“You will have gone from being the Sith Lord himself, to the savior of our galaxy.”
- ―Bastila Shan —
Revan was a Jedi Knight and General during the Mandalorian Wars. A Human male once known by the nickname the Revanchist, he was both a charismatic and enigmatic leader, a renowned tactician and expert strategist, and a hero of the Galactic Republic during the Mandalorian Wars, leading the Republic fleets to victory after victory. Ending the conflict personally, with the execution of Mandalore the Ultimate and the destruction of Malachor V, Revan led the remains of the Republic fleet deep into the Unknown Regions to hunt down the remaining Mandalorians. He returned however, as Darth Revan, the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Deploying his vast armada, the very ships that had fought alongside him during the Mandalorian Wars, against the Republic fleet, Revan ignited the Jedi Civil War. Revan and his Sith apprentice Darth Malak claimed repeated victories against the Republic, and in the process established a powerful new Sith Empire. For two and a half years Revan’s fleet cut a swath of destruction through the Republic before the Dark Lord was finally betrayed by Darth Malak, and captured by the Jedi Order.
Thought dead to the entire galaxy, Revan survived, through the efforts of Bastila Shan, although his mind was severely damaged. Unable to restore the Dark Lord’s memories, the Jedi Council repaired what they could of his damaged mind, programming a new identity into Revan, one loyal to the Republic. In the year that followed, Revan and a company of followers searched the galaxy for the source of Malak’s vast fleet. Despite eventually learning of his previous identity, Revan rejected the evil of his past, defeated Malak and ended the very war he had begun.
A year later, Revan once again departed for the Unknown Regions. A former Jedi Master of Revan’s, Kreia, believed that Darth Revan’s brutally efficient invasion of the galaxy had been part of a complex plan to secure the Republic from a long-hidden unknown threat and suggested that Revan had departed on a solitary quest to defeat them once and for all.
Early life
“Some said that Revan was born in the Outer Regions, beyond the Rim, and that’s what called to him during the Mandalorian Wars… and after. It was the call of home.”
- ―Kreia
The exact details of Revan’s early life cannot be ascertained. Though there were those that claimed he had been born beyond the Outer Rim Territories, his parentage, homeworld and birth name remain unknown. Regardless, he was eventually deemed suitable for instruction in the ways of the Force by the Jedi Order.
Jedi training
“Revan had many masters, Zhar, Dorak, Master Kae before Kae left for the Wars. Towards the end of his training, he sought out many to learn techniques. It is said that he returned to his first master at the end of his training, in order to learn how he might best leave the order.””
- ―Mical
By Kreia‘s account, it was she who undertook Revan’s initial instruction in the Jedi Arts, and according to Deesra Luur Jada, Revan was trained on Dantooine. Even so, it is known that Revan was on Coruscant for at least a time, where he and his closest friend, Alek “Squint” Squinquargesimus, often visited Jedi Master Zhar Lestin for additional training.
The elder Jedi, though noting Revan’s “insatiable” desire for knowledge, dismissed it as exuberance and eagerness, believing the youth to be a future champion of the Jedi Order. Master Vrook Lamar, on the other hand, later claimed that Revan was perhaps too eager to learn more about the Force, and had sought knowledge of ancient “Sith magics.””
Revan is said to have left his first master’s tutelage entirely, going on to study beneath numerous Jedi Masters, including the aforementioned Zhar, as well as Master Dorak and Arren Kae. Some years later, Mical would claim that Revan had deeply studied the process of Force bonding, among other techniques, during this period. Eventually, however, it is claimed that Revan returned to his first master when, Kreia would say, “he realized there was nothing more to be learned from the Jedi—except how one could leave them forever.”
Whatever the truth, by 3,956 BBY the general consensus amongst the Jedi Masters on Dantooine was that, though a very promising Padawan, Revan had been headstrong, proud and far too quick to dismiss the dangerous lure of the dark side.
The Mandalorian Wars
As the Mandalorian Wars continued, the desperate Republic military petitioned the Jedi Council for aid. Unwilling to charge into another conflict so soon since the last with Exar Kun and fearing a greater threat, the Council refused. Revan and his followers, however, didn’t.
With the devastating details of the Battle of Cathar having become widely known—several years after the fact—Revan used them to his advantage. In an act of rebellion above and beyond anything he had ever done before, he refused to acknowledge the authority of the High Council and sent out a full call to arms to the Order. No longer was he arguing for Jedi intervention, he was going to intervene. As always, Alek was the first to join his closest friend, but soon hundreds of Jedi answered Revan’s call. An arrest order was issued for those Jedi Knights who joined Revan, and Alek adopted the alias of “Malak” to avoid it.
