History Characters / TheBelgariadTheRacesOfMen

* GloomyGray: {{Discussed|Trope}} regarding the Rivans, an isolated people who live in a grey stone CitadelCity on a rainy island and wear grey cloaks as a national costume. Some outsiders think they're totally joyless, but they're actually dutiful pragmatists with HiddenDepths -- their private lives are full of colour and art.

* ReligionOfEvil: An unfortunate by-product of having a bloodthirsty MadGod.

* TrueNeutral: Their default stance is to neutrality; as is pointed out, they're usually caught between two mighty powers (the Alorns and the Angaraks -- specifically, the Murgos), and taking sides too firmly (by assassinating the Rivan King on Zedar's behalf) nearly got them obliterated by the vengeful Alorns. Whenever they get called on this, they either point out the above or go, "yeah, so what?"

* ArcherArchetype: Asturians culturally favour the Robin Hood style, operating in a vast forest and portraying themselves as the oppressed Anglo-Saxon style victims of the Norman-style Mimbrates. While this isn't exactly wrong, it ignores the fact that Asturia flattened Wacune before that, and was originally the dominant Duchy. They learn from birth, and they are all very, ''very'' good.

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: They manage to do this with both the KnightInShiningArmour and the Myth/RobinHood version of the ArcherArchetype, while also providing two utterly straight versions of both (Mandorallen and Lelldorin) by deconstructing the Chivalric Romance style kingdom setting. It's based on a feudal system is revealed to be rife with internecine conflicts that compound the misery of the serfs, who're miserably oppressed and largely ignored even by sympathetic characters. Garion, raised in Sendaria where there are no serfs, is utterly horrified and spends some time trying to make Lelldorin see how unjust this is (which happens eventually). He isn't the only one to pass negative comment on it.

* TheDogBitesBack: The Thulls, both those that are captured by Ce'Nedra's army, and more generally after Torak's death. In the former case, they grab Grolim spies, take them a mile along the escarpment and methodically chuck them off the cliff. In the latter, it's remarked that for a people stereotyped as being stupid and unimaginative, they are ''remarkably'' creative in finding new and interesting ways for Grolims to die.

* FatalFlaw: They're a bit ''too'' reliant on their predictive capabilities telling them what they should do, which proves a complication for Cyradis when she eventually has to make the Choice.

* HornyVikings: Again, Chereks. The other Alorns are decent sailors, but the Chereks are by far the best at it.

* LeeroyJenkins: Their FatalFlaw is a mixture of this and {{Pride}}, both causing disputes by charging in without thinking, and then refusing to back down afterwards. It gets to the point where the 500 years worth of low-key civil war between Asturians and Mimbrates after the marriage of the Duke of Mimbre and Duchess of Asturia nominally united the kingdoms was based on a ''technicality'' -- the Mimbrates refused to acknowledge Asturian titles because the Asturians wouldn't swear to the monarchy, which they wouldn't do because of their pre-existing oath to the Duchy of Asturia. The tragic part is that in 500 years, no one bothered to ask or explain ''any of this''. All the Arends are mortally embarrassed and wryly amused by it when they figure it out.

* ExplosiveBreeder: They have shades of this, though not so much - or so peculiarly - as the Marags. As is noted on more than one occasion, Chereks, the archetypal Alorns and the least influenced by other cultures and races, are renowned for their fertility.

** Chereks have it the worst, being described as arch-conservatives. They tend towards casual sexism that in the nastier cases veers into outright [[HeManWomanHater misogyny]] and it's wryly observed as early as ''Pawn of Prophecy'' by Silk that "our Cherek cousins haven't realised that women are human yet." They also kill Angaraks on sight, and ban them from the kingdom -- though this one at least has the mild justification that most Angaraks heading that far west are spies. Polgara and Belgarath muse in their respective prequels that this kind of racism is rather unpleasant, but it ''was'' useful when hiding Garion's ancestors.
*** Witch-burning isn't ever seen on page, but it's alluded to in reference to Martje the BlindSeer in ''Pawn of Prophecy'' and, in rural Drasnia, Vordai, the Witch of the Fens.

** Asturians: Based on the Romanticised versions of the Saxon English, with a side of the lesser nobility from the Norman and Plantagenet eras, as a nod to the intermarriage that took place (and faint whiff of hypocrisy) and the fact that the Asturians were formerly very powerful, bulldozing the post-Roman British coded Wacites, while (like the Dukes of Normandy) the Mimbrates were bit-parts.
*** Alternatively, as the name suggests, they also compare with the Spanish Kingdom of Asturias, which swallowed up several competitors (evolving into the Kingdom of León in the process) and was later itself swallowed up by the Mimbre-like Castile.
** Mimbrates: Norman/Plantagenet era nobility, with a side of the French nobility from the same era (which was hardly any different), right down to the elaborate courtesy, fondness for epics and tapestries, and jousting.
*** Alternatively, it compares neatly to Castile, for similar reasons.

