Kilava

Summary

Kilava is a renegade T'lan Imass Bonecaster — or more precisely, a mortal Imass Bonecaster who refused the Ritual of Tellann that transformed the rest of her people into undead warriors. She is one of the oldest living mortals in the Malazan world, having survived for hundreds of thousands of years through her own power and her Soletaken form (a panther/cat).

Kilava is the sister of Onos T'oolan (Tool), the First Sword of the T'lan Imass, and her refusal to undergo the Ritual is one of the defining moments of Imass history. Where the T'lan Imass chose undeath to pursue their eternal war against the Jaghut, Kilava chose to remain alive — and has carried the weight of that choice ever since.

Arc by Book

Book 3: Memories of Ice

Kilava appears during the campaign against the Pannion Domin, drawn by the gathering of T'lan Imass forces and the emergence of Silverfox — the reborn Bonecaster with the power to release the T'lan Imass from their eternal un-life. Kilava's presence is a reminder that the Ritual was a choice, not an inevitability, and that at least one Bonecaster found another way.

Her interactions with the T'lan Imass are charged with history — she is a living reproach to their choice, a reminder of what they gave up. To the T'lan Imass, she is both revered (as a Bonecaster of immense power) and resented (as one who refused to share their sacrifice).

Books 9-10: Dust of Dreams / The Crippled God

Kilava plays a significant role in the later books, particularly in connection with Onrack — the T'lan Imass warrior who has been restored to mortal flesh. Her relationship with Onrack becomes one of the series' most tender love stories: two ancient Imass, one who never died and one who was brought back to life, finding each other after ages of solitude.

Kilava also connects with Olar Ethil — the First Bonecaster and First Soletaken — in a confrontation that pits two of the oldest and most powerful Bonecasters against each other. Where Olar Ethil seeks to force a new Ritual of Tellann, Kilava opposes her, defending the right to live and die naturally.

Key Relationships

• Onos T'oolan (Tool) — her brother, the First Sword
• Onrack — the restored T'lan Imass she loves
• Olar Ethil — the First Bonecaster, her rival
• Silverfox — the reborn Bonecaster who can free the T'lan Imass
• Ulshun Pral — the mortal Imass community she connects with

Appearances

See Also

• T'lan Imass — the undead race she refused to join
• Soletaken and D'ivers — Kilava's shapeshifting ability
• Mortality vs. Ascendancy — Kilava's choice of mortality
• Memory and Forgetting — Kilava carries hundreds of thousands of years of living memory