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| “ | Everything you think you know is about to shatter... Very soon! | „ |
| ~ Kalandre |
Kalandre is the most enigmatic character of the French comic-book series Les Légendaires (The Legendaries), featured prominently in its prequel Les Légendaires : Origines (The Legendaries: Origins), along with her servants the Dynaméïs. Though she first appears as a mysterious and ambiguous figure, it is revealed late in the story that she is in fact one of the series' two main villains.
While Darkhell is the titular Legendaries' foremost enemy, linked to many threats they would face, Kalandre is the one who set up the entire story, manipulating everything and everyone (up to Anathos himself) from behind the scenes.
Appearance[]
Kalandre looks like a tall woman, wearing a long, flowing, blue and orange feathered cape, held by two shoulder pads. (It appears that her cape is similar to the one her mother used to wear.) Until very late in the story, she wears a helmet with a while veil hiding the upper-half of her face.
When she first appears, as well as in Origins, she wears white, blue and green robes with blue sleeves and a metallic ornament. However, when she takes the front stage as the final villain confronted by the Legendaries, she wears lavish, ornate, white, orange and green robes, with golden trimmings and white sleeves.
Kalandre's true demi-god aspect.
The first sign that Kalandre is no mere mortal is her blue and white skin. Under her helmet, she conceals long black hair, pointed horizontal ears, and three pupiless eyes, red with yellow irises.
In her semi-divine form, she keeps her white and blue skin and three eyes, only wearing maroon and gold shoulder pads and leg protectors, in addition to her cape.
Powers and Abilities[]
Kalandre is immensely powerful, though the author Patrick Sobral stated that she is surpassed by the likes of Anathos, Darkhell, Abyss and Skroa. Her magic is different from other mages of the series, being likely divine. Her divine blood makes Kalandre totally immune to magic, be it divine magic or that of mightier beings. Moreover, she can negate magic affecting someone at contact, but only temporarily, even neutralizing the possession of a mortal by a god. She can absorb magic, likely to increase her might.
Kalandre's primary power enables her to see the future with her third eye. She can see anyone's future but her own, and with centuries of watching, she knows about anything and anyone, and knows what will happen at any given time. She can project her visions to others through insect spies. It can be guessed that she can see all possible futures, given that she goes to great lengths to shape destinies the way she wants to.
She spell-casts through glowing orange circles, enabling people to float in the air or serving as shields, among others. She can resurrect people she made pacts with, giving them orange halos that make them unaging and blindly devoted to her. She can also temper people's memories, erasing and restoring it or implanting false ones.
Kalandre also proves able to create magical artefacts, namely the four Golden Weapons she gave to the Dynaméïs and the artificial body she gave to one of them. She can also teleport herself and other people wherever she wants, and can make things levitate or heal wounds to a certain extent, among others.
Personality[]
In her debuts, Kalandre appeared as regal, collected and always polite, while being shown outright as ominous, having a yet unexplained influence. Still, she first seems to work towards helping and saving the Legendaries. She was hinted to know destiny and try to enforce it to save Alysia. She is first shown to greatly care for her servants, heeding their objections, praising them, and reassuring Danaël about his former comrades' wellbeing...
At the same time, her sinister side quickly becomes obvious. Not only is she willing to perform morally dubious, if not needlessly cruel, actions; but she enjoys playing people before telling them how she did. Yet, it helps shaping the future Legendaries into better persons, and she seems to pursue a noble goal, be it through shady means.
What is pretty clear right from the start, is that Kalandre is a highly skilled manipulator. She knows which buttons to push to make people do what she wants, by playing on their emotions and resentment, and to orchestrate events how she likes. Though knowing the future helps her greatly. Also, she is as skilled in talking people into helping her, be it by promises of help, striking bargains, or simply convincing them with half-truths and white lies.
Under her poised and generous facade lies a monster of selfishness and bitterness of the worst kind, being callous, arrogant, self-righteous, petty and hateful. Her regal attitude only stems from her control of the situation. She looks down upon those whose destinies she plays with, and cannot stand anything that she could not predict or worse, can weaken her grasp. In short, she is one of the most despicable villains of the series, which is saying something.
