Predictions Kallavan's Journey

[kkck]

So... where does everyone think Kallavan's journey lead to?

Kallavan was originally presented as a lunatic that Jinsung MUST stop to protect bam. He was introduced as a fanatic to zahard who would do just about anything if zahard so much as willed it.

Then we get to the next arc... We learn that kallavan was demoted and his squad handed to lyborick. Who felt that the squad's loyalty to kallavan was so problematic that it warrant their annihilation. This is turn causes kallavan to turn on Lyboric... While making the point that he will kill him to avenge his squad while also getting his old position back. Which seems plain weird just in general. And to that you add that this very explicitely goes against the army's intentions of keeping kallavan if he just accepted what happened. If the story is consistent here there is no path for kallavan to get back to the army, let alone being a corp commander. Basically kallavan's loyalty for his followers is unacceptable.

So... what happens to kallavan now? I have a few ideas:

1.- The one that seems most likely to me is that kallavan straight up changes sides and follows bam. Realistically speaking the army and by extension zahard basically screwed kallavan royally. Kallavan isn't exactly sane but he has shown he cares about his own goals IMO. I get the impression that to him zahard is more a means to an end. Which the army would of course find exceptionally problematic since to the army zahard is the actual end. No other goal beyond serving zahard should have any relevance to the army's members.

Meanwhile bam has grown astronomically fast through the war. To the point where even in base he can seemingly hold his own against high rankers for a bit. Full power he exceeds even white at this point and this before he got more of his power.

2.- I think it's also possible, though less likely, that kallavan dies. In this case the more important question IMO is what happens to the essence of bravery. A power that was enough to give slayers a run for their money and make a corp commander out of kallavan. Of course you need a worthy vessel for it... Bam is strong but his body remains relatively weak so he probably isn't suited for the EoB specifically. Aguero and rak already got boosts from white and as durable as they are they aren't even remotely comparable to kallavan in that regard. I was thinking that karaka was actually a solid candidate for it. He isn't known for being durable in a conventional sense but talent wise we can probably expect him to have enough to match current slayers in the future. Karaka is both a scout and wave controller so... which also plausibly means his specks are adequate for the EoB. From a plot perspective this would be a pretty big boost for karaka... who desperately needs a boost. Karaka so far has evidenced he is in the same ballpark and division commanders like cheonhee rather than actual slayers... His own floral butterfly has dealt exactly zero damage to a sleeping yama or kallavan. Heck, a sleeping yama could have defeated karaka with ease...

 

[lazybum]

Kallavan started as some Zahard zealot, believing Zahard as the one man who can keep the order in the Tower and avoid conflicts. He deemed Baam as someone who can't become as good as Zahard in the way he manages his empire. But Nest war showed that Kallavan is more humane he'd like to admit; he was about to stop Baam from teleporting the Cage but he stopped when he saw the 4th squadron flagship explosion and he couldn't help having a flashback of all his subordinates. Contrary to his belief, he decided to lend help to Baam just so to kill Lyborick, whom he considers the man wasted the life of his subordinates.

I think Kallavan is on a crossroad right now. He spent his life serving Zahard, believing the king of the Tower can achieve the peace he seeks, but now he's having doubt about it. If he ever hears that the death of his squad was planned from the start by the "higher up", that's where his character will be tested; to continue believing in Zahard or to leave and forge his own way (not necessarily joining Baam). There are 2 points that can interest Kallavan to join Baam, one is he directly opposes Zahard and put his life on the line for it unlike Zahard who is content sitting on his throne. You can argue that Baam is not remotely a threat to Zahard at this point for him to move and I agree, but still Kallavan can observe and interact directly with someone who is currently shaking the Tower and see for himself if the change Baam brings will aligns to Kallavan's own goal. The second is during the Nest war near the wall, Kallavan firsthand saw how Baam's allies/companions give support to him, including even High Rankers. They put their trust in him and Baam delivered, and saved the Cage and the wall got pierced. Kallavan can better with Baam.

But still, Kallavan got a major death flag. Lyborick is expecting him, he has plan for Kallavan who knows nothing, thus unprepared. It's also possible that LPB Head (or higher being as the story continue to be ambiguous about it) can appear where Lyborick is (there 2 teleporters after all). Either he is executed or he'll be sent to workshop to be some labrat, and get EoB extracted.

I think it's a 50/50 toss up, Baam's side could use more reinforcement, or there's too many characters so some cleaning up wouldn't be bad idea either.

Bam is strong but his body remains relatively weak

True but SIU said :

Bam after getting his Thorn, has been putting melee and ranged combat at a 5:5 ratio.
Since getting his Thorn, his physical body have continued to strengthen…

Dunno when that growth is going to stop, maybe he'll have the same physical prowess as Zahard princess or something eventually.

 

[toil]

My speculation for the near future is that we'll somehow wind up with Kallavan saving Jinsung (from Maschenny, or from Lyboric/Lo Po Bia higher-ups who somehow take possession of Jinsung from Maschenny, or something). This will be our easy out for Baam's mission of revenge against Kallavan: Baam's motivation for revenge was what Kallavan did to Jinsung, per this theory Jinsung would say "it's fine, we're cool now, he's redeemed himself," and thus even if Baam still doesn't like Kallavan we'd still see him give up getting revenge.

Bigger-picture I would speculate that SIU will eventually have Baam leading some kind of army/faction/organization of his own. Kallavan seems convertible to Baam's cause given a suitable display of irregular power™, Kallavan is already an experienced commander, and, in fact, Kallavan already has a large army that's loyal to him, personally—would be very convenient to bring him aboard. In a similar vein Dowon and Cha are powerful in and of themselves, and might provide a bridge to recruiting more ancient, powerful allies, same story for Khell and Suou, and perhaps even the same story with some of these other "animal peoples" that were involved in this most-recent game.

As devil's advocate, recruiting Kallavan would seemingly preclude transferring the void-essence/essence-of-bravery to Baam (or to one of his allies). I used to assume that that was introduced in order to be another power-up for Baam to obtain, but maybe not—maybe it was just introduced to explain why Kallavan is so terminator-tier durable?

 

[VON]

We need more deaths from this massive war anyways so I'm actually hoping Kallavan gets folded by the LPB head giving him that awe inspiring introduction to the story and hopefully crushing that EoB rather than passing it down.

Bam also doesn't need the EoB anymore after his recent shinsoo reinforcement feats.

 

[Consul N]

I don't see Kallavan joining Baam side. He'll probably end up getting killed by the Lo Po Bia FH assuming he even beats Lyborick.

 

[Demonspeed]

I don't see Kallavan changes side at all. He'll most likely die following Zahard's orders, but he needs his closure with Lyborick.

Could be killed by Lyborick too.

 

[Cinera]

1.- The one that seems most likely to me is that kallavan straight up changes sides and follows bam. Realistically speaking the army and by extension zahard basically screwed kallavan royally. Kallavan isn't exactly sane but he has shown he cares about his own goals IMO. I get the impression that to him zahard is more a means to an end. Which the army would of course find exceptionally problematic since to the army zahard is the actual end. No other goal beyond serving zahard should have any relevance to the army's members.

Meanwhile bam has grown astronomically fast through the war. To the point where even in base he can seemingly hold his own against high rankers for a bit. Full power he exceeds even white at this point and this before he got more of his power.

Kallavan genuinely believes that he can recover his position by killing Lyborick. It's plausible that someone in Army HQ told him to execute Lyborick, and they would help him recover his position.

Adori and Maschenny are potential choices.

I see Kallavan dying regardless of whether he can off Lyborick or not. He'll be a loose end to his backer.