TRIGGER WARNINGS: Mentions of emotional abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse. Thoughts of suicide. Mental Illness. Loss of a spouse in a traumatic way. Alcoholism. Death.

Early Life and Parents

Kellam was born to two, non mages. His mother was a homemaker and his father a hunter for the clan. His father was, for the most part, a functioning alcoholic. To most people in the clan he was fun, always good for a laugh and the life of the party. The problem was behind closed doors. He would become angry, bitter and usually took it out on Kellam. His mother didn’t seem to notice, or perhaps just didn’t care, or maybe she was just happy when the abuse wasn’t directed towards her. Either way, Kellam didn’t have the best early childhood.

Showing Magic and Training

When he showed signs of magic, it was the first time that his father showed any real interest in his son. He was proud to have a mage in the family, and even prouder when he started apprenticing under the Keeper. His father hoped that perhaps one day his very own son might be the next Keeper, and constantly reminded Kellam of what a failure he would be if he never achieved becoming Keeper one day.

Because of this, Kellam vowed to stop at NOTHING to eventually become the Keeper’s first. He was determined. When skill alone didn’t prove enough, one of the mages in direct competition with him had a tragic accident. Well, no one could prove it was anything other than an accident, and eventually Kellam got his wish and became the Keeper’s first.

Amara

Kellam wasn’t always the easiest person to get along with. He was prone to moods, sometimes even fits. He could come off as cold and calculating, he didn’t always get along well with others, but the day he met Amara he couldn’t believe his luck. She really brought out the best in him and made him actually care to try and be a decent human being. It was love at first fight, why fight you ask? Because any time he did something she didn’t like, she told him off and put her foot down. Eventually he realised he couldn’t say no to that lovely little woman and asked her to marry him.

Becoming Keeper

When the old Keeper passed on, totally natural circumstances. Totally wasn’t suspicious or anything at all! Kellam stepped into the role of Keeper and made his alcoholic father really genuinely proud. Of course, it wouldn’t be long after that his father would fall in a river while drunk and drown. Totally definitely an accident. Not saying anything to the contrary. Eventually his mother would one day contract pancreatic cancer and pass on (this is like a genuine natural causes death, honest!).

He was a firm keeper, ruled with an iron fist. He felt like the Dalish were a dying race, and that meant extreme measures were needed to ensure their survival. He couldn’t afford to mollycoddle his people, he didn’t sway from any traditions. One might say he even ruled a bit by fear, but never to the extreme that enough people in his clan would rise up against him. For as much as he could be moody, angry and volatile, he could also be charming, determined and even caring at times.

A child he wasn’t sure he even wanted

Kellam had never really imagined himself as a father, but marrying Amara had changed a lot, and ultimately she wanted a family, so who was he to deny her. He wasn’t sure what kind of father he would be, and spent time worrying about that. When Ruth was born, he still felt holy unprepared, but with Amara’s guidance he did the best he knew how, which is to say, it wasn’t always good, but Amara definitely protected her son from the less soft edges of the man that Kellam was.

Amara’s death

When Ruth was around four or five years old, tragedy would strike. She would end up dying in order to protect Ruth from a rather angry and hungry bear. Kellam was at a loss, he already wasn’t exactly going to win father of the year, but without Amara there to guide him and keep him in check, on top of the grief he felt in losing her, he turned all the negative energy towards his son, blaming Ruth for what happened, even if it was absurd that Ruth would have been able to do anything. However, Kellam felt sure he’d have rather had Ruth die than lose Amara. Something he wouldn’t ever let Ruth forget.

Torturing his son, among others

As mentioned earlier, Kellam ruled with an iron fist, he felt it was the only way he could keep his people safe, or at least that was one of the things he told himself. He wasn’t a bad guy, he just had to make hard choices, for the health and welfare of the entire clan. As such, it wasn’t only Ruth that would feel the wrong end of Kellam’s anger, or the emotional, mental and physical abuse he was tortured with. Any mage that trained under Kellam was put through intense rigours. In one instance he even kicked a mage out of the clan, not because they had too many mages, though he did blame it on that, but because he didn’t feel they were up to his standards and were too difficult.

His son leaving the clan

Ultimately, he would push his son too far, and Ruth would leave the clan. Kellam had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, there was a part of him that imagined seeing Ruth take over as the Keeper one day, but on the other hand, if Ruth left that meant he was weak, and probably wasn’t worth all the training and effort Kellam had put on Ruth.

The Orlesian blight and fleeing Orlais

The recent Orlesian blight has wreaked havoc on the Clan. They did their best to stick it out, and with Ferelden going through a blight of their own, they couldn’t very well find safety there, so they ultimately decided to head north once it got to the point that things were too dangerous to stay. Unfortunately many in the clan fell to the blight before they were able to make it to safety.

Finding safety in Arlathan, for now

Once in the Free Marches, Kellam made the ultimate decision to continue heading north to seek out refuge in Arlathan. He wasn’t really sure how he’d feel about being under someone else’s command, since they have their own leader, but he was also extremely curious about the city and since his people needed a place to regroup and lick their wounds, he couldn’t think of a better place to go.