Nevar

Nevar is the primary antagonist in the BBC game show Raven. Debuting in season 2, he primarily serves as the bad guy standing over the magical portal in a challenge called "The Last Stand", which replaced "Dark Pools" "Riddle of the Portal" and "Riddle of the Raven's Eye" as deciding who would progress to the next round of the tournament and who'd win the tournament altogether.

Essentially a creature of evil, Nevar always dresses in a black hooded cloak and a metal face mask, so all you can see of his actual self is his red/yellow eyes and burnt skin surrounding it.

Seasons 2 and 3
In seasons 2 and 3, Nevar appears in "The Last Stand", standing guard over the magical portal. He had managed to seal the portal, which could only be opened by one of two keys, each broken into four pieces and scattered on different paths for each warrior taking part in this challenge. The warriors had to run their respective paths, collecting the pieces of the key as they ran, before putting the pieces together, putting the key into the lock and turning it around. The portal would then open, but briefly, so the warrior could run through it. There were normally two rounds to this challenge; the first round was where those in first and second place out of the three remaining warriors would race against each other; then, the warrior who was either zapped out of lives, or didn't get to the lock first, would race against the warrior in third place, and then the one who lost here was eliminated.

Nevar's role here was to zap the warriors, in order to prevent them reaching the portal. How many times a warrior could be zapped was determined by how many lives they had left (say, if a warrior had 3 lives left, they couldn't be zapped 3 times by Nevar's lightning, or they'd be eliminated), and each zap took one of their remaining lives.

Behind the scenes

 * Nevar's mask in the first two seasons was designed to look like hundreds of metal shards 'woven' together to make his mask, making it look like a shattered mirror.
 * The effect of Nevar shooting red lightning from the index finger of his left hand was made through CGI.
 * In reality, his right hand operated two paintball guns concealed somewhere in the area where "The Last Stand" was played, which he used to shoot at the warriors.

Seasons 4 through 10 "(The) Last Stand"
In season 4, Nevar received his own Staff of Power (similar to Raven's staff, except Nevar's is topped with a red-eyed skull, whilst Raven's has a raven's head on top and a different body design), which removed his capacity to shoot lightning from his hand. His mask was also redesigned, making it a single piece of iron rather than the shattered mirror effect from the previous two seasons. This new mask gave him the effect of looking like a Death Eater. He was also given his ability to create Demons.

Nevar was also given a filler appearance, where he appears in a room in his castle, where he uses a stone pedestal filled with water to spy on Raven and his warriors as they progress to their next challenge (if it was "The Last Stand", Nevar would realize this, stand up and quickly move to his post over the portal).

Season 4 "The Last Stand"
"The Last Stand" was turned into an obstacle course for the warriors to navigate. Their lives and rings would give them a time advantage over their fellows. Nevar would conjour three Demons to appear at the first obstacle's end after the first warrior had left their cage, and would conjour three more at the end of the second obstacle's end.

When the warrior left their cage, they'd retrieve a cricket bat-shaped lever, which they'd use to knock down the columns, before inserting it into a jack and pushing all the way forward, to slay the Demon, who'd leave a gold disc behind on their podium. The warrior then had to pick up the disc, scale a low wooden fence, crawl under a cargo net and then scale another low wooden fence. Nevar would conjour three more Demons at this point. After crossing the fence, the warrior would then have to correctly align the part-symbols on the disc with the part-symbols on the podium for the disc, so it looked like all six warrior symbols used in the show (Sun, Tree, Mountain, Wave, Cloud and Moon). The Demon would then be slain, leaving a gold cylinder on their podium. The warrior then had to pick up the cylinder, wade through the waterfall pool, attach the cylinder to a rope, climb up the waterfall, hoist up the cylinder then send it down the other side of the waterfall, and then slide down the other side. Collecting the cylinder and releasing it from its rope, they had to align the cylinder in its hole in the warrior's triangular prism-shaped column in front of the portal so the part-symbols (again, those of the warriors) matched those on the column, before they could access the portal and progress to the next round or to the winners' realm.