The entrance of Revan and his Jedi into the war marked its turning point. Revan’s clever military strategies and tactics coupled with Malak’s courage and fiery determination saw the pair becoming the foremost heroes of the conflict. Claiming victory time after time, they were propelled through the ranks of the Republic military and were eventually given direct control of a full third of the Republic’s fleet. With his newfound authority, Revan spearheaded the Republic war effort and began to steadily push the Mandalorians back.
Together, Revan and Malak liberated Taris, fought Cassus Fett—Mandalore’s primary strategist—at Jaga’s Cluster, and defeated much of the Mandalorian army at Althir. Yet, despite such victories, there were concerns raised over the Jedi’s behavior. Though Revan’s tactics were near flawless and Malak’s righteous fury unmatched, the pair began to adopt very similar characteristics to the Mandalorians they were fighting, growing to despise weakness and indecisiveness in all its forms. Unfortunately for the galaxy, the growing darkness surrounding Revan did not just stem from his experiences with the Mandalorians.
At some point in the year 3,961 BBY, Revan found a Rakatan Star Map on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. He then discovered the ancient Sith world of Malachor V, which was considered taboo to the Mandalorians. On its surface, Revan was quickly assaulted by the destructive dark side energies that permeated the world, yet through the strength of his will, he was able to feed on the evil power without being consumed by it. Soon thereafter, he stumbled upon the Trayus Academy, an abandoned training center built by a mysterious Sith faction known as the “True Sith.” While unearthing the planet’s buried secrets, Revan learned the exact location and immense significance of the planet Korriban, the homeworld of the Sith species. Though further details of what transpired in that ancient Sith bastion remain unknown, Kreia would later imply that it was there that Revan discovered the continued existence of the “True Sith” and, “to prevent a greater evil,” embraced the Sith teachings himself.
Returning to the wars, Revan forced a final confrontation with the Mandalorians over Malachor V. His plan was to unleash the recently constructed Mass Shadow Generator on the planet, wiping out the majority of the Mandalorian fleet, as well as those Republic forces and Jedi who were not fervently loyal to him. Trusting the device’s activation to a capable Jedi General who would later become known as the Jedi Exile, Revan battled and killed Mandalore the Ultimate himself.
The battle resulted in catastrophic losses on both sides. In the end, many Jedi were twisted to the dark side, and the once proud Mandalorian clans were crippled, just as Revan had intended. After the battle, Revan denied the vanquished force their leader’s ancestral mask, and with it their ability to choose a true successor. Ordering his forces to strip them of their weapons and armor, and to dismantle their Basilisk war droids, Revan condemned the Mandalorians to perpetual exile, where many became bounty hunters, bodyguards, and mercenaries. Such a total victory over their adversaries, despite the Republic casualties, saw Revan hailed as a savior. Yet unbeknownst to those praising him, the Sith teachings were already sweeping through the ranks of those who had followed him to war. Instead of returning to the Republic, Revan and Malak took the remainder of their fleet and disappeared from the known galaxy. They claimed to be searching for the remnants of the Mandalorian fleet; those who had fled the final, devastating battle. In reality, they were pursuing the power of the Star Forge.
Quest for the Star Forge
Whether during or after the wars, it is known that Revan and Malak visited Dantooine at some point, avoiding detection by the Jedi and entering the old burial mounds located near the Jedi Enclave. After successfully passing the “trials” set for them by the guard droid that had been left behind by the so called “builders,” they were given access to a Star Map.
Moments before they went beyond the door that led to the dark side artifact, however, Malak—still new to the dark side—warned Revan that stepping beyond this threshold would mean that they could never return to the Jedi Order; they would certainly know that the two Knights had fallen to the dark side. Whether or not Revan considered this, or even cared, as he paced in front of the sealed door is unknown; but if he had any doubts, he swiftly cast them aside.
After examining the Star Map on Dantooine, Revan and Malak would go on to uncover Star Maps on Tatooine, Manaan, and Korriban. Though the order in which they did so is unknown, Bastila Shan was aware that the pair had visited Korriban “at least once” when they were known as Jedi, suggesting that they may have gone to this planet during—rather than following—the Mandalorian Wars.
