History Characters / BaldursGateFoes

* DropTheHammer: His weapon of choice is a powerful rune hammer. Players who take it off his dead body can later upgrade it with the right items.

The villain of ''Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'', Irenicus is a cold and sadistic archmage who captures the player character and their party after the events of ''VideoGame/SiegeOfDragonspear''. He performs cruel experiments on the player character and their party to unknown ends, and they only escape after his laboratory is destroyed in an invasion by hooded figures. At the height of the battle, the Cowled Wizards of Amn appear to arrest him for unlawful use of magic -- a laughable proposition, but he surprisingly acquiesces when it becomes clear Imoen will be arrested as well. Thus is the player character forced to hunt for him to gain revenge and rescue Imoen.

* JackOfAllStats: Sarevok has the highest combined stat score of BG2's companions by a significant margin, being supplanted only by Hexxat in the Enhanced Edition.

-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MichaelDorn (''Shadows of Amn'') and Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson (''Throne of Bhaal'')

Sarevok was one of the most powerful of Bhaal's children, and is the main antagonist for the first game, though you don't determine that it's actually him until fairly late (until then, you're chasing his adoptive father). In ''Baldur's Gate'', Sarevok is responsible for a {{plan}} that you only gain a full understanding of by reading his (completely optional) diaries and letters. In the end of Baldur's Gate, you slay him and his soul is sent to Hell, where your mutual father, Bhaal, resided.

In ''Baldur's Gate II'', [=CHARNAME=] subconsciously summons him to act as one of the trials (s)he faces before (s)he can confront Irenicus in Hell.

In ''Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal'' (the expansion), Sarevok shows up yet again, convinces you to give up either a fraction of your divine soul or convince Imoen to do the same, and comes back to life (a Resurrection spell being unhelpful due to his Bhaalspawn nature...[[FridgeLogic despite working fine on Imoen]]). He then joins your party if you let him and is easily the best warrior in the game.

->''"Ah, the child of Bhaal has awoken. It is time for more...'experiments'... The pain will only be passing, you should survive the process..."''

The villain of ''Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'', Irenicus is a cold and sadistic archmage who captures CHARNAME and the canonical party shortly after leaving the city of Baldur's Gate following the events of the first game. After transporting you to his primary laboratory in Amn, Irenicus experiments extensively on you and leaves the rest of the party decidedly worse for wear. After his laboratory is destroyed in an invasion by hooded figures, Irenicus is arrested by the Cowled Wizards along with Imoen and you spend a good half of the game trying to track him and Imoen down.

Irenicus constantly [[DefiedTrope cheats any attempt to learn his motivations]]: only his diaries and people you encounter that know him let you know what he's thinking. Jon and his sister Bodhi, each stripped of their immortality, reacted differently to their curse: Bodhi exposed herself to vampirism to counteract it (with mixed results), while Jon decided to find him and Bodhi new souls... divine souls.

Irenicus was voiced by veteran actor David Warner, who is well-known for his ability to handle 'dramatic villain' roles, such as the former Magus of Castle Wyvern in ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', Ra's al Ghul on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', and Erasmus Pea in ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen's [[TheMovie Apocalypse]]''.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Cythandria [[InLoveWithYourCarnage plays it straight]], [[{{EvilIsSexy}} as does Viconia]] in ''Throne of Bhaal'', but Tamoko is a bit of a subversion; specifically, although she does love him, she thinks Sarevok is basically a good man who UsedToBeASweetKid until the taint of his father corrupted him, and doesn't realize that he really ''is'' evil.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Or intellect. He severely underestimates his foster son's extraordinary intellect and ambition, using him more as a brute beforehand, and pays dearly for it. Even he acknowledges his miscalcuation before Sarevok has him killed.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Though he's set up as a huge force to be reckoned with throughout the series, and his long-sewn plots and machinations drive a lot of the story, his high priestess summarily betrays him and usurps his place as the ultimate BigBad. Bhaal himself remains largely dormant throughout the entire series, showing up only in your dreams.]] [[JustForPun He also died on a bridge but that's mostly a coincidence.]]

