Revenant

A revenant is a visible ghost or animated corpse that was believed to return from the grave to terrorize the living. The word "revenant" is derived from the Latin word, reveniens, "returning" (see also the related French verb "revenir", meaning "to come back").

Vivid stories of revenants arose in Western Europe (especially Great Britain, and were later carried by Anglo-Norman invaders to Ireland) during the High Middle Ages. Revenants were also known in old Irish Celtic mythology as the neamh mairbh. Though later legend and folklore depicts revenants as returning for a specific purpose (e.g., revenge against the deceased's killer), in most Medieval accounts they return to harass their surviving families and neighbours. Revenants share a number of characteristics with folkloric vampires.

Many stories were documented by English historians in the Middle Ages. William of Newburgh wrote in the 1190s, "It would not be easy to believe that the corpses of the dead should sally (I know not by what agency) from their graves, and should wander about to the terror or destruction of the living, and again return to the tomb, which of its own accord spontaneously opened to receive them, did not frequent examples, occurring in our own times, suffice to establish this fact, to the truth of which there is abundant testimony."

Revenant (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, the revenant is a type of fictional monster.

Publication history

The revenant first appeared in first edition in the original Fiend Folio (1981).

The revenant appeared in second edition for the Forgotten Realms setting in the Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (1989), and reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993).

The revenant appeared in third edition for the Forgotten Realms setting as a template in Monsters of Faerûn (2001), and in the adventure City of the Spider Queen (2002).

The revenant was added as a fully playable character race for 4th edition in Dragon #376 (2009)

Description

In some earlier versions of the game, the revenant is a powerful undead creature that has a strong physical resemblance to a zombie, a far less powerful undead creature. Notably, more recent versions of the game have adapted the revenant to reflect the aforementioned role of one who returns from the grave to fulfill a set task, but is not necessarily bound by the will of the person or deity who resurrected it.

Revenant (Buffy novel)

Revenant is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Plot summary

A Chinese gang arrives in Sunnydale and suddenly they're committing criminal acts all over the town. Immediately racial tension begin to increase and one of Willow's friends, Jia Li, is feeling the effects more than anyone else. She's discovered that her brother Lok is delving into the occult in order to learn more about their great grandfather's death in Sunnydale many years ago. Coinciding with these events, a man named Zhiyong is trying to raise the men that died in a cave many years ago in order to raise Sharmma, a demon that would give him power in return. A beautiful warrior called Shing arrives on the scene at the same time and she's just as strong as Buffy. Xander feels an immediate attraction for her but there's something about her that he doesn't know.

Continuity