Most Apex Legends fans know Revenant as the tall, imposing simulacrum that wants to kill every living thing. Created by Hammond Robotics, Revenant entered the Apex Games to satiate his endless bloodlust. If there wasn't a legend already called "Wraith" in the game, Revenant would most definitely take the title for himself.
And yet, Revenant wasn't always the heartless murderbot people know him as today. According to an exchange between him and fellow legend Pathfinder in the Apex Legends lore book "Pathfinder's Quest", Revenant used to be a human named Kaleb Cross. Though it is hard to discern if what Revenant says about himself is true, it is the closest thing to an origin story the first simulacrum has.
Who Was Kaleb Cross?
Like the murderous robot he would become, Kaleb Cross was an assassin on the Mercenary Syndicate's payroll (the very same Syndicate that rules the Outlands and would later host the Apex Games). Despite being human, Kaleb Cross has no morals and just as little humanity. His only true dedication was to his job, which he loved as much as he loved the act of killing itself. Kaleb Cross was the one the Syndicate called when it had loose ends to tie, and almost no one got the best of him when it came to his work.
A Man Called Bob
According to Revenant, it wasn't a fellow assassin or violent human that got the better of Kaleb Cross. Rather, it was a normal family man by the name of Bob Woods. Bob worked at a city planning office and had a wife called Meredith and 2 children. There was nothing special or sketchy about Bob Woods, other than the fact that his boss was secretly a member of the Syndicate.
Bob Woods' involvement with Kaleb Cross began when he accidentally overheard a conversation between his boss and some undesirable people. After accidentally killing the son of an important individual, the group was planning to dispose of the body. Bob reported everything he saw to his wife and the proper authorities, which caused the Syndicate to send Kaleb Cross to deal with Bob Woods and his family.
Kaleb Cross killed Bob's wife and was about to kill Bob before the latter escaped with his kids to the planet Gaea. Bob thought that the planet's police force would keep him and his children safe, but after a while, Cross managed to get to Bob's kids as well. Despite being captured by Gaean authorities, Kaleb Cross's connections with the Syndicate ensured that he would walk free soon after.
What Happened To Kaleb Cross?
Seeing Kaleb Cross go free was the final straw for Bob Woods. He patiently followed Cross after he was freed and drugged the glass of Scotch he ordered at his hotel room. With Kaleb Cross unconscious, Bob tied the assassin up and brought him to the city sewage filtration facility. Bob couldn't bring himself to kill Cross with a gun, but the assassin pushed him so far off the edge that Bob ended up drowning his tormenter in a vat of raw sewage.
Bob was shortly killed by the Syndicate soon after and Kaleb Cross's remains were retrieved from the sewage facility. What was left of the once-great assassin would be preserved as a human head and the consciousness transferred into the first simulacrum known as Revenant. Revenant would then spend 300 years living and dying for the Syndicate's wishes before a glitch in his system allowed him to see what he really was.
Revenant has no love for his human past. In fact, his current goal is to obtain his human head and destroy it so that he can finally die. While previous speculations hint that Loba Andrade transported Kaleb Cross's head to the faraway planet of Gridiron, recent revelations show that the head's location is far closer than it seems. Revenant might finally get the peace he wants and rid himself of his human side.
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