The Belgariad is a five-book fantasy epic written by David Eddings, following the journey of protagonist Garion and his companions, first to recover a sacred stone, and later to use it against antagonist Torak. It was a bestseller from the first book in the series. It has been called both the "last gasp" of traditional fantasy and "one of the founding mega sagas" of modern fantasy.
Background David Eddings, who had been writing in the adventure and thriller genres, has said he developed the idea for a fantasy series somewhat "cynically" after noticing how many times J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series had been reprinted. He had an epiphany, realizing the fantasy genre might be very lucrative and was currently "underserved". He mapped out an imaginary world to use in developing the story for the Belgariad.
He has also said he was influenced by reading medieval epics and by Lester del Rey's editorial input. In later works he acknowledged his wife, Leigh Eddings, as an "unindicted collaborator"; eventually later books credited her as co-author. She is generally acknowledged as a co-author of the earlier books as well.
Characters
Works in the series The Belgariad is composed of five books, namely (1982), (1982), (1983), (1984), and (1984).
The title of each book combines a chess term with a fantasy term; whereas the concept of a 'Game of Destiny' is a significant motif in the story. The series has been reprinted as a two-volume set, titled The Belgariad Volume One, containing the first three books of the series, and The Belgariad Volume Two, which contains the last two books. This does not include the original map by Chris Barbieri, but only Shelly Shapiro's map.
The Malloreon is a five-book sequel to The Belgariad. Belgarath the Sorcerer (1995) and Polgara the Sorceress (1997) are prequels that share the setting and most characters. The Rivan Codex (1998) features annotated background material.
Pawn of Prophecy
The book opens with a prologue, beginning with the creation of the world by seven gods. Aldur, oldest of the seven, fashions a stone orb and creates within it a "living soul". Torak, the most beautiful of the seven, attempts to seize the Orb from Aldur and subdue the Orb's intelligence; the Orb mutilates the left side of Torak's body. The Orb of Aldur is later recovered by Belgarath the Sorcerer, King Cherek, and Cherek's sons. Riva, Cherek's youngest son, is found to be able to hold the Orb unharmed; he and his descendants protect the Orb from Torak.
The story then begins in earnest with the experiences of protagonist Garion. His childhood on a large, prosperous farm: his earliest memories in the kitchen of his Aunt Pol; his friend Durnik the blacksmith; early games and friends; and the romance between Garion and local girl Zubrette. It also introduces Belgarath, as a wandering storyteller nicknamed 'Mister Wolf'; Garion's telepathic vision of the antagonist Asharak/Chamdar; and a "dry voice" in his mind, distinct from his own consciousness. The reader later discovers that this is the Voice of Prophecy, or "Necessity", which takes action through him.
When Belgarath, alias "Wolf", announces the theft of a mysterious object (actually the Orb), he, Garion, and Aunt Pol leave Faldor's farm to pursue the thief, reluctantly allowing Durnik to accompany them. They are joined later by Silk/Kheldar, a Drasnian prince, spy, and thief; and by Barak, a Cherek earl. Thereafter Mister Wolf follows an invisible trail through several regions until they are arrested.
They are taken to a meeting of monarchs where Garion suspects a green-cloaked individual of treason. A few days later, Barak and Garion are hunting wild boar when Garion notices the green-cloaked spy discussing further espionage; but before Garion can tell anyone of this, he is attacked by a wild boar, which is then slain by Barak in the form of a bear. Garion later exposes the green-cloaked spy, and the latter's patrons are defeated in a fight. Garion himself is almost captured, but escapes. Garion learns that Polgara is Belgarath's daughter and the sister of Garion's second-most-distant female ancestor (identified in the prologue as Queen Beldaran, wife of Riva), and for that reason called his aunt. Having learned this, Garion identifies Belgarath as his grandfather. The group, with the addition of an Algarian prince named Hettar, then leave in search of the Orb.
Queen of Sorcery
The story opens in the Kingdom of Arendia, where Garion duels and then befriends a master archer named Lelldorin. The party travel to Lelldorin's uncle's manor, where Garion hears about a plot to kill the Mimbrate king Korodullin and to start a civil war between the two grand duchies. The plot is masterminded by a spy from Cthol Murgos named Nachak. After leaving Lelldorin's uncle's manor the party journey south towards the great plains where they are ambushed by a group of Algroths; a fictional "monster" devised by Eddings that are something between a goat facially and a gorilla bodily, while being somewhat akin to, even if a bit smaller than a troll (QoS Chapter 6). Lelldorin is gravely injured during the encounter which only ends with the arrival of Mandorallen, the supreme Mimbrate knight of the realm who chases them off. Just as he does so Chamdar's shade appears before them to mock them. Belgarath asks whether it was he who drove the Algroths out of the mountains of Ulgoland. Chamdar denies doing so but is less than convincing.
As they continue south, Mandorallen, upon Polgara's advice (but unknown to Garion who later judges Mandorallen's motives), forces Lelldorin on his honour to stay behind so he can heal from the wounds inflicted by the Algroth who had mauled him.
