Revan

Revan 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). He was voiced by Rino Romano in Knights of the Old Republic and Jeff Bennett in the 2011 MMO game Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Revan's story is further explored in Drew Karpyshyn's 2011 novella Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan. The book details the events of Revan's life after the events of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, in which Revan attempts to recover his lost memories from the period of the Mandalorian wars and from his and Malak's travels to discover the Sith empire. The novel ends with the death of the main characters T3-M4 and the Jedi Exile, along with the imprisonment of Revan by the Emperor.^[2]

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 title 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.

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. However his intention was to unite the galaxy under one ruler so he could attack the ancient Sith Empire, he avoided attacking key places such as Corucant, Onderon, and Dantooine. 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".

Prior to the events of 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, 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 light saber the player obtains from him as a unique red color. This is Revan's only appearance in the entire game. 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.

Almost three centuries after Revan 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.

He appears as the primary focus of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan, released by Bioware and EA on December 20, 2011.

After the events of Knights of the Old Republic, Revan and Bastila Shan had a child far away from Dantooine, on the galactic capital Coruscant. However, during this time, Revan underwent a journey to recover his lost memories and to seek out the True Sith, a venture which culminated in his capture by the Sith Emperor and placement in stasis for three hundred years.

Revan re-emerges in Star Wars: The Old Republic after a team of Republic heroes manage to rescue him from the Emperor's Maelstrom Prison. Though thankful to the Republic for rescuing him, Revan decides to fight the Emperor on his own terms and takes control of a Rakatan installation called "The Foundry" and engineers a droid army (led by HK-47) programmed to identify and eliminate any target with Sith DNA, which represented the great majority of the Sith Empire. Revan's plan is thwarted when a group of Imperials manage to infiltrate the Foundry and destroy the droids and HK-47 before confronting Revan. After a vicious battle, Revan is defeated but disappears before a killing blow can be delivered.

Revan appears again in the "Legacy of Rakata Prime" flashpoint as the man behind the conspiracy in the "Forged Alliances" plotline. He is the primary antagonist of the fourth digital expansion to The Old Republic, entitled Shadow of Revan.

Revan was originally slated to appear in the cartoon series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In the third season episode "Ghosts of Mortis", Revan would have appeared as a Sith Lord alongside Darth Bane as advisors to the Son, a dark side embodiment. The two characters were cut from the episode in late production since their presence would conflict with Lucas's view of the Force.^[3]

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.^[4] 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.

Lego released a Darth Revan minifigure as a free-with-purchase promotional item in May 2014.

Reception

Revan was chosen by IGN as the top 12th Star Wars character,^[5] as well as also being chosen by IGN's Jesse Schedeen as, along with Darth Malak, the fifth best Star Wars villain.^[6] IGN's readers chose Revan as their 7th top Star Wars character.^[7] UGO Networks put the character as the ninth top Expanded Universe character.^[8] 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".^[9] Robert Workman, from GameDaily, listed the character as one of his favourite Star Wars video game characters.^[10]

Although Revan ultimately did not make the cut, Game Informer staff considered his inclusion in their "30 characters that defined a decade" collection, with Matt Miller saying, "in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the looming shadow of his presence hangs over everything, and the Revan-centric twist at the heart of the story shocked the gaming world."^[11]

ScrewAttack listed the moment where it's revealed that the player character is Darth Revan as the tenth "OMGWTF" in video gaming.^[12] Edge also listed the moment as one of the most jaw-dropping moments in video games.^[13] GameDaily's Chris Buffa listed the moment as the fourth top video game spoiler,^[14] and Robert Workman listed the moment as one of the eight BioWare moments that shocked him.^[15]

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
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Deleted Scene Only)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Revan.

• Revan on Wookieepedia: a Star Wars wiki