All her speeches about destiny, saving the world and even her care for her vassals are a pretence. She callously disposes of anyone she no longer needs, even the Dynaméïs who served her faithfully for centuries. She does not give a damn about the thousands of people she plans to sacrifice, or all the lives she trampled only for giving them what she need to take it when needed. Even the tragedies she suffered cannot justify her loathsome actions.
Kalandre is blinded with rage against the gods and is obsessed about paying them back. She staunchly loathes them for abandoning the world (and mostly her) for no reason, and for indirectly causing the death of her beloved family. Ironically, she is no better than them, and arguably even worse, and when she tries to justify her crimes by blaming the gods for abandoning Alysia, it is quite clear that she harmed the world more than they ever did. Finally, she longs to resurrect her brother Astérion, whom she loves more than it is healthy, prompting Danaël to half-jokingly ask whether they are brother and sister or something more.
Background[]
Kalandre, with her mother and her brother.
Kalandre and her twin brother Asterion were born in the Elven World of Astria over five thousand years before the story, from Akamandis the God King and Kamila his high-priestess, when gods roamed the world of Alysia. Her father was cold and uncaring, never acknowledging them.
Shortly after the deities killed the rogue God of Magic Agamnon for giving sorcery to mortals. Suffering many casualties, the gods left and settled in a different dimension. They left behind the six Divine Stones they used to shape the universe, under the care of the divine Guardian.
Furious, likely due to the resulting strife, the elves destroyed everything related to the gods, killing priests and demi-gods. Kamila was killed before her children, who only escaped due to Astérion's newly awakened divine powers.
Kalandre witnesses her brother's demise.
Kalandre and Astérion fled aimlessly for years, being likely the last demi-gods alive. One fated day, the elves caught them and magically killed Astérion, ripping his soul in three parts to prevent rebirth. Such trauma awoke Kalandre's powers in turn, and she teleported away seconds before the elves could attack her.
Kalandre roamed the world alone and started her plot to resurrect her brother. For millennia, she kept track of those hosting the parts of Asterion's soul, roping them into bargains: In exchange for a powerful gold weapon, they would serve her after their death. She spent centuries manipulating everything and everyone without a care in the world. At some point, she worked with the prophet Rokamadoor (named after a French medieval city) to write the Alystory, compiling the story of the world.
The Darkhell Chronicles[]
Kalandre's Ravage Squadron
Kalandre appears in the spin-off telling Darkhell's youth and descent into villainy. At that time, magic wielders (referred by the slur "Magicors") were ostracised, and threatened by the fanatical Order of Arkanis. Galen, the future Darkhell, and his lover, the female Elementary Elf Cherylad, had to join with the ominous Ultima Fraternity to survive.
Kalandre trained Kaménor, the youngest son of the leader of Arkanis Caldérius, making him a formidable albeit berserker warrior. She recruited the demonic girl Lilith, the elderly mage Nesforos and the reptilian hybrid Kobura, and allied with the Leader of Arkanis Mandosa, leader of Arkanis to form the Ravage Squadron and destroy Ultima, for their goal is to resurrect Agamnon to turn everyone into Magicors. Which, far from the peace they expect would signal apocalyptic wars. But her true goal is to reach the Edenic, fabled land of Nirvanis, and has plan for Galen given his future.
The Legendaries: Origins[]
Danaël[]
Kalandre first appears when Danaël is looking forlornly at a picture of his late father, like him was one of the elite Silver Falcons knights. Acting like she noticed his sadness, she initiates a friendly talk, in which he confides his disillusionment with his orders. She advises him to find another way to fulfil his dream, before vanishing.
She later saves Danaël's life, as the knight is sinking underwater, grievously wounded by Darkhell's main enforcer Raptor the Green Shadow. She heals him and gets him out of the water without his knowledge, enabling him to kill Raptor and save Princess Jadina.
Jadina[]
The story reveals that Kalandre was behind Jadina's birth, as she secretly arranged the deal between the barren Queen Adeyrid of Orchidia and Darkhell, to make her bear an heir without conception. All this without them knowing anything.
Countess Invidia, one of Kalandre's many pawns.
