Justifying Sarevok Redemption from a Role-Playing Perspective
booinyoureyes
Member Posts: 6,164
Sup fools!
So I'm in the process of redeeming Sarevok right now in ToB. His alignment has just changed to Chaotic Good. Going through this storyline again has got me thinking about Sarevok's character arc and the process by which your character goes about helping him seek atonement.
It requires quite a few steps, all of which require a great deal of benevolence and almost saint-like forgiveness on the part of your character. Keep in mind, if you are a good character who loved your foster father growing up, that this man killed Gorion.
Essentially this requires that your character
1. Forgive Sarevok for slaying your beloved foster father
2. Sacrifice a part of your own soul to restore him to life
3. Take responsibility for his actions by allowing him to travel with you, knowing that he has a propensity for violence and cares little for the lives of the innocent
4. Allow him to travel with you without swearing a vow (which would act as a geas) to not betray you, despite knowing full well that he is a brilliant manipulator who almost became a Grand Duke and sparked a massive deadly war along the Sword Coast
This is a heavy task for anyone of good alignment, and really requires almost a saint-like devotion to redemption. I know several people on this forum have thought that it does not make sense from a roleplaying perspective for most good characters. That may indeed be the case, but I'd like to point out a couple of factors that I relied on in making the decision in my current run as an Inquisitor paladin of Tyr named Timeon, with a team of Imoen, Isra (mod Cavalier NPC), Xan (mod), Anomen, and Sarevok. I took roleplaying very seriously in this run, avoiding many quests that did not gel with my characters LG outlook. As you notice all my characters are within the Lawful Good realm of companions. So when faced with the Sarevok decisions, I thought about them fairly carefully.
1. I think the oath is the hardest step RPing-wise. However, I took Yoshimo with me up until Spellhold, and suffered his betrayal while under geas. I had the "Yoshimo Friendship" path installed, so Yoshi's mental torment was made quite clear. Having forgiven him and delivered his heart to the Temple of Ilmater, I think my character has seen the horrors of someone having their free will taken from them. This helped me make the decision to not bind Sarevok to my will.
2. Forgiveness is hard. However, RIGHT before encountering Sarevok in Bhaal's Pocket Plane, my character witnessed the results of merciless punishment through Ellisme and Sarevok. Sarevok was given the worst punishment for his crimes, and robbed of his very soul. Rather than seek redemption, he became more retched, and doubled down on his darkest desires. If left unchecked, my CHARNAME could fear that Sarevok would suffer the same fate, especially since he is now an incomplete man following the loss of Bhaalspawn connection. So my CHARNAME is left with three options: attempt to redeem Sarevok, murder his brother, or allow him to go free in the world to feed on a possible bloodlust.
3. This is character-specific, but my character worships Tyr, the god of Justice. Tyr is worshiped by judges throughout Faerun, and of course, like our own Lady Justice, is blind. His worshipers also serve as lawyers who advocate for those accused of crimes. From FR Wiki: "Clerics of Tyr .... often default to a doctrine roughly equivalent to “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” However, Tyrrans prefer to err on the side of mercy, and frequently commute otherwise harsh sentences for cases in which the offender was ignorant of any wrongdoing."
Through my character, I think that Sarevok "did his time" in hell, and has paid a steep price for his crimes. Thus, he has his chance to make his way as a new man, and under my character's guidance begin to pay restitution for his crimes through future benevolent acts. Most importantly, however, he saw a great mitigating factor in Sarevok's decisions: the taint. Which brings me to my next point.
4. Both my character and Imoen have been struggling with the taint. My character, much to his horror, gave in to the Slayer in Spellhold when fighting Bodhi. Imoen has also been worrying about giving in to the Slayer in her dialogue in ToB. They can both now sympathize with Sarevok, knowing that, much like an addict seeks satisfaction through drug or drink, their brother feels a strong pull toward murder to satisfy a deep-lying need. Unlike most addicts, however, this is a lust that he never freely welcomed, having been born with the need to commit murder through no fault of his own. Finally, unlike Imoen and my CHARNAME, he did not have Gorion or Ol' Puffguts to teach him how to control his urges.
5. Which brings me to the next point. We are all somewhat a product of our upbringing, and while Gorion chose to save my CHARNAME, Sarevok ended up in a very different place. As told during the post-Yaga-Shura scene with the Solar in the Bhaal's Pocket Plane, our upbringings could easily have been reversed. While my CHARNAME was raised by a Neutral Good scholar, Sarevok was not only raised by a corrupt, ruthless, and power-hungry villain in Rieltar, but had the evil Winski Perorate whispering in his ear from a young age. Hard to control your taint when your two main father figures both encourage you to give into it.
