Kallor

Kallor Eiderann Tes'thesula
Fan art by Autumn Tavern
Biographical information
Pseudonyms	The High King Kell-Vor The Grey Man
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Appearance	Ancient, weathered face, long strands of grey hair, broad armoured shoulders
Social information
Title(s)	God King Demon King

Interpretation of Kallor, Illustration by Simon Underwood

Kallor [KAL-lor], full name Kallor Eiderann Tes'thesula, was second-in-command of Caladan Brood's forces during the Malazan campaign in Genabackis. The self-declared High King claimed to have lived for millennia, and declared he had once ruled an empire that he himself had ultimately destroyed. While on campaign, he traveled everywhere with an ornate, ironwood throne.

He was tall and gaunt, and looked exceptionally old. His narrow face was dark and lined, ravaged by age, and his long grey hair hung about his back and shoulders. He had dull, pale, lifeless eyes beneath thin brows, a gravelly voice, pallid skin, and usually carried a sneering look of disdain on his face. His fingers were long.

Kallor wore an ancient, oft-mended, full-length chain surcoat that fell to halfway between his knees and ankles with a slit in the front and a dull grey helmet. He wore scaled gauntlets. His weapon of choice was a plain hand and a half sword, also known as a bastard sword, which he wore strapped to his back in a scarred wooden scabbard over his left shoulder. The sword had a broad cross-hilt and a worn grip and nicked pommel.

His tactical genius was legendary, and he possessed "an instinctive mastery of the sweep and shift of vast campaigns", and he claimed not to have faced defeat in a hundred thousand years. But he could barely disguise his own disinterest in such contests, earning him grudging respect from his troops, but not their loyalty. He had a hatred for sorcery, preferring to rely on the natural arcana of alchemy.

He saw himself as a hunter who lay in wait for decades or centuries of interminable boredom while the children around him grew blind to his danger. Then, when the moment was right, he would act explosively and with certainty. The long-lived High King no longer dreamed, each night reminding him of his fears of oblivion.

He spoke fluent Tiste Andii.

In Gardens of the Moon

Kallor served Brood uneasily during the fighting against the Malazans at Blackdog Forest where he was dismissive of the military success of Crimson Guard officer Jorrick Sharplance. He also counseled Brood to destroy Anomander Rake rather than ally with him, but his advice went unheeded. Brood left Kallor in charge when he left to confer with Crimson Guard commander K'azz D'Avore. After Brood departed Kallor swore Brood would rue dismissing his advice.

When the allied city of Pale fell to the Malazan siege, Brood left the Crimson Guard behind to hold the north while the rest of his troops moved south to respond. High Fist Dujek Onearm was forced to parley with Brood and Kallor outside Pale in order to extricate his forces.

In Deadhouse Gates

While passing through the Imperial Warren, Kalam spied the collapsed dome of a fallen palace or temple bearing the deeply carved sigil of a crown. He recognized it as the symbol from Kallor's standard from when the Malazan Empire clashed with the High King and Caladan Brood at Blackdog Forest. Fiddler noted that legend held Kallor to be tens of thousands of years old and Kallor himself claimed to have once ruled empires, each one making the Malazan Empire seem no larger than a province. Kallor boasted he had destroyed them all and made worlds lifeless.

In Memories of Ice

Interpretation of Kallor by Artsed

Kallor continued in his role as Brood's second when the warlord allied himself with their former enemy, High Fist Dujek Onearm, against the Pannion Domin. The High King was shown to resent Brood's authority over him, but was wary of the warlord's power and thus never directly challenged him. He was openly hostile to Silverfox, a reincarnation of sorts of Nightchill, and demanded she be slain as an abomination. When Whiskeyjack stood in Silverfox's defence, Kallor laughed in contempt. In response, the Bridgeburner struck him across the face with the back of his gauntled hand, something no one had done in centuries. Kallor would remember.

Spoiler warning: The following section contains significant plot details about Kallor.

Approached by Gethol, Kallor allied himself with the Crippled God, accepting the position of High King in the new High House Chains in return for being provided with an opportunity to kill Silverfox. He repeatedly advised Brood to turn on their Malazan allies after it was revealed that Dujek maintained his own secret goals and ambitions from the warlord.

