Zoran Lazarevic

Zoran Lazarević is a ruthless Serbian war criminal long thought by the public and NATO to be deceased. He is a fortune seeker heavily obsessed with finding the lost city of Shambhala and the Cintamani Stone.

Lazarević serves as a major character and the main antagonist of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, competing against protagonist Nathan Drake to reach Shambhala. Under his employ is a private army of highly trained soldiers, including his right-hand man Draza, and treasure hunter Harry Flynn.

Lazarević has also appeared in the multiplayer mode of Among Thieves. He subsequently returned as a skin for the multiplayer modes of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deceptionand Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. He also serves as the primary antagonist of the non-canon Co-op Adventuremode of Drake's Deception.

In all of his appearances, Lazarević was voiced by Graham McTavish, who has also voiced Charlie Cutter

Background and early life
Zoran Lazarević was born in former Yugoslavia. Lazarević participated in the Yugoslavian wars as a Soviet intelligence officer. His uniform and equipment is stereotypical of volunteers. During or after the war, Lazarević was hunted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Lazarević, however, survived the assassination attempt, although he would always bear scars on his right side of body by the bombing.

At some point later, Lazarević began to search for Shambhala, wanting to consume a special resin that comes from there in order to become undefeatable. Forming a large army of mercenaries and soldiers, Lazarević spent millions of dollars in his search for the lost city. However, his search went to vain, as he could not find any trails to Shambhala, except for files belonging to Marco Polo. Lazarević hid the fact that he was after the resin itself, claiming he is after the Cintamani Stone.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009)

 * "Merciless obsessive and power hungry - that is Zoran Lazarevic. A rogue paramilitary leader and fugitive war criminal notorious for committing unspeakable massacres and atrocities. His name strikes terror into the hearts of mercenaries and petty warlords around the world."
 * — Official Uncharted 2: Among Thieves bio.

Early involvement

Lazarević hires British treasure hunter Harry Flynn, and his associate Chloe Frazer, to help him in finding the Cintamani Stone and Shambhala, beginning with a break-in into the Istanbul Palace Museum to get a Mongolian oil lamp.

Flynn tracks down his friend Nathan "Nate" Drake, as Drake was the only who ever escaped the museum alive. Meeting him at the Beach Bar, Flynn explains the break-in plan, as well as introducing Chloe to Drake, without knowing the two were a couple once. The trio decides to 'dick over' Lazarević, after understanding that Lazarević is after Marco Polo's 'lost fleet', and take the treasure for themselves.

The three break into the museum through the sewer system and make their way until they reach the tower in which the lamp is held. After breaking the lamp and finding a map that shows them the location of Polo's lost fleet in Borneo, Flynn betrays Nate by activating the alarm with a pistol shot, leading to Nate's arrest.

Flynn brings the information to Lazarević, and the two set a camp in Borneo, searching for the fleet's remains for the next three months.

Search in Borneo
 * "Three months, and you have found nothing."
 * — Lazarevic to Flynn.

Nathan Drake is released from the Turkish jail by Victor Sullivan and Chloe, and is soon informed about Lazarević and Flynn's search in Borneo. At Sullivan's place, the three plan to find Polo's lost fleet before Lazarević, with setting up a distraction along the edge of Lazarević's camp with C4 charges.

At the camp, an angry Lazarević berates Flynn for not finding anything in three months. Informed by a soldier, Lazarević then executes one of his men with a knife for stealing a coin from a site, commenting that he is surrounded by traitors and fools.

Watching the scene, Sully and Nate activate the charges, causing Lazarević, Flynn, Chloe, and a few soldiers to go investigate the explosion. Meanwhile, Nate checks Lazarević's camp, finding out that Lazarević intends to pick up Marco Polo's trail up to Shambhala.

Eventually, Nate, Sully and Chloe find the lost fleet of Marco Polo, as well as finding two key items; the Phurba, and a map of the Valley of Temples. Flynn captures Nate and Sully (while Chloe pretends to be on Lazarević's side), takes the map, and orders Chloe to take the two to Lazarević. Chloe let the two to escape.

War in Nepal

As the Valley of Temples is located in Nepal, Lazarević and Flynn arrive to a Nepalese city that was in a middle of a civil war. Lazarević's men search for the temple that contains the location of Shambhala, and in the progress killing members of the local Resistance, who attempted to stop Lazarević from destroying their city.
 * "So... this little man is Drake?"
 * — Lazarevic confronting Drake, during their first face-to-face meeting.

Nate and Chloe search for the temple as well, ultimately finding it and the location of Shambhala, after dealing with a helicopter and a few soldiers sent by Lazarević himself. Subsequently to these events, Elena Fisher, an American journalist, and her partner/cameraman Jeff, try to track down and find a proof that Lazarević is alive. Outside the temple, Lazarević's men find Elena and Jeff, wounding the latter at the lower part of the torso whilst Elena engages them in a shootout, with the two are saved only when Nate and Chloe show up. Lazarević and Draza about to confront Drake and Elena. Nate, Elena and Chloe try to save Jeff from Lazarević's men, ending up in a half-destroyed building. As Flynn arrives, Chloe is forced to turn on her group, in order to not blow her cover, and she is taken by Lazarević's men. As Flynn confronts Nate, Lazarević and his loyal right-hand man Draza show up. Lazarević takes the Phurba from Nate, giving it to Draza. He then approaches a dying Jeff, executing him before Nate and Elena's eyes, much to the latter's dismay.

Nate proposes to Lazarević to look for Shambhala and that leaves in peace to Elena, but he ignores and threatens Elena with a pistol, before Flynn takes Nate's map, giving it to Lazarević.

