I learned via Michael Pinto on Twitter and an article from The Guardian that David Eddings has passed away. He was 77.
David Eddings is a fantasy author most famous for the epic fantasy series the Belgariad, which was five novels in length, and its sequel the Mallorean, which was also five novels. He wrote high epic fantasy at a time when it was an underserved genre. His works were inspired by The Lord of the Rings, and followed a similar (now common) story outline of a simple farmboy whose is really a prince and whose destiny was to become a sorcerer, take the throne of his kingdom, and defeat an evil god according to an ancient prophesy. Of course, Garion wants nothing to do with any of that.
The story had several lovable elements, most of which were in the characters. The sorcerer Belgarath plays a role similar to Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, but doesn’t take himself as seriously and sometimes needs firm reminders from his daughter Polgara (also a sorceress) not to be a scoundrel. One of the most memorable characters is Silk, a thief who is the funniest character in the cast and also the most disreputable (but in a good way). One of my personal favorites was CeNedra, the princess destined to be Garion’s bride, who is spoiled, obsessed with vanity and wealth, but comes to love poor farmboy Garion (much to her dismay) without knowing he is her betrothed, and upon accepting the situation shapes up to be a better person in order to support him.
The Belgariad was a lovable story, as evidenced by the fact that I can recall it so well having not touched it in over ten years.
Of course it wasn’t perfect, and David Eddings did borrow a lot from Tolkien, which is obvious to anyone who has read both series, but he made his stories unique by poking fun at tropes in the fantasy genre, writing viciously funny dialogue (his characters were consistently irreverant toward powerful people), and providing a fantasy world rich in medieval elements Tolkien didn’t mess with, such as knights, mythological gods, hunts, economics, and politics. The books’ themes also included a slew of commentary about the relationships between men and women, which made them funny and more relatable for young girls. They were a delight when I was reading them in middle school.
David Eddings grew up in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, which is also where I grew up and live today. According to The Guardian, Eddings saw himself as a story teller who hoped to inspire reading in young people:
Eddings was always delighted, he said, to hear that he’d turned non-readers into readers. “I look upon this as perhaps my purpose in life,” he said in 1997. “I am here to teach a generation or two how to read. After they’ve finished with me and I don’t challenge them any more, they can move on to somebody important like Homer or Milton.”
I did move on (to both Homer and Milton), but I still have some of Eddings’ books (the exact same ones I read in middle school) on my shelves. They are in poor shape. I read Eddings before I read Tolkien, and although he was not the author who inspired me to read and love fantasy (that was CS Lewis in the third grade, followed by DragonLance in the fifth grade), he was one of the authors whose work I reread three or four times, carried around with me, and occasionally lost in that space between the bed and the wall. I haven’t read any of his work in awhile, and doubtless I would find much to critque in his stories (I vaguely remember thinking the Mallorean was too similar to the Belgariad), but he will always be one of my most nostalgic and beloved authors.
David Eddings, you touched a generation of young fantasy readers. You were one who inspired me to write. You will be greatly missed.