If this wasn't hard enough, once one warrior has slain both their Demons, Nevar will start blasting them with his Staff of Power once they come in range (from the top of the waterfall onwards). Once one warrior has passed through the portal, Nevar's shooting will become more rapid; once two warriors had gone through, Nevar will instantly kill the warrior left behind.

In the case of the champions week, after Linma had gotten to the portal, Nevar shot both Dejan and Kinsa. This rule of eliminating the last two warriors left on the field in champions week would carry on to season 6.

Season 5-7 "The Last Stand"
The course of "The Last Stand" for seasons 5, 6 and 7 would be significantly changed, both in challenges and special effects to make the Demons appear and disappear, though the actual skeleton of "The Last Stand" would remain the same.

The same rules of time advantages based on remaining rings and lives remained, along with Nevar summoning Demons once the first warrior had left their cage, and again when one warrior was climbing over the second fence at the net, and Nevar killing the warrior(s) left behind.

When the warrior left their cage, they'd drag a key on the end of a chain to the far end of a maze of poles, in order for them to unlock a cage containing a 5-piece gold-coloured jigsaw with the warrior symbols on the top and bottom edges of the jigsaw in black, with their own symbol in the middle in red. The jigsaw, when completed correctly, would slay the Demon, leaving the cricket-bat shaped lever used in season 4 at the back of their podium. The warrior then had to pick it up, throw it over the fence, climb over, and take it with them through under the cargo net and over the second fence. Then they had to insert the lever into the jack and push it all the way forward to slay the Demon, leaving the gold cylinder behind. The challenge of climbing up the waterfall with the cylinder and putting in the triangular prism-shaped column remained intact.

In season 7, a new variant of the Last Stand was introduced for the final week, of having the last two contestants (in this case, Versad and Hanso) play against each other. This theme would carry on in seasons 8, 9 and 10, as opposed to seasons 4, 5 and 6 where the last three warriors would play against each other, as it was for the other weeks as well.

Season 8
In season 8, the show had to move from being filmed at Castle Toward to being filmed at Aviemore. This led to "The Last Stand" being renamed "Last Stand", being drastically changed and a new image on the map. Nevar was also given the ability to appear from nowhere, as demonstrated before each edition of the game. However, the rules of time advantages, times to summon Demons and elimination of he who was last on the field were kept.

In season 8, Raven would release the warriors from their cages, as opposed to Nevar blasting the first one and then the others opening by themselves. When released from the cage, the warrior would have to complete the word bank by putting the correct letters onto the floor (after carrying the letters over walls), so they could get their shield and first two warrior symbols to snap into it. Nevar would blast the shield, slaying the first Demon. The warrior would then have to crawl through the rope tunnel and collect the next two symbols to slay the next Demon. After this, the warrior then had to use the handheld battering ram to smash the two concrete walls in their path, collect the last two symbols, use the ram on chains to smash open the gates in front of them, before avoiding being blasted by Nevar to run into the portal.

Once one warrior had run through the portal, Nevar would shoot the remaining warriors more frequently; once two had gone through, the last warrior's shield would disappear, giving Nevar a clear shot to kill him.

Seasons 9 and 10
In the last two seasons of the cult BBC show, "Last Stand"'s first challenge was redesigned slightly, as the word bank was replaced with a puzzle to construct a ramp leading to a podium to their shield; fundamentally, the rest of the challenge didn't change much, and neither did Nevar's role.

