CHAPTER 3

REVENANT MYTHOLOGY

THE ORIGIN OF
THE WORD “REVENANT”

WHEN I WAS WRITING THE FIRST DRAFT OF DIE FOR ME, I had labeled the project file “Undead” and used the word “zombies” in my text. But the more my monsters’ mythology revealed itself, the more convinced I became that I needed a different term. The only real tie between a zombie and my “monsters” was that they were humans who had died and come back to life.

About halfway through the book, the French word “revenant,” which literally means “one who comes back” popped into my mind. I asked a French person what it meant to him, and he said that it was a type of a ghost . . . a spirit that came back from the dead. It seemed to be a little-known and rarely used term here in France, so I decided it would be perfect and used the term from then on.

After finishing the book, I found a revenant entry in Wikipedia that defined a revenant as “a visible ghost or animated corpse that was believed to return from the grave to terrorize the living.” I later found other references to revenants in both English-language and French fiction. However, there seemed to be no consensus between authors as to exactly what a revenant was.

Since I had already concocted a complete mythology for my characters, I decided to appropriate the term and cast the revenants as historical creatures as old and venerable as vampires, zombies, and werewolves.

THE ORIGIN OF
THE WORD “NUMA”

When I was trying to come up with a word for the evil revenants, I dipped into my library and found an old book on mythology. I read that ancient Romans treated certain weapons and objects as if they were alive and possessed the ability to help or protect them. They saw them as gods, calling them numen, which literally means “nod.” The idea was that gods don’t need to lift a finger to get what they want—they nod their head and their will is done.

Some of these household gods (numina) were benevolent, helping the humans who worshipped them. But others were not, bringing diseases and demanding blood sacrifices. This piqued my interest and made me wonder what would happen if some of the household objects that were worshipped actually morphed into god/men and began wielding more power. They could become feared, become evil . . . become numa.

THE ORIGIN OF
THE WORD “BARDIA”

After I decided on the word “numa,” I thought I had my terminology sorted. The good guys were revenants and the bad guys were numa. But as my mythology developed, I understood that revenant was an umbrella term. All undead who animated were revenants. The bad ones were numa. The good ones were . . .

Well, I didn’t have a term for it in the beginning, which is why it doesn’t appear in Book 1. When it became clear that I needed something . . . and fast! . . . I began searching ancient languages for a word that would express that certain quality the good revenants had of watching over humans. Something that would communicate their intrinsic investment in our well-being. I looked for words meaning watchman, guard, keeper, lookout, watcher, sentry, patrol. And finally I found it: the Greek word bardia (βάρδια), meaning “shift” or “watch” (as in the shifts that bardia take as they patrol to watch over humans). I knew it was the right term the moment I saw it.

CREATING THE SIGNUM BARDIA

In Until I Die, I wanted Vincent to give Kate something to show she was under the protection of the revenants. As Vincent explained it in Chapter 23, “It’s a . . . signal to revenants that you are attached to us. That you know what we are and can be trusted.”

Kate’s signum came in handy when she met Gwenhaël, of course, and Bran and Kate both needed their signa to pass Theodore Gold’s security test when they arrived in New York.

So what is a signum bardia? The Latin word signum means “sign, seal, mark, token.” So a signum bardia is the mark of the bardia—their token.

Once I had come up with the term I needed, I had to determine what symbolism the object should hold. I decided to lean on my training in art history to come up with something both meaningful and credible.

I thought of self-sacrifice and used the medieval image of the pelican piercing its breast to feed its young with its blood. (That’s my geeky academic side showing its face.) I wish I still had my first attempt at drawing it. It looked vaguely like an epileptic swan.

The pelican was not only too hard for me to draw, but I knew it would be difficult for me to describe in a way readers could envision it, so I decided to go for something simple. I asked myself what easy shapes could communicate a message. I’ll let Vincent describe what I came up with:

“The pyramid is supposed to mean life after death, and its three corners signify our three days of dormancy. The flames represent our aura and the only way we can be destroyed. And the circle is immortality.”

Once I had decided on the symbolism, I had to come up with a design. I started by using this ninth-century Byzantine ring that I happened to have on hand. (Pun intended.)

I thought if I changed the sapphire from an oval into a triangle, it would be a good start. For the flames, I perused a few of my books on ancient jewelry (I warned you . . . I am a certified history geek) and found a fourth-century BCE Greek earring in the shape of a large round disk surrounded by a gold pellet border, a bit like my ring. But inside the circle were decorative gold swirls that I thought could be shaped into flames. I imagined inlaying a triangular sapphire in the middle of the flaming gold disk and—voilà! It was perfect.

