Sarevok

Sarevok
Baldur's Gate character
In-universe information
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Alignment	Chaotic Evil, later Chaotic Good

Sarevok Anchev is a fictional character in the Baldur's Gate series of Dungeons & Dragons computer role-playing games, created by Bioware. He appears in both games of the series, though in much varied roles. He was the chief villain in Baldur's Gate, he had a small cameo in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn before he finally became a joinable non-player character in the final chapter of the series, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal. Kevin Michael Richardson provided the voice of Sarevok. He also appears in the novelizations of the series by Philip Athans.

From the intro movie of Baldur's gate, a popular philosophical quote by Friedrich Nietzsche is mentioned, which may be referring to the main protagonist killing Sarevok.

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he him self does not become a monster...when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you.

Story

Sarevok was raised as an urchin in the streets, until he was adopted as Sarevok Anchev by his foster father Reiltar Anchev, the leader of the merchant house the Iron Throne. When he was just a child, Reiltar had Sarevok's mother strangled in front of him as punishment for unfaithfulness, an event which has had a significant impact on him. Under the ruthless tutelage of the Iron Throne, Sarevok studied the art of intimidation and the cruelest and most brutal styles of combat in order to become a Deathbringer, a powerful warrior possessing the abilities to paralyze an opponent in mêlée battle through fear alone, as well as killing the most powerful of opponents in a single, massive blow.

Sarevok's first appearance in-game is in the opening cut scene of Baldur's Gate, as a tall, heavily armored figure pursuing a fleeing knight. Sarevok ultimately catches the man, lifts him by the throat with one hand, then breaks his neck and carelessly tosses him onto the street (Sarevok's line "I will be the last! And you will go first..." could imply that the man slain was also a Bhaalspawn). In the first chapter of the game he ambushes the main character and his or her foster father Gorion, and viciously kills Gorion while the main character barely manages to escape. Throughout the game, Sarevok sends ever more powerful assassins to interrupt the player character in the quest to unveil the conspiracy of Sarevok. It should be noted that Sarevok's name does not crop up until halfway through the game, and he is not explicitly identified as the armored figure until the very end of the game.

Sarevok is plotting, through violence, politics and manipulation, to start a war between Baldur's Gate and Amn, causing enough carnage and bloodshed to transform himself into the new god of murder. The player character discovers that Sarevok is his or her brother, and that both are the children of the dead god Bhaal, following the cataclysmic Time of Troubles. He also framed the player character for the murder of Rieltar Anchev, who he had garrotted by doppelgangers. He felt this was an appropriate revenge for the murder of his mother. By the time the siblings clash in a mortal battle at the end of the game, Sarevok has slain many of his kin, and is one of the strongest surviving children of the Lord of Murder.

After his death by the protagonist's hands in the first part of Baldur's Gate, Sarevok makes a few brief appearance in Hell in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn as a spirit to challenge the player character. Later, he is resurrected in Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal as a non-player character that can join the protagonist's party. This is done by taking some of the divine essence from either the player character or Imoen. Sarevok's alignment starts out as Chaotic Evil, but may be eventually changed to Chaotic Good through a series of dialogue options.

After he leaves Hell, Sarevok's personal beliefs are quite vague with regards to his alliance with the protagonist. Although he was slain by his sibling, during dialog choices in the expansion Sarevok comes to respect him/her and view him/her as the next Lord/Lady of Murder, and himself as his/her right hand man. This was the main reason Sarevok chooses to stand alongside the protagonist, the more powerful sibling of the two. It also explains why Sarevok chose not to join forces with the other Bhaalspawn, since he believes that the protagonist has the most potential and is the strongest of all of Bhaal's children.

In the first Baldur's Gate game, Sarevok has two rival love interests: Cythandria, who desires to aid him in his quest of becoming a god, and Tamoko, who wishes for him to relent in his ambitions and settle down with her. In 'Throne of Bhaal' epilogue, Sarevok goes to Kara-Tur to bury the body of Tamoko, and she is described as his only true love.

Powers and abilities

In his first appearance in Baldur's Gate, Sarevok is a massive, heavily armored figure, standing about 7-feet tall and wearing heavily spiked, black plate armor. He fights with a large 2-handed greatsword, and his strength is so great that he is able to wield this heavy weapon one-handed, and he can cleave in half soldiers wearing plate armor with a single blow. He is also strong enough to explode a wooden door with a single punch or kick, as seen in the game's opening movie.

Sarevok's sword and armor are both heavily enchanted, artifacts of Bhaal which draw much of their power from his own Bhaalspawn essence. Besides providing him with physical protection, Sarevok's distinctive armor also appears to resist magic, protecting Sarevok from most magical energies. Sarevok's sword is known as the Sword of Chaos, and it carries an enchantment of epic proportions (a severely weakened version of the sword appears in Baldur's Gate II, having lost most of its power after Sarevok's death).

Despite his enormous strength, Sarevok is no mere mindless brute. Charismatic and intelligent, he masterminded a highly efficient scheme to seize control of the Iron Throne and the city of Baldur's Gate, and was able to draw to him many loyal acolytes who either followed him as a leader or even worshipped him as the new Lord of Murder. What is perhaps his most intelligent scheme, was that he was to create a war Between Baldur's Gate and Amn, over the iron Ore crisis, which the blood spilled, regardless of whoever won, could have made him the new Lord of Murder.

Following his death at the hands of the main protagonist, Sarevok lost his Bhaal-essence and the powers that came with it. Upon being resurrected by the main character in Throne of Bhaal, Sarevok notes that his trademark sword and armor did not resurrect with him, and that he would probably be unable to use them anyway without his original Bhaal-essence to power them. His sword, however, is available at the beginning of Shadows of Amn, and if the protagonist passes it to Sarevok, he recognizes the weapon. Sarevok says that he won't be able to return the weapon to its prime, since he is not a Bhaalspawn anymore; however, he imbues it with additional properties.

Even without his Bhaalspawn powers, Sarevok is an extremely formidable warrior (being considered by many to be the most powerful joinable NPC fighter in the entire series, which also includes Korgan Bloodaxe and Minsc). He is also able to use his Deathbringer training to occasionally inflict massive damage to opponents, a critical hit-style attack known as a "Deathbringer Assault".

Ascension mod

BioWare game designer David Gaider's semi-official game modification Ascension, among other enhancements, develops and clarifies Sarevok's persona in Throne of Bhaal, from unfinished material cut before the retail release of the game. Please see the Baldur's Gate series main article for information on this and other modifications.

References

• Black Isle studios, Interplay (1998). Baldur's Gate [video game]. Bioware.
• Black Isle studios, Interplay (2000). Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn [video game]. Bioware.
• Interplay (2001). Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal [video game]. Bioware.