Member of the Knightmare.com Forum, real name Mark White, who originally posted under the display name Casper Key. The name Raven appeared to be a tie-in to his Knightmare fan project, The Raven's Labyrinth, about which he posted several updates but seemingly never completed. Over half of Raven's posts were made on 18th June 2004. He was, on occasion, needlessly uncomplimentary towards other forum members. (See also: Golgarach.)

Raven was also the name of a character on the Knightmare Roleplay Forum: a female dungeoneer who was apparently trapped in a book by Lord Fear and left for many years. After being freed, Raven shifted between her original form and that of an older warrior who had grown up within the book, with each version of Raven unaware of the other's existence. The character was eventually abandoned, leaving unanswered questions about her time in the book world.

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Children's adventure gameshow, made by BBC Scotland, that originally ran for 10 series between 2002 and 2010. It returned in 2017.

In the original run, teams of pseudonymous contestants (warriors) would be guided through a succession of outdoor challenges within the show's fantasy world by presenter Raven (played by James Mackenzie), a man with the ability to transform into a bird of some kind that astute Lexicon readers can guess by paying close attention to this paragraph.

The series spawned three spin-off gameshows between 2006 and 2009 - Raven: The Secret Temple, Raven: The Island, Raven: The Dragon's Eye - and was awarded two BAFTAs.

Raven has caught the attention of Knightmare fans due to similarities that have been perceived between the two programmes, and hopes of the former's success generating renewed media interest in the latter. The following comments on these topics have been made on the Knightmare.com Forum:

'It seems to be You Bet meets Knightmare meets Fort Boyard in some regards. The Knightmare influence is pretty clear (guy with silly beard is in charge watching over physically fit brats making a pigs ear of something). Fort Boyard's presence is in tight time limits and seemingly impossible challenes, and You Bet for, well, are they going to do it basically.' - Neil Jones

'It is a bit simple, and I am at least 10 years older than the kids on the show, but when I watch it I can't help but feel that maybe Knightmare needn't have ended after all...' - Naitch

'It is similar to Knightmare in many respects, which is why it was such a pleasant surpirse to me to find that the BBC were making such a programme in these modern times of dumbed-down Children's TV.' - Jake Collins

'The locations look amazing but it is all a bit humourless' - sozboz

'The host is a typical, mysterious mentor figure of the fantasy world, a la Gandalf/Obi Wan Kenobi. There's a lot of mystical babble unconvincingly dressed up as pearls of wisdom, and on the whole, the programme takes itself too seriously. In that regard, the dark irony running through every season of Knightmare beats Raven it into a cocked hat.' - HStorm

'There's a definite Knightmare feel to it' - Evelyn Mason

'I could never stop watching Raven ... True Raven is kind of like Treguard I guess, but I don't see much link between the two shows.' - shadow6162

'I'll agree that it's a little bit Knightmaresque, but I particularly don't like the fact that they wear protective gear. That takes a way a lot of the fantasy element for me. Dungeoneers never wore shinguards.' - Pooka

At least one Knightmare.com Forum member, Redthir, was a Raven fan before becoming a fan of Knightmare. The most prominent fan with a foot (a giant foot?) in both camps is undoubtedly Ross Thompson (Granitas Is Cute): The Raven's Eye, a Raven fanzine created by Ross and published for 50 issues between 2008 and 2012, was inspired by The Eye Shield fanzine and replicated some of its regular features, as well as counting TES editor Jake Collins among its contributors and supporters.

Ross compared and contrasted Knightmare to Raven in an article in Issue 26 of The Raven's Eye. This and all other issues can be read via the fanzine's website, here. Ross went on to appear as a demon in Series 11 of Raven.

Time will tell whether or not Raven retains the same level of loyalty and admiration from its fans as Knightmare has - though news of its revival bodes well. Repeats of Series 1-10 on Challenge some time in the future would not be surprising.

[Earlier version: 2012-09-19 16:50:02]

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For information on the black-feathered bird that spoke to dungeoneers during Knightmare Series 3, please see the Talking Bird entry.

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