After the alliance successfully lifted the Pannion Siege of Capustan, Brood called for a parley of the victorious commanders and representatives of the city. There, Kallor recognised Keruli as his old enemy, K'rul, and revealed his identity to the others. The alliance decided to next confront the Pannion Seer and his armies at Coral.

The armies divided to separately liberate Setta and Lest before rejoining at Maurik to march on Coral together. Dujek devised a plan to secretly send the bulk of the Malazan army ahead to Coral without alerting their allies. Whiskeyjack was left behind to break the news at Maurik, earning Brood and Kallor's scorn. Korlat and her Tiste Andii joined Whiskeyjack's small army in their attempt to force march to Coral where Dujek was already engaged in the Battle of Black Coral. But Brood heeded Kallor's advice to allow his own soldiers to linger behind. The High King's scathing disrespect for Korlat, Whiskeyjack's lover, led her brother, Orfantal, to promise Kallor that "when all this is done... I will come for you."

Kallor separately travelled to Coral and made his move on Silverfox during the battle. He struck down and gravely wounded Korlat and would likely have succeeded in slaying the young Bonecaster as well had not Whiskeyjack stepped between him and Silverfox. This resulted in Whiskeyjack's death by Kallor's hand when the Bridgeburner's injured leg failed during their duel. Kallor was himself seriously wounded by Whiskeyjack's bodyguards and the sorcery of Artanthos before crying out for help and disappearing into the Warren of the Crippled God.

After the battle, Korlat and Orfantal set off in pursuit of Kallor, with Anomander Rake requesting they bring him back alive to face Dragnipur's justice.

Significant plot details end here.

In Midnight Tides

Kallor by Dejan Delic

Silchas Ruin showed Brys Beddict a vision of the Kallorian Empire on the day those who warred against Kallor brought down the Crippled God upon the Malazan world. The two men stood atop a flat-topped pyramid overlooking a vast and beautiful city of tiered gardens, raised walkways, and towers of extraordinary heights. Fragments of enormous stone buildings and statuary fell upon the city from a wound in the sky, followed by a massive sphere wreathed in lightning. The sphere seemed to scream as it struck the city with a detonation that created a firestorm that rushed outward to engulf everything in sight.

In The Bonehunters

Apsalar liberated a pair of ghosts named Telorast and Curdle from the Shadow Realm. The two claimed to have once been great mages who even Kallor quailed before.

Quick Ben related the details of the Siege of Coral to Kalam. The High Mage lamented that a lot had gone wrong as usual, but Kallor's betrayal had been something they should have seen coming. Kalam said he had a spot on his blade ready for a notch in the High King's name.

Spite warned Mappo Runt and Iskaral Pust that a Convergence was coming "more terrible than this or any other realm has seen before." She said such events as the Fall of the Crippled God and the Rage of Kallor would be dwarfed by what she sensed ahead.

In Toll the Hounds

Interpretation of Kallor, Illustration by Fiddler

A year or more after the Siege of Coral, a filthy and bedraggled Kallor landed upon the coast of Genabackis and proceeded to walk a hundred leagues across the northern Lamatath Plain towards Darujhistan. While vultures circled overhead, he mused about a past that had seen him preside as emperor over a dozen terrible empires that ruled the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Despite so many deaths, betrayals, and scenes of destruction, he considered himself a man at peace. Now he travelled towards Darujhistan where he had "a destiny to claim by right of sword and indomitable will."

Crossing the plain, he sensed that Korlat and Orfantal still pursued him, albeit in a manner he found clumsy, witless, and easily fooled. But he was mystified by their relentlessness and could not understand what he had done to earn their wrath or that of Anomander Rake. He could not believe they or Anomander Rake could be so angered by his failure to stand by them during their doomed battle at Coral.

Near Heath, the High King encountered Nimander Golit and his band of close kin who were bringing the catatonic body of Clip to Bastion. When Kallor asked the Andii why he should not kill them all, the wary Nimander replied, "Because, sir, you do not know us." This satisfied Kallor, who intended to ride in their wagon until Bastion where he would be able to pick up the track through the Cinnamon Wastes to Darujhistan. Desra offered him Kelyk, but he rebuffed the poisoned drink. He traveled with the Andii like a man with six servants, refusing to cook or clean his plate. When he assaulted Aranatha by "help[ing] himself to a handful", the woman tossed the stunned High King from the wagon. Kallor attempted to laugh the incident off, but Nimander could see he was shaken.

