Karla, the Grey Witch, is an ambiguous character responsible for shaping the history of the accursed island of Lodoss. She is the only survivor of an ancient Magic Kingdom and has lived for more than 500 years. Her physical self has perished long ago, but her soul (embedded in a golden circlet) possesses a human host from time to time so that she can have a body. After the fall of the Magic Kingdom she believes the only way for Lodoss not to be destroyed is to keep a balance between peace and chaos. So when there is war, she creates peace; when there is peace, she provokes war. Karla claims that in this way Lodoss will never collapse. For these years she has been changing her hosts, watching and manipulating the history of Lodoss.
In the era that we encounter in RLW, Karla seems to be siding with Beld (the Marmo king) and Ashram. Therefore, she is considered to be evil by Parn and his partners. However, she actually does not care which side will win as long as there is not too much peace or too much chaos. She has first started wars by helping Beld; now she offers to help Parn and his comrades to create peace. Finally, peace is brought to Lodoss and Karla disappears but she will be back when the balance of history becomes tilted again...
