History YMMV / TheBelgariad

* EvilIsSexy:
** Described by all characters as a very beautiful woman, and proves to be a very sensuous character, Salmissra attempts to seduce Garion to her side, and use him for her own most likely nefarious purposes. Very nearly succeeds.
** PlayedWith regarding Zandramas - she's apparently gorgeous, but she spends most of her time hooded, slowly [[spoiler: transforms into a HumanoidAbomination made of stars]], and her one attempt to seduce Garion is pretty much laughed at.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Eddings liked to brag about how revolutionary Ce'Nedra was as a female character in the High Fantasy genre. Nowadays, she seems like more of a cliché.

* TooDumbToLive: Ctuchik when he tries to unmake the Orb of Aldur (which was very near Garion) in a moment of panic, the conduit for one of the Purposes of the Universe. The Universe rebounds Ctuchik's attempt back on him, [[CessationOfExistence deleting him from existence.]] In fairness, he knew exactly who Garion was, so he had reason to panic. Also implied to be why there are so few sorcerers who possess the Will and the Word: many who awaken it may end up unmaking themselves.

* TrappedByMountainLions: In ''The Malloreon'', the Big Guy Band from the first series (Barak, Hettar, Relg, Mandorallen, and Lelldorin) spends a significant portion of the story having mainly irrelevant adventures as they try to catch up with the heroes despite Cyradis' warning that it would be fatal to the prophecy. Of course, [[YouCantFightFate Fate was]] [[CosmicPlaything having a fun time]] with them, as situations seemed to conspire to keep them as far away from the heroes as possible until just after it was all over, at which point they were reunited completely unexpectedly.

** ''Magician's Gambit'': [[EvilSorcerer Ctuchik]] is HighPriest of the [[ReligionOfEvil Grolims]], and [[TheDragon chief disciple]] of [[GodOfEvil Torak]], ruling Cthol Murgos in Torak's stead after the god was left comatose. Completely uninterested in awakening Torak, Ctuchik nevertheless keeps Grolim rituals of HumanSacrifice going for five hundred years, sacrificing untold thousands of slaves to a god he does not even worship in order to cement his control over the priesthood. Pursuing his [[DragonWithAnAgenda own agenda]], Ctuchik aims to TakeOverTheWorld in order to satiate his lust for power, and maintains a private [[TortureTechnician torture chamber]] for his own [[{{Sadist}} amusement]].

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Zedar, to some. He's portrayed as an evil sorcerer who betrayed his master and brothers to serve [[GodOfEvil Torak]], and has committed countless horrors since. When he finally appears, he defends himself with the claim that those atrocities were because Torak's will has completely subsumed his own, and [[spoiler:his ultimate fate is [[AndIMustScream completely horrifying]].]] At the same time, he ''did'' first approach Torak of his own free will, must have known what could potentially happen, and his claims of not being in control are in-universe shot down by Polgara as ''excuses''. Readers who believe he had little to no free will of his own will likely consider him this trope, while those who believe he actually had some degree of choice in the bad things he did will likely only sympathize [[spoiler:with his end]]. And let's not even get into a debate of how accountable a person should be held for the actions he or she did while under mind control...

* AuthorsSavingThrow: After reading just how sadistic Asharak was in ''Polgara the Sorceress,'' his death may seem less AlasPoorVillain and more a KarmicDeath with a side helping of CatharsisFactor.
** Polgara's rejoicing at Chamdar's death, that Garion finds so horrifying, becomes ''incredibly'' understandable when when her prequel explains how Chamdar killed Garion's parents and paternal grandparents (we knew he'd burned the former alive, but we find out he also staged a rock fall that killed Garion's grandfather, made his grandmother literally mad with grief, until she was so confused and depressed she went looking for her dead husband in the middle of winter, fell off a cliff, and died. And that last was done specifically to get Polgara out of the way so he could murder the Godslayer's parents. Belgarath planned to see that Chamdar took two weeks to die if he caught him.)

** [[spoiler:Zedar]] is one of Torak's CoDragons and the one who kickstarted the entire plot [[spoiler:by stealing the Orb]]. He also was one [[spoiler:of Aldur's students]] and is meant to be as old and probably as powerful as Belgarath himself. When he's finally confronted, he's defeated in the span of a few pages ''off-screen'' and doesn't even get to cast one spell, as most of the battle we see is him and Belgarath fighting over a dagger to stab each other. (Although it's justified story-wise. When he and Belgarath finally meet face to face, Belgarath is so enraged and [[spoiler:Zedar]] so panicked that they resort to a fistfight instead of a WizardDuel - they ''do'' have a WizardDuel in Belgarath's prequel, and Belgarath kicks the crap out of him).

* KarmicOverkill: While Zedar was no hero, [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream being trapped in stone]] [[AFateWorseThanDeath for the rest of time]]]] is an extreme punishment no matter who you are, even before taking [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation more charitable interpretations of his character]] into account.

** Polgara seems to have an increasingly uncomfortable interest in the sex life of both her father and her ultimate nephew, going as far as to describe exactly what Belgarath was up to during his self-exile in Maragor as well as determining, on her own, exactly when Garion was able to impregnate Ce'Nedra. However, in the former case, the Marags were famous for their liberated sexuality and she was disposed to assume the worst of Belgarath at the time, and in latter case, that was more because there were magically determined circumstances. It wouldn't be surprising (but still very squicky) to know that she was in the room making sure he 'did it right'.

** [[spoiler:Zedar]] is one of Torak's CoDragons and the one who kickstarted the entire plot [[spoiler:by stealing the Orb]]. He also was one [[spoiler:of Aldur's students]] and is meant to be as old and probably as powerful as Belgarath himself. When he's finally confronted, he's defeated in the span of a few pages ''off-screen'' and doesn't even get to cast one spell, as most of the battle we see is him and Belgarath fighting over a dagger to stab each other. (Although it's justified story-wise. When he and Belgarath finally meet face to face, Belgarath is so enraged and [[spoiler:Zedar]] so panicked that they resort to a fistfight instead of a WizardDuel - they ''do'' have a WizardDuel in Belgarath's prequel, and Belgarath kicks the crap out of him.)

** Polgara's rejoicing at Chamdar's death, that Garion finds so horrifying, becomes ''incredibly'' understandable when when her prequel explains how Chamdar killed Garion's parents and paternal grandparents (we knew he'd burned the former alive, but we find out he also staged a rock fall that killed Garion's grand father made his grandmother literally mad with grief, until she was so confused and depressed she went looking for her dead husband in the middle of winter, fell off a cliff, and died. And that last was done specifically to get Polgara out of the way so he could murder the Godslayer's parents. Belgarath planned to see that Chamdar took two weeks to die if he caught him.)

* MoralEventHorizon