* FlatEarthAtheist: An entire culture of them, though the amount of scepticism varies. As it is, they generally don't take too much persuading, and it's observed that mostly, it's a pose on theological and philosophical grounds as Nedra doesn't approve of mysticism

The Dals are a race of Godless Ones, who live in the southwestern part of the Mallorean Continent, with a remnant being enslaved in southern Cthol Murgos. They are a mystic people, and have seers and necromancers and share a collective mind called an Oversoul. And technologically speaking, they might just be the most advanced people on the planet.

* AdvancedAncientAcropolis: Their capital city of Kell is a medieval flavoured version of this - as, presumably, were their other cities before they dismantled them. Even the Melcenes acknowledge its supremacy.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: They're seen as weird and harmless mystics, though the Disciples of Aldur know better - and even they don't know the full extent of what the Dals are capable of. At one point, Belgarath notes that they can funnel their entire power through Cyradis and she could probably stop the sun if she wanted to. Even aside from that, the Grolims are terrified of going near Kell for good reason, with even Zandramas being unwilling to chance it, and their vast knowledge of the future means that they can patiently direct the destiny of the entire world.

* ChooserOfTheOne: One of theirs, the Seeress of Kell, is the one who'll choose who the New God will be (implicitly by comparing their mental image of what the God will look like to the candidates).

* ProudScholarRace: They've been studying more or less everything since pretty much the beginning of time, and Cyradis all but states that they'll continue to do so even after the technical reason for doing so passes - old habits die hard, after all.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Like their Western counterparts, the Tolnedrans, they see their civilisation as the centre of the world and tend to be a bit smug about their perceived importance. To an extent, though, some of this is justified - aside from the Dals, their civilisation ''is'' the oldest one on Earth, and one of the most advanced.

* ThePigPen: Sometimes literally - their kingdoms are stereotyped as being very muddy and they're very fond of pigs.
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The odd ones out, being a nation created out of what was once the Duchy of Erat (ruled by none other than Polgara), which in turn had been fought over by Wacune and Asturia during the Arendish Civil Wars, before the Duke of Wacune gave it to Polgara thanks to her doing him a ''very'' big favour, as well as parts of Wacune. Thanks to Polgara's influence, the great cattle market of Muros, and its location on the way to more or less everywhere, it ended up as a multi-cultural hub with ethnic influences from practically every race -- Arends, Tolnedrans, and the Alorns in particular, though there's also Nyissan in there. As a result of this, they have a peculiarly ecumenical attitude to religion, paying homage to all seven gods. Nevertheless, the Alorn influence is the strongest, so they tend to be considered an honorary member of the Alorn Alliance.

* GoodIsNotSoft: They're arguably the nicest nation by culture. However, both Durnik and Garion, very typical Sendars (while Garion is half-Algar, half-Rivan/generalised Alorn, he was raised a Sendar) sometimes display a streak of cold-blooded pragmatism that surprises the likes of Silk, a master spy and assassin, and Zakath, who often crucified his enemies. In Durnik's case, this was chasing a man into quicksand and watching him drown, which Silk remembers with a shiver an entire series later.

* OnlySaneMan: Of the Alorn Alliance, and the world as a whole. Belgarath cites the mixture of heritages as the reason for this in his prequel, observing that while they're a bit stuffy, the mixing has removed the obsessions that occupy each other race.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The Murgos, mainly, being the main slave-holders, obsessed with racial purity, and having a StayInTheKitchen mentality so strong they keep their women locked up. Then there's the ReligionOfEvil, of course.

* ArcherArchetype: Asturians culturally favour the Robin Hood style, operating in a vast forest and portraying themselves as the oppressed Anglo-Saxon style victims of the Norman-style Mimbrates (while this isn't exactly wrong, it ignores the fact that Asturia flattened Wacune before that, and was originally the dominant Duchy). They learn from birth, and they are all very, ''very'' good.

** Asturians: Based on the Romanticised versions of the Saxon English, with a side of the lesser nobility from the Norman and Plantagenet eras, as a nod to the intermarriage that took place (and faint whiff of hypocrisy) and the fact that the Asturians were formerly very powerful, while (like the Dukes of Normandy) the Mimbrates were bit-parts.

