Where is everybody? All suffering incredible hangovers, or is the forum not letting you guys post responses either?
I hope this theory hasn't already been presented--I'm pretty sure I didn't see it anywhere.
We know that the Shiver we see in Myth 2 is named Ravanna. We also know, from the game and from GURPS, that when the Deceiver called her Ravanna she immediately stopped taunting him and tried to kill him as fast as possible. Further, we know that Ravanna, the Voiceless One, was one of the Fallen Lords whose fate was unknown after the Great War. Finally, we know that the Myth 2 Shiver "did not appear to wield the same great sorceries that she had previously possessed," such as the Whisper Dream.
The theory I suggest is: Ravanna and Shiver are not the same person. After the Great War, Ravanna went into hiding or fled from the lands of Light. When Soulblighter returned, she wished to ally herself with him, to have a hand in defeating the Light and perhaps to betray him and gain supreme power after a Dark victory. However, Ravanna's relationship with the other Fallen Lords had been much the same as The Deceiver's; she was devious and secretive, and they never trusted her. So Ravanna figured Soulblighter would never accept her as an ally.
Therefore, she played a trick on him--when he attempted to recover Shiver's spirit with Tramist's mirror, Ravanna altered her own appearance (or didn't--maybe this is the true reason why Shiver looked so different after her resurrection) and manifested herself as a faux Shiver. She tried to act as much like Shiver and as unlike the old Ravanna as possible; overemphasizing how vain she was (gouging out the eyes of the guy who didn't want to look at her) and raging continuously. However, she still worried that Soulblighter would be able to see through the deception, especially since she lacked Shiver's Whisper Dream and powerful battle spells. So she and her army stayed far away from his throughout the war, not returning to his side even toward the end, when he could definitely have used an assist.
In spite of this, Soulblighter did start to doubt that she was really Shiver, and as a result was willing to sacrifice her in order to kill most of the Light forces, by blowing the Lesotho dam. The Deceiver had also figured out her true identity, and made this clear when he confronted her: "The path to retribution does make for strange bedfellows. Would you not agree, Ravanna?" Essentially, he's saying, "It's strange that you're working with Soulblighter who, if he knew who you really were, would never ally himself with you." Ravanna got scared at this point; she didn't want Soulblighter to get wind of The Deceiver's discovery, or he would certainly take revenge on her for her deception. So she immediately went all out to get rid of him. At the end of the level, she said, "And now that mouth of yours is finally going to get you killed." I don't think she's just offended at the Deceiver's words--"The years have not been kind, have they, fair Ravanna" isn't the most deadly insult I've ever heard, even to someone notoriously vain--I think she's saying, "You're emphasizing that you know who I am by repeating my name, so I've got to get rid of you."
I can't really judge whether this theory is more or less likely than the "Shiver is an alternate personality/reincarnation of Ravanna" one. Can you?
--SiliconDream