Kalandre appears to Jadina's cruel aunt Countess Invidia, withstanding her energy blasts before taking her magic ring. She offers to kill Jadina, leaving Invidia's son Kasino as the only heir to the throne. She later drains the magic fuelling the force-fields cages in the zoo Jadina is visiting, freeing the beasts who start rampaging. The princess protects the public, and is later saved by Kasino, who had a change of heart. Jadina shields him, proving worthy of the throne and its magic Eagle Staff.
Kalandre reveals to Invidia that she only "tried to kill" Jadina to make her worthy of the Eagle Staff, and framed her by leaving ring to be found on the crime scene. And to add insult to injury, she set up the accident that cost Kasino his eye years ago, to make Invidia resent her niece. Outraged, Invidia attacks Kalandre and unveils her face, only to step back horrified by her eyes, falling from the balcony to to her doom. (Or more likely pushed by Kalandre.)
Gryf[]
After the young jaguarian prince Anoth Cha left Jaguarys Kingdom, getting lost in the snowy mountains to find a cure for his dying father, he is knocked out and captured by slave-drivers, who were in fact led to him by Kalandre, Jaguarians being prized slaves. Now amnesiac, he is bought by Lord Menthos, a cruel man who makes monslaves (slave monsters) fight to the death in clandestine arenas. Lord Menthos' prized monslave Samaël the Indomitable takes the young jaguarian under his wing and names him Gryfenfer ("griffe en fer" being French for "iron claw".)
Following Gryfenfer's defeat in his first fight, Samaël offers to challenge the most powerful monslave, Dasyatis the Venomous, in exchange for his life. Alas, she trounces him and leaves him for dead. Gryf promises to become the fiercest fighter of the arena, if his master can one day arrange a fight between him and Dasyatis as a revenge.
Years later, Kalandre sends Galatée to free Gryfenfer and reveal that Dasyatis has been killed (in fact recruited) by Darkhell, which Menthos knew but hid, never intending to keep his promise. Gryfenfer escapes and heads to the mountains, only to be found by the Night Hunters: elite warriors who track down and kill the escaped monslaves. It is revealed that Kalandre guided the Night Hunters into the mass grave of dead monslaves, to save Samaël and make him one of them. But Dasyatis' venom drove him mad and he now wants to kill Gryfenfer, whom he holds responsible. Heartbroken, Gryfenfer has no other choice than fight his former "brother", apparently to the death.
Shimy[]
At the beginning, Kalandre travels in the airship that brings the elf Shimy to the Elementary School. She congratulates the young elf for being selected to such a prestigious establishment, and advises her to be cautious.
After Shimy learnt to fuse with the elements to control them and graduated, she was to receive the blessing of the spirits to become the Elementary Elf. However, Kalandre had told the God of Evil Anathos that Shimy would make a fine host when he would resurrect, prompting him to brand her with his mark.
Razzia[]
During Razzia's childhood, his hometown was destroyed, seemingly by the Army of the Thousand Wolves but in fact by Darkhell’s forces planting false evidence. This led Razzia to become a freakishly strong barbarian warrior known as Korbo and destroy the Thousand Wolves. He later met Darkhell's daughter Ténébris, became her lover and under her prodding became Darkhell's right-hand-man, the Red Shadow.
Kalandre rescued Razzia's sister Sheyla who was amnesiac (probably by her doing), and took her to the kingdom of Cymbalia, to be adopted by the noble King Absalon, whom she advised and predicted his future throughout his reign. It appears that the capital city of Barabath is protected by the power of a Divine Egg. In fact, Kalandre was sowing discord, causing Prince Larsen to feel cast aside in Sheyla's favour, playing on his resentment, while advising the king to be wary of his son's ambition, leading him to consider Sheyla as his heir.
Korbo and Ténébris are sent by Darkhell as emissaries to Cymbalia, bringing a statue as a gift to King Absalon and offering an alliance with Darkhell, but the king is wary and asks to ponder it for a few days. He later throw them in jail, knowing that Darkhell does not intend to respect his promise, to use them as leverage. In fact, Darkhell's deadliest assassin Dasyatis was hidden in the statue. Unbeknownst to both lovers, this was all a diversion to steal the Divine Egg.
