"Raveleijn" follows the Woudenberg family, who have just moved from the city into a magical forest.
The adventure begins when the parents of Thomas, Maurits, Joost and twins Emma and Lisa surprise the kids with a visit to Ravenhorst. However, it turns out that their parents have another surprise for them - they have just bought an old inn in the forest of Ravenhorst to start a vineyard there! The kids are not happy about their parents decision and are disappointed that the decision is final. At their new home, Thomas the eldest feels his life is shattered, whilst second son Maurits soon settles into his new life and their youngest brother Joost enjoys playing in the wood. The family also have trouble with the local villagers, who look at them with suspicion, wanting to know why the family moved there.
Whilst looking in the forest one day, a Raven leads the kids to a mysterious ancient city gate, which features a cryptic text chiselled into it: "Raveleijn, waar raven ruiters zullen zijn" ("Raveleijn, where Raven riders will be"). Unbeknownst to the kids, the gate is magical!
When the Raven tempts the children to go through the gate, and the magic begins. The gate is a magic portal to a different world that transforms the kids into mounted riders and the Ravens into black Horses!
At the end of the portal, the children find the ancient city of Raveleijn, which is ruled by Count Olaf Grafhart, who rules the land with a iron fist and has oppressed its residents by building Graffers, monstrous creatures with steel jaws made from samples of iron, wood and leather. Hidden in the woods outside the city walls are some secret caves, inhabited by exiles of Raveleijn. These exiles form the Orde van de Raven, the Order of the Raven, formed in secret by Halina Grafhart, the wife of Count Olaf Grafhart.
When the children encounter the Order of the Raven, they tell them about a mysterious prophecy that five riders will come to save the people of Raveleijn. Thomas also meets Samuel's daughter, Samira, whom he quickly falls in love with.
The children soon realise that they are the Chosen Five, and the exiles help them develop special powers based on the elements of fire, wood, metal, water and earth.
After their brief training by the exiles they move to the city of Raveleijn to go to war against the Count. Along the way they must battle with the monsters built by the residents of Raveleijn to keep the Count in power. The kids eventually reach the Five ramparts (de Vijf de stadswallen), where the Guardians of Count Olaf await them. After a violent confrontation with Graffers and hordes of Birds, which they first use their developed gifts, they eventually come face to face with the Terrible Graaf. The Graaf has a huge surprise up his sleeve, and ignites a battle to the death.
To celebrate Nickelodeon Netherlands and Nickelodeon Belgium, collectively known as Nickelodeon Benelux, starting to air "Raveleijn" from Saturday 1st August 2015, Nickelodeon.nl and Nickelodeon.be have launched their official "Raveleijn" websites, which feature fantastic photos gallery's full of stills from the series!
"Raveleijn" is based on the popular Ravelin attraction at Efteling, the largest amusement park in the Netherlands, and the hit book written by children's author Paul van Loon in co-operation with Efteling.
Sources: rtl.nl, IMDb, the Raveleijn YouTube channel, Wikipedia. Dutch to English translation provided by Google Translate.
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