* FatalFlaw: {{Pride}} -- once they start something, they don't back down for anything, and hold grudges like nobody's business.
* HiddenDepths: They tend to be rather [[SmarterThanYouLook smarter than they seem]] once they actually stop to think. Unfortunately, getting them to actually do that is easier said than done.

The people of Issa, the Snake-God. One of the more unusual peoples in the world of ''The Belgariad'', they live in a tropical jungle/swamp. Ruled absolutely by Salmissra, the latest successor to the original Salmissra, handmaiden of Issa since Issa went into hibernation and unfortunately forgot to make his lover immortal), they venerate snakes and all of them tend to be perpetually at least slightly drugged. Small, weak, and relatively poor, they tend to be neutral whenever they can get away with it.

The Dals are a race of Godless Ones, who live in the southwestern part of the Mallorean Continent, with a remnant being enslaved in southern Cthol Murgos. They are a mystic people, and have seers and necromancers and share a collective mind called an Oversoul.

Originally one of the Godless Ones until the original Gorim convinced UL to be their God. Living beneath the mountains of Ulgoland after the cracking of the world, their city has an extensive cave system and the people are religious and pacifistic unless when necessary to involve combat such as sending noctural fighters at Vo Mimbre and Thull Mardu.

* NonActionGuy: Stereotyped as this, lacking [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy the martial culture]] of the Alorns, Arends, and (some) Angaraks, or the professional military of Tolnedra and (other) Angaraks. Even the Ulgos have more of an apparent ruthless streak (they can see in the dark and have horribly serrated knives). It gets to the point where in ''Pawn of Prophecy'', King Fulrach worries that Torak's forces will roll straight over Sendaria and take its fertile foodstores for themselves. However, Durnik, the archetypal Sendar, responds by saying that if necessary, the Sendars ''will'' fight and burn everything in their fields and stores.

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Almost all Murgos qualify, as they were the warrior aristocracy back before they were sent west. While that was about three thousand years ago, the cultural memory lingered.

* CombatPragmatist: Unlike the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Alorns]] and [[LeeroyJenkins Arends]], when the Tolnedrans do go to war, they're entirely professional about it, with even the Alorns grudgingly admitting that pound for pound the Legions are the best trained fighting force in the West, and they use appropriately methodical and practical tactics. Separately, Belgarath states that the campaign that culminated in the Battle of Vo Mimbre was "won in the Imperial War College."

* NotSoDifferent: They tend to roll their eyes at Arendish melodramatics, but it's noted by Brand that Alorns are nearly as emotional (in this context, HotBlooded) as Arends and prone to acting without thinking.

* GoodCounterpart: To the Malloreans in the first series, thanks to their racial and religious mixing, combined with a certain practicality of mind. This is shifted to NotSoDifferent in the sequel series, with a farm in Mallorea being pointedly almost identical to Faldor's, and noted as the product of the same practical mindset.

* MixedAncestry: The Malloreans, thanks to their Empire including Dals (relatives of the Ulgos), Karands (more distant relatives of the Ulgos via the Morindim), and Melcenes (also relatives of the Ulgos), the latter of which formed a powerful empire that the Angaraks had to fuse with rather than take over entirely. The Murgo obsession with racial purity put them on collision course, but the Mallorean Empire was too powerful to argue with. Funnily enough, this makes them the Angarak counterparts to the Sendars, with the same kind of practicality -- at one point, the heroes even find a farm almost identical to Faldor's deep in Mallorea, and it's observed that it's the logical product of the same kind of mentality.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: The Nadraks hate the Murgos and distrust the Malloreans, the Murgos disdain the Nadraks and hate the Malloreans, the Malloreans hold all the Western Angaraks in contempt, and everyone looks down on the Thulls. This is not helped by the manoeuvrings of the various disciples and factions within the Grolim Church, or the Murgo obsession with racial purity (hinted to be cultivated by Ctuchik to oppose the MixedAncestry Malloreans), and is exploited by the heroes.

** Wacites: More difficult, but probably closest to the post-Roman British, being a very musical people with a beautiful court that was widely connected, celebrated high culture, and got destroyed and absorbed by the Saxon counterparts who ended up defeated in their turn, having let their great achievements go to ruin.
** [[spoiler: Dal Perivor]]: Largely carbon copies of the Mimbrates -- since they ''are'' Mimbrates (mostly) -- but perhaps more like the Sicilian Normans, who became much more cosmopolitan than their relatives after exposure to other cultures (primarily the Arabs and Byzantines), and less likely to go to war for obscure reasons.