As soon as the egg is stolen, the Dark Sorcerer's armies start invading the city. Prince Larsen kills his father and frees Korbo and Ténébris, offering to accept Darkhell's alliance, but the king kills his son with his dying breath, both understanding too late that Kalandre played them.
In the ensuing battle, Korbo is attacked by Sheila, whose memories were restored by Kalandre, craving revenge against Darkhell's forces. She is no match for him and ends up killed, but he hears her calling for his brother Razzia and understands who she is. Before dying, she reveals the truth about the destruction of their hometown. Enraged, Razzia relinquishes his identity of Korbo and takes his sister’s sabre, the Léviathan, swearing to kill Darkhell with it to avenge his sister and atone for his crimes.
The Legendaries[]
Kalandre only appears late in the story, but it is revealed that she was the one who shattered the Stone of Jovenia in Darkhell’s final battle with the Legendaries, turning everyone in Alysia into children. It was also her who caused Jadina to die in a fall in the mines of Orchidia after the return of the God Anathos. Finding Jadina's corpse prompted the sentient Gamera Tree to resurrect her as a highly powerful half-human half-plant hybrid.
The Anathos Cycle[]
| “ | -Who the hell are you? - Someone one would better have on their side. |
„ |
| ~ Kalandre, "introducing" herself to Jadina. |
Kalandre first appears when Anathos, who returned by possessing Danaël. Anathos tells Dark Jadina, the leader of his Hellions, that he knows that the Legendaries are leading him into a trap, but that he plans to ambush them with his army. A mysterious adult woman framed in shadow appears, withstanding Dark Jadina's powerful energy blast. She advices Anathos to face his foes himself, to blow off the "last light of hope in Alysia". Knowing of her and her prophecy-like advices, Anathos accepts.
Kalandre's first appearance in the story.
With the Legendaries battling the Hellions, Kalandre is seen hovering over Anathos' castle, mentioning the prophecy about the end of the world. She ominously speaks about the scenario that she wrote, and states that she will soon enter the fray herself.
Later, when a wounded Anathos is about to destroy Alysia with a gargantuarian sphere of destruction, Kalandre appears and grabs his arm, vanishing the sphere, dispelling his evil power and restoring Danaël's body to normal. As the Legendaries are preparing to fight, she reassures them that their only foe is Anathos. Jadina rushes towards what seems to be Danaël, but this is still Anathos, who reverted to Danaël's aspect due to the loss of his power.
She unseals Danaël's golden sword, prompting them to kill Anathos with it, as she cannot hold him for long. The God of Evil skilfully pretends to be Danaël, begging Jadina not to believe Kalandre. This is his undoing, as Jadina knows full well that Danaël would have asked to die. Grieving, she stabs Anathos through the heart and kills him... along with his unfortunate host. Later, Kalandre resurrects him and Galatée welcomes him into his new family.
After the Crisis in Orchidia[]
Kalandre only appears at the end of the Story Arc, reassuring Danaël about his former comrades' well-being. She tells him to focus on the path that destiny designed for him. She states that Alysia will soon face a threat that could destroy it, and that both the Dynaméïs and the Legendaries will have a role to play to prevent it.
Kalandre's Exodus[]
Two years after Anathos' demise, the Legendaries are called forth by the King of Larbos, who tells them that everyone around Darkhell's former domain is dying of an unknown poison. A poison that seems to slowly spread all around, seemingly linked to the Jovenia Effect. He tells them about Kalandre, who has recruited thousands in her cult the "Sons of Astérion" and is asking for the Legendaries' help. She presents herself as an envoy of the gods sent to guide her followers to the god's dimension, where the Jovenia Effect.
The King orders the Legendaries to keep an eye on Kalandre, for he suspects her of hiding a sinister agenda. He also orders Danaël's brother Ikaël, to watch them all, wondering how the Legendaries will react upon seeing Danaël revived.
Kalandre unveils her face.
