Grapple

The grapple originally made an appearance in Tomb Raider Chronicles in the form of the Grapple Gun found within the Von Croy Industries building. The only restriction to its deployment was a metallic ceiling to attach to, then it would function as a rope to swing from.

After this appearance, it was not seen again until Tomb Raider Legend, where a magnetic grapple system with a powerful electromagnet was developed which could cope with a payload of up to 150Kg and be used as a retractable rope-swing or to pull items such as blocks with metal rings on, metallic boxes or even enemies towards Lara.

In Tomb Raider Anniversary, the grapple has reverted to an actual hook on a retractable line connected to Lara's belt. While a little restrictive and not being attracted to the metal surfaces like in the last two appearances, it can pull items with metallic rings on, feature as a rope-swing from hooks embedded in the ceiling and, more importantly, rings from a wall, to perform the newest manoeuvre, the wall-run.

In it's newest incarnation in Tomb Raider Underworld, the grapple has turned into a pistol of sorts, and Lara is now able to do some new moves with it, such as rappelling, and it is now integrated into some of the game's puzzles due to the cord's elasticity, which was not present in the previous games.