The party continue without Lelldorin to Vo Mimbre, the Arendish capital, where Garion reveals the plot to kill Korodullin, without naming its local conspirators, and Mandorallen challenges Nachak to a duel, which Hettar terminates by killing Nachak. Soon afterwards the party bid farewell to Vo Mimbre, with King Korodullin vowing to stamp out any untoward activity of the Angaraks (and particularly the Murgos) in his kingdom. He also pledged to ready his kingdom for the anticipated war against Torak's forces.
The party next travels to Tolnedra, and soon after crossing the border they come across a group of Monks from Mar Terrin. One of them, driven insane by the continual presence of the spirits of Maragor launches himself at Garion who naturally reaches out a hand. The man falls to the ground with an ugly welt on his head. Polgara instructs Garion to get off his horse and apologise to the man who comes to with his sanity restored. The monks proclaim a miracle, but Garion knows otherwise as do Belgarath and Polgara.
In healing the monk of his madness, Garion performed his first, albeit unknowingly, act of sorcery.
They then press on with their quest with their next planned stop being to talk to the Emperor Ran Borune in the city of Tol Honeth, and are nearly captured by a group of mercenaries for the Queen of neighboring Nyissa. At Tol Honeth, Belgarath and Polgara urge the Emperor to rid Tolnedra of the invading 'Murgos'; but Ran Borune refuses. Emperor's daughter Ce'Nedra bursts in towards the end of the meeting and Garion feels a sense of recognition although he has no idea how their lives would become forever entwined in the near future. Almost immediately afterwards Asharak presents himself to Ran Borune and it is revealed that Chamdar and Asharak are in fact the same person.
Upon leaving the capital, the group acquire an ineffectually-disguised Princess Ce'Nedra, and enter the Wood of the Dryads, hoping to cross into Nyissa ahead of their opponent Zedar. In the Wood, Ce'Nedra asks the Dryad Queen Xantha for sanctuary, on grounds of common ancestry; but is refused and soon after they continue on the journey.
As they set off and leave the Dryads behind Silk and Belgarath head off on their own in pursuit of Zedar and the Orb as they'd be able to move faster, with the intention being to meet up again in the Nyissan capital of Sthiss Tor in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, the rest of them start making their own way directly to Sthiss Tor, but are detained by Tolnedran legionnaires under the command of Grand Duke Kador of Tol Vordue. They are accompanied by Asharak / Chamdar. Kador demands that Ce'Nedra be handed over to secure Kador's claim on the imperial throne. Asharak just wants Polgara and Garion and doesn't care what happens to the others. Polgara is powerless to do anything because Asharak has his hand grasped on Garion's heart (in the sense that he could crush it using sorcery). Almost unnoticed Garion alone can act and when Asharak slaps Polgara, Garion strikes Asharak and speaks the word "burn" and Asharak bursts into flames. For just a moment Garion's compassion almost saves Asharak but then Polgara tells Garion in his mind that it was Asharak who killed his parents. Suddenly, the flames are not hot enough and Garion keeps the flames on him until he dies.
Polgara exalts and calls Garion, Belgarion (his birthright name) for the first time.
Upon this shocking act of sorcery Kador's men turn against him and remember their loyalty to the Emperor. They take Kador prisoner and promise to deliver him to the garrison at Tol Borune as commanded to by Ce-Nedra who is speaking in her authority as an Imperial Princess of Tolnedra.
Arriving at Nyissa by boat, Garion, angry at the treatment of the slaves there, uses the Will and the Word (the ability shared by himself with Belgarath, Polgara, and all other sorcerers in the story) to teleport one but does not know that the leeches in the river are poisonous so the slave dies. Following a quarrel with Polgara, during which she explains to him that the power he had used to kill Asharak was the same as the one he had earlier used unwittingly to cure a madman, Garion is kidnapped, drugged, and presented to Queen Salmissra to be used as a mind-controlled sex slave. He is rescued by Polgara and Barak (the latter again assuming a bear's shape); and Polgara, with permission by Issa, the god of the Nyissans, transforms Salmissra into an immortal snake. Thereafter Garion is reconciled with Polgara.
Magician's Gambit
After learning at the end of the Queen of Sorcery that the Angarak sorcerer Ctuchik had stolen the Orb from its erstwhile thief Zedar, Belgarion and friends set off for the Vale of Aldur after Belgarath had received instruction to do so from Aldur Himself.
Although they preferred to avoid it, the party were eventually left with no other choice than to pass through Maragor, which was haunted by the spirit of Mara himself, who manifests his grief (for the Marags were slain by the Tolnedrans many centuries earlier) through countless ghostly apparitions that drive anybody who dares to enter Maragor (usually for the rich gold deposits) mad. On the whole only the monks—"Tolnedra's conscience"—are tolerated.
In order to pass through Maragor mentally unscathed, Belgarath and Polgara put everybody into a trance and somehow, while the others go under, Garion slipped into a semi-wakeful consciousness that has to all intents and purposes turned off his emotions. The "voice" (of the prophecy) had been waiting for this opportunity to talk to him rationally about what he is destined to do and it is here that an analogy comes up.
In the analogy the voice describes how something went wrong in the universe and it created two divergent destinies one of which is the original and the other an alternative. Garion equates this to when Doroon broke a window at Faldor's Farm and the voice goes along with this and suggests that if another stone was to be thrown quickly enough then it could deflect the first stone and Faldor's window would be saved. The implication being that the voice is the stone-thrower and Garion is the stone.