The Legendaries recognize Kalandre as the woman who helped them kill Anathos. However, they (and especially Jadina) are irked to learn that Danaël has been alive for two years without contacting them. Kalandre asks the Legendaries to join her exodus, and they comply. Kalandre later gains Shimy’s trust by turning her back to an adult at contact, and promising to remove the fragment of Anathos' sword lodged near Gryf’s heart, threatening his life.
Kalandre later asks Shimy and Jadina to combine their power to open a way into the sea. They reach the wreckage of the palace of the Guardian, who was killed by Anathos, and Kalandre sends Danaël and Halcyon to fetch the four remaining Divine Stones from the Guardian's corpse.
On their way, the Legendaries met the obnoxious and pompous writer Artémus Del Conquisador, who was travelling undersea in his submarine. (Conquisador or "Con qui s’adore" is French for "self-adoring moron" and a pun on Conquistador.) Artémus starts perstering the Legendaries for the right to write a novel about their adventures, but he panics after foreseeing the death of Ténébris, who is now part of the Legendaries. (Artémus is a descendant of a famous prophet and inherited his power of premonition.)
Upon meeting Artémus, whose power of premonition disturbs her own, Kalandre gets a vision that he will cause her death and loses conciousness for several days. Without her to guide them, the Dynaméïs and the Legendaries are left to lead the convey of followers, and have to destroy a dangerous plant-monster that threatens to kill them all. However, Jadina has lent most of her power to Shimy, and the strain of the battles cause her to fall into a coma.
Kalandre, wielding the Divine Weapon she made from the Stones.
When she awakens, Kalandre calls the Dynaméïs and reveals her vision. She who caused death and strife to so many during millennia refuses the very idea of her death, and orders her followers to get rid of Artémus as soon as possible. She reveals her plan of fusing the four Divine Stones into a Divine Weapon with which she could destroy the gods' dimension, sacrificing the Legendaries and her hundreds of followers in the process.
However, Ténébris spied on her and attempts to warn her comrades, only to get stopped by Danaël. She blames Danaël for not caring for Jadina, who was his girlfriend, and states that he must chose between Kalandre and the Legendaries, but he is under Kalandre's control and coldy kills her.
Truth revealed[]
As the distraught Legendaries discover Ténébris' death, Halcyon and Danaël barge in, stating that Artémus is the murderer and providing a sword with Ténébris' blood as a (tampered) evidence. Razzia then asks to be left alone with Artémus, and they reluctantly comply. (However, Razzia has deduced that Artemus was framed by Kalandre.) Kalandre then teleports her entire convey of followers near Casthell, Darkhell's former hideout. As everyone starts panicking, Shimy uses her sensory powers to scan the atmosphere and discovers, much to her shock, that there is no trace of poison.
Kalandre unleashes Kaminodoa.
Kalandre then has the Dynaméïs subdue the Legendaries, and reveals that she was the one who poisoned all the victims to put her exodus into motion: an exodus whose only goal was to get the Divine Stones from the Guardian's corpse and to exhaust Jadina, removing the most powerful Legendary as a threat. All her speeches about saving the world were but a pretence, she only cares about destroying the gods and their dimension.
She explains that Casthell was built near the gateway to the Divine Dimension, hence the enormous amount of magic power that prompted Darkhell to settle here. (It was later revealed that Kalandre herself influenced his choice.) The gateway is guarded by the mountain-sized monster Kaminodoa, whom Kalandre awakes and sets loose on her followers, so that devouring them all would distract it and enable her to enter the gateway.
Kalandre extracts Jadina's jade core, instantly killing her, and the fragment of Anathos' sword from Gryf's body, grievously wounding him. She fuses the fragment with the Divine Stones, to create a Divine Weapon potent enough to destroy the gods' dimension, but stable enough not to explode on her hands, like it happens to Anathos.
(Astérion)"Kalandre, dear sister, you have accomplished the impossible. I am alive. Now I am here. Nothing can keep us apart, anymore."
(Kalandre)"I'm so happy."
(Danaël, in the background)"Ya sure, you're just brother and sister?"
She then extracts Astérion's remains from the artificial corpse that she built for her follower Asgaroth, sealing his doom in the process, and the three fragments of her brother's soul from Halcyon, Galatée and Danaël (whom she chose as her servants precisely because they bore it) to resurrect him through the jade core. The two siblings then enter the gateway, without sparing a single glance for the hundreds of people they leave to die.