Season 5/6 "Nevar's Eye"
In seasons 5 and 6, Nevar was given a second challenge appearance in a challenge called "Nevar's Eye". Following a brief filler interaction between him and Raven, the challenge would be explained: the warriors (in pairs) had to race against each other to get the gold at the far end of the ground where the challenge was played. Simple enough, except the stone bowl Nevar watches his enemy through is connected to a massive eye-shaped wooden board with a blazing eye on it. If a warrior looked directly into this eye, they'd be killed, so Raven would have to blindfold them and give them a stick to traverse their way across the golden pathway to the gold (which was under the boards). If they stepped off their path, the eye would blast them into oblivion. If they came into contact with either of the two shackled Demons under Nevar's spell to patrol the ground at the corners in the path, that warrior would be removed from the game. If they came second in this fiendishly difficult blindfold game, they'd lose a life, as they'd do if they touched a Demon or came off the path.

This challenge has been remembered by Raven fans for being notoriously difficult and having a high fail rate.

Raven: The Island
In the first spin-off of the main Raven show, entitled Raven: The Island, it's revealed Nevar has taken over Alaunus (the island where Raven spent his formative years), and banishing Raven from his home turf. He has also taken the Enchanted Oak (the magical tree from which Raven's Staff of Power, Princess Erina's Staff of Power and Nevar's Staff of Power) and used it to craft Staffs of Power for his Elite Demons who primarily guard Alaunus Castle (previously the home of Erina's father, now in exile). However, Raven, Erina, the ancient astronomer Cyrus, Haryad (the Enchanted Oak's spirit) and 12 warriors plan to invade Alaunus, storm the castle and retrieve an acorn from the now dying Enchanted Oak, in order to cultivate a new one on the mainland.

This also revealed a lot of Nevar's life, in the discussions between Raven and Cyrus and fourth-wall filler from Erina. Four years prior to the events of R:TI, Nevar was simply a simple human baron, leader of a local trouble-seeking brigade on Alaunus, and thought of a nuisance. This changed when he crafted his distinctive skull-headed Staff of Power from the Enchanted Oak, which led him to becoming his current form. He soon rallied an army of Demons and took over Alaunus, obliging Erina's parents, the King and Queen of Alaunus, and all their staff to hide on the mainland.

The Staff proved to be a mighty weapon, for example, defeating the three great battles between the Alaunus loyalists and Nevar's Demons, but, when Nevar crafted it, the weapon cursed him, in the manner of a deal with the devil; every time he fires his Staff for his evil purposes, Nevar loses half of his remaining life force, further mutating him in the space of four years.

Nevar is well aware of the rebellion efforts by the 12 warriors, who seek bronze orbs to power Cyrus' totality clock to create an eclipse, under which they'll storm Alaunus Castle and retrieve an acorn from the Great Oak. Before the show started, Nevar, unable to destroy the orbs, had placed them all around Alaunus, in secret places so he hoped the warriors wouldn't find them. He often appears in filler, such as giving the new Staffs of Power to the Demons, and sending them out after the warriors fell a magical crystal he uses to observe everything which happens outside his castle walls. He does appear in the final day, attempting to blast the warriors from their path to the Enchanted Oak's chamber, but appears incapable of blasting the three winners (Tanel (leader of the Eagles), Corso (acting leader of the Wolves) and Delra (leader of the Lions)) when they collect the right acorn from the Oak and escape with it.

Raven: The Secret Temple
Nevar reappears in the second spin-off, entitled Raven: The Secret Temple. Raven first mentions him in the pre-title sequence at the start of every episode, saying Nevar has used an evil spell to trap Raven's natural home in a toxic winter nightmare, so he has brought 16 warriors to an Eastern land (actually India), where they must enter the fabled, eponymous Secret Temple, in order to collect a magical draught to break the spell. However, Nevar has brought a Demon army with him to slay Raven and his warriors, in order to prevent them getting the draught.

Nevar primarily appears in filler inbetween the challenges, where he can observe the warriors through an enchanted water bowl carried by one of his Demons; the bowl gets destroyed by Raven in one episode. Nevar also appears in person at the end of one of the teams' games; his Demons fill in for him at the end of a game for each of the other three teams. He also appears in the elimination game "The Gulley" on Day 16, where he kills Aksu (acting leader of the Panthers), Yonra of the Panthers and Desot (leader of the Wolves). He also appears to get his magical observation dish back the next day, and laughs after the warriors are trapped in the enclosure in "No Way Out".

