The orphan farmboy who gets taken off on a
mysterious quest, saves the world, marries a princess and discovers he’s the
heir to hidden royalty is possibly the biggest clique in the fantasy genre. And
probably the most famous example of this overused and boring plot device is
David Eddings’ 5 book series titled The
Belgariad.
Here’s the book titles and year they were published:
Pawn
of Prophecy ~ Belgariad book 1 1982
Queen
of Sorcery ~ Belgariad book 2 1982
Magician’s
Gambit ~ Belgariad book 3 1983
Castle
of Wizardry ~ Belgariad book 4 1984
Enchanters’
End Game ~ Belgariad book 5 1984
I’ve been reading fantasy ever since I was old
enough to go and raid bookshelves, I cut my reading teeth on the likes of The Chronicles of Prydain, The Chronicles of
Narnia and The Lord of the Rings.
I know good fantasy. I’ll rephrase that, I know what I consider good fantasy. The Belgariad is not good fantasy.
So why then am I writing about it? Why have I reread
it on more than a few occasions? I will answer both questions, but first a
little bit of history.
I first came across book 1 in this series near the
end of my life in secondary school. I was doing what I normally did in those
days, namely skipping school so I could hide in the town library all day.
School was rather mundane and boring and I much preferred to go and lose myself
in someone else’s created world. To those reading this, I’m not advocating the
skipping of school, in hindsight it’s a rather stupid thing to do and more
often than not it results in you working in crap jobs and hating yourself. So I
happened across book 1, found myself a little alcove which seemed untainted by
grubby hands and proceeded to read. I actually read most of the book in a few
hours and found myself really enjoying it. What wasn’t to like? It had
sorcerer’s, thieves, assassin’s and men waving swords around, everything a
growing geek needs. My library actually had all 5 books in, so I obviously
checked the lot of them out, went home at the correct time and over the course
of the next few nights read the lot. For quite a while afterwards they were
among my favourite books, I ended up buying the series and they had pride of
place on my little bookcase. But then, as often happens, I discovered other
authors, lots of very good authors, and slowly but surely they eroded my belief
that Eddings was a literary god.
So to answer my first question. I’ve reread The Belgariad and other works of Eddings
over the years, generally while waiting for the likes of George Martin, Guy Kay
and latterly Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch to finish whatever they are
currently working on. And while I am now firm in my belief that Eddings’ tales
are actually pretty damn bad, I also am of the belief that they occupy an
important niche in the fantasy genre.
To anyone looking to read fantasy, a book like Lord of the Rings can seem a pretty
daunting prospect with its slow pace, and reputation as the most important
fantasy book ever. I read it when I was quite young, but I am a weird case. So
a gateway is needed, preferably something light and fluffy, something that
won’t tax the brain too much and that something is The Belgariad.
It’s not a complex story (in fact I can think of
several kids TV programmes that are a great deal more complex), the simple plot
moves quickly from A to B with a plethora of predictable scenes. The writing is
quite basic, which isn’t really too much of a problem as the pacing of the
series is usually at set sprinting speed. Eddings also has the annoying habit
of having a lot of characters share the same sarcastic sense of humour. This
isn’t too bad at times, when only a few are in scene together, but trust me
when you have a large group of people all being sarcastically insulting and
tossing out witty one-liners it gets rather tedious in a hurry. Also, thanks to
a huge deus ex machina, you’re never
left with the feeling that any of the good guys in the series are in any danger
whatsoever. With some of the things they face you should be able to sense some
sort of peril, but it’s not there at all.
Despite me bad-mouthing the series I actually still
like it.
Sure it can be annoying, predictable and safe, but it’s fun to read, it’s
light-hearted, occasionally gory fluff. Like the trashy action TV shows of the
mid-80’s it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s a good thing. I’ll
continue to reread The Belgariad
faults and all, and I’ll continue to recommend it to people looking to enter
the genre.
The main reason I do reread the series (the above
reasons are true but not the primary reason), is because of the characters. On
that score Eddings has succeeded were a lot of technically better authors have
failed. His characters literally do spring to life in your mind and they’ll
continue to live with you, even when you don’t think of them for months or
years at a time.
So let me introduce you to the main cast here,
because it’s always nice to meet future friends.
Garion
AKA Belgarion
Garion is our rather naïve, kitchen pot cleaning
hero. He’s your stereotypical fantasy lead, the farmboy/kitchenboy orphan who
goes on a great journey and learns all kinds of interesting things about
himself. He’s a likeable lad, albeit a bit too humourless and practical at
times, but I think you’ll sympathise with him.
Belgarath
AKA Mister Wolf AKA The Eternal Man AKA Thieving Scoundrel
It’s just possible that Belgarath may be one of my
most favourite characters in all fantasy. He’s a 7000 year old sorcerer with a
drink and slight kleptomania problem, he’s also a great storyteller and is
feared by most of the known world. Any way you look at him Belgarath is cool.
