Sarevok Anchev

Sarevok Anchev was a powerful Deathbringer and one of the Bhaalspawn, the mortal offspring of dead god Bhaal. During the mid–14, he formulated and carried out a plan to replace his divine father as the Lord of Murder.

"If you have the arrogance of a god and can kill like a god, who's to say you are not a god?"

- Winski Perorate to Sarevok

Description
In appearance, Sarevok was enormous for a human male. His fearsome appearance was amplified when he donned his unique armor. Sarevok's eyes glowed with a solid yellow radiance.

Ambitions
Sarevok's life goal was to undergo apotheosis. Having researched his divine heritage, he believed that a great slaughter would spark his ascension. To this end, he concocted a plan to use the Iron Throne as a pawn to orchestrate a war between the city-state of Baldur's Gate and the nation of Amn.

He also sought to eliminate competition from the other Bhaalspawn in Faerûn. This proved to be more challenging than his other plans.

Personality
Sarevok was an extremely capable individual, both highly intelligent and physically powerful. He was an expert strategist and was quite charismatic when he so chose.

He did however also have a very short temper and was not one for exercising caution.

Abilities
Having studied how to instill dread in his foes as well honed his skill in the most vicious styles of combat, Sarevok was a truly fearsome warrior. He was capable of inciting fear in his foes that left them entirely paralyzed.

He was highly resistant to arcane magic.

Relationships
Sarevok was romantically involved with the Kara-Turan warrior Tamoko. While two truly loved one another, Sarevok lost sight of her as became obsessed with his schemes and efforts related to his apotheosis. She in turn did not think such a thing was truly possible for a mortal to attain. Regardless, she simply did not want to lose him to godhood. Tamoko's disinclination to follow his plans led Sarevok to take another lover Cythandria who cared for little else beyond the power and wealth she could gain through Sarevok.

During his time he sought godhood, Sarevok quite a following among the faithful of Bhaal. They served him as devotees, offering up their resources and even their lives to the son of their revered deity. Chief among these followers was an individual he considered a close confidant, the wizard known as Korlasz.

Sarevok's inner circle was full of individuals who each had vested interests in his success: Winski Perorate, his mentor; Tazok, the leader of the Blacktalons mercenary company; Angelo Dosan, the power-hungry officer of the Flaming Fist; and the enigmatic conjurer Semaj.

Sarevok also had a number of other followers who were privy to true plans, including: Zhalimar Cloudwulfe, Gardush, Naaman, Diyab, Aasim and Alai.

Possessions
Sarevok wore a unique set of plate armor adorned with blades along with a horned helmet crafted in the shape of a fiends open maw.

He had an enchanted greatsword made specifically for him, known as the sword of chaos.

Early life
Sarevok was saved from death at a very young age. A group of Bhaalist cult members gathered several Bhaalspawn children together in their temple, and prepared to sacrifice them to the Lord of Murder. A group of Harpers assaulted the temple and saved the children from a grim death. While some of the Bhaalspawn were rescued or adopted, Sarevok was unfortunately left behind.

He grew up as an urchin in the streets until he was adopted as Sarevok Anchev by Richtar, the Arm of the Iron Throne. Richtar used the alias of Rieltar Anchev while acting as Sarevok's father and establishing the Baldurian branch of the organization. When Sarevok was just a child, Rieltar had his foster mother strangled with a garrote in front of him, as punishment for unfaithfulness. This event that had a significant impact on the young Sarevok.

Revelation of Heritage


Like other Bhaalspawn, Sarevok had vivid dreams of destruction and mayhem that were accompanied by apparent messages from Bhaal himself. At some point he confronted a priest of Bhaal about his dreams. He gleaned nothing useful from the encounter and killed the Bhaalist.

In the, Sarevok traveled to the Sword Coast alongside his adoptive father Rieltar to expand the Iron Throne's operations in Baldur's Gate, and the Western Heartlands. Sarevok used this opportunity to begin researching the prophecy of Alaundo related to Bhaal, and his relevance therein. He came to understand that he was indeed one of the Bhaalspawn. After reading the line: "deaths they bring shall awaken the father, and through them he will rise", Sarevok believed he had incite killing on a grand scale in order to assume Bhaal's portfolio.

While in Candlekeep he encountered the monk Gorion and his ward. He quickly came to realize that Abdel was indeed a Bhaalspawn like himself.

After he gained some sense about his divine heritage, Sarevok studied under Winski Perorate to learn more about the dark arts associated with Bhaal. With the aid of his new mentor he came to understand that a grand slaughter of massive scale was needed for his ascension.

