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.

* [[All Deaths Final]]: Due to universal agreement of the gods, with two notable exceptions.

* [[All Powerful Bystander]]: Both Prophecies by mutual agreement. If they directly clashed, they would blot out entire tracts of existence.

* [[An Odd Place to Sleep]]: Belgarath is able to doze in the saddle, allowing him to dedicate less time for rest and remain alert for longer when it's required. In ''The Malloreon'', Garion also picks up this skill.

* [[Ambiguous Syntax]]: Lots of it, in the various written prophecies both sides are using. Also, deliberately used on Polgara by Aldur, when he says that the gods will bring Durnik back to life for her to marry, if she'll agree to live the rest of her life with no more sorcerous power than he has. She assumes they mean that she'll be stripped of her power.

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

* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: Silk - frequently. The best example is when, as the party is escaping from {{spoiler|Rak Cthol after Ctuchik's death}}, he gets them past several Grolim search parties by pretending to be a higher ranking Grolim and ordering them to move their search elsewhere.

* [[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.

* [[Childless Dystopia]]: Belgarath spends a very depressing winter in a town cursed with sterility.

* [[The Chooser of the One]]: Cyradis.

* [[Chromatic Arrangement]]: The gods.

* [[Church Militant]]: The Bear-Cult, and many, many factions of the Grolim Priesthood, which includes: [[Evil Sorceror|Evil Sorcerors]] galore, [[Hell Hound|The Hounds of Torak]], the Chandim (Hounds who've changed back into humans) and the Temple Guardsmen (evil knights sworn to Torak and Urvon).

** Zakath is a minor subversion in that instance. Garion magically cheats, Zakath refuses to...only a minor subversion, because he does improvise an unusual jousting technique that works to perfection.

* [[Coming of Age Story]]: Especially in the first couple books.

* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Belgarath. Being the first disciple, he's the designated "old" one, even though Beldin and the twins are ''also'' several thousand years old.

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

** Each and every damn prophecy. In the case of the Mrin Codex, this turns out to be only because the oracle was stark raving mad; the Voice of the Universe tells Garion that unfortunately, this nutcase was all he had to work with.

** 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]]:

** Barak's "curse" is to turn into a bear when Garion {{spoiler|Heir to the long-empty throne of Riva and Overlord of the West by treaty}} is threatened. A rampaging, unstoppable bear. At first he thinks it's just a progressive ailment and attempts suicide, but once he gets filled in on the trigger conditions (i.e., his family is now the hereditary protector's of Garion's), he contemplates tasteful ways to work it into his coat of arms. Who wouldn't want to advertise that?

* [[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.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]:

** Everyone to an extent -- one of the big draws of the series is reading the characters' often clever back-and-forth banter. This is epitomized, however, by the ''Purpose of the Friggin' Universe'', who takes up residence as a snarky voice in Garion's consciousness and comes across as nothing so much as a long-suffering [[Game Master]] constantly annoyed that his players won't follow the script.

* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: Zakath is one of the rare ''pre-emptive'' examples of this trope, in that after finally dawning to just how thoroughly the odds are against him he decides to just skip the 'defeat' and go straight to the 'friendship'.

{{quote|"You know something, Garion? I've always believed that someday you and I would go to war with each other. Would you be terribly disappointed if I decided not to show up?"}}

* [[Demon Lords and Archdevils]]: In [[The Malloreon]], it's revealed that Demons/Devil-Spirits, have rank the same way that people do. [[Dragon-in-Chief|Nahaz]] and [[Dragon with an Agenda|Mordja]] are the two that Garion and co. encounter.

* [[Den of Iniquity]]: Several of the rooms in Ctuchik's tower in ''Magician's Gambit''

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

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

* [[Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male)]]: Vella and Yarblek, [[Played for Laughs]], and [[Justified Trope|justified]] by Nadrak culture, in which all women are property of a man, but own the rights to their ''person'', and are free to [[Knife Nut|cut up]] any man who tries to take advantage.

* [[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]].

* [[Dragon with an Agenda]]: The Demon Lords Nahaz and Mordja to Urvon and Zandramas respectively. Nahaz doubles as a [[Dragon-in-Chief]], after brainwashing Urvon into insanity; Urvon's second Dragon, {{spoiler|Harakan/Mengha}}, is also conspiring against him, with the help of Nahaz, who he believes he has under his control, allowing Nahaz to be [[Dragon with an Agenda]]/ [[Dragon-in-Chief]] to ''both'' of them.

* [[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.

* [[Duel to the Death]]: Garion vs. Torak.

* [[Dye or Die]]: Zakath grows a beard after joining the heroes in ''The Malloreon'' to avoid being recognized as Emperor. Ce'Nedra also dyes her hair temporarily after running away.

** In ''Sorceress of Darshiva'', Garion, Belgarath, and Beldin find out from the Ashabine Oracles that Ce'Nedra will reveal their next destination to Zandramas. They also let Polgara know about this, and she promises to keep an eye on her. However, by the time they've gone to Kell and found out what their next destination is, ''all four of them have completely forgotten about this.'' Not even Ce'Nedra getting unusually sleepy to the point of not being able to ride horse makes them remember, and after Ce'Nedra has done the thing she was destined to do, Garion gets angry at Cyradis for not revealing to them this information they already knew. Makes you wonder whether this was a failed attempt at playing the trope for drama and/or if Eddings himself forgot about it.

* [[Ignorance Is Bliss]]: Garion, deliberately. Also played with in Errand/Eriond.

* [[I Have You Now, My Pretty]]: A recurring threat against Polgara is that Torak will [[Mind Rape]] and force her into marriage. Indeed, the turning point of the final battle comes {{spoiler|when Polgara is able to tell Torak exactly where he can go stick what, despite his attempts to force her. Belgarath specifically points out that if Torak had had the emotional support of Polgara's "love", however false, Belgarion would never have been able to defeat him.}}

* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: Garion. Everyone's response: You're not. Get over it.

* [[Only the Pure of Heart]]: After its misuse by Torak, the Orb refused to bear the touch of any except one with a pure heart. This turned out to be Riva, and his descendants bear the mark of their bond with the Orb.

** Later Eriond, in ''The Malloreon''. His demonstration of this during Zandramas' first attack on the heroes nearly gives Polgara a heart attack.

* [[Orcus on His Throne]]: Although Torak is technically the [[Big Bad]] of the first series, he spends almost all of it asleep.

* [[Our Nudity Is Different]]: Relg rants about how Ulgo women tries to entice him by showing their calves and forearms.

* [[Outsourcing Fate]]: At the end of ''The Malloreon'', {{spoiler|Cyradis makes the final choice between the Light and Dark Prophecies}}.

** 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.

* [[Revenge Through Corruption]]: Torak's plans for Polgara.

* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: Hettar's parents were murdered by Murgos when he was young, and he made his mission in life is to kill as many Murgos as possible. {{spoiler|He does ease off a bit after noticing Adara.}}

* [[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.