Ravana[1] is a nasty personification of gluttony, able to influence people to eat into a frenzy.
History[]
Primary Canon[]
Extreme Ghostbusters[]
Ravana is the king of the Rakshasas, a race of evil spirits in Hindu mythology. In 1997, it appeared in New York in search of a feast. At Jon's Groceries, near the cross section of Bleecker Street and 7th Avenue South, Ravana began tainting the food stand's produce. Officer Frank and Mrs. Hardenbauer were the first known victims. Ravana later appeared during a gala party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and infected more food. The victims were all remanded to the Memorial Hospital. The doctors were baffled by their metabolism, increased to medically impossible levels and causing them unlimited appetites. They managed to discern the food the victims ingested were all from the same produce stand. As a last resort, the Extreme Ghostbusters were called in to investigate.
While the team ran a sweep on Jon's Groceries, Slimer impulsively ingested several tainted pineapples. Roland Jackson realized all the victims were being kept in one area, the hospital, and presented an ideal setting for Ravana to feed. By the time the Ghostbusters arrived, Ravana was powerful enough to resist the Proton Streams and retreated to the hospital kitchen to continue tainting food. He sensed Slimer and proceeded to locate the ghost. Ravana arrived at the Firehouse and prevented Egon Spengler from trapping Slimer. Eduardo Rivera managed to trap him. Unable to draw fuel from the Trap, Ravana left the Firehouse. With only a few Proton Cannisters left, they modified their guns to modulate in sync with Ravana's P.K.E. shifts.[2]
The Ghostbusters settled on the theory that Ravana's food tainting would increase in intensity and confronted him at the Produce Distribution Center, where any food coming into Manhattan had to be inspected. The modified streams were a success but Ravana was still too powerful to be trapped. Egon decided to let Slimer out and ingest enough food to overload Ravana. After observing Ravana feed on Slimer, the Ghostbusters blasted him. Slimer came to his senses and force fed Ravana. He imploded and reverted to his gaunt form. Garrett Miller located and confined him in a stream and brought him over to the others to be trapped. Soon after, Slimer regurgitated everything he ate. Most likely the same happened to any other unclaimed victims.
Secondary Canon[]
Insight Editions[]
Ravana psychically instilled an inhuman hunger into victims that forced them to gorge on food until they felt physical pain or died.[3][4] Once Ravana was satisfied with the victim's added weight, he fed on his victims' mortal spirits and literally ate some of them.[5] The Ghostbusters encountered Ravana and had a difficult time in severing Ravana's connection to his victims. They succeeded with high-grade pharmaceutical appetite suppressants and trapped Ravana.[6] All of Ravana's victims were freed from his psychic influence and hunger. The Ghostbusters speculated the stories of Ravana and the Rakshasas were partially responsible for inspiring the "Hansel and Gretel" fairy tale. It was also speculated the only other way to break Ravana's hold was for victims to isolate themselves from all food until a Rakshasa lost interest and moved on.
Description[]
Ravana's first form was very gaunt. He appears as a black feline creature with long claws, yellow eyes with slit vertical pupils, a pig-like nose, and a wide sharp toothed mouth with thin red lips.
Ravana's second form is an obese version of his first, from controlled feeding.
Classification[]
Secondary Canon[]
Insight Editions[]
Ravana is a Class 7. It is semi-corporeal, free roaming, and a limited possessor.[7] Ravana, and the Rakshasas, are a form of hungry spirit.[8]
Powers and Abilities[]
Ravana has the power of flight, intangibility, and can emit electric shocks but has the unique ability to contaminate the cellular structure of food with high band psychokinetic energy by simply touching or passing through them.[9][10]
The food is infected with a trace element that raises the victim's metabolism drastically and gives them an unlimited appetite. The victims, human or ghost, become an intermediary to produce his food and insatiable gluttons, in the process. During the digestive process, the P.K.E. in the tainted food is somehow transformed into a kind of ecto fuel. Then Ravana initiates a controlled feeding ritual, in which he sucks out the ecto fuel from his victim.[11][12][13][14]
Ravana gains a fatter, bulkier body. In this form, his energy levels can shift all over the P.K. spectrum. This prevents the Ghostbusters' Proton Streams from locking onto him and trapping.[15]
Development[]
Ravana started out as one of the ghosts that passes by very quickly in front of the Ghost Cloud shown in the Extreme Ghostbusters Intro title sequence. Character designer, Fil Barlow tried a Balinese design to add some more variety to the kinds of ghost that the show could portray. He liked the design so much that he snuck it in to a few mass ghost sightings throughout the series. Eventually, the design was re-purposed for Ravana and made more cat-like.[16]
Trivia[]
- Garrett nicknamed Ravana "Garfield" after the famous cartoon fat cat.[17]
- In his fat form, Ravana bears a passing resemblance to the Ghostmaster.