Iron Crisis
During that same year of 1365 DR, Sarevok assisted his foster father with his grand scheme that would to bring great wealth and influence to the Iron Throne. A group led by Rieltar's subordinate Mulahey would begin sabotaging the iron ore produced by the mines of Nashkel, while bandits and mercenary groups would raid iron shipments that traveled along the Coast Way road. Meanwhile, infiltrated several Baldurian mercantile interests such Seven Suns and the Merchant's League using doppelganger agents.

Growing tension in the region surrounding the iron trade would be blamed on the southern nation of Amn, and the Shadow Thieves criminal organization. They sought to compound this foreign hostility by spreading rumors that Amn was taking these actions to prepare for war against Baldur's Gate and their Flaming Fist army. The Iron Throne itself would arise as saviors, providing quality ore from their mine in the Cloak Wood, de-escalating the situation and making a fortune. While Rieltar only sought to bring the west on the precipice of war, Sarevok sought to fully carry out the events that would lead to death on the scale of a god.

Sarevok built a loyal following of devotees during this time. They saw him as a sort of divine teacher. With the aid of his most committed servant Korlasz, he established a hidden sanctum within the ancestral crypts that belonged to her family.

At some point Sarevok traveled to an abandoned temple of Bhaal located near where the Coast Way crosses the Winding Water.

By the month of Tarsakh in the, their plan was well on its way to success. At that time Sarevok saw an opportunity to rid himself of a fellow Bhaalspawn. He returned to Candlekeep in Mirtul with Tamoko and a few allies, confronting Gorion and ward along the Way of the Lion. While Sarevok managed to slay the old sage of Candlekeep, the Bhaalspawn managed to flee.

Later that year Sarevok and his allies began to enact the final steps of their grand scheme.

As the future Hero of Baldur's Gate began to unravel and put a stop to Sarevok's plan, his allies were forced to take action. Rieltar and Brunos Costak had to travel to Candlekeep and negotiate a treaty with the Knights of the Shield, in order to prevent actual war.

Both Gorion's Ward and Sarevok followed them there, Sarevok in disguise and calling himself "Koveras". Sarevok approached the ward and tried to goad them into attacking Rieltar and the others, and if that did not succeed just framed them for it. However, they escaped custody and came back to Baldur's Gate, where they exposed his plans just as he had been crowned Grand Duke and was about to have the rest killed by doppelgangers and human assassins. Sarevok flew into a rage and attacked everyone present by himself, but was teleported away by Winski Perorate. Angered at having been prevented from fighting, he struck him down, and left for the Undercity with his remaining close followers, including Tazok and Angelo Dosan. There he set down to wait for the ward in an abandoned temple of Bhaal, and was finally defeated by them in combat. His body dissolved into golden dust as his essence dispersed and joined that of Bhaal.

Life After Life
Sarevok's story did not end with this death, however. Though there was nothing left of him to even resurrect, he was, improbably, brought back nevertheless. Gorion's Ward had had their soul stolen by Jon Irenicus, and in fighting to retrieve it, they killed Irenicus without having gained their soul back. This resulted in both the ward and Irenicus ending up in Bhaal's realm, where they each explored the soul they now shared. One of the tests the ward had to face was to face their anger towards Sarevok, and to this end, their divine power summoned Sarevok forth once again. He was given the task of goading them into turning into the Slayer, an avatar of Bhaal. Regardless of whether that happened, Sarevok was once again killed by the ward Something was left behind, though&mdash;enough of Sarevok's personality that he could try to reform himself, swearing to return to life once again.



Later Life
When the time of the fulfilment of Alaundo's prophecy about the Bhaalspawn was near, the ward was summoned to the Pocket Plane in Bhaal's realm once again. Once there, they encountered Sarevok’s wraith again, this time approaching them of his own volition. He bargained to live again, offering information vital to the ward - the knowledge of how to open the magical portal to the first of the challenges they had to face to get to know themselves better in preparation for their role in the prophecy. In return, he wanted an insignificantly small piece of either the ward's or Imoen's divine soul. The ward complied, and Sarevok was restored to life, though no longer a Bhaalspawn, technically alive but still in a strange in-between state, neither one thing nor the other. He also proposed to join the ward, offering his considerable martial skills and knowledge to help them achieve the destiny he could not.

After these events, Sarevok found it difficult to find peace, caught between life and death and not achieving either. He would later rout an orc invasion of Berdusk, and briefly conquer Westgate. Finally, he traveled to Kara-Tur to bury Tamoko's body, never returning.

Appearances

 * Novels:
 * Baldur's Gate
 * Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal


 * Video games:
 * Baldur's Gate &bull; Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn &bull; Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal

Behind the Scenes

 * In the Baldur's Gate series of video games, Sarevok was voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.