* EnemyMine: A rare example in which this trope works two ways: in the final battle, you can convince her to fight with you against [[spoiler:Belhifet]] and she'll readily accept, but [[spoiler:the demon]] will also try to break down her walls through dialogue and she'll offer him her aid against you if you don't get through to her.
* EtTuBrute: She loses it when [[spoiler:Hephernaan reveals his true allegiance, and if she sides with Belhifet in the final battle, she asks the demon to give her former adviser a fiery death]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: That spans two different series. His character model is a recolored version of Revered Brother Poquelin from BG's sister game franchise, [[VideoGame/IcewindDale Icewind Dale.]] [[spoiler:Poquelin's true form is a demon named Belhifet, who is incidentally Hephernaan's master.]] Even though [[Main/DidntSeeThatComing not many people foresaw that twist,]] it should at least hint that there is something off about Caelar's adviser if you've played ''IWD''.

* OptionalBoss: Killing him actually releases him from his prison and sends him back to the Abyss, so reinforcing his prison and avoiding a fight is the optimal solution. You can still kill him if you want.

* ReligionOfEvil: He has the support of the destructive [[ShockAndAwe church]] [[BoltOfDivineRetribution of]] [[GodOfEvil Talos]].

* GodOfEvil: The in-game FictionalDocument "The Dead Three" tells the story on how the Dead Three -- Bane, Myrkul and Bhaal -- divided the portfolio of the old god Jergal between them. Bane chose to become the ultimate tyrant of the living, becoming the God of Tyranny, Strife, Fear and Hatred, which Jergal [[WeAllDieSomeday treated as merely inevitable parts of life]] but Bane leveraged as brutally as possible. Myrkul became the GodOfTheDead, which Jergal had, again, treated as [[DontFearTheReaper a neutral portfolio]] but Myrkul chose to be a dick about it. Finally, Bhaal chose Death itself as his portfolio, but only took direct stewardship over Murder, the only interpretation that is explicitly evil in all its aspects, becoming the [[OddJobGod patron god]] of assassins and murderers.

** [[spoiler:Sarevok's planning comes to fruition by the time you make it to Baldur's Gate, as he becomes anointed the Grand Duke of the city and has filled several key positions of the ruling class with his own puppets. During his coronation, he brings an army of dopplegangers disguised as noblemen to rig public opinion in his favor as he wastes no time in declaring war on Amn and taking command the Flaming Fists. However, due to facing pushback from outgoing Grand Duke Belt and Duchess Liia Janneth, as well as the player character walking in with damning evidence of his culpability in the crimes he was trying to pin on Amn, he eventually drops all pretenses and just tries to kill everyone instead.]]

* AssholeVictim: He may stand as Sarevok's most unsympathetic victim in any of the games.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Aside from his treatment of Yeslick mentioned above, telling your son, who's EvilerThanThou, that you'll have him killed in the same you murdered his mother if he's "unfaithful" to you isn't very nice. As such, Sarevok gets the sympathetic end of ''that'' killing.

* KickTheDog[=/=]PetTheDog: He manages both with ''one action''. [[spoiler:If his daughter is in your party, then he'll free you all from captivity. At the same time, he says it's only because of what they shared in the past, and that he never wants to see her again.]]

-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JimCummings

-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JimCummings

* TheDragon: To Caelar. [[spoiler:Or so she thinks. He's actually Belhifet's dragon, and a ''fanatically'' devoted one at that.]]

* AnythingThatMoves: Humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes? He'll make no distinction. Orcs? Giants? Dragons? You bet. Goblins, kobolds, ''chinchillas?'' Without hesitation.

* GreaterScopeVillain: He's the ultimate source and cause of the games' main conflict, but posthumously so. His more prominent "children" and villains with an interest in Bhaal's power are what drive most of the plot[[spoiler:, and he's usurped by his [[TheStarscream high priestess]] on the cusp of making his return in ''Throne of Bhaal'']]. And, while not the direct force at play in the progression of the plot, [[spoiler:he is ''still'' very much present in Baldur's Gate 3 through both Orin and [[PlayerCharacter the Dark Urge]] as new Bhaalspawn who both play a role in his plans to re-emerge once more and [[HijackedByGanon can potentially invoke a hijacking]] of the plot [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential if allowed]] to by the player.]]

* BaldOfEvil: He's actually good, {{statistically speaking}}, but on the surface his actions don't give this impression at all. And then there's his membership of the Five.