History Creator / DavidEddings

Creator/DavidEddings was a modern American author who specialized in archetypical epic tales. He died in June of 2009. Most of the books he wrote were HighFantasy, were {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe,]]) were StrictlyFormula, were {{Troperiffic}}, and were ''[[TropesAreNotBad awesome]]''.

* TooDumbToLive: Eddings managed to torch his car and office and was lucky to escape uninjuredw hile flushing the car's petrol tank with water - he decided the best way to check if the mixture was flammable was to throw a lit piece of paper into the puddle of fluid. He lampshaded this when asked why he'd done it by a firefighter.

* TooDumbToLive: Eddings managed to torch his car and office while flushing the car's petrol tank with water after he decided the best way to check if the mixture was flammable was to throw a lit piece of paper into the puddle of fluid. He lampshaded this when asked why he'd done it by a firefighter.

* ''Literature/TheRedemptionOfAlthalus''

** ''The Rivan Codex'' (a collection of essays, notes and background material giving insight into how the series was created. {{Troperiffic}}.

** ''Belgarath the Sorcerer''
** ''Polgara the Sorceress''
** ''The Rivan Codex''

--->''The Rivan Codex''

* [[ViewersAreMorons Readers are morons]]: Averted - Eddings had a vocabulary and wasn't afraid to use it, however he never lost sight of the fact he was writing books designed to be readable and enjoyable so didn't stray too far into [[ViewersAreGeniuses Readers are geniuses]] either for the most part. As the man himself put it:

* AuthorVocabularyCalendar - Eddings had an obscurely peculiar fascination with the words "obscure," "peculiar," and "fascination." Also "prosaic", and especially "blandly". We thought we noticed you noticing.

* {{BFS}} - The sword of Riva. A huge broadsword forged from meteoric metal that incorporates the all-powerful [[{{Mcguffin}} Stone of Aldur]] as its pommel, burns with blue flame, is completely weightless when the Orb is in place (weighs a ton when the Orb isn't), and can only be wielded by Riva's descendants. Found in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' and ''The Malloreon''
* {{Cool Horse}} - Each of his series features unique or important horses, from Horse to Faran. Eddings clearly knows horses, and the wellbeing, fatigue and endurance of the heroes' mounts plays a subtle role in each of the quests. Highlighted when 'Zakath gives Garion his own Cool Horse.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness - before the Belgariad, he wrote more down-to-earth stories with mundane problems and lots of unfiltered swearing at the top.
* {{Expy}} - many between the Belgariad 'verse and the Elenium 'verse, mostly due to filling identical archetypes.

* GodEmperor - In ''The Malloreon'' cycle, it is revealed that the emperors of Mallorea are divine per definition, due to the original emperor being a LITERAL God, Kal Torak. In ''The Tamuli'' it's the inverted form, with Cyrgon, a god who is also the earthly ruler of the people of the same name.
* KnightInSourArmor - Eddings' heroes have a definite tendency in this direction. Most of them are worldly, sometimes world-weary older men, who approach fighting and heroism as a duty rather than a means to seek glory. The major exception is young, idealistic Garion, but even he starts to lose his shiny attitude as he ages.

* PlotInducedStupidity - Probably the most pervasive trope used by Eddings. His characters always have tremendous powers at their dispositions -- from sorcery to entire ''gods'' and even powers being ABOVE gods) -- but they use them only when the plot says so. Sometimes there is a very flimsy excuse given about why they can't (which is ignored as soon as the author wants [[RuleofCool something cool to happen]]), but just as often it just never comes to the mind of the heroes that [[IForgotICouldFly they could do it]].
* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget - ''Regina's Song''
* ShiningCity - the City of Kell in ''The Malloreon'', Vo Wacune in ''Polgara the Sorceress'' and Fire-Domed Matherion in ''The Tamuli''.

