Raven (レイヴン Reivun) is a fictional character in the Tekken fighting game series. Raven was introduced in Tekken 5 as one of the three new characters (the other two being Asuka Kazama and Feng Wei) and has returned for all subsequent games.
Story
Tekken 5
An international intelligence agent considered highly skilled and iron-hearted, codename Raven. Apart from a scar in the shape of an "X" on his face, his details, including age and nationality, are unknown. Raven entered the fifth tournament to find out who or what was behind the event.
Raven makes his first appearance in the opening movie for Tekken 5, as he witnesses the attack on Hon-Maru by the Jack-4s while on a mission to look into the Mishima Zaibatsu and G Corporation, as well as the subsequent explosion. It seems that he is the first one to report of Heihachi Mishima's supposed death.
Tekken 6
After The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5, Raven encounters Heihachi Mishima, who was presumed to be dead... They began to fight.
Before a winner could be decided, Raven received orders to return to headquarters, and he had to withdraw from battle.
After that encounter, the battle between both the Mishima Zaibatsu and G-Corporation intensified. In order to prevent any further losses, Raven is sent to investigate the Mishima Zaibatsu once again via The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6.
Tekken 6 Raven Ending
T6 ending
Ending Description: Dragunov and his men are seen carrying Azazel's body out of the tomb. Suddenly, Raven arrives riding a jet harrier plane. He forms his hand signs, (Rin, Pyoh, Toh, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen), jumps from the plane and throws a kunai, slicing the temple's walls. He lands on top of Azazel's body and takes the orb from Azazel's chest. Dragunov then attempts to shoot him along with his men firing rapid gunshots but Raven manages to avoid them and jumps on the harrier plane which departs soon after, leaving Dragunov with an empty look on his face.
Scenario Campaign story
In the Scenario Campaign story, Raven follows Lars throughout the game. He then single-handedly defeats NANCY-MI847J, telling Lars that he has a greater purpose. After Lars was betrayed by Alisa, he accompanies him as an AI replacement for Alisa in the game. He and Lars defeat the beast known as Azazel, then defeat Alisa and finally, beat Jin at the end of the story. Then Jin kills Gold Azazel for good.
In the post-ending credits scene, Raven and his colleagues have found Jin's body lying in a heap of sand. The devil tattoo is still present at Jin's arm, suggesting that he is still alive and that killing Azazel didn't save Jin from his devil gene curse.
Other appearances
Tekken: Live Action
Raven appeared in the 2010 live action movie. He is portrayed by Darrin Dewitt Henson.
Street Fighter X Tekken
Raven appeared as a playable character in Street Fighter X Tekken. His tag partner is Yoshimitsu.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Raven appeared as a playable character in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - 'Raven Ending' TRUE-HD QUALITY
Ending Description: Raven comes in front of Yoshimitsu, who is riding on a horse. Yoshimitsu then jumps off and prepares for battle as Raven comes at him with his blades. Yoshimitsu successfully dodges the attacks and flips backwards to distance himself. Raven immediately wastes no time in attacking him relentlessly. Yoshimitsu still manages to dodge them. His blades go up against his sword. Yoshimitsu distracts him by slashing a tree branch then starts flying above him using his sword. He comes back to assault him but Raven blocks it. He tries to counter his block with a slash, but Yoshimitsu vanishes and appears behind him.
He then makes sharp slashes in the air and darts branch-like arrows at Raven, which he evades. There are two coming at his face when Raven disappears as soon as they hit the ground. Yoshimitsu lands on the ground ready to slice through him, when Raven suddenly appears behind him. He duplicates himself as he stands there, he actually heavily assaults Yoshimitsu, creating an illusion. Yoshimitsu, now weakened, turns around only to be struck by Raven. With Yoshimitsu defeated, he returns to his mission. He then darts through the forest with the screen ending with black feathers.
Special Alliance Partners:
Character Relationships
- Sergei Dragunov - His enemy in both Tekken 5 and Tekken 6, it is implied that there is a history between the two of them.
- Heihachi Mishima - His opponent in Tekken 5. Raven did not finish the fight and pulled out on orders.
