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Samantha "Sam" Nishimura (born 1991) is the deuteragonist of the Survivor reboot trilogy of the Tomb Raider franchise and in its 2024 Netflix cartoon series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. She is the Director/Translator for the documentary about the search for Yamatai and Lara Croft’s best friend.
In Tomb Raider, she is portrayed by Arden Cho and Chieko Hidaka, and the Netflix cartoon series, She is voiced by Karen Fukuhara who also played Katana in Suicide Squad, and Kimiko Miyashiro in The Boys.
Biography[]
Sam's parents were Portuguese and Mexican. She had a negative effect from her parents and was often expelled from many schools because she was an outcast and very lively, as if she seemed wild. Sam attended UCL, choosing to study film, specializing in documentaries and cinematography, where she by chance met Lara Croft, who despite some setbacks with her, became best friends with her. Sam made Lara less introverted than she was by taking her to nightclubs, attempting to bring out Lara's "Inner Party Girl". Thanks to Sam, Lara has seen more than just libraries during her time at university. At one point the pair embarked on at least one backpacking trip, traveling to locations such as Mount Kilimanjaro, Bulgaria and the Great Wall of China.
Sam jokes with Lara by recording her reading the Endurance. There is a shipwreck and Lara is separated from the group, captured and escaped from a cave. There Sam's joke recording of her, cheers her up when she's alone. Lara reconciles with Sam after she talks to Roth and Sam meets Mathias, who seems to be on their side. Sam starts telling Mathias about the Soul Queen, which Lara has already heard so many times and falls asleep. While she is asleep, as Sam is the last descendant of the Soul, she is kidnapped by Mathias and taken to a temple before Lara can notice. Not long after, Sam contacts Lara in a cave and fearfully warns her of her abduction and also that the others have been taken with her. When Lara arrives, she finds Sam bound and gagged to take a test by fire, Lara tries to save her but is caught in her turn. The test is done and Sam is kept as a spirit of liberation being a descendant of Himiko.
Sam is seen trying to reason with Mathias, but she is soon slapped. Lara, who manages to free herself and embraces a completely desperate Sam and tries to take her away from there, but Whitman, who has proved to be a selfish traitor, betrays them shortly after the group reunion and takes Sam back to Mathias (although Mathias betrays in turn Whitman by having him butchered to death), and though the ritual is nearly done, Lara saves Sam from certain death and killing Mathias. Sam is returned to the ship unconscious and she rests while she, Lara and the surviving crew members return home.
Appearance[]
Sam is a very attractive young woman, she has very notable Asian facial features, pale pasty skin complexion, and light brown eyes, (sometimes light blue in the comics). She has dark brown hair cut in a bob style. She is slim, about 165 cm tall. In the final fight with Himiko, she had a scar on the left side of her stomach that she inflicted on herself in an attempt to ensure that Himiko would not win if Lara's plan failed. The wound was healed though, when Lara took her to a local hospital after Himiko was defeated. She also had some sort of sun mark on her left shoulder right after she left Yamatai, but she has since vanished.
Personality[]
Sam often proves to be an outgoing and bubbly girl and loves adventure just like her best friend, Lara Croft. They go on many adventures together, Sam often helps Lara to distract herself from stress and books, making her go to the disco with her. In that regard, the two balance each other out, with Sam making sure Lara doesn't get too withdrawn, while Lara keeps Sam's wild-child tendencies in check. Because of the way she's raised, Sam can't always understand why Lara doesn't always want to grab her luck, and sometimes teases her about it, but not in an abusive way. Sam is also a little superficial, shown after she survived comments, "must look awful", at some of the island's harrowing experiences, however this could also just have been to have something else to talk about or to lighten the mood/atmosphere.
Sam can also be clumsy, seen when she tried to fix the boat, but she accidentally set off a machine gun, thus annoying the group. She has often changed schools (and countries) feeling marginalized, a very strong feeling that she shares with Lara.
Sam is also very intelligent and has many resources: Upon learning that "Grim" was alive, he convinced Lara to let her, Jonah and Kaz come with her and it was she who came up with a plan to not only get to Mexico without being discovered through a combination of hired actors who looked like her and Lara so that the members of Las Serpientes Que Caminan would not realize they had left their apartment and were posing as a "documentary film crew" doing research on the Chupacabra to avoid drawing attention to itself.
Sam is also very brave as shown when she offered to go with Lara to help save Kaz when Lara learned she was in danger and the only reason she didn't go is because Lara asked her to stay home and again when he helped Lara save "Grim" from Las Serpientes Que Caminan. When she is held captive by the Solarii Worshipers, Sam taunts them by stating that she knew Lara would come and save her no matter what. Another example of bravery, she is seen fighting with Himiko fighting for her soul and Sam stabbed herself in the stomach to stop Himiko and was full of faith in Lara and she would save her in the mirror. Sam is fiercely loyal and protective of Lara, calling out Reyes for blaming Lara for Roth's death and declaring that he would not leave Yamatai without Lara. When it seemed that the Solarii Worshipers were about to kill Lara, Sam declared that she would let Himiko take over her body and her soul if it meant Lara would survive. Even when Lara was kidnapped by Leticia Cortez, they both knew Sam would come to rescue her.
After Himiko transfers part of her soul into Sam, she begins to suffer violent outbursts, blackouts, and being very distant. Sam assaults a man and ends up imprisoned in a mental institution.
Sam also has a very strong will, displayed when she fights Himiko, and will do anything to stop her. While Himiko was able to suppress Sam's thoughts and take complete control of her body for days at a time, Sam was able to break through on several occasions and even directly managed to push Himiko's thoughts away even as she asked Sam to obey her.
Skills, Abilities and Weaknesses[]
Sam has a decent amount of experience as a filmmaker, having filmed in The Arctic, The Congo and The Red Desert. Sam is not very skilled in combat, however she was able to temporarily subdue a member of Las Serpientes Que Caminan by getting two surprise attacks on him. She also knows how to use a gun, as shown when she was escaping from the Solarii palace after Lara saved her and had to kill one or two Solarii members who were trying to recapture her.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Despite believing herself a descendant of Himiko, it is far more likely that she is the descendant of a family, who left Yamatai before the fall of Himiko, as it is implied Himiko never had any direct family, since she chose her own successors, who she would transfer her soul into, as opposed to passing it down by blood.
- In issue 12 of the second run of Dark Horse Comics, Himiko refers to Sam as a "traitor" confirming that her family did at one point reside on Yamatai, and escaped before Himiko's fall.
- As stated in the prequel comic, Sam owns the original Arri Alexa camera. However, the camera shown in the comic book is a different model to that shown in the game. However it's highly probable she has multiple cameras, given how Lara describes her as "a camera nut."
- Arri Alexa cameras typically cost tens of thousands of dollars, which is a prime indicator of Sam's family's wealth.