- Ravana's fat form can be seen in the end credits.
- On page 15 of Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #13, there are Ravana Pickles in Dana Barrett's refrigerator.
- Ravana appears on the IDW Convention Variant Cover of Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Extreme Ghostbusters in his fat form.
Appearances[]
Primary Canon[]
Secondary Canon[]
- Insight Editions
- Tobin's Spirit Guide
- Section III: Metaspecters
- Page 39
- Pages 42-43
- Section III: Metaspecters
- Tobin's Spirit Guide
References[]
- ↑ Egon Spengler (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters- Glutton for Punishment (1997) (DVD ts. 13:38-13:43). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Egon says: "He's called Ravana, king of the Rakshasa, devourers of life."
- ↑ Roland Jackson (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters- Glutton for Punishment (1997) (DVD ts. 15:55-16:01). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Roland says: "If we modify the Proton Packs to modulate in sync with Ravana's shifting P.K.E. frequency, we just might have a chance."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.43). Paragraph reads: "Ravana (and presumably other Rakshasas, to a lesser degree) psychically instills an inhuman hunger in victims that forces them to gorge on food."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.43). Paragraph reads: "When under the influence of a Rakshasas, a person will eat to the point of physical pain---and continue until they die."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.43). Paragraph reads: "When these victims put on enough weight for Ravana's liking, they are consumed---sometimes figuratively, with Ravana feeding on the mortal's spirit, and sometimes quite literally, when the human's body is consumed as well."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.43). Paragraph reads: "When the Ghostbusters faced Ravana, we needed to use high-grade pharmaceutical appetite suppressants just to get close enough to trap it."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.43). Paragraph reads: "CLASS VII. SEMICORPOREAL (CAN BECOME INTANGIBLE). FREE ROAMING. LIMITED POSSESSOR."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.43). Paragraph reads: "The Rakshasas, a demon race previously thought to exist only in Hindu mythology, are a form of hungry spirit, and the best known of these, Ravana, is the most insatiable of all."
- ↑ Roland Jackson (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters- Glutton for Punishment (1997) (DVD ts. 05:54-05:57). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Roland says: "I'm picking up on the upper end of the spectrum, definitely ecto."
- ↑ Egon Spengler (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters- Glutton for Punishment (1997) (DVD ts. 07:47-07:53). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Egon says: "The cellular structure appears normal but it's been contaminated by high band psychokinetic energy."
- ↑ Egon Spengler (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters- Glutton for Punishment (1997) (DVD ts. 08:01-08:08). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Egon says: "My guess is that during the digestive process, the P.K. energy is somehow transferred into a kind of ecto fuel."
- ↑ Egon Spengler (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters- Glutton for Punishment (1997) (DVD ts. 08:11-08:16). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Egon says: "There must be some larger entity that feeds on that fuel. It needs an intermediary to produce its food."
- ↑ Egon Spengler (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters- Glutton for Punishment (1997) (DVD ts. 08:21-08:28). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Egon says: "Exactly and it probably needs a lot of fuel so it infects food with a trace element that raises its victim's metabolism."
- ↑ Egon Spengler (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters- Glutton for Punishment (1997) (DVD ts. 18:38-18:40). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Egon says: "It's not working, Ravana's controlling his intake."
- ↑ Roland Jackson (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters- Glutton for Punishment (1997) (DVD ts. 11:07-11:11). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Roland says: "It's shifting all over the P.K.E. spectrum. The streams can't grab on!"
- ↑ Fil Barlow deviantArt "XGB Main Title Rakshasa" 7/27/13
- ↑ Garrett Miller (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters- Glutton for Punishment (1997) (DVD ts. 16:47-16:50). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Garrett says: "Alright, Garfield, we're putting you on a crash diet!"
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