Caldwell

Caldwell (first name unknown) was one of Queen Meve's advisers and a member of the Council of Peers.
==Biography==
At the beginning of the Second Northern War, while Queen Meve was attending a meeting with the other monarchs of the Northern Kingdoms at Hagge, Count Caldwell was tasked with helping Villem, Meve's eldest son, to learn how to rule the kingdom of Lyria and Rivia, however he didn't think the young prince was wise enough to handle the responsibility. However, his primary purpose while she was away was to deal with the Strays of Spalla, a bandit group, which he attempted to do in the forests near Lokeren.
When Meve returned however, Count Caldwell told her that the Strays had deceived them in the forest, and attacked Hawkesburn, stealing all the gold from the tax collectors' office. Meve immediately rode together with Caldwell and her army to Hawkesburn, and then after finding no Strays there, on to Lord Clayton's residence, as he had managed to defeat the Strays and to capture their leader Gascon. Right after the leader of the Strays was put in irons, a Lyrian messenger arrived, telling the queen that the Empire of Nilfgaard just crossed the Yaruga with thousands of soldiers, marching for the city of Dravograd.
Without hesitation, Meve led her army to Dravograd, already besieged by Nilfgaard, and there managed to defeat the Nilfgaardians' commander Vreemde, saving the city from the same fate of Cintra.
When Meve returned to the capital, she ordered a meeting with her son Villem and with the Council of Peers in order to discuss what to do regarding the Nilfgaardian invasion. While Meve wanted to resist at any cost, the Council and both Caldwell and Villem wanted to surrender to Nilfgaardian general Ardal aep Dahy, since they didn't have enough men to fight a war. As Meve immediately refused this option, she was temporarily arrested by order of her own son until the treaty of submission with Nilfgaard wasn't signed.
Confined in the castle tower, Meve in the night was visited by Count Caldwell: it turned out that the Strays of Spalla were hired by him in order to deceive Meve and to buy time in order to treat with Nilfgaard. He also revealed the Queen that, although her son Villem didn't want her to die, before dawn his henchmen would've come and killed her, making it look like a suicide.
During the night however, the Queen was freed by Gascon, the leader of the Strays of Spalla and, together with them and the Lyrian soldiers who remained loyal to her, fled from Lyria to Aedirn in order to build a new army.
In the meantime, Caldwell went to Tuzla Castle in Angren with an army of Nilfgaardian soldiers and Lyrian traitors, where he was tasked by Ardal aep Dahy with monitoring the timber harvesting, in order to deliver building materials to the Nilfgaardian shipyards.
When he heard that Meve was coming towards him, he burned the only bridge representing the only way out of the swamps, and alerted Duke Ardal aep Dahy of the queen's upcoming arrival, who sent a great number of soldiers to bring aid to Caldwell during the siege.
Meve however anticipated them and immediately started besieging the castle: in the end, Meve's troops managed to defeat Count Caldwell's men, while the latter took shelter in the castle's main tower. There, Meve finally confronted and killed him, pushing the count out of the tower's window. Although the battle was won, Meve and her troops, without a way out from the swamps, were still about to stand against the thousands of soldiers sent in aid by Ardal aep Dahy.
==Notes==
*Caldwell's dog was named Tiberius.
==Gallery==
TB_count_caldwell.jpeg
TB_caldwell_character_.jpeg
== External links ==
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ru:Колдуэлл
pl:Hrabia Caldwell
Category:Humans
Category:Thronebreaker characters