It’s surprising why he wasn’t the first, even though he became my signature character, and also was the first overall.
Ravic. I love the original with all my heart; it made me fall in love with it from the very first lines. I’ve reread the book countless times, and I’ve listened to the audio version even more. That’s why it amazes me how many people make Paul from "All Quiet on the Western Front" into a less well-known and popular Remarque book, but no one before me made Ravic, even though he fits the role of a sinner INFINITELY more (not that I’m complaining; it’s nice to be first, but it’s still strange).
Born and lived in an ordinary, middle-income family in Nest, District 11. Thanks to his skills and passion for surgery, he managed to get into the prestigious K Corps medical institute, which he graduated with honors, representing a great future that, alas, was not meant to be because of the Smoke War.
One of the key events of that period in his life was the horrific death of his friends at the hands of a sadist named Haake, whose image still haunts the man like a shadow, in dreams and in waking life.
Having deserted, Ravic began hiding in the Backstreets of District 25, where he managed to acquire new connections, despicable alcohol habits, and, thanks to his skills, a job in an underground clinic. Around the same time, he meets and saves Joan – a femme fatale whom he loved, but whom, out of good intentions, the man tried with all his might to push away: he was too broken, too old, and too scared.
By a fortunate twist of fate, Ravic comes across a good vacancy in Limbus, in which he sees an opportunity to relieve his loved ones of himself, while also being useful to others. Unfortunately, even the new job couldn’t rid the surgeon of his harmful habit – an addiction to calvados, a flask of which he always carries with him.
Ravic can easily be described as a melancholic, humanist loner who loves and values the lives of others, but hardly his own. Despite his fatigue, disillusionment, alienation from everything and everyone, and the realization that it’s impossible to help everyone, Ravic was not a cynic, as is typical for people of his profession, although he tried very hard to seem like one; he was simply too afraid to grow attached to anything. Thanks to his calm demeanor and life experience, he easily wins people over; he’s a good listener and conversationalist, especially when accompanied by a couple of glasses of calvados. However, most of the man’s words should be divided in two: lies, in his understanding, are as necessary in communicating with people as anesthesia is during surgery. My most favorite part of his character is his sharp tongue. Ravic is always ready with a quick retort, especially if you’ve annoyed him.
His Canto will also be one of the first, not second, but third or fourth, where they return to those Backstreets from which Ravic essentially fled, meet his old friends, stop by the cabaret where he used to live, encounter Joan...
And that will be the most painful meeting, because the woman hates Ravic for running away; she thinks he abandoned her (which isn’t far from the truth, if you think about it). Ravic won’t make excuses, because he really just wanted to ask why she never accepted the letters he sent, to which he’ll receive an incoherent and disturbing answer. The truth won’t be long in coming: a stranger will run in and, hurling furious accusations at Joan, shoot her dead. Ravic won’t have time to do anything; the girl will die in his arms. In a rage (and a desperate attempt), Ravic himself will draw a hidden weapon, but with only one single bullet, which he had been saving all this time for Haake, and kill the attacker. From a friend, Boris, the team will learn that the attacker was a jealous suitor of Joan’s, and from a note in the dead man’s pocket, they’ll learn that someone named "O" told him about the meeting. Ravic himself will explain that he bought the pistol a long time ago, having saved up for it, because it gave him purpose and the idea that someday he could get revenge. But where the attacker got his weapon remains a mystery.
Interestingly, regarding this segment, Ravic will almost begin to distort, but out of everyone, it will be Eric who brings him back to his senses.
His Canto, as per tradition, will end with a Dungeon, where, for the first time, they will be hindered by N-Corp agents, but this time Haake will be among them. In the book, the sadist doesn’t recognize Ravic, and the surgeon lures the bastard into the forest by deceit and strangles him, but here it will be a full-fledged fight.
Facts:
- Sins: Wrath/Sloth
- Ravic has a strand of hair on the top of his head that everyone forgets about, but I really like it (I call it the "princess tiara").
- Just to be mischievous, Eric sometimes calls him the German way, "Ravich," which the surgeon dislikes. However, mean name-calling is mutual between them.
- Ravic doesn’t just have a voice headcanon, but a whole damn great song about him and Joan – "Kirill Ustinov, Evgenol – Chernovik".
- The complete opposite of Derrrell and his main hater, even more than McMurphy, but he considers his goal worthy of at least an attempt, just not by those methods. It’s mainly the glasses-wearer who manages to find that very "sore nerve" that throws even the cold Ravic off balance, for which he gets punched in the face.
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