Discovering a ruined tower on the side of the road closer to Bastion, Kallor stopped to investigate with Nimander and Skintick in tow. They were reluctantly welcomed inside by the resident Jaghut and offered tea. Kallor and the Jaghut began to argue, and when the Jaghut blamed him for terribly injuring Togg, the wolf god, during the High King's destruction of his own empire, Kallor threatened to kill him. It was only when the Jaghut revealed the ruined tower had once been an Azath House and offered to reawaken it that Kallor finally recognised their host as Gothos. He made a hasty exit as Nimander and Skintick were overcome by the drug in their tea. The High King returned to the wagon alone in an agitated state and Desra demanded to know what happened to her kin. Kallor disclosed that the Jaghut inhabiting the tower had decided to use them to their misfortune. While Desra raced into the tower to save her kin, Kallor declared that no Jaghut was to be trusted, especially Gothos. Desra successfully returned with the two men and Aranatha mystified Kallor when she announced she would speak with the Jaghut.

They found Bastion seemingly abandoned, its streets empty and its walls and buildings marred by sigils and glyphs. Only the distant sound of singing and the feeling of watching eyes gave indication that anyone remained. Kallor left the others--who were heading for the city centre--to go off on his own down a side street to examine the ruins of an "enormous mechanism" which seemingly had fallen from the sky. The High King thought that the original makers of this wreck had been K'Chain Che'Malle. The Andii found a closed-up inn to rest and when Nimander and Skintick left the others to search out the Dying God's temple, Kallor rejoined them. Finding a mob of naked and armed worshippers surrounding the temple, Nimander and Skintick retreated as Kallor ventured through the crowd to the temple and did not return.

Kallor left Bastion on his own, having found nothing worthwhile there and happy to be free of the pathetic Tiste Andii. The Undying God proved only to be "the pathetic remnant of one of Nightchill's lovers." He continued on his way to Darujhistan, where he sensed an important convergence was in the process of developing. The High King felt a driving need to be there in time so as to be in a position to achieve his ultimate goal of taking over the 'Broken Throne' from the Crippled God. He vowed to pull down all of civilisation and defeat the curse placed on him by the gods.

Waking up out of sleep in camp to the smell of death, Kallor found himself staring up at Tulas Shorn, an undead Soletaken Eleint. The dragon chastised him for seeking to make himself the King of High House Chains, but Kallor said the Crippled God's days were numbered and the God's throne would remain for the taking after he was gone. Then the dragon revealed to him the history of the unwinnable Jaghut war against Death itself--of which the dragon had been a part. Even Kallor's eyes teared at the sacrifice of millions and he realised he owed Gothos an apology the next time they met.

Kallor vs Spinnock by Shadaan

The High King approached Darujhistan on the last day of the Gedderone Fête, certain it was the centre of a Convergence of powers that would present him with great opportunities. As night fell and he neared the city, he came to a crossroad lit by four burning torches where Spinnock Durav stood ready to block his passage. The Tiste Andii warrior had been tasked to keep Kallor away from Darujhistan by Anomander Rake while Rake's own fate played out in the city that night. Kallor turned down Spinnock's offer of wine and conversation and unhappily drew his sword. He insisted he had great respect for Spinnock and raged against those who forced honourable men to die before him. Thus, the two great swordsmen fought the whole night through.

As dawn approached, Kallor finally defeated Spinnock, but the High King stayed his hand and did not deliver a killing blow. Kallor realized that Spinnock had kept him from Darujhistan just long enough so that Kallor was now too late to take advantage of the convergence. Still, the 'High King' continued on his way, leaving Spinnock grievously wounded but alive.

'Kallor versus Orfantal'
Interpretation by Corporal Nobbs

However, even as Kallor again proceeded towards to city, Korlat and Orfantal finally caught up with the High King. Orfantal swept down and flew off with Kallor in his talons while Korlat stopped to save Spinnock's life. But Orfantal, tackling Kallor alone, was outmatched. The High King was able to draw his sword and sink it deep into Orfantal's throat. They crashed to the ground where Orfantal sembled to his Tiste Andii form. His arm broken and his neck bleeding, the dazed Orfantal was only able to walk a dozen steps before falling dead.

