Revan Syndrome

[Yassen]

'Revan Syndrome' is a new trope I just thought up where a main character from a series becomes better characterised in the sequel where they are not the main character. Revan from Knights of the Old Republic is the first example I can think of for this trope hence why I named it after him.

Consider, Revan in the first game (at least the history you learn about him) makes him out to be the typical fallen Jedi. Went to war, fell to the dark side, tried to take over the galaxy. Typical good vs evil that we see time and again. But then Obsidian came along with KotOR 2 where they took Revan and actually gave him some moral complexity. He went to war but he didn't so much as "fall" as he did delve into darkness for the greater good. He purposefully attacked the Republic to make it stronger and prepare them for a greater evil.

That's a case of making the character better in the sequel.

Another case could arguably be Altair. In the first game he's a very bland character, sure he's badass but not very interesting. In AC2 we find his codex's that reveal some of his thinking which make him out to be a very deep, very philosophical man who is struggling with his role and the beliefs of his order. Struggle, responciblity, family and morality. He came across as a much more interesting character in his codex than he did in the first game.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, rescuing a character from obscurity is great but being able to achieve this when they're not the focus anymore seems almost tacky.

What are some other examples of Revan Syndrome that you can think of? It can be from any medium, games, movies, whatever.

 

[Legion]

Andrew Ryan in Bioshock 2 perhaps? In the first game he is the main antagonist and as such, you tend to want to kill him very much. He seems like an insane tyrant who must be stopped at all costs.

However in the sequel you come to understand just what he had to contend with, not only Fontaine but Lamb, both who were trying to undermine his goals.

 

[Joshica Huracane]

Altair in Assassins Creed. In the first he was just kind of there, lacking alot of emotional and personal depth. I find that the Codex entries in AC2 gave him far more personality than most of the original game (apart from maybe his lesson of humility and so forth throughout the game).

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I've just been talking about Altair in another thread and I know what you mean, I really felt for him when he was writing about his dead wife, but in the first game the only thing that made him seem slightly less bland was Desmond being even MORE bland.

Another example of this might be Dimitry Petrenko from CoD. In WaW he's a complete blank slate, but in Black Ops he can actually speak and you start to get a feel for his character... then they turn him to soup in front of your face, so maybe it's not the BEST example.

 

[TheComedown]

So sequels doing what they are supposed to do is a trope?

 

[LoFr3Eq]

I guess that the Mishima family from Tekken kinda follows this, in each game a different family member is the main character and another member is the main antagonist.

There's also Kain from Legacy of Kain.

 

[Silverfox99]

I don't agree with Revan being a bland/basic character in the first KotOR. The complexity was there it just was very subtle. KotOR 2 didn't need to be subtle about Revan and since there was no importing of game files it had to be more ambiguous about the character because KotOr 2 didn't know any of the choices you made in KotOR. I saw it as a character regression rather then progression.

That opinion aside, The main character from Diablo to the wanderer in Diablo 2. The first few cuts scenes in Diablo 2 told me more about the character then the 15 levels I played in Diablo.

 

[Joshica Huracane]

I've just been talking about Altair in another thread and I know what you mean, I really felt for him when he was writing about his dead wife, but in the first game the only thing that made him seem slightly less bland was Desmond being even MORE bland.

Another example of this might be Dimitry Petrenko from CoD. In WaW he's a complete blank slate, but in Black Ops he can actually speak and you start to get a feel for his character... then they turn him to soup in front of your face, so maybe it's not the BEST example.

Dmitri's ending made me a saaaaad panda. I mean.. after the ending of WaW, I already thought he was done. Then for him to go like THAT. =(