Kate describes her signum thus:

“It was a gold disk the size of a dollar coin, and it was edged with two circles of tiny gold pellets, one nestled within the other. Set in the center of the disk was a dark blue triangular stone with a smooth, slightly rounded surface. And in the space between the stone and the rows of pellets were decorative gold wires curved into the shape of flames. It looked ancient, like the Greek jewelry in Papy’s gallery.”

But for me, as beautiful and priceless as the signum itself was Vincent’s motivation to give it to Kate:

“This isn’t just from me to you. It is from all of us to you. I saw how upset you were when Arthur said you weren’t one of us. I want you to know that you aren’t an outsider. You aren’t a revenant, but you are still one of us. This signum means that you are kindred.”

THE HISTORY OF
THE REVENANTS

Ever since man has existed, there have been revenants. But in ancient times they lived in the open among humans, who worshipped the bardia as heroes and reviled the numa as demons. Powerful human leaders used them as immortal guardians, or—for those who sought power at any cost—dangerous but effective allies.

Like the bayati—humans with paranormal abilities who were later called saints—revenants around the world began being persecuted with the rise of major world religions. In Eastern countries some were able to hide themselves among mortal holy men and shamans. But not in the Western world. It was at this point—after being hunted and destroyed on a massive scale during the fourth century—that they began extricating themselves from human familiarity and developed their strategy of separateness.

The bardia launched a concerted campaign to hide revenant-themed art and literature, which was common enough in Roman times and before. The numa followed the bardia’s lead, having lost just as many of their number in the religious persecution.

Some of the more important dates in revenant history are the following.

52 BCE—Romans win control of the town of Lutetia (renamed Paris in 360 CE).

40 BCE—Flame-fingered guérisseurs build their “archives” in a cave beneath the Roman baths in Paris.

392 CE—Second Age begins with slaughter of revenants, as part of Theodosius I’s war on paganism.

394 CE—Prophecy is written by an unknown revenant declaring the coming of a Champion in Gaul in the Fourth Age. Soon after comes the flame-fingers’ own prophecy, which is almost identical to that of the revenants.

940 CE—L’amur immortel (Immortal Love), the love story of Else, a human, and Goderic, a bardia, is written. This text provides proof that the flame-fingered guérisseurs are still interacting with the revenants at this point in time.

1200 CE—Tândorn clan account explaining re-embodiment is written.

1330 CE—Just before the plague, a group of bardia from Italy move to Constantinople, bringing a valuable Etruscan treasury with them, which includes the giant thymiaterion.

1332 CE—A powerful numa named Alexios kills a bardia chieftain, Ioanna, and binds her to him. Ioanna’s kindred destroy Alexios, freeing her spirit from the bond to her numa captor. Flame-finger Georgios is sought out to perform the re-embodiment. He uses the giant thymiaterion to reunite Ioanna’s wandering soul with a new, man-made body.

1346 CE—Black Death begins. Around this time revenants and flame-fingers grow apart in much of the world and the bardia forget about their healers.

1350s CE—Example of binding a wandering soul by coercion. A numa chief in Italy kills a newly formed bardia and binds her volant spirit to him by incinerating his left hand with her corpse. He manipulates her into serving his will by threatening to kill her still-living human family and becomes extremely powerful through the strength of his spirit-slave.

1376–1427—The Aztec kings use revenant Seers to find newly formed bardia and force them to serve as immortal bodyguards by threatening their loved ones. When the king dies, their bardia slaves are immolated with them.

1484—Fresco in flame-fingers’ archives depicting murder of bardia, numa, and bayati at the hands of the Spanish inquisitors dates from this year. This is another wave of revenant deaths, in which bardia are helped and hidden by the guérisseurs. This is an atypical period in the relationship of the guérisseurs and the bardia, where for a short time they are back in contact in southern Europe.

1492—Human death and animation of Italian revenant Lorenzo, who exists as a bardia for centuries before giving up and attempting to let himself die naturally. In 1790 he has to be assisted by other bardia to sacrifice himself for a human, as his suffering had become too acute.

1752—German Champion leads a battle against the numa and succeeds in wiping them out, at the cost of his own existence.

Around 1800—Beginning of the revenants’ Third Age. Texts about the Dark Way date from this era.

1939–1945—During World War II, a large number of revenants are created. Since many hold personal grudges from their human lives, there is a massive war of vengeance that lasts a decade.

1942—The fresco of Hitler with his numa advisers in the flame-fingers’ archives dates from this year.

