Raven is a BBC Scotland children's adventure game show. It originally aired on CBBC in the United Kingdom from 16 December 2002 to 11 March 2010, over the course of 10 series, with three spin-offs. In the original release, the show was hosted by James Mackenzie who played the title role, and conducted a group of 6 children, known as warriors, over 5 days through a series of tasks and feats. At various stages in the adventure, the group loses the least successful warrior, until two go through to the final week to compete for the title of Ultimate Warrior.
The series returned in 2017 with Aisha Toussaint as the new Raven and host, with Mackenzie's character also appearing in the show, renamed as "Raven of Old". 2 series were commissioned and filming began in July 2017 with the eleventh series starting on 4 December 2017, and a twelfth series later airing on 4 June 2018. No further series were commissioned afterwards. The revived series sees Raven conducting four warriors over three days and 1 goes through to the final week to compete for the title of True Warrior.
Format Series 1–10 This format of the show features three groups of six warriors who compete in various challenges over the course of three (broadcast) weeks. Each group features for 5 days, and after the second day, the warrior with the fewest lives and rings must face the Way of the Warrior, an elimination challenge deciding whether they would continue to the next day or not. Only two warriors in each week go through to compete in the final week of the quest, where one becomes the Ultimate Warrior.
Each warrior starts out with a number of lives, represented by feathers on a standard. The number of lives started was 7 from Series 1–3, and this changed to 9 lives from Series 4–10. From Series 5, warriors with a full number of lives intact could gain further lives with 9 rings, whereas they couldn't beforehand. Warriors also received symbolic emblems that follow them throughout their quest (Sun, Mountain, Tree, Wave, Cloud, and Moon). Losing any challenge meant the loss of a life, but these could be won back, by winning at least 7 (Series 2–3), later 9, gold rings, although in Series 1, the final day's challenges were played to win back lives. To lose all lives from a standard meant the warrior would be automatically eliminated from the process, though this never occurred.
At the end of days 1–4 (Series 1, Series 7 final week), days 2–4 (Series 2–10 heats, Series 4–6 final week), and 5 in the final weeks in Series 2–3, 8–10, the warrior with the fewest lives and rings must face the Way of the Warrior, a complex and difficult series of obstacles that only four warriors, (Ishal, Varna, Worjo and Kinsa), have ever completed. Only in Series 1 that warriors volunteer to do the challenge but in the first day, no-one was sent home. Should a warrior reach the portal at the end of the Way of the Warrior, they will be admitted through to the next day of the quest, and the task must then fall upon the next warrior with the fewest lives and rings. This process continues until somebody is eliminated. If there was a tie on lives and rings, a drawing of feathers decides which one would face the challenge, that warrior being the one who picked the black feather.
Series 11–12 Raven (II) conducts four groups of four warriors (the Bears, the Wolves, the Wild Cats, and the Stags), similar to the spin-off shows, in a three-day chunk in which they start off with six rings. They would lose one if they were claimed by a demon and Raven rescued them from Nevar's realm with her staff of power, instead of the feathered lives seen previously. The warrior with the fewest rings leaves at the end of the second day, leaving the three remaining warriors to face off against each other in The Last Stand on the third day. Whoever wins The Last Stand proceeds to represent their group in the Grand Tournament. In the Grand Tournament, the format is similar to the heats with the warrior with the fewest rings leaving on the second day and the remaining three facing off in the Tournaments version of The Last Stand. The winner earns the title of a True Warrior and becomes part of Raven's army to eventually take down Nevar permanently.
Cast
Raven (James Mackenzie): Originally from the Island of Alaunus, Raven is an ancient, immortal Scottish warlord and the warriors' guide throughout the quest; his name refers to his ability to shape-shift from a raven to a human and back. He can read the warriors' thoughts, usually from the Raven's Eye in his staff of power, and he recaps what has happened previously on the quest, and both gives and takes away the warriors' lives from their standards. He has an elaborate style of speech, which has generated some catchphrases, including, "Are you ready? Then let the challenge... begin", and, "May the luck of the Raven's Eye be with you". Since the eleventh tournament began, the character's name was altered to 'Raven of Old', with his staff of power having been passed on to the new Raven. He also provides commentary on the challenges in all series except Series 11, and during series 12 is shown watching the warriors using a talisman that the winner of Series 11 was said to have procured for him.
Raven (II) (Aisha Toussaint): In Series 11 and 12, Aisha Toussaint plays Raven, sharing the same name as Mackenzie's character. Originally one of Raven of Old's warriors, she fought alongside him in the final battle against Nevar, during which he was banished to a desolate realm. However, Nevar used six magic symbols he had crafted in order to banish Raven of Old to the same realm with him. Upon finding the original six symbols, she recovered Raven of Old's staff of power, which transformed to a different shape, and became 'Raven' in the process. She now leads the warriors through the eleventh and twelfth tournaments, and the catchphrase of the previous tournaments said by Raven of Old returned. She is able to use her staff to temporarily summon Raven of Old from the desolate realm, whenever she is in need of guidance.
