India

A close-up of a naga lizard (Image credit: Wikiraider)

Gods & Monsters: The Naga

One of the things I’ve always found intriguing about the Tomb Raider series is how often the game writers, developers, and artists draw on real-world mythology and folklore for inspiration when they’re designing ancient environments for Lara Croft to explore…and the exotic creatures that populate them. In previous instalments of my Gods & Monsters series, I looked at how Crystal Dynamics masterfully re-imagined the ancient Egyptian snake demon Apep and the ... [Continue Reading]

January 25, 2017 // 4 Comments

Arte-Factual: Golden Trident (Relic Run)

In the mobile adventure Lara Croft: Relic Run, gamers have the chance to collect a number of South-East Asian artefacts in the game’s Jungle Temple level. One of these is the Golden Trident, a religious symbol commonly associated with the Hindu god Shiva. The Golden Trident is better known by its Sanskrit name trishula, which means “three spears” or “three blades”, and can often be seen wielded by the Hindu god Shiva and his consort Durga, who manifests herself ... [Continue Reading]

August 26, 2015 // 2 Comments

Arte-Factual: Buddhist Symbols of Barkhang Monastery (Part 2)

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for another edition of Arte-Factual! And this time around, we’ll be making the trek back to Barkhang Monastery to look at some of the other Buddhist symbols that can be found throughout the fictional monastery. The Wheel, or “Dharmachakra”: The Buddhist wheel, or dharmachakra, is one of the oldest and most recognisable motifs in Buddhist art and was once used to represent the Buddha himself (human depictions of the Buddha only started ... [Continue Reading]

November 24, 2013 // 2 Comments