Seeing Drake and Elena as useless, Lazarević orders Flynn to execute the duo, whilst him and Draza leave the scene. Elena briefly knocks out Flynn, and she and Nate escape.

With the phurba and the map showing Shambhala's location at his hands, Lazarević sets a train whose destination is the Himalayas. He is seen by Drake giving orders to Draza. Nate, with Elena's help, manages to get on the train, eventually defeating Draza and taking back the phurba. Nate is then injured by Flynn, and, thanks to Chloe, manages to escape death by exploding a few Propane tanks, destroying half of the train.

Lazarević sends his men to the train wreck to find the phurba and, if he survived, kill Drake, but his soldiers fails in both tasks.

Attack on the village

Having survived the assault of Lazarević's men, Nate is taken to a Tibetan Village by its leader, Tenzin. Nate reunites with Elena and meets Karl Schäfer, who once was too searching the Cintamani Stone. Alongside Tenzin, Nate is tasked by Schäfer to find Schäfer's expedition, in order to understand what disaster the stone can do.

Soon as they leave, however, Lazarević launches a large-scale attack on the village, killing many innocent Tibetan Villagers in the progress - all to find Schäfer and the phurba so he could unlock the entrance to Shambhala. Nate and Tenzin, with the help of a few villagers, fend off the soldiers, including a Tank. Nate and Elena manage to follow a convoy out the village, arriving into a Monastery, in which Lazarević based.

The Monastery & The Entrance to Shambhala
 * "Are you a student of history, Mr. Drake? [...] Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot - they were ALL great men. But do you know why they prevailed? [...] Because they had the will to do what other men could not."
 * — Lazarevic confronting Nate and Elena.

Lazarević and Flynn begin to search for the hidden entrance to Shambhala. At the monastery, Lazarević and his men take Schäfer to a tower, gaining more information after presumably beating him. Lazarević leaves a dying Schäfer to the care of his soldiers, who are killed by Nate and Elena. Schäfer himself dies a few moments later because of Lazarević's torture. Lazarević is also seen by Nate and Elena, giving orders to kill the duo.

Later, Lazarević, Flynn and Chloe find a room containing a puzzle. Flynn fails to solve the puzzle, angering Lazarević, who threatens Flynn with phurba, saying that he clearly hired the wrong man to help him. Lazarević then leaves the room, with Flynn comes after him in attempt to reason with him, leaving Chloe to solve the puzzle alone, as well as giving her the phurba.

Nate confronts Chloe, who gives him the phurba with one condition - to take down Lazarević. Nate solves the puzzle, ultimately finding the secret entrance with Elena. The two are soon surrounded by Lazarević and his soldiers, not before taking one soldier as hostage, who is executed by Lazarević.

Threatening to kill both Elena and Chloe, Lazarević forces Nate to open the secret door. Seeing there is no visible to move through the entrance, Lazarević orders Flynn to find a way to pass the entrance, telling him to take Drake as a support. Successfully activating a bridge made of large rocks, Flynn and Nate are attacked by Shambhala Guardians. While the two manage to slow down the monstrous creatures, they are defeated by the guardians.

Lazarević then shows up, easily killing the guardians with his sawn-off shotgun. Lazarević reveals to the group that the guardians function as "scarecrows" to frighten trespassers. Flynn prepares to kill Nate, but he is stopped by Lazarević, saying he wants Nate to see the lost city, dying knowing that Lazarević took it from him. At Shambhala, before Lazarević is able to kill Nate and his allies, he and his men are attacked by the guardians, with Nate and his friends escape.

Finding Shambhala and Death
 * Lazarevic: "You think I am a monster, but you're no different than me, Drake. How many men have you killed? How many - Just today? That's it, boy... No compassion. No Mercy. Do it! [...] You don't have the will."
 * Nate: "Maybe not. But they do."
 * ―Lazarevic and Drake, moments before the former's demise.

Leaving the fighting to his men, Lazarević finds the Cintamani Stone, but does not take it, as he knows that the real source to power comes from the resin, and the stone is nothing more but a large piece of frozen resin. As Flynn becomes wounded, Lazarević has no more use for him, giving him a grenade so he would kill Nate and his friends as a suicide trooper. Flynn activates the grenade, and dies in the process, but only manages to wound Elena. Lazarević's wounds getting healed. In the meantime, Lazarević and his remaining men find a pool of resin behind the Tree of Life - the source of the resin - and Lazarević drinks the resin, which heals his scars and gives him superhuman strength. Nate arrives at the same moment and attempts to kill him by shooting at the highly explosive and flammable resin pool. The explosion kills his soldiers, but Lazarević himself survives with no injuries.

Lazarević takes our his shotgun and begins to chase Nate down. Remembering that the resin is explosive, Nate shoots the resin lumps which wound Lazarevic and gradually affect his body. After repeating the action a few times, Nate manages to defeat Lazarević. Near death, he shouts Drake's name in pain and rage.

A wounded Lazarević attempts to reach a resin pool, but collapses. Nate approaches aiming an M4 at the defeated. Confronted by Nate, Lazarević tells him that Nate is not different from him, as Nate too killed many people. Lazarević tells Nate to finish him off, but Nate refuses, leading Lazarević to say that Nate does not have the will. Defeated Lazarević being confronted by Nathan Drake, minutes before his death.

Nate merely agrees, but says that the guardians do. Lazarević turns around, seeing a dozen guardians. He attempts to reach his shotgun, but the guardians tackles him down and beat him to death, whilst Nate escapes.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (2016)

 * "You want to hear insane? 'Nathan Drake raced a madman and his entire army to the steps of Shambhala.'"
 * — Rafe Adler to Drake.

Lazarević and his soldiers are briefly mentioned by Rafe Adler during his final confrontation with Drake. Rafe refers to him as a "madman."