Republic magazine featured an article entitled "Lara Interviewed!" which referred to Lara's butler as "Winston."

We checked with Core Design's Vicky Arnold, scriptwriter for the TR series, if this was indeed the "official" name of Lara's butler. (Vicky is responsible for writing Lara's responses for interviews as well as the dialogue in the Tomb Raider games.)

"Lara's butler has been referred to as Winston here since he was first designed as this is what [Gavin Rummery, the lead programmer for TR2,] called him in his code ... and it seems to have stuck." Vicky replied, "I'm not sure how often this has actually been put into writing before the Gamers' Republic interview - but he's been called that long enough for it to be warranted as an 'official' name anyhow."

Whether you find Lara's wind-stricken butler lovable or irritable, he will continue to faithfully stand by, ever ready to serve Lara with a freshly brewed pot of tea.

Thanks to Vicky Arnold for filling us in on the butler's elusive name!