Razzia, Artémus and Ikaël then barge in, thanks to Amy, the demon who serves as Razzia's prosthetic arm, who was able to use the magical remnants of Kalandre's teleportation spell to follow her. Shimy creates a gigantic stone golem to fight Kaminodoa, Gryf battles Galatée, Razzia battles Halcyon and Ikaël battles Danaël. Gryf succumbs to his wounds after killing his foe. Halcyon manages to kill Amy who explodes, and Razzia tackles him so that they would both die in the explosion. Shimy uses all her power (probably combined with the power Jadina gave her) to destroy Kaminodoa in a suicide attack. Finally Danaël, fully aware that he does not control his actions, unwillingly kills his brother, who manages to shatter Danaël's halo in his dying breath.
Death[]
Freed at last from Kalandre's control, Danaël witnesses in horror and heartbreak the corpses of all his friends. The tears he sheds turn Jadina's corpse into a huge tree that connects to the gateway between dimensions. Danaël and a distraught Artémus rush to confront Kalandre and Astérion, to put an end to their madness. Kalandre is astonished to see that Danaël has regained his free will, and tries to convince him that the gods are really to blame, but he calls off her self-serving rant.
Kalandre's pathetic and well-deserved death.
As Astérion keeps blasting Danaël with powerful spheres of destruction, Artémus tries to help by throwing him his Golden Sword. His aim is so bad that he sends the sword right through Kalandre's heart, killing her instantly. In a supreme bout of irony, Kalandre who kept speaking about following destiny but refused the fate she foresaw, dies in the exact same way she predicted without being able to prevent it in any way. Even more ironic, she who spent five millennia manipulating and trampling everyone's lives is unceremoniously killed in a purely random accident, by a weapon she herself forged.
Danaël then gets back his sword and uses it to destroy the Divine weapons and the Divine Stones that are part of it. He knows full well that he and Astérion will die in the resulting blast, and in his last second of life, turns to Artémus and asks him to write how the Legendaries lived and died.
Years later, Artémus' novels about the Legendaries' adventures made him extremely rich and famous. However, it is said that he was the one who defeated Darkhell, Skroa and Anathos (likely Abyss and Eternity as well), and that the Legendaries are but an invention of his. However, his notebook is covered with splinters of the Divine Stones, with one embedded in his skull, hinting that the Stones' destruction led to a new reality, with only him knowing the full truth.
It is eventually revealed that it was Artémus who rewrote reality. Having tried six times to give the Legendaries a happy ending only to watch them die, he resolved to give them normal lives to conjure their fate.
World Without[]
In this new universe, each character leads a totally different life, with Danaël and Shimy being a couple of peaceful farmers. However, coming to contact with Artémus, who knowing who they really are recruits them to get Anathos' sword that was stolen. The not-Legendaries are eventually reunited and recover the memories of their alternate life, which they only experienced in nightmares and short flashbacks. However, fissures to the Void appear in the sky and threaten to obliterate this new reality. Meanwhile Abyss has returned and teamed up with Darkhell…
Then, Elysio the Scarlet Mage (former good double of Darkhell himself) appears before them, with Kalandre herself as a humble human seer. Elysio is leader of the Awakened Ones (“les Évéillés” in French), a group persuaded that this is not the real world and trying to unveil the truth. Elysio and Kalandre brings the Legendaries to their city, in fact one of the ships used by the gods, powered by a crystal that they call the Mirror of Truth, for it shows their real lives to anyone who touch it. The Awakened Ones are tending to Artemus, who is in a coma.
Alas, Byskaros, attendant to Ténébris, who is now a human priestess preaching for the return of the gods goes mad upon realizing that he did not exist in the previous reality. He fatally stabs Kalandre and destroys the Mirror, who reacts by expanding and destroying anything in its path, Byskaros included, forcing Elysio to sacrifice his life to destroy it for good.
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 Villains
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Main Antagonist The Hellions Origins Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Volume 4 Volume 5 Abyss World Without | ||