Return to the main page here.
Beldaran
Daughter of Belgarath and Poledra, and twin sister of Polgara, she didn't inherit her parents' magical abilities the way Polgara did. Sweet, kind, and with a core of solid steel, she married Riva Iron-Grip and became the mother of the line that would eventually result in Garion.
- Girl of My Dreams: The Prophecy sent Riva dreams of her before she was even born to make sure he would fall in love with her.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She had bright golden hair, and was probably the kindest hearted member of her family, save possibly her distant grandson, Garion — and even he occasionally shows signs of Belgarath's signature grumpiness, as well as the Alorn tendency to go berserk (albeit only under severe stress).
- In the Blood: Polgara notes at one point that nearly all Beldaran's descendants (including Belgarion) are blonde because of her.
- Lost Lenore: To Polgara, her twin sister, with Belgarath noting that if you were to ask Polgara's age, she'd probably instinctively answer in the plural. The fact that they had a Psychic Link didn't hurt.
- May–December Romance: She was at least twenty years younger than Iron-Grip when they got married.
- Muggle Born of Mages: The entire rest of her family were Sorcerers. Her? Not so much. It doesn't seem to have bothered her, though.
- One True Love: Riva's, as he was for her.
- Parental Favoritism: It's no secret that Belgarath loved her more than Polgara — though that had a lot to do with the fact that Polgara spent most of her youth and adolescence hating him (and not entirely without reason), while Beldaran was much more openly loving and forgiving, and even after, he and Polgara had a more adversarial Vitriolic Best Buds type relationship.
- Polar Opposite Twins: With Polgara, though they loved each other dearly.
- Post Humous Character: For both series, though she appears in Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress, and makes a post-mortem cameo thanks to Polgara later on in The Belgariad, after Garion's found out the truth about his heritage, and she arranges for him to meet his (dead) parents, as well as Riva and Beldaran.
- Silk Hiding Steel: She was actually the dominant twin over Polgara, and her influence is probably one of the reasons that Polgara's so powerful in the subtle forms of magic. She also had the entire group of Aldur's disciples wrapped around her finger — Beldin invented a new form of musical harmony for her wedding hymn.
- Small Role, Big Impact: there's her status as Polgara's twin, Belgarath's daughter, and Belgarion's ancestor, of course, but there's a further impact on Polgara: her being Queen of Riva meant that Polgara, while visiting, learnt all her main lessons in diplomacy and dealing with royal courts (leading to her enormous political influence, and being a successful ruler of the duchy of Erat) and Polgara's interest in medicine (she's now the most experienced and knowledgable healer in the world, and she's started at least one medical college) was sparked by Beldaran's pregnancy.
Cherek Bear-Shoulders
- The Big Guy: He was absolutely huge, like all of his sons.
- Boisterous Bruiser: He treats the quest to Mallorea like a family trip. It's a characteristic that his descendants (from his second marriage), the Kings of Cherek, kept going.
- Famous Ancestor: Of the royal families of all the Alorn Kingdoms.
- Famed In-Story: Like his sons, both for his role in the reclaiming of the Orb, and as the last King of Aloria/founder of Cherek (which was named after him because he never bothered to give it a name).
- Heartbroken Badass: He was a great warrior and king, but it's explicitly stated on several occasions that the loss of his kingdom, and more importantly, his sons (who all went off to rule the constituent parts of what had been Aloria), broke his heart and left him a shadow of his former self.
- Last of His Kind: He was the last King of Aloria.
- Modest Royalty: He was incredibly informal and laid back, even treating the quest to Cthol Mishrak as a hunting trip with his boys.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Helped get the Orb back from Torak, started the fine Cherek tradition of seafaring, and the Cherek defensive blockade of Riva, which lasted for thousands of years.
- Vestigial Empire: He went from ruling Aloria (the second largest empire in history after Mallorea) to only the Cherek Peninsula.
Dras Bull-Neck
- The Big Guy: He's the biggest of Cherek's sons — which is saying something, since they're all enormous.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Like his father, he's an enthusiastic fighter.
- Dumb Muscle: Outside of cheating at dice, he's not very smart. Not stupid, exactly, but not the smartest. To his credit, he's aware of this and admits it when disqualifying himself from taking up the Orb.
- Famed In-Story: Like his brothers and father, for his part in the reclaiming of the Orb.
- Famous Ancestor: Of the royal family of Drasnia.
- Unfit for Greatness: He was the eldest son and heir to the throne of Aloria, which made Belgarath quietly terrified. He wasn’t a bad guy but he didn’t have what it took to rule a massive empire. He seems to have done fairly well as King of Drasnia though.
Algar Fleet-Foot
- A Boy and His X: He was one of the first in the West to domesticate the horse and begin to breed them for riding.
- The Big Guy: All of Cherek's sons were huge, though Algar's leaner than the other two.
- Famed In-Story: For his role with the reclamation of the Orb.
- The Smart Guy: He's fairly explicitly the smartest of his family — Cherek's smart enough but not extraordinary, Dras is Dumb Muscle (as Belgarath observes and he's self-aware enough to admit it) outside of cheating at dice, and Riva's more uncomplicated than stupid.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: See the quest to claim the Orb.
Riva Iron-Grip
Founder of the Kingdom of Riva, first Guardian of the Orb, and with Beldaran, direct ancestor of Garion.
- Bittersweet Ending: He got to be a King, to wield the Orb of Aldur, and marry the literal girl of his dreams. But it came at the cost of losing the rest of his family, and despite the fact that she was younger than him, he outlived his wife, which broke his heart and led to a slow decline, resulting in his death shortly after the birth of his grandson. However, they did end up Together in Death, which is something.
- Famous Ancestor: Of the royal family of Riva.
- Famed In-Story: Even more than his siblings and father — he was the first one to technically wield the Orb since Torak cracked the world with it (though that was mostly a case of pointing it at Torak and letting it do what it liked).
- Forging Scene: He was the one who forged the Sword of the Rivan King.
- Heartbroken Badass: Polgara the Sorceress shows very explicitly how Beldaran's death broke him, leading to a slow, sad decline, and his death
- Only the Pure of Heart: This is commonly believed why he was chosen to carry the Orb, in fact it was because he was the only one who had no ambition to use it for his own gain.
- Together in Death: With Beldaran, as shown by Polgara opening up a brief door to the world of the dead in The Belgariad.
- Youngest Child Wins: If you can consider being the guardian of the Orb winning — which, when he realised that he'd never see his brothers or father again outside of formal occasions, he initially (and as even Belgarath admitted, understandably) didn't.
The Mrin Prophet
- Mad Oracle: Mad and mentally handicapped.
- Madwoman in the Attic: One of the few cases where the trope is played openly, he lived and died chained up outside a kennel (both kennel and chain later becaming object of pilgrimage). According to Dras it was for his own good, because left to his own devices he would run out into the fens and probably drown or starve.
- No Name Given
- Non-Linear Character: The reason why the Mrin Codex is so confused, he apparently could not understand the concept of time, so predicted events just came into his mind at random.
- Security Blanket: He loved his chain and the nice, soothing, relaxing sound it made when he rattled it. Also refused to go to a better home than his kennel.
Bormik
The Darine Prophet. Unlike the Mrin Prophet, he was completely sane and his prophecies were coherent, albeit less detailed, which make the Darine Codex a useful tool for deciphering the Mrin Codex.
- Crushing Handshake: Even as an old man he was strong enough to give these to the legendarily brawny Dras Bull-Neck.
- Mad Prophet: Subverted. Many privately suspected that he’d gone a bit loopy in his old age as berserkers are known to do, but in fact he was completely sane. He didn’t even remember the prophecies after he gave them, he was more like a conduit.
- Retired Badass: He was a former berserker, and still pretty strong for his age.
- The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: His spinster caretaker daughter turned out to be this when Polgara fixed her squint.