Kallor, finally reaching the eastern outskirts of Darujhistan, decided to go no further than an empty tavern in Worrytown. There he helped himself to bad ale while listening to the overwhelming sound of Darujhistan's bells tolling together in mourning for the fallen Rake, thinking to himself, "Death, ruin, grief... They're playing [my] song".

In Dust of Dreams

(Information needed)

In The Crippled God

(Information needed)

In Return of the Crimson Guard

Kallor killed Ereko, the last of the Thel Akai, at the Dolmens of Tien, fulfilling a vow he made ages past to destroy that ancient race for their support of the people of Jacuruku against his tyranny. He then sneeringly fought Ereko's friend Traveller and was astonished to be bested by him. Before Traveller could finish him off, Kallor called out to his patron for aid and retreated to the Crippled God's Warren.

Spoiler warning: The following section contains significant plot details about Kallor.

In Blood and Bone

Kallor was known as the Warleader (or the Grey Ghost) throughout the majority of the book, where he took the part of a mercenary commander. With his second in command Scarza he lead the Tribes of the Adwami in their invasion of the Thaumaturg lands, also bargaining help from the Shaduwam mages without consulting the Adwami.

The Shaduwam Agon worshipped the Demon-King, Kell-Vor - implied to be Kallor.

During the battle of the Thaumaturg capital Anditi Pura he killed the Adwami princess Andanii as she attacked him, having discovered his identity. The other major Adwami Warband leader Jatal attempted to avenge this act with Scarza's help. After the Thaumaturg Circle's second attempt to destroy Kallor using a meteor from the "Green Banner" - the Crippled God's followers, the original being the Crippled God himself - failed, he survived. Jatal and Scarza caught up with him and Jatal asked Kallor to kill him so that he could be with Andanii. Kallor obliged, killing Jatal with a single thrust. He asked Scarza to accompany him in his new endeavor, finding and killing Draconus, but Scarza declined.

Significant plot details end here.

In Deadhouse Landing

Kallor re-surfaced on Seven Ruins Island [see "History" section below] at the tavern, the "Full Sail", to offer the corsairs drinking there a bag of precious gems in exchange for transportation off of the island aboard one of the ships moored in the harbour below. A deadly free-for-all broke out amongst everyone present in the "Full Sail" as they attempted to obtain the jewels for themselves. After the dust settled, only Kallor and the unsavory 'adventurer', Lars Jindrift, were left standing. Lars recommended the corsair ship, the Tempest, to Kallor as being the most seaworthy of the ships available. Thus, the two left the island on the Tempest, heading west across the Reacher's Ocean because Kallor had 'sensed' that "something [had] happened" in that direction.

Kallor - forewarned by Lars - dealt with a group of crew members of the Tempest who had been plotting to "take him down". The plotters wanted to to get rid of Kallor not only to get hold of his evident wealth, but also to end the voyage westward which was taking them far outside their usual territory of the Rivan Sea. Kallor easily dispatched all but a small fraction of the crew - marking the survivors with a "savage slash" to their faces.

Still sailing westward, Kallor and the Tempest encountered a Meckros 'floating city' with which Kallor had had negative, well-remembered, dealings sometime in the past. Reminding the authorities of the Meckros city of the deadly ease with which he had dealt with them during their previous encounter, Kallor was able to get badly needed supplies in exchange for his agreeing to leave the floating city and its inhabitants unharmed upon his departure.

After a long voyage across the ocean, which left only Kallor, Lars Jindrift and a pitifully few crew members still alive, the Tempest arrived off the south coast of Malaz Island - which proved to be Kallor's ultimate destination in the west.

