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attention in the various accounts of revenant attacks. Where most zombies have blank, lifeless eyes, the eyes of a revenant seem to burn with a malignant intelligence, almost appearing to glow in some accounts.

    These notable features have often caused revenants to be misidentified as vampires, a potentially deadly mistake. Revenants suffer from none of a vampire’s weaknesses. While revenants do tend to shun direct sunlight, it doesn’t cause them any ill effect. They can cross running water, eat garlic if they are so inclined, shrug off injuries from silver weapons, and even check themselves out in a mirror. Staking a revenant through the heart is likely to make it even angrier, but it won’t slow it down. There is some evidence that revenants have difficulty crossing thresholds into private or religious buildings, but there is no consistent agreement on this among scholars.
    The most important fact to note about revenants is that they are intelligent. They possess all of the knowledge they did in life, including specific skills and tool usage. While they may no longer possess the manual dexterity for origami, they can certainly pull the trigger of a gun, and, unlike necromantic zombies, revenants can both aim and reload. If a revenant commonly used weapons in its natural life, it will continue to do so in death and with only a slightly lessened ability.
    Death does, at least, seem to cost revenants some of their perception. Although significantly more alert than their brain-dead cousins, revenants generally suffer from poor vision, dulled hearing, and a complete lack of taste and smell. While this can, and certainly should be used to the advantage of those hunting a revenant, it can lead to overconfidence. Just because the zombie cannot see that well does not mean it can be fooled by simple tricks. Some revenants have shown a marked ability for sensing a trap and turning the tables on their hunters.
    Finally, revenants are able to speak. Due to dried throats and swollen tongues, they are often difficult to understand, however, with words coming out in a garbled rasp. While there is no point trying to reason with a revenant, it is often useful to try to understand what the zombie is saying, as it will likely give some indication of its motivation – information that can prove important in their destruction.
PREVENTION AND ELIMINATION
    Revenants do not die easily. Whatever internal power brought them back to life will also keep them moving in the face of massive physical damage. There have been several cases of revenants being literally blown apart, and still the various parts struggled on. 10 Like all undead, revenants do not feel pain, nor do they suffer trauma or shock. However, alone among zombie types, revenants do have a basic sense of self-preservation. They will “run away to fight another day” if they are badly outnumbered or suspect a trap, but only for as long as it takes them to regroup or regain the upper hand.
    Like necromantic zombies, revenants do not need brains, their own or anyone else’s. Many a novice zombie fighter has died after scoring a perfect zombie head shot on a revenant. In fact, guns are nearly useless against a revenant, unless the shooter can manage to completely blow the head off the creature or saw through its neck with automatic fire.
    Decapitation remains a revenant’s only weak point, and even then it is not fatal. The removal or destruction of the head of a revenant causes a temporary paralysis in the creature. This will usually last for no more than a few minutes, after which time all of the pieces of the body will again reanimate. Depending on the revenant, some will continue to operate in multiple pieces, while others will attempt to gather their pieces back together. One account even has the revenant sewing his severed head back onto the stump of his neck. 11

    There are only two ways to permanently stop a revenant. The first is appeasement. A