Revenant

The Revenant (derived from the French word revenir, meaning "to return") is a human that has died but, through supernatural means, has returned from the dead.

 Species:  Undead (Corporeal, Restless)

 Other Names:  The Returning Dead, the Wandering Dead, Taxim (Eastern Europe), Krvoijac, Craquehhe.

The word revenant comes from the French and Latin revenir, which means “to return.” Therefore, the Revenant is a once-living human that has returned from the dead.

 Habitat:  The Revenant can be found all over the world in one form or another. The Revenant tends to haunt sites that were important or held some significance to it in life, but the creature has been known to haunt people that betrayed, wronged, or even caused the Revenant’s death. In other words, this creature is not strictly limited to graveyards, mausoleums, tombs, crypts, or other places of death where the Undead usually dwell. However, the Revenant primarily inhabits the British Isles.

 Diet:  Usually, the Revenant requires neither food nor drink of any sort, since the creature is technically dead in the first place. However, there have been exceptions when the Revenant has been known to prey on human flesh or blood (causing people to identify the Revenant with the Vampire), or even eating and drinking normally. However, the Revenant only craves one thing: vengeance. It will not stop until its prey is dead or the wrongs (real or perceived) have been righted.

 Features:  Having recently arisen from the grave, the Revenant is usually a corpse in an advanced state of decay, but still somewhat recognizable to those it knew in life. The creature has sunken eyes, which glow a fiery red in the darkness. It has rotten teeth and jagged fingernails. Large portions of flesh may be missing, exposing the creature’s bones and innards. The skin tends to hang from the flesh in ragged strips, while maggots and worms infest the exposed flesh, as well as the eye sockets and other bodily orifices. The Revenant reeks of corruption and rotting flesh, and the creature can be detected from several yards away just by its smell alone. The Revenant is usually wearing its burial shroud or whatever clothes it was wearing when the individual was interred, now it tatters from clawing its way out of the grave.

 Behavior:  The Revenant is dangerously obsessed with gaining its vengeance on those who wronged it while it was still living or caused the creature’s death. Although there have been some accounts of this creature being benevolent and protective of its loved ones, seeking only to prove its innocence of the crime of which it was wrongfully accused, or to complete some pressingly important task. However, this is extremely rare in lore and legend.

The Revenant is single-minded and relentless in its pursuit of the one that wronged, betrayed, or even murdered the Revenant