Revan

For the capital city of Armenia, see Yerevan.

Revan
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic character
Revan in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Portrayed by	Rino Romano
Fictional profile
Species	Human
Gender	Player's choice (canonically male)
Position	Jedi Knight, Dark Lord of the Sith
Homeworld	Unknown (programmed identity—Deralia)
Affiliation	Jedi Order, Old Republic, Sith, Sith Empire, (both formerly), crew of the Ebon Hawk

Revan, voiced by Rino Romano, is the player's character in BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game. The character may be either male or female, though Revan is canonically male and follows the game's light-side path.^[1] The player's choice of a male or female Revan changes only which characters the player character can fall in love with (as well as slightly altering the way some characters act towards the player).

Biography

Revan and Malak, who were both strong in the Force, confronted the invading Mandalorians against the Jedi Council's wishes. Joined by other rebellious Jedi Knights, Revan's leadership allowed the Republic to drive off the Mandalorians. During that conflict, Revan learned of the hidden Sith Empire's influence on the Mandalorians and realized that only a military offensive led by someone who understood the Sith would be able to repel them. To end the Mandalorian wars, one of Revan's generals (who became known as the Jedi Exile) ordered the use of devastating mass shadow generators to destroy the remnants of the Mandalorian fleet, which allowed Revan to concentrate on the Sith threat.

Revan took his forces beyond the known galaxy, claiming to be searching for the remnants of the Mandalorian fleet but in truth searching for the ancient Sith Empire. Revan eventually succeeds in locating the capital of the Sith Empire and upon encountering the Sith Emperor, his fall to the dark side was complete. Inducted into the Sith by the Emperor, Revan and Malak added the Darth cognomen to their names, becoming Darth Revan and Darth Malak. The Sith Emperor then ordered Revan and Malak to search for the ancient Star Forge. Built by the Rakatan Infinite Empire nearly 30,000 years prior, the Star Forge siphoned matter from a nearby star and could create an almost limitless number of ships. The Emperor wanted to use the Star Forge to accelerate his plans of invading the Republic centuries ahead of schedule. He intended to have Revan and Malak act as the vanguard for the invasion of the True Sith invasion.

After finding information stored inside ancient Star Maps, Revan and Malak found the Star Forge, itself imbued with the dark side of the Force. Revan and Malak, created a massive fleet to overthrow the Republic. But despite the orders given to them by their new dark master, the two harbored dreams of their own empire. From the command deck of the Star Forge, Darth Revan declared himself Dark Lord of the Sith and took Malak as his apprentice. And thus with the newly created fleet and the numerous former Republic military members with him, he created his own Sith Empire in direct opposition to the Sith Emperor and his Empire.

One year after the end of the Mandalorian Wars, Darth Revan returned to Republic space at the head of a massive invasion fleet. Calling themselves the Sith, they declared war on the Republic. The Sith won the battle and as the Dark Lord prepared to battle with the Jedi who boarded his flagship, Darth Malak, in the hopes of destroying both Revan and Bastila Shan (as well as the Jedi accompanying her), betrayed his Master, ordering the ships under his command to fire on Revan's flagship's bridge. Though Malak believed himself to have been successful in killing Revan, chance, or perhaps the Force, kept Revan alive. Revan was severely injured from the turbolaser blasts. He was then taken by Bastila Shan and her Jedi strike team to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine where the Jedi Council members chose to wipe Revan's memory, and imprint him with a false identity that the player creates at the beginning of the game. Knights of the Old Republic begins with Revan awaking on a starship under attack. Throughout the game, Revan learns of his forgotten history and assembles a band of followers as he searches for "Star Maps" that lead him back to the Star Forge. Revan encounters Malak, who tells Revan that he is the former Sith lord.

At one point Malak captures Bastila and turns her to the dark side. Her ultimate fate depends on player choices. In the game, the player can choose whether to turn Revan to the dark side or the light side of the Force. Regardless, Revan confronts Malak at the game's conclusion. According to canon, Revan returned as a Jedi Knight who stopped the Sith forces under Malak's control and destroyed the Star Forge.

The last scene of the game's canonical ending shows the principal characters, including Revan, being honored by the Republic at the site of the temple on Rakata Prime; a picture of later events has emerged from subsequent games and novels.

Later appearances

The sequel Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords reveals that a year after the defeat of Malak, Revan recalled a threat from his time as the Dark Lord, and left known space to deal with it. Clues to the nature of the threat emerge from in-game dialogue with non-player characters (including Canderous and Kreia); this varies according to alignment and gender. It may be the remnants of the ancient Sith Empire Revan discovered, identified by Kreia as the "True Sith".

In the sequel Revan bade farewell to the nine comrades who had accompanied him on his quest, knowing that none whom he loved could safely accompany him in the places he had to walk; the only NPC with certain knowledge of where and why (his navigation droid, T3-M4) won't say. Also in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (set four years after his departure into the unknown), at the ancient tomb of Ludo Kressh in Korriban, the Jedi Exile fights a silent vision of Darth Revan, in which he appears to wield two lightsabers, one red and one violet. The game lists the color crystal of the lightsaber the player obtains from him as a unique red color. Additionally, the Jedi Exile can speak with several companions and non-player characters within the game to learn more about the history of Revan, and his journey into the Unknown Regions.

Currently, Revan's fate is unknown, but almost three centuries after he left to combat the True Sith, it was assumed that he failed as the true Sith Empire finally launched their invasion.

In Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, Revan appears as a holographic avatar for a holocron discovered by Darth Bane.

In the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan, Revan's ultimate fate might finally be revealed.

Merchandising

A Darth Revan action figure was released for the Star Wars 30th anniversary collection.

In 2007, Hasbro toys released an action figure of Darth Revan.^[2] Revan received the second-highest number of votes in a "fan's choice" poll in ToyFare magazine in 2006 for Star Wars characters to be made as an action figure. The highest number of votes was for Quinlan Vos, a Jedi who appeared in comic books and who Hasbro had already slated to be released as an action figure in 2007.

A Darth Revan figure was also released as a Mighty Mugg, a popular series of stylized figures based on characters from the Star Wars, Marvel Comics, Indiana Jones, G.I. Joe, and Transformers universes.

Reception

Revan was chosen by IGN as the top 12th Star Wars character,^[3] as well as also being chosen by IGN's Jesse Schedeen as, along with Darth Malak, the fifth best Star Wars villain.^[4] IGN's readers chose Revan as their 7th top Star Wars character.^[5] UGO Networks put the character as the ninth top Expanded Universe character.^[6] Jesse Schedeen listed Revan as one of the Star Wars character that she wanted in Soulcalibur, calling him "one of the rare Expanded Universe characters that unquestionably stands alongside the best of the movie characters".^[7] Robert Workman, from GameDaily, listed the character as one of his favourite Star Wars video game characters.^[8]

ScrewAttack listed the moment where it's revealed that the player character is Darth Revan as the tenth "OMGWTF" in video gaming.^[9] Edge also listed the moment as one of the most jaw-dropping moments in video games.^[10] GameDaily's Chris Buffa listed the moment as the fourth top video game spoiler,^[11] and Robert Workman listed the moment as one of the eight BioWare moments that shocked him.^[12]

Appearances

• Shadows and Light
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
• Star Wars: The Old Republic
• Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (Holocron, Mentioned)
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan

References

1. ^ Wallace, Daniel (25 October 2005). The New Essential Chronology to Star Wars. Del Rey. ISBN 978-0345449016. 
2. ^ OAFE - Star Wars: "Knights of the Old Republic" Darth Revan review
3. ^ "Top 100 Star Wars Characters". IGN. http://uk.ign.com/star-wars-characters/12.html. Retrieved 2 December 2010. 
4. ^ Jesse Schedeen (17 April 2008). "Top 15 Star Wars Villains: Episode III". IGN. http://uk.stars.ign.com/articles/867/867311p1.html. Retrieved 2 December 2010. 
5. ^ Phil Pirrello (18 August 2008). "Who Is Your Favorite Star Wars Character?". IGN. http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/111/1114011p1.html. Retrieved 12 April 2011. 
6. ^ Adam Rosenberg (1 July 2008). "Top 50 Star Wars Expanded Universe Characters". UGO Networks. http://www.ugo.com/games/star-wars-expanded-universe-characters-top-50-darth-revan. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 
7. ^ Jesse Schedeen (5 August 2008). "Players Wanted: Soulcalibur's Star Wars Fighters". IGN. http://uk.stars.ign.com/articles/896/896610p10.html. Retrieved 10 May 2011. 
8. ^ Robert Workman (11 September 2008). "Our Favorite Characters From Star Wars Video Games". GameDaily. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. http://replay.web.archive.org/20081013094628/http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galleries/our-favorite-characters-from-star-wars-video-games/?page=5. Retrieved 10 May 2011. 
9. ^ "Top 10 OMGWTF Moments". ScrewAttack. GameTrailers. 11 July 2008. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/top-10-screwattack/36111. Retrieved 11 July 2008. 
10. ^ Edge Staff (2 September 2008). "Oh. My. God!!!". Edge. http://www.next-gen.biz/features/oh-my-god. Retrieved 10 May 2011. 
11. ^ Chris Buffa (13 March 2009). "Top 25 Video Game Spoilers". GameDaily. Archived from the original on 13 May 2009. http://replay.web.archive.org/20090503111638/http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galleries/top-25-video-game-spoilers/?page=23. Retrieved 10 May 2011. 
12. ^ Robert Workman (3 November 2009). "Eight Bioware Moments That Shocked Us". GameDaily. Archived from Bioware Moments That Shocked Us the original on 10 January 2010. http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/?url=http://www.gamedaily.com/games/dragon-age-origins/xbox-360/game-features/eight-bioware-moments-that-shocked-us/&title=Eight%20Bioware%20Moments%20That%20Shocked%20Us. Retrieved 10 May 2011. 

External links

• Revan on Wookieepedia: a Star Wars Wiki