History Characters / TheBelgariad

Characters appearing in ''Literature/TheBelgariad''. Due to size, the page has been split. Spoilers and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of]] {{Deadpan Snarker}}s abound!

* [[Characters/TheBelgariadGodsAndProphecies Gods and Prophecies]]

* [[Characters/TheBelgariadHistoricalFigures Historical Figures]]

[[foldercontrol]]

Characters appearing in ''Literature/TheBelgariad''. Needs more work. Spoilers and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of]] {{Deadpan Snarker}}s abound!

!''The Belgariad''

!!The Kingdoms of the West

[[folder: King Anheg of Cherek]]
King of the Chereks, a pirate to the bone, and much, ''much'' smarter than he either appears or pretends to be, being the very first person who isn't in the loop or possessed of supernatural powers to figure out that Garion is TheChosenOne.
----
%%* BeardOfBarbarism: Anheg is still a pirate at heart.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Anheg pretends to be far dumber than he really is.
* GeniusBruiser: Anheg is a brutal Viking-style war chieftain. He's also one of the most widely read people on the continent, can read ''The Book of Torak'' without endangering his mental health, and figures out who Garion really is within a few days of meeting him.
* HornyVikings
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Runs his nation, leads his army, and commands his fleet. He's also very intelligent and does his best to keep abreast of world events and assist Belgarath.
* StayInTheKitchen: Subverted. When Ce'Nedra demands the Alorn kings follow her, Anheg sides with the conservative Brand and does all the talking... in order to preemptively sabotage any arguments Brand might raise against her. This is itself subverted when it turns out [[spoiler: not to have been necessary, as Brand's opposition to Ce'Nedra had ''also'' been an act]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Queen Islena of Cherek]]
Queen of Cherek, implicitly a trophy wife, and not all that bright, she's obsessed with magic -- or at least, the idea of magic. However, it turns out that she does actually have a spine, somewhere deep down inside.
----
* AchievementsInIgnorance: It's illegal to throw a priest into the dungeon without evidence. Islena doesn't know that, and Grodeg knows she doesn't know that -- so he's forced to do everything Islena demands of him because he ''really'' doesn't want to be thrown into the dungeon. Anheg finds the entire situation hilarious.
* BrainlessBeauty: When Anheg is asked why he married her, his response is that "It certainly wasn't for her brains!"
%%* BreakTheHaughty: Seeing what Polgara does to the BlindSeer begins this process.%%How?
%%* GrewASpine: During her confrontation with Grodeg.
%%* HotConsort: This is why Anheg married her.
* TookALevelInBadass: Initially Islena is a pompous wuss who caves in every time Grodeg shouts at her. She finally has enough (partly because Merel had made preparations to have him skewered if she looked like caving), threatens to have him muzzled and thrown in jail, and ships him and the rest of the Bear-Cult off to join the army. Anheg is impressed.
* WeakWilled: SHe's initially totally under the thumb of Grodeg, Chief Priest of Belar. With some help from Merel and Porenn, she eventually overcomes this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Merel of Trellheim]]
Barak's wife. For a number of reasons, the two have an initially very dysfunctional relationship, but one that improves as time goes on, whereupon she reveals significant HiddenDepths.
----
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The characters in-universe believe that she's a spiteful, petty bitch who is choosing to make Barak's life hell -- though it is also suggested that her behaviour isn't without cause, as it's explicitly stated that she didn't want the marriage (and, to be fair, it's implied that Barak didn't know that). Many fans believe that she's a woman who's trapped in a marriage she doesn't want and is doing her best to get revenge on the man who, while drunk, later rapes her.
* ArrangedMarriage: With Barak, and she was very opposed to it -- and in fairness, it's implied that Barak didn't know that.
* CharacterDevelopment: From petty bitch to TheGoodChancellor, who also provides Garion with some good relationship advice.
* TheGoodChancellor: To Islena, post-CharacterDevelopment, being both the steel and (frankly) the brains during Islena's regency.
* HappilyMarried: By the end, and after an intervention from the Purpose of the Universe itself.
* HiddenDepths: Merel appears to be a shallow, petty bitch. The "petty" and the "bitch" are right on the money, but there's more to her than meets the eye, and we see it as early as ''Pawn of Prophecy'' when she stands up to Anheg on Barak and Garion's behalf.
* RapeAsDrama: ... Sort of. The fact that it's rape is fairly clear, even if it isn't explicitly stated. She even locked the door and he knocked it down. It's not certain whether this is the first and only time it happened (arguments can be made either way), but at the very least, it's not in the least bit surprising that she's incredibly spiteful to him at first.
** This is, unusually, acknowledged by Barak immediately afterwards, who seems to be genuinely contrite.
** The Drama, part, though, is another matter, since the story seems to ignore that part later on, as a sort of implicit {{Retcon}}.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: King Rhodar of Drasnia]]
The King of Drasnia, who's fat, genial, and possessed of a razor-sharp intellect.
----
%%* AdiposeRex: Physically, yes. Character wise, no.
* BigFun: He's huge and pretty cheerful, as a rule.
* FatIdiot: Subverted. He is hugely obese, but this is because he prefers academic study (and eating) to more physical pursuits.
%%* HappilyMarried: To Porenn.
* HiddenDepths: As Zakath observes during the campaign at the end of ''The Belgariad'', it had been generally assumed that he was just a foolish older man besotted with his young wife. Instead, he turned out to be a brilliant [[TheStrategist strategist]] and the ''de facto'' Commander-In-Chief of the Kingdoms of the West.
* MayDecemberRomance: He and his second wife, Porenn. Despite the age gap they are deliriously happy together.
* RealityEnsues: Dies of complications caused by his weight during ''The Malloreon''
* TheSmartGuy: Among the Kings of the West.
* TheSpymaster: Thanks to the work of his right-hand man, Javelin, Rhodar is privy to almost every secret in the world.
* TheStrategist: There are more... martially inclined kings than Rhodar, but none of them have his solid theoretical grasp of strategy and tactics.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Queen Porenn of Drasnia]]
The petite and beautiful young Queen of Drasnia, she initially appears as the wife of Rhodar and the focus of Silk's unrequited affections. However, she's quickly demonstrated to have an extremely sharp mind and an aptitude for politics.
----
* AscendedExtra: Gets a larger role in ''The Malloreon'', as she takes on Rhodar's role as the West's spymaster.
* GracefullyDemoted: Sets about ensuring her demotion from Regent during ''The Malloreon'' by easing her son, Kheva, into power.
%%* HappilyMarried: To Rhodar.
* TheHighQueen: In ''The Malloreon'', especially as Regent of Drasnia after Rhodar's death, with Belgarath outright stating in his prequel that she's one of the most gifted rulers in the history of the world.
* HotConsort: To Rhodar, though that's far from all she is.
* ManipulativeBastard: She's an exceptionally skilled political manipulator.
* MayDecemberRomance: And a very happy one, until Rhodar dies.
* TheMourningAfter: She continues to wear mourning black close to a decade after Rhodar's death.
* TheSmartGuy: Among the Queens of the West (and frankly, monarchs full stop).
* TheSpymaster: Shares this role with her husband, and takes it over after he passes away.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Cho-Hag, Clan Chief of Clan Chiefs of Algaria]]
* HandicappedBadass: Cho-Hag can barely stand, but that doesn't stop him from kicking ass. Justified as he, like most Algars, is a cavalryman, and lets his horse do the walking for him.
%%* HappilyMarried
%%* ItsPersonal: His hatred of Taur Urgas goes far beyond mere politics.%%Why?
%%* TheQuietOne: Among the Alorn rulers, he and Brand share this role.%%Which is?
%%* SwordFight: He has an epic one with Taur Urgas.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Brand, The Rivan Warder]]
The latest in a long line of Rivan Warders (all of whom take up the name Brand to symbolically demonstrate their dedication to the position), and the epitome of UndyingLoyalty
----
* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' threaten the Rivan royal family. The only times in the series that we see him really, genuinely angry are when this happens. The first time, he [[spoiler: turns away from his mortally wounded youngest son who'd confessed to attempting to kill Garion -- before immediately regretting it, developing UndyingLoyalty, and appointing himself as the extremely zealous head of Ce'Nedra's bodyguard, leaving him to die alone]], and the second time, he ''chased the offender off the battlements of the castle''.
* TheGoodChancellor: Garion relies heavily on him during the first years of his reign, and is initially lost without him when he dies.
* HiddenDepths: He is, among other things, an extremely talented [[spoiler: actor, fooling more or less everyone into believing that he's sufficiently conservative to sympathise with the Bear-Cult. As it is, he doesn't, at least not that far, and just acts the part to keep such elements in check.]] He's also a very talented musician.
* TheQuietOne: Rarely speaks, but when he does, it's worth hearing.
* ParentalSubstitute: He becomes a father-like figure for Garion (and to a lesser extent, Ce'Nedra) in ''Guardians of the West'', before his death.
* RegentForLife: Brand is part of a long line of Rivan Warders, who vowed to rule the island and protect the Orb until the Rivan King returned. Unlike his predecessors, Brand is actually able to give up this position. This leaves Garion rather uncomfortable at first, until he finally screws up his courage to speak to Brand about it and Brand assures him that he's happy about it.
* StayInTheKitchen: Brand has very conservative values, particularly as regards women, though he goes along with what the Rivan King commands out of UndyingLoyalty. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that a lot of this was just acting -- and good enough to fool even Polgara and Belgarath. When Garion was made king (first one in millennia) and made Ce'Nedra co-ruler of Riva (completely unheard of), Brand set himself up as the leader of the traditionalists, fully intending to "cave in" at some point. By drawing the conservatives to him, he could keep more disruptive elements in check, and in the end discredit them by fully supporting the Royal family.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: To Garion and his family. [[spoiler: This eventually gets him killed by Bear-Cultists working for Harakan, as he dies protecting Ce'Nedra]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Emperor Ran Borune XXIII]]
The 23rd Emperor of the Second Borune Dynasty, ruler of Tolnedra, and father of Ce'Nedra. An adept politician, it's clear to see where Ce'Nedra got some of her talents from.
----
* TheEmperor: Tolnedra is actually a medium-sized country leaning towards the smallish, but he still has a very long arm as it's the economic powerhouse of most of the world and has an international highway system controlled by its legions who are, pound for pound, probably the best army in the world (though the Alorn kingdoms could overwhelm them if they combined forces). As a result, Ran Borune is not afraid to throw his weight around when it comes to politics, though he only gets his way some of the time.
* KingOnHisDeathbed: In ''The Malloreon''. He was already very old to start with, as the intrigue in Tolnedra in ''The Belgariad'' all centres around who his successor will be, so this is a ForegoneConclusion.
* OverprotectiveDad: Subverted. He's actually quite pleasant to Belgarion.
* PapaWolf: To Ce'Nedra. Despite it being a binding treaty his nation signed, does everything he can to get Ce'Nedra out of the ceremony at Riva, where he fears she'll be humiliated. Despite constantly bickering with her, it's evident he loves her dearly.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Salmissra]]
The latest in a long, ''long'' line of Salmissras, she's the Queen of Nyissa, and like many of the others she desires immortality, which she tries to get through enslaving Garion. In an odd way, she did -- by which we mean that Polgara turned her into a giant snake. Funnily enough, she's both smarter and happier that way.
----
* AffablyEvil: For a given value of evil, again, following her shapeshifting. Snakes don't generally see much point in being rude. You piss them off, they bite you. Then it's done.
* AstralProjection: As a snake, she implies that she can do this in ''The Malloreon''.
* BadBoss: She's known for killing off incompetent or insubordinate underlings, though they usually manage to kill each other first.
* BalefulPolymorph: Sort of. For her shenanigans, Polgara transforms her into a giant snake, permanently. Actually ends up being a better monarch and, peculiarly, a much nicer person (relatively speaking), this way.
* CharacterDevelopment: Actually rather improves after being turned into a snake and, while being coldly logical, is generally quite polite -- though somewhat prone to winding up Polgara.
* DeadpanSnarker: Quite prone to this after becoming a snake. One gem comes when referring to her stunned eunuchs after [[spoiler: restoring Sadi to his position as Chief Eunuch]] and telling them to leave the room at the end of ''The Malloreon''.
-->'''Salmissra''': How tiresome. They're all too delighted to move. Encourage them, would you, Issus?\\
'''[[ProfessionalKiller Issus]]''': Of course, my Queen. Do you want any of them to live?\\
'''Salmissra''': Only the more nimble ones.
* TheGadfly: As a snake, she enjoys annoying Polgara.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Has a nasty habit of killing off her eunuchs on a whim, and is described as having the most absolute, iron-fisted rule over her people out of all the monarchs in the West.
* LegacyCharacter: Picked at age 12 for her physical resemblance to the original Salmissra, and named as such.
* ReallyGetsAround: Prior to her shapeshifting. The potions that keep her looking young have the side effect of making her really, really horny. This holds true for all previous Salmissras and is the reason for all the palace servants being eunuchs.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: A curious variant. Personally, as a snake, she's somewhat disturbing to most people. Personality wise, however, she isn't that unpleasant.
* SmugSnake: Ironically, she loses this quality ''after'' she transforms into a snake. Before, it was very much present.
%%* TheSpock: After she becomes a snake.
[[/folder]]

!!Villains

[[folder: Asharak/Chamdar]]
A Grolim priest whose history with Garion's family is as long as it is ugly. Having murdered Garion's parents, he has been spying on the boy since he was a child, in order that he might one day derail Belgarath and Polgara's efforts to raise Garion as a weapon against Torak.
----
* TheAgeless: He's centuries old and doesn't look it.
* AlasPoorVillain: Even though he's a bastard, the horrible nature of his death elicits some sympathy from Garion and some readers alike.
* CompellingVoice: Able to control Garion with vocal commands, he also has a hypnotic effect on others.
* EvilSorcerer: Like the majority of Torak's Grolims, he has some sorcerous ability -- and in his case, a great deal more than most.
* IHaveYourWife: A variant -- Chamdar tries to force Polgara to do what he wants by threatening to kill Garion.
* KarmicDeath: He killed Garion's parents by burning their house. He dies burned alive when Garion activates his magical abilities.
* ManipulativeBastard: His forte. He's an expert at manipulating pawns into starting wars on his behalf.
* ManOnFire: How he makes his exit, burned alive when Garion activates his magical abilities.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: While he's no match for Belgarath, Polgara, or even a young Garion in a stand-up fight, he's an intelligent and extremely dangerous schemer, one who is later observed to have been arguably more dangerous than Ctuchik. He has Garion secretly on a mental leash for the first two books of the series, nearly kills him at least three times, and both Belgarath and Polgara's underestimation of him allowed him to get his claws into one Rivan heir (temporarily) and kill two others (Garion's father and grandfather, as well as his mother and paternal grandmother).
* SinisterMinister: The first of the Grolim priests encountered in the series.
* SmallNameBigEgo: He's undoubtedly dangerous (as Polgara notes, in some ways more so than Ctuchik himself), but he can't hope to threaten Belgarath in person, despite his protestations to the contrary -- and the one time he faces an enraged Belgarath, the only thing that saves his life is the fact that he threw baby Garion at him, then ran for his life.
* SmugSnake: Incredibly full of himself, and not quite as deadly as he thinks he is.
* StarterVillain: The main villain of the first two books, he's no threat to Belgarath, but proves a challenge for Garion.
* YouKilledMyFather: Killed Garion's parents (and, as it turns out, grandparents). Ends up very dead when Garion finds out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Brill/Kordoch]]
A Dagashi assassin from Cthol Murgos, Brill entered the Kingdoms of the West disguised as a common criminal. Employed by Chamdar the Grolim, Brill outlives his former master, and dogs the party for much of ''Magician's Gambit'', prior to his final confrontation with Silk.
----
* BeardOfEvil: A matted, patchy black one.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: He appears to be a common footpad. Je's actually a ninja.
* DisneyVillainDeath: He gets thrown off a cliff by Silk.
* DragonTheirFeet: He was absent from Chamdar's final, fatal confrontation with Polgara and Garion in ''Queen of Sorcery'' and pursues the party for another book.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To Silk.
* HalfBreedDiscrimination: Subverted. Like most Dagashi he's probably only about 1/4 Murgo so he'll blend in. Since Murgo culture values racial purity he would face this from his soldiers, if they weren't all scared to death of him -- but they are, and with good reason.
* HandicappedBadass: Blind in one eye. Can fight Silk on an equal footing.
* {{Jerkass}}: He presents like a bitter jerk with a sour disposition. He's actually a merciless professional killer. Either way, he's a total bastard.
* LackOfEmpathy: A pitiless killer who rides horses to death just to get ahead.
* TheMole: Initially appears to be Asharak's spy on Faldor's farm. He's actually much worse than that.
%%* {{Ninja}}: Pretty much.
%%* ThePigpen: Brill bathes infrequently.
* ProfessionalKiller: The Dagashi are a society of killers hired out by Ctuchik.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: After Brill is outed as a Dagashi, Silk and Belgarath both curse themselves for having underestimated him. As Silk notes "Brill's been a little too good all along to be an ordinary Sendarian footpad."
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Grul]]
An Eldrak (think Troll but bigger) who Belgarath once fought on a journey through the mountains of Ulgo. He ambushes the company years later, searching for revenge.
----
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Eldrakyn are distantly related to Trolls and Algroths, but larger and smarter. Grul bulks out at eight feet tall, talks, and wears armour and a helmet that he has modified to fit his gargantuan body.
* TheBerserker: Not unlike Taur Urgas, Grul totally loses his mind in combat, foaming at the mouth and abandoning what reason he has.
* CarryABigStick: Carries an immense club, wrapped in steel, and studded with spikes.
* HeroKiller: He and Belgarath have met before, and the Gorim of Ulgo knows his name and reputation. He proves to be perhaps the greatest single physical threat that the group encounters, overpowering Mandorallen (and his horse!), Barak, Hettar, Silk, ''and'' the shapeshifted Belgarath before Poledra's arrival saves them. As Silk notes "our oversized playmate there was almost more than we could handle".
* ImAHumanitarian: Intends to eat Belgarath and his companions after killing them.
* ItCanThink: Barak's reaction when Grul starts talking to them.
* ItsPersonal: He's had a grudge against Belgarath for decades.
* LightningBruiser: Grul is ''staggeringly'' fast for his size, taking everyone in the party by surprise.
* LoneWolfBoss: Grul has no connection to Torak, Ctuchik, Zedar or any of the series' major villains. He's just a huge, bad-tempered monster with his own grudge against Belgarath.
* NearVillainVictory: Grul is in the process of beating the entire party into the ground when Polgara and Garion summon Poledra's ghost to aid them, tilting the odds back in their favour. Even then it's a very near run thing.
* SympathyForTheDevil: While the Gorim understands why Belgarath and the others had to kill him, he expresses some sympathy for the dead Eldrak nonetheless.
* TookALevelInBadass: The first time that Belgarath encountered him, Grul, while enormous, was unarmed and unarmoured. In between their confrontations he's made himself a suit of armour and armed himself with a gigantic club, making him altogether more deadly than he was before.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Ctuchik]]
--> ''"Justice? There's no such thing, Polgara. The strong do what they like; the weak submit. My Master taught me that."''

Torak's eldest disciple and Belgarath's opposite number, Ctuchik is first and worst among the company's enemies in the original series. Aiming to prevent the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Light and gain control over the Orb of Aldur, Ctuchik desires not to awaken Torak, but to gain personal mastery over the world.
----
* TheAgeless: Ctuchik's been frozen at seventy odd for millennia.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Ctuchik is driven by his need for power and control.
* {{Archenemy}}: To Belgarath. They both admit their confrontation in ''Magician's Gambit'' has been a long time coming.
* BadBoss: If the utter fear that all Murgos have of him is any indicator.
* BeardOfEvil: His WizardBeard is yellowed, greying and filthy.
* BlackCloak: Like most of the Grolims, he's in a black cloak and hood.
* CessationOfExistence: Tries to unmake the Orb, commanding it to "be not." The universe unmakes him instead.
* CoDragons: Alongside Zedar and Urvon, though it's fairly obvious that he has primacy amongst the three.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Has a room in his tower filled with torture equipment, that he uses for his personal entertainment.
* DeaderThanDead: He's obliterated from existence by the Universe herself. Garion comments at the start of the next book that "Ctuchik was dead, and worse than dead."
* DeceptiveDisciple: He's only loyal to Torak out of fear, and has no intentions of waking him.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: His defeat was [[CessationOfExistence absolute]], and so was his [[LoadBearingBoss explosion]].
* DespotismJustifiesTheMeans: Ctuchik wants to rule the world, and is willing to do anything to get it, including offer up sacrifices to a mad god.
* TheDragon: There are other contenders for the title of Torak's right-hand man, but Ctuchik is the most archetypal, running the Grolim priesthood and Cthol Murgos in his master's absence.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: Has no loyalty to Torak and plans to rule the world himself.
* ElderlyImmortal: Like Belgarath, he chooses to appear as an old man.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Ctuchik simply cannot grasp Belgarath's motivations for doing what he does, and genuinely cannot understand why he never conquered the West for himself.
* EvilCounterpart: One of two to Belgarath, as his equal and opposite number in the Angarak priesthood.
* EvilOldFolks: Ctuchik has centuries of depravity and excess behind him, and they show on his face, but undoubtedly he's a badass, able to go toe to toe with Belgarath himself.
* EvilSorcerer: Possibly the evilest sorcerer in the entire series, in fact, and one of the most powerful.
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: His spire at Rak Cthol, a city atop a mile-high column of basalt. Actually an [[NotHyperbole inverted]] [[LiteralMetaphor example]], as his personal quarters are in a smaller tower ''[[CollapsingLair hanging]]'' from the city of Rak Cthol proper.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He can put up quite the facade, and has pleasant seeming chats with Belgarath, but it's obvious that both of them despise each other, and with good reason: at the end of the day, Ctuchik's one of the most evil people on the continent.
* {{Greed}}: He has an entire room in his tower dedicated to wealth.
* HighPriest: He's the head of the Grolim Priesthood.
* InTheHood: Usually keeps his hood up over his face.
%%* LackOfEmpathy: To the point where he doesn't even understand it.
* LeanAndMean: He's described as tall and cadaverous.
* LoadBearingBoss: Justified because [[StuffBlowingUp his battle with Belgarah]] broke the ''top'' of his ''[[CollapsingLair hanging]]'' EvilTowerOfOminousness.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: He never leaves Rak Cthol.
%%* PersonOfMassDestruction: On par with Belgarath.
* RedBaron: "The Magician of Rak Cthol". Doubles as an insult since Ctuchik is actually a sorcerer and magicians, who work with demons rather than the Will & the Word, are regarded with contempt and disgust.
* ShadowDictator: The real ruler of Cthol Murgos to hear Belgarath tell it, and yet many people (particularly in the West) aren't sure he even exists.
* SinisterMinister: Hard to get more sinister than running a cult based around cutting out people's hearts and sacrificing them to a mad god.
* SmugSnake: He's smart, cunning, and extremely formidable in combat (he's the only character we see match Belgarath in combat), yet beyond overconfident and makes several very crucial amateur mistakes in his arrogance.
* SocialDarwinist
* SoftSpokenSadist: Ctuchik's voice is soft and dusty, only rising when he loses control of the situation.
* SorcerousOverlord: "Cthol Murgos is still ruled from Rak Cthol." He's not officially the king, but he might as well be.
* TheStarscream: He actively tried to sabotage Zedar's efforts to wake Torak up, because he wanted be the ruler of the Angarak nations himself.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Seeks to do it in his own name, rather than Torak's.
* VillainousValor: Cornered and watching his plans disintegrate, Ctutchik doesn't flee or beg. Instead, he goes toe-to-toe with his religion's {{Satan}}-analogue, and manages to hold his own.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Tries this on Belgarath.
* WizardBeard: A long yellow one to match Belgarath's.
* WizardDuel: With Belgarath. Remarkably, he does pretty well... until he tries to destroy the orb.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Taur Urgas]]
-->''"Make way for the King of Algaria. He's mine!"''

