The Intersection of Russian History, Folklore, and Soviet Stereotypes in Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015)
The Siberian Frontier and the Fictionalization of Kitezh
As a cultural artifact, Rise of the Tomb Raider weaves a complex tapestry of real-world Russian folklore, Byzantine history, and enduring Western stereotypes of the Soviet era. By situating its narrative within the harsh, unforgiving expanse of Siberia—a region encompassing seventy-seven percent of Russia's total landmass—the game utilizes the isolation of Asian Russia as a canvas for themes of exile, ideological fanaticism, and mythological wonder. The narrative masterfully amalgamates the ancient myth of Kitezh, the Slavic folklore of Baba Yaga, and the historical scars of Soviet gulags and industrial exploitation, creating a distinct, albeit dramatized, representation of Russian history for the Romanov Archive.
The geographical and mythological center of the game is the lost city of Kitezh, an adaptation of a genuine Russian legend. In authentic historical mythology, Kitezh is believed to have sunk beneath Lake Svetloyar in the Nizhny Novgorod region of central Russia during the early thirteenth century. According to the late eighteenth-century "Kitezh Chronicle," Bolshoy Kitezh (Big Kitezh) was constructed by Georgy II, the Grand Prince of Vladimir. When Batu Khan of the Mongol Golden Horde invaded, sacking Maly Kitezh (Little Kitezh) along the way, he arrived to find Bolshoy Kitezh entirely defenseless, its citizens praying for divine intervention. In response to their fervent prayers, the city miraculously submerged beneath the lake before the Mongols could strike. In a fascinating nod to modern geographic trivia, the in-game coordinates for Kitezh found on Trinity's computers actually point to the center of Redwood City, California, serving as a subtle Easter egg referencing the location of the game's developer, Crystal Dynamics.
The game reinterprets this myth by intertwining it with Byzantine history and the fictional Order of Trinity. In this survivor timeline, Kitezh was founded not by Georgy II, but by the Deathless Prophet of Constantinople. Escaping persecution from the Roman Catholic Church and the Trinity knights in 977 AD, the Prophet and his followers fled through Syria—where he miraculously resurrected after an assassination attempt—before ultimately seeking refuge in the geothermal valleys of Siberia. There, they constructed a self-sufficient, technologically advanced utopian city to protect the Divine Source, an artifact granting immortality. Just as in the real-world legend, a Mongol army besieged the city. However, in the game's narrative, the city was not swallowed by a lake, but rather entombed beneath a massive glacier caused by an avalanche deliberately triggered by the Prophet's Deathless Army to protect the artifact. The survivors of this cataclysm became the Remnants, a secluded society forced to abandon their advanced architecture to live harmoniously and primitively off the Siberian wilderness.
Soviet Incursions, Gulags, and the Exploitation of the Motherland
The game introduces a sharp chronological juxtaposition by bringing the Soviet Red Army into the sacred valley of Kitezh during the 1960s. This introduces a heavy reliance on Western stereotypes regarding Soviet utilitarianism, political paranoia, and the brutality of the Gulag system. The Soviets established a massive industrial mining operation in the region to extract copper and uranium, enslaving both political prisoners and the indigenous Remnants to fuel their voracious war machine. When the uranium deposits began to deplete in 1970, the Soviet forces accidentally breached the subterranean ruins of Kitezh, triggering a desperate and bloody rebellion by the Remnants. The Remnants successfully sabotaged the rail lines, trapping the Soviet forces in the valley to freeze and die, effectively erasing the installation from official historical records.
The ideological footprint of this Soviet occupation is preserved through a series of ten collectible Soviet Crests scattered throughout the ruins, which serve as brilliant narrative vehicles for exploring Cold War propaganda.
These metallic plaques, such as the one pictured above, reflect a desperate attempt by the regime to enforce morale and ideological purity in an otherwise desolate prison camp. The heavy, industrial design of the crests visually reinforces the oppressive atmosphere of the installation, utilizing stark state imagery to mandate loyalty in a place completely devoid of hope. The "Star of Progress" crest celebrates Soviet scientific supremacy and the space race, a sentiment Lara Croft herself begrudgingly respects, while the "Man of the People" plaque immortalizes the cult of personality surrounding Vladimir Lenin. The grueling reality of forced labor is masked by the aggressive optimism of "The Warmth of Labor" and "Night Work," propaganda pieces designed to coerce productivity in the face of starvation and freezing temperatures.
