Kelly Wade

**President Kelly Wade** is a character in *Motherland: Fort Salem*. She was the 45th president of United States of America, prior to her assumed assassination. In actuality, she survived the attack on her life, but was forced to go into hiding as her Vice President, Blanton Silver, was sworn in as the 46th President. She later revealed her survival when the moment was opportune and reclaimed the role of President. She is portrayed by Sheryl Lee Ralph.

## Throughout the Series

### Season 1

The President pushes General Alder to make more progress in fighting The Spree. She is very direct and has no problem challenging Alder. She threatens to bring out "conventional forces" if Alder doesn't deliver a victory in the Ukraine. Alder feels that she is concerned only with re-election and that eliminating the Spree is incidental to her.

After learning that Alder withheld information from her and sent in untested cadets on a mission against The Spree, President Wade confronts Alder. She tells her it is time for her long due retirement and declares that there will be changes in the Army. She enacts a plan to install Petra Bellweather as the Army's new leader. Alder, however, enacts a working to manipulate President Wade, such that when she makes her speech with the intention of installing Bellweather, she instead grants Alder full authorization to employ military force at home and at a global level to take action against The Spree, unhindered and at her own discretion. Anacostia Quartermain reveals to Abigail Bellweather's unit that Alder puppeted the President, a working outlawed by the Hague.

### Season 2

When the new threat of the Camarilla is revealed, Alder asks President Wade to sign an order asking all women of conscription age to report for testing as possible witches. Alder, however, is dubious, and Vice President Blanton Silver, whose own daughter was a witch, states that Wade has assured him she won't be signing any such order.

Later, Blanton Silver begins taking an active role, with President Wade supposedly "under the weather." In truth, Silver is secretly working on behalf of the Camarilla, directly under their leader, Alban Hearst.

Wade eventually recovers and learns a terrible truth: that Sarah Adler is just one step removed from the creator of the Spree, Nicte Batan. She tells her that they need to have a talk about the lines that she has crossed, also pointing out that she has recently been attacked, but failed to notify the chain of command. She declares that nobody outside the room will know about Alder's connection to the Spree, but that she is to step down with distinction.

Following these events, Sarah Alder is killed in the Camarilla attack on Fort Salem, but resurrected within the Mycelium. Meanwhile, Blanton Silver chats with Alban Hearst, having just sacrificed his own daughter Penelope to further the Camarilla cause. Hearst addresses him as "Mr. President" and tells him that Wade will pay the ultimate price for her collusion with the enemy.

### Season 3

After the witches of Fort Salem determine that she has no allegiance to the Camarilla, they reveal the truth to her regarding Blanton Silver's disloyalty. When Blanton Silver announces a bill to strip voting rights from witches, she announces her intention to veto it. However, as she readies herself to give a press conference to announce her decision, she is apparently assassinated. Blanton Silver is then sworn in as President.

Secretly, however, Kelly Wade survived the attempt on her life. The "President" that was actually assassinated was a golem created by the witch Izadora, a convincing double created in place of Wade herself. Kelly Wade was secretly spirited away, with some timely work from M.

## Quotes

> You're saying if I chew on those at midnight on a full moon, then I'll start floating around the sky like one of you?
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> Kelly Wade to General Sarah Alder, My Witches
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> I'm speaking here as a friend. You need to give me something on those butchers, because sooner or later, there will be no place safe to be a person in America, much less the world, for that matter. What are we doing in a concrete way to find these people, to stop these people?
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> Kelly Wade to General Sarah Alder, My Witches
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> And you too are bound by rule of law to the will of the American people, who have elected me to represent their interests and protect them. Don't forget it, or you may find yourself reminded.
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> Kelly Wade to General Sarah Alder, My Witches
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> You have nerve, lecturing me about humanitarian consequences when you have sent untrained cadets into a live operation, resulting in the death of one of your own who I know did not complete basic training. Not to mention the civilian deaths.
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> Kelly Wade to General Sarah Alder, Coup
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> I've just learned that you've allowed your Fort Salem to be infiltrated by the Spree. That's how you found out about Baylord Auto, but that's not the point. The point is, you've kept me in the dark about all of this, not to mention compromising national security. Your days of leading our military are over.
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> Kelly Wade to General Sarah Alder, Coup
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> You don't think it's me, Blanton? (*slaps Blanton Silver in the face*) Check my fingerprints.
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> Kelly Wade to Blanton Silver, But I Don't Even Have a Dress...
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## Trivia

* Ralph, who plays President Kelly Wade in the series, told ABC Audio that the show’s creator, Eliot Laurence, personally picked her to take on the role after they worked together on his other hit series, *Claws*.

## References

1. ↑ https://eurweb.com/2020/04/28/sheryl-lee-ralph-talks-new-show-motherland-fort-salem-and-advice-during-pandemic/