Kallor was able to get ashore without alerting any of the islanders who usually guarded the south coast. Thus, he was also able to ambush one of his very oldest, most hated enemies, the Sister of Cold Nights - also known as Nightchill - who was one of the guardian mages then present on the southern shore. Kallor came up behind Nightchill and skewered her straight through her body with his long archaic sword - on which he had smeared otataral dust - thereby negating Nightchill's potent sorcery. But before the gloating Kallor could finish off the sorceress by beheading her, however, he was attacked and overcome by Malaz Island's extremely powerful chief guardian and protector - 'Fisher'. 'Fisher', after magically wrapping Kallor in seaweed, old ropes and nets, had then had him dragged into a nearby skiff - which was then sent out to sea. Some of the last words that 'Fisher' spoke to Kallor made it clear that he was never to return to Malaz Island.

Spoiler warning: The following section contains significant plot details about Kallor.

In Forge of Darkness

The rogue Azathanai, Errastas, spoke of fleeing over the ocean from Kurald Galain to the High Kingdom, whose borders were closed to his kind. He said the High King was a "perfect liege" "so beloved among his people." The Azathanai, Old Man, stunned Draconus with the displeasing words that "the High King has built a ship."

In Fall of Light

(Information needed)

Significant plot details end here.

History

Interpretation of Kallor by GenKael

In his long life, Kallor had ruled as supreme emperor over "a dozen terrible empires" and ruled the lives of hundreds of thousands of people from atop a throne of gold, silver, and onyx. With a single gesture, he had once condemned a surrendered army of fifteen thousand soldiers to death. Centuries of memories of deaths, betrayals, and empires collapsing in smoke and fire no longer moved him.

Kallor once conquered an entire continent over a period of fifty years. His Kallorian Empire was approximately contemporaneous to the Human First Empire some 119,739 years before Burn's Sleep. Kallor's despotic rule as 'High King' over his empire on the continent of Jacuruku led a group of eight "mighty wizards" to look for a power source strong enough to successfully oppose him. The eight wizards managed to ensnare a being from a distant, unknown realm. This being, later known as the Crippled God, was torn into pieces and, in the process of falling to earth, these pieces shattered the continents of Korel and Jacuruku. The fallen being, however, somehow remained alive.

A few years later, Kallor, having delivered one insult too many, three Elder Gods, K'rul, Draconus, and the Sister of Cold Nights--who later became known as Nightchill--joined together to free the twelve million people who were slaving under the High King's despotic rule. Kallor vowed that he would never allow the Gods to take from him what he could not have, and to forestall them, he burned the entire continent and all its inhabitants to ash and bone. Since the devastation had already occurred by the time they faced Kallor on his throne - the only object left unburned, the trio of Elder Gods decided to retaliate by each of them casting a curse upon Kallor. They cursed Kallor to live forever, while suffering physically and mentally like a mortal. Also, he would never ascend.

Kallor by Corporal Nobbs

The actual words of the curses were:

K'rul: "Know this: you, Kallor Eiderann Tes'thesula, shall know mortal life unending. Mortal, in the ravages of age, in the pain of wounds and the anguish of despair. In dreams brought to ruin. In love withered. In the shadow of Death's spectre, ever a threat to end what you will not relinquish."

Draconus: "Kallor Eiderann Tes'thesula, you shall never ascend."

Sister of Cold Nights: "Kallor Eiderann Tes'thesula, each time you rise, you shall then fall. All that you achieve shall turn to dust in your hands. As you have wilfully done here, so it shall be in turn visited upon all that you do. Three voices curse you. It is done."

―K'rul, Draconus, and the Sister of Cold Nights cursing Kallor

Kallor, in turn, used the power of the millions of deaths caused by his destruction of his empire to curse K'rul, Draconus, and the Sister of Cold Nights. He cursed K'rul to "fade from public eye", Draconus to imprisonment in a creation of his own making (Dragnipur), and the Sister of Cold Nights to be torn apart on a field of battle.

The actual words of the curses Kallor spoke were:

"I shall break you. Each of you. I swear this upon the bones of seven million sacrifices. K'rul, you shall fade from the world, you shall be forgotten. Draconus, what you create shall be turned upon you. And as for you, woman, unhuman hands shall tear your body into pieces, upon a field of battle, yet you shall know no respite -– thus, my curse upon you, Sister of Cold Nights. Kallor Eiderann Tes'thesula, one voice, has spoken three curses. Thus."