1949—Peace treaty between Lucien and Jean-Baptiste.

September 11, 2001—More bardia are created on this day than in any other time in New York’s history.

THE HISTORY OF THE
REVENANTS’ GUÉRISSEURS

Before modern medicine, mystical healers known as guérisseurs were common and well-respected members of their communities. Guérisseurs’ powers developed according to regional illnesses and the special needs of the populations around them. Therefore, a small percentage of them (corresponding to the percentage of revenants in an area) developed powers to assist revenants with their own specific needs. These guérisseurs were called the flame-fingers.

Since most guérisseurs worked with auras, they could spot a revenant immediately from the famous halo of flames. Thus, the healers who did not specialize in revenant healing could at least direct a revenant to find healing with a flame-finger, as was recorded in the tenth-century text L’amur immortel.

Flame-fingers’ gifts included lessening a revenant’s need to die. This was useful in ancient times, when the population of the world was smaller, and bardia who lived in unpopulated areas might not often find the opportunity to rescue humans. They could visit flame-fingered guérisseurs to ease their pain. Their services were also highly sought-after for revenants who fell in love with humans and desired to age at the same rate as their partners.

Flame-fingers also had the power to disperse a revenant’s volant spirit after she or he had been destroyed.

Finally, the flame-fingers had the gift of re-embodiment: transferring a wandering spirit into a human-made body so that the lost revenant could assume his original form. This, however, was such a rare occurrence that few knew how to perform the ritual without having to seek out ancient texts.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, modern medicine developed and medical doctors became more available to the general population. With these advances, people lost faith in the healers with whom they had once entrusted their lives. As time went on and skepticism about their powers grew, guérisseurs’ children began to refuse to accept their parents’ gifts and their number dwindled. General awareness of the flame-fingers gradually diminished, and until the events that took place in Paris in the early twenty-first century, their existence was known only by a handful of historians.

THE NATURE OF REVENANTS

THE MAKING OF A REVENANT

A very small percentage of humans are born as latent revenants. No one knows whether it is a genetic predisposition, a mutation, or something more supernatural—such as a spiritual predestination to their fate.

Revenants are all born equal. Whether they become bardia or numa depends on their actions during their human life. Bardia die saving a human’s life. Numa die after betraying someone to their death. If latent revenants are never cast into these situations, they live out their lives with no indication that they were different from anyone else.

Upon dying the first time, humans are “dormant” for three days before animating as a revenant. If no one is there to give them shelter, food, and water when they awake, they expire permanently.

A revenant-in-the-making sends off a light like a beacon shooting straight up into the sky, visible only to those few revenants who have the gift of seeing auras. They are Seers, and their gift is called “the Sight.”

Revenants appear to be human. Their appearance changes slightly when they animate, making them more alluring to humans, which helps elicit trust from those they encounter.

BARDIA AND NUMA DIFFERENCES

Bardia are humans who die as a direct result of saving another human life. While bardia is the technical term for their kind, the name is outdated, and most just refer to themselves as revenants. The aura of the bardia is golden and is said by guérisseurs to resemble a forest fire.

During their human existence, the numa betrayed someone to their death and were subsequently killed. Their afterlife is a continuation of their human life: never-ending betrayals, facilitated by their involvement in the underworld of extortion, prostitution, and drugs. The aura of the numa is red.

DORMANCY

Revenants are dormant three days per month, during which their bodies are essentially dead. After they animate, the revenants’ life cycle is regulated by this “dormancy.”

The more severely wounded revenants are before dormancy, the longer it takes them to reanimate as they recover. In the case of regenerating limbs, the three days could stretch to four or five.

The first day of dormancy, revenants are “mind-and-body dead.” But during the second and third days, their body begins to heal, repairing whatever damage has been inflicted since their last dormancy. During these two days their minds are aware, and they can travel in spirit form, known as being “volant” (“flying”).

A volant revenant can speak to other revenants’ minds. However, this is not pure telepathy, per se, since the non-volant revenant must speak out loud to respond.

A volant revenant can see a few minutes into the future, an ability called foresight or future-sight. This is essential to the revenants’ modus operandi, since the volant revenant warns the others when a death is about to occur, allowing the bardia to save a human in danger, or, in the case of numa, when an opportunity to hurt a human is about to present itself.

POSSESSION

Revenants can possess other beings while volant.

A volant revenant can possess another revenant who has just been killed if it is physically possible for the host corpse to move (e.g.: he or she is not in pieces, rigor mortis has not set in, etc.).

A volant revenant cannot possess his own dormant body, since he is mind-and-body dead during the first day of dormancy and his body is healing the second and third days (unable to move during healing).