- Lars Alexandersson - His second partner since Tougou entrusted Raven to look over him in the Scenario Campaign mode.
- Alisa Bosconovitch - Were allies in the Scenario Campaign story, until Alisa was forced to change sides since she was under Jin's control.
- Jin Kazama - His enemy at first, despite being ordered to watch over him, he later found Jin lying in the desert after Azazel's demise in Tekken 6. His friend and protege in the 2010 film (non-canon).
- NANCY-MI847J - Destroyed by Raven in the Scenario Campaign story.
- Kazuya Mishima - Raven's enemy, since Kazuya is one of mankind's threat for using the Devil Gene.
- Azazel - His enemy in Tekken 6, one of potential threat within a Devil Gene's reign.
- Tougou - He told Raven to give Lars his tag before he died recently.
- Zafina - Raven and Lars helped her defeat a group of Tekken Force soldiers in the Scenario Campaign mode.
- Yoshimitsu - His partner in Street Fighter X Tekken.
- Eddy Gordo - Defeated him in the 2010 film (non-canon).
- Kunimitsu - His partner in the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 opening (non-canon).
- Asuka Kazama - His opponent in the Tekken 5 demo.
Gameplay
Raven is one of the trickiest and hard to use characters in the series. Most of his attacks are really unsafe, so he's best used as a defensive/runaway character: he has an incredible ability to reverse and parry attacks, and also has the ability to backflip out of the situation. To compliment his capability to set the pace of a match, Raven has some good poke and pressure options. As with other tricky characters, gaining familiarity to his moveset is the key to use him effectively.
Fighting style
Raven fights using Ninjutsu.
Trivia
General:
- Apart from an X-shaped scar on his face, not much about Raven is known.
- It was stated in the European site that Raven is from Canada. However, in later versions of the site, his nationality is stated as unknown.
- The hand signs that Raven performs are part of the Kuji-in, a Japanese Buddhist Tantric technique said to be also practiced by ninjas.
- In his story modes, Raven will occasionally get orders from his commanding officer.
- Raven's appearance is a direct look-a-like of the famous K-1 Champion and Muay Thai Champion Michael McDonald of Canada also known as the "Black Sniper".
- Raven also resembles famous Hollywood actor Wesley Snipes and specifically two of his characters, Simon Phoenix from Demolition Man (blonde hair) and more obviously, the Marvel Comics character Blade from the Blade film series in terms of shades, personality, tattoo and costume. The "I'll see you in hell" win pose is a reference to Blade's "catch you later" point and walk.
- When Namco was asked about the similarities being intentional, they stated that they simply wanted a true ninjutsu practitioner and a "cool black guy" for a character, and that the similarities were purely coincidental.
- Raven has also been compared to Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series due to the fact that they both wear mostly black, and are both serious and stoic ninjas who carries out their mission to the end.
- Raven was voiced by Jack Merluzzi in Tekken 5 but in Tekken 6 however, his voice actor changed to DC Douglas. The reason of the change has not been stated.
- Raven is the only character who has a customization item that is incompatible with the default item. His "Ninja Mask" item is not compatible with his default 2P hood.
- Raven bears a few resemblances to Killer B from the Naruto manga series; both are ninjas, have blonde hair and wear sunglasses.
- Raven bears a striking resemblance to Bob Makihara when his dreads get cut off.
- In this game, he tells Nina that he is known as the Dark Talon of Death.
- In Yoshimitsu's story mode, he claims there is no way Yoshimitsu could be a ninja, as Yoshimitsu replies "This... coming from a wannabe ninja". Commenting that it is not part of his objective, Raven states that he won't lose this fight. Afterwards, Raven is seen trying to teach Yoshimitsu the Kuji-in signs, the latter failing to do so, only to Raven's frustration.[1]
- Raven can be customized as Morpheus from The Matrix series and Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe and Marvel Comics character Blade.
- His ending takes place in the same forest as Kunimitsu's ending. Oddly enough, Yoshimitsu is riding on a horse in both endings.
Other:
- On the official Street Fighter X Tekken website, he is referred to as "Shadow Dancing Raven". Rolento's Swap Costume is also based on Raven's outfit.