With the information obtained from the five Star Maps, Revan and Malak were able to travel to the previously-unknown Lehon system; yet upon their arrival, the pair immediately crashed on Lehon. Shortly after, they were attacked by the primitive Black Rakata, who attempted to take them prisoner. The Dark Lord and his apprentice bested them easily, and though Revan could not understand the Rakatan language, he was able to use a Force technique to rip it from their minds, driving Basic into their skulls in turn through a unique force power.
Having been cowed into submission by the Sith Lords’ Force powers, the Black Rakata took them to meet their leader, The One. After “teaching” the Rakatan leader Basic, Revan explained that he was pursuing the power of the Star Forge, and that he would require access to the Temple of the Ancients. Yet, from the superstitious, primitive ramblings he received in response, it soon became clear that neither the One nor his followers had any true comprehension of their species’ past, nor the technological might that they had once command. Nevertheless, the One promised to help Revan enter the Temple, providing he used his “strange magics” to slaughter the Elders—a competing Rakatan tribe that had so far resisted his might. Revan swore he would do so.
Revan soon realized that these “Elders” were likely in possession of the answers he sought and rather than destroy them, he instead approached them in peace. This proved wise, as from the Elders, Revan learned much of the Rakata and their old empire—and of the disruptor-field that had caused his and Malak’s ship to crash. Sensing the Elders’ abhorrence for their species’ violent past, Revan proclaimed himself to be a servant of the light, searching for a way to destroy the Star Forge. Trusting him entirely, the Elders gave Revan and Malak access to the temple, and thanking them, the pair promised to destroy the Star Forge and return. Instead, Revan and Malak declared themselves the new Dark Lords of the Sith.
The Star Forge
Leading his hidden forces to the Lehon system, Revan began to realize his plans. Though the Star Forge was capable of granting vast power to those who fully embraced its dark nature, Revan minimized his exposure to the ancient spacestation, using it purely to construct an enormous fleet with which to conquer the Republic. Darth Malak, horrified that his master would reject such strength, would later balk at what he perceived to be Revan’s stupidity, yet the truth was that Revan was far from ignorant.
Revan, unlike his apprentice, understood the dangerous consequences of drawing upon the Star Forge too heavily. The artifact had led the Infinite Empire to its doom: fueling the Rakatan species’ hate, driving them to civil war. Revan had no intention of letting over-reliance on the Star Forge disrupt the order he planned to bring to the galaxy. As with everything else, he would use it for as long as he needed it, then discard it.
Once ready, Revan led his powerful new Sith armada back into known space, finally revealing himself as a Sith Lord and plunging the galaxy into war once again. As his old teacher Dorak would later say: “The hero had become a conqueror.”
The Jedi Civil War
“Revan understood one thing–the real battle was going to be fought between the Jedi on both sides. That was the only battle that mattered. Whoever had the most, the strongest Jedi were going to win the Civil War. If Revan couldn’t convert Jedi, then Revan would kill them.”
In the year 3,959 BBY, Revan began a twenty-year campaign to end the “tyranny” of the Jedi Council once and for all. They returned to Korriban, and seized control of the planet, establishing a new Sith academy.
The war, while bloody, was orchestrated to topple the Republic while doing little damage to its underlying industrial infrastructure. Under his leadership, Sith forces bypassed militarily vital planets that would be required for the defense of the galaxy against the threat of the “True Sith.” Revan’s plan was to keep the Republic largely intact for the purposes of post-war rebuilding. He even took out a number of political figureheads, such as Yusanis of the Echani, Senator Mimas Yoon of Corellia and Lelin-Dor of Serroco. As such, he could begin his rule with a relatively functional military and economy rather than starting from scratch. Also, had he failed in conquering the galaxy, he believed the end result would be much the same: a stronger Republic, more capable of defending itself.
A year after they returned to the Republic, Revan and his Sith carried out a successful attack at Foerost, capturing a majority of the Republic fleet; they also carried a successful attack on the world of Telos IV. Revan had intended for Telos to be conquered, but his apprentice Darth Malak ordered the Republic admiral Saul Karath to prove his loyalty to the Sith by destroying Telos. Karath complied, earning the wrath of surviving Telosians such as the Republic captain Carth Onasi, whose wife died after the attack.
Revan knew that, with Jedi in the war, this contest would come down to whoever had the most and strongest Jedi. He pioneered new Sith tactics relying on secrecy rather than brute force. His Sith assassins quietly flooded into the Republic to kill and/or abduct Jedi throughout known space. Revan reestablished strongholds and academies upon worlds of ancient power such as Lehon, Dxun, and Korriban. On these particular planets, his most faithful servants broke captured Jedi and converted them to the dark side. Revan also kidnapped some of his own Force-sensitive troops and converted them into Dark Jedi. Utilizing assassin droids—such as HK-47, whom Revan created after the Battle of Malachor V—Revan eliminated threats to the stability of his fledgling Sith Empire.
With Revan at the helm and Malak as his head general, the Sith forged vital alliances to expedite the support and deployment of their forces. They conspired with the Czerka Corporation, one of the richest and most powerful galaxy-spanning companies of the time, to amass much needed resources, and they secured diplomatic relations with the ocean planet of Manaan so that they were able to export the healing agent kolto.
At some point during the war, Malak saw Revan as being too soft, resulting in a tension that culminated in a lightsaber duel in which Revan removed Malak’s entire jaw with a single stroke from his lightsaber. Malak’s injury neccessitated a cybernetic jaw guard, which allowed Malak to speak, albeit with a gruff electronic tone which created an intimidating effect. During this time, Malak had asked Revan’s assassin droid HK-47 what he thought of him. When Malak was informed by the droid of his “meatbag” status, Revan found the term amusing and programmed HK to call all organics such.
The apprentice betrays the Master
“I betrayed you when I realized my own strength was greater than yours.”
- ―Darth Malak
The reinvigorated Sith won battle after battle, until a young Jedi named Bastila Shan entered the fray with her battle meditation, a powerful Force ability that increased the combat effectiveness of the Republic’s forces and sapped the will of enemy combatants. Yet, even with Bastila’s aid, the Republic forces knew that they could not hold out forever against the Sith.
In 3,957 BBY, in a desperate attempt to end the war, the Republic and the Jedi set a trap for Revan and Malak, luring them into battle against a small fleet. During the space battle, Bastila led a team of Jedi that boarded Revan’s flagship and managed to corner the Dark Lord on the bridge. Revan, however, seemed unfazed by the strike team, as he quickly eliminated all the Republic soldiers while the Jedi took down the Sith Lord’s Dark Jedi.
As the Dark Lord prepared to battle with the Jedi, Darth Malak, in the hopes of destroying both Revan, Bastila, and the Jedi, betrayed his friend and master, ordering the ships under his command to fire on Revan’s flagship’s bridge. Though Malak believed himself to have been successful in killing the man who had been his best friend, chance, or perhaps the Force, kept Revan alive. After surviving the turbolaser blasts that had rocked through the bridge, Bastila was faced with a choice. Upon regaining her wits, she was confronted with the broken, comatose body of Darth Revan. The Dark Lord was nearly dead—by Bastila’s own admission, just a tiny spark of the Force remained alive within him.
For whatever reason—perhaps a sense of duty to the Republic, pity, or a simple urge to save his life—young Shan made the decision to grab a hold of that waning spark and keep Revan alive. Through that act, Bastila somehow tied Revan’s life to her own, unwittingly forging a powerful Force bond. Bastila took Revan and escaped the cruiser, while the Sith, believing their Master dead, retreated from the battle.
Bastila had stabilized Revan, but the Sith Lord was still in critical condition and his mind remained heavily damaged. Bastila brought him to the Jedi, and a huge debate enveloped on what to do. Eventually, the Council decided that, in order to find out how Revan had made a practically unbeatable fleet, they must rely on Bastila’s bond with the former Jedi Knight to draw out Revan’s memories and find the answers. To do this, Revan’s broken mind was reprogrammed by the Council to conceal the Dark Lord’s old identity. Bastila was charged with keeping Revan’s identity hidden and drawing out the former Dark Lord’s memories.
The second search for the Star Forge
Revan, Bastila, and their companions journeyed to these worlds, tracing the steps Darth Revan and Malak had taken years before. During these travels they gained two new companions; on Tatooine, Revan purchased the assassin droid that he created as a Sith Lord, HK-47, and on Kashyyyk, the self-exiled Jedi named Jolee Bindo joined his party on the search for the Star Forge. On each planet, the powerful dark side aura of the Star Maps created perilous conditions that made accessing the Maps difficult.
Additionally, the crew of the Ebon Hawk found themselves hunted by Sith and bounty hunters, such as Calo Nord, and confronted with the problems of the local populace at every turn. One of their greatest challenges was Darth Bandon, Malak’s apprentice, who met his end at the hands of Revan.
Throughout their journey, Revan and Bastila grew closer due to the feelings created by their Force bond. However, Bastila feared their love, thinking it would only lead to the dark side. In truth, she was afraid to face her feelings out of fear of who Revan once was. She attempted to resist the feelings, yet their love for each other was undeniably strong.
Battle on the Star Forge
After visiting the final Star Map, Revan and the crew discovered the Star Forge in the home system of the ancient Rakata. Upon arriving, the Ebon Hawk was forced to crash on the unknown planet because of its disruptor field. Revan was assaulted by warriors of the Rakatan tribe, but after seeing Revan’s power, he and his crew were granted an audience with the One. The One told Revan about his original promise to kill the Elders and gain their secrets to enter the Temple of the Ancients, so Revan sought out the Elder tribe. When the Elder Council revealed how brutal and warlike the One and his tribe were, Revan and his crew decided to help the Elders. The Elder Council was very reluctant to trust Revan again due to his betrayal the last time they had met.
They tasked Revan with rescuing an Elder scout from the One’s enclave in order to regain their trust. Upon arriving at the One’s enclave, the One and his tribe turned on Revan and his crew. The entire tribe fell under Revan’s strength, and Revan freed the scout. After gaining the support of the Elders, Revan and the Jedi traveling with him entered the Temple of the Ancients and defeated the hordes of Dark Jedi that Malak had left in the temple.
At the top of the temple, Revan was forced to confront a fallen Bastila. Following a week of torture at Malak’s hand, Bastila had at last given in to her hate and had embraced the dark side. She was now, she claimed, the Dark Lord’s new apprentice, replacing the slain Bandon. After a short duel, Bastila realized Revan was still powerful in the Force, despite what the Council had done. She attempted to entice Revan to reclaim his former identity as the Dark Lord of the Sith with her as his apprentice. Revan was faced with a decision that could alter the course of the galaxy.
Revan rejected Bastila’s temptation and ultimately chose the light side. Enraged, Bastila retreated to the Star Forge. Revan and the crew repaired the Ebon Hawk and pursued Bastila as a Republic fleet that had arrived commenced an assault on the Star Forge. Surviving Jedi from Dantooine’s destroyed enclave boarded the Star Forge in hopes of disrupting Bastila’s battle meditation so the Republic capital ships could close in to destroy the Star Forge. Aboard the Star Forge, Revan displayed his restored affinity for the Force and mastery of lightsaber combat by nearly single-handedly confronting and defeating Malak’s army of Star Forge battle droids and Dark Jedi. In the Star Forge’s war room, Revan faced off against Bastila once again, this time, alone.
Though Bastila was able to draw on the Star Forge to renew her strength, Revan still bested her. Bastila begged Revan to kill her after all she had done, but Revan attempted to convince her to return to the light side by drawing on the powerful bond of love they shared. He succeeded and Bastila used her battle meditation to aid the Republic, turning the tide of the climactic battle. Revan then confronted Malak who, upon his arrival, used the Force to choke two Jedi prisoners, and threw his lightsaber into one and blasted the other with Force lightning, effectively killing both. The former Dark Lord told Malak that if he surrendered the Jedi might show him mercy, but he replied that the wiping one of one’s identity was no act of mercy, and that he would rather die. He then unleashed the unlimited army of Star Forge battle droids upon Revan and escaped to the Star Forge’s observation tower.
The Final Confrontation
“Once again, we shall face each other in single combat, and the victor will decide the fate of the galaxy.”
- ―Malak to Revan
Revan, however, managed to stop the droids from attacking and followed Malak to the observation tower. Realizing that Revan had become much stronger than he ever was as the Dark Lord, Darth Malak said that he could break his former Master’s will and bind him to him as his apprentice, but he continued that perhaps Revan was too powerful to be his apprentice, and perhaps that when and if Revan became stronger than him, he would betray him, as he himself had betrayed Revan. The former Dark Lord said that he would never turn to the dark side again, which Malak said were “foolish words.”
They then began a lightsaber duel, whose victor, unlike in their previous duels, would decide the fate of the galaxy. Revan proved himself to be a better lightsaber duelist, almost defeating Malak, but Malak withdrew from battle, explaining to Revan that he could not be defeated.
He told Revan that he had brought the bodies of Jedi from the Jedi Academy on Dantooine to the Star Forge, but instead of letting them become one with the Force, he drained the life from them, transferring it to himself. Revan, instead, freed as many of the Jedi as he could and allowed them to become one with the Force, successfully shortening Malak’s supply of energy. At last, Malak, the last surviving apprentice of Revan, was vanquished.
Before he died, Malak wondered and asked Revan what would have happened had their roles been reversed, or if Revan had never led him down the dark path. Revan apologized for starting him down the dark path, but reminded Malak that he had continued down it willingly. Malak accepted his apology, realizing that he had no one to blame for his fate save himself. Thus, the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Malak’s life ended in darkness and regret immediately prior to the Star Forge’s destruction.
Revan and his crew were given a hero’s escort back to Lehon. There, they were each rewarded with the Cross of Glory, the Republic’s highest award. Vandar also thanked Revan, re-bestowing his rank of Jedi Knight, and proclaiming him the “Prodigal Knight” and his friends as the heroes of the era and galaxy.
Into the unknown
Following the Battle of Rakata Prime, it was rumored that Revan intended to return to the warring Korriban so as to subdue the threat of any potential Sith insurgents. Thousands of years later, Revan was indeed credited with having “driven the Sith from Korriban” but the means by which he did so remain ambiguous at best.
Since defeating Malak, Revan’s regained more and more of his memory, including his knowledge of the Trayus Academy and the Sith teachings he had harnessed on Malachor V. According to Kreia, Revan rediscovered the threat posed by an ancient Sith faction (that she referred to as the “True Sith”) that lurked within the Unknown Regions and resolved to battle against them.
Kreia, the first Master of Revan, would later say to her last student that she did not believe the Jedi Council had changed Revan as they claimed, but that they had merely stripped away the surface and allowed his true self to emerge once again. During Revan’s final duel with Malak, Malak said to him that the balance was tipped one way, but that it could easily be tipped again.
He entrusted Carth Onasi with the Republic’s safety, and left instructions to Canderous Ordo, who would become known as Mandalore the Preserver, to unite the scattered clans of the Neo-Crusaders by reclaiming Mandalore’s helmet, which Revan took for his own after the execution of Mandalore the Ultimate. He said goodbye to Bastila, and traveled to the shattered remains of Malachor V with T3-M4 and HK-47, then he left the Ebon Hawk and his droid companions behind, and disappeared from known galaxy. “It would have helped,” Kreia would later remark, “had he made her understand. But she was always strong-willed, that one, and did not understand war as Revan did.”
Unknown to Revan, however, T3 was ordered by Bastila, who had learned a few things through their bond, to return to the Republic and find her if something went wrong, her or whatever help could be found. In time, the small astromech droid set out to find assistance aboard the Ebon Hawk and found the last known Jedi Knight in 3,951 BBY, the Jedi Exile, who also happened to be sought by another of Revan’s acquaintances, his first Jedi Master Kreia.
The Exile came under Kreia’s tutelage and took ownership of T3 and the freighter, Canderous later joined her against the Sith; she also met Carth following the Battle of Telos IV and eventually learned of Revan’s ties to her companions. When the former Jedi General asked T3 if he had gotten to the Ebon Hawk with Kreia, the droid had little to say on the matter, and since T3 had the only means of accessing the Ebon Hawk’s voice-locked navicomputer, the Exile had no way of knowing whence the ship came either. Following the destruction of Malachor V and the remnants of the Sith Triumvirate, the Jedi Exile left to join Revan again as she did in the Mandalorian Wars. About 300 years later the galaxy believed that Revan never returned from unknown space.
Legacy of a Dark Lord
Though he eventually rejected the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith and returned to the light side, Revan’s legacy as a powerful Sith Master would live on thousands of years after his death in a holocron that he had constructed during his reign. Hidden away on the planet Lehon, within the Temple of the Ancients, it would remain undisturbed for nearly three thousand years. Having become obsessed with the knowledge and prowess of the ancient Sith, Revan in particular, Darth Bane—recently proclaimed a Dark Lord himself—traveled to Lehon in search of power enough to topple the existing Sith regime, the Brotherhood of Darkness.
Once there, he discovered Revan’s holocron and from it received training and instruction that, he felt, surpassed the entirety of the Korriban Academy’s archives. After obtaining all the trainings from Darth Revan’s holocron, Bane destroyed it as was the way of the Sith to eliminate things that were of no further use. Partially through the wisdom and Sith philosophy imparted to him by Revan, Bane would acquire the strength, power, and knowledge necessary to reshape the Sith as he saw fit, destroying the Brotherhood of Darkness and establishing the Rule of Two, thus birthing a new incarnation of the Sith Order; one that would go on to topple the Galactic Republic and all but destroy the Jedi Order.
Additionally, the Zelosian Darth Rivan would choose his Sith name from a corrupted manuscript that misidentified Revan as “Rivan.”