Pedro Dominguez

Dr. Pedro Dominguez (born as Amaru, and also known as Kukulkan) is the leader of the High Council of Trinity (Trinity's leader), High Priest of the Cult of Kukulkan, and Prince of Paititi.

He is the main antagonist of Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

The man who would be known as Pedro Dominguez was born as Amaru in the hidden city of Paititi in the 1960s. He was the older brother of Sayri, who became King of Paititi. As a child Amaru was quiet and studious. Amaru and Sayri were adventurous together, and had a secret hideout in the mountains.

While still a child, Amaru fell in with the Cult of Kukulkan, a proxy for Trinity that had manipulated Paititi's rulers since 1603 AD, and was eventually brought out of the city into the outside world. Cardinal Gualtiero de Luca Dominguez, then Leader of Trinity's High Council, took a liking to Amaru and personally raised the boy as his successor. Amaru took the name Pedro Dominguez, studied to become a Doctor of Archaeology, and worked his way up Trinity's ranks until he was appointed leader of the High Council and the order himself.

Dominguez periodically returned to Paititi to visit his brother and maintain his relationship with the Cult of Kukulkan. Eventually, Paititi suffered from a disastrous famine. Dominguez volunteered to seek help from the outside world, but Sayri insisted that as king, the responsibility was his. Sayri ventured beyond Paititi alone and was tragically killed. Dominguez was beset by grief for his beloved brother, and had him buried in their old hideout in the mountains. When Unuratu, Sayri's wife, was enthroned as Queen of Paititi and brazenly protested the Cult of Kukulkan's oppressive influence, Dominguez seized the position of High Priest of the Cult, after exposing the leader as outsiders and killing them. In his new position of power, he usurped Unuratu, believing that he could better protect the city from outsiders.

Plan to save Paititi[]

Over the years, Dominguez had grown increasingly paranoid about the threat to his people and had been seeking a way to protect them. He began researching a myth from his people involving a pair of artifacts, the Key of Chak Chel and the Silver Box of Ix Chel. By itself, the Key had the power to trigger The Cleansing, a Mayan apocalypse in which a tsunami, a storm, an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, and finally the death of the sun would ravage the world so that the survivors could begin anew; if the Key was combined with the Silver Box, however, it could be used to harness the power of the apocalypse to protect Paititi, or even remake the world. Dominguez personally led archaeological excavations on the Mexican island of Cozumel, where he believed one of the artifacts was hidden, and had Trinity recovery teams scour sites in northern Brazil and Peru for the second artifact. These digs spanned from the late 1990s to 2015, during which time both artifacts failed to turn up.

Meanwhile, Trinity became aware of Lord Richard Croft's research into the supernatural and the immortality of the soul. Dominguez befriended Croft and invited him to visit his digs in Cozumel. When Dominguez discovered that Croft was investigating Paititi, he tried to convince Croft to abandon his research, but Croft was stubborn and refused. Fearing for the safety of his people, Dominguez sent Trinity agent Ana to seduce Croft and try to turn Croft away from his work. When that failed, Dominguez ordered Ana to kill Croft, but by that point she had developed genuine feelings for him and refused. Another assassin was dispatched, and Croft was killed in 2003. His death was made to look like a suicide brought on by the public's withering criticism of his work, which Trinity had engineered through its influence with the media.

The truth behind Croft's demise was kept under wraps until 2015, when Ana revealed to his daughter Lara Croft her allegiance to Trinity and the circumstances of her involvement with Croft. In the aftermath of Trinity's failed operation in Kitezh, Dominguez ordered Ana's assassination to silence her, but refrained from having Lara killed because he appreciated her tenacity and hoped to eventually recruit her to Trinity.

The Cleansing[]

In 2018, Dominguez's work finally neared its conclusion. He located a subterranean temple on Cozumel that he was certain contained one of the artifacts. Lara Croft beat him to it and removed the Key of Chak Chel for safekeeping, but unwitting initiated The Cleansing. When Dominguez, his advisor Commander Rourke, and a unit of Trinity soldiers cornered Lara, he retrieved the Key. He assumed that she was familiar with the nature of the artifacts and had already obtained the Silver Box of Ix Chel, but upon realizing that she lacked the Silver Box and The Cleansing had begun, he fled Cozumel just before it was swept by the resulting tsunami. Dominguez and his personal Trinity forces traveled to Peru and Paititi, where he hoped to find the Silver Box and put a stop to The Cleansing before it destroyed the world.

In Paititi, Dominguez declared himself Kukulkan, the god who would halt The Cleansing by making a sacrifice. While traditionally, Unuratu would be the one leading the sacrifice ritual as the city's queen, Dominguez intended to do it himself. Lara then arrived in Paititi in the aftermath of The Cleansing's second harbinger, a massive hailstorm, and began aiding the Paititi Rebels who sought to overthrow the Cult and restore Unuratu to the throne. She recovered the Silver Box of Ix Chel from a Catholic mission outside Paititi, but Dominguez snatched it from her and explained to her why he had ordered Richard Croft's death.

Dominguez had kept his Cipher Wheel, as a reminder of his brother, but someone stole it and he was quite angry about it. He also sent some soldiers to defend his brother's tomb. After a while a cult soldier gave Dominguez the cipher wheel back. Unknown to him, Lara had followed the clues in the cipher wheel and found out that it was just a keepsake honoring his brother's memory.

Dominguez returned to the Great Pyramid of Paititi to conduct the Sun Ritual with the Key and the Silver Box, and summoned the entire High Council of Trinity to attend. Before the ritual could be completed, however, the Yaaxil, the creators and guardians of the two artifacts, attacked. The High Council, Commander Rourke, and many of the remaining Trinity soldiers were killed, leaving Dominguez with only a handful of members of the Cult left to help him.

Final Battle with Lara and Death[]

Undeterred Dominguez began the ritual to save Paititi, however Lara arrives and interrupts it, managing to wrestle the Key of Chak Chel from him, the pair fight but Lara is ultimately successful in stabbing Dominguez with the blade and killing him. With his final breath, he begs Lara to protect Paititi, Lara promises him that she will, giving him some degree of peace in death.

Personality[]

Dominguez presents himself as mild mannered and pleasant, even contributing to the well being of the people of Cozumel, and appears to be good with children. However this hides his scheming and paranoid nature. He is driven by fear that his home will be invaded and destroyed by the outside world, and seeks a way to ensure his people's safety.

After the death of his brother, Dominguez violently usurped control of the Cult of Kukulkan, unwilling to allow outsiders to rule Paititi.

He firmly believes that the end justifies the means when it comes to protecting Paititi, sacrificially slaughtering rebels and even ordering the death of Richard Croft when he was unable to convince him to abandon his research into Paititi, though he would later admit that Croft's death was regrettable.

He respects Lara's resolve and intelligence, being polite upon their first meeting and admitting he would have preferred to meet her under more amicable circumstances. He also seems to feel sympathy for Lara due to the severe loss she has suffered, as well as guilt due to his role in that loss.. Upon his death, he begs Lara to protect Paititi, trusting her when she promises that she will.

Trivia[]

• Given that he is the one who ordered the death of Richard Croft, it is reasonable to assume that he was the one who ordered Ana to get close to him in order to keep tabs on him.
• He may have suggested the assassination of Lord Croft because he was close to finding Paititi.

References[]