Other crests reveal the deep-seated paranoia and punitive cruelty of the Soviet state. "Warning for the Unjust" and "Just Rewards" are belligerent threats directed at supposed spies, saboteurs, and agents of fascism, reflecting the pervasive distrust of the Cold War era. The "For the Motherland" crest weaponizes nationalism, offering prisoners a false promise that their supposed crimes will be forgiven through backbreaking labor. The grim reality of the facility is cemented by a "Dedication" marker for Freedom Station, a location that housed untold horrors, and "A Happy Land," a crest bearing the cruelly ironic phrase "Long Live our Happy Soviet Land" amidst utter despair. Ultimately, the illusion of Soviet permanence is shattered by the "All Empires Fall" crest, a standard commendation monument that was secretly defaced by a dissident who etched a prophetic warning of the regime's inevitable collapse.
The Baba Yaga Mythos and Cold War Biological Warfare
The Wicked Vale expansion further enriches the game's Russian thematic tapestry by merging the ancient, terrifying folklore of Baba Yaga with the very modern terror of Soviet biological weapons research. In this narrative arc, the Wicked Vale serves as the testing ground for a clandestine Soviet military project attempting to weaponize a rare, highly hallucinogenic native pollen. The game brilliantly grounds the supernatural myth in psychological warfare and biochemical science. Serafima, a brilliant Soviet researcher, developed an antidote to the mind-altering pollen and subsequently weaponized the hallucinogen against her brutal captors.
Assuming the terrifying mantle of the mythical witch Baba Yaga, Serafima used the psychological terror induced by the pollen to protect herself, even modifying an industrial lift to appear to hallucinating intruders as a monstrous, mechanical house walking on giant bird legs. This narrative threads generations together, as Serafima's husband, Ivan, believing his wife was murdered by the witch, became stranded in the Vale, prompting a rescue mission by their granddaughter Nadia and Lara Croft. By resolving this generational trauma, the game highlights how the Soviet regime's ruthless pursuit of military supremacy destroyed families, while simultaneously showcasing how oppressed individuals might weaponize their own cultural mythology to survive the horrors of the Gulag.
Notable Mythological and Historical Adaptations
| Element | Real-World Origin | In-Game Adaptation |
|---|---|---|
| Kitezh | Russian legend of a city that sank beneath Lake Svetloyar in the 13th century to escape Batu Khan's Mongol invasion. | A Byzantine utopian city built in Siberia by the Deathless Prophet, entombed in a glacier via an engineered avalanche to protect the Divine Source. |
| Baba Yaga | Slavic folklore featuring a supernatural witch who lives in a house standing on chicken legs. | A Soviet researcher named Serafima who weaponizes a hallucinogenic pollen and modifies a mechanical lift to terrify her captors. |
| Soviet Gulags | The extensive system of forced labor camps maintained in the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the 1950s. | A brutal uranium and copper mining installation established in the 1960s, utilizing enslaved Remnants and political prisoners. |
Conclusion
Even ancillary lore, such as the comic timelines detailing the 1908 Tunguska Event, demonstrates a concerted effort to anchor the franchise's supernatural elements within documented Russian historical anomalies. Ultimately, Rise of the Tomb Raider constructs a highly atmospheric, stereotyped, yet deeply researched vision of Russia. It leverages the geographical isolation of Siberia to seamlessly bridge the Byzantine religious fanaticism of the Kitezh myth with the oppressive, industrialized paranoia of the Soviet Union, creating an incredibly rich environment for historical and cultural analysis.
References
- Crystal Dynamics. (2015). Rise of the Tomb Raider [Video game]. Square Enix.
- Crystal Dynamics. (2016). Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch [Video game DLC]. Square Enix.
- Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). "Kitezh." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitezh
- Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). "Baba Yaga." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga