Belgariad: Difference between revisions

In pursuit of the Orb, however, followed the legendary sorcerer Belgarath, his gorgeous daughter Polgara, the humble [[Farm Boy]] Garion, and many other colorful allies: a thief, a berserker, a noble horseman, a paladin, a snotty princess, and so on.

 

 

That's the plot of [[David Eddings]]'s ''Belgariad''. [[Hero's Journey|And a whole lot of]] other things, too. The series is [[Strictly Formula]], but that was Eddings' intention from the start. He wrote the series after taking a course on literary criticism, [[Troperiffic|digging out all the tropes he could find, and deciding to actually build a good story with them]]. He also deliberately focuses on the characters rather than the tropes, injecting liveliness and sardonic humor into stock situations -- and the end result is a series that's incredibly popular and well-loved by fantasy fans the world over.

{{tropelist}}

 

* [[Achievements in Ignorance]]:

** Garion succeeds in bringing a horse back to life, simply because he doesn't ''know'' that it's supposed to be impossible.

* [[Amnesiac God]]: {{spoiler|Eriond}}

* [[Annoying Arrows]]: In the second book, an arrow shatters on Barak's mail shirt, something arrows are generally designed specifically not to do.

* [[Animal Motifs]]: Each of the gods has a totemic signature, and they and their chosen race mimic these animals in a characteristic, if not always physical, way. More directly, each of the sorcerers trained by Aldur has a preferred alternate form: the women like [[The Owl-Knowing One|the owl]] (Aldur's own totem), the men, [[Big Badass Wolf|the wolf]]. Belgarath is even introduced as "Old Wolf" in the series.

* [[The Antichrist]]: The Child of Dark. It's [[Captain Obvious|Torak]] for the first series, and Zandramas for {{spoiler|most of the second.}}

* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]:

** The Tolnedran empire, as a matter of policy, refuses to believe in sorcery. [[Rule of Funny|Which is also illegal]].

* [[Arcadia]]: The Rivan Pasturelands and The Vale of Aldur count as one.

* [[Archetypal Character|Archetypal Characters]]: Ubiquitously and deliberately, as noted above.

* [[Arranged Marriage]]: Garion and Ce'Nedra, ''centuries before they're born''. Note to the Tolnedran Empire: Signing a marriage contract for 'when the lost heir of Riva returns', when you don't really believe that day will ever come, can and will come back to bite you.

'''Grolim:''' "It was Naradas," the Grolim groaned, "archpriest of the temple at Hemil."

'''Garion:''' "The henchman of Zandramas?" Garion demanded. "The one with white eyes?"}}

* [[Back from the Dead]]: {{spoiler|Durnik}}.

* [[Badass]]:

* [[Badass Army]]: The Algars -- a culture of horse riding nomads who have trained themselves for centuries specifically to fight the Murgos. They are extremely good at it. Then there are the Mimbrate knights, who combine ridiculous combat prowess with utter fearlessness. And the Asturian archers, who can mow down opposing armies like wheat with a [[Rain of Arrows|storm of arrows]]. Then there are the Tolnedran legions, the only professional fighting force in the armies of the West, who are reputed to be able to kick the asses of any of the above, and the Cherek "navy", who pretty much can rule the seas if they want. Let's face it, most of the Western armies are badass to one extent or another.

* [[Badass Normal]]:

** It's worth mentioning that Sadi can likely be said to have a knowledge of poisons and pharmacology which surpasses even Polgara, who spent centuries in study of medicine. Much of this would come, of course, both from his native culture and that he is a specialist in the field rather than general medicine. (Though in the Malloreon, he still intelligently often defers to Polgara in her decisions of what drugs to administer.)

* [[Bad Boss]]: Zandramas, Torak, reportedly Ctuchik, Taur Urgas, heck, the Dark Prophecy in and of itself, which tends to discard its pawns once it doesn't need them anymore.

* [[Bastard Understudy]]: Harakan/Mengha to Urvon.

* [[Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me]]: In a rare gender flip, Salmissra has this done to Garion. Plus lots of drugs and poisons to make him compliant.

* [[Because Destiny Says So]]: Literally. Expect the voice of destiny to get cranky at times.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Don't lie to Polgara. Or threaten Garion's son. (This goes for Ce'Nedra too.) Or threaten Garion anywhere near Barak.

* [[The Berserker]]: Barak's an unwilling heroic example. Apparently this kind of thing is common in Cherek warriors, even the ones who ''don't'' turn into bears. [[The Brute|Taur]] [[Axe Crazy|Urgas]] is an evil example.

* [[Big Bad]]: Torak in the first series and Zandramas in the second. Of course, the real villain is the [[Bigger Bad|Dark Prophecy]] itself.

* [[Bigger Bad]]: The Dark Prophecy. In a way, both the series' [[Big Bad|Big Bads]] were just its Dragons, as they only existed to be instruments of its will. Still counts as this though, since it's never physically confronted, and like the Prophecy of Light, has to work through earthly instruments, specifically Torak and Zandramas.

* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Mandorallen, and most of the Mimbrate knights.

* [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]:

** Ce'Nedra's ''is'' apparently innately vulnerable to this stuff- Ctuchik was explicitly banking on it in book three, and Belgarath had already figured this out and didn't bring her along for that one.

** Garion gets hit with a mild version of this early on, suddenly seeing his allies as malicious strangers that he must escape from.

* [[Brought Down to Normal]]: The possibility of this happening is enough to keep Belgarath [[Locked Out of the Loop]] in the fourth book after his nearly fatal duel with Ctuchik. Later, Polgara is threatened with this as a condition of {{spoiler|having Durnik brought back to life}} -- fortunately, the Gods have a sense of humor. Lastly, Cyradis in the final book of ''[[The Malloreon]]'' must be stripped of her powers of prophecy into order to {{spoiler|make the final choice between Light and Dark}}.

** It's strongly implied, towards the end of ''The Malloreon'', that Cyradis didn't actually lose her powers.

** The Light Prophecy explicitly tells Garion that she was no longer a seer... but that she ''had'' looked into the future, and she has a ''very'' good memory.

* [[Capital Letters Are Magic]]: The word <small>EVENT</small>, rendered in small capitals, refers specifically to an event required for the fulfillment of prophecy. These <small>EVENTS</small> are in essence instantaneous conflict between the two opposing Wills of the Universe, settled by a choice made by a mortal. The reason that they are instantaneous is that longer conflicts would destroy the universe.

* [[Charm Person]]: Asharak the Murgo's favourite trick, pulled liberally on Garion practically since birth. He stops when Garion decides to [[Kill It with Fire|kill him with fire]].

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Sprinkled liberally throughout the series, but most obviously in ''The Malloreon''. Examples include Zith, Sadi's pet snake, whom Velvet uses to {{spoiler|kill Harakan}}; the whole business with the Grolims being afraid to go near Kell; the subtle cannon at the beginning, where Garion says 'Fortune tellers are never right- one of them once predicted Durnik will live twice. How silly is that?'; and most especially the frequent references to the Turim reef, which ends up being {{spoiler|The Place Which Is No More}}, but nobody noticed due to language drift.

* [[Covers Always Lie]]: Averted, at least for the paperbacks; you can match the cover images to exact moments in the books.

* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]:

** Belgarath gets this ''all the time.'' Indeed, ''Belgarath The Sorcerer'' reveals that it takes a LOT of work for him to build up his crouching itinerant storyteller persona, including clothes specially tailored to look like they're falling apart at the seams, and boots designed to fit well, but explicitly not match. He may look scruffy and listless, but he's actually very well-dressed most of the time.

* [[Cryptic Conversation]]:

** That and the reader will eventually get the feeling that the Voice did it that way because it ''annoys Belgarath so very, very much.''

* [[Cursed with Awesome]]:

** The second series shows that it's hereditary when Barak's son turns into a bear during the final <small>EVENT</small>.

* [[Cute Monster Girl]]: The Dryads are technically a race of this, but look identical to humans.

* [[Cute Mute]]: Errand, at least until ''The Malloreon'', and [[Lampshaded]] there: "I see you've learned to talk, boy."

* [[Dashed Plotline]]: The prequels can skip centuries between chapters. Having main characters who are immortal makes this almost essential -- a biography of Polgara that tried to cover everything would make the Oxford English Dictionary look small, and her father's over twice as old as her.

* [[Dead Man Writing]]: In the Malloreon, the message from Torak to Belgarion they find in an uncorrupted copy of the Ashabine Oracles is one of these.

** When warned by Garion that Belgarath won't like what the Purpose intends in a certain situation, the voice responds with something along the lines of, "I can bear that prospect with enormous fortitude."

* [[Death by Childbirth]]: Poledra {{spoiler|subverts it.}}

* [[Death Seeker]]: Garion strongly suspects [[The Emperor|'Zakath]] of being one of these in [[The Malloreon]].

* [[Deconfirmed Bachelor]]: Silk, especially in the Mallorean when he trades out his [[Unrequited Love]] for Queen Porenn to catching the eye of wily [[Action Girl|up-and-coming Lady-Spy]] Liselle.

* [[Destination Defenestration]]: Comes up several times, most notably when Silk fights Brill at Rak Cthol, and then again in ''The Malloreon'' when Senji relates to Belgarath and Garion how the Melcene University tried to "test" his immortality.

* [[The Devil Is a Loser]]: Torak. Sure, he's the resident evil god of the setting, but he spends all of the series and most of the backstory horribly maimed because of several monumentally stupid decisions; the main characters have absolutely no respect for him and regularly refer to him by such epithets as "Burnt-face" and "One-eye"; he has no ability to either anticipate or cope with change in the world; and he has absolutely no subtlety, sense of military tactics, or awareness of human nature whatsoever, relying entirely on brute force. One gets the impression that the only reason he was ever a credible threat was that, as a god, he has a ''lot'' of brute force to throw around, and Garion wins their final battle by [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|pointing out how very pathetic he is]] behind all the bluster.

** Also, it turns out that he was {{spoiler|never supposed to be a God at all. The same thing that split the two Purposes created him as the wrong god. ''Eriond'' is the God who was supposed to be.}}

* [[Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat]]: Zandramas' efforts to sway events to her favour ultimately hasten the Event she is trying to avoid. And, probably, bias the Choice against her.

* [[Doomy Dooms of Doom]]: Martje of Val Alorn likes to talk about Barak's Doom.

{{quote|'''Durnik''': "What was all that talk about Doom?"}}

* [[The Dragon]]: The hierarchy of evil's leadership across both series goes, roughly, Disciple (Ctuchik, Zedar, and Urvon for Torak; Naradas for Zandramas), Child of Dark (Torak, Zandramas), Dark Prophecy. In ''[[The Belgariad]]'' [[Evil Sorceror|Ctuchik]] and [[Driven to Villainy|Zedar]] play Dragon to [[Physical God|Torak]] (not that he especially needs protecting), while [[Starter Villain|Asharak]] and [[Ninja|Brill]] are Ctuchik's [[Co-Dragons]]; Brill may have been Asharak's Dragon as well, although he was [[Dragon Their Feet|strangely absent during the latter's final moments]]; the details of the relationship are never fully explored. In ''[[The Malloreon]]'' Zandramas has [[Number Two|Naradas]], [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|Mordja]], and an actual Dragon, while Urvon has [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|Nahaz]] and [[Bastard Understudy|Harakan]]. Most of those in the Malloreon have [[Dragon with an Agenda|their own agendas]].

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Belsambar and Belmakor. In the prequel, Belgarath expresses a suspicion that Zedar had somehow played a part in the latter (though he never explains ''how''), and goes on to say that if he ever discovers proof, he'll go back and put Zedar somewhere even ''worse''.

* [[Driven to Villainy]]: Zedar claims this, although the prequels undermine his position. He initially joined Torak of his own free will, intending to act as a [[Fake Defector]], and then Torak's touch on his mind obliterated his ability to resist. The implication is that [[Pride]] was his [[Fatal Flaw]] for assuming that he, or ''any'' mortal, could mount that kind of deception against a god. At the end, Zedar tries to shrug off responsibility by arguing that he was merely playing his role in the prophecy, but Belgarath doesn't buy it.

* [[Either/Or Prophecy]]: Technically, two prophecies that are actually divided halves of the original Purpose of the Universe.

* [[Empathic Weapon]]: The Orb definitely has a personality of its own, but it's not very developed. As Belgarath says, it's "closer to a horse or dog than an actual person." It tends to get very enthusiastic when it "lends a hand" to Garion's sorcery, leading to some rather spectacular effects, and sometimes gives him unsolicited advice. For example, when he mentions offhand that it could write his name in the stars, it starts to explain exactly how to go about it. Zakath, who had virtually been holding him prisoner a short while before, has some very interesting reactions to listening to Garion explain to the Orb it was only an example. It's implied that part of the reason Garion - and, indeed his ultimate ancestor Riva Iron-Grip - was chosen to bear the Orb is his basic humility; he's not subject to the temptation to use the Orb for the sake of power.

* [[Empty Shell]]: 'Zakath misses this trope by milimetres during [[The Belgariad]] and the start of [[The Malloreon]]. The prophecy outright refers to him as "The Empty One".

* [[Encyclopedia Exposita]]: Many of the novels start with an excerpt from a historical or religious text that provides relevant [[Backstory]] for the book in question. Humourously, the excerpts often reference the same event, with [[The Rashomon|completely]] [[Perspective Flip|different]] [[Unreliable Narrator|interpretations]].

* [[Enemy Civil War]]:

** Urgit's struggle to ascend the throne of Cthol Murgos {{spoiler|after the death of Taur Urgas}}.

* [[Epic Fail]]:

** In ''[[The Belgariad]]'' Lelldorin manages to extend an epic fail over the course of several weeks. When he announces that he's going to get back to the main group, his beloved refuses to stay behind. During the departure and trip he manages to break her father's leg, run his cousin through the leg "just a little bit", punch out all of a priest's teeth, and cause enough assorted mayhem to get a bounty put on his head by the crown. And all of this was ''without trying''. This is also an example of [[Disaster Dominoes]]. He did successfully marry the girl in the process, though! (Only because traveling alone with her would cause more trouble.)

** In ''[[The Belgariad|The Mallorean]]'', Garion [[Got Volunteered|has to]] stop a [[Chivalric Romance|war]] threatening to [[Chronic Hero Syndrome|engulf]] the entire kingdom of Arendia. He magically summons a [[Dramatic Thunder|storm]] that helps him [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|single-handedly]] stop two charging armies in their tracks, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|force]] an [[Knight in Shining Armour|old friend]] to [[Arranged Marriage|marry]] the [[Courtly Love|love]] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|of his life]] and resolve the dispute. He’s very [[Tempting Fate|pleased]] with his hard day’s work. A few chapters later he [[Gone Horribly Right|finds out]] that he sparked off blizzards, hurricanes, droughts and tornados right around the world, and even triggered a new ice age. It took the combined efforts of the Gods themselves and two of the most powerful sorcerers alive over six months to fix it. Needless to say, Garion is [[You Are Not Ready|banned]] from touching the weather again for two thousand years.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]:

** ''The Malloreon'' has a deeply chilling example in the fourth book, where Garion finds a prophecy written by Torak in which the Dark God begs his archenemy to prevent the horror that will come if Zandramas succeeds in elevating the Dark Prophecy. Belgarath remarks that it may have been Torak's one moment of sanity.

* [[Evil Counterpart]]: Most obviously Zedar (and to a lesser degree, [[Arch Enemy|Ctuchik]]) to Belgarath, a few others crop up. Like the whole Child of Light/Child of Dark thing. Urvon is likely the [[Evil Counterpart]] to Beldin: both are disfigured, both are the disciple of a major god, and they hate each other almost as much as their respective masters do. A case could be made that 'Zakath is originally Garion's [[Evil Counterpart]]: they're both the rulers of half the world, but Garion is a decent king, where as 'Zakath is [[The Emperor]] and is totally obsessed with power and revenging himself on Taur Urgas. This, of course, changes in ''[[The Malloreon]]'', and gets heavily [[Lampshaded]] to boot.

** The Sardion (Cthrag Sardius) is the Evil Counterpart to the Orb of Aldur (Cthrag Yaska). One could argue that Torak's black sword, Cthrek Goru, is the Evil Counterpart to the Sword of the Rivan King.

* [[Eviler Than Thou]]: [[Big Bad|Zandramas]] vs [[A God Am I|Urvon]] vs [[Evil Sorceror|Agachak]] vs [[Dark Messiah|Mengha]] vs (pre-[[Heel Face Turn]]) [[The Emperor|'Zakath]]. Also, [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|Nahaz]] vs [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|Mordja]] for the favour of [[Satan|The King of Hell]]. See [[Enemy Civil War]] above.

* [[Evil Smells Bad]]: The areas corrupted by the presence of the Child of Dark both have this as a defining trait.

* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: Ctuchik, Zedar, Urvon, Chamdar, Zandramas, Naradas, the vast majority of unnamed Grolims, and pretty much every single Morind magician and Karandese wizard.

* [[Five-Man Band]]:

** Garion -- [[The Hero]], Durnik -- [[The Lancer]], Silk -- [[The Smart Guy]], Ce'Nedra -- [[The Chick]], with Belgarath and Polgara as [[Mentors]]. [[The Big Guy]] is sort of interesting, as the role is played by more than one character -- in fact, the multitude of Big Guys could probably form their own Band within a Band: Barak -- Big Hero, Hettar -- Big Lancer, Mandorallen -- Big Squared, Relg -- Big Smart, Lelldorin -- Big Chick. Such characters are necessary, according to Eddings, in order to "handle all the killing and mayhem until the hero grows up to the point where he can do his own violence on the bad guys". In the ''[[Malloreon]]'', the Big Band is dropped from the main cast, and they wander around having mostly irrelevant adventures in other parts of the world. Also possibly a [[Five-Token Band]], since all the characters are from different cultures.

* [[Flaying Alive]]: Taur Urgas' response to his guards' inability to prevent the unavoidable. Also a favoured method by Silk, alongside boiling, for [[Noodle Incident|implied past events upon which he didn't elaborate]].

* [[The Fog of Ages]]: Played with, especially in the banter between Beldin and Belgarath.

* [[Gentleman Thief]]: Silk is a prime example.

* [[Go-Go Enslavement]]: A male example -- in the second book, Garion is kidnapped and drugged by the Queen of Nyissa and forced to sit on her throne wearing makeup and a short loincloth.

* [[The Good Chancellor]]: Brand is the latest in a line of Rivan Warders who govern Riva until the king returns.

* [[Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!|Grandpa What Massive Hotness You Have]]:

** Belgarath, the oldest person in the world short of the gods and who ''looks'' appropriately venerable for an aged sorcerer, when he strips to the briefs to dive into a lake and shows off his impressive physique in the process.

'''Garion''': "I hit my head."

'''Belgarath''': "I thought we'd agreed that you weren't going to do that anymore." }}

* [[The Heart]]: Garion is this within the Brotherhood of sorcerers. Not yet jaded by aeons of duty, he constantly wants to go out of his way to help people even when it hurts his cause, is extremely reluctant to kill people, and feels ashamed about using sorcery for malicious purposes. The other sorcerers are often irritated by his idealism, but sometimes grudgingly admit that doing something just because it's right is necessary from time to time.

* [[Hell Hound|Hell Hounds]]: The Hounds Of Torak. Actually Grolims who've transformed themselves into giant dogs. Some have since changed back to form the Chandim; they aren't noticeably more pleasant.

* [[Hellish Horse]]: The Hrulgin: carnivorous, horse-like beasts that the party has a brief encounter with. Hettar, true to his Horse-Lord nature, takes a stab at riding one. He regretfully kills it after he makes mind contact with it and realizes how utterly insane it is. At one point he muses that if he could raise one from a colt, he might be able to train and ride it, but relents after being reminded that it would look at the Algars' prized cattle as food.

* [[Intangible Man]]: Relg can pass through rock like water and take people with him, or [[Buried Alive|leave them in there]]. Sorcerers can also project their "shadows" as to appear somewhere else.

* [[Interspecies Romance]]:

** Even Garion and Ce'Nedra, as she isn't technically human; it's stated that the Dryad strain breeds true in the female Borunes.

* [[In the Back]]: An interesting prevention tactic employed by Mimbrate tax collectors is mentioned in ''The Rivan Codex'': a thick, well-fitting wooden plank under the chainmail to protect the back from Asturian arrows. Apparently it's not unusual for a tax collector to just ignore the arrows stuck in his back.

* [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons]]: Averted. Dragons are quite pathetic creatures in the world of the Belgariad and in the original series they are only mentioned in one page in ''Magician's Gambit'' and even then not referred to as dragons or in fact any name at all. Their portrayal – or lack thereof – makes one wonder if Eddings's publisher demanded he add dragons just because he was writing a fantasy series and it was only done to fill an arbitrary quota.

* [[The Jester]]: Beldin's role and one of his disguises.

* [[Kill It with Fire]]: How Asharak/Chamdar [[You Killed My Father|killed Garion's parents]], [[Ironic Death|and thus]], how Garion kills Chamdar. And in ''Belgarath the Sorcerer'', Belsambar suggests throwing burning pitch into the Angarak cities.

* [[Knight in Shining Armour]]: Mandorallen, oh so very much.

* [[Lady Drunk]]: A noblewoman that the party encounters in Mallorea, due to extreme boredom and isolation.

* [[Last of His Kind]]:

** There is only one dragon in the series, who is both the first and the last of her kind. The gods made three, but the two males killed each other in the first mating season. The entire depiction of dragons is an intentional [[Subversion]] of the basic fantasy archetype of the creatures -- just dumb lizards. Garion is also the [[Single Line of Descent|last surviving descendant]] of the Rivan royal family, and Taiba is the last Marag.

* [[Love Hungry]]: Torak, which guides much of his motivation.

* [[Love Potion]]: [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] in ''Polgara The Sorceress''. The members of Duke Kathandrion's court exasperate Polgara with requests for such a potion, which she notes is a [[Trope|literary device]] prevalent in Arendish epics.

* [[Magic A Is Magic A]]:

** Magic is rather flexible... but you may ''not'' unmake anything. Breaking things is fine, as that just changes its state, but using magic to make something "Be not!" causes it to backlash and take ''you'' out. Which means that you technically ''can'' unmake something, so long as the something is ''you''. A couple of sorcerers in the [[Backstory]] actually committed suicide this way.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]:

** Garion's horror and self-loathing over Asharak's death (no matter how badly it was deserved) is a major plot element of ''Queen of Sorcery''.

* [[Narrative Profanity Filter]]: Eddings uses this a great deal, most notably with Beldin. Only missed in a couple instances, but in referring to female dogs. Usually played for entertainment purposes. The descriptions of (and reactions to) people swearing can be as or more entertaining than the swearing itself.

{{quote|'''Garion:''' (in response to Ce'Nedra) "Why dear, I didn't even think you knew what half of those words meant!"}}

* [[The Power of Love]]: Torak isn't able to take over the world because Polgara {{spoiler|loves Durnik}}, and holds on to that while he's trying to bend her will to his.

* [[Pretty Boy]]: Torak ''was'' one, before the whole burning thing. He was often described as "over-pretty".

* [[Professional Killer]]: {{spoiler|Brill}} and the rest of the Daghashi, and Issus, a Nyissan poisoner and assassin. Silk, Liselle, and the other members of Drasnian intelligence have this as one of their skill sets.

* [[Prophecies Are Always Right]]: [[Deconstructed Trope]]. The reason for the prophecies in the first place is that a pure accident caused the original Purpose of the Universe to be threatened, so it split apart to protect itself. The competing Purposes then each set about to cause a course of events to occur such that their preferred outcome would come to pass. They create prophecies specifically to set out instructions for their pawns to make those things happen -- or more specifically, to give meaning to the events. Moreover, the competing prophecies sometimes describe mutually exclusive outcomes that do not come to pass until they are resolved in a moment of Choice, which can only be made by a mortal.

* [[Really Gets Around]]:

** Thull women have this reputation, but not in a good way - pregnant women aren't acceptable sacrifices to Torak, so they try to ''always'' be pregnant. The line of Salmissras in Nyissa also act this way, because the potion that keeps them looking young stimulates their [[Anything That Moves|libido]]; one of the reasons the last one doesn't mind being turned into an immortal snake is because, for the first time in years, she ''isn't'' horny. This is the reason why all the functionaries in Salmissra's palace are eunuchs. Even the Nyissans acknowledge that this is a necessity, because if they weren't then nothing would really be able to get done in the palace... for rather obvious reasons if you think about it.

* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|Really Seven Thousand Years Old]]:

** Most of the sorcerers are several ''thousand'' years old. Except for Polgara, who looks to be in her mid-late twenties, they all look like old men. Polgara falls for Durnik, who's in his thirties -- bit of an age gap. Belgarath is so old that he shows up as an aged ''mentor'' in the three-thousand-year-old "[[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Bible]]" of the series, and is basically considered to be [[Satan]] by the [[Big Bad]]'s followers. It doesn't help that when the sorcerers get caught up in research in their towers, they flat out seem to forget that time is flowing. Belgarath managed to not notice that the wolf which had been staring at him while he puttered around his tower had been doing so for a thousand years until one day he stopped and actually did the math to realize it. Belgarath himself doesn't even seem to notice how old he is until he's ''over three hundred years old'', when he finally asks his god why he doesn't seem to be aging. The god replies that he's always found it ''inconvenient''.

* [[Rebellious Princess]]: Ce'Nedra.

* [[Red Right Hand]]: Torak's not called the Maimed God for nothing. Also Urvon (piebald) and Naradas (white-eyes) in [[The Malloreon]].

* [[Relative Error]]: In ''Castle of Wizardry,'' Garion meets his cousin Adara. When Ce'Nedra sees them together, she immediately assumes they're an item, breaks down, and has to be disabused of the notion by Polgara. This is also the moment when she is forced to admit that she loves Garion.

* [[Religion of Evil]]:

* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: Played straight in the first series, but not in the second. Sadi's pet snake, Zith, is downright cute, and strikes up an improbable friendship with 'Zakath's kittens.

* [[Retcon]]: The prequels.

** Polgara's character was retconned to be much more reasonable in the prequels. In ''Queen of Sorcery'' especialy, she's a [[My Beloved Smother]] [[jerkass]] towards Garion to the point of being [[Abusive Parents|psychologically abusive]]. After {{spoiler|horribly murdering a man with magical fire}}, the last thing a traumatised 15-year-old boy needs is his mother figure suddenly insisting on calling him a different name with no further explanation, and then start invading his thoughts and tampering with his mind by giving him smug advice telephatically and making him write his "new name" instead of his real one when he's learning to write.

** There are many minor examples. In the main series, Polgara acts as though she's unaccustomed to a task such as raising Garion or that it's beneath her, while Belgarath is surprised when Garion calls him "grandfather". In the prequels, Polgara has been caretaker of the Rivan line for five hundred years, and Belgarath has been "grandfather" to that same line for even longer.

* [[Robe and Wizard Hat]]: Sorcerers maintain that this image of them is a fiction invented by [[Muggles]] who know nothing about them. The few times Belgarath is forced into such an outfit, he is notably apoplectic about it.

* [[Ruling Couple]]: Belgarion and Ce'Nedra of Riva, and Korodullin and Mayaserana of Arendia.

* [[Rummage Sale Reject]]: Belgarath, intentionally -- he wants to look as unobtrusive as possible.

* [[Sarcastic Devotee]]: At one point Garion notes that he understands now why Belgarath was so consistently irritated at Silk throughout the entire series - leadership is hard enough without someone standing behind you providing a sarcastic running commentary.

* [[Scaled Up]]: Zandramas turns into a dragon. She seems to go out of her way towards being as ostentatious as possible.

* [[Scry vs. Scry]]: The two competing Prophecies. There's also a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] version of this when Belgarath confronts Ctuchik -- see [[Disposable Woman]], above.

* [[Secret Legacy]]: Garion's "Aunt Pol" is revealed to actually be many times removed -- she's the sister of his ultimate grandmother. Belgarath is his ultimate grandfather.

* [[Serrated Blade of Pain]]: Ulgos use knives with all sorts of nasty hooks to do more damage.

* [[Shapeshifting Squick]]: Garion's first reaction when he finds out that Belgarath's wife Poledra wasn't originally a human:

* [[Single-Minded Twins]]: Beltira and Belkira in the main series, at least. This was eased off of in the prequels in order to make them actual, y'know, ''characters''.

* [[Silk Hiding Steel]]:Velvet claims to be this in the Malloreon, but any woman who has graduated from the Drasnian spy academy probably doesn't qualify for Proper Lady status even if she is a Margravine.

* [[Shower of Angst]]: After witnessing his first lethal fight, Garion takes a very thorough bath.

* [[Skunk Stripe]]: Polgara has one. All the sorcerors in Garion's line (or, more accurately, Belgarath's) have a white birthmark of some sort; however Polgara's hair was raven black through and through when she was born. As noted in ''Belgarath the Sorceror'', the snow white lock appeared when Belgarath laid his hand on her head in an ancient ritual of bennediction from his homeland.

* [[The Sneaky Guy]]: Silk.

* [[So Proud of You]]: [[Big Good|The Prophecy of Light]] says this to Garion before leaving at the end of [[The Malloreon]]. [[Tear Jerker|Sniff...]]

* [[Spy Catsuit]]: Subverted in the ''Malloreon''. Velvet frequently dresses in tight-fitting leather, but it is described as looking masculine, workman-like, bleak and completely uninteresting.

* [[Spy Couple]]: Silk and Velvet.

* [[Standing Between the Enemies]]:

** Near the beginning of ''The Malloreorn'', Belgarion pulls this, mostly to demonstrate how much he's grown up since the previous series. He stops a civil war in Mimbre by basically riding out between the two armies, unhorsing everyone who gets in his way, and then calling down a cataclysmic thunderstorm between them, while suggesting that anyone who wants to start fighting, can start by fighting HIM. Considering how eager [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Mimbrates]] are to go to war, nothing less would have done the trick, probably.

* [[Starter Villain]]: Chamdar/Asharak.

* [[Staying Alive]]: {{spoiler|Poledra, who was said to have died in childbirth but in reality went undercover for three thousand years to secretly watch over the Prophecy's interests.}}

* [[The Stoic]]:

** Another notable Stoic is the Voice of the Prophecy, which usually speaks with a certain dry amusement. Every now than then--usually when the rules it and its opposite have laid down are being ignored or things are about to go completely out the window--it can get very angry or very excited.

* [[Stop Worshipping Me!]]:

{{quote|'''Velvet:''' We wouldn't want the Rivan king to get REALLY upset, would we? There are so many breakable things about... windows, walls, houses, the city of Rak Hagga... that sort of thing.}}

* [[Throwing Down the Gauntlet]]: Mandorallen, except he "missed" the floor, much to his opponent's detriment.

* [[Tomboyish Name]]: Beldaran. Despite being the [[Tomboy and Girly Girl|Girly Girl]] to the adolescent Polgara's Tomboy her name has the masculine 'Bel' prefix and Daran is used as a name with no comment by several of her male descendents.

* [[Tongue-Tied]]: Asharak places a magical compulsion on Garion to prevent him from ratting Asharak out.

* [[Verbal Tic Name]]: Errand.

* [[Villain Ball]]:

* [[Villainesses Want Heroes]]: Salmissra shows signs of this when she kidnaps Garion in Queen Of Sorcery.

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: