In fantasy fiction, the term revenant usually means a sentient creature whose desire to fulfill a special goal allows it to return from the grave as a creature vaguely resembling an intelligent zombie. Another possibility is that a powerful wizard returns a dead hero from the past to make him go on a quest that no living human would dare to undertake. Such a revenant may be just as intelligent as it was in life but its will is usually bound by the wizard who summons and controls it.
The dictionary definition of revenant, from Merriam-Webster's Internet site is "one that returns after death or a long absence." In that the subject returns from death, one can easily see an association of the term with the undead in fantasy and horror fiction. On the other hand, unlike zombies, the revenant's "long absence" does imply a certain anachronism in its eventual return.
The term often implies some underlying motive of revenge prompting the return.
Revenants exist primarily in role-playing games and horror fiction.
In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf the Gray returns as Gandalf the White to help defeat the forces of evil.
In the video game Final Fantasy XI, revenants appear as a powerful deformed spirit found in the depths of cave systems.
Commander Shepard (the protagonist of Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2) has a signature weapon, the M-76 Revenant Light Machine Gun. The Revenant's name is also a symbolic reference to Shepard, a soldier brought back to life by Cerberus to protect humanity.
The character of Eric in James O'Barr's The Crow is a revenant.
In Peter Straub's Ghost Story, the female ghost is a revenant as declared by the protagonist. The revenant manifests itself throughout time and space at will and as different personalities to fulfill its mission of vengeance. In Ghost Story, the revenant manifests as Angie Maul, a young girl; and Anna Mostyn, an attractive young lady, to wreak havoc on the nephew of one of the original victims. Ann-Veronica Moore attacks the original victims and in life was known as Eva Galli.
In Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, revenants are animalistic vampires who were violently killed by a group of vampires (rather than being turned in the traditional 3-day period).
In the online game Ultima Online, the revenant is a creature that can be summoned by a necromancer character to attack a specified target. It is also a creature that spawns occasionally in the dungeon Khaldun.
In the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, the revenant is a powerful undead creature strongly resembling a zombie, a far less powerful undead creature, at first glance.
In the online game City of Heroes, references are made in one story to 'The Revenant Hero Project'. This program inspired the enemies called Paragon Protectors, who exist within the villain group of Crey Industries. This project consisted of the harvesting of DNA from deceased heroes and the recording of their memories and personalities from life. A new body would be grown using the supplied genetic material and implanted with the memories of the past person, albeit with some minor adjustments to make that person subservient to Crey. This is the culmination of years of Crey research into cloning and memory implantation; they intended to keep the hero population in check by creating heroes of their own. They are in their own way bringing the dead back to life for the fulfillment of a task.
Revenants also appear as hellish fiends in the classic first-person shooter Doom II.
While never referred to as such, in the later Friday the 13th films, Jason Voorhees fits the description of a revenant.
Scorpion, from Mortal Kombat, qualified as a revenant. He returned from the dead prior to the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament to avenge his death at the hands of the elder Sub-Zero, who would become a revenant after Scorpion took his revenge.
In the Legacy of Kain series, Raziel served the purpose of a revenant. He was murdered by Kain in the prologue of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, but was subsequently brought back by the Elder God as a soul-devouring wraith to avenge himself, while simultaneously tasked to fulfill the designs of the God.
Caleb, the protagonist from the video game series Blood can also be considered a revenant.
EC Comics, in particular with their horror series such as Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, and The Haunt of Fear, often made use of revenant-like characters as a plot device, and in a manner consistent with the theme of an individual coming back from the grave to fulfill a specific task. Example stories to exploit this theme include The Thing From The Grave! (Tales From The Crypt #22), None But The Lonely Heart (Tales From The Crypt #33), and 'Til Death (The Vault of Horror #27), among others.
Similarly, the Creepshow character Nathan Grantham, a miserly old man who returns from the grave to seek revenge on the relatives who murdered him, can best be described as a revenant, although he is not given any specific title in his undead state during the course of the story. Creepshow is inspired directly by the various EC Comics horror series, being a tribute to them.
EC-inspired revenant characters also appear in the 2007 horror film Trick 'r Treat in the segment The School Bus Massacre Revisited. Though the undead children in the story appear to devour their victims like modern zombies, the retention of their personalities, urban legend surrounding their creation, and the displayed ability of one to speak directly to his killer mark them as revenants.
In the Girl Genius milieu, Hive Engines create Revenants by infecting normal people with Slaver Wasps. They are then bound to obey any command given by The Other. While stories say the Heterodyne Brothers are able to 'cure' the Revenant (by sucking the slaver wasp out of the person), it is commonly assumed that it is impossible to actually cure a Revenant. There are several different types of Revenant, including one which acts perfectly normally until given a command.
In DC Comic's current Blackest Night story arc, the Black Lantern Corps consists primarily of reanimated deceased superheroes and supervillains from the fictional universe of New Earth in the DC Multiverse.
In Cinematix Studios action roleplaying game Revenant, the protagonist, Locke D'Averam, is brought back from the dead by the wizard Sardok in order to save the island of Ahkulion from a mysterious sect, known as the children of the change; and to save the daughter of feudal lord Tendrick, whom the cultists had kidnapped.
In the online game RuneScape, revenants are the powerful undead spirits of warriors who died during the God Wars.
Revenants are some of the most powerful boss-level enemies in the role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins. They are highly resistant to almost all attacks, can strike multiple characters at once and possess some semblance of telekinetic power. These revenants are described in-game as corpses possessed by powerful demons.
In Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness, revenants can be found at night.
In the second book in Brandon Mull's series Fablehaven, a revenant guards an ancient magical item. It is described as a zombie-like creature with disheveled clothing and a nail sticking in its neck. In addition, it creates an intense irrational fear in all who approach it, and causes those whom it chokes to it to turn ghostly pale with white hair and in a zombie like state with no feeling. Removing the nail from its cures all those who are affected, and kills the revenant.
In the Warcraft universe , revenants are minor elemental creatures who once served as foot soldiers for the malefic Old Gods when the world was young.
In the online game Pirates of the Caribbean Online a Revenant is a type of ghost warship encountered during the game.