He even makes tramps clothing look fashionable.
Polgara
AKA Aunt Pol
Polgara is Belgarath’s daughter and has had a long,
long love hate relationship with him. She’s a strict disciplinarian who
disapproves of anything remotely resembling fun, offset against that is the
fact that she has looks every super-model would kill for.
Silk
AKA Prince Kheldar AKA that rat faced little man
Along with Belgarath, Silk tops many readers lists
as favourite Eddings character ever, and it isn’t hard to see why. He’s witty,
wittier than most in a genuinely funny way, he’s smart and his moral compass
appears to be in a state of constant malfunction. When you add in the fact that
he’s a thief, spy, con artist and master of disguise you know you’re on to a
winner.
Barak
AKA The Earl of Trellheim AKA The Dreadful Bear
Barak is the main muscles of the group, he’s a huge,
brutish warrior who possesses all the subtlety of a large sword to the face.
When he gets seriously pissed off he has been known to literally transform in a
gigantic bear, whatever drawbacks that can have I’ll bet it makes pub fights
extremely interesting.
Durnik
AKA Goodman Durnik
Durnik’s like an older and wiser version of Garion,
he’s even more practical and lacks a lot in the humour department. He’s also a
bit of a xenophobe and can often be found criticising foreign people and their
cultures. Despite this rather obvious flaw he’s a fundamentally decent man,
possessing a lot of loyalty to his friends.
Hettar
AKA The Horselord
Hettar can talk to horses, which in a fantasy world
is an extremely great talent to have. He’s a quiet sort, probably because he
spends all his time in equine conversations. He also possesses and overwhelming
hatred towards a race of nasty people known as Murgo’s, the fact that they
killed his parents and dragged him along behind a horse for a few miles probably
explains this. If given his way he’d probably kill every one of them in various
gruesome ways, he’s that committed.
Mandorallan
AKA The Knight Protector
Mandorallen is, by his own admission, the greatest
knight who has ever lived, and given how much he’s respected and feared outside
of his homeland this may possibly be true. He’s a very courtly, chivalrous and
polite man, a rare thing in a lot of men, espeicially in those trained in the
use of big swords. He’s known far and wide for his utter fearlessness, though
when you combine that with his complete lack of anything resembling common
sense then you may understand how he could be a dangerous man to be friends
with.
Lelldorin
AKA The Archer
First thing many readers notice about Lelldorin,
he’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the box. And while he is actually more
headstrong and accident prone than completely stupid, ridiculous events do have
a tendency to happen wherever he is. He’s an archer of vastly impressive skill
and could likely hit the balls of a flea from a hundred yards away.
Ce’Nedra
AKA Her Imperial Highness AKA The Irritating One
Ce’Nedra is small and red haired, that’s a bad
combination right there. Ce’Nedra is also an Imperial Princess, and boy doesn’t
she just love informing everyone and everything about her station, even when
they already know and couldn’t give a damn. She is the very epitomy of spoilt
royalty. When she chooses not to be a royal brat though she is a smart and
charismatic woman, capable of great things.
Relg
AKA The Zealot
Relg can walk through rock, any type of rock
anywhere in the world he can actually pass his body through it. This
automatically raises him into the realm of the supercool, his status is let
down, and let down quite badly by the fact that he is a bigoted, ultra-religious
zealot. He is actually a very tormented man, tormented by the sin he perceives
everywhere around him and most especially in himself.
Taiba
AKA The Slave Woman AKA Harlot
Despite having important character status, Taiba
doesn’t actually have too much to do with the main plot (such as it is). She
was born into slavery and the only life skill she finds useful is the ability
to use her body to get what she wants. She finds Relg extremely fascinating and
believes her main challenge is to seduce him.
Errand
AKA that innocent little child
I was a bit doubtful whether to include Errand here,
as he isn’t actually a significant player until the sequel series The Mallorean. But Errand, despite only
being able to say one word, has actually played a major role in the events that
lead up to the start of the series. So on that basis, plus knowledge of what is
going to happen to him further down the line, I’m introducing him here. Little
Errand is fairly limited in his vocabulary (not his fault as events do show), but
he’s a pure and innocent soul, and even the most cynical of readers will feel a
certain amount of protectiveness for him.
So there we go, that’s the main cast. There’s others
who have fairly prominent roles but they have less screen time than this lot
and so aren’t as important.
I had a debate with myself about whether I should
write a review of the plot here, but I decided against it for a couple of
reasons:
- It would be so long it’d be like a mini novel in itself, and no one would bother to read it.
- I hate spoiling books, no matter how good, bad or old they are.
So in conclusion, it’s
not brilliant, it’s not going to be included on any schools reading curriculum,
but it is fun and sometimes you need something like this just to add some cheer
to your day.
No comments:
Post a Comment