The mad king of Cthol Murgos, Taur Urgas could charitably be described as completely out of his mind. Prone to berserk rages during which he foams at the mouth and loses all touch with reality, the Murgo king is feared by his allies, subordinates, and enemies alike.
----
* AbusiveDad: Towards all of his sons, beating them and occasionally killing them.
* AlasPoorVillain: Taur Urgas' death is rather pitiable, as he rants at Cho-Hag to come back and fight. Retroactively made worse in ''The Malloreon'' when Eriond confirms that the Murgo king really was insane and could not help himself.
%%* ArchEnemy: To Cho-Hag and 'Zakath.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Probably the most dangerous Murgo swordsman we meet, despite his madness (or perhaps because of it).
* AxeCrazy: He actually foams at the mouth in combat.
* TheBerserker: Goes utterly mad(der) while fighting. He terrifies his troops, but at the same time, galvanises them. It's as though by giving into his madness they feel that they too may become as invincible as he.
* BlingOfWar: Taur Urgas' chainmail is dipped in red Angarak gold. Rather than making it look overly pretty, it instead makes him look as though he has bathed in blood.
* BloodKnight: He's always at war, sleeps in his armour, and orders his PraetorianGuard to ''clear the way'' for Cho-Hag so that he can fight him personally.
* TheBrute: He may be the King of Cthol Murgos, but one could definitely make the case of Taur Urgas being TheBrute. He's got all the hallmarks of the personality: no empathy, totally AxeCrazy, a [[TheBerserker Berserker]] in combat, and he also seems to fit in terms of his position and role in the villainous hierarchy: he's the ruler of one of the largest countries subject to Torak, and provides manpower and muscle for the Angarak armies, while still being subject to Ctuchik, Torak's [[TheDragon Dragon]].
* TheCaligula: All the Urgas are RoyallyScrewedUp, but Taur Urgas is crazy even by their standards.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: He was strong enough to crush a metal goblet in one hand.
* DomesticAbuse: He beats his wives, keeps them under lock and key, tosses them down flights of stairs, and occasionally kills them.
* IControlMyMinionsThrough: Fear, and a degree of Respect. See TheBerserker for how.
* ItsPersonal: With Silk (who killed his eldest son in a previous encounter) and Cho-Hag.
* LackOfEmpathy: Taur Urgas is too insane to see anything outside of himself as real.
* TheMentallyIll: In addition to his bloodthirstyness, Taur Urgas is prone to fits wherein he chews on the furniture. Garion has a sobering moment in ''The Malloreon'' when he realizes, courtesy of Eriond, that Taur Urgas wasn't just AxCrazy or RoyallyScrewedUp, but a deeply ill man who probably couldn't be held responsible for his own actions.
* RoyallyScrewedUp: Sadism, brutality, and outright madness are hereditary in the Urga bloodline.
%%* SwordFight: Against Cho-Hag.
* SympathyForTheDevil: Expressed by Eriond in ''The Malloreon'' when he reminds Garion that Taur Urgas was insane and that nothing he did was really his fault.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Zedar the Apostate]]
Once a disciple of Aldur, Zedar betrayed his brothers and joined up with Torak several thousand years before the series began. He later steals the Orb of Aldur from the Rivan King's throne room, kicking off the entire story. Depressed and self-loathing, Zedar is completely under the control of Torak, whom he hates, but continues to serve loyally.
----
* AffablyEvil: When he appears in the main series, all the ego has been drained out of him by his horrifying experience at the hands of Torak, leaving a generally sad and polite man behind. However, this does not stop him killing [[spoiler: Durnik]], even if he immediately regrets it.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: Belgarath's, though he had long ceased to be Belgarath's student by the time he pulled a FaceHeelTurn.
* TheAgeless: He's frozen at seventy odd.
* BreakTheHaughty: In the backstory. It's why he's a FallenHero.
* ButtMonkey: To the universe. He speculates at one point that his betrayal (in an attempt to trick Torak and steal the orb back) resulting in his MindRape at Torak's hands into a loyal if miserable disciple was foreordained and he didn't have any say in it, or that much responsibility for what came next. It's possible that there's some truth to this, but either way, it's undeniable that pretty much every time we see him, in the main series or the prequel, something's going wrong for him.
* CoDragons: Unwillingly to Torak, alongside Ctuchik and Urvon, and is generally considered to be second in line after Ctuchik.
* ElderlyImmortal: Looks of an age with Belgarath, though he's actually a few centuries younger.
* EvilCounterpart: Could be Belgarath's clone.
* EvilFormerFriend: To Belgarath, his former teacher, and the rest of the Disciples of Aldur.
* EvilGenius: Likely the smartest of Torak's disciples, with Belgarath grudgingly noting his intelligence and subtlety on several occasions.
* EvilOldFolks: Zedar's been trapped in Torak's service for millennia and looks it.
* EvilSorcerer: Like most of the Grolim priesthood, though he's more powerful than most thanks to his training from Aldur and Torak.
* EvilTwin: He and Belgarath are virtually identical, something indicated to apply to all the disciples of Aldur, who end up imprinted with something of Aldur's appearance (except Beldin, with it being noted that he's so deformed that no one could tell).
* FaceHeelTurn: In the backstory. It was meant to be a case of FakeDefector, but it failed miserably.
* FakeDefector: Tried to pull this on Torak. It didn't work.
* FallenHero: He was once Aldur's second disciple and Belgarath's pupil and friend, with Belgarath at one point lamenting in his prequel "What soul that man had!" He's now enslaved to the will of Torak.
* FatalFlaw: His ego, which led him to think that he could fool Torak.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Belgarath locks him in a rock deep underground, a prison he's unable to escape, even by dying. Even Belgarath himself thinks it's a little excessive, even considering all that Zedar has done (though he notes that if his suspicions about Belmakor's depression and suicide are ever confirmed, he's going to take Zedar and stick him somewhere "much less comfortable").
* KickTheDog: He gets a number of instances of this in Belgarath's self-narrated prequel, being behind the manipulation of Ilessa (the contemporary Salmissra) and as a result, the slaughter of the Rivan royal family.
* LoopholeAbuse: How he got hold of the Orb, using Errand to claim it. It's ambiguous whether it's actually his idea, or either one of the Prophecy's.
* {{Pride}}: His belief that he could fool Torak is what brought about his downfall.
* RedBaron: "The Apostate".
%%* SinisterMinister: He's called "The Apostate" for a reason.%%Which is?
* SmugSnake: In the backstory. By the time we meet him that aspect of his personality has been more or less bled out of him.
* TheTramp: Like Belgarath, and in sharp contrast to SorcerousOverlord Ctuchik.
* UndyingLoyalty: Despite being the least willing of Torak's disciples, he is also the only one not to plot against him, the only one who served him instead of his own agenda while Torak was unconscious, and is the one Torak kept closest at hand while he was awake, due to the MindRape and brainwashing Torak put him through. If he still had his free will though, he'd probably betray Torak in a heartbeat.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: To Belgarath, Beldin, and the other disciples -- but mainly to Belgarath, who was also once his teacher.
%%* WizardBeard: Like Belgarath.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Torak]]
The God of Angarak, Torak was left maimed and maddened after trying to steal the Orb of Aldur from his brother. Determined to be god over the whole world, Torak is the primary tool of the Dark Prophecy, and Garion's ultimate adversary in the original series.
----
* AbhorrentAdmirer: To Polgara. He wants to ''mind-rape her'' into loving him.
* AlasPoorVillain: Everyone in-universe and out feels pretty bad about the way Torak dies. It probably has something to do with the fact that his last action is to [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas desperately call for his mother]] or that the key to defeating him involved throwing him into a VillainousBSOD by reminding him that absolutely no=one loves him.
* AntagonisticOffspring: To his father, UL, to the point where he flat-out refuses to admit there is a relationship.
%% * ArchEnemy: To Garion.
* BeautyIsBad: The most beautiful god (prior to the Orb frying his face), and the most flat out evil, complete with being obsessed with his own appearance.
* BigBad: He's the ultimate villain of the first series.
%%* {{BFS}}: Though Torak, being a god, is able to wield it one-handed.
%%* BlackSwordsAreBetter: One of the only weapons that can meet the Sword of the Rivan King in combat, indicating it's certainly better than most. It also has apparent, if ill-defined mystical properties and may be forged from nothing but darkness.
* CainAndAbel: He tried to depose all his brothers, but has a particular rivalry with Aldur. His attack on Aldur and theft of the Orb began the DivineConflict that shaped the rest of the world's history.
%%* CastingAShadow: Bleeds shadow with every blow it swings.
* TheChosenOne: By the Dark Prophecy, making him the longest-serving Child of Dark.
* CompellingVoice: Torak is a God, unless you're inhumanly strong willed and have something (intense pain or love) to act as a shield, it is literally impossible to disobey him. It's his favorite tactic: Zedar doesn't want to work for me? Too bad, he has to. My humans don't like each other? I'll make them co-operate. Belgarion wants to fight? I'll brainwash him into thinking he's my son. Polgara doesn't love me? We'll see about that...
* CoolMask: Wears a steel mask to hide his maiming. All of his followers wear one too.
* CoolSword: Cthrek Goru, his infamous cursed black sword. It instils fear in those who see it.
* DarkIsEvil: His main motif is darkness, one way or another. Unnatural clouds form over anywhere he rests because the sun itself refuses to shine on him.
* DeadManWriting: His message to Garion in his own Ashabine Oracles, should he (Garion) have killed him (Torak) in their fated duel. See details in other tropes of the entry.
* TheDevilIsALoser: He's maimed, unloved, crazy [[spoiler:(but for a [[EvenEvilHasStandards single]] time)]] and incapable of change, and hammering this home is a large part of how Garion beats him. It's eventually revealed that he was never even supposed to exist in the first place.
* DisabledDeity: After he gets burned. Gods aren't meant to get hurt so he has no ability to heal himself.
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Wants an entire world bowing down in worship and offering him sacrifices.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: His last word is an anguished "Mother!"
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Even after everything he's done the Universe still loves Torak. So do his father UL and his brothers, Aldur and the other gods, for that matter.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: In a moment of sanity he saw the kind of future that Zandramas would create, and left a note for Garion, urging him to take her down. It's noted that it was likely his only moment of sanity, ever. He also banned demon worship among the Karands and forbade his disciples from ever summoning them.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To the Sword of the Rivan King.
* EvilCripple: Justified. When Torak misused the Orb it burned off one of his hands and boiled one of his eyes. He was evil long before he was a cripple.
%%* EvilWeapon: It's not actually sentient, but given its association with the Dark Prophecy, it's safe to say that it can't be used for anything good.
* EvilVersusEvil: If he had beaten Garion at Cthol Mishrak, he would have gone after Zandramas himself, because EvenEvilHasStandards.
* GreenEyedMonster: He covets his brother's orb. He covets it oh so much. Oddly enough, ''actually'' correlated with green eyes.
* GodOfEvil: Seeks to rule the world through a religion that practices human sacrifice, and is opposed by all the other gods.
* HandicappedBadass: Still a brutally dangerous swordsman despite missing a hand and having no depth perception. Being a god probably helps.
* ImmortalRuler: He founded the Empire of Mallorea, soon left its rule to the humans for millennia, and later declared himself its GodEmperor to lead it on an invasion of the West. Since His primary interests were his own ReligionOfEvil, [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]], and claiming the [[CosmicKeystone Orb of Aldur]], his rule was unkind to the Malloreons, who formed a much more functional bureaucratic empire in his absence.
* LoveHungry: He's desperate for someone to love him.
* MadeOfEvil: Torak's entire existence is a result of the Accident and he came into existence solely to be a tool of the Dark Prophecy.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After coming out of a prophetic trance and reading what would happen if the Dark Prophecy were to triumph, Torak is so [[EvenEvilHasStandards shocked]] that in his only moment of sanity he decides to [[EvilVersusEvil fight against that destiny]] and even ''writes a note for his ArchEnemy Garion to '''[[EnemyMine urge him to do that in his stead]]''', should Garion [[DeadManWriting have killed him]] in their duel''. [[spoiler:Instantly subverted as the moment of sanity ends, his egotism prevails, and he excises the message from all copies of the Oracles, choosing not to believe the horrible truth.]]
* {{Narcissist}}: Torak cannot conceive of a world that doesn't revolve around him. In the ''Book of Torak'' he claims to have created the Universe (his own mother). He's also one in the classic sense, being utterly obsessed with his own appearance. He briefly -- very briefly -- snaps out of this when writing a message to Garion in the Ashabine Chronicles, warning him of the danger of Zandramas.
%%* NemesisWeapon: It's the EvilCounterpart to the Sword of the Rivan King, is intimately associated with the Dark Prophecy, and shows up to three separate [=EVENT=]s, twice in the hands of Torak and once in the hands of the Demon Lord Mordja.
%%* OneHandedZweihander: Not that Torak particularly has a choice in the matter. [[HandicappedBadass He]] has to use it like this. [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Mordja]], it should be noted, is unable to follow suit and holds the sword in all six of his hands.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Spends all but the climax of the story in a coma. The prequel novels reveal that he had a habit of this before, lurking in his tower in Cthol Mishrak with the Orb and later in his house at Ashaba.
* PhysicalGod: He stands out as the only one of the gods to remain in physical form for his entire existence, since the others chose to leave the world rather than provoke another DivineConflict with him.
* PrettyBoy: Belgarath describes him as the most beautiful being he had ever seen, and he's very conscious of his own image. The Orb's maiming undid the former, if not the latter.
* RedRightHand: His maimed hand and face are his most infamous physical characteristics in myth.
* SympathyForTheDevil: Despite all he's done Garion, Ce'Nedra, Belgarath and the other gods all express sympathy for Torak at some point.
* TakeOverTheWorld: He wants to depose the other gods and rule the entire world unopposed.
* TwoFaced: Beneath his mask, one side of his his face is horribly burned by the Orb, and the other side is untouched.
%%* UnbreakableWeapons: Nothing can shatter Cthrek Goru.
* UnholyMatrimony: One of his goals is to {{Invoke|dTrope}} this on Polgara, forcing her to love him as a husband.
* VillainousCrush: He believes Polgara to be the only woman suitable to be his queen.
* WoundThatWillNotHeal: Gods aren't designed to be injured, and because of that his burnt face, boiled eye, and missing hand continue to pain him, leaving him in perpetual agony.
%%* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Like all the gods.
[[/folder]]

!''The Malloreon''

!!Villains

[[folder: Zandramas]]
The new Child of Dark following Torak's death, Zandramas is a former Grolim priestess with a streak for sadism and a penchant for treachery. Probably the worst human being in either series, Zandramas is feared and hated by everyone who crosses her path.
----
* AdultFear: She kidnaps Garion's son out of his nursery and regularly taunts him about it.
* AnimalMotifs: She wears the form of a dragon. It's frequently noted that this ostentatious choice is directly reflective of Zandramas' own melodramatic personality.
* AntagonistTitle: She;s titular ''Sorceress of Darshiva''.
* {{Archenemy}}: She and Poledra ''despise'' one another to the point where it overrides the usual arch-enmity between the Child of Light (Garion) and the Child of Dark (Zandramas). Zandramas is very, ''very'' afraid of Poledra, and she hates what she fears.
* BeautyIsBad: Described as being almost impossibly beautiful and totally evil.
* BehemothBattle: She takes the form of a dragon to battle Poledra, who transforms into a fifty foot wolf to match her.
* TheBigBad: Of ''The Malloreon''.
* BigBadEnsemble: She's challenged for her position as the series' driving antagonist by a number of others, most notably the Demon Lord Nahaz, but ultimately wins out over the competition.
* BloodBath: Bathes in human blood while performing sacrifices.
* CelestialBody: Her flesh becomes more and more starry as the series continues, much to her dismay. [[spoiler:When Cyradis chooses the other side, her body tears apart and the stars within it fly off to repair the Accident. It's not clear if she's still sentient at this point.]]
%%* TheChessmaster: She always has a contingency plan in place.
%%* TheChosenOne: The new Child of Dark.
* DarkMessiah: How the Grolims and most Darshivans view her. Given that she's the new Child of Dark they're not wrong either.
* DealWithTheDevil: Made one when she called up Mordja, the details of which are not explicit. She obviously did a better job of constraining him than Harakan and Urvon did Nahaz, though in the end she still comes to regret her choices.
* DraggedOffToHell: Mordja reveals he is only serving her so that he can claim her soul in Hell after her death. Zandramas is terrified by this and begs Eriond to save her from the Demon Lord and his master, the King of Hell. Whether or not Mordja ultimately claimed her soul is left ambiguous, with even the Prophecy unsure.
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Seeks to create the same kind of world as Torak did.
* EvilCounterpart: She could be considered one to Polgara- they're both the only significant female magic users on each side, they're both dark haired and very beautiful, and her abduction of Geran could easily be seen as a twisted version of Polgara's maternal role to Garion and Riva's descendants in general. They're both also supposed to be the brides of the God of Angarak, but they're total mirror images in that respect: Torak wanted Polgara and she rejected him, whereas Zandramas wants to be the bride of the New God ([[spoiler:Geran]]), who hates her.
* EvilerThanThou: With Torak's Disciple Urvon (and his puppeteers Harakan and Nahaz) and Grolim Hierarch Agachak of Rak Urga. She outlasts the former and kills the latter, only to discover that her own servile Demon Lord, Mordja, is also plotting against her.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Learns this when she discovers the extent of Mordja's plans and his complete lack of loyalty to her.
* EvilSorcerer: As per usual for a Grolim.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Zandramas' body is destroyed so that she can replace the hole in the universe created by the Accident. Her soul may have been claimed by Mordja, and subjected to eternal suffering in Hell.
* FullFrontalAssault: Performs sacrifices in the nude.
* TheHeavy: Most of ''The Malloreon'' consists of Garion and his allies pursuing Zandramas while she throws obstacles in their path. Even when other villains take center stage for a time, she is always the one driving the overarching story.
* ImAHumanitarian: Drinks blood and eats flesh while performing sacrifices, and in her dragon form.
%%* LackOfEmpathy: A veritable void.
* ManipulativeBastard: Always has a list of unwitting dupes ready to take the fall for her.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Her name is the foulest profanity in the Ulgo language.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilised: Leads a revolt against 'Zakath and the Grolim priesthood represented by Urvon (in Mallorea) and Agachak (in Cthol Murgos).
* SamusIsAGirl: Garion is surprised to discover that the BigBad is female. It's around this time he decides that he can, in fact, [[WouldHitAGirl hit a girl]].
* ScaledUp: She can turn into a dragon.
%%* SinisterMinister: Grolim priestess.
* UncertainDoom: A variation. Zandramas is definitely ''dead'' but it's not clear at all what happened to her soul. It may have been obliterated, it may have passed onto the after life as usual, or she may have been taken by Mordja. Not even the Prophecy knows for sure.
%%* UnholyMatrimony: With Naradas.
* VainSorceress: She's extremely arrogant about her appearance.
* TheVamp: She uses her sexuality to manipulate Naradas and tries to use it on Garion (who is having none of it).
* VillainsWantMercy: She begs Eriond to save her from Mordja and the King of Hell.
* WeCanRuleTogether: She offers Garion the chance to join her, give her the Sardion and they could both rule as Gods over the world, Garion recognises this as a last desperate move to avoid The Choice and laughs in her face.
* WeHaveReserves: Callously throws away the lives of her Darshivan soldiers.
%%* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: All the time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Naradas]]
A Grolim priest and former lover of Zandramas, Naradas is distinguished by his milk-white eyes.
----
* DemotedToDragon: He starts out as the Archpriest of the temple where Zandramas came up, and when she becomes the Child of Dark after Torak's death he willingly becomes her subordinate.
%%* TheDragon
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Naradas is genuinely horrified when he finds out Zandramas has summoned up the Demon Lord Mordja.
%%* EvilSorcerer: As standard for Grolims, particularly senior ones.
* ProphetEyes: This is noted in-universe to be odd, since he can still see.
* SinisterMinister: He was once a Grolim, and Zandramas' superior.
%%* UnholyMatrimony: With Zandramas.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Urvon]]
The last surviving Disciple of Torak, Urvon is a gibbering madman who suffers from a skin disease that leaves him piebald. Losing his mind after the death of Torak, Urvon becomes convinced that he himself is the new God of Angarak.
----
%%* AGodAmI: Has delusions of godhood.
%%* {{Archenemy}}: Beldin's.
%%* AxeCrazy
* BigBadWannabe: His madness leaves him no match for Zandramas and totally under Nahaz's thumb.
%%* CoDragons: With Ctuchik and Zedar.
%%* TheDragon: He's one of Torak's three disciples.
%%* DragonAscendant: Doesn't he wish.
* DragonTheirFeet: He's completely absent from the first series -- justifiably, since most of the action is on the Western continent, where only Ctuchik is regularly present, and when the heroes do go to Mallorea, it's only to confront Torak, who's in Zedar's care.
* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler:As Nahaz is banished back to Hell,]] he grabs Urvon on the way.
* ElderlyImmortal: It's hard to tell because of [[RedRightHand how he looks]], but Urvon is still described as an old man, with thinning white hair.
* EvilerThanThou: With Zandramas. He winds up on the losing end, mostly due to his madness and dependency on Nahaz.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To Beldin.
%%* EvilIsNotAToy: He learns this the hard way at the hands of Nahaz.
* EvilOldFolks: He looks elderly, is at least four thousand years old, and is very, very evil.
* EvilSorcerer: All three of Torak's disciples were powerful sorcerers, though we see very little of Urvon's abilities, thanks to the fact that his insanity has drained his power to do anything other than parlour tricks.
* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:He's dragged into Hell by Nahaz.]]
* LightIsNotGood: During his "New God Of Angarak" phase, he surrounded himself in a nimbus of golden light, in stark contrast to the dark imagery used by Torak and Zandramas.
%%* PuppetKing: To Harakan and Nahaz.
%%* RedBaron: "The Disciple"
* RedRightHand: Urvon's piebald; his skin alternates between living and dead patches.
%%* SinisterMinister
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Harakan/Mengha]]
A former Mallorean Grolim, Harakan is an agent of Urvon with plans of his own where the rulership of the world is concerned.
----
* BadHabits: He pretends to be a Bear-Cultist and later a Karandese magician.
* BeardOfEvil: He grows one when impersonating a Bear-Cultist.
* BigBadWannabe: Desperately wants to be the one running Urvon's faction and the instrument of the Prophecies' demise, but is upstaged by Nahaz.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Trusting Harakan is a remarkably bad idea. He betrays the Bear-cult, Urvon, and the Dark Prophecy itself.
* CoDragons: Alongside Nahaz, who isn't under his dominion for long.
* DarkMessiah: He sets himself up as a messianic figure to the Karands, even summoning their "[[AGodAmI god]]", Nahaz, to do his bidding.
* DealWithTheDevil: He made one with the Demon Lord Nahaz, whereby Nahaz would become God and Harakan would become ruler of the world. Belgarath notes that he hopes Harakan checked the fine print as Demon Lords aren't known for living up to their end of a deal.
%%* TheDragon: To Urvon.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: Intends to use Urvon as a PuppetKing while he really rules Karanda. He'd like to be DragonInChief but Nahaz quickly usurps that role.
%%* EvilSorcerer: Like most Grolims.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Leads a Karandese revolution against 'Zakath and, ostensibly, the Grolim priesthood. In reality, of course, Harakan is himself a Grolim which means the "revolutionary" nature of his actions may be in dispute. The "uncivilized" part, of course, is not.
%%* SinisterMinister: Another Grolim.
* SmallNameBigEgo: He's a powerful Grolim, but his plan is entirely dependent upon Nahaz, who has his own agenda.
* SmugSnake: Absurdly overconfident and never as in control of the situation as he believes himself to be.
* TakeAThirdOption: Unleashes Nahaz with the intention of eliminating both prophecies, raising Nahaz to the status of a god, and becoming master of the world.
* WouldHitAGirl: He repeatedly tries to have Ce'Nedra assassinated.
* WouldHurtAChild: He tries to force Ce'Nedra to murder her own son.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Nahaz]]
-->''"I need this [[PuppetKing thing]]..."''

The ancestral Demon Lord of the people of Karanda, Nahaz is one of the King of Hell's most trusted servitors. Summoned by Harakan, Nahaz comes to dominate Urvon's mind, unraveling his sanity farther as he plots to gain control of the Sardion for his true master.
----
* AGodAmI: He's worshipped as a god by the people of Karanda.
* AntagonistTitle: He's the titular ''Demon Lord of Karanda''.
%% * {{Archenemy}}: Of Mordja
%% * ArcVillain: More central to the plot of ''Demon Lord of Karanda'' (which even bears his name) and ''Sorceress of Darshiva'' than either Zandramas or the Dark Prophecy.
* BigBadEnsemble: From his arrival in ''Demon Lord of Karanda'' to his defeat in ''Sorceress of Darshiva'', Nahaz challenges Zandramas for the position of the series' BigBad, commandeering the Chandim, Temple Guardsman, and Karands from Urvon, and using them against her. He gives her a better fight than any of the other [[BigBadWannabe wannabes]], and it's Durnik, rather than Zandramas, who finally puts him out of commission.
* CastingAShadow: His face is concealed within inky shadows during his first appearance. They go where he does.
%%* CoDragons: To Urvon alongside Harakan, and to the King of Hell alongside Mordja.
* CurbStompBattle: While he's powerful enough to best any sorcerer or group of sorcerers, his confrontation with the recently ascended and Aldur-empowered Durnik is decidedly one-sided, resulting in his defeat and banishment. Given that Durnik was both carrying and infused with Nahaz' KryptoniteFactor, and has Aldur in his corner, this isn't surprising.
* DemonLordsAndArchdevils: The first Demon Lord we meet and one of the highest ranked in Hell, standing just below the King himself.
%%* TheDragon: To Urvon
* DragonInChief: Urvon is both insane and completely under Nahaz's domination, leaving the Demon Lord as the one who's really running the show. It's also clear that while Harakan thinks Nahaz is driving Urvon mad on his behalf, the Demon Lord has his own goals that have nothing to do with Harakan.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: To Urvon. He'll take his soul, the Orb, the Sardion, and dominion over the world in the name of his master.
%%* EvilerThanThou: With Mordja and Zandramas.
* EyeBeams: He emits beams of green light from his eyes when defending Urvon from Beldin.
%%* FangsAreEvil
* FetusTerrible: He impregnates women and then watches the fetus tear its way out and devour the mother alive.
* GodhoodSeeker: Plans to become god over the whole world by capturing the Sardion for the King of Hell.
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Unbeknownst to Urvon, Nahaz (and Mordja) are the evil in this equation, threatening to extinguish both the Light and Dark Prophecies and bring about the end of existence.
* GreenAndMean: His eyes and MagicWand both glow a sickly green, and his skin is a darker shade of green.
* HeroKiller: A lone demon, unshackled, requires either the presence of a god or the Orb of Aldur for any single foe to defeat. Nahaz is a Demon Lord and is a near match for the combined might of Aldur's disciples, requiring Aldur to mystically empower Durnik before he can be banished.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: Nahaz's reasons for assisting Urvon and Harakan don't become clear until the very end of ''Demon Lord of Karanda''.
* InsaneAdmiral: The cruelty of Nahaz's military strategy is remarked upon at some length.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Nahaz is prepared to confront Beldin, Belgarath, Durnik and Polgara at the conclusion of ''Demon Lord of Karanda'', but when Garion joins the fray and draws the Sword of the Rivan King he decides discretion is the better part of valour and flees with Urvon.
* KryptoniteFactor: Like all demons, Nahaz is inherently vulnerable to the Orb of Aldur or the presence of a god. These two factors come together to defeat him at the end of ''Sorceress of Darshiva'', when Durnik, empowered by Aldur, and armed with a hammer that draws its mystic properties from much the same place as the Orb, confronts him.
* LackOfEmpathy: He's a [[LegionsOfHell demon lord]]. This is to be expected. As evidenced by his page quote, to Nahaz, people are things.
* LegionsOfHell: He can summon up armies of lesser demons to do his bidding, most notably at the sacks of Calida and Akkad.
* MagicWand: He carries a green, glowing wand beneath his cloak, and draws it during his confrontation with Garion and the other sorcerers, though it's never used.
* ManipulativeBastard: He uses both Urvon and Harakan to further his own ends.
* MultiarmedAndDangerous: Takes on a giant, multiarmed form when confronting Morjda in ''Sorceress of Darshiva''.
* PowerGlows: A sickly green. It radiates from his eyes and from his magic wand.
* PsychoForHire: Nahaz is a hired agent, not a slave or servant (Demon Lords cannot, in fact, be enslaved by magicians), and he's very much in it for the chance to devour as many souls as possible.
* ReallyGetsAround: He enjoys impregnating women with {{Fetus Terrible}}s.
* ShadowDictator: He controls Urvon while pretending to be his loyal servant.
* ShapeShifter: During his initial appearance he's human sized, has the usual number of arms, and cloaks himself in shadows. During his confrontation with Mordja a book later he transforms into multiarmed giant akin to Mordja's own form.
* SicklyGreenGlow: The exact words used to describe his eyes and MagicWand.
* SoftSpokenSadist: Barely speaks above a whisper during ''Demon Lord of Karanda''.
* TheStrategist: He's the mind behind Urvon's army, and his outflanking of Zandramas' elephant cavalry is regarded as a stroke of tactical genius by General Atesca and 'Zakath.
* TakingYouWithMe: A variant -- when Durnik drives him back into Hell he drags his ostensible master, Urvon, with him.
* TheUnfought: A variant. While Durnik, with an assist from Aldur, battles Nahaz's second form at the end of ''Sorceress of Darshiva'', the form he wore in ''Demon Lord of Karanda'' is never fought, despite his initial willingness to take on not only Beldin, but the rest of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers as well. This means we never get to discover what powers his MagicWand holds either.
* VillainousValor: Durnik is empowered and partially possessed by Aldur, and infused with the powers of the Orb during his and Nahaz's final confrontation in ''Sorceress of Darshiva''. Nahaz, knowing all this, still attempts to do battle with him, despite having to face both of his {{Kryptonite Factor}}s.
* WeHaveReserves: As the heroes inform 'Zakath and General Atesca, Demon Lords pay very little attention to casualties.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: When talking to Mordja, who affects this manner of speech.
* YourSoulIsMine: He feeds on souls, and claims Urvon's.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mordja]]
Ancestral Demon Lord of the people of Mordinland, Mordja was summoned by Zandramas to counteract Nahaz's enlistment by Urvon. Like Nahaz, he aims to take the Sardion not for Zandramas, but for his true master, the King of Hell.
----
* AGodAmI: He's worshipped as a god by the Morindim.
%%* {{Archenemy}}: Of Nahaz
* CoolSword: Steals [[BlackSwordsAreBetter Cthrek Goru]] from the deceased Torak. See Torak's entry for [[EvilWeapon the]] [[CastingAShadow rest]] [[ArtifactOfDoom of]] [[EvilCounterpart the]] [[{{BFS}} details]].
* DemonLordsAndArchdevils: Of equal rank to Nahaz. They both sit at the King of Hell's right hand.
* DemonicPossession: Of the last dragon in ''Seeress of Kell''.
* TheDragon: To Zandramas. Unusually literally after he possesses the last dragon in ''Seeress of Kell''.
** CoDragons: Appears to share this role with Naradas. In reality he and Nahaz are CoDragons to the King of Hell.
** DragonWithAnAgenda: He wants Zandramas' soul, the Sardion, and the Orb for the King of Hell.
* EleventhHourSuperpower: A villainous example. Mordja was always powerful, but he needed to both possess the dragon and steal Cthrek Goru in order to match the combined might of Aldur's disciples, Garion's companions, Durnik's hammer and the Sword of the Rivan King. He also received a power boost from the King of Hell right before the final battle, though Poledra was able to strip him of this.
* EvilerThanThou: With Nahaz (and Zandramas, though she doesn't know it).
* ExtraEyes: He has three eyes in his hideous face.
* FangsAreEvil: His fangs and how ugly they are receive a fair amount of description in ''Sorceress of Darshiva''.
* FinalBoss: Provides the last physical confrontation of the series.
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Unbeknownst to Zandramas, Mordja (and Nahaz) are the evil in this equation, threatening to extinguish both the Light and Dark Prophecies and bring about the end of existence.
* HeroKiller: Has an infamous reputation, takes on the entire cast at the end of the series, and winds up killing [[spoiler:Toth]].
* HiddenAgendaVillain: That Mordja even ''has'' an agenda beyond "complicating Nahaz's life" is not made clear until the very end of ''Seeress of Kell'' when Poledra forces it out of him.
* KryptoniteFactor: Like all demons, Mordja is inherently vulnerable to the Orb of Aldur or the presence of a god.
* KryptoniteProofSuit: Essentially wears the last dragon as one during his battle with Garion's allies. The dragon shields him from both the sorcery of Aldur's Disciples, and the mystic effects of the Orb of Aldur and Durnik's hammer--though it's noted that he still flinches whenever either passes by him.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Unlike Nahaz, he realizes that Durnik is being empowered by Aldur at the conclusion of ''Sorceress of Darshiva'' and flees.
* LackOfEmpathy: If demons are even capable of caring about others neither he nor Nahaz shows it.
* LegionsOfHell: As a Demon Lord he can summon up armies of lesser demons to bolster Zandramas' ranks and counter those in service to Nahaz.
* MultiarmedAndDangerous: Has a profusion of arms growing from his shoulders.
* PsychoForHire: Demon Lords cannot be summoned into a magician's service, only persuaded. Mordja agrees to work for Zandramas for the chance to frustrate Nahaz and feed on as many mortals as possible.
* ScaledUp: A variant. He possesses the dragon in the finale of ''Seeress of Kell''.
* TheStarscream: Is awaiting the proper moment to stab Zandramas in the back, destroying the Dark Prophecy and delivering the Sardion to the King of Hell.
* UncertainDoom: Mordja vanishes when Garion drives the Sword of the Rivan King through the dragon and into Mordja himself. Whether Mordja was killed or simply banished back to Hell is not made clear.
%%* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: He always speaks in this manner.
* YourSoulIsMine: He aims to claim Zandramas' soul.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Sardion (Cthrag Sardius)]]
The EvilCounterpart of the Orb of Aldur, the Sardion lies waiting in the place of meeting for the Child of Dark to touch it and end the world.
----
%%* ArchEnemy: The Orb.
%%* ArtifactOfDoom: Given its associations with The Dark Prophecy, what it did to the Melcene scholar, and what will happen if the Child of Dark touches it, yeah.%%"Yeah" is not context.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: An ugly red, shot through with milky-white. Contrast that to the Orb's pure blue.
* EvilCounterpart: To the Orb of Aldur. They absolutely despise each other, to the point where the Orb for once acts on its own, leaping out of Garion's hand to destroy a case it used to be in, and both gear up for a fight as soon as they get close to each other.
* EvilerThanThou: Than ''Torak'', so much so that it didn't even let him know that it even existed.
* MindRape: What it did to the Melcene scholar who was studying it, drawing him in, then forcing him to take it to [[spoiler: Korim]], and then adore it until he died of thirst and/or starvation -- his skeleton is still in the chamber when the heroes turn up.
* MineralMacGuffin: Like the Orb of Aldur, and an ugly red stone.
* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: Chosen by the Dark Prophecy, and a very specific chosen at that -- Torak didn't qualify.
* PowerGlows: Red, in this case.
[[/folder]]