6. Back to the Taint. Sarevok is now free of it! There is a new opportunity to see how he would be if not for the taint that drove him to murder since he was a small child under the "care" of Rieltar. It is a rare opportunity to have your "cherry unpopped", so to speak, and this is the perfect opportunity to see whether or not Sarevok's bloodlust was the product of his connection to Bhaal or to his own character. If you find that Sarevok, when disconnected to Bhaal's bloodline, is a force for good then you can determine that he was morally blameless for his actions in BG1, as he had the urge to kill that he never freely accepted.
Sorry for the Great Wall of Text, but I hope to hear how you all justify your CHARNAME'S decision to take on the burden of redeeming Sarevok. Also would love to hear any disagreements about the points I made!
So I'm in the process of redeeming Sarevok right now in ToB. His alignment has just changed to Chaotic Good. Going through this storyline again has got me thinking about Sarevok's character arc and the process by which your character goes about helping him seek atonement.
It requires quite a few steps, all of which require a great deal of benevolence and almost saint-like forgiveness on the part of your character. Keep in mind, if you are a good character who loved your foster father growing up, that this man killed Gorion.
Essentially this requires that your character
1. Forgive Sarevok for slaying your beloved foster father
2. Sacrifice a part of your own soul to restore him to life
3. Take responsibility for his actions by allowing him to travel with you, knowing that he has a propensity for violence and cares little for the lives of the innocent
4. Allow him to travel with you without swearing a vow (which would act as a geas) to not betray you, despite knowing full well that he is a brilliant manipulator who almost became a Grand Duke and sparked a massive deadly war along the Sword Coast
This is a heavy task for anyone of good alignment, and really requires almost a saint-like devotion to redemption. I know several people on this forum have thought that it does not make sense from a roleplaying perspective for most good characters. That may indeed be the case, but I'd like to point out a couple of factors that I relied on in making the decision in my current run as an Inquisitor paladin of Tyr named Timeon, with a team of Imoen, Isra (mod Cavalier NPC), Xan (mod), Anomen, and Sarevok. I took roleplaying very seriously in this run, avoiding many quests that did not gel with my characters LG outlook. As you notice all my characters are within the Lawful Good realm of companions. So when faced with the Sarevok decisions, I thought about them fairly carefully.
1. I think the oath is the hardest step RPing-wise. However, I took Yoshimo with me up until Spellhold, and suffered his betrayal while under geas. I had the "Yoshimo Friendship" path installed, so Yoshi's mental torment was made quite clear. Having forgiven him and delivered his heart to the Temple of Ilmater, I think my character has seen the horrors of someone having their free will taken from them. This helped me make the decision to not bind Sarevok to my will.
2. Forgiveness is hard. However, RIGHT before encountering Sarevok in Bhaal's Pocket Plane, my character witnessed the results of merciless punishment through Ellisme and Sarevok. Sarevok was given the worst punishment for his crimes, and robbed of his very soul. Rather than seek redemption, he became more retched, and doubled down on his darkest desires. If left unchecked, my CHARNAME could fear that Sarevok would suffer the same fate, especially since he is now an incomplete man following the loss of Bhaalspawn connection. So my CHARNAME is left with three options: attempt to redeem Sarevok, murder his brother, or allow him to go free in the world to feed on a possible bloodlust.
3. This is character-specific, but my character worships Tyr, the god of Justice. Tyr is worshiped by judges throughout Faerun, and of course, like our own Lady Justice, is blind. His worshipers also serve as lawyers who advocate for those accused of crimes. From FR Wiki: "Clerics of Tyr .... often default to a doctrine roughly equivalent to “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” However, Tyrrans prefer to err on the side of mercy, and frequently commute otherwise harsh sentences for cases in which the offender was ignorant of any wrongdoing."
Through my character, I think that Sarevok "did his time" in hell, and has paid a steep price for his crimes. Thus, he has his chance to make his way as a new man, and under my character's guidance begin to pay restitution for his crimes through future benevolent acts. Most importantly, however, he saw a great mitigating factor in Sarevok's decisions: the taint. Which brings me to my next point.