-->''Know that I hate thee, Belgarion. For hate's sake will I throw myself into the darkness. [[HermanMelville For hate's sake I spit out my last breath at thee]], my damned brother'' -Torak, in the Ashabine Oracles.
* SpiritualSuccessor - All his works revolve around somewhat similar worlds and plotlines, but with distinct characters, atmospheres, and themes.

* Regina's Song (Another modern story about a murder mystery, an [[/index]]AngstySurvivingTwin[[index]], some {{plot twist}}s here and there)

* The Losers (please note that this is not a [[/index]]HighFantasy[[index]] novel and is more of a Randite propaganda piece. It's about a cripple looking for some SliceOfLife, dealing Peer Pressure, etc.)

* Regina's Song (Another modern story about a murder mystery, an AngstySurvivingTwin, some {{plot twist}}s here and there)

Most, if not all, of his books were co-written with his wife, though only the latest gave her shared credit (due to ExecutiveMeddling - his publisher figured that boys wouldn't want to read a fantasy-book with a girl's name on the cover.) This is probably one of the main reasons for the abundancy of strong female characters, who are outspoken and fierce enough to make you wonder how those medieval societies manages to maintain their male-dominated status quo...

Eddings saw history as cyclic, and so he was willing to recycle plot arcs in his series. "The Malloreon" has a similar structure to "The Belgariad," for instance (which is even used as a major ''plot point'').

* ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}'' 'Verse

* {{BFS}} - The sword of Riva. A huge broadsword forged from meteoric metal that incorporates the all-powerful [[{{Mcguffin}} Stone of Aldur]] as its pommel, burns with blue flame, is completely weightless when the Orb is in place (weighs a ton when the Orb isn't), and can only be wielded by Riva's descendants. Found in ''TheBelgariad'' and ''The Malloreon''

* {{BFS}} - The sword of Riva. A huge broadsword forged from meteoric metal that incorporates the all-powerful [[{{Mcguffin}} Stone of Aldur]] as its pommel, burns with blue flame, is completely weightless when the Orb is in place, and can only be wielded by Riva's descendants. Found in ''TheBelgariad'' and ''The Malloreon''

* ''TheElenium'' 'Verse

* {{Cool Horse}} - Each of his series features unique or important horses, from Horse to Faran. Eddings clearly knows horses, and the wellbeing, fatigue and endurance of the heroes' mounts plays a major role in each of the quests.

* The Losers (please note that this is not a [[/index]]HighFantasy[[index]] novel and is more of a Randite propaganda piece. It's about a cripple looking for some SliceOfLife, dealing PeerPressure, etc.)

* PhlebotinumDuJour/ScienceMarchesOn: A section of ''The Rivan Codex'' discusses an interesting point on how the popular understanding of the Law of Conservation of Energy did this for magic systems. Before it, magic could do pretty much what the plot required, whereas after it a magic system needed to have an answer for "where does [[EquivalentExchange the]] [[{{Mana}} energy]] [[ElementalBaggage come] [[PowerSource from]]?

* {{Expy}} - many between the Belgariad 'verse and the Elenium 'verse.

* The Losers (please note that this is not a [[/index]]HighFantasy[[index]] novel and is more of a Randite propaganda piece)
* High Hunt (Another modern story)
* Regina's Song (Another modern story)

Creator/DavidEddings was a modern American author who specialized in archetypical epic tales. He died in June, 2009. Most of the books he wrote were HighFantasy, were {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe,]]) were StrictlyFormula, were {{Troperiffic}}, and were ''[[TropesAreNotBad awesome]]''.

Series he wrote include:

* The Losers (please note that this is not a HighFantasy novel and is more of a Randite propaganda piece)

Tropes Employed:

DavidEddings was a modern American author who specialized in archetypical epic tales. He died in June, 2009. Most of the books he wrote were HighFantasy, were {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe,]]) were StrictlyFormula, were {{Troperiffic}}, and were ''[[TropesAreNotBad awesome]]''.

* ''TheBelgariad'' 'Verse