Sarevok Anchev

"I will be the last. And you will go first"

- Sarevok

Sarevok Anchev was a powerful Bhaalspawn, a mortal offspring of Bhaal, in Dungeons & Dragons who planned to ascend to divinity, following in the dead god's footsteps as the Lord of Murder. To this end, he concocted a plan to use the Iron Throne as his pawn to drive Baldur's Gate and Amn into war, believing that the initial slaughter would cause his ascension. He also sought to eliminate competition from other Bhaalspawn, which proved to be his downfall; his attempt to destroy one of his half-siblings living in Candlekeep failed but left that Bhaalspawn to seek revenge. Ultimately they exposed his plans and defeated him in combat, killing him and dispersing his essence into oblivion for the time being. He comes back in Throne of Bhaal as an optional recruitable character and can be redemeed by the player character.

Story
As a young child, Sarevok was barely saved from a cult that was trying to sacrifice Bhaalspawn children. (Why they would be trying to do such a thing is unknown, since counting from the age of the children this must have happened while Bhaal was still alive.) Their temple was attacked by Gorion and a number of other Harpers, but while they saved the protagonist of theBaldur's Gate series of games and Gorion raised them, Sarevok was left behind and wandered out on his own.[2] He grew up as an urchin in the streets until he was adopted as Sarevok Anchev by Rieltar Anchev, the Baldur's Gate regional leader of the merchant house called the Iron Throne. When he was just a child, Rieltar had Sarevok’s foster mother strangled in front of him as punishment for unfaithfulness, an event that had a significant impact on him.

Eventually Sarevok found out about his heritage and, with the aid of Winski Perorate, learned more about it. Instrumental in his ascertaining the details of the prophecy and his own connection to it was his visit or several visits to Candlekeep, during which he also found out about the Bhaalspawn living there (the games' protagonist). Around the same time, he also expressed interest in taking part in his foster father’s plan[4] that was to bring great wealth and influence to the Iron Throne, and as it was finalized became a vital part of it. The plan involved sabotaging the Nashkel mines while hiring bandits to harass merchants and travellers in the Baldur's Gate area, especially those carrying iron. Blame of this would be directed towards the Zhentarim, and Amn that had supposedly hired them. At the same time, rival merchant houses in Baldur's Gate (such as the Seven Suns and the Merchant’s League) would be infiltrated by doppelgangers and driven to financial ruin. The Iron Throne would appear as saviours of the day, providing iron from their secret mine in Cloakwood. Important figures in Baldur’s Gate, including eventually all the Grand Dukes, would be assassinated or incapacitated, and blame would again go to Amn, with Shadow Thief insignia left behind at the murder sites. Sarevok would be elected Grand Duke himself and lead the city into a war from which the profit would go to the Iron Throne. Of course, Sarevok himself cared nothing for the Iron Throne, only about the slaughter he could cause for what he believed to be his own advancement. Rieltar himself was for financial reasons actually disinclined to go so far as to cause an actual war, becoming an obstacle to Sarevok.

Sarevok was involved with a woman called Tamoko, and apparently they truly loved each other, but as he became more involved in his scheming to become a god, he begun to care little about anything else. She, in turn, did not want him to try to ascend, which she did not believe would happen in any case. And even if it did, she would lose him. Her disinclination to follow his plans led him to take another lover, Cythandria, who was only interested in the power and wealth she could gain through him. Sarevok also had a number of other followers who were in on his true plans, including at least Zhalimar Cloudwulfe, Gardush, Naaman, Diyab, Aasim and Alai (his "acolytes", who would all be killed by the player character in the Iron Throne building); Winski Perorate; and Tazok, Angelo Dosan and the wizard Semaj, who stood by him until the end.

The Iron Throne's plans went into motion smoothly, until, around the first of Mirtul in 1368 DR, Sarevok went to kill his half-sibling in Candlekeep (the player character). He ambushed them and Gorion on the road some way east from Candlekeep, but Gorion sacrificed his life to allow them to escape, and Sarevok could not find them again before having to return to his other plans. The protagonist began to unravel Iron Throne’s plans, from the Nashkel mines to the bandits' camp to Cloakwood, and finally Baldur’s Gate. When Rieltar and Brunos Costak went to Candlekeep to negotiate a treaty with theKnights of the Shield, which didn't fit Sarevok's plans as it only served to smoothen relationships between Baldur's Gate and Amn, both the player character and Sarevok followed them there, Sarevok in disguise and calling himself "Koveras". Sarevok approached the player character 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 player character 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.