―Kallor cursing K'rul, Draconus, and the Sister of Cold Nights

The High King by Shadaan

Kallor's destroyed empire was preserved by K'rul as a Warren so that the land would be able to heal. The Sister of Cold Nights remarked that the act of fashioning a Warren for the remains of the empire would break K'rul. The Elder God replied that there was no other way. And indeed, in the aftermath of the cursing, when the remains of the collapsed empire were pulled into the Warren, K'rul felt that the wounds and scars just cast upon him would never heal.

To counteract at least part of the curse, Kallor subsequently used alchemy, not only to extend his lifespan, but also to rejuvenate himself. He did this by periodically burning Century Candles at night - which each time gained him another one hundred healthy years in a single night.

Kallor by Corporal Nobbs

During his long life, he had been with so many women he lost count of them. Few stayed any length of time with him and even with those he refused to share the secret of his longevity. Instead, he locked them in towers to be forgotten once they lost their youth. One exception was a wife who had slit her wrists and died after being offered life forever with him. He thought only madness explained her decision. Whenever he begat a child, he killed the babe immediately, considering it a mercy not to allow the women time to become attached.

He had little love for philosophy. After tolerating "such rubbish" for centuries in his empires, he finally grew tired of the philosophers and had them tortured and executed.

During his long life he had killed his share of dragons--both pure and Soletaken--although he had always fought them one at a time.

At one point in his life he had attempted to sanctify an entire continent with himself as the centre of its worship.

Kallor had one particularly memorable war horse named Vaderon, which had given up its life to save that of the High King during a battle involving Jheck, Tartheno Toblakai, and Forkrul Assail.

His passing through places tended to agitate ancient spirits. For a time, this whining and moaning had irritated him enough that he hunted down and slew them to quiet them. But he eventually gave this up.

Legend had it that hundreds of years before the foundation of the Malazan Empire in the 1058th year of Burn's Sleep, Kallor – as warlord - had terrorized all of southern Genabackis in a series of ferociously cataclysmic wars which had led to the formation of the famous "martial orders of Elingarth", such as the 'Grey Swords'. Kallor's fortified capital and headquarters had been built on what came to be known as Seven Ruins Island. Seven Ruins was located just off the southern coast of Genabackis – probably more or less due south of the city of Elingarth - and had received its name because of the ruined remains of Kallor's fortress stronghold and cenotaph which could still be found hundreds of years later in the highlands of the island. Because of this history and these ruins, Seven Ruins Island had the reputation of being haunted by the ancient warlord, whose actual name, by this time, had been forgotten by the locals.

Quotes

Kallor: "More directly, however, you seem to forget my...experience. For all that I seem to grate upon all of you, I have walked this land when the T'lan Imass were but children. I have commanded armies a hundred thousand strong. I have spread the fire of my wrath across entire continents, and sat alone upon tall thrones. Do you grasp the meaning of this?"

Caladan Brood: "Yes. You never learn, Kallor."

―Kallor explaining the value of his tactical analysis to Caladan Brood.

"Too much weight was given to history... One's own history; that of peoples, cultures, landscapes. What value peering at past errors in judgement, at mischance and carelessness, when the only reward after all that effort was regret? [Kallor] had lived out his every ambition...living each one out until colour was drained away, leaving a bleached, wan knowledge that there wasn't much in life worth the effort to achieve it. That the rewards proved ephemeral; nay, worthless."

―Kallor reflecting on his past.

"How many women had there been? [Kallor] had lost count...watching those [women] lose all their beauty, surrendering their youth, until there was no choice but...to discard them, to lock them away, one by one... Too bad he'd had to kill every child he begat. No doubt that left most of his wives and lovers somewhat disaffected... Attachments...they were indeed a waste of time...a weakness. To rule an empire -- to rule a hundred empires -- one needed a certain objectivity. All was to be used, to be remade howsoever he pleased."

―Kallor's views on personal relationships.

"There were times, Kallor reflected, when he despised his own company... Despising himself was, oddly enough, a comforting sensation, for he knew he was not alone in his hate."

―Kallor's thoughts when travelling alone through the desert.

Author comments

Kallor by xpibx

Author Ian C. Esslemont says Kallor found himself no good at learning magic--"some people can't hammer a nail...it just...it doesn't work, so he went the alchemy route and has pursued that to almost...its greatest mastery."

Notes and references

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