Kaelan Kalla

Queen Kaelan Kalla was the first wife of Kalder I Kalla and an exceptionally powerful blood mage. She was a loyal supporter of her husband and one of the most feared and valued of his generals. Kaelan was sterile and after her husband decided to marry Minelaeva Almer to produce an heir Kaelan was claimed to have drowned in the Dead Tide either killed by her husband or committing suicide. 
== Appearance and Character ==
Kaelan had the same divine yet frightening beauty as her husband. She had pale see-through skin, icy blue eyes and silver white hair. She wore black robes and carried a black iron staff with amber seeing stone called the Heart of Skye. She was quick to anger and had relentless unforgiving nature which combined with her gender made her the most hated and feared of her husbands generals. 
Kaelan was a very skilled blood mage and could heal others and wake dragons from the death, an ability she only shared with her husband. It was rumored she bathed in the blood of her enemies and ate their hearts to polish her powers even more. When she found out she was not able to bear children she started to perform horrific and gruesome blood ceremonies in order to help her and her husband to conceive. 
It was said Kalder loved and appreciated her dearly, but not enough for not being able to cast her aside when she couldn't give him an heir.
== History ==
Kaelan was born in Skye and was probably a high-ranking priestess of the Red God. She accompanied her husband Kalder to the Norden beyond the Shrieking Sea some time after the Fall of Skye. She fought beside him in every battle. During the bloody efforts to gain the Norden from the old families Kaelan was known to use exceptional cruelness. She destroyed villages and wouldn't spare even women and children. Once she seduced and killed sons of a very powerful shaman and then ate their hearts. It is said that for revenge the shaman cursed her never to be able to have a child of her own. Some believe the curse was why Kaelan could not bear any children. However it is more likely Kaelan was just sterile like so many other people of the Skye.
After oppressing the old houses Kalder and Kaelan established the House Kalla to rule the Norden. The house name is derived from their names and the two unicorns on the house shield represent Kalder and Kaelan. To secure the throne the now-royal couple needed an heir, something Kaelan tried desperately to accomplish. In order to help them conceive she started to perform blood ceremonies requiring gifts to the Red God like women who had proven to be fertile, women who had just given birth and even newborn babies. The horrific rituals increased her unpopularity among the Nord and it is speculated that Kalder's marriage to Minelaeva Almer was partly organised by those who wanted to get rid of her.
After years of trying Kaelan was said to have finally gotten pregnant. However the child was born premature, was hideously deformed and did not live long. In her grief Kaelan killed all the healers and midwives who were present at the birth and sunk into deep depression. After this Kalder seemed to understand his wife would never give birth to a living child. Not even a year after the death of their child Kalder married Minelaeva Almer. It is not known what happened to Kaelan afterwards besides that she was said to have drowned in The Dead Tide. Others say she committed suicide in order to free her husband from their marriage, but others claim she was drowned by Kalder himself in a combat Kaelan had challenged him during a jealous outburst.
There's still a statue of Kalder and Kaelan kissing and embracing in the gardens of Vaarna.
== Theories ==
There is a theory that Kaelan did not die, but helped by her husband possessed the body of Minelaeva Almer and posed as her rest of her life. Although sounding far-fetched at first, the theory has many hints backing it.
Even though the ritual of taking over a body is highly difficult, it could have been done by a very powerful blood mage. Both Kalder and Kaelan have been described as powerful blood mages. Also as a high priest of Skye Kalder would probably have been able to perform the ritual. It is said the body swap is almost impossible to detect on the outside except for the eyes of a victim that might change color to the one who has been swapped into the body. Minelaeva's eyes were said to be green, but in later sources they are described being blue, Kaelan had icy-blue eyes. There are also multiple other things hinting to the body swap.
Minelaeva's personality had been said to have changed greatly since arriving to Norden. She has said to have became cruel and bitter, something that seemed to be out off character for her before this, but well suited to Kaelan who was known for her cruelty. The change of Minelaeva's nature was so distinctive that her father went as far as claiming the letters she sent were not written by her. Her housecarl however confirmed she wrote the letters herself, but observed her behavior so out off character that he suspected she had been witched somehow. Also Minelaeva, who had previously been very anxious about marrying the Witchking, seemed to assume her new home and role amazingly quick. She never seemed to miss her birth family or cry aside from one occasion when she had just birthed her first child, Prince Migos, when she has been said to have wept with joy. Like so many people of Skye, Kaelan couldn't bear children and dedicated much of her time to help herself and Kalder to conceive. Maybe taking over Minelaeva's body was solely for this purpose that would explain her strong emotions when she finally successfully gave birth to a living child. It is also noted that Kalder chose a new wife over the vast areas that the King of Bergatt was willing to gift to him, a decision that didn't seem to have any tactical significance. 
Minelaeva was also recorded hinting herself she actually wasn't who she claimed to be. When her eldest son was assassinated by the Faith the civil war known as the Great Norden War was prompted. While grieving her son she was angered and famously said she would go and kill all the Faith herself if she did not have a weak woman's body. Often this has been interpreted her saying she would revenge her son herself if she was a man, but this can also mean she would revenge her son if she still had her body capable of blood magic. Growing older and losing more of her children, Minelaeva also started to abuse her body. She gained weight, drank indecently and refused the healing efforts of her husband. For Kaelan this might have been part of frustration and disappointment over giving up her body for children that were then taken from her without her being able to revenge them anymore. As Kaelan she might have chosen the slow death of a mortal for not being able to continue her lifestyle, only thing that reminded her from her old life in the Skye. After she died, Kalder was said to have been devastated. He stopped healing himself and suddenly started to look like a living corpse. He turned to the priests uncertain of where his wife's soul had went. This was interpreted that he wished to be joined with his human wife in afterlife, but it makes more sense he was confused how to reunite with his Skyeish wife who had died in a human body since during the hundreds of years of blood magic the concept of death had became highly foreign to the people of Skye.
 
One of the most significant hints is however the statue in the Winter Gardens of Castle Vaarna in the section called 'Meadow of Love' that is portraying Kalder and Kaelan kissing and embracing. It seems odd that a same kind of statue of Minelaeva is never mentioned probably meaning it doesn't exist. However, the statue of Kalder and Kaelan is left in the Meadow of Love although it is said that Kalder did cast Kaelan aside for Minelaeva. It is also odd that Minelaeva never got a statue in the meadow even though the loved ones of later rulers did. Neither did Minelaeva's children ever erect a statue to their mother nor removed the one with Kaelan and Kalder from the garden.