So as I was researching and trying to discover what to name my revenant when HoT gets released, I came across some things and sites that likely heavily influenced the world of Tyria. One site in particular Nook of Names, has a plethora of name origin, meanings, and associations. I explored the name Arboreus from that site which led me to Norse mythology.
I followed Arboreus (tree) through wiki Celtic links and some words, phrases, names, and such were within those texts. I found Bifrost, which is a bridge; the Norns; Wild Hunt (lol…. no kidding!); a guardian tree or warden. That brought me to a wiki page and where I found (v?rðr). “warden,” “watcher” or “caretaker”): a warden spirit, believed to follow from birth to death the soul (hugr) of every person. The warden of a dead person could also become a revenant, haunting particular spots or individuals. In this case, the revenant warden was always distinct from more conscious undeads, such as the draugar. WOW!!! The first zombies! But now I was getting somewhere.
With the opportunity for Anet to introduce a new story, a revenant class by definition, will have to die. And whoever is the one to kill them, “… 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 neighbors.” And if you follow the “draugar” line “The Old Norse meaning of the word is a revenant.”
Here’s something else I found that’s interesting. "A draugr’s presence may be shown by a great light that glowed from the mound like foxfire. So, more uses for foxfire maybe? And the revealed mechanic by Anet on April 2nd found here says that, “The Brink’s meta-feature is the increased importance of the day/night cycle; things are tough enough while the sun’s up, but once it sets, the Mordrem redouble their efforts and the landscape becomes even more dangerous.” Also according Norse mythology, “While the draugr certainly preferred to be active during the night, it did not appear to be vulnerable to sunlight like some other revenants.” Hmmm…. interesting!!!!
So with the disclosed attribute of the ranger specialization as a druid, it seems plausible that the revenant’s specialization could be something like the draugr. The draugr are much more powerful according to mythology, with the ability to vanish into smoke, pass through rock, superhuman strength, enter dreams, cause disease, etc.
So there it is! My anticipation rises.