A volant revenant can possess a “live” revenant, but only with the host’s permission. This may happen if, for example, the volant spirit had no body to return to, having been immolated while dormant (like Vincent). It is also harmful to a revenant’s psyche to be possessed by another revenant for a substantial period of time, so it is rarely done.

A volant revenant can possess a human, but only with the human’s permission. Besides being dangerous for the human’s mental state, it also causes extreme physical exhaustion.

A volant revenant can possess a recently dead human under the same conditions as he or she could a dead revenant. But the host body will continue to deteriorate at the same rate it would if it were not possessed.

CALMING TOUCH

Bardia are able, by touch and volition, to calm a human. This is used in lifesaving situations and has a tranquilizing effect on the people they rescue.

Numa have the opposite of the bardia’s calming touch: They can cause anxiety and confusion, rendering their victims more vulnerable.

DESTRUCTION OF A REVENANT

A revenant can be (temporarily) killed by any method that would kill a human except with bullets. (Bullets temporarily stun the revenant while the projectile is summarily ejected from the body.) Death sends a revenant immediately into dormancy.

A revenant can only be destroyed (permanently) if his head is removed and both head and body are immolated by fire.

If this is done immediately, or during volancy if the spirit is inside the body, the revenant will no longer exist.

If, however, the killer waits twenty-four hours until the spirit becomes volant and then lures the spirit outside the body before incinerating it, the spirit will forever be trapped as a disembodied “wandering soul.” This is primarily done in cases of vengeance.

The only other reason for creating a wandering soul is for a binding: The killer chooses to bind the spirit to herself or himself, preventing it from escaping. This is done by incinerating a part of the killer’s own body with the body of the revenant they are binding. In this case, the killer revenant will not regenerate that body part in their next dormancy. They can then control the wandering spirit to a certain extent (mainly for seeing into the near future or spying), but cannot force the spirit to do anything it does not want to (except by blackmail, such as threatening loved ones who are still alive).

LIFESAVING

A human who survives a near-death experience often suffers post-traumatic shock. If a revenant is responsible for his or her rescue, the energy that has been figuratively “sucked out” of the would-be victim is literally infused into the revenant for the hours or days that it takes for the human to recover. The revenant becomes stronger with this transfer of energy, which is like a drug for them.

The reward if revenants die during a rescue is even greater: After dormancy, they are reanimated at the age of their original human death.

The infusion of energy that a revenant receives after saving someone is what helps lessen their urge to die. Revenants who satisfy their need to die by saving people, which most do, are using what’s referred to as the “Light Way.”

The alternative, the “Dark Way,” is when a revenant kills numa and absorbs their energy. The historical reason for using this was if a wounded bardia killed a numa in battle, the immediate power surge gave them enough strength to escape to safety. However, when used repeatedly over a longer period of time, the absorbed dark energy will destroy the bardia.

Even though dying hurts revenants just as much as it would hurt normal humans, death is a powerful compulsion that revenants can’t resist for more than a few years. Therefore, they can always stay young.

The longer a person has been a revenant, the easier it is for she or he to resist dying. However, when revenants begin to near an age around when most people die, the temptation to sacrifice themselves is so intense that they cannot resist it.

Bardia become obsessed with the humans they save.

THE STORY OF L’AMUR IMMORTEL
(IMMORTAL LOVE)

SUMMARIZED BY KATE MERCIER FROM A
TENTH-CENTURY ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT

This is the story of Goderic, a nineteen-year-old revenant, and Else, the girl he married just months before he died.

It was Else who was there when Goderic awoke, the day he was to be buried. She gave him food and drink, and he attained his immortality. They learned what he was from a Seer who had followed his light.

Else and Goderic became transients, moving every time he died so that the locals wouldn’t become suspicious. As she got older, they had to change their story, claiming to be mother and son. After several years Else became sick. Goderic called a guérisseur to heal her, and the healer recognized what Goderic was by his aura.

Goderic pleaded with the man to find a way to let him age normally with his beloved—to resist the powerful desire to die. The guérisseur didn’t possess that knowledge but told him of another healer who had great power in the way of the immortals. The man told Goderic, “From his family will come the one to see the Victor. If anyone holds the key to your plight, it will be the VictorSeer’s clan. He lives in a faraway land, among les Audoniens, and can be found under the Sign of the Cord, selling relics to the pilgrims.”

Goderic and Else began traveling north, but she contracted another illness along the way and died in Goderic’s arms. He was so distraught that he traveled to the city and hunted down a numa, who delivered him from life.