I just wanted to put Revenant's lore in one post for the sake of documenting and observations
I've finally completed her Remembrance today! I also have a friend who simply can't play this game but will explode if they miss out on any gothic horror kind of story (Crow this is uuuuuu!!!) so I guess it can double as me resharing for her? I dunno
1) She is sort of a reincarnation of Chloe, and a similar concept to the Doll from Bloodborne
So at first, Revenant just recalls herself as a doll named Daphne, but as she remembers more, she starts to instead see it that the doll named Daphne was actually someone she used to cherish and care for! She recalls herself as a daughter, not as a doll.
The doll's body starts moving shortly after Chloe gets killed right beside her, and her conflicting memories imply some sort of spiritual transition. She reaches out specifically for the keepsake given to Chloe by Edgar, too.
Again, remember how one of her earlier recollections is, "The Night took lives of the family" and then "the Night would still give chase, even in this doll's frame"! Together with thinking about the doll as a separate being, it creates an impression that spirit of Chloe "escaped" in the Doll, although without memories, yet the Night still pursues her as to make sure she's dead.
In the very end of her remembrance, the whole 'hmmm I loved this doll, what was she named, again?' vibe completely fades, as if the last what was left of Chloe finally fades too. Like sort of that personality's very last breath, and Daphne becomes sort of independent person letting go of that personality, but not of the feelings that guaranteed her existence!
Again, if you didn't play Bloodborne, it will be a bit of nothing, but it is similar with Maria and the mourning Doll of her. They are spiritually linked to the point where as one is asleep, another is awake and vice-versa! Doll is very much just a Maria with super hardcore amnesia and lost traits, carrying Maria's grudges in her heart and only being liberated of them when we do kill Maria's disturbed spirit in the Nightmare realm! Many people assume that by breaking this 'last link' and guaranteeing ego death of Maria, Doll is liberated of her former life as well, now able to be considered as a separate being and develop into her own person! Maria's spirit is the reason Doll moves and breathes, but also Maria is no more, and her death coming to true completion through spiritual means beyond the actual death itself finalises the Doll's character's beginning.
And whereas in Bloodborne it is an interpretation (although very working one), in Nightreign it IS just what happens. The ego death and final straw of a person passing, but a new person now truly living on through their feelings.
2) She might be a bit like a sister Chloe never had
She is wearing the same kind of clothes as Daphne, minus the veil and cape part of course!
They also seem to have the same hairstyle, with the braid on the behind that doesn't take up all hair and braids with these round accessories on the front! Daphne was dressed like a true family member, not just a plaything! It is almost like Chloe wanted a twin. Or maybe, they were twins, but one was stillborn and Chloe always felt that missing half by knowing what happened?
Like, this is one VERY Victorian-coded society in Elden Ring's setting if I've seen one, and normally dolls like this were made of dead people in that period.
And at the same time, there is 0 emphasis on the presumed prototype person being dead at the age that she is depicted in. There is no aura of mourning surrounding her, just a lot of love and cherishing. However, white/grey hair is what might be significant!
Duchess, who is confirmed to be a bit touched by the Night at birth, shows some strands of grey hair! Maybe the Night assaulted this family even before, and the child that was meant to be Daphne was stillborn with fully grey hair like this? Something like similarly cursed mother expecting twins but only being able to save one for some reason? Or when expecting Daphne, she refused to sacrifice herself, unlike Duchess' mother?
Basically, Daphne being depicted as if she was a family member, a twin sister no less, but with white/grey hair feels significant!
3) There could have been some cultural absorption
Yes, this is recollecting this image again:
Daphne had this kind of aesthetic that I've spotted as soon as her portrait dropped! For now, not only Chloe was wearing similar braids, but also Sebastian, member of the family, has depictions of the 'eye' too (not to mention being a giant skeleton):
At the same time, it seems that this family is in fact rather Golden Order-ish? Oriented? Not only Helen is a Page of specifically Leyendell origins, but also Revenant is first met staring (intensely) at the portrait of Radagon, and she uses golden rings of light, which are something Radagon and Miquella created! She is also using Finger Seal, a thing normally given to Finger Maidens!
It would not be the first time when Golden Order sort of assimilated a culture of the defeated nation! The family of Northerncroft might have had distant roots with Fire Giants, or perhaps hail from Astrologers that were allied with them, but since then blending in. "Become one with the Order or go die in the outskirts of life" or whatever Marika said upon declaring the war on Liurnia, all that all that. Alternatively, they want to have place within it, despite it not accepting them, similarly to Albinaurics.
4) Revenant was corrupted at some point
When we met her, she was hostile and literally called 'Night Idol', and other Nightfarers distrusted her at first. Then her last two lived remembrances also happen after she is talking with Recluse, who encourages her to look within the nightmares that plague her and face her fears. And Recluse points out that she will be weaker against the Night after having lost to it before at some point
(Sorry I forgor to screenshot that dialogue 💀 Here ( x )) An interesting detail about her design suggests that it might have been very literal:
Looks like this gruesome wound is the source of it, and the reason Revenant is "bleeding" the dark blue
Also, the person that murders them looks like literally just a guy:
Well, not really. He looks like he is someone from this house I'd say? So maybe he got corrupted and puppeteed by the Night, in a similar way Revenant was before we freed her (by kicking her ass)
Are there some other things I needed to know? Maybe something about remembrances of the other Nightfarers that could explain more about her by effect? Honestly, finishing her first was not what I expected at all ahah
@heraldofcrow @val-of-the-north
