Revali

Revali
Species	Rito
Affiliation	Champions
Eye color	Green
Voiced by	Sean Chiplock
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Revali is a supporting character from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild who was also featured as a playable fighter in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. He is one of the four Champions of Hyrule, representing the Rito tribe, and he pilots the Divine Beast known as Vah Medoh.

Background

Revali grew up in Rito Village and was renowned for his skills at archery and flight. As an archer, he won countless competitions and broke a number of records. As a reward for one of his accomplishments, a flight range was built near the village to accommodate his archery practice, and he also allowed other Ritos to use it. He continually trained to become even better and spent a long time mastering the art of creating his own updraft to help him take a flight, an ability that would become known as Revali's Gale. One of his main weapons of choice was the Great Eagle Bow, and it was said that he could fire arrows from it at the speed of a gale. Revali took a lot of pride in his skill, to the point where he commonly acted overconfident and narcisitic, and he was often condescending towards others. He was particularly known to look down at Hylians, as he considered them to be selfish.

Breath of the Wild

Rumors started to spread about the coming return of Calamity Ganon, and it was known that Hyrule was looking for Champions to pilot the Four Divine Beasts. Revali initially saw this as a good chance to prove himself to the world, but when Princess Zelda came to offer the position to him, he was disappointed to learn that the Champions were supposed to act as a support for a Hylian hero who would directly fight Calamity Ganon. Revali also found her speech to be corny, but he was won over by how desperate and sincere she seemed in her plea. It was unlike what he expected out of Hylians. Still, allegedly out of self-respect, he held out for a while longer before officially accepting the offer. At the same time, he hoped to be appointed as the one truly in charge of defeating Calamity Ganon. After being appointed Champion, he learned how to pilot Vah Medoh. Revali later attended the knighting ceremony of Link, the Hylian Champion who would act as Hyrule's hero. He seemed to dislike Link from the beginning, partly due to being jealous of his role in the fight against Ganon, and partly because he found Link's silent nature to be frustrating. Link provided little to no reaction to Revali's skills and his attempts to provoke the knight. At the same time, Revali came to pity Zelda's struggles to unlock her own magical power.

Eventually, the Champions were called to accompany the princess on her journey to Mt. Lanayru, which was a last-ditch effort to unlock her sealing magic. According to his diary, Revali chose to arrive late. He was there when Zelda returned, having failed to unlock her powers. After a sudden commotion ensued, Revali took to the skies to check up on the source of the situation, and he saw that Calamity Ganon had broken loose. Without any more time to help Zelda, the Champions went into their Divine Beasts to begin the battle, only to find that Calamity Ganon had planned for that. One of Ganon's phantoms, known as Windblight Ganon, had infiltrated Vah Medoh and killed Revali in the ensuing battle. The other Champions suffered similar fates, and the Divine Beasts fell under Calamity Ganon's control. Revali's spirit still lingered within Vah Medoh, until Link returned one hundred years later. He was still remembered as a hero at Rito Village, and many young Ritos aspired to become skilled archers like him.

During the present time of Breath of the Wild, Link eventually came to free Vah Medoh, after spending the last century being revived within the Shrine of Resurrection and having lost most of his memories. Revali telepathically guided Link as he navigated the interior of the Divine Beast, and Link ultimately defeated Windblight Ganon. Revali's spirit was then able to take on a physical form and took control of Vah Medoh. He thanked Link and finally recognized his worth as a warrior. Revali even granted Link the ability of Revali's Gale. His spirit appeared every time Link used the ability, and he also informed him whenever the ability was recharged. With control of Vah Medoh restored, Revali's spirit guided the Divine Beast to a perching spot atop Rito Village and used it to help weaken Calamity Ganon during Link's final battle with him. After the battle, the spirits of the Champions and the king proudly watched the victorious Link and Zelda before disappearing.

In Other Zelda Games

Age of Calamity

In Age of Calamity, an alternate timeline was created by Terrako traveling in time. One difference in this new timeline was that the Champions were assembled somewhat earlier. The recruiting of the Champions was depicted in Chapter 2, with Revali's being in a scenario called "Revali, the Rito Warrior". At the time, the Rito people had been recently been attacked by monsters led by a dark diminutive Guardian. A similar-looking Guardian (Terrako) was spotted accompanying the Hylian forces who approached soon afterwards, so Revali assumed that it was a trap set by the enemy and had his forces battle them. This resulted in a battle between Link and Revali that was broken up by Zelda. The misunderstanding was explained, and Revali accepted his position as Champion, while also beginning to see Link as a rival. In Chapter 3, Revali went into action and boarded Vah Medoh, which he used to drive away the majority of the monsters surrounding the Great Hyrule Forest. Revali and the other Champions were officially sworn in at the end of the chapter.

In Chapter 5, Calamity Ganon began to break free. As in the original timeline, Revali and the other Champions ended up trapped in their Divine Beasts, where they were attacked by one of the Blight Ganons. Terrako intervened again, opening up a time portal in each Divine Beast which summoned the Champions' successors from the future of the original timeline. In the scenario called "Wind and Lightning", Teba was summoned to Vah Medoh, just in time to save Revali from being killed by Windblight Ganon. Afterwards, Revali attempted to claim that he could have handled it on his own. Regardless, he and Teba got along, and they piloted Vah Medoh together. Within Vah Medoh, they cleared out many of the enemies and also destroyed Windblight Ganon. In the end, Calamity Ganon was defeated and safely sealed away. At that point, the Champions' successors were returned to their original time, after exchanging farewells. Teba talked about getting to know the Champion that he idolized for real, and Revali simply acknowledged it with a grunt.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Revali appears as an Advanced-rank Support Spirit that to boosts the attack power of the player character's projectile weapons. When fought against in Spirit battles, his Spirit would possess Falco Lombardi, a fellow humanoid bluebird, and his individual Spirit battle involved the effect of heavy winds. He was also represented by Falco in the Spirit battle for the Breath of the Wild version of Zelda, as representatives for all of the Champions appear in the battle.

Trivia

• His blue scarf was received as a mark of his status as a Championship, and he begrudgingly admits being fond of it.
• He is the only Champion from Breath of the Wild whose successor is not related to him and who has no known relatives in general. He is also the only Champion to not turn out to be related to an ancient sage in Tears of the Kingdom.
• Revali is mentioned in Tears of the Kingdom by Teba when he passes the Great Eagle Bow down to Tulin. Additionally, a Rito-Champion Fabric for the Paraglider could be gained by scanning an amiibo of Revali, with the fabric bearing an image of Revali's head.