Kialandí was a male elven Dragon Rider, bonded to a purple dragon, who joined Galbatorix and became one of the Forsworn. He is one of the only three Forsworn described at length in the series.
History[]
Most Kialandí's early history is unknown, but he was chosen as dragon rider at an unknown age. A purple dragon hatched for him when he was young and he joined the Dragon Riders. At some point in his life, he joined Galbatorix in his quest to destroy the Dragon Riders and conquer Alagaësia. At some point, presumably not long before The Fall, Kialandí and Formora slew the Rider of a dragon called Agaravel and presumably Agaravel as well. Kialandí and Formora removed Agaravel's Eldunarí for further use.
Around the time that Galbatorix was gaining power and the Riders were in a state of disarray, two senior Riders, Oromis and his golden dragon, Glaedr, decided to find out what they could for themselves. When they departed Ilirea, they took Kialandí and Formora with them, not realising that the younger Riders were traitors aiding Galbatorix.
After two days of traveling, the three Riders and their dragons stopped at an outpost, where Oromis and Glaedr were trapped by one of Kialandí and Formora's spells. While they were trapped in this nexus, Kialandí and Formora cast wards around them to bind them in place, stopping their movement altogether. Before the interrogation could begin, however, Oromis and Glaedr lashed out with their minds.
In a later recount of the incident, Glaedr described the hours of mind-battling as very unpleasant, for it was Oromis and Glaedr against Kialandí, Formora, their dragons, as well as the enslaved Eldunarí of Agaravel. When it became apparent that the Forsworn could not be defeated, Oromis cast a complicated spell that freed himself and Glaedr from their bonds. Kialandí and Formora then panicked and began in their efforts to stop the elder Rider and his dragon.
Whilst Formora intended to kill the pair with her spell, Kialandí employed a different strategy. Kialandí wove an almost unheard-of enchantment, which succeeded in stopping the flow of magic around Oromis, immediately crippling the elf. The older Rider suffered from this injury until his death, resulting in him being unable to cast spells that required a significant amount of effort or energy.
Despite this devastating injury, Oromis managed to free himself and his partner, however he succumbed to a terrible fit (this injury also remained with Oromis for the rest of his life and in fact directly resulted in his death at the hands of Murtagh). Kialandí and Formora used their opponent's injury to their advantage, renewing their attempts to subdue the senior Riders. Glaedr later explained that Kialandí had been foolish enough to come within his reach, allowing Glaedr to throw the elf, impaling Kialandí on the spikes of his own dragon. Without Kialandí or His Dragon to fight, Oromis and Glaedr managed to escape to Du Weldenvarden, Glaedr's left foreleg being severed by a bloodthirsty Formora in the process.
The impalement of Kialandí temporarily incapacitated him, but is known that he survived and was later present in the Forsworn's attack on Ilirea. It was in this battle that Kialandí fought the Dragon Rider Arva and killed him.
Kialandí died in the century after The Forsworn defeated The Riders, under currently unspecified circumstances. There are several theories as to the cause of his death, which have been specified below:
- After the Banishing of the Names, he may have been one of the five members of The Forsworn who were driven insane. This is not a cause of death, but may have been a contributing factor.
- He may have been killed during the power struggle amongst the Forsworn.
- He may have died in an attack by the Varden, possibly being killed by Brom (who is known to have killed several members of The Forsworn).
- He may have committed suicide out of despair or madness
- He may have been killed due to overuse of magic
Powers[]
Since Kialandí has not made a physical appearance in the books, the extent of his powers cannot be certain. It is likely that he was very skilled at swordplay, mental powers and magic, since he was a Dragon Rider and slew many others of the order. He also learned dark magic from Galbatorix and possibly drew power from some Eldunarí he captured during the fall of the riders. Paolini stated that Galbatorix eventually gathered most if not all of the Forsworn's Eldunarí for himself, so Kialandí's power probably lessened since the Riders' Fall.
Trivia[]
- In the Inheritance Almanac Kialandí is incorrectly identified as female.