Nevar: A mysterious figure who wears a black-hooded cloak and an iron mask, introduced in the 2nd series and described as the enemy of all that is good and true, and Raven's arch enemy. While the forging of the six golden symbols returned magic to Raven's homeland, it also brought the vile scourge of Nevar, whose sole aim is to defeat Raven and conquer the land. All that can be seen of Nevar's true form is his eyes, which have red irises and red-pink, scorched skin around them. He is also responsible for the demons featuring heavily in the warrior's tasks in an attempt to impede their progress. He only appears in person in The Last Stand as Guardian of the Portal, where he attempts to stop the remaining warriors from reaching the portal. In Series 9 and 10's Last Stands, he has also shown he has the power of teleportation. Nevar returns in Series 11 with a new staff (resembling a bird's skull) and demonic mask featuring horns and covering his entire face, having been defeated in the final battle by Raven and his ultimate warriors. He was banished to a desolate realm, but forged symbols of his own to combat Raven's magic and thus banished his nemesis alongside him. From this point on, he attempts to escape from his realm and conquer the lands once more, as Raven II tries to thwart him.
Demons: most of the Demons featured in the show are Nevar's silent servants. In such capacity, they will do all in their power to destroy Raven and his warriors, and keep them from collecting the gold that they seek. Many different variants have been seen (some being named in challenge names), although they are all humanoid, dressed in uniform brown cloaks and cowls which completely obscure their features; however, in Series 1, they have ordinary human hands and feet, and when their hands are seen subsequently, they are very black. In the revival series, the Demons all dress in black. Regardless, virtually all Demons have the power to eliminate warriors merely by touching them if they fail in a challenge, such as by touching the ground when this is not allowed, or taking too long to accomplish a goal. The Demons seen in the revival series all have a deadly stare.
Troll:
Spin-off characters In Raven: The Island, Princess Erina was introduced as a childhood friend of Raven, along with her companion, a blue spirit named Haryad, that kept watch over the warriors safety and progress. Raven appeared in this series only in a guest capacity, mainly in scenes with another new character, the astronomer Cyrus. The spin-off reveals Nevar's backstory: he has ruled the island with his dark magic for four years, making Staffs of Power from the Enchanted Oak to arm his Demons, in order to stop the warriors from reaching the fortress. Nevar was once a normal human, no more than an upstart baron with a band of brigands as his followers, and considered no more than an irritation on Alaunus. However, he became twisted and corrupt when he stole the Enchanted Oak and used it to create a Staff of Power for himself; as a result, each time he uses his staff for evil, half of his remaining life-force is taken away, taking its toll on his mind and his body. His iron mask and his cloak hides his scarred, burnt face, marks given to him from a battle with Raven. Until the third series, his mask resembled many small pieces of metal covering his face, before becoming a full metal mask in the fourth series. Nevar's backstory is slightly retconned in the revival series, as Raven of Old often refers to him as a sorcerer.
In Raven: The Secret Temple, Nevar followed Raven to a mysterious land far to the east after putting a dark spell on Raven's homeland and leaving it in his icy grip. Raven and the warriors travelled to the east to find the magical waters that could break this spell. In this series, a new character Satyarani was introduced, and she acted as a guide to the warriors and as assistance to Raven throughout the course of this quest, in the journey to find The Secret Temple. At the conclusion of this series, Nevar is thought to have been slain, until the last 10 seconds of the show, where he is shown to have survived.
In Raven: The Dragon's Eye, Nevar's pursuit continues. He plans to retrieve the mystical Dragon's Eye, which Raven and his warriors attempt to find first. The Eye was said to be a stone of great evil that could grant it's wielder ultimate power, and Raven and the warriors sought to destroy it before it could fall into Nevar's hands. A new character, Ervan was introduced in this series, and he took on the role and persona of Raven's assistant and a very occasional guide to the warriors, but his motivations and intentions were frequently in question and he changed sides regularly between Raven and Nevar. It appeared in the conclusion, that he was neither side and was working solely to claim the Eye for himself, hoping to get Raven and Nevar to kill each other in the process. Ervan was also exposed as the warrior who had traveled through the Forgotten Kingdom and wrote the journal detailing how to get through the land. Nevar was again thought to have been destroyed, but was shown once again to have survived following the final end credits.
Warriors
Warriors are given four to seven-letter names composed from letters selected from their real names. Each warrior is given a standard with their lives and rings displayed upon it.