!Historical Figures

[[folder: 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.
----
%%* FamousAncestor: Of the royal family of Riva.
* GirlOfMyDreams: The Prophecy sent Riva dreams of her before she was even born to make sure he would fall in love with her.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: She had bright golden hair, and was probably the kindest hearted member of her family, save possibly her distant grandson, [[TheHeart 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).
* IllGirl: the cause of her death, due to the infamous weather of the Isle of the Winds. As Polgara puts it, "The filthy climate of this island is destroying my sister's lungs!". Nevertheless, she might have lived another decade or so if the Rivan Deacon hadn't been a secret Bear Cultist who waged war on the medical profession in order to force all Rivans to bend to the Church, thus denying Beldaran proper treatment.
* InTheBlood: Polgara notes at one point that nearly all Beldaran's descendants (including Belgarion) are blonde because of her.
* LostLenore: 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 PsychicLink didn't hurt.
* MayDecemberRomance: She was at least twenty years younger than Iron-Grip when they got married.
* MuggleBornOfMages: The entire rest of her family were Sorcerers. Her? Not so much. It doesn't seem to have bothered her, though.
* OneTrueLove: Riva's, as he was for her.
* ParentalFavoritism: 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 VitriolicBestBuds type relationship.
* PolarOppositeTwins: With Polgara, though they loved each other dearly.
* PostHumousCharacter: 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.
%%* PrincessClassic
* SilkHidingSteel: 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.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: 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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Cherek Bear-Shoulders]]
* TheBigGuy: He was absolutely huge, like all of his sons.
* BoisterousBruiser: He treats the trip to Mallorea like a family trip. It's a characteristic that his descendants (from his second marriage), the Kings of Cherek, kept going.
* FamousAncestor: Of the royal families of all the Alorn Kingdoms.
* FamedInStory: 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).
* HeartbrokenBadass: 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.
* LastOfHisKind: He was the last King of Aloria.
* ModestRoyalty: He was incredibly informal and laid back, even treating the quest to Cthol Mishrak as a hunting trip with his boys.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: 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.
* VestigialEmpire: He went from ruling Aloria (the second largest empire in history after Mallorea) to only the Cherek Peninsula.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Dras Bull-Neck]]
* AnAxToGrind: He primarily wields an axe, in battle and outside of it.
* TheBigGuy: He's the biggest of Cherek's sons -- which is saying something, since they're all enormous.
* BoisterousBruiser: Like his father, he's an enthusiastic fighter.
* DumbMuscle: 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.
* FamedInStory: Like his brothers and father, for his part in the reclaiming of the Orb.
* FamousAncestor: Of the royal family of Drasnia.
%%* FounderOfTheKingdom: Drasnia.
%%* ModestRoyalty: Like the rest of his family.
%%* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The quest to regain the Orb comes to mind.%%Why?
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Algar Fleet-Foot]]
* ABoyAndHisX: He was one of the first in the West to domesticate the horse and begin to breed them for riding.
* TheBigGuy: All of Cherek's sons were huge, though Algar's leaner than the other two.
%%* FamousAncestor: Of the royal family of Algaria.
* FamedInStory: For his role with the reclamation of the Orb.
%%* FounderOfTheKingdom: Algaria.
%%* ModestRoyalty: And softly spoken with it.
%%* TheQuietOne: And the smartest of his family.
* TheSmartGuy: He's fairly explicitly the smartest of his family -- Cherek's smart enough but not extraordinary, Dras is DumbMuscle (as Belgarath observes and he's self-aware enough to admit it) outside of cheating at dice, and Riva's more uncomplicated than stupid.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: See the quest to claim the Orb.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Riva Iron-Grip]]
Founder of the Kingdom of Riva, first Guardian of the Orb, and with Beldaran, direct ancestor of Garion.
----
%%* {{BFS}}: He was the first wielder of the Sword of Riva.
%%* TheBlacksmith: ... which he forged himself.
%%* TheBigGuy: He was about seven feet tall.%%Not the trope.
* BittersweetEnding: 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 TogetherInDeath, which is something.
* FamousAncestor: Of the royal family of Riva.
* FamedInStory: 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).
* ForgingScene: He was the one who forged the Sword of the Rivan King.
%%* FounderOfTheKingdom: Riva.
* HeartbrokenBadass: ''Polgara the Sorceress'' shows very explicitly how Beldaran's death broke him, leading to a slow, sad decline, and his death
%%* ModestRoyalty: Like the rest of his family.
%%* MayDecemberRomance:
* OnlyThePureOfHeart: 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.
%%* OneTrueLove: Beldaran's, as she was his.
%%* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething
* TogetherInDeath: With Beldaran, as shown by Polgara opening up a brief door to the world of the dead in ''The Belgariad''.
* YoungestChildWins: 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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Mrin Prophet]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: He had some kind of serious developmental disability that made him almost more animal than man.
* MadOracle: Mad and mentally handicapped.
* MadwomanInTheAttic: One of the few cases where the trope is played openly, he lived and died [[SecurityBlanket 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.
* NoNameGiven
* NonLinearCharacter: 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.
* SecurityBlanket: 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.
[[/folder]]

!!Gods and Prophecies

[[folder: The Prophecy]]
* AllPowerfulBystander: Neither it nor its counterpart can intervene directly without destroying the universe. That's why they act through proxies to fulfil parts of their respective prophecies.
* BigGood: Represents the original purpose of the Universe.
* TheChessmaster: With millenia of experience.
* DeadpanSnarker: More or less constantly. It particularly enjoys annoying Belgarath, though it does does snark a bit at some of Garion's teenage absurdities. More generally, it across as being rather like a long suffering GameMaster who is annoyed that his players won't follow the script.
--> "Point. Point and game."
* TheGadfly: It's fond of Belgarath, and particularly enjoys annoying him. It also enjoys teasing Garion, responding to his rhetorical question of whether it's so cryptic just because it knows it annoys him with [[DeadpanSnarker "What an interesting idea."]]
* NotSoStoic: When it becomes so, you know things are ''very'' serious:
-->"The child!" the voice in Garion's mind crackled, no longer dry or disinterested. "Save the child or everything that has ever happened is meaningless!".
%%* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Whenever it slips into NotSoStoic mode.
* RulesLawyer: It is far more concerned about the "points" than its counterpart, arguing at length when it feels it earned one, even right at the very end of ''The Malloreon''.
* TheVoice: It manifests as a dry voice in Garion's mind, which provides advice, exposition, and snarky commentary.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Dark Prophecy]]
* AllPowerfulBystander: Neither it nor its counterpart can intervene directly without destroying the universe. That's why they act through proxies to fulfil parts of their respective prophecies.
%%* BiggerBad: It's TheManBehindTheMan to Torak and Zandramas.%%And?
* CastingAShadow: The sun never shines in the home of the Child of Dark.
* TheChessmaster: Has manipulated aeons of history to thwart its counterpart.
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Seeks a Universe of constant stagnation and failure where everything continues to go wrong.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Possibly. It won't cheat, but it doesn't seem to stop its instruments from cheating, either -- though Aldur claims to Belgarath that after Torak tried to cheat following the reclaiming of the Orb, the Dark Prophecy apologised and punished him.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To the Light Prophecy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: UL]]
%%* ArchEnemy: The King of Hell.
* {{God}}: As the Father of all the other Gods, UL is the closest thing the series has to the Abrahamic God.
* TheMaker: Created the Universe and the other Gods, but played no part in making the world
%%* PhysicalGod
* SixthRanger: Until the third book, there appears to have been seven Gods. Then you learn there was an eighth God who didn't take part in the creation of the world, and who adopted (some of) the peoples who were left out when the other gods chose their own followers. The true nature of his relationship to the other gods isn't revealed until the end of the first series of books.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Aldur]]
%%* BigGood: It shares this role with the Prophecy.
* CainAndAbel: Torak hates all the other gods, but his rivalry with Aldur is the fiercest, and it is Aldur's disciples who constantly stand in his way. Aldur, for his part, is pretty miserable that it came to this.
* GrandpaGod: Has something of this in his appearance.
* NiceGuy: He's one of the nicest and gentlest characters in the series, with only allusions to his disliking Angaraks and a former Gorim as spots on his character. And in the former case, he protected them -- specifically, a Mallorean army -- from demons anyway at Belgarath's request, Belgarath just warned Zakath that it would probably be best for his troops to stay out of the glowing blue ditch just in case, because of Aldur's dislike for Angaraks. In the latter, apparently ''no one'' liked that particular Gorim.
%%* PhysicalGod
* WizardBeard: Looks a heck of a lot like Belgarath, actually. Or more accurately, Belgarath looks a heck of a lot like him. As does Zedar, and a number of the other disciples. This is explained as his leaving a kind of imprint on people.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: frequently uses this, as part of his more scholarly and formal demeanour.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Belar]]
* HornyVikings: He's the Alorn God, after all. Most of the Viking-related tropes that apply to Alorns also apply to Him. Also, amusingly, it ''does'' share the [[ReallyGetsAround meaning that the trope's description states it doesn't have]].
* ManChild: Downplayed. More like "Man Adolescent", as both his appearance and behaviour are perpetually fixed in that of a young, boisterous, slightly juvenile Alorn.
-->'''Belgarath: '''[Growing up] happens to everybody--except to Belar, maybe. I don't think we can ever expect Belar to grow up.
%%* PhysicalGod
%%* ReallyGetsAround: Possibly.%%Quotes are not context.
%%-->'''Belgarath: '''I have my suspicions about Belar. He was surrounded by a bevy of busty, blonde-braided Alorn maidens, who all seemed enormously fond of him. Well, he was a God, after all, but the admiration of those girls didn't seem to be entirely religious.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Issa]]
* GoodEyesEvilEyes: Subverted. Issa's eyes are snake-like and lifeless, but he's a pretty good guy.
%%* PhysicalGod
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He can be a bit forgetful (Nyissa's system of succession was a consequence of him forgetting to make the original Salmissra immortal), but he's not the most demanding of gods.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The King of Hell]]
%%* ArchEnemy: UL.
* BiggerBad: Nahaz, Mordja, and the rest of the Demon Lords all answer to this guy. Despite that, he never even appears in the story.
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: It seeks to upend both Prophecies and recreate the Universe in his own image with legions of Demons feasting on all mortal souls.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To UL.
%%* EvilerThanThou: To the Dark Prophecy.
* MadeOfEvil: When Belgarath creates an image of him, it appears as a creature impossibly made of both fire and ice.
%%* OutsideContextProblem
%%* SatanicArchetype
* SealedEvilInACan: It was chained by UL at the moment of Creation.
%%* TakeOverTheWorld: Universe actually.
[[/folder]]

----

!!The Races of Men

Since each of the Gods picked a race of their own and shaped them in their image, both culturally and (to a lesser extent) physically, they tend to be somewhat distinctive.

[[folder: Alorns]]
The people of Belar, inhabitants of the Alorn Kingdoms, which used to be Aloria -- the largest empire in history save only Mallorea, ruling the vast majority of the Western continent, including what is now Gar Og Nadrak. They are now divided into the Algars, Chereks, Drasnians, Rivans and, technically, Sendars. Famous for their military skill, their driving concern for the last few thousand years has been the protection of the Orb of Aldur. Accordingly, they provide most of the protagonists.

* BarbarianHero: The Chereks, who're both superstitious and mistrustful of magic (save where the likes of Belgarath and Polgara are concerned), with reference being made to their burning witches.
* CorruptChurch: The Church of Belar as a whole isn't necessarily bad, but it has a thick strain of the Bear-Cult within it, including the High-Priest, and the Chief Priest of Algaria.
* DesignatedHero: It's made clear over time that, allowing for not having a MadGod (like the Angaraks) or a culture focused on [[HonourBeforeReason honour]] and the CycleOfRevenge like the Arends, they're not really much better than anyone else -- after all, they generated the fanatical Bear-Cult. This isn't really a bad thing, as it plays into the overall point of the series.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Broadly speaking...
** Algars: Magyars/Poles/Scythians -- the European end of the horse-riding steppe nomads.
** Chereks: HornyVikings, right down to the near ubiquitous SeadogBeard.
** Drasnians: Medieval Switzerland, being a ProudMerchantRace famous for its disciplined pikemen, with shades of the Sami as they go towards the north pole.
** Rivans: Britain/Ireland -- small and extremely damp island notable for its sheep, with polite but reserved, isolationist and drably dressed inhabitants who're extremely conscious and protective of a magic sword that OnlyTheChosenMayWield, and are patiently awaiting the [[RightfulKingReturns return of their King]].
* TheFundamentalist: The Bear-Cult, which has a very broad (and wrong) interpretation of the concept of Aloria protecting the Orb. That is to say, they want to reunite the Alorn Kingdoms (Sendaria included), conquer Arendia, Nyissa, Tolnedra, Ulgo, and whatever's left of Maragor, ''then'' turn on the Angaraks. Basic supporters are stereotyped as violently racist, deeply misogynistic, and dimmer than a dead glow-worm, while senior members tend to be a variant on the SinisterMinister. They are exclusively portrayed as antagonists, and sufficiently popular that both the main antagonist and secondary antagonist exploit it in ''The Malloreon'' to raise fanatical CannonFodder.
* HornyVikings: Again, Chereks. The other Alorns are decent sailors, but the Chereks are by far the best at it.
* HotBlooded: The Chereks in particular, being notably prone to going berserk -- though the tendency runs through all of the Alorn kingdoms.
* LeeroyJenkins: One persistent flaw in the Alorns is that most of them will charge into a fight without thinking twice. They're not as bad as the Arends about this, but they're the next best thing.
* 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.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Their other main flaw.
** 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.
** Even the other, milder Alorn kingdoms have this, with Garion's declaration that he would rule jointly with Ce'Nedra being treated as shocking, even if the various Queens often play more of a part than custom strictly allows. By the time of ''The Malloreon'', the various monarchs aren't remotely fazed by it, but Belgarath notes with some disgust in his prequel that despite Porenn being one of the most competent leaders (as Queen-Regent in ''The Malloreon'') the world's ever seen, a lot of back-country Drasnians dismiss her because she's a woman. They also hold a lesser, but still present, grudge against the Nyissans for killing the Rivan royal family 1300 years prior to the story, after which they made a very spirited attempt to exterminate them. Now, they're civil enough, though the Nyissan practices of slavery and poisoning don't exactly endear them to anyone.
* RapePillageAndBurn: The Pillage and Burn parts are discussed in passing, with it being noted as how the Alorns (again, especially the Chereks, who are the archetypal Alorns and HornyVikings). The "rape" part is elided.

[[folder: Sendars]]
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.

* {{Arcadia}}: Initially played up as the homely version of this, though not without its less pleasant aspects -- Camaar is a low-level WretchedHive, for instance. However, while it's generally a pretty great place to live by the standards of a Medieval Fantasy world, Faldor's farm is definitely on the nicest end of it.
* CombatPragmatist: When they do fight, Sendars don't tend to be military geniuses or great warriors, but they ''do'' have a mastery of practicalities, especially the crucial matter of logistics. As the Alorn Kings and General Varana observe, Sendars make the perfect quartermasters.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Southern England/Midwestern US. Fertile land inhabited by hard-working, polite, and extremely practical farmers, who're descended from a relatively broad Western ethnic blend.
* 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.
* 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 spends most of the series only about two steps removed from a total monster. 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.
* HufflepuffHouse: Of the Alorn Alliance, being far more practical and prosaic. Unusually, their practicality is (usually) deeply respected by the more excitable Alorns.
* LetsGetDangerous: Just because they don't like fighting doesn't mean that they won't.
* 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.
* 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.

[[folder: Angaraks]]
People of Torak, the most numerous in the world, and at least initially the source of the vast majority of the antagonists, divided into Nadraks, Thulls, Murgos, and Malloreans. The Murgos in particular appear to be AlwaysChaoticEvil, and the Nadraks as the TokenGoodTeammate. As the series goes on, however, it becomes apparent that it's rather more complicated than that, which is expanded upon in ''The Malloreon''.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Murgos appear to be this for most of the first series, but the second series confirms that away from the frontlines, with a genuinely sane King and minus [[SorcerousOverlord Ctuchik]], they're not really any worse than anyone else. This latter quality is also emphasised with the Malloreans in the second series.
* AntiVillain: Most of them are doing what they do out of fear of Torak and his disciples and priests, rather than inherent evil. Even Taur-Urgas was genuinely insane and couldn't help himself. The Thulls in particular are pitiable, being terrified into submission by the Grolims, while the Nadraks want nothing to do with the Grolims if they can possibly avoid it -- or the war, come to that. The Disciples and Grolims, on the other hand, are all pretty awful.
* ButtMonkey: The Thulls. Intentionally bred from the labourers of old Angarak to be big, strong, and stupid, they're routinely mocked by everyone, dismissed by enemies and allies alike. They're also targets for the Grolims and live in eternal terror. There are hints that there are a few with brains, but the intelligent ones are implied to be picked off by the Grolims to prevent resistance. In the meantime, Thullish women have a reputation for [[ReallyGetsAround really getting around]], but it's out of fear -- being pregnant screws up the Grolim accounting system so prevents sacrifice -- while Thullish men work all their lives to make enough to buy a slave that they can substitute if their name is picked out of the lottery. It gets to the point where entire villages of them turn up and wait patiently for days to be captured by Ce'Nedra's army and are ''happy'' to be pressed into service as porters etc because there are no Grolims (those that ''do'' get in as spies [[TheDogBitesBack are spotted by the Thulls and systematically thrown off of a very large cliff]] -- but out of the way of the construction workers, because the Thulls are considerate like that).
* CorruptChurch: The Grolims are pretty much all evil, as one would expect of priests of a ReligionOfEvil that involves HumanSacrifice at regular intervals.
* 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.
* EvilCounterpart: Initially, the Nadraks are this to the Drasnians, and to a lesser extent, the Thulls to the Chereks, the Murgos to the Algars, and the Malloreans to the Sendars, Rivans, and Tolnedrans. However, it's revealed to be rather more complicated than that.
* HiddenDepths: The Thulls. As noted above, for a people so famous for their bovine stupidity, they're ''extremely'' creative when it comes to dishing out several millennia worth of revenge on the Grolims.
* 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.
* 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.
* ProudMerchantRace: The Nadraks, as the counterparts to the Drasnians, to the point where it's explicitly noted that they were originally the merchant class in the old Angarak kingdoms before being sent West.
* 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.
* ReligionOfEvil: An unfortunate by-product of having a bloodthirsty MadGod.
* SinisterMinister: Ctuchik is the most prominent example, though the other disciples (Zedar and Urvon) and all the Grolims e.g. Chamdar a.k.a. Asharak, Naradas, and Zandramas, qualify.
* StayInTheKitchen: The Murgo mentality regarding women, to the point where women's quarters have ''bars'' on the windows.
* 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.
* ZergRush: A legitimate fear of the Kingdoms of the West, as while they can ''barely'' match the Murgos alone (and even that's doubtful, accounting for the southern Murgos), while the Malloreans far outnumber ''them''.

[[folder: Arends]]
People of Chaldan, the bull-god, and divided into Asturians and Mimbrates (and, until a couple of millennia before the story starts, Wacites), and as revealed in ''The Malloreon'' [[spoiler: Dal Perivor]]. Famous for their chivalry, courage, tendency towards dramatics, stubbornness, and lack of anything resembling common sense; all of which contributes to a culture infamous for its duels, feuds, and civil wars. While usually stereotyped as stupid by everyone else, the overall picture is a little more complicated than that.

* AntiquatedLinguistics: Affected by the Mimbrate nobility, and consciously avoided by the Asturians for that exact reason, marvellously avoiding YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe.
* 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.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: They're horribly prone to this. All of them.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Several, naturally.
** 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.
*** 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.
** 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.
* 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.
* KnightInShiningArmour: The Mimbrate Knights are legendary, and all at least pretend to the archetype -- Mandorallen is a legendary example of one who walks the walk.
* 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.
* MedievalStasis: The most striking example in a series intentionally rife with it (the universe is essentially stuck on repeat until one of the two Prophecies comes out on top), thanks to the knights in shining armour.
* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: The vast majority of Arends, ''especially'' Mimbrates, are prone to this, being glued to their romantic epics. Ce'Nedra and Polgara find it endearing. Garion and Belgarath, by contrast, find it vastly irritating (though neither is shy of exploiting it when it suits them).

[[folder: Tolnedrans]]
The people of Nedra. Primarily obsessed with money and a bit self-centred, they live in an empire the rough size of an upper-medium sized kingdom, whose living space is cut further by the Forest of the Dryads, which lies within its southern borders. This would be ridiculously pretentious if it wasn't for the fact that through sheer economic might and cunning diplomacy connected to its efficient highway system, the Tolnedran Empire has significant influence throughout the Western continent, having ''de facto'' created the nation of Sendaria (at Polgara's instigation). This intangible power is backed by the very tangible might of the Legions, which are pound for pound the best military in the West, if not in the world. However, their influence doesn't always go quite as far as they think it does.

* 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."
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Byzantine Empire. While the iconography is very classical Rome, the method of operations (preferring clever treaties and use of economic power over military solutions to exert disproportionate influence, despite a very well-trained military) is closer to the later Byzantine Empire.
* 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
* ItsAllAboutMe: On a national scale; they tend to assume that their internal politics are matters of universal concern. They really aren't.
* ProudMerchantRace: While they prize their university and their legions, the main preoccupation on any Tolnedran's mind is money -- how much they have, and how much they can make. Ce'Nedra exploits this to essentially [[spoiler: swipe her father's entire army from right under his nose]] towards the end of ''The Belgariad''.
* ViceCity: Tol Honeth is a downplayed variant. There ''is'' law enforcement, but bribery is a common subject of conversation, political assassinations are a fact of life, and [[MrViceGuy Silk]] gleefully refers to it as the most corrupt place in the world, where everything is for sale.

[[folder: Nyissans]]
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.

* ButtMonkey: Owing to their small size, a Queen who is trained solely to perform a specific role, drugged into borderline insensibility, and perpetually horny thanks to the drugs that delay the appearance of ageing (until Polgara [[spoiler: turns her into a snake]]), and the palace eunuchs that actually run the place constantly scheming and backstabbing, they usually get steam-rolled by other factions. After Polgara [[spoiler: turns the latest Salmissra into a snake]], however, and [[HyperCompetentSidekick Sadi]] is allowed to run the country more or less unhindered, they become a bit more stable.
* CombatPragmatist: One of their hats, when they have to fight -- they use drugs and poison like they're going out of style, including poisoned blades. Issus, a Nyissan paid assassin, is a prime example of this.
* DecadentCourt: Complete with a perpetually high Queen and a court full of eunuchs busy manoeuvring and poisoning each other for advantage.
* MasterPoisoner: A whole race of these, with the very best ending up in charge (mainly because they're most likely to survive Nyissan power politics).
* PoisonedWeapons: They favour these, when they fight.
* PoisonIsEvil: The firm opinion of the Alorns, along with DrugsAreBad. The faintly ridiculous nature of this view is pointed out, repeatedly, in ''The Malloreon'', especially as Polgara uses extensive quantities of both when necessary. The drugs thing is eventually consigned to "cultural differences" -- though the poison one has a certain validity, as while the likes of [[MasterPoisoner Sadi]] can poison someone with perfect precision, most others are a great deal less precise.
* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Fairly normal, particularly in the DecadentCourt.
* TokenEvilTeammate: To the Kingdoms of the West; they have the most positive relations with the Angarak Kingdoms, are the main purveyors of the slave trade, killed the Rivan King (1300 years prior to the start of the story, but Alorns hold grudges), are casually amoral, and often on drugs (though as is pointed out, this isn't all that different to the Alorn habit of binge drinking).
* 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?"

!!The Kingdoms of the West

[[folder: King Anheg of Cherek]]
King of the Chereks, a pirate to the bone, and much, ''much'' smarter than he either appears or pretends to be, being the very first person who isn't in the loop or possessed of supernatural powers to figure out that Garion is TheChosenOne.

%%* BeardOfBarbarism: Anheg is still a pirate at heart.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Anheg pretends to be far dumber than he really is.
* GeniusBruiser: Anheg is a brutal Viking-style war chieftain. He's also one of the most widely read people on the continent, can read ''The Book of Torak'' without endangering his mental health, and figures out who Garion really is within a few days of meeting him.
* HornyVikings
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Runs his nation, leads his army, and commands his fleet. He's also very intelligent and does his best to keep abreast of world events and assist Belgarath.
* StayInTheKitchen: Subverted. When Ce'Nedra demands the Alorn kings follow her, Anheg sides with the conservative Brand and does all the talking... in order to preemptively sabotage any arguments Brand might raise against her. This is itself subverted when it turns out [[spoiler: not to have been necessary, as Brand's opposition to Ce'Nedra had ''also'' been an act]].

[[folder: Queen Islena of Cherek]]
Queen of Cherek, implicitly a trophy wife, and not all that bright, she's obsessed with magic -- or at least, the idea of magic. However, it turns out that she does actually have a spine, somewhere deep down inside.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: It's illegal to throw a priest into the dungeon without evidence. Islena doesn't know that, and Grodeg knows she doesn't know that -- so he's forced to do everything Islena demands of him because he ''really'' doesn't want to be thrown into the dungeon. Anheg finds the entire situation hilarious.
* BrainlessBeauty: When Anheg is asked why he married her, his response is that "It certainly wasn't for her brains!"
%%* BreakTheHaughty: Seeing what Polgara does to the BlindSeer begins this process.%%How?
%%* GrewASpine: During her confrontation with Grodeg.
%%* HotConsort: This is why Anheg married her.
* TookALevelInBadass: Initially Islena is a pompous wuss who caves in every time Grodeg shouts at her. She finally has enough (partly because Merel had made preparations to have him skewered if she looked like caving), threatens to have him muzzled and thrown in jail, and ships him and the rest of the Bear-Cult off to join the army. Anheg is impressed.
* WeakWilled: SHe's initially totally under the thumb of Grodeg, Chief Priest of Belar. With some help from Merel and Porenn, she eventually overcomes this.

