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In fantasy fiction, a revenant is 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 or jiangshi. 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. Merriam-Webster's definition of revenant is "one that returns after death or a long absence."〔("revenant" ). ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary''. Retrieved January 19, 2013.〕 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, fantasy fiction, science fiction, and horror fiction. ==Examples in fiction== * The main character in ''Dreams of Darkness'' by Barry James is a revenant fighting a collective god, the Mondragoran, to prevent the apocalypse. * 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 ''Die For Me'' series by Amy Plum, there are two kinds of revenants. When people die saving someone they become Bardia, who call themselves revenants, and when people die betraying someone, they become Numa. They are described as devastatingly attractive and depend on humans for their existence. * 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 which contain 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. * In the Wildstorm comic series ''Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs Zombies'', Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson must deal with a zombie outbreak, which is led by Professor Moriarty who is a revenant. * 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 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 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 Neil Gaiman's ''American Gods'', Shadow Moon's wife, Laura, dies in a car accident then returns as a revenant after he places a magical coin in her grave. She protects her husband from harm by killing his abductors and hopes that he will find a way to bring her fully back to life. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Revenants in fiction」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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