Despite Princess Satyarani's sayings the Demons can't pass through the citadel walls (where the final week, after "The Gulley", is set), Raven becomes increasingly worried for his warriors when he keeps seeing Demons walking through the walls. Nevar is then brought by Satyarani into the Secret Temple, following Raven and his four remaining warriors (Karja, Marca, Sohar and Sonro) into the Temple and into the underworld. Furthermore, his shadow can be seen at the closing scene of Episode 19, after Raven leads Marca, Sohar and Sonro (Karja fell into the pit at "The Way of the Dead", and was removed from existence) to the sanctum of the Temple.

On Day 20 (the final episode), Nevar plays a very crucial role. In the sanctum (known as the "Chamber of the Three Headed Serpent"), Marca and Sohar have been removed from existence after falling from the balance beam in the chamber, so Raven has only one hope to restore his homeland in Sonro. As Sonro ventures to the "Well of the Three Headed Serpent" to collect the magical draught, Nevar sneaks into the Chamber and hides, planning to kill Sonro when he escapes. This stacks the cards heavily in Nevar's favour, because, since Raven is immortal, he can't go into the sanctum, or the Three Headed Serpent will cause the Temple to collapse, and Sonro is unarmed.

After Sonro completes "Escape from the Underworld" (retracing his steps across the balance beam, avoiding the giant swinging maces, over the word path, spelling out the word "serpent" in reverse), he thinks he's safe, but Nevar comes out from his hiding place and prepares to kill Sonro with his Staff of Power, but Sonro is saved by Raven's timely intervention, blasting Nevar long enough so Sonro can get to "Time of Reckoning", solve the numerical riddle there and escape through the correct portal. Raven offers to let Nevar redeem himself with the magical draught, but Nevar snatches Raven's Staff from his hands, causing him to fall over and land in the sanctum. True to Satyarani's warning, the Temple begins to collapse.

Outside, Satyarani tells Sonro that Raven and Nevar have both been crushed to death, but Raven appears, having assumed his eponymous raven form and flown faster than a man can run, so only Nevar has died. Sonro gives Raven the magical draught, and in return, gets a golden staff, and is to be known as "Sonro, Protector of the Golden Staff, Hero of the Eastern Land, Conqueror of the Secret Temple". He and Raven begin their long journey home, at the end of a successful quest.

However, in the very, very last 10 seconds of the show, after the end credits have run, we see Nevar's body trapped beneath the rocks of the Secret Temple, and we then see one of his eyes open; clearly, he hasn't died, as everybody thought.

Raven: The Dragon's Eye
Nevar reappears in the third and final spin-off, entitled Raven: The Dragon's Eye. Nevar, having survived the collapse of the Secret Temple, has learned of a fabled magical relic. The relic, a magical stone called The Dragon's Eye, will grant the user unlimited power, at the cost of corrupting them. So Raven has summoned 16 new warriors to find the stone before Nevar does, so they can destroy it, before the magical barrier created by the Lord of the Forest Spirits collapses.

Raven sums this up in his opening monologue at the start of each show: "In a Forgotten Kingdom, lies a magical stone of such evil, that it is said to corrupt any living thing that gazes upon it. The Spirits of the Great Forest have cast an invisible barricade, to protect them from its darkness. But their magic cannot last forever. My old enemy, Nevar, is determined to use this stone, for his own, evil purpose. Now, a brave band of warriors have begun a quest, to find, and destroy, this ancient relic. The mysterious stone known only as, the Dragon's Eye."

Nevar's first appearance is towards the end of Episode 1, as he and an army of Demons arrive at the Great Forest.

Trivia

 * Nevar is an anogram for Raven.
 * Also, Ervan who claimed to once have served Nevar in Raven: The Dragon's Eye also has his name under the same anogram.