[[folder: Merel of Trellheim]]
Barak's wife. For a number of reasons, the two have an initially very dysfunctional relationship, but one that improves as time goes on, whereupon she reveals significant HiddenDepths.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The characters in-universe believe that she's a spiteful, petty bitch who is choosing to make Barak's life hell -- though it is also suggested that her behaviour isn't without cause, as it's explicitly stated that she didn't want the marriage (and, to be fair, it's implied that Barak didn't know that). Many fans believe that she's a woman who's trapped in a marriage she doesn't want and is doing her best to get revenge on the man who, while drunk, later rapes her.
* ArrangedMarriage: With Barak, and she was very opposed to it -- and in fairness, it's implied that Barak didn't know that.
* CharacterDevelopment: From petty bitch to TheGoodChancellor, who also provides Garion with some good relationship advice.
* TheGoodChancellor: To Islena, post-CharacterDevelopment, being both the steel and (frankly) the brains during Islena's regency.
* HappilyMarried: By the end, and after an intervention from the Purpose of the Universe itself.
* HiddenDepths: Merel appears to be a shallow, petty bitch. The "petty" and the "bitch" are right on the money, but there's more to her than meets the eye, and we see it as early as ''Pawn of Prophecy'' when she stands up to Anheg on Barak and Garion's behalf.
* RapeAsDrama: ... Sort of. The fact that it's rape is fairly clear, even if it isn't explicitly stated. She even locked the door and he knocked it down. It's not certain whether this is the first and only time it happened (arguments can be made either way), but at the very least, it's not in the least bit surprising that she's incredibly spiteful to him at first.
** This is, unusually, acknowledged by Barak immediately afterwards, who seems to be genuinely contrite.
** The Drama, part, though, is another matter, since the story seems to ignore that part later on, as a sort of implicit {{Retcon}}.

[[folder: King Rhodar of Drasnia]]
The King of Drasnia, who's fat, genial, and possessed of a razor-sharp intellect.

%%* AdiposeRex: Physically, yes. Character wise, no.
* BigFun: He's huge and pretty cheerful, as a rule.
* FatIdiot: Subverted. He is hugely obese, but this is because he prefers academic study (and eating) to more physical pursuits.
%%* HappilyMarried: To Porenn.
* HiddenDepths: As Zakath observes during the campaign at the end of ''The Belgariad'', it had been generally assumed that he was just a foolish older man besotted with his young wife. Instead, he turned out to be a brilliant [[TheStrategist strategist]] and the ''de facto'' Commander-In-Chief of the Kingdoms of the West.
* MayDecemberRomance: He and his second wife, Porenn. Despite the age gap they are deliriously happy together.
* RealityEnsues: Dies of complications caused by his weight during ''The Malloreon''
* TheSmartGuy: Among the Kings of the West.
* TheSpymaster: Thanks to the work of his right-hand man, Javelin, Rhodar is privy to almost every secret in the world.
* TheStrategist: There are more... martially inclined kings than Rhodar, but none of them have his solid theoretical grasp of strategy and tactics.

[[folder: Queen Porenn of Drasnia]]
The petite and beautiful young Queen of Drasnia, she initially appears as the wife of Rhodar and the focus of Silk's unrequited affections. However, she's quickly demonstrated to have an extremely sharp mind and an aptitude for politics.

* AscendedExtra: Gets a larger role in ''The Malloreon'', as she takes on Rhodar's role as the West's spymaster.
* GracefullyDemoted: Sets about ensuring her demotion from Regent during ''The Malloreon'' by easing her son, Kheva, into power.
%%* HappilyMarried: To Rhodar.
* TheHighQueen: In ''The Malloreon'', especially as Regent of Drasnia after Rhodar's death, with Belgarath outright stating in his prequel that she's one of the most gifted rulers in the history of the world.
* HotConsort: To Rhodar, though that's far from all she is.
* ManipulativeBastard: She's an exceptionally skilled political manipulator.
* MayDecemberRomance: And a very happy one, until Rhodar dies.
* TheMourningAfter: She continues to wear mourning black close to a decade after Rhodar's death.
* TheSmartGuy: Among the Queens of the West (and frankly, monarchs full stop).
* TheSpymaster: Shares this role with her husband, and takes it over after he passes away.

[[folder: Cho-Hag, Clan Chief of Clan Chiefs of Algaria]]
* HandicappedBadass: Cho-Hag can barely stand, but that doesn't stop him from kicking ass. Justified as he, like most Algars, is a cavalryman, and lets his horse do the walking for him.
%%* HappilyMarried
%%* ItsPersonal: His hatred of Taur Urgas goes far beyond mere politics.%%Why?
%%* TheQuietOne: Among the Alorn rulers, he and Brand share this role.%%Which is?
%%* SwordFight: He has an epic one with Taur Urgas.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Brand, The Rivan Warder]]
The latest in a long line of Rivan Warders (all of whom take up the name Brand to symbolically demonstrate their dedication to the position), and the epitome of UndyingLoyalty

* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' threaten the Rivan royal family. The only times in the series that we see him really, genuinely angry are when this happens. The first time, he [[spoiler: turns away from his mortally wounded youngest son who'd confessed to attempting to kill Garion -- before immediately regretting it, developing UndyingLoyalty, and appointing himself as the extremely zealous head of Ce'Nedra's bodyguard, leaving him to die alone]], and the second time, he ''chased the offender off the battlements of the castle''.
* TheGoodChancellor: Garion relies heavily on him during the first years of his reign, and is initially lost without him when he dies.
* HiddenDepths: He is, among other things, an extremely talented [[spoiler: actor, fooling more or less everyone into believing that he's sufficiently conservative to sympathise with the Bear-Cult. As it is, he doesn't, at least not that far, and just acts the part to keep such elements in check.]] He's also a very talented musician.
* TheQuietOne: Rarely speaks, but when he does, it's worth hearing.
* ParentalSubstitute: He becomes a father-like figure for Garion (and to a lesser extent, Ce'Nedra) in ''Guardians of the West'', before his death.
* RegentForLife: Brand is part of a long line of Rivan Warders, who vowed to rule the island and protect the Orb until the Rivan King returned. Unlike his predecessors, Brand is actually able to give up this position. This leaves Garion rather uncomfortable at first, until he finally screws up his courage to speak to Brand about it and Brand assures him that he's happy about it.
* StayInTheKitchen: Brand has very conservative values, particularly as regards women, though he goes along with what the Rivan King commands out of UndyingLoyalty. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that a lot of this was just acting -- and good enough to fool even Polgara and Belgarath. When Garion was made king (first one in millennia) and made Ce'Nedra co-ruler of Riva (completely unheard of), Brand set himself up as the leader of the traditionalists, fully intending to "cave in" at some point. By drawing the conservatives to him, he could keep more disruptive elements in check, and in the end discredit them by fully supporting the Royal family.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: To Garion and his family. [[spoiler: This eventually gets him killed by Bear-Cultists working for Harakan, as he dies protecting Ce'Nedra]].

[[folder: Emperor Ran Borune XXIII]]
The 23rd Emperor of the Second Borune Dynasty, ruler of Tolnedra, and father of Ce'Nedra. An adept politician, it's clear to see where Ce'Nedra got some of her talents from.

* TheEmperor: Tolnedra is actually a medium-sized country leaning towards the smallish, but he still has a very long arm as it's the economic powerhouse of most of the world and has an international highway system controlled by its legions who are, pound for pound, probably the best army in the world (though the Alorn kingdoms could overwhelm them if they combined forces). As a result, Ran Borune is not afraid to throw his weight around when it comes to politics, though he only gets his way some of the time.
* KingOnHisDeathbed: In ''The Malloreon''. He was already very old to start with, as the intrigue in Tolnedra in ''The Belgariad'' all centres around who his successor will be, so this is a ForegoneConclusion.
* OverprotectiveDad: Subverted. He's actually quite pleasant to Belgarion.
* PapaWolf: To Ce'Nedra. Despite it being a binding treaty his nation signed, does everything he can to get Ce'Nedra out of the ceremony at Riva, where he fears she'll be humiliated. Despite constantly bickering with her, it's evident he loves her dearly.

[[folder: Salmissra]]
The latest in a long, ''long'' line of Salmissras, she's the Queen of Nyissa, and like many of the others she desires immortality, which she tries to get through enslaving Garion. In an odd way, she did -- by which we mean that Polgara turned her into a giant snake. Funnily enough, she's both smarter and happier that way.

* AffablyEvil: For a given value of evil, again, following her shapeshifting. Snakes don't generally see much point in being rude. You piss them off, they bite you. Then it's done.
* AstralProjection: As a snake, she implies that she can do this in ''The Malloreon''.
* BadBoss: She's known for killing off incompetent or insubordinate underlings, though they usually manage to kill each other first.
* BalefulPolymorph: Sort of. For her shenanigans, Polgara transforms her into a giant snake, permanently. Actually ends up being a better monarch and, peculiarly, a much nicer person (relatively speaking), this way.
* CharacterDevelopment: Actually rather improves after being turned into a snake and, while being coldly logical, is generally quite polite -- though somewhat prone to winding up Polgara.
* DeadpanSnarker: Quite prone to this after becoming a snake. One gem comes when referring to her stunned eunuchs after [[spoiler: restoring Sadi to his position as Chief Eunuch]] and telling them to leave the room at the end of ''The Malloreon''.
-->'''Salmissra''': How tiresome. They're all too delighted to move. Encourage them, would you, Issus?\\
'''[[ProfessionalKiller Issus]]''': Of course, my Queen. Do you want any of them to live?\\
'''Salmissra''': Only the more nimble ones.
* TheGadfly: As a snake, she enjoys annoying Polgara.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Has a nasty habit of killing off her eunuchs on a whim, and is described as having the most absolute, iron-fisted rule over her people out of all the monarchs in the West.
* LegacyCharacter: Picked at age 12 for her physical resemblance to the original Salmissra, and named as such.
* ReallyGetsAround: Prior to her shapeshifting. The potions that keep her looking young have the side effect of making her really, really horny. This holds true for all previous Salmissras and is the reason for all the palace servants being eunuchs.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: A curious variant. Personally, as a snake, she's somewhat disturbing to most people. Personality wise, however, she isn't that unpleasant.
* SmugSnake: Ironically, she loses this quality ''after'' she transforms into a snake. Before, it was very much present.
%%* TheSpock: After she becomes a snake.

!!Villains

[[folder: Asharak/Chamdar]]
A Grolim priest whose history with Garion's family is as long as it is ugly. Having murdered Garion's parents, he has been spying on the boy since he was a child, in order that he might one day derail Belgarath and Polgara's efforts to raise Garion as a weapon against Torak.

* TheAgeless: He's centuries old and doesn't look it.
* AlasPoorVillain: Even though he's a bastard, the horrible nature of his death elicits some sympathy from Garion and some readers alike.
* CompellingVoice: Able to control Garion with vocal commands, he also has a hypnotic effect on others.
* EvilSorcerer: Like the majority of Torak's Grolims, he has some sorcerous ability -- and in his case, a great deal more than most.
* IHaveYourWife: A variant -- Chamdar tries to force Polgara to do what he wants by threatening to kill Garion.
* KarmicDeath: He killed Garion's parents by burning their house. He dies burned alive when Garion activates his magical abilities.
* ManipulativeBastard: His forte. He's an expert at manipulating pawns into starting wars on his behalf.
* ManOnFire: How he makes his exit, burned alive when Garion activates his magical abilities.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: While he's no match for Belgarath, Polgara, or even a young Garion in a stand-up fight, he's an intelligent and extremely dangerous schemer, one who is later observed to have been arguably more dangerous than Ctuchik. He has Garion secretly on a mental leash for the first two books of the series, nearly kills him at least three times, and both Belgarath and Polgara's underestimation of him allowed him to get his claws into one Rivan heir (temporarily) and kill two others (Garion's father and grandfather, as well as his mother and paternal grandmother).
* SinisterMinister: The first of the Grolim priests encountered in the series.
* SmallNameBigEgo: He's undoubtedly dangerous (as Polgara notes, in some ways more so than Ctuchik himself), but he can't hope to threaten Belgarath in person, despite his protestations to the contrary -- and the one time he faces an enraged Belgarath, the only thing that saves his life is the fact that he threw baby Garion at him, then ran for his life.
* SmugSnake: Incredibly full of himself, and not quite as deadly as he thinks he is.
* StarterVillain: The main villain of the first two books, he's no threat to Belgarath, but proves a challenge for Garion.
* YouKilledMyFather: Killed Garion's parents (and, as it turns out, grandparents). Ends up very dead when Garion finds out.

[[folder: Brill/Kordoch]]
A Dagashi assassin from Cthol Murgos, Brill entered the Kingdoms of the West disguised as a common criminal. Employed by Chamdar the Grolim, Brill outlives his former master, and dogs the party for much of ''Magician's Gambit'', prior to his final confrontation with Silk.

* BeardOfEvil: A matted, patchy black one.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: He appears to be a common footpad. Je's actually a ninja.
* DisneyVillainDeath: He gets thrown off a cliff by Silk.
* DragonTheirFeet: He was absent from Chamdar's final, fatal confrontation with Polgara and Garion in ''Queen of Sorcery'' and pursues the party for another book.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To Silk.
* HalfBreedDiscrimination: Subverted. Like most Dagashi he's probably only about 1/4 Murgo so he'll blend in. Since Murgo culture values racial purity he would face this from his soldiers, if they weren't all scared to death of him -- but they are, and with good reason.
* HandicappedBadass: Blind in one eye. Can fight Silk on an equal footing.
* {{Jerkass}}: He presents like a bitter jerk with a sour disposition. He's actually a merciless professional killer. Either way, he's a total bastard.
* LackOfEmpathy: A pitiless killer who rides horses to death just to get ahead.
* TheMole: Initially appears to be Asharak's spy on Faldor's farm. He's actually much worse than that.
%%* {{Ninja}}: Pretty much.
%%* ThePigpen: Brill bathes infrequently.
* ProfessionalKiller: The Dagashi are a society of killers hired out by Ctuchik.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: After Brill is outed as a Dagashi, Silk and Belgarath both curse themselves for having underestimated him. As Silk notes "Brill's been a little too good all along to be an ordinary Sendarian footpad."

[[folder: Grul]]
An Eldrak (think Troll but bigger) who Belgarath once fought on a journey through the mountains of Ulgo. He ambushes the company years later, searching for revenge.

* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Eldrakyn are distantly related to Trolls and Algroths, but larger and smarter. Grul bulks out at eight feet tall, talks, and wears armour and a helmet that he has modified to fit his gargantuan body.
* TheBerserker: Not unlike Taur Urgas, Grul totally loses his mind in combat, foaming at the mouth and abandoning what reason he has.
* CarryABigStick: Carries an immense club, wrapped in steel, and studded with spikes.
* HeroKiller: He and Belgarath have met before, and the Gorim of Ulgo knows his name and reputation. He proves to be perhaps the greatest single physical threat that the group encounters, overpowering Mandorallen (and his horse!), Barak, Hettar, Silk, ''and'' the shapeshifted Belgarath before Poledra's arrival saves them. As Silk notes "our oversized playmate there was almost more than we could handle".
* ImAHumanitarian: Intends to eat Belgarath and his companions after killing them.
* ItCanThink: Barak's reaction when Grul starts talking to them.
* ItsPersonal: He's had a grudge against Belgarath for decades.
* LightningBruiser: Grul is ''staggeringly'' fast for his size, taking everyone in the party by surprise.
* LoneWolfBoss: Grul has no connection to Torak, Ctuchik, Zedar or any of the series' major villains. He's just a huge, bad-tempered monster with his own grudge against Belgarath.
* NearVillainVictory: Grul is in the process of beating the entire party into the ground when Polgara and Garion summon Poledra's ghost to aid them, tilting the odds back in their favour. Even then it's a very near run thing.
* SympathyForTheDevil: While the Gorim understands why Belgarath and the others had to kill him, he expresses some sympathy for the dead Eldrak nonetheless.
* TookALevelInBadass: The first time that Belgarath encountered him, Grul, while enormous, was unarmed and unarmoured. In between their confrontations he's made himself a suit of armour and armed himself with a gigantic club, making him altogether more deadly than he was before.

[[folder: Ctuchik]]
--> ''"Justice? There's no such thing, Polgara. The strong do what they like; the weak submit. My Master taught me that."''

Torak's eldest disciple and Belgarath's opposite number, Ctuchik is first and worst among the company's enemies in the original series. Aiming to prevent the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Light and gain control over the Orb of Aldur, Ctuchik desires not to awaken Torak, but to gain personal mastery over the world.

* TheAgeless: Ctuchik's been frozen at seventy odd for millennia.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Ctuchik is driven by his need for power and control.
* {{Archenemy}}: To Belgarath. They both admit their confrontation in ''Magician's Gambit'' has been a long time coming.
* BadBoss: If the utter fear that all Murgos have of him is any indicator.
* BeardOfEvil: His WizardBeard is yellowed, greying and filthy.
* BlackCloak: Like most of the Grolims, he's in a black cloak and hood.
* CessationOfExistence: Tries to unmake the Orb, commanding it to "be not." The universe unmakes him instead.
* CoDragons: Alongside Zedar and Urvon, though it's fairly obvious that he has primacy amongst the three.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Has a room in his tower filled with torture equipment, that he uses for his personal entertainment.
* DeaderThanDead: He's obliterated from existence by the Universe herself. Garion comments at the start of the next book that "Ctuchik was dead, and worse than dead."
* DeceptiveDisciple: He's only loyal to Torak out of fear, and has no intentions of waking him.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: His defeat was [[CessationOfExistence absolute]], and so was his [[LoadBearingBoss explosion]].
* DespotismJustifiesTheMeans: Ctuchik wants to rule the world, and is willing to do anything to get it, including offer up sacrifices to a mad god.
* TheDragon: There are other contenders for the title of Torak's right-hand man, but Ctuchik is the most archetypal, running the Grolim priesthood and Cthol Murgos in his master's absence.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: Has no loyalty to Torak and plans to rule the world himself.
* ElderlyImmortal: Like Belgarath, he chooses to appear as an old man.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Ctuchik simply cannot grasp Belgarath's motivations for doing what he does, and genuinely cannot understand why he never conquered the West for himself.
* EvilCounterpart: One of two to Belgarath, as his equal and opposite number in the Angarak priesthood.
* EvilOldFolks: Ctuchik has centuries of depravity and excess behind him, and they show on his face, but undoubtedly he's a badass, able to go toe to toe with Belgarath himself.
* EvilSorcerer: Possibly the evilest sorcerer in the entire series, in fact, and one of the most powerful.
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: His spire at Rak Cthol, a city atop a mile-high column of basalt. Actually an [[NotHyperbole inverted]] [[LiteralMetaphor example]], as his personal quarters are in a smaller tower ''[[CollapsingLair hanging]]'' from the city of Rak Cthol proper.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He can put up quite the facade, and has pleasant seeming chats with Belgarath, but it's obvious that both of them despise each other, and with good reason: at the end of the day, Ctuchik's one of the most evil people on the continent.
* {{Greed}}: He has an entire room in his tower dedicated to wealth.
* HighPriest: He's the head of the Grolim Priesthood.
* InTheHood: Usually keeps his hood up over his face.
%%* LackOfEmpathy: To the point where he doesn't even understand it.
* LeanAndMean: He's described as tall and cadaverous.
* LoadBearingBoss: Justified because [[StuffBlowingUp his battle with Belgarah]] broke the ''top'' of his ''[[CollapsingLair hanging]]'' EvilTowerOfOminousness.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: He never leaves Rak Cthol.
%%* PersonOfMassDestruction: On par with Belgarath.
* RedBaron: "The Magician of Rak Cthol". Doubles as an insult since Ctuchik is actually a sorcerer and magicians, who work with demons rather than the Will & the Word, are regarded with contempt and disgust.
* ShadowDictator: The real ruler of Cthol Murgos to hear Belgarath tell it, and yet many people (particularly in the West) aren't sure he even exists.
* SinisterMinister: Hard to get more sinister than running a cult based around cutting out people's hearts and sacrificing them to a mad god.
* SmugSnake: He's smart, cunning, and extremely formidable in combat (he's the only character we see match Belgarath in combat), yet beyond overconfident and makes several very crucial amateur mistakes in his arrogance.
* SocialDarwinist
* SoftSpokenSadist: Ctuchik's voice is soft and dusty, only rising when he loses control of the situation.
* SorcerousOverlord: "Cthol Murgos is still ruled from Rak Cthol." He's not officially the king, but he might as well be.
* TheStarscream: He actively tried to sabotage Zedar's efforts to wake Torak up, because he wanted be the ruler of the Angarak nations himself.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Seeks to do it in his own name, rather than Torak's.
* VillainousValor: Cornered and watching his plans disintegrate, Ctutchik doesn't flee or beg. Instead, he goes toe-to-toe with his religion's {{Satan}}-analogue, and manages to hold his own.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Tries this on Belgarath.
* WizardBeard: A long yellow one to match Belgarath's.
* WizardDuel: With Belgarath. Remarkably, he does pretty well... until he tries to destroy the orb.

[[folder: Taur Urgas]]
-->''"Make way for the King of Algaria. He's mine!"''

The mad king of Cthol Murgos, Taur Urgas could charitably be described as completely out of his mind. Prone to berserk rages during which he foams at the mouth and loses all touch with reality, the Murgo king is feared by his allies, subordinates, and enemies alike.

* AbusiveDad: Towards all of his sons, beating them and occasionally killing them.
* AlasPoorVillain: Taur Urgas' death is rather pitiable, as he rants at Cho-Hag to come back and fight. Retroactively made worse in ''The Malloreon'' when Eriond confirms that the Murgo king really was insane and could not help himself.
%%* ArchEnemy: To Cho-Hag and 'Zakath.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Probably the most dangerous Murgo swordsman we meet, despite his madness (or perhaps because of it).
* AxeCrazy: He actually foams at the mouth in combat.
* TheBerserker: Goes utterly mad(der) while fighting. He terrifies his troops, but at the same time, galvanises them. It's as though by giving into his madness they feel that they too may become as invincible as he.
* BlingOfWar: Taur Urgas' chainmail is dipped in red Angarak gold. Rather than making it look overly pretty, it instead makes him look as though he has bathed in blood.
* BloodKnight: He's always at war, sleeps in his armour, and orders his PraetorianGuard to ''clear the way'' for Cho-Hag so that he can fight him personally.
* TheBrute: He may be the King of Cthol Murgos, but one could definitely make the case of Taur Urgas being TheBrute. He's got all the hallmarks of the personality: no empathy, totally AxeCrazy, a [[TheBerserker Berserker]] in combat, and he also seems to fit in terms of his position and role in the villainous hierarchy: he's the ruler of one of the largest countries subject to Torak, and provides manpower and muscle for the Angarak armies, while still being subject to Ctuchik, Torak's [[TheDragon Dragon]].
* TheCaligula: All the Urgas are RoyallyScrewedUp, but Taur Urgas is crazy even by their standards.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: He was strong enough to crush a metal goblet in one hand.
* DomesticAbuse: He beats his wives, keeps them under lock and key, tosses them down flights of stairs, and occasionally kills them.
* IControlMyMinionsThrough: Fear, and a degree of Respect. See TheBerserker for how.
* ItsPersonal: With Silk (who killed his eldest son in a previous encounter) and Cho-Hag.
* LackOfEmpathy: Taur Urgas is too insane to see anything outside of himself as real.
* TheMentallyIll: In addition to his bloodthirstyness, Taur Urgas is prone to fits wherein he chews on the furniture. Garion has a sobering moment in ''The Malloreon'' when he realizes, courtesy of Eriond, that Taur Urgas wasn't just AxCrazy or RoyallyScrewedUp, but a deeply ill man who probably couldn't be held responsible for his own actions.
* RoyallyScrewedUp: Sadism, brutality, and outright madness are hereditary in the Urga bloodline.
%%* SwordFight: Against Cho-Hag.
* SympathyForTheDevil: Expressed by Eriond in ''The Malloreon'' when he reminds Garion that Taur Urgas was insane and that nothing he did was really his fault.

[[folder: Zedar the Apostate]]
Once a disciple of Aldur, Zedar betrayed his brothers and joined up with Torak several thousand years before the series began. He later steals the Orb of Aldur from the Rivan King's throne room, kicking off the entire story. Depressed and self-loathing, Zedar is completely under the control of Torak, whom he hates, but continues to serve loyally.

* AffablyEvil: When he appears in the main series, all the ego has been drained out of him by his horrifying experience at the hands of Torak, leaving a generally sad and polite man behind. However, this does not stop him killing [[spoiler: Durnik]], even if he immediately regrets it.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: Belgarath's, though he had long ceased to be Belgarath's student by the time he pulled a FaceHeelTurn.
* TheAgeless: He's frozen at seventy odd.
* BreakTheHaughty: In the backstory. It's why he's a FallenHero.
* ButtMonkey: To the universe. He speculates at one point that his betrayal (in an attempt to trick Torak and steal the orb back) resulting in his MindRape at Torak's hands into a loyal if miserable disciple was foreordained and he didn't have any say in it, or that much responsibility for what came next. It's possible that there's some truth to this, but either way, it's undeniable that pretty much every time we see him, in the main series or the prequel, something's going wrong for him.
* CoDragons: Unwillingly to Torak, alongside Ctuchik and Urvon, and is generally considered to be second in line after Ctuchik.
* ElderlyImmortal: Looks of an age with Belgarath, though he's actually a few centuries younger.
* EvilCounterpart: Could be Belgarath's clone.
* EvilFormerFriend: To Belgarath, his former teacher, and the rest of the Disciples of Aldur.
* EvilGenius: Likely the smartest of Torak's disciples, with Belgarath grudgingly noting his intelligence and subtlety on several occasions.
* EvilOldFolks: Zedar's been trapped in Torak's service for millennia and looks it.
* EvilSorcerer: Like most of the Grolim priesthood, though he's more powerful than most thanks to his training from Aldur and Torak.
* EvilTwin: He and Belgarath are virtually identical, something indicated to apply to all the disciples of Aldur, who end up imprinted with something of Aldur's appearance (except Beldin, with it being noted that he's so deformed that no one could tell).
* FaceHeelTurn: In the backstory. It was meant to be a case of FakeDefector, but it failed miserably.
* FakeDefector: Tried to pull this on Torak. It didn't work.
* FallenHero: He was once Aldur's second disciple and Belgarath's pupil and friend, with Belgarath at one point lamenting in his prequel "What soul that man had!" He's now enslaved to the will of Torak.
* FatalFlaw: His ego, which led him to think that he could fool Torak.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Belgarath locks him in a rock deep underground, a prison he's unable to escape, even by dying. Even Belgarath himself thinks it's a little excessive, even considering all that Zedar has done (though he notes that if his suspicions about Belmakor's depression and suicide are ever confirmed, he's going to take Zedar and stick him somewhere "much less comfortable").
* KickTheDog: He gets a number of instances of this in Belgarath's self-narrated prequel, being behind the manipulation of Ilessa (the contemporary Salmissra) and as a result, the slaughter of the Rivan royal family.
* LoopholeAbuse: How he got hold of the Orb, using Errand to claim it. It's ambiguous whether it's actually his idea, or either one of the Prophecy's.
* {{Pride}}: His belief that he could fool Torak is what brought about his downfall.
* RedBaron: "The Apostate".
%%* SinisterMinister: He's called "The Apostate" for a reason.%%Which is?
* SmugSnake: In the backstory. By the time we meet him that aspect of his personality has been more or less bled out of him.
* TheTramp: Like Belgarath, and in sharp contrast to SorcerousOverlord Ctuchik.
* UndyingLoyalty: Despite being the least willing of Torak's disciples, he is also the only one not to plot against him, the only one who served him instead of his own agenda while Torak was unconscious, and is the one Torak kept closest at hand while he was awake, due to the MindRape and brainwashing Torak put him through. If he still had his free will though, he'd probably betray Torak in a heartbeat.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: To Belgarath, Beldin, and the other disciples -- but mainly to Belgarath, who was also once his teacher.
%%* WizardBeard: Like Belgarath.

[[folder: Torak]]
The God of Angarak, Torak was left maimed and maddened after trying to steal the Orb of Aldur from his brother. Determined to be god over the whole world, Torak is the primary tool of the Dark Prophecy, and Garion's ultimate adversary in the original series.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: To Polgara. He wants to ''mind-rape her'' into loving him.
* AlasPoorVillain: Everyone in-universe and out feels pretty bad about the way Torak dies. It probably has something to do with the fact that his last action is to [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas desperately call for his mother]] or that the key to defeating him involved throwing him into a VillainousBSOD by reminding him that absolutely no=one loves him.
* AntagonisticOffspring: To his father, UL, to the point where he flat-out refuses to admit there is a relationship.
%% * ArchEnemy: To Garion.
* BeautyIsBad: The most beautiful god (prior to the Orb frying his face), and the most flat out evil, complete with being obsessed with his own appearance.
* BigBad: He's the ultimate villain of the first series.
%%* {{BFS}}: Though Torak, being a god, is able to wield it one-handed.
%%* BlackSwordsAreBetter: One of the only weapons that can meet the Sword of the Rivan King in combat, indicating it's certainly better than most. It also has apparent, if ill-defined mystical properties and may be forged from nothing but darkness.
* CainAndAbel: He tried to depose all his brothers, but has a particular rivalry with Aldur. His attack on Aldur and theft of the Orb began the DivineConflict that shaped the rest of the world's history.
%%* CastingAShadow: Bleeds shadow with every blow it swings.
* TheChosenOne: By the Dark Prophecy, making him the longest-serving Child of Dark.
* CompellingVoice: Torak is a God, unless you're inhumanly strong willed and have something (intense pain or love) to act as a shield, it is literally impossible to disobey him. It's his favorite tactic: Zedar doesn't want to work for me? Too bad, he has to. My humans don't like each other? I'll make them co-operate. Belgarion wants to fight? I'll brainwash him into thinking he's my son. Polgara doesn't love me? We'll see about that...
* CoolMask: Wears a steel mask to hide his maiming. All of his followers wear one too.
* CoolSword: Cthrek Goru, his infamous cursed black sword. It instils fear in those who see it.
* DarkIsEvil: His main motif is darkness, one way or another. Unnatural clouds form over anywhere he rests because the sun itself refuses to shine on him.
* DeadManWriting: His message to Garion in his own Ashabine Oracles, should he (Garion) have killed him (Torak) in their fated duel. See details in other tropes of the entry.
* TheDevilIsALoser: He's maimed, unloved, crazy [[spoiler:(but for a [[EvenEvilHasStandards single]] time)]] and incapable of change, and hammering this home is a large part of how Garion beats him. It's eventually revealed that he was never even supposed to exist in the first place.
* DisabledDeity: After he gets burned. Gods aren't meant to get hurt so he has no ability to heal himself.
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Wants an entire world bowing down in worship and offering him sacrifices.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: His last word is an anguished "Mother!"
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Even after everything he's done the Universe still loves Torak. So do his father UL and his brothers, Aldur and the other gods, for that matter.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: In a moment of sanity he saw the kind of future that Zandramas would create, and left a note for Garion, urging him to take her down. It's noted that it was likely his only moment of sanity, ever. He also banned demon worship among the Karands and forbade his disciples from ever summoning them.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To the Sword of the Rivan King.
* EvilCripple: Justified. When Torak misused the Orb it burned off one of his hands and boiled one of his eyes. He was evil long before he was a cripple.
%%* EvilWeapon: It's not actually sentient, but given its association with the Dark Prophecy, it's safe to say that it can't be used for anything good.
* EvilVersusEvil: If he had beaten Garion at Cthol Mishrak, he would have gone after Zandramas himself, because EvenEvilHasStandards.
* GreenEyedMonster: He covets his brother's orb. He covets it oh so much. Oddly enough, ''actually'' correlated with green eyes.
* GodOfEvil: Seeks to rule the world through a religion that practices human sacrifice, and is opposed by all the other gods.
* HandicappedBadass: Still a brutally dangerous swordsman despite missing a hand and having no depth perception. Being a god probably helps.
* ImmortalRuler: He founded the Empire of Mallorea, soon left its rule to the humans for millennia, and later declared himself its GodEmperor to lead it on an invasion of the West. Since His primary interests were his own ReligionOfEvil, [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]], and claiming the [[CosmicKeystone Orb of Aldur]], his rule was unkind to the Malloreons, who formed a much more functional bureaucratic empire in his absence.
* LoveHungry: He's desperate for someone to love him.
* MadeOfEvil: Torak's entire existence is a result of the Accident and he came into existence solely to be a tool of the Dark Prophecy.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After coming out of a prophetic trance and reading what would happen if the Dark Prophecy were to triumph, Torak is so [[EvenEvilHasStandards shocked]] that in his only moment of sanity he decides to [[EvilVersusEvil fight against that destiny]] and even ''writes a note for his ArchEnemy Garion to '''[[EnemyMine urge him to do that in his stead]]''', should Garion [[DeadManWriting have killed him]] in their duel''. [[spoiler:Instantly subverted as the moment of sanity ends, his egotism prevails, and he excises the message from all copies of the Oracles, choosing not to believe the horrible truth.]]
* {{Narcissist}}: Torak cannot conceive of a world that doesn't revolve around him. In the ''Book of Torak'' he claims to have created the Universe (his own mother). He's also one in the classic sense, being utterly obsessed with his own appearance. He briefly -- very briefly -- snaps out of this when writing a message to Garion in the Ashabine Chronicles, warning him of the danger of Zandramas.
%%* NemesisWeapon: It's the EvilCounterpart to the Sword of the Rivan King, is intimately associated with the Dark Prophecy, and shows up to three separate [=EVENT=]s, twice in the hands of Torak and once in the hands of the Demon Lord Mordja.
%%* OneHandedZweihander: Not that Torak particularly has a choice in the matter. [[HandicappedBadass He]] has to use it like this. [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Mordja]], it should be noted, is unable to follow suit and holds the sword in all six of his hands.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Spends all but the climax of the story in a coma. The prequel novels reveal that he had a habit of this before, lurking in his tower in Cthol Mishrak with the Orb and later in his house at Ashaba.
* PhysicalGod: He stands out as the only one of the gods to remain in physical form for his entire existence, since the others chose to leave the world rather than provoke another DivineConflict with him.
* PrettyBoy: Belgarath describes him as the most beautiful being he had ever seen, and he's very conscious of his own image. The Orb's maiming undid the former, if not the latter.
* RedRightHand: His maimed hand and face are his most infamous physical characteristics in myth.
* SympathyForTheDevil: Despite all he's done Garion, Ce'Nedra, Belgarath and the other gods all express sympathy for Torak at some point.
* TakeOverTheWorld: He wants to depose the other gods and rule the entire world unopposed.
* TwoFaced: Beneath his mask, one side of his his face is horribly burned by the Orb, and the other side is untouched.
%%* UnbreakableWeapons: Nothing can shatter Cthrek Goru.
* UnholyMatrimony: One of his goals is to {{Invoke|dTrope}} this on Polgara, forcing her to love him as a husband.
* VillainousCrush: He believes Polgara to be the only woman suitable to be his queen.
* WoundThatWillNotHeal: Gods aren't designed to be injured, and because of that his burnt face, boiled eye, and missing hand continue to pain him, leaving him in perpetual agony.
%%* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Like all the gods.

!''The Malloreon''

!!Villains

[[folder: Zandramas]]
The new Child of Dark following Torak's death, Zandramas is a former Grolim priestess with a streak for sadism and a penchant for treachery. Probably the worst human being in either series, Zandramas is feared and hated by everyone who crosses her path.

* AdultFear: She kidnaps Garion's son out of his nursery and regularly taunts him about it.
* AnimalMotifs: She wears the form of a dragon. It's frequently noted that this ostentatious choice is directly reflective of Zandramas' own melodramatic personality.
* AntagonistTitle: She;s titular ''Sorceress of Darshiva''.
* {{Archenemy}}: She and Poledra ''despise'' one another to the point where it overrides the usual arch-enmity between the Child of Light (Garion) and the Child of Dark (Zandramas). Zandramas is very, ''very'' afraid of Poledra, and she hates what she fears.
* BeautyIsBad: Described as being almost impossibly beautiful and totally evil.
* BehemothBattle: She takes the form of a dragon to battle Poledra, who transforms into a fifty foot wolf to match her.
* TheBigBad: Of ''The Malloreon''.
* BigBadEnsemble: She's challenged for her position as the series' driving antagonist by a number of others, most notably the Demon Lord Nahaz, but ultimately wins out over the competition.
* BloodBath: Bathes in human blood while performing sacrifices.
* CelestialBody: Her flesh becomes more and more starry as the series continues, much to her dismay. [[spoiler:When Cyradis chooses the other side, her body tears apart and the stars within it fly off to repair the Accident. It's not clear if she's still sentient at this point.]]
%%* TheChessmaster: She always has a contingency plan in place.
%%* TheChosenOne: The new Child of Dark.
* DarkMessiah: How the Grolims and most Darshivans view her. Given that she's the new Child of Dark they're not wrong either.
* DealWithTheDevil: Made one when she called up Mordja, the details of which are not explicit. She obviously did a better job of constraining him than Harakan and Urvon did Nahaz, though in the end she still comes to regret her choices.
* DraggedOffToHell: Mordja reveals he is only serving her so that he can claim her soul in Hell after her death. Zandramas is terrified by this and begs Eriond to save her from the Demon Lord and his master, the King of Hell. Whether or not Mordja ultimately claimed her soul is left ambiguous, with even the Prophecy unsure.
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Seeks to create the same kind of world as Torak did.
* EvilCounterpart: She could be considered one to Polgara- they're both the only significant female magic users on each side, they're both dark haired and very beautiful, and her abduction of Geran could easily be seen as a twisted version of Polgara's maternal role to Garion and Riva's descendants in general. They're both also supposed to be the brides of the God of Angarak, but they're total mirror images in that respect: Torak wanted Polgara and she rejected him, whereas Zandramas wants to be the bride of the New God ([[spoiler:Geran]]), who hates her.
* EvilerThanThou: With Torak's Disciple Urvon (and his puppeteers Harakan and Nahaz) and Grolim Hierarch Agachak of Rak Urga. She outlasts the former and kills the latter, only to discover that her own servile Demon Lord, Mordja, is also plotting against her.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Learns this when she discovers the extent of Mordja's plans and his complete lack of loyalty to her.
* EvilSorcerer: As per usual for a Grolim.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Zandramas' body is destroyed so that she can replace the hole in the universe created by the Accident. Her soul may have been claimed by Mordja, and subjected to eternal suffering in Hell.
* FullFrontalAssault: Performs sacrifices in the nude.
* TheHeavy: Most of ''The Malloreon'' consists of Garion and his allies pursuing Zandramas while she throws obstacles in their path. Even when other villains take center stage for a time, she is always the one driving the overarching story.
* ImAHumanitarian: Drinks blood and eats flesh while performing sacrifices, and in her dragon form.
%%* LackOfEmpathy: A veritable void.
* ManipulativeBastard: Always has a list of unwitting dupes ready to take the fall for her.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Her name is the foulest profanity in the Ulgo language.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilised: Leads a revolt against 'Zakath and the Grolim priesthood represented by Urvon (in Mallorea) and Agachak (in Cthol Murgos).
* SamusIsAGirl: Garion is surprised to discover that the BigBad is female. It's around this time he decides that he can, in fact, [[WouldHitAGirl hit a girl]].
* ScaledUp: She can turn into a dragon.
%%* SinisterMinister: Grolim priestess.
* UncertainDoom: A variation. Zandramas is definitely ''dead'' but it's not clear at all what happened to her soul. It may have been obliterated, it may have passed onto the after life as usual, or she may have been taken by Mordja. Not even the Prophecy knows for sure.
%%* UnholyMatrimony: With Naradas.
* VainSorceress: She's extremely arrogant about her appearance.
* TheVamp: She uses her sexuality to manipulate Naradas and tries to use it on Garion (who is having none of it).
* VillainsWantMercy: She begs Eriond to save her from Mordja and the King of Hell.
* WeCanRuleTogether: She offers Garion the chance to join her, give her the Sardion and they could both rule as Gods over the world, Garion recognises this as a last desperate move to avoid The Choice and laughs in her face.
* WeHaveReserves: Callously throws away the lives of her Darshivan soldiers.
%%* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: All the time.

[[folder: Naradas]]
A Grolim priest and former lover of Zandramas, Naradas is distinguished by his milk-white eyes.

* DemotedToDragon: He starts out as the Archpriest of the temple where Zandramas came up, and when she becomes the Child of Dark after Torak's death he willingly becomes her subordinate.
%%* TheDragon
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Naradas is genuinely horrified when he finds out Zandramas has summoned up the Demon Lord Mordja.
%%* EvilSorcerer: As standard for Grolims, particularly senior ones.
* ProphetEyes: This is noted in-universe to be odd, since he can still see.
* SinisterMinister: He was once a Grolim, and Zandramas' superior.
%%* UnholyMatrimony: With Zandramas.

[[folder: Urvon]]
The last surviving Disciple of Torak, Urvon is a gibbering madman who suffers from a skin disease that leaves him piebald. Losing his mind after the death of Torak, Urvon becomes convinced that he himself is the new God of Angarak.
----
%%* AGodAmI: Has delusions of godhood.
%%* {{Archenemy}}: Beldin's.
%%* AxeCrazy
* BigBadWannabe: His madness leaves him no match for Zandramas and totally under Nahaz's thumb.
%%* CoDragons: With Ctuchik and Zedar.
%%* TheDragon: He's one of Torak's three disciples.
%%* DragonAscendant: Doesn't he wish.
* DragonTheirFeet: He's completely absent from the first series -- justifiably, since most of the action is on the Western continent, where only Ctuchik is regularly present, and when the heroes do go to Mallorea, it's only to confront Torak, who's in Zedar's care.
* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler:As Nahaz is banished back to Hell,]] he grabs Urvon on the way.
* ElderlyImmortal: It's hard to tell because of [[RedRightHand how he looks]], but Urvon is still described as an old man, with thinning white hair.
* EvilerThanThou: With Zandramas. He winds up on the losing end, mostly due to his madness and dependency on Nahaz.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To Beldin.
%%* EvilIsNotAToy: He learns this the hard way at the hands of Nahaz.
* EvilOldFolks: He looks elderly, is at least four thousand years old, and is very, very evil.
* EvilSorcerer: All three of Torak's disciples were powerful sorcerers, though we see very little of Urvon's abilities, thanks to the fact that his insanity has drained his power to do anything other than parlour tricks.
* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:He's dragged into Hell by Nahaz.]]
* LightIsNotGood: During his "New God Of Angarak" phase, he surrounded himself in a nimbus of golden light, in stark contrast to the dark imagery used by Torak and Zandramas.
%%* PuppetKing: To Harakan and Nahaz.
%%* RedBaron: "The Disciple"
* RedRightHand: Urvon's piebald; his skin alternates between living and dead patches.
%%* SinisterMinister

[[folder: Harakan/Mengha]]
A former Mallorean Grolim, Harakan is an agent of Urvon with plans of his own where the rulership of the world is concerned.

* BadHabits: He pretends to be a Bear-Cultist and later a Karandese magician.
* BeardOfEvil: He grows one when impersonating a Bear-Cultist.
* BigBadWannabe: Desperately wants to be the one running Urvon's faction and the instrument of the Prophecies' demise, but is upstaged by Nahaz.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Trusting Harakan is a remarkably bad idea. He betrays the Bear-cult, Urvon, and the Dark Prophecy itself.
* CoDragons: Alongside Nahaz, who isn't under his dominion for long.
* DarkMessiah: He sets himself up as a messianic figure to the Karands, even summoning their "[[AGodAmI god]]", Nahaz, to do his bidding.
* DealWithTheDevil: He made one with the Demon Lord Nahaz, whereby Nahaz would become God and Harakan would become ruler of the world. Belgarath notes that he hopes Harakan checked the fine print as Demon Lords aren't known for living up to their end of a deal.
%%* TheDragon: To Urvon.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: Intends to use Urvon as a PuppetKing while he really rules Karanda. He'd like to be DragonInChief but Nahaz quickly usurps that role.
%%* EvilSorcerer: Like most Grolims.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Leads a Karandese revolution against 'Zakath and, ostensibly, the Grolim priesthood. In reality, of course, Harakan is himself a Grolim which means the "revolutionary" nature of his actions may be in dispute. The "uncivilized" part, of course, is not.
%%* SinisterMinister: Another Grolim.
* SmallNameBigEgo: He's a powerful Grolim, but his plan is entirely dependent upon Nahaz, who has his own agenda.
* SmugSnake: Absurdly overconfident and never as in control of the situation as he believes himself to be.
* TakeAThirdOption: Unleashes Nahaz with the intention of eliminating both prophecies, raising Nahaz to the status of a god, and becoming master of the world.
* WouldHitAGirl: He repeatedly tries to have Ce'Nedra assassinated.
* WouldHurtAChild: He tries to force Ce'Nedra to murder her own son.

[[folder: Nahaz]]
-->''"I need this [[PuppetKing thing]]..."''

The ancestral Demon Lord of the people of Karanda, Nahaz is one of the King of Hell's most trusted servitors. Summoned by Harakan, Nahaz comes to dominate Urvon's mind, unraveling his sanity farther as he plots to gain control of the Sardion for his true master.
----
* AGodAmI: He's worshipped as a god by the people of Karanda.
* AntagonistTitle: He's the titular ''Demon Lord of Karanda''.
%% * {{Archenemy}}: Of Mordja
%% * ArcVillain: More central to the plot of ''Demon Lord of Karanda'' (which even bears his name) and ''Sorceress of Darshiva'' than either Zandramas or the Dark Prophecy.
* BigBadEnsemble: From his arrival in ''Demon Lord of Karanda'' to his defeat in ''Sorceress of Darshiva'', Nahaz challenges Zandramas for the position of the series' BigBad, commandeering the Chandim, Temple Guardsman, and Karands from Urvon, and using them against her. He gives her a better fight than any of the other [[BigBadWannabe wannabes]], and it's Durnik, rather than Zandramas, who finally puts him out of commission.
* CastingAShadow: His face is concealed within inky shadows during his first appearance. They go where he does.
%%* CoDragons: To Urvon alongside Harakan, and to the King of Hell alongside Mordja.
* CurbStompBattle: While he's powerful enough to best any sorcerer or group of sorcerers, his confrontation with the recently ascended and Aldur-empowered Durnik is decidedly one-sided, resulting in his defeat and banishment. Given that Durnik was both carrying and infused with Nahaz' KryptoniteFactor, and has Aldur in his corner, this isn't surprising.
* DemonLordsAndArchdevils: The first Demon Lord we meet and one of the highest ranked in Hell, standing just below the King himself.
%%* TheDragon: To Urvon
* DragonInChief: Urvon is both insane and completely under Nahaz's domination, leaving the Demon Lord as the one who's really running the show. It's also clear that while Harakan thinks Nahaz is driving Urvon mad on his behalf, the Demon Lord has his own goals that have nothing to do with Harakan.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: To Urvon. He'll take his soul, the Orb, the Sardion, and dominion over the world in the name of his master.
%%* EvilerThanThou: With Mordja and Zandramas.
* EyeBeams: He emits beams of green light from his eyes when defending Urvon from Beldin.
%%* FangsAreEvil
* FetusTerrible: He impregnates women and then watches the fetus tear its way out and devour the mother alive.
* GodhoodSeeker: Plans to become god over the whole world by capturing the Sardion for the King of Hell.
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Unbeknownst to Urvon, Nahaz (and Mordja) are the evil in this equation, threatening to extinguish both the Light and Dark Prophecies and bring about the end of existence.
* GreenAndMean: His eyes and MagicWand both glow a sickly green, and his skin is a darker shade of green.
* HeroKiller: A lone demon, unshackled, requires either the presence of a god or the Orb of Aldur for any single foe to defeat. Nahaz is a Demon Lord and is a near match for the combined might of Aldur's disciples, requiring Aldur to mystically empower Durnik before he can be banished.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: Nahaz's reasons for assisting Urvon and Harakan don't become clear until the very end of ''Demon Lord of Karanda''.
* InsaneAdmiral: The cruelty of Nahaz's military strategy is remarked upon at some length.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Nahaz is prepared to confront Beldin, Belgarath, Durnik and Polgara at the conclusion of ''Demon Lord of Karanda'', but when Garion joins the fray and draws the Sword of the Rivan King he decides discretion is the better part of valour and flees with Urvon.
* KryptoniteFactor: Like all demons, Nahaz is inherently vulnerable to the Orb of Aldur or the presence of a god. These two factors come together to defeat him at the end of ''Sorceress of Darshiva'', when Durnik, empowered by Aldur, and armed with a hammer that draws its mystic properties from much the same place as the Orb, confronts him.
* LackOfEmpathy: He's a [[LegionsOfHell demon lord]]. This is to be expected. As evidenced by his page quote, to Nahaz, people are things.
* LegionsOfHell: He can summon up armies of lesser demons to do his bidding, most notably at the sacks of Calida and Akkad.
* MagicWand: He carries a green, glowing wand beneath his cloak, and draws it during his confrontation with Garion and the other sorcerers, though it's never used.
* ManipulativeBastard: He uses both Urvon and Harakan to further his own ends.
* MultiarmedAndDangerous: Takes on a giant, multiarmed form when confronting Morjda in ''Sorceress of Darshiva''.
* PowerGlows: A sickly green. It radiates from his eyes and from his magic wand.
* PsychoForHire: Nahaz is a hired agent, not a slave or servant (Demon Lords cannot, in fact, be enslaved by magicians), and he's very much in it for the chance to devour as many souls as possible.
* ReallyGetsAround: He enjoys impregnating women with {{Fetus Terrible}}s.
* ShadowDictator: He controls Urvon while pretending to be his loyal servant.
* ShapeShifter: During his initial appearance he's human sized, has the usual number of arms, and cloaks himself in shadows. During his confrontation with Mordja a book later he transforms into multiarmed giant akin to Mordja's own form.
* SicklyGreenGlow: The exact words used to describe his eyes and MagicWand.
* SoftSpokenSadist: Barely speaks above a whisper during ''Demon Lord of Karanda''.
* TheStrategist: He's the mind behind Urvon's army, and his outflanking of Zandramas' elephant cavalry is regarded as a stroke of tactical genius by General Atesca and 'Zakath.
* TakingYouWithMe: A variant -- when Durnik drives him back into Hell he drags his ostensible master, Urvon, with him.
* TheUnfought: A variant. While Durnik, with an assist from Aldur, battles Nahaz's second form at the end of ''Sorceress of Darshiva'', the form he wore in ''Demon Lord of Karanda'' is never fought, despite his initial willingness to take on not only Beldin, but the rest of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers as well. This means we never get to discover what powers his MagicWand holds either.
* VillainousValor: Durnik is empowered and partially possessed by Aldur, and infused with the powers of the Orb during his and Nahaz's final confrontation in ''Sorceress of Darshiva''. Nahaz, knowing all this, still attempts to do battle with him, despite having to face both of his {{Kryptonite Factor}}s.
* WeHaveReserves: As the heroes inform 'Zakath and General Atesca, Demon Lords pay very little attention to casualties.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: When talking to Mordja, who affects this manner of speech.
* YourSoulIsMine: He feeds on souls, and claims Urvon's.

[[folder: Mordja]]
Ancestral Demon Lord of the people of Mordinland, Mordja was summoned by Zandramas to counteract Nahaz's enlistment by Urvon. Like Nahaz, he aims to take the Sardion not for Zandramas, but for his true master, the King of Hell.
----
* AGodAmI: He's worshipped as a god by the Morindim.
%%* {{Archenemy}}: Of Nahaz
* CoolSword: Steals [[BlackSwordsAreBetter Cthrek Goru]] from the deceased Torak. See Torak's entry for [[EvilWeapon the]] [[CastingAShadow rest]] [[ArtifactOfDoom of]] [[EvilCounterpart the]] [[{{BFS}} details]].
* DemonLordsAndArchdevils: Of equal rank to Nahaz. They both sit at the King of Hell's right hand.
* DemonicPossession: Of the last dragon in ''Seeress of Kell''.
* TheDragon: To Zandramas. Unusually literally after he possesses the last dragon in ''Seeress of Kell''.
** CoDragons: Appears to share this role with Naradas. In reality he and Nahaz are CoDragons to the King of Hell.
** DragonWithAnAgenda: He wants Zandramas' soul, the Sardion, and the Orb for the King of Hell.
* EleventhHourSuperpower: A villainous example. Mordja was always powerful, but he needed to both possess the dragon and steal Cthrek Goru in order to match the combined might of Aldur's disciples, Garion's companions, Durnik's hammer and the Sword of the Rivan King. He also received a power boost from the King of Hell right before the final battle, though Poledra was able to strip him of this.
* EvilerThanThou: With Nahaz (and Zandramas, though she doesn't know it).
* ExtraEyes: He has three eyes in his hideous face.
* FangsAreEvil: His fangs and how ugly they are receive a fair amount of description in ''Sorceress of Darshiva''.
* FinalBoss: Provides the last physical confrontation of the series.
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Unbeknownst to Zandramas, Mordja (and Nahaz) are the evil in this equation, threatening to extinguish both the Light and Dark Prophecies and bring about the end of existence.
* HeroKiller: Has an infamous reputation, takes on the entire cast at the end of the series, and winds up killing [[spoiler:Toth]].
* HiddenAgendaVillain: That Mordja even ''has'' an agenda beyond "complicating Nahaz's life" is not made clear until the very end of ''Seeress of Kell'' when Poledra forces it out of him.
* KryptoniteFactor: Like all demons, Mordja is inherently vulnerable to the Orb of Aldur or the presence of a god.
* KryptoniteProofSuit: Essentially wears the last dragon as one during his battle with Garion's allies. The dragon shields him from both the sorcery of Aldur's Disciples, and the mystic effects of the Orb of Aldur and Durnik's hammer--though it's noted that he still flinches whenever either passes by him.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Unlike Nahaz, he realizes that Durnik is being empowered by Aldur at the conclusion of ''Sorceress of Darshiva'' and flees.
* LackOfEmpathy: If demons are even capable of caring about others neither he nor Nahaz shows it.
* LegionsOfHell: As a Demon Lord he can summon up armies of lesser demons to bolster Zandramas' ranks and counter those in service to Nahaz.
* MultiarmedAndDangerous: Has a profusion of arms growing from his shoulders.
* PsychoForHire: Demon Lords cannot be summoned into a magician's service, only persuaded. Mordja agrees to work for Zandramas for the chance to frustrate Nahaz and feed on as many mortals as possible.
* ScaledUp: A variant. He possesses the dragon in the finale of ''Seeress of Kell''.
* TheStarscream: Is awaiting the proper moment to stab Zandramas in the back, destroying the Dark Prophecy and delivering the Sardion to the King of Hell.
* UncertainDoom: Mordja vanishes when Garion drives the Sword of the Rivan King through the dragon and into Mordja himself. Whether Mordja was killed or simply banished back to Hell is not made clear.
%%* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: He always speaks in this manner.
* YourSoulIsMine: He aims to claim Zandramas' soul.

[[folder: The Sardion (Cthrag Sardius)]]
The EvilCounterpart of the Orb of Aldur, the Sardion lies waiting in the place of meeting for the Child of Dark to touch it and end the world.
----
%%* ArchEnemy: The Orb.
%%* ArtifactOfDoom: Given its associations with The Dark Prophecy, what it did to the Melcene scholar, and what will happen if the Child of Dark touches it, yeah.%%"Yeah" is not context.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: An ugly red, shot through with milky-white. Contrast that to the Orb's pure blue.
* EvilCounterpart: To the Orb of Aldur. They absolutely despise each other, to the point where the Orb for once acts on its own, leaping out of Garion's hand to destroy a case it used to be in, and both gear up for a fight as soon as they get close to each other.
* EvilerThanThou: Than ''Torak'', so much so that it didn't even let him know that it even existed.
* MindRape: What it did to the Melcene scholar who was studying it, drawing him in, then forcing him to take it to [[spoiler: Korim]], and then adore it until he died of thirst and/or starvation -- his skeleton is still in the chamber when the heroes turn up.
* MineralMacGuffin: Like the Orb of Aldur, and an ugly red stone.
* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: Chosen by the Dark Prophecy, and a very specific chosen at that -- Torak didn't qualify.
* PowerGlows: Red, in this case.

!Historical Figures

[[folder: 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.
----
%%* FamousAncestor: Of the royal family of Riva.
* GirlOfMyDreams: The Prophecy sent Riva dreams of her before she was even born to make sure he would fall in love with her.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: She had bright golden hair, and was probably the kindest hearted member of her family, save possibly her distant grandson, [[TheHeart 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).
* IllGirl: the cause of her death, due to the infamous weather of the Isle of the Winds. As Polgara puts it, "The filthy climate of this island is destroying my sister's lungs!". Nevertheless, she might have lived another decade or so if the Rivan Deacon hadn't been a secret Bear Cultist who waged war on the medical profession in order to force all Rivans to bend to the Church, thus denying Beldaran proper treatment.
* InTheBlood: Polgara notes at one point that nearly all Beldaran's descendants (including Belgarion) are blonde because of her.
* LostLenore: 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 PsychicLink didn't hurt.
* MayDecemberRomance: She was at least twenty years younger than Iron-Grip when they got married.
* MuggleBornOfMages: The entire rest of her family were Sorcerers. Her? Not so much. It doesn't seem to have bothered her, though.
* OneTrueLove: Riva's, as he was for her.
* ParentalFavoritism: 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 VitriolicBestBuds type relationship.
* PolarOppositeTwins: With Polgara, though they loved each other dearly.
* PostHumousCharacter: 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.
%%* PrincessClassic
* SilkHidingSteel: 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.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: 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.

[[folder: Cherek Bear-Shoulders]]
* TheBigGuy: He was absolutely huge, like all of his sons.
* BoisterousBruiser: He treats the trip to Mallorea like a family trip. It's a characteristic that his descendants (from his second marriage), the Kings of Cherek, kept going.
* FamousAncestor: Of the royal families of all the Alorn Kingdoms.
* FamedInStory: 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).
* HeartbrokenBadass: 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.
* LastOfHisKind: He was the last King of Aloria.
* ModestRoyalty: He was incredibly informal and laid back, even treating the quest to Cthol Mishrak as a hunting trip with his boys.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: 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.
* VestigialEmpire: He went from ruling Aloria (the second largest empire in history after Mallorea) to only the Cherek Peninsula.

[[folder: Dras Bull-Neck]]
* AnAxToGrind: He primarily wields an axe, in battle and outside of it.
* TheBigGuy: He's the biggest of Cherek's sons -- which is saying something, since they're all enormous.
* BoisterousBruiser: Like his father, he's an enthusiastic fighter.
* DumbMuscle: 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.
* FamedInStory: Like his brothers and father, for his part in the reclaiming of the Orb.
* FamousAncestor: Of the royal family of Drasnia.
%%* FounderOfTheKingdom: Drasnia.
%%* ModestRoyalty: Like the rest of his family.
%%* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The quest to regain the Orb comes to mind.%%Why?

[[folder: Algar Fleet-Foot]]
* ABoyAndHisX: He was one of the first in the West to domesticate the horse and begin to breed them for riding.
* TheBigGuy: All of Cherek's sons were huge, though Algar's leaner than the other two.
%%* FamousAncestor: Of the royal family of Algaria.
* FamedInStory: For his role with the reclamation of the Orb.
%%* FounderOfTheKingdom: Algaria.
%%* ModestRoyalty: And softly spoken with it.
%%* TheQuietOne: And the smartest of his family.
* TheSmartGuy: He's fairly explicitly the smartest of his family -- Cherek's smart enough but not extraordinary, Dras is DumbMuscle (as Belgarath observes and he's self-aware enough to admit it) outside of cheating at dice, and Riva's more uncomplicated than stupid.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: See the quest to claim the Orb.

[[folder: Riva Iron-Grip]]
Founder of the Kingdom of Riva, first Guardian of the Orb, and with Beldaran, direct ancestor of Garion.
----
%%* {{BFS}}: He was the first wielder of the Sword of Riva.
%%* TheBlacksmith: ... which he forged himself.
%%* TheBigGuy: He was about seven feet tall.%%Not the trope.
* BittersweetEnding: 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 TogetherInDeath, which is something.
* FamousAncestor: Of the royal family of Riva.
* FamedInStory: 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).
* ForgingScene: He was the one who forged the Sword of the Rivan King.
%%* FounderOfTheKingdom: Riva.
* HeartbrokenBadass: ''Polgara the Sorceress'' shows very explicitly how Beldaran's death broke him, leading to a slow, sad decline, and his death
%%* ModestRoyalty: Like the rest of his family.
%%* MayDecemberRomance:
* OnlyThePureOfHeart: 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.
%%* OneTrueLove: Beldaran's, as she was his.
%%* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething
* TogetherInDeath: With Beldaran, as shown by Polgara opening up a brief door to the world of the dead in ''The Belgariad''.
* YoungestChildWins: 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.

[[folder: The Mrin Prophet]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: He had some kind of serious developmental disability that made him almost more animal than man.
* MadOracle: Mad and mentally handicapped.
* MadwomanInTheAttic: One of the few cases where the trope is played openly, he lived and died [[SecurityBlanket 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.
* NoNameGiven
* NonLinearCharacter: 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.
* SecurityBlanket: 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.
[[/folder]]

!!Gods and Prophecies

[[folder: The Prophecy]]
* AllPowerfulBystander: Neither it nor its counterpart can intervene directly without destroying the universe. That's why they act through proxies to fulfil parts of their respective prophecies.
* BigGood: Represents the original purpose of the Universe.
* TheChessmaster: With millenia of experience.
* DeadpanSnarker: More or less constantly. It particularly enjoys annoying Belgarath, though it does does snark a bit at some of Garion's teenage absurdities. More generally, it across as being rather like a long suffering GameMaster who is annoyed that his players won't follow the script.
--> "Point. Point and game."
* TheGadfly: It's fond of Belgarath, and particularly enjoys annoying him. It also enjoys teasing Garion, responding to his rhetorical question of whether it's so cryptic just because it knows it annoys him with [[DeadpanSnarker "What an interesting idea."]]
* NotSoStoic: When it becomes so, you know things are ''very'' serious:
-->"The child!" the voice in Garion's mind crackled, no longer dry or disinterested. "Save the child or everything that has ever happened is meaningless!".
%%* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Whenever it slips into NotSoStoic mode.
* RulesLawyer: It is far more concerned about the "points" than its counterpart, arguing at length when it feels it earned one, even right at the very end of ''The Malloreon''.
* TheVoice: It manifests as a dry voice in Garion's mind, which provides advice, exposition, and snarky commentary.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Dark Prophecy]]
* AllPowerfulBystander: Neither it nor its counterpart can intervene directly without destroying the universe. That's why they act through proxies to fulfil parts of their respective prophecies.
%%* BiggerBad: It's TheManBehindTheMan to Torak and Zandramas.%%And?
* CastingAShadow: The sun never shines in the home of the Child of Dark.
* TheChessmaster: Has manipulated aeons of history to thwart its counterpart.
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Seeks a Universe of constant stagnation and failure where everything continues to go wrong.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Possibly. It won't cheat, but it doesn't seem to stop its instruments from cheating, either -- though Aldur claims to Belgarath that after Torak tried to cheat following the reclaiming of the Orb, the Dark Prophecy apologised and punished him.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To the Light Prophecy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: UL]]
%%* ArchEnemy: The King of Hell.
* {{God}}: As the Father of all the other Gods, UL is the closest thing the series has to the Abrahamic God.
* TheMaker: Created the Universe and the other Gods, but played no part in making the world
%%* PhysicalGod
* SixthRanger: Until the third book, there appears to have been seven Gods. Then you learn there was an eighth God who didn't take part in the creation of the world, and who adopted (some of) the peoples who were left out when the other gods chose their own followers. The true nature of his relationship to the other gods isn't revealed until the end of the first series of books.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Aldur]]
%%* BigGood: It shares this role with the Prophecy.
* CainAndAbel: Torak hates all the other gods, but his rivalry with Aldur is the fiercest, and it is Aldur's disciples who constantly stand in his way. Aldur, for his part, is pretty miserable that it came to this.
* GrandpaGod: Has something of this in his appearance.
* NiceGuy: He's one of the nicest and gentlest characters in the series, with only allusions to his disliking Angaraks and a former Gorim as spots on his character. And in the former case, he protected them -- specifically, a Mallorean army -- from demons anyway at Belgarath's request, Belgarath just warned Zakath that it would probably be best for his troops to stay out of the glowing blue ditch just in case, because of Aldur's dislike for Angaraks. In the latter, apparently ''no one'' liked that particular Gorim.
%%* PhysicalGod
* WizardBeard: Looks a heck of a lot like Belgarath, actually. Or more accurately, Belgarath looks a heck of a lot like him. As does Zedar, and a number of the other disciples. This is explained as his leaving a kind of imprint on people.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: frequently uses this, as part of his more scholarly and formal demeanour.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Belar]]
* HornyVikings: He's the Alorn God, after all. Most of the Viking-related tropes that apply to Alorns also apply to Him. Also, amusingly, it ''does'' share the [[ReallyGetsAround meaning that the trope's description states it doesn't have]].
* ManChild: Downplayed. More like "Man Adolescent", as both his appearance and behaviour are perpetually fixed in that of a young, boisterous, slightly juvenile Alorn.
-->'''Belgarath: '''[Growing up] happens to everybody--except to Belar, maybe. I don't think we can ever expect Belar to grow up.
%%* PhysicalGod
%%* ReallyGetsAround: Possibly.%%Quotes are not context.
%%-->'''Belgarath: '''I have my suspicions about Belar. He was surrounded by a bevy of busty, blonde-braided Alorn maidens, who all seemed enormously fond of him. Well, he was a God, after all, but the admiration of those girls didn't seem to be entirely religious.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Issa]]
* GoodEyesEvilEyes: Subverted. Issa's eyes are snake-like and lifeless, but he's a pretty good guy.
%%* PhysicalGod
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He can be a bit forgetful (Nyissa's system of succession was a consequence of him forgetting to make the original Salmissra immortal), but he's not the most demanding of gods.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The King of Hell]]
%%* ArchEnemy: UL.
* BiggerBad: Nahaz, Mordja, and the rest of the Demon Lords all answer to this guy. Despite that, he never even appears in the story.
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: It seeks to upend both Prophecies and recreate the Universe in his own image with legions of Demons feasting on all mortal souls.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To UL.
%%* EvilerThanThou: To the Dark Prophecy.
* MadeOfEvil: When Belgarath creates an image of him, it appears as a creature impossibly made of both fire and ice.
%%* OutsideContextProblem
%%* SatanicArchetype
* SealedEvilInACan: It was chained by UL at the moment of Creation.
%%* TakeOverTheWorld: Universe actually.
[[/folder]]

!!Garion's Companions

[[folder: Garion (Belgarion)]]
--> ''"Why me?"''

Grandson of Belgarath and nephew of Polgara, Garion was raised as a scullery boy on a farm in Sendaria, completely ignorant of his family's near-divine status, or his role in the Prophecy. When Zedar the Apostate steals the Orb of Aldur, Garion's aunt and grandfather drag him on a cross-country journey, during which he learns that he is a sorcerer, the long-lost King of Riva, and the Child of Light of which the Prophecy speaks.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: Garion succeeds in bringing [[spoiler: a horse]] back to life, simply because he doesn't know that it's supposed to be impossible. That said, a good deal of that had to do with the fact that [[spoiler: Horse]] was a moderately important part of future events, so the Necessity probably gave him a helping hand.
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Ce'Nedra, from her introduction in Book 2, until long after they're married.
* TheBerserker: Only under severe stress/magical manipulation, but sometimes. Since he's an adult by the time it really happens, a fully trained MasterSwordsman and a powerfully built man who's over six feet tall, he becomes a OneManArmy even without using his powers.
%%* {{BFS}}: Justified, as the Orb of Aldur lightens its weight.
* BigBrotherInstinct:
** He eventually regards Errand as a surrogate younger brother, owing to how they were both raised by Polgara, and is protective of him.
** He also has a degree of this towards Lelldorin -- while they're about the same age (if anything, Lelldorin's a couple of years older), Lelldorin has absolutely no common sense whatsoever, meaning that a lot of their conversations involve Garion pointing out why Lelldorin's latest grand scheme is a very bad idea.
* BloodKnight: Garion's generally a fairly mild-mannered person, and as Zakath notes, remarkably gentle. However, this trope ''is'' an Alorn characteristic and while Garion was raised a Sendar, he ''is'' an Alorn. [[note]] To be exact, he's his mother was an Algar, and his father was essentially Aloria-In-A-Blender thanks to his ancestors' travelling the Alorn kingdoms under Polgara's protection, though the Rivan part is most prominent. [[/note]] In short, it's InTheBlood, and it's apparent that even from a young age he enjoys fights for their own sake. He even indignantly complains when someone else kills ''his'' Murgo, to the amusement of Silk, Barak and Hettar, with Silk lightly remarking, "He's turning savage on us." However, after he ends up burning Chamdar alive, which he regrets for some time (since Chamdar was an AssholeVictim, it was the method that horrified him), this trope becomes less apparent.
* CatchPhrase: "Why me?"
* ChildhoodBrainDamage: PlayedForLaughs at one point, when Garion comments that maybe his tendency to charge into dangerous situations without thinking about the danger is because his Aunt Pol dropped him on his head as a baby. Belgarath counters that Polgara is very careful "with babies and other breakable things".
* TheChosenOne: By the Prophecy.
* CluelessChickMagnet: Midway through the series, Garion's descent from [[LivingLegend Belgarath]] is common knowledge, but his identity as the Rivan King and therefore betrothal to Ce'Nedra is still a secret (even to him). Since Belgarath's family is the most noble in the world basically by default (it doesn't hurt that Polgara has acquired titles from more or less everywhere, and spent a few centuries ruling a moderately powerful duchy -- which eventually became Sendaria -- thanks to doing the Duke of Vo Wacune a ''very'' big favor), this briefly makes Garion the most eligible bachelor in the West, a fact he was neither aware of nor prepared for.
* CombatPragmatist: Having been mentored by the likes of Silk and Belgarath, Garion has never met a fair fight that he liked or didn't try to avoid.
* CoolHorse: He gets one in ''Demon Lord of Karanda'', courtesy of Emperor Zakath -- a big dark gray stallion named Chretienne.
-->'''Zakath''': A King needs a kingly horse, and I think you'll find that Chretienne can lend himself to any occasion that requires ceremony.
%%* CoolSword: The Sword of the Rivan King.
* DeadpanSnarker: Develops into this from TheComicallySerious over time (exposure to Silk, Belgarath, Polgara's increased snark in her father's presence, and the Light Prophecy probably contributed to this), to the point where Beldin complains in the second series that he liked Garion much better before he developed such a smart mouth.
* {{Farmboy}}: Garion is one, but only technically. He lived on a farm, but aside from other tasks, he usually worked in his aunt's kitchen... as a dishwasher.
* FightsLikeANormal: For most of the first series, partly because he's initially ignorant of his powers (by design), then because he rejects them due to going through a moral crisis [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone after what he did to Asharak/Chamdar]], so he gets trained in normal combat instead. This continues for the majority of the second series -- his instinct is to use his sorcery to aid his more conventional prowess in battle rather than use it as a weapon outright.
* FlamingSword: The Orb causes the Sword of the Rivan King to burst into blue flame.
* TheHeart: He tends to be, with the exception of Eriond (and possibly Durnik), the kindest and gentlest at heart of the heroes, with Zakath noting that he's a remarkably gentle person. However, this does not preclude an occasional habit of quite literally going berserk and, as also noted by Zakath, a capacity for being extraordinarily cold-blooded.
* TheHero: Of the entire series.
* HeroicLineage: It becomes common knowledge by the second book that he's the descendant of Belgarath and ward of Polgara, and then that he's closely related to a high-ranking Algar clan through his mother, but the true extent of it -- that he's the heir to the Rivan Throne -- is hidden until the end of the fourth book.
* HiddenDepths: He's much smarter and more perceptive than most, including him, realise. As Belgarath observes, he has a knack for condensing very large, very complex ideas into very simple and easy to manage forms, and as a result, he's one of the few people who [[TheSmartGuy Beldin]] expresses an interest in discussing philosophy with -- the others all being geniuses, or Durnik, who played no small part in raising Garion, and practically redefines this trope in his own right. He's also the first person outside of Belgarath and Polgara (who both knew straight off) that the spoilt Tolnedran noble lady tagging along with them in the first series is Princess Ce'Nedra, when even ''Silk'' didn't realise it. Moreover, he's the first person full-stop, ''including'' Belgarath and Polgara to work out that [[spoiler: the female wolf]] who's travelling with them in ''The Malloreon'' is, in fact, [[spoiler: Poledra]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: PlayedForLaughs, when having cracked up laughing at Lelldorin's thoroughly bizarre (and admittedly hilarious) romance related adventures, he complains only a couple of chapters later when everyone else finds his prospective problems with Ce'Nedra hilarious, practically quoting Lelldorin's reproachful "a friend wouldn't laugh at me."
%%* IgnoranceIsBliss: [[InvokedTrope Deliberately.]]
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Garion's {{Catchphrase}} is "Why me?" [[CharacterDevelopment He gets over it...]] [[TheGadfly but he isn't above occasionally repeating it to the Prophecy just to wind it up.]]
* {{Kidanova}}: Garion had a quite a way with the ladies as a teenager, though it was entirely accidental, and mostly (but not exclusively) related to his being related to Belgarath and Polgara, and thus an ''extremely'' eligible bachelor; ironically Ce'Nedra was the first girl he met who wasn't instantly smitten with him.
* KillTheGod: He's supposed to kill Torak. [[spoiler:By the second series one of his nicknames is "Godslayer".]]
* LargeAndInCharge: It's not brought up very often, but after a growth spurt towards the end of the first series, and in between then and the second series, Garion towers up to well past six feet tall, and is powerfully built with it.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: To varying degrees until late in Book 4.
* MagicKnight: Garion becomes frighteningly proficient with both weaponry and sorcery, though more so with the former -- he's trained by Hettar and Mandorallen, arguably ''the'' two greatest [[MasterSwordsman master swordsmen]] in the series, challenged only by Cho-Hag (who's Hettar's adoptive father and fencing teacher).
* MosesInTheBulrushes: How his father saved his life, more or less, when their house was burning down around them, using stone-cutting tools to hack open a small hole and shove baby Garion out. At first, Asharak/Chamdar, the man who set the house on fire in the first place grabbed him... before very sensibly throwing him at a homicidal Belgarath and running like hell.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: His killing Chamdar/Asharak by [[spoiler: burning him alive]], though poetic justice, horrifies him -- and understandably so, considering that he's only 15. It lingers with him and makes him extremely unwilling to accept that he's now a sorcerer.
* NoiselessWalker: It's briefly handwaved that he learns the trick of walking soundlessly through a forest full of twigs and leaf litter by watching Silk.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Frequently plays the country simpleton to great effect.
* OneHandedZweihander: Normally Garion uses the Sword of the Rivan King with two hands, but he can do this if the situation calls for it.
* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: As long as the Orb is attached.
* PapaWolf: Do ''not'' touch his children. Seriously. He's not as coldly vicious as Polgara and Belgarath are capable of being, but he's a six foot plus borderline PhysicalGod (being definitively the most powerful sorcerer on the planet), a MasterSwordsman with the Alorn tendency to go berserk under sufficient stress, as well as a giant sword and what amounts to a pet RealityWarper on the hilt of said sword, which is very fond of his family in its own right. That, plus an oft underestimated intelligence and a capacity for cold-blooded pragmatism that astonishes ''Zakath'' of all people, make him the last person you want to cross.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Graduates to this towards the end of ''the Belgariad'', and starts tipping into the PhysicalGod category -- even ''without'' the Orb of Aldur -- in ''the Malloreon.''
%% * PhysicalGod: He starts verging on this in ''The Malloreon'', and has more raw power than even Belgarath -- but far less experience of how to use it.
* PowerGlows: The Sword of the Rivan King glows bright blue.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Delivers a brutal one to Torak in the first series, and to the Dark Prophecy in the second.
* RefusalOfTheCall: Refuses his destiny as a sorcerer after [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone killing Chamdar/Asharak -- specifically, how he did it, something which sticks with him even into the second series -]] due to a mixture of a moral crisis and not wanting to accept that he's no longer the simple {{farmboy}} he once was. He eventually comes round when he realises that he ''has'' to learn how to use it.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: In spades.
* SorcerousOverlord: A heroic version, as the nigh-immortal, mystically empowered, godslaying King of Riva and Overlord of the West.
* StrongButUnskilled: He's ''the'' most powerful Sorcerer in the series, even without using the Orb, but he has by far the weakest understanding of his powers. This justified by the fact that most of the sorcerers in the series have decades to centuries of experience and study on him, and save Zandramas (who was the Child of Dark), all the really powerful ones have ''millennia'' on him. Plus, initially Polgara and Belgarath are dedicated to keeping his talents hidden, and their full manifestation (killing Chamdar) leaves him horrified and initially deeply unwilling to use them again. After that, he's mostly occupied by his position as King of Riva.
** However, he's also noted to have an intuitive skill for sorcery -- when taught/shown something, he picks it up ''fast'' -- and he has a habit of casually doing the impossible (or at least, deeply improbable).
* SuperDrowningSkills: Has acquired this skill ever since he hit a log on a pond while showing off.
* ThereWasADoor: A few times. The most impressive case of this is the disintegration of a city gate... and a lot of the wall around it. Bits of which landed about five miles away. The degree to which the gate ceased to be was caused by the Orb deciding to help.
* ThunderboltIron: The Sword of the Rivan King was forged from a fallen meteor.
* TookALevelInBadass: He goes from an ordinary farmboy to the most powerful mortal [[TheAgeless (for a given value of mortal)]] on the planet.
* UnbreakableWeapons: Nothing can shatter the blade of the Rivan King.
* UnevenHybrid: Had a sorcerer grandfather and a wolf grandmother (technically, they're both many, many times grandparents, but the "greats" are removed for the sake of simplicity).
* UpbringingMakesTheHero: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Polgara; she deliberately raises Garion as a {{farmboy}} to give him a solid moral foundation for when he ends up having to save the world. Additionally, many of his ancestors ''did'' know, and in one or two cases, it went to their heads (usually temporarily and with a nudge or two from Chamdar), and made them stick out at exactly the wrong moment. More to the point, he can't accidentally reveal something he doesn't know. However, the downsides of this -- such as his not being able to read until Ce'Nedra teaches him -- are also pointed out, usually by Belgarath.
* UnskilledButStrong: Especially in the first series, where he lacks finesse and experience, but has enough raw power to terrify the Grolim Hierarchs (though, notably, not the likes of Ctuchik). This isn't really rectified either -- it's just that by the second series his raw power is so significant that his relative lack of precision doesn't matter.
* WellExcuseMePrincess: His relationship with Ce'Nedra (in the first series, and the early part of ''Guardians of the West'') summed up in four words. Marriage and time mellow them both out somewhat.

[[folder: Polgara]]
Daughter of Belgarath, and twin sister of Beldaran of Riva. Following in the footsteps of her mother, Polgara was the second female disciple of Aldur, and is the long-time guardian of the Rivan King's line. Haughty and regal, Polgara is a deeply affectionate woman at her core, and Garion's safety and security is her foremost concern.

* AbsurdlyElderlyMother: In chronological, but not biological age, since Sorcerers [[TheAgeless stop ageing]] at an age that "feels" right to them. As a result, Polgara remains youthful (general estimates of her apparent age settle on "early thirties, at most") for 3000 years and is able to [[BabiesEverAfter have twins at the end]] of the ''Malloreon'' sequel series. Belgarath observes that this probably has a lot to do with the fact that society regards elderly men as venerable, but classes elderly women as crones.
* TheAgeless: Hasn't aged since she hit her thirties.
* AngstySurvivingTwin: Polgara was very close to her sister and outlived her thanks to being a sorcerer.
-->'''Belgarath''': "To this very day, if you're impolite enough to ask Polgara how old she is, she'll probably say something like "We're about three thousand or so." Beldaran's been gone for a long time, but she still looms very large in Polgara's conception of the world."
%%* AnimalMotifs: A snowy owl.
* BelatedLoveEpiphany: She doesn't realize how desperately she loves Durnik until he's killed by Zedar -- but that awareness gives her the strength to hold fast against ''Torak''. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Destiny ''really'' wants her to be happy -- and has plans for Durnik -- so the Gods (with some help from Garion and the Orb) bring him back to life so she can marry him.]]
* BrainyBrunette: Their mother magically altered both twins in the womb to prepare them for their roles in life, including making Polgara this as opposed to Beldaran's blonde hair.
* CombatMedic: She's spent literal centuries studying the healing arts and is probably the best healer in the world, but she not only won't hesitate to defend herself or her loved ones if necessary, but could probably level a small country if she put her mind to it.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: When she decides to transform Salmissra into a giant snake, thus freeing her from all her human nature and all the drugs her body was suffering from.
* DarkChick: Torak always kept this place in his FiveManBand open for her. She's ''really'' not interested.
* TheDreaded: To Grolims in particular. This is because due to Torak's interest, they're not entirely sure how to behave towards her -- on the one hand, she's their implacable enemy, and the daughter of Belgarath, who's the closest thing the Angarak faith has to the Devil. On the other, she's also the chosen bride of their god, whose displeasure they ''really'' don't want to incur.
* HerHeartWillGoOn: Her mortal lover died during the fall of Vo Wacune. She eventually came back stronger, but it was a long road.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Technically, her mother was a shape-shifting wolf (though she was human when pregnant with Polgara and Beldaran), and while she is very much human, it is occasionally mentioned that she has a somewhat wolfish sense of [[ThickerThanWater family loyalty]].
* HotWitch: She's an ageless sorceress and repeatedly stated to be the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman.
* ImmortalRuler: In her prequel she was the benevolent ruler of the Duchy of Erat for over half a millennium, but after her first mortal lover's death she set up a constitutional government and abdicated.
* MagicalNanny: Polgara plays this role as caretaker of the Rivan line for two thousand years, with varying degrees of closeness (sometimes, she's more detached, other times, like with Garion, she's a full on ParentalSubstitute). And her cooking... divine!
* MamaBear: Dear gods, yes. To take, but one example, Salmissra has a fifteen year old Garion kidnapped and subjected to GoGoEnslavement. Polgara responds by ''ripping apart Salmissra's entire palace'', staring down the spirit of a god, Issa, and makes an example of Salmissra by transforming her from a woman into a giant snake, all to get Garion back and demonstrate her ''extreme'' displeasure.
* MerlinAndNimue: She is mentored by her father in magic, and through the centuries they often team up together. Their blood relationship eliminates the romantic elements of the trope, however, and they never betray each other.
* MindRape: She can cast illusions which are guaranteed to make her victims beg her to stop -- her self-narrated prequel explains that each illusion is tailored to the subject, and is created by reaching into the depths of their mind and finding what they fear the most. She's very prone to doing this as part of interrogations, and it's usually extremely effective -- though Sadi became the one person in both series and both prequels to NoSell it by the simple expedient of ensuring that he was stoned out of his mind first (he thought her illusion was "pretty").
* MoodRingEyes: Her eyes change color depending on her mood, like when her eyes turn agate gray when she's angry.
* MyBelovedSmother: She veers into this from time to time, to Garion's displeasure, which Belgarath points out. However, she very frequently has ''excellent'' reason for her attitude, as she points out in her prologue: namely, the utter disregard for their own safety displayed by Irongrip's heirs, and the fact that she spent 600 years acting as a ParentalSubstitute to Arendia to prevent it from going up in flames every five minutes. Where Garion specifically is concerned, it might have a lot to do with guilt over not being there to stop Chamdar from killing Garion's parents.
* TheNotSoHarmlessPunishment: She gives a SmugSnake seer (who was making inconveniently timed proclamations of Garion's true identity and refusing to stop) her sight back, preventing her from having visions anymore, something which utterly breaks the seer in question.
* ParentalSubstitute: To Garion, and later Errand. In return, both of them, excepting a couple of teenage rocky periods on Garion's part (which mostly have to do with his being LockedOutOfTheLoop and her occasional MyBelovedSmother tendencies), absolutely adore her.
* ThePowerOfLove: The power of Durnik's love for her, and hers for him, quite literally ''saves the universe''.
* PsychicPowers: One of her particular specialities, which she uses for illusions, extremely subtle mental manipulation, and sometimes outright MindRape.
* RoaringRampageOfRescue: She and Barak tear Salmissra's palace to pieces trying to rescue Garion in ''Queen of Sorcery'', and in the process, she stares down Issa (a God), and [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor gives Salmissra the immortality she wanted]] by turning her into a giant snake -- though, ironically, she does actually turn out to be happier with it than she was before, as are her subordinates.
* SecondLove: She lost the first man she ever truly loved -- her Champion, Count Ontrose -- in the battle that doomed Vo Wacune. Millennia later, she meets and falls in love with Durnik, and eventually marries him.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Was once a ragged tomboy with a disregard for her appearance that made her father's habitual smelly tramp disguise look positively fastidious. Is now quite picky about bathing whenever she can, and regarded as the most beautiful woman on the planet.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Both times she truly falls in love. Her {{first love}}, Count Ontrose, is a consummate gentleman and the [[KnightInShiningArmor paramount knight of all Arendia]], devoted to duty and to Polgara (unfortunately for her, [[LovedINotHonorMore in that order]]). Durnik, the man she ultimately marries, is ([[TookALevelInBadass at least initially]]) a simple Sendarian blacksmith, but he's also kind, pure-hearted, courageous, and just plain ''good'' -- Polgara calls him the "best and bravest" man she's ever known.
* SkunkStripe: Her trademark, and a plot point in the back-story -- namely, it makes her stick out when she wants to be overlooked.
* SilkHidingSteel: After she decides to clean herself up in her prequel, she becomes an extremely well-mannered and well-dressed lady, who's frequently described as being the most beautiful woman in the world. She's also extremely powerful and even more cold-blooded than her father at times, if a bit less vicious, and when she's properly angry, she terrifies the Kings of the West in ways that even Belgarath doesn't.
* TantrumThrowing: While she's usually calm and dignified, when really pushed, she does this at least twice. The results are noted in the series to be quite spectacular, not to mention severely dangerous, given that she could level a small country if so inclined.
* TrueBlueFemininity: When not in her earth-tone coloured travelling clothes, she wears blue dresses reserved for special occasions, and blue is her signature colour.
* UptownGirl: To Durnik. This doesn't stop her from figuring out she returns his feelings... eventually.
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Frequently described as such.

[[folder: Belgarath]]
Garion's ultimate grandfather and the most renowned sorcerer in the world, Belgarath is Aldur's senior disciple, a position that sees him treated as royalty by the Alorn kings, and a bogeyman by the Angaraks. Dedicated to the fulfillment of the Prophecy, Belgarath has spent 7000 years fighting to keep the universe from spinning off its course.

* TheAgeless: Stopped ageing at about seventy or so -- and even that is more of an aesthetic choice than anything else, considering, broadly fitting the WizardClassic stereotype (or at least, the age category).
* TheAlcoholic: Spent over two years getting ''legendarily'' drunk in Camaar after Poledra's [[spoiler: apparent]] death, sufficient that it took literal ''divine intervention'' to sober him up. Thereafter, while Beldin dismisses his fears of relapse as not being something that happens to them (as he was drinking for a reason), Belgarath is considerably warier and notes that he's spent much more time with a tankard in hand than actually drinking it.
* AnimalMotifs: A wolf.
* AntiHero: He's prone to drinking, lying, [[ReallyGetsAround wenching]], and thieving -- in the latter case, he bluntly admits that he was a thief from early childhood, and mostly seems to do it for the fun of it. As Polgara observes in her prequel when he clobbers a fleeing Grolim with a lead-encased fist in a tactic right out of a bar-room brawl, "Ancient Belgarath" has a rather colourful history. He's totally ruthless and utterly cold-blooded when the mood takes him, candidly admitting in his prequel that while it's not usually his first choice, he's murdered quite a few people for the sake of Necessity. That's before you account for the several centuries he spent traipsing around Sendaria, leading Chamdar around by the nose in his search for Polgara by suddenly murdering half a dozen Murgos in any given location to make it seem like they were getting close. And none of that accounts for [[FateWorseThanDeath what he did to Zedar...]] (though he does seem to regret that one).
* {{Archenemy}}: To Ctuchik and Zedar.
* BadassBeard: A short-cropped silver beard.
* BadassBookworm: He may not seem like the scholarly type, but he usually spends the intervening centuries between adventures reading in his tower -- in his self-narrated prequel, it actually gets to the point where Beldin complains that he hardly ever looks up from his books.
* CoolOldGuy: He's mischievous, charismatic, an excellent story-teller and one of the most powerful men in the world, all traits that make him very popular with his many grandsons and Eriond (on all of whom he is a bad influence), much to Polgara's exasperation.
* DeadpanSnarker: A premier example in the series -- really, you can see where Polgara (and later, Garion) gets it from.
* DirtyOldMan: While he's always had a streak of ChivalrousPervert in him, he becomes this after Poledra's apparent death, spending several years living it up in Maragor in an attempt to drown his sorrows (alcohol having failed in this regard). Even afterwards, he's noted as having an eye for the ladies, and [[SilverFox more than a few have an eye for him]], even without knowing who he really is.
* DisappearedDad:
** Belgarath's mother died when he was a child, and he doesn't know who his father was.
** He was one himself for a while when he abandoned Polgara and Beldaran after they were born and didn't come home until years later -- having gone mad with grief had a lot to do with this.
* DoomedHometown: Though he hadn't lived there for centuries, Belgarath is upset when he discovers that his home village of Gara (his original name, Garath, meant "of the town of Gara") was destroyed in the Torak cataclysm.
* EccentricMentor: Belgarath has several bad habits; the habitual stealing, drinking, and [[ReallyGetsAround all that business in Maragor after Poledra's death]], and he generally looks like a tramp (though that's actually by design, and none of his clothes are actually half as shabby as they appear), but he is still Aldur's first disciple, "possibly the best teacher in the history of the world" when he puts his mind to it, as Polgara admits, and quite capable of demonstrating why all the Grolims are terrified of him.
* ElderlyImmortal: Appears appropriately old, at least on his face.
* InterspeciesRomance: His beloved wife was originally a wolf he encountered in wolf form while travelling, and became his companion, and eventually his lover when she learned how to shapeshift from him.
* ItsPersonal:
** Holds a significant grudge against Zedar, who not only betrayed him, but a) organised the assassination of the Rivan royal family, Belgarath's descendants, b) might have been responsible for the suicide of at least one of his fellow disciples -- a theory Belgarath brings up in his prequel, with the notation that if he ever gets confirmation of it, he's going to get Zedar (who's currently sealed [[AndIMustScream in rock, alive,]] and put him somewhere "much less comfortable").
** Also decides that this applies first to the Bear-Cult (who were involved in the kidnapping of Garion's son), then Zandramas (who orchestrated it), spending a large chunk of ''The Malloreon'' in a state of TranquilFury, [[PapaWolf stating his intention to tear apart the world to get his grandson back.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** He plays up the image of the grumpy and often ruthless old man, who's cold and entirely emotionally detached from humanity, and does so effectively enough that it actually fools Polgara for most of her youth... until she turns into a snowy owl like her mother and to her utter astonishment, he breaks down in tears on the spot. His heart of gold mainly manifests in a keen sense of family, sharing a VitriolicBestBuds type relationship with Polgara and his brothers, deep grief for his two DeaderThanDead brothers, his other daughter, and his wife, even thousands of years after their deaths ([[spoiler: apparent death, in the case of Poledra]]), and a deep fondness for his various grandsons, especially Garion. He even shows real wistful regret for how Zedar turned out, revealing that he regrets what he did to him (though he also notes that if he gets confirmation of a theory of his, he'll do considerably worse). And then there's the ''spectacular'' PapaWolf tendencies.
** He's also kind to Vordai, which Garion picks up on, and he admits in his prequel that he felt sorry for her, and to two of the Salmissras, after they show minds of their own: one he gives political advice on how to get rid of the eunuchs who were planning to kill and replace her after it became apparent she wasn't just a puppet, and the other, Illessa, the Salmissra who was manipulated into killing the Rivan royal family by Zedar, whom he had every reason to hate, he comforted on her deathbed with the knowledge that Zedar's scheme had failed.
* LadyKillerInLove: Being charming, charismatic, and something of a SilverFox, he's always been quite successful with the ladies. However, this is only before Poledra turns up and after her [[spoiler: apparent]] death, being otherwise completely devoted to her.
* LargeHam: He is a professional story teller and he uses it whenever he can. In her prequel, Polgara frequently notes, and occasionally laments, his dramatic streak.
* LetsGetDangerous: As Polgara observes, while he's normally deeply lazy, insouciant, and generally nothing like what you'd expect a legendary sorcerer to be, he can throw that off in the blink of an eye, function for weeks with minimal sleep and food, and pull off feats that should be impossible.
* LostLenore: Poledra, his wife. Even thousands of years later, he's still grieving for her, to the point where her appearance as a spirit leaves him [[HeroicBSOD near catatonic]] for several days.
* TheMentor: To Garion, Polgara, and most of Aldur's other disciples, particularly Zedar and Beldin. Polgara grudgingly notes that he's actually a very good teacher -- if not the best in the history of the world, to use her exact words.
* MrViceGuy: He's chronically lazy, given the opportunity, and prone to "drunkenness, lying, thieving, and wenching" -- [[LadyKillerInLove though the latter vanished when Poledra was around]]. When Zakath muses in ''The Malloreon'' that if he let Belgarath run his bureaucracy, he'd have the most efficient government in the world, Garion, amused, points out that Belgarath is a) likely to live forever, b) more corrupt than Silk (an example of this trope and a [[TheSpyMaster master spy]] in his own right) and Sadi (a MasterPoisoner and drug-dealer extraordinaire) put together. None of this makes him any less heroic, however.
* MundaneUtility: Most of the sorcerers in the world do everything the normal way unless they have a good reason to use magic, Belgarath uses magic for everything unless he's trying to hide (which, since he's hiding for most of the series, isn't immediately apparent). He conjures his meals out of thin air, he levitates books off the shelf into his hand, he lights the fire in the evening with a snap of his fingers, etc. One of the end results of this, combined with his age, is that while he's not the smartest sorcerer (that's Beldin), the most subtle (that's Polgara), or the most powerful (that's Garion), he ''is'' the most practised.
* MysteriousPast: Regarding his precise origins. While his history is extensively documented in his prequel, he barely remembers anything of his mother, nothing of his father, and isn't entirely sure if "Garath" is actually his original name, or just given to him as an orphan since it meant "of the village of Gara". Given that being Aldur's disciple left him with a close resemblance to the God in question, this means that while everyone assumes he's an Alorn, he's actually the one character in the series whose racial background is completely uncertain -- which is mildly significant, since every God shaped a race in their image bar Aldur. In fact, the only thing he ''does'' know is that is that the God of his village wasn't either Belar or Torak.
* ObfuscatingStupidity:
** Belgarath has elevated this to an art form. He looks and acts like a disreputable, drunken, dirty-minded tramp (as Ce'Nedra thinks, he's "frequently a public nuisance"). However, most of it is by design; his clothes, for instance, only ''look'' shabby in order to blend in, and he notes that after Camaar, he's spent rather more time holding tankards than drinking from them. Additionally, as his daughter grudgingly notes, this does not in any way change the fact that he is the first disciple of Aldur and could probably stop the sun in the sky if he was ever so inclined. As Poledra notes, he once got irritated with a hammer after accidentally hitting his thumb with it, and threw it away in a fit of anger -- not away as in "across the room", away as in "up into the sky". That was several thousand years ago, and apparently, it's still going. And that isn't even getting into the fact that he's spent the last several millennia pragmatically arranging and manipulating the various Western kingdoms to his and the Necessity's satisfaction, maintaining several families -- which Polgara notes, as she had enough trouble with just one (thought that "one" had a perpetual target on its back).
** However, it is also worth noting that some of it is just who he is, played up for dramatic effect, with the more serious parts of him hidden away: he is frequently found with a drink in hand (at one point Garion fondly thinks that Belgarath could probably find a cask of ale in a coal mine), he prefers passing as a tramp, and he is spectacularly dirty-minded.
* PapaWolf:
** To the ''world.'' Torak was not going to succed in taking it over on his watch.
** Less so to Polgara, since she can generally more than take care of herself, being an incredibly powerful sorceress.
** Less to Garion [[TookALevelInBadass after he becomes able to take care of himself]] after his powers emerged. (It's notable that the one time Chamdar faced him directly, just after murdering Garion's parents, the only thing that saved him was the fact that he threw Garion at the homicidally enraged Belgarath and ran like hell).
** However, he is ''definitely'' this to the rest of his family -- after the Rivan royal family (his descendants via Beldaran) are murdered in the back-story, he organises an ''epic'' RoaringRampageOfRevenge that more or less ''flattens'' Nyissa (though he ends up being kind to the Salmissra who nominally ordered it, as she was a TragicVillain and as much of a victim of [[ManBehindTheMan Zedar's]] scheme as the Rivan royal family).
** Speaking of Zedar, his being condemned to a FateWorseThanDeath was the result of killing [[spoiler: Durnik, Belgarath's future son-in-law]], and while Belgarath expresses genuine regret for it in his prequel, he also adds that if his suspicions surrounding the suicide of Belmakor, one of his fellow disciples (namely, that Zedar caused it) are ever confirmed, he'll go back there and put him "somewhere a lot less pleasant."
** He also spends a large chunk of ''The Malloreon'' in a state of TranquilFury after Geran is kidnapped by Zandramas, deciding ItsPersonal and, again, leading the expedition that destroys the Bear-Cult (who were partly involved), and then with Garion and company, going after Zandramas herself, making clear that he'll tear the world apart to get his grandson back.
* PhysicalGod: He's not on par with the actual gods, but barring Garion, he's the next best thing. Polgara, generally not prone to exaggerating, remarks both that the other disciples of Aldur (most of whom are {{Living Legend}}s in their own right) tend to defer to him as if he's a kind of demigod, and that if he wanted to, he could probably stop the sun in the sky. Poledra, her mother, also not prone to exaggerating, remarks that in a fit of irritation, he once threw a hammer ''into space.''
* RummageSaleReject: Deliberately. As it turns out, his clothes are actually much better crafted than they appear (the patches are for show).
* SilverFox: He's the oldest person in the world short of the gods and ''looks'' appropriately venerable for an aged sorcerer, albeit in the sense of someone who's aged well, yet gets his fair share of attention. When he strips to his briefs in ''The Malloreon'' to dive into a lake, he shows off his impressive physique in the process, getting [[EatingTheEyeCandy quite a reaction]] from Velvet, and makes her -- a [[TheSpymaster master spy]] good enough to keep Silk off-balance -- blush with a mere wink.
* TerrorHero:
** Let's put it this way: In the Angarak faith, he holds the roughly same position as Satan does in the Abrahamic religions. All Angaraks are utterly terrified of him, and Polgara plainly states when it looks like he might have lost his powers that fear of him is pretty much the one thing holding them back.
** He also sometimes veers into this when dealing with the Bear-Cult and the Nyissans. He's organised the suppression of the former on multiple occasions, and he once ''flattened'' Nyissa in response to their assassination of the Rivan royal family (at the behest of Zedar).
* TimeAbyss: Easily the oldest living human at 7,000 years old. Only the gods, the Necessities, and a certain tree have any time on him.
* TheTramp: Wanders the world dressed as a vagabond. As it happens, his clothes are all finely tailored, and their shabby appearance is just to allow him to blend in.
* UnderdressedForTheOccasion: Greets kings while dressed as a tramp -- and usually verbally flips them off if they've interrupted him from doing something important -- and has to be forced (usually by Polgara) into formal wear (the first time it happens, he ominously states, "someone's going to ''pay'' for this").
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Beldin, and his daughter, Polgara.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: He was born in the now long forgotten village of Gara, and was orphaned as a child (hence his name, Garath, which means "of the town of Gara" -- he's not strictly sure if it's his original name, but went with it). He ran away in his teens after getting a beating from a farmer whose daughter he got caught necking with, and ended up in Aldur's valley. When Torak split the world centuries later, Gara was destroyed, severing the last link to his past.
* WizardBeard: A short, clipped version.
* WizardClassic: In apparent age, definitely. He can put on the dress and the attitude when he wants to, though he usually has to be forced into the former by Polgara.

[[folder: Durnik]]
Garion's oldest and most loyal friend, Durnik was the smith at Faldor's farm and accompanied him and Polgara when Zedar stole the Orb. A deeply practical man with an enormous crush on Polgara, Durnik's bravery and common sense serve the company well on their trek across the world.

* AnAxeToGrind: Often uses his woodsman's axe in the first series and for a while in the second.
* BackFromTheDead: At the end of ''The Belgariad.'' One of only ''two'' exceptions in ''history'' to AllDeathsFinal -- and it's debatable whether Poledra was ever really dead to begin with.
* BadassNormal: Is an ordinary blacksmith with little formal battle training travelling among professional warriors and sorcerers. Still kicks ferocious amounts of ass (it helps that all that smithy work has made him ridiculously strong).
* TheBlacksmith: His primary trade.
* BoringButPractical: Durnik's ideas are rarely exciting or terribly complex, but they inevitably work.
** SimpleYetAwesome: Especially in ''The Malloreon'', where he really gets to shine.
* DeclarationOfProtection: He originally goes on the quest ''specifically'' to protect Polgara, with whom he has been hopelessly in love for years. [[spoiler:He has no idea that his presence, and his love for her, will save not only her sanity but ''the entire universe''.]]
* DissonantSerenity: Utterly calm despite the chaos that swirls around him during his battle with Nahaz.
* DropTheHammer: As a blacksmith he's quite proficient with one of these. In ''The Malloreon'' he gains a magic one from Aldur with similar properties to the Sword of the Rivan King.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: After he comes [[spoiler: BackFromTheDead.]]
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: ''Everyone'' knows how he feels about Polgara.
* GadgeteerGenius: He immediately understands what the Drasnian engineers are doing to hoist ships up a cliff, and was able to invent and arrange the construction of a cradle to help with moving the ships over land in about a ''day''.
* HiddenDepths: As mentioned under Garion's tab, he practically redefines the trope. Not only is he an excellent blacksmith, he's an adept woodworker, builder, woodsman, and good at more or less everything that can be done with his hands (unless it's too fiddly, like goldsmithing), as well as having talents as a GadgeteerGenius. He's also got a remarkable knack for negotiation thanks to horse-trading experience, as revealed in ''The Malloreon'', when he smoothly steers a touchy docker into being extremely helpful in a way that deeply impresses both Silk and Velvet, and he's an accomplished lutanist.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Garion. He's old enough to be the boy's father, being an established -- if young -- smith at a prosperous farm when Garion's a newborn baby (and [[spoiler: ends up marrying Polgara, [[ParentalSubstitute the nearest thing Garion has ever had to a mother]]]]), yet their relationship is very much that of two good friends.
* TheLancer: To Garion.
* MagicKnight: He's a huge, physical bruiser who becomes proficient in magic ''and'' gains a mystic hammer.
* NiceGuy: The bedrock of his character -- he's just a good ''person''. He's kind, steadfast, supportive, compassionate, and morally upright -- more so than any other character in the series, save possibly Eriond.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Recently [[spoiler: ascended to disciplehood and granted a mystic hammer and a power boost from Aldur]], Durnik delivers a brutal one to [[spoiler:the Demon Lord Nahaz]] at the conclusion of ''Sorceress of Darshiva''.
* NotSoStoic: Durnik almost ''never'' visibly loses his composure, but when he does, it's almost invariably because Polgara is hurt or in danger.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: At the beginning Durnik is just a Sendarian blacksmith in the company of a master spy/thief, a politically astute Cherek warrior who occasionally transforms into a giant bear, two incredibly powerful sorcerers, and a boy who happens to be TheChosenOne. He becomes more and more prominent as the story goes along, though.
* PowerGlows: [[spoiler: His hammer]] in the second series.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Polgara is something of a whirlwind, whereas he is rock-steady and unflappable. Even before they get together, he proves able to settle her down better than anyone else, and in ''The Malloreon'' he's clearly her bedrock.
* SecondLove: To Polgara, who lost her {{first love}} in the sack of Vo Wacune.
* SixthRanger: To the [[spoiler:Disciples of Aldur.]]
* TechnicalPacifist: He will avoid killing someone as best he can. He is such that he breaks down and weeps the first time he kills someone on purpose with an axe. After that he deliberately starts using a far less lethal wooden club in melee combat. He does not, however, have any qualms about leading someone to their own death, such as leading an enemy into a quicksand pit.
* TookALevelInBadass: Repeatedly, including [[spoiler:two assists from the gods.]]
* UnskilledButStrong: One of the reasons for his success as a fighter in the first series. Durnik may not be a warrior, but he's a big man and as a smith he possesses formidable upper body strength. He gains more talent [[spoiler:(and Talent)]] as the story progresses.
* UptownGirl: Polgara is an [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld ancient]], powerful, [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman gorgeous]] sorceress with titles from more or less every kingdom in the West, who has shaped the fates of nations for three thousand years, and is the daughter of the most powerful man in the world. Durnik is... a simple Sendarian blacksmith. She is ''way'' out of his league and he knows it -- but that doesn't stop her from falling in love with him. [[spoiler:Their love winds up ''saving the universe'', and he gets a serious level-up from the Gods because Destiny ''really'' wants Polgara to be happy.]]

[[folder: Barak]]
The Earl of Trellheim, and cousin to King Anheg of Cherek, Barak is a boisterous warrior who hides a dark secret--he is suffering under a curse that regularly transforms him into a beast. Unhappily married, and terrified of what he is becoming, Barak buries his fears under an uncaring facade, and devotes himself to the protection of Garion.

* AnAxeToGrind: He carries a war-axe along with his sword.
* BadassBeard: A typically Viking style one, and he is extremely badass.
%%* BeardOfBarbarism: All Chereks are Vikings at the end of the day.
%%* BearsAreBadNews: He's called "The Dreadful Bear" for a reason.%%Which is?
* TheBerserker: 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.
* TheBigGuy: He fulfils this role in ''Pawn of Prophecy''. In the later books he's the OnlySaneMan of TheBigGuy Band, doing his best to keep the likes of [[BloodKnight Hettar,]] [[KnightInShiningArmour Mandorallen,]] [[IdiotHero Lelldorin,]] and [[TheFundamentalist Relg]] in line.
* CursedWithAwesome: 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 (at least, until he can look after himself). A rampaging, unstoppable bear. At first he thinks it's just a progressive ailment and threatens suicide, but once he gets filled in on the trigger conditions (i.e. his family are now the hereditary protectors of Garion's family), he starts contemplating tasteful ways to work it into his coat of arms. Who wouldn't want to advertise that?
* DualWielding: With a sword in one hand and a battleaxe in the other.
%%* FieryRedhead: A male version.
* GeniusBruiser: A very good man in a fight, he's also very politically savvy, good at reading peoples' intentions, and has a philosophical way of looking at things.
* InTheBlood: His "curse" is inherited. His son, Unrak, turns into a bear when Garion's son, Geran is threatened.
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: Barak's hereditary "curse" is to turn into a bear when Garion is threatened.
%%* OddFriendship: With Silk.
* OnlySaneMan: As far as the BigGuy band is concerned -- Hettar's a BloodKnight entirely focused on his RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Murgos (until he gets married), Relg is a heroic version of TheFundamentalist having mellowed somewhat, Lelldorin is a master archer and Robin Hood archetype with very few brains and even less common sense, and Mandorallen is a KnightInShiningArmour who entirely seriously suggests that the lot of them take on ''the entire Mallorean army.'' Barak's entirely understandable response to the latter suggestion is to put his head down on the table and cry.
* {{Protectorate}}: Garion's family is this to Barak's family.
* RoaringRampageOfRescue: This is his literal purpose in life. If Garion is in danger, Barak turns into a bear and shreds anyone in his path until he can reach Garion.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Cousin to King Anheg of Cherek, Earl of Trellheim, Clan-Chief, and all around useful badass.

[[folder: Kheldar (Silk)]]
->''"Trust me."''

A Prince of the Drasnian royal house, and one of his nation's finest intelligence agents, Silk is a bad little man with an innumerable amount of disagreeable habits -- not least of which is his loose understanding of the finer points of property ownership. A thief, a gambler, and a drunk, Silk is nonetheless one of the most valued members of the party from Sendaria, and one of Garion's closest friends after Durnik.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Silk is the greatest spy that Drasnia has ever produced, but he's also idiosyncratic to a fault. It's why he's never appointed "Hunter" (the top agent of Drasnian Intelligence) or given an administrative role. His fellow Drasnian spies describe him as "brilliant but erratic".
* BloodKnight: Though normally not afflicted by any Alorn tendencies towards this, he becomes positively giddy at the thought of testing his kung fu against a senior Dagashi (a cult of Murgo assassins).
* {{Claustrophobia}}: After Relg helped him escape a pit by walking through rock walls. He shows signs of mild claustrophobia in the initial trip through the caves of Ulgo. His experience with Relg later made it worse.
* CombatPragmatist: Like Belgarath, Silk never met a fair fight he liked, a trait that both of them pass on to Garion.
%%* DeconfirmedBachelor: [[spoiler:Thanks to Liselle]] in ''The Malloreon.''
* Fiction500: At one point in the ''Malloreon'', Zakath is wondering if Silk's holdings in the empire should be shut down. One of his advisers points out that if they ''did'', the empire's economy would collapse.
* GentlemanThief: He mostly steals for the fun of it, an attitude he extends to his at least nominally legitimate dealings as a businessman.
* GoToAlias: He apparently has several, but his favourites are the down-on-his-luck spice merchant Ambar of Kotu, and the far more successful wholesaler Radek of Boktor.
** Technically, Silk is one too, since having his real identity (that he is Prince Kheldar, the nephew and heir of the king of Drasnia) public knowledge would be bad.
** This takes on extra layer in Mallorea, when he uses "Prince Kheldar" as, effectively, a persona in its own right on the grounds that no one takes you seriously in Melcene unless you have a title.
* GuileHero: Silk is excellent at reading people, predicting people, telling lies, spying, and using his enemies' own vices (e.g. greed) against them.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: If he likes you, he's sarcastic. If he doesn't like you, he's sarcastic. If he's worried, he's sarcastic. If he's feeling fine, he's sarcastic. Only a few things ever break through his shell of smartassery.
* KnifeNut: Carries at least three knives on his person at all times.
* LethalChef: He's an absolutely terrible cook.
* LoveableRogue: He's charming, funny, and cheerfully acknowledges that he's a morally terrible person -- it helps that he ''does'' have some standards. As Belgarath observes in his prequel, it's perfectly okay to ''like'' Silk... it's just an absolutely terrible idea to trust him.
* ManipulativeBastard: Silk's fast-talk and ability to manipulate others are his main assets. [[spoiler: His wife turns out to be just as good at it as he is.]]
* MayDecemberRomance: He's about twenty years older than [[spoiler: Liselle]].
* MerchantPrince: After the events of ''The Belgariad'', Silk forms a partnership with Yarblek and by ''The Malloreon'' is one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.
* TheNavigator: His epithet in the Prophecy is "the Guide". As he frequently tell Belgarath, "I know a back way out of every place."
* NonIdleRich: Professional spy, occasional assassin, and one of the richest men in the world through extremely successful merchant venturing.
* ProfessionalKiller: He's one of Drasnia's go-to men when assassination is required.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: At one point during ''The Malloreon'', certain parties conspire to have one of Silk's fellow spies killed. The woman in question is an old friend (and enemy, but only professionally), but someone Silk had immense respect for. His response to their conspiracy eventually causes a mass exodus of all the most powerful people related to the plot, surrounded by guards, and many of them simply do not make it out. It becomes a bit more stark when you realize the progression of his revenge. The first two nights he tries to make it look like natural or accidental deaths by smothering them with their pillows or tossing them out third story windows. The third night, Silk abandons all pretexts and takes it UpToEleven by just knifing each of his targets.
* SadClown: While he cracks jokes every other line, prior to the first series, his life is pretty miserable. His mother, formerly one of the most beautiful women in Drasnia, was horribly scarred and blinded by a plague some years before the series and doesn't know that she's been scarred, and he spends the first series hopelessly in love with [[spoiler: his uncle's [[MayDecemberRomance much younger second wife, Porenn]]]] -- who is very fond of him, but nothing more, and furthermore, [[spoiler: his uncle]] is one of the very few people he respects enough to never try anything with [[spoiler: Porenn]], even if she were interested.
* SarcasticDevotee: One of his less popular features. At one point, when he has to take charge, Garion notes that he understands now why Belgarath was so consistently irritated at Silk throughout the entire series -- leadership is hard enough without someone standing behind you providing a sarcastic running commentary.
* SpareToTheThrone: His uncle is the King of Drasnia, and for the longest time, Silk was his heir. The day that his cousin Crown Prince Kheva was born, Drasnia and Silk both breathed a deep sigh of relief.
* UnrequitedLove: For [[spoiler: his aunt-by-marriage, Queen Porenn]], who is genuinely very fond of him and aware of his feelings, but as is made explicit, does not share them, being very HappilyMarried. He gets over her, and marries [[spoiler: Liselle]] instead.
* TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone: A self-aware one. Silk is well aware that he would be a terrible king, and wants nothing less than to take his beloved uncle's throne. When his cousin, Kheva, is born, both he and Drasnia breathe a significant sigh of relief.

[[folder: Hettar]]
A silent Algarian horseman, Hettar is the adoptive son of Clan-Chief Cho-Hag. Born with the ability to speak to horses, Hettar was left a bitter, damaged man when a band of Murgo raiders murdered his parents and left him for dead when he was seven years old.