4. Both my character and Imoen have been struggling with the taint. My character, much to his horror, gave in to the Slayer in Spellhold when fighting Bodhi. Imoen has also been worrying about giving in to the Slayer in her dialogue in ToB. They can both now sympathize with Sarevok, knowing that, much like an addict seeks satisfaction through drug or drink, their brother feels a strong pull toward murder to satisfy a deep-lying need. Unlike most addicts, however, this is a lust that he never freely welcomed, having been born with the need to commit murder through no fault of his own. Finally, unlike Imoen and my CHARNAME, he did not have Gorion or Ol' Puffguts to teach him how to control his urges.
5. Which brings me to the next point. We are all somewhat a product of our upbringing, and while Gorion chose to save my CHARNAME, Sarevok ended up in a very different place. As told during the post-Yaga-Shura scene with the Solar in the Bhaal's Pocket Plane, our upbringings could easily have been reversed. While my CHARNAME was raised by a Neutral Good scholar, Sarevok was not only raised by a corrupt, ruthless, and power-hungry villain in Rieltar, but had the evil Winski Perorate whispering in his ear from a young age. Hard to control your taint when your two main father figures both encourage you to give into it.
6. Back to the Taint. Sarevok is now free of it! There is a new opportunity to see how he would be if not for the taint that drove him to murder since he was a small child under the "care" of Rieltar. It is a rare opportunity to have your "cherry unpopped", so to speak, and this is the perfect opportunity to see whether or not Sarevok's bloodlust was the product of his connection to Bhaal or to his own character. If you find that Sarevok, when disconnected to Bhaal's bloodline, is a force for good then you can determine that he was morally blameless for his actions in BG1, as he had the urge to kill that he never freely accepted.
Sorry for the Great Wall of Text, but I hope to hear how you all justify your CHARNAME'S decision to take on the burden of redeeming Sarevok. Also would love to hear any disagreements about the points I made!
6
Comments
And to add to point one, CHARNAME's just been held prisoner, put into a "lesser of two evils" situation in order to get to Spellhold, and been forced to play the part of an evil Drow at the behest of an at-best uncaring dragon. I'd say he/she is familiar with the concept of having their free will curtailed, if not outright taken away, and had opportunity to decide they wouldn't inflict that on someone else, even Sarevok.
Strangely, I found the "forgiveness" part the easiest to justify. Aside from the fact that my character started looking on Sarevok as a reflection of himself in the first game, there's the simple fact that you've killed him, sent him to Hell, and killed him again; you've had your revenge, and a little bit more besides. You could easily say that at this point, all debts have been paid.
I actually disagree, and think forgiveness is the hardest part for my characters. Gorion was a loving father figure and the only parent CHARNAME ever had. Imagine how different life would have been if Gorion arrived at the Friendly Arms Inn alongside you. I can't imagine any character not feel an immense animosity toward Sarevok for taking away their only parent.
I don't know how to roleplay it as anything other than good aligned, but like @Malicron says, its easy to see Sarevok as what you easily could have been. You are also tossed about by fate at this point with even less idea of what is going on than usual, and Sarevok has knowledge of the procephy that you don't. He has also paid for his crimes. Twice even, as you follow him to hell to kill him again.
I never feel it's up to me to do any of the stuff outlined in the OP.
He didn't kill me but he killed an awful lot of other people.
Seems like they would have a lot more right to decide whether he should be redeemed or not, or get another chance.
Or at least some input into the decision.
There maybe only one judge, but it takes 12 to decide guilt or innocence and there's a really important reason for that.
Maybe it's my age, but Gorion is an old man when he is killed, it's sad but it's not a tragedy. Think of all those who had hardly had any life at all, teenagers/20's/younger, that he was responsible for. The ruined caravans on the road, whole families wiped out, the slavery.
Only a year or so in hell for all that then the slate wiped clean. Then you get to use him and let him do what he's always enjoyed doing, killing.
It's not like you demand he compensates anybody, you just use him for yourself.
I'd suggest that if you really want to RP a good lawful alignment, if you save Sarevok and give him a chance of redemption, you never let him pick up a sword or fight.
Make him understand what it's like to be defenseless and at the mercy of others, now that might drive the lesson home.
These kind of questions are tricky indeed. The Hell trials nicely exemplify the fact that the good path is straight and narrow, as it only takes one action to strip you of your goodness. This is realistic -- consider someone who has been lovely towards you for almost all of their life but has betrayed you once, just once. Do you trust them? (That's a rhetorical question, isn't it?)
And then there's the potential mentioned above that redemption is always possible.