* AntiHero: Hettar's habit of killing every Murgo he comes across is bad enough in the first series, but pushes him firmly into antihero territory once the Murgos become more fleshed out in the sequel. In mitigation, it should be said that the Murgos he would have encountered would probably have mostly been soldiers, raiders, or Grolims/Agents of Torak and his disciples, with the Murgo civilians being generally well behind enemy lines.
* BeastMaster: As a Sha-Dar, he speaks to and effectively controls horses.
* TheBigGuy: A member of The Big FiveManBand; he plays Lancer to Barak.
* BloodKnight: Where Murgos are concerned, his day is incomplete if he doesn't kill at least a few, something that is mostly PlayedForLaughs during ''The Belgariad'' -- though it is pointed to as an irrational compulsion that risks derailing their mission, and by Hettar's own account, his adoptive father Cho-Hag took him on a counter-raid hoping that once he killed a Murgo or two he'd get the obsession out of his system (needless to say, it didn't work). It's downplayed in ''The Malloreon'' as part of his CharacterDevelopment, while the Murgos get more development in their own right, and in Belgarath's prequel and her own, Polgara flat out states that as a child, he's on the verge of becoming a proper monster.
* TheDreaded: He's a nightmare figure among the Murgos.
* FightsLikeANormal: The ability to talk to horses is pretty useful, but won't help much in a fight.
* FreudianExcuse: His hate of the Murgos stems from the fact that a band of Murgo raiders murdered his parents while he was still a kid and forced him to watch.
* HappilyAdopted: By Cho-Hag.
* HappilyMarried: In the sequel.
* TheQuietOne: He doesn't speak much.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: It should be noted that a good chunk of the Murgos he killed are indeed working for Torak, and none of them are civilians.
* {{Revenge}}: Seeks to depopulate Cthol Murgos singlehandedly in vengeance for a Murgo raid that killed his parents. He has to be physically restrained by his friends to prevent him killing Murgos at inopportune times. CharacterDevelopment has it that by the end of ''The Malloreon'' he has gotten over this and can walk into a city filled with Murgos without any homicidal urges. His wife probably helped a lot there.
* SerialKiller: How the Murgos view him, and they're not entirely wrong -- as Polgara notes in both prequels, as a boy he's on the verge of becoming an outright monster.
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Speaks Fluent Horse.
* TheStoic: He tends to be the straight man as a result.
* TerrorHero: What Belgarath is to the Murgos from the supernatural side of things, Hettar is from the more mundane end.
* WarriorPrince: The adopted son of Cho-Hag, King of Algaria.

[[folder: Ce'Nedra]]
The opinionated, pushy, and at times downright insufferable daughter of Tolnedran Emperor Ran Borune, Ce'Nedra is Garion's destined fiancee -- a fact that both of them are unaware of when they first meet. Arrogant and hotheaded, Ce'Nedra spends an inordinate amount of time fighting with Garion, or jockeying for position within the company. Her political skills are, however, second-to-none, and when she has to, Ce'Nedra can easily live up to her Prophetic nickname of "The Queen of the World".

* ACupAngst: Her related argument with an unsympathetic armourer is ''hilarious.''
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Ce'Nedra initially does not believe in sorcery, despite having the ability to talk to trees as a result of her Dryad heritage. Her Tolnedran upbringing has a lot to do with this.
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Garion to a truly hysterical degree. It continues long after they're married.
* BlingOfWar: Wears golden armour to impress the troops. It's justified as the armour isn't meant to protect her and she's not going to do any fighting. It's solely for its appearance. [[spoiler:The armor is also polished brazen alloy and not actual gold, because the armorer drew the line at that point.]]
* BrainwashedAndCrazy, In ''The Malloreon'', due to Zandramas' sorcery. And Harakan's. She's kind of a magnet for this stuff -- [[FridgeBrilliance probably because she's the only member of the party without some kind of mental defences.]]
* BreakTheHaughty: Throughout ''Queen of Sorcery'' and ''Magician's Gambit''.
* ChainmailBikini: Justified, believe it or not. Ce'Nedra intends to speak to an army, and it's very important that she look like a queen and not a little girl (or boy). Problem is, she's very flat. So she has an armourer solve her problem (after a very long debate).
* TheChick: Well, somebody had to do it, and she makes the best of it, being crucial in raising the armies of the West in the last two books of ''The Belgariad'' that give Garion his necessary distraction. And not just the Alorns, who were all going anyway, either. She talks round the Arends, whose constituent Mimbrate and Asturian noblemen hate each other and suspect treachery at the drop of a hate, and whose serfs are in such an awful situation that they don't really care for honour, glory, or national pride (she gets around this by offering them decent meals), and her country's Legions by dangling the prospect of the red gold of Cthol Murgos under their noses.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: She comes up with a darkly hilarious example in ''The Malloreon'' when a Corporal who she interceded for after he got demoted (and owing to the hierarchies of Mal Zeth, evicted) for drinking on duty gets drunk again. He's brought in, stone-fucking drunk, and she's solicited for her opinion by 'Zakath. Absently examining her nails, she dismissively says, "oh, hang him", before going back to complaining about how she's split a nail. Cue the Corporal immediately sobering up and begging for his life. Afterwards, she suggests to a stunned 'Zakath that he be spared and sent back to his wife, ''but'' a gallows should be built outside his house and left there so he'll have a reminder any time he feels thirsty.
-->'''Zakath''': You ''married'' this woman?\\
'''Garion''': It was arranged by our families, really.\\
'''Ce'Nedra''': Be nice, Garion.
* DamselInDistress: Garion does rescue her a couple of times, which is unsurprising, considering that she's often InHarmsWay because of circumstances, physically very petite (at one point, she bluntly asks if there's a warrior in the entire ''world'' small enough for her to fight), and untrained in combat. However, she makes up for it near the end of the first series by deciding that since he needs a distraction, she'll provide one: by raising an absolutely ''enormous'' multinational army.
* DarkSkinnedRedhead: Dark, almost golden skin, flaming red hair.
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: She raises an ''international army'' just to provide cover for Garion sneaking off to fight [[BigBad Torak]].
%%* FieryRedhead: Very much so.
* GenderEqualsBreed: Every Borune woman and any daughters she has are Dryads, but their sons are completely human -- though on the smaller side, like their Dryad relatives. Because magic.
* GenerationXerox: Ce'Nedra is virtually identical in appearance, voice and personality to every Borune woman since the Dryads entered the family line. This is suggested to be related to the fact that they're technically full-blood Dryads.
* GirlPosse: A non-villainous example -- Ce'Nedra is able to establish a clique of friends among the local women wherever she goes.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Her mother was a Dryad. Technically, there's no "half" -- [[OneGenderRace female children of Dryads are always Dryads]].
* HappilyMarried: To Garion in the finale of ''The Belgariad'' and throught out ''The Malloreon''.
* HeroesWantRedheads: Garion, though it takes him a while to realise it.
* HiddenDepths: Beneath her self-centred facade and occasional immaturity lies a consummate manipulator, an accomplished politician charismatic enough to ''raise an international army'', a surprisingly resilient personality (she puts up with traipsing all over the world in a way that Garion explicitly notes that Zubrette, a farm girl, couldn't) and, of course, a MasterActor to hide it all. It takes some time for Garion to realise that there's more to her than a RoyalBrat.
* InelegantBlubbering: Polgara tells her she shouldn't cry in public; she hasn't got the right coloring for it.
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: For a given value of "innocent". Tolnedra is an equatorial country and much warmer than the Alorn kingdoms, and Dryads often dress very [[{{Stripperiffic}} minimally]], so Ce'Nedra often wears skimpy clothing and has a tendency towards casual nudity -- the "innocent" part is in doubt because she's completely aware of the effect this has on Garion and does it to tease him. This behaviour led to the elderly Sendarian ambassador resigning his post after walking in on her in lingerie -- which she casually modelled for him, asking his opinion on each piece. His next dispatch home contained a plaintive appeal to be allowed to retire.
* ItsAllAboutMe: She eventually grows out of it.
* LawOfInverseFertility: In ''Guardians Of The West'', the stability of half the world rests on her ability to get pregnant, and it eventually takes magical intervention from the Queen of the Dryads herself to make it happen. However, this is implied to be simply a matter of getting the ball rolling, as after the main plot of ''the Malloreon'' comes to an end, it's implied that with their respective lifespans, she and Belgarion will have a ''lot'' of children.
* JerkAss: For most of the first series, shading into JerkWithAHeartOfGold following her BreakTheHaughty experiences and the resultant CharacterDevelopment.
%%* KeepTheHomeFiresBurning:
* LethalChef: Ce'Nedra's cooking is only edible by a very loose definition of the term. Garion dutifully, if somewhat reluctantly, eats it anyway.
%%* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Until Book 4.
%%* MamaBear: After [[spoiler: Geran is kidnapped.]]
* ManipulativeBastard:
** Goads her own father into a fit at one point, just to get what she wants, something that startles even Polgara (who's entirely capable of this trope herself). Since she knew that it would simply incapacitate him for about an hour, without doing permanent damage, and thus give her the chance to go behind his back and ''steal his entire army'' (which she needed to back up Garion), it's not as bad as it immediately sounds, and her father later looks back on the incident with genuine pride, wistfully remarking on what an Emperor she would have made if she'd been born a boy.
** In the sequel series, she's the only one who gets ''anything'' out of the inhabitants of Kell, by going into full inane babble mode.
* MotorMouth: She can talk. A lot. And she's been known to weaponise it.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: She has a reputation as a vapid pretty princess, but she's much smarter than she looks, and she's not above using her image to her advantage.
* PaperThinDisguise: Shortly after her first appearance she tries to get out of going to Riva by sneaking out of Tol Honeth with dyed hair and an increasingly unconvincing false identity. It doesn't work, and even if it had, she almost immediately runs into the protagonists, who take her to Riva anyway. BecauseDestinySaysSo.
* PlantPerson: Dryads have an intimate relationship with trees, and live as long as their oak does.
* RebelliousPrincess: Initially, though while her father puts up with it, Polgara absolutely doesn't.
* RousingSpeech: She's damn good at this. In fact it's why she was born in the first place. However, doing so takes a toll on her, one that builds up over time.
%%* SpoiledBrat: She grows out of this -- eventually.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Dryad names always have an X in them, but hers seems to break the rule. In ''The Malloreon'' it's explained that it's supposed to be spelled "X'Nedra", but that Tolnedran speech patterns soften the pronunciation of the "X" to "Ce". Her mother, Xvanne, was called Cevanne by Ran Borune. After a moment of trying to pronounce it, Garion decides to keep calling her Ce'Nedra. At the end of ''The Malloreon'', Garion also muses that he's pretty sure she's privately added an "X" someplace of their daughter Beldaran's name.
* StandardHeroReward: She is literally described as Garion's "reward" for defeating Torak at their wedding. By the presiding priest. In almost those exact words. Considering that Garion went to some trouble to ensure her status as his co-ruler and equal, ensuring that she's ''not'' just considered an ornament, she doesn't mind too much.
* TantrumThrowing: She's thrown some impressive ones. Amusingly, for her a tantrum is almost like a performance art. Often when she's incensed she will calmly examine her location to assess how well it can be used for her self-expression, and if there aren't enough things to throw and/or break, or the room is otherwise unsatisfactory, she will hold her fire in until she finds a more suitable stage for her performance.
* {{Tsundere}}: Ce'Nedra makes most anime Tsunderes look ''amateurish''. A good capsule description of her is "[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Asuka]], only having traded in all of her self-esteem issues for even more self-centeredness." In fact, setting aside the ZettaiRyouiki qualification, she's possibly the ultimate ShanaClone, surpassing all animated and Japanese versions with ease. Some parts of the books are told from her point of view. It's truly fascinating to read her inner monologue, she can literally go from adoring Garion to hating him like the plague in the subsequent sentence, and vice versa. It dies down somewhat after they get married and the two of them mellow somewhat.

[[folder: Sir Mandorallen, Baron of Vo Mandor]]
->''"I pray thee, be moderate in thine address. Even I might experience some difficulty in facing the massed legions of all Tolnedra."''

The greatest knight in all of Arendia, by both his own, and everybody else's, admittance. Totally convinced of his invincibility Mandorallen is, in truth, very nearly as good as he thinks he is, and despite his towering egotism, is perhaps the ultimate example of a KnightInShiningArmour.

* BadassNormal: All the crazy stuff we mention in this entry? He does it with no powers or supernatural aid of any kind.
* TheBigGuy: The most archetypal example. In the Big FiveManBand he's Big Squared. Oddly, though, he's described as not being much taller than average, or particularly bulky.
* BoisterousBruiser: Mandorallen is always spoiling for a chance to demonstrate his prowess.
* CasualDangerDialog: Just see his quote line -- and note that he's not being sarcastic; he still fancies his chances.
* TheChampion: Ce'Nedra's. He got the position after he saved her from a lion ''by killing it with his bare hands''.
* DeadpanSnarker: Possibly. It's quite hard to tell, thanks to his utter sincerity, but there's one or two moments. For instance, shortly after he first appears, one knight insults him and he explains that he can't "chastise" the man as he'd like to because he's a distant relative -- which the knight exploits to build up a reputation for courage.
-->'''Barak''': Stupid custom. Chereks kill relatives with more enthusiasm than strangers.\\
'''Mandorallen''': Alas, this is not Cherek.
* TheDreaded: He's the most feared man in Arendia. Even Lelldorin and the other Asturians grudgingly respect his reputation. By the sequel series, it gets to the point where he's world famous.
* DumbMuscle: And rather proud of it -- though under the BoisterousBruiser attitude, he's [[HiddenDepths much sharper than expected.]]
* FloweryInsults: Mandorallen far exceeds all others when it comes to this, particularly in the closing chapters of The Malloreon where he spends nearly two full pages insulting a young hot-headed baron.
%%* HappilyMarried: Eventually.
* HeroicBastard: He is "The Bastard of Vo Mandor" due to some irregularities surrounding his birth, and people remarking on the need to get that ironed out becomes a RunningGag.
* HiddenDepths: Mandorallen isn't overly burdened with common sense, but he's still got plenty of depth beneath his KnightInShiningArmour exterior, and is far more socially intuitive than many members of the group -- see ManipulativeBastard.
* HonorBeforeReason: In the first book of ''The Malloreon'', Mandorallen, Relg, Barak, Hettar and Lelldorin were forbidden to accompany Garion and the others on the quest to retrieve Garion's son. Later on, they are told by Queen Porenn that Emperor Zakath intends to send the bulk of his Imperial Army in pursuit of Garion and his crew. Mandorallen, in all seriousness, stands up and proposes that their Big FiveManBand go to Mallorea and take on the ''entire Mallorean army'' in order to keep them off Garion's back. [[OnlySaneMan Barak,]] in response to this, just puts his head down on the table and cries.
* HotBlooded: He'll ride into a fight at the drop of a hat.
* InvincibleHero: On a mundane level. If it's even theoretically possible to kill by force of arms, Mandorallen can kill it -- with his bare hands, if need be, as demonstrated in the lion example, and not only is he not joking in his folder quote, it's not entirely impossible that he could do it.
* KnightInShiningArmor: Mandorallen is the archetype, if it somehow gained a life of its own.
* LargeHam: To lovingly parodic extents.
* LoveTriangle: His love is married to an older man she respects far too much to cheat on. For that matter Mandorallen respects them both too much to ask her to -- especially since the older man helped raise him. Plus the husband, well aware of the situation, ''also'' respects both of them so much he would never think of putting an end to it or doubting their loyalty -- and also starts taking up dangerous hobbies to try and get himself out of the way. InUniverse, "a whole generation of Arendish virgins has cried themselves to sleep" over their tragic tale. Eventually settled when her husband dies and Garion orders the two to get married in order to ''settle'' all this crap. And they do, ending a war in the process.
* ManipulativeBastard: Astonishingly, he's actually very capable of this, when he plays on Lelldorin's rigid devotion to duty to save his life: Lelldorin had been seriously wounded and was insisting on coming with the heroes, despite the fact it would probably kill him to do so. Mandorallen bluntly and harshly pointed out that in his condition, he would slow them down when they couldn't afford to waste time. Lelldorin, humiliated, stops resisting and miserably submits to treatment. When Garion angrily confronts him, Mandorallen calmly explains his reasoning, and that this was the one argument that would actually get through Lelldorin's stubbornness and thereby save his life. Garion promptly apologises.
** It might be InTheBlood -- his distant maternal ancestress, Countess Asrana, appears in Polgara's prequel as a close friend of Polgara's while she's in Arendia, and proves to be a very accomplished manipulator under a pretty and harmless exterior.
* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: The scene below under OneManArmy gets cut short by [[spoiler:Chamdar using magic to]] [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands make him drop his sword]].
* OddFriendship: With the NotSoDifferent Lelldorin. They go from hereditary enemies to BashBrothers -- as in, in ''The Malloreon'', when Lelldorin hears that Mandorallen has got involved in a war with another local Baron, he goes to back him up. So far, so expected. The special part is that ''[[TheCavalry he brings an army with him.]]'' Conversely, at the end of the series, a young Mimbrate Baron insults Lelldorin, who's about to take this personally. Mandorallen promptly steps in, insisting that since they're in Mimbre, it's his responsibility to address this insult. He promptly gives a detailed ReasonYouSuckSpeech to the young upstart, before throwing down his gauntlet and "missing" the floor. He then proceeds to beat the crap out of said Baron in a jousting match with surgical precision, being described as "peeling" him out of his armour, before openly challenging everyone in the court who shares his prejudices to step up and get it out of the way. Ironically, this turns out to be InTheBlood, or at the very least, another incident of things repeating themselves -- their ancestors around the time of the Battle of Vo Mimbre, five centuries before, became similarly close.
* OneManArmy: He ''is'' basically unstoppable. At one point, he points out to a minor villain that his plans to [[spoiler:reach the crown by killing Ce'Nedra]] made the small mistake of placing himself, surrounded by a century of light-armored legionaries, within reach of a fully armoured, mounted Mandorallen: "Thy soldiers will be as blades of grass before me", he said, and was NOT bluffing. It becomes a NegatedMomentOfAwesome, since said villain is backed up by Chamdar, a perfectly capable sorcerer, but he still qualifies.
* ParodySue: Mandorallen is an AffectionateParody of the knights from medieval fairy tales and Arthurian lore- virtually invincible, brave, noble beyond reproach and respected by his peers. Nonetheless, he is absolutely devoid of common sense, he constantly throws himself into avoidable danger, he lacks the emotional maturity to handle fear (he's never actually felt it before), and that same HonorBeforeReason attitude that makes him so heroic is also the cause of many problems in his life.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Played with in that Mandorallen skips the "butcherede" part by using it correctly and fluently, oh ''so'' '''very''' fluently. He does not ''write'' flowery one-page monologues in that style, the reaction to which of other [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness Arendish courtiers]] is to spend whole nights frantically writing answers to be able to compete with him; he ''improvises'' them.
-->'''Mandorallen:''' ''(bowing to the throne)'' Lord King, gladly do I greet thee and the members of thy court, and dare to call ye all kinsmen. I presume to bear thee warmest greetings from their Majesties, King Korodullin and Queen Mayaserana, monarchs of well-loved Arendia, for, doubtless, as soon as I return to Vo Mimbre and reveal that those who were once lost are now joyfully found again, their Majesties' eyes will fill to overflowing with tears of thanksgiving, and they shall embrace thee from afar, if needs be, as a brother, and, as great Chaldan gives me strength, shall I presently return to thy magnificent city with missives top-filled with their regard and affection which shall, methinks, presage a soon-to-be accomplished reunion (may I dare even hope, a reunification) of the dissevered branches of the holy blood of sacred Arendia.
-->'''Zakath:''' ''(murmuring to Garion with some awe)'' He managed to say all that in one sentence?\\
'''Garion:''' ''(murmuring back)'' Two, I think.

[[folder: Relg]]
--> "''Don't touch me.''"

An Ulgo religious fanatic with a horror of being touched and an obsessive need to maintain his own purity, Relg is staggeringly judgemental--of both himself and of others. Needed by the company for his ability to walk through solid rock, Relg slowly loosens up, especially once the Prophecy starts throwing the Marag woman Taiba at him.

* BadassPreacher: He may be TheFundamentalist and spend all his time {{Wangst}}ing about sin (until the final book of the first series), but he's also an incredibly strong KnifeNut who can ''submerge you inside solid rock'' without breaking a sweat.
* BlindfoldedVision: Relg has to wear a blindfold when above ground, since his eyes are hypersensitive to light. The Prophecy refers to him as "The Blind Man", a play on both this, and his inability to see past his own problems.
* TheBigGuy: Big Smart, becoming a respected spiritual leader, squashing a suggested madcap plan by the Big Guy Band in the second series on theological grounds (related to the Prophecy) with nary a whisper of protest.
* CharacterDevelopment: One of the biggest examples in the series, going from haughty ItsAllAboutMe fundamentalist, to fundamentalist who's prone to {{Wangst}} over sin (tied to his previous ego trip, following [[BreakTheHaughty a very blunt conversation with Ul]]) and sexuality in particular, to well-balanced, happily married and well respected spiritual leader. His authority in the latter respect is sufficient that when the Big Guy Band are scheming over ways to get around the Prophecy and its restrictions on their involvement in ''The Malloreon'', he squashes their first suggestion and doesn't get a murmur of protest, and the second plan (which is a bit more reasonable -- still ridiculous, but doesn't risk the Prophecy) only goes ahead with his say so.
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Hence the blindfold.
* FirstTimeInTheSun: Relg had never been above the ground before Belgarath hauled him along on his quest. The sun hurt his eyes, and the seemingly empty sky terrifies him. By the second series, he's got used to it and isn't bothered by normal sunlight.
* TheFundamentalist: He starts out insistent on hours of daily prayer and ritual cleansing from sin. He later mellows into a much more sensible, but still genuinely devout, version of this trope. This gets him a great deal more respect from the rest of the cast, as shown in the sequel.
* [[spoiler:HappilyMarried: To Taiba]]
* HeManWomanHater: He believes that AllWomenAreLustful and resents them for [[SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny supposedly trying to tempt him into sin at every turn.]] Garion's internal monologue, since he's unwillingly TheConfidant to Relg, notes many of the inconsistencies in this approach. [[CharacterDevelopment He gets over it eventually,]] [[spoiler: marrying Taiba.]]
* IntangibleMan: Relg can pass through rock like water and take people with him, or [[BuriedAlive leave them in there]].
* ItsAllAboutMe: His problem at first. [[BreakTheHaughty UL forcibly sets him straight.]]
* KnifeNut: Carries a heavy, hook-pointed Ulgo knife.
* TheLeader: Of the Big Guy Band in ''The Malloreon'', to an extent -- mainly because the only other member with sanity and/or brains, Barak, thinks it's all a horrible idea.
* LethalHarmlessPowers: Relg can use his ability to move through solid rock for combat purposes, by pushing enemies into the rock and leaving them to suffocate.
* SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny: Although in his case it's more like "Being In The General Vicinity Of A Woman Is Evil, And I Have A Normal Sex Drive". He gets over it, much to everyone's relief.
* TunnelKing: Relg moves through solid rock with ease.

[[folder: Lelldorin]]
-->''(Lelldorin gives a detailed account of how he stole Baron Oltorain's sister, married her without his consent, broke his leg, assaulted several of his people -- and a priest (who "had it coming"), run his cousin Torasin through the leg -- "just a little bit", and was "sort of" been declared an outlaw in Arendia.)''
-->'''Garion:''' ''"You managed to get into that much trouble in just a week?"''

An Asturian patriot with more eagerness than brains, Lelldorin becomes fast friends with Garion after briefly joining up with the company. Constantly in trouble due to his inability to think things through, Lelldorin means well, and usually manages to do more good than harm.

* AffectionateParody: Of RobinHood and the swashbuckling hero archetype.
* AltarTheSpeed: Lelldorin smacks a priest around until he agrees to marry he and Arianna. Done to prevent her from being shamed by travelling with a man who is not her husband. HilarityEnsues, to a [[UpToEleven degree]] that the one line so descriptive of Lelldorin as to be his page quote (see above) is not said '''by''' him, but '''to''' him.
* BashBrothers: With Mandorallen, eventually, to the point where they become ThoseTwoGuys, much to Garion's private despair. Both are extremely brave, extremely noble, and extremely devoid of any common sense whatsoever.
* TheBigGuy: Big Chick.
* BrainlessBeauty: Male version. He's described as very good looking, and utterly devoid of brains.
* BrainsAndBrawn: Generally serves as the Brawn to Garion's Brains -- or rather, Garion usually points out the flaws in whatever insane scheme Lelldorin's got himself caught up in this time.
* CripplingOverspecialisation: Best archer of his generation who has ImprobableAimingSkills and can identify his own arrows among thousands in the dark, pretty good fencer, skilled dancer, competent actor, and total idiot at every other aspect of life.
* TheDitz: He has no brains whatsoever. As Ce'Nedra's internal monologue notes when she first meets him, in his eyes she can see a vast sincerity and absolutely no intelligence, whatsoever.
* {{Flynning}}: When Lelldorin first met Garion, Garion had just pulled him off his horse and attacked him with a sword. As they fight, Garion quickly realises that Lelldorin (who is a much better fencer at that time), is deliberately using inefficient and flashy moves, and avoiding actually hitting him because he's enjoying the duel so much and wants to prolong it as much as possible.
* GoodIsDumb: Very, very good, and very, ''very'' stupid.
* HappilyMarried: To Ariana. They adore each other. Most characters hope that she'll temper his lack of brains and sense. Unfortunately, while she's much smarter than he is, she also adores him so much that their shared glances are repeatedly described as being completely devoid of any kind of sense whatsoever.
* HiddenDepths: He's actually a decent actor, being able to play the part of a [[TheQuisling collaborating Asturian]] very well, when required. That's about as far as it goes.
* HonorBeforeReason: He's as bad as Mandorallen -- worse, in fact, since while Mandorallen has a few brains, genuine HiddenDepths, and a surprising degree of social intelligence, Lelldorin has none whatsoever of any of the above.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: He's an extraordinarily skilled archer.
* LetsYouAndhimFight: His first encounter with Garion was the latter attacking him unprovoked and trying to run him through with is sword. Not that Lelldorin minded, he enjoys a good scrap.
* LoveMakesYouStupid: Although to be fair, he wasn't exactly winning any Nobel Prizes to begin with. It's more dramatic with Ariana, who ''is'' genuinely very intelligent, leading to Garion hoping that she'll mitigate his more ridiculous tendencies... before he very quickly realises that these hopes are in vain, as all her common sense goes out the window when he's around.
* OddFriendship: With Mandorallen. They're hereditary enemies, but quickly find they're NotSoDifferent and develop into BashBrothers, to the point that in the sequel series, Mandorallen gets into trouble and Lelldorin responds by ''raising an army''. Also in the sequel series, a Mimbrate Baron insults Lelldorin to his face, and Mandorallen responds by throwing down his gauntlet and [[BlatantLies "missing"]] the floor, instead hitting the Baron in the face, before beating the crap out of him with surgical precision in a jousting match, then challenging anyone else who shares such views to step on up.
* PluckyComicRelief: He's Garion's comedy sidekick. Things usually [[HilarityEnsues take a turn for the hilarious]] when he's around, and get darker [[ShooOutTheClowns when he's not]], and vice versa. For instance, Garion arrives in Riva after the very tense latter half of the quest to retrieve the Orb, which very nearly [[spoiler: killed Belgarath and was feared to have destroyed or severely reduced his powers]], and runs into Lelldorin. Lelldorin immediately regales him with the increasingly ridiculous story of how he ended up having eloped with his nurse, Ariana, (who was also his host's sister, and a Mimbrate, and thus an ancestral enemy), accidentally broke the leg of said host while trying to escape, beat up the priest who initially refused to marry them (at least nominally to protect Ariana's reputation), got into a duel with his prejudiced cousin for what he said about Ariana and running him through the leg ("just a little bit"), ending up being declared an outlaw in Arendia... ''all in the space of a single week.'' Unsurprisingly, Garion is left helpless with laughter.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Develops into this with Mandorallen, to Garion's despair, since neither of them has even the slightest bit of common sense.
* UndyingLoyalty: To Garion, Mandorallen (eventually) and anyone else he considers a friend. It's both his best quality and greatest weakness -- one of his first actions in the series is to insist on Garion knowing every detail of a plot to rebel against the crown that he is part of, since Garion is his friend and he trusts him totally. Despite the fact that he literally met Garion that day. It also makes him -- in Garion's view -- the best person to help him search for the would-be Rivan assassin, since he'll keep it quiet simply because Garion asks him too.
* WrongGenreSavvy: To a certain extent. He acts as if he lives in a universe that runs on fantasy tropes, which he does, but he thinks he's the noble rebel outlaw, when in fact he's the comedy sidekick in Garion's story. However, once he finds out that Garion is TheHero, he happily accepts his supporting role.

[[folder: The Orb of Aldur (Cthrag Yaska)]]
A mystic stone that Aldur recovered from a river, the Orb is intimately connected to the Prophecy, and has the power to reshape the entire world at a whim. It can only be used by members of the Rivan King's family, around whom it tends to act like an overly helpful dog.