# David Eddings dies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569 "2009-06-03T13:12:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/1 "2009-06-03T13:12:41Z")
One of my favorite authors. [http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/news/arc/2009/nz14000.php](http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/news/arc/2009/nz14000.php) ---
**Author:** ![MHaye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@MHaye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MHaye)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/2 "2009-06-03T13:58:31Z")
I was sorry to hear this. Still, 77 isn’t bad. I came across Pawn of Prophecy at a time when I badly needed some distractions. I was amused enough by the prologue to buy it in paperback, and enjoyed the rest as they came out. I finished a reread of the Mallorean only last week. I also enjoyed the Elenium and the Tamuli. The Redemption of Althalus is OK, but I can’t get into the last of his series. Did it even get finished? ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/3 "2009-06-03T13:59:55Z")
RIP Mr Eddings. Loved the Belgariad as a young teen. Robert Jordan David Gemmell Pratchett with early onset alzheimers. It’s a bad time to be in my b0ook collection it seems. Watch out Katharine Kerr, given your health issues, you could be next!. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/4 "2009-06-03T14:08:12Z")
In spite of the fact that, as far as I can tell, he was writing the same book over and over again for a very long time, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading his work, and I’m sad to see him go. ---
**Author:** ![InappropriateHumor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@InappropriateHumor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InappropriateHumor)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/5 "2009-06-03T14:22:20Z")
Sad news. I just re-read Pawn of Prophecy again this weekend, it always entertains me. I figured I’d read the rest of them, but can’t figure out what I’ve done with them. I didn’t know that about Pratchett. Alzheimer’s is a cruel disease. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/6 "2009-06-03T14:24:33Z")
Wow, David Eddings does what none of his characters could do. I read the Belgariad and the Mallorean in High School but got annoyed when none of the characters ever died so I stopped reading Eddings. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/7 "2009-06-03T14:24:45Z")
Ohh, my. I loved his work…just finished re-reading the Belgariad and Malloreon, in fact. Knowing how close he and his wife were, I guess I’m not surprised that he didn’t go on much longer after she passed away. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/8 "2009-06-03T14:27:37Z")
I always have loved his books… Unlike many authors of fantasy epics, he never took things so seriously that there wasn’t time for a laugh or two. I always loved the banter of the church knights, and if there is a god, I hope she is like Aphrael. Mr Eddings, as one who has devoted several months of my life reading and rereading your works, you will be dearly missed. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/9 "2009-06-03T17:31:45Z")
I loved the Belgariad, even more than the Lord of the Rings, precisely because I felt Eddings filled in the gaps that Tolkien glided over: strong female characters, love, sexual attraction, the economy. His world simply felt more real, less highbrow, more approachable — at least for epic fantasy where everybody from one nation is functionally identical. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/10 "2009-06-03T17:36:28Z")
Eddings’s stuff is comfort reading to me. I first read _The Belgariad_ when I was 13. I’m 37 now. When I get depressed or sick, his books, as silly and rather juvenile as they admittedly are, make me feel better. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/11 "2009-06-03T17:40:14Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Wow, David Eddings does what none of his characters could do. > > I read the Belgariad and the Mallorean in High School but got annoyed when none of the characters ever died so I stopped reading Eddings. Silk’s uncle died. Beldaran died. Poledra faked her death. Brand’s son died. Toth died. Sparhawk’s squire died. ---
**Author:** ![akira5822](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@akira5822](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akira5822)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/12 "2009-06-03T18:05:05Z")
☹ ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/13 "2009-06-03T18:16:13Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > Silk’s uncle died. Beldaran died. Poledra faked her death. Brand’s son died. Toth died. Sparhawk’s squire died. Well, one could argue that most of them were secondary characters, even if some of them had important impacts on the story (and, Brand’s daughter died, too, IIRC). Also, Beldaran and Poledra’s deaths were thousands of years before the first book. Since it doesn’t sound like **mswas** got to the Sparhawk books, he doesn’t know about… Kurik’s death …which might be among the most signficant deaths of a good-guy character in Eddings’ books. That said, Eddings’ brand of fantasy wasn’t dark or “shades of gray”, and you could count on the good guys to be triumphant. He wasn’t the type of author who’d kill off half of the good guys over the course of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/14 "2009-06-03T18:32:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Well, one could argue that most of them were secondary characters, even if some of them had important impacts on the story (and, Brand’s daughter died, too, IIRC). Also, Beldaran and Poledra’s deaths were thousands of years before the first book. > > Since it doesn’t sound like **mswas** got to the Sparhawk books, he doesn’t know about… > > Kurik’s death > > …which might be among the most signficant deaths of a good-guy character in Eddings’ books. > > That said, Eddings’ brand of fantasy wasn’t dark or “shades of gray”, and you could count on the good guys to be triumphant. He wasn’t the type of author who’d kill off half of the good guys over the course of the story. Yeah, we all actually cared about Kurik. I, personally, didn’t give a shit about Toth. And I was convinced Belgarath was going to die at the end of the first series. I mean, c’mon. The only real reason he had lived 7000 years was to see the Prophecy through to completion. Let the old bastard die, already. It would have been nice and symmetrical (and the second series would have been much more interesting if they’d had to muddle through without him.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/15 "2009-06-03T18:57:22Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > And I was convinced Belgarath was going to die at the end of the first series. I mean, c’mon. The only real reason he had lived 7000 years was to see the Prophecy through to completion. Let the old bastard die, already. It would have been nice and symmetrical (and the second series would have been much more interesting if they’d had to muddle through without him.) I hadn’t thought about it that way before, but I don’t disagree. The Belgariad ended with most of the plot strings very nicely tied up (with the most notable exception, I think, being Eriond), and the Malloreon really felt like Eddings had to ret-con things (“Oh, wait, that wasn’t THE EVENT, it was AN EVENT!”) to make another 5 books happen. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/16 "2009-06-03T21:08:05Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > That said, Eddings’ brand of fantasy wasn’t dark or “shades of gray”, and you could count on the good guys to be triumphant. He wasn’t the type of author who’d kill off half of the good guys over the course of the story. Yea, I always thought he was in love with his characters too much to kill them. Which was endearing in a way, but in a way that left me uninterested in continuing. I’m a George RR Martin type of fantasy fan. But that being said, his love of his characters was kind of endearing. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/17 "2009-06-03T22:02:34Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Yea, I always thought he was in love with his characters too much to kill them. Which was endearing in a way, but in a way that left me uninterested in continuing. I’m a George RR Martin type of fantasy fan. But that being said, his love of his characters was kind of endearing. Martin loves his characters too. We wouldn’t care about their suffering if he didn’t. Sorry about Eddings. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/18 "2009-06-03T22:22:11Z")
That’s sad news I just bummed out a couple of my buddies passing it along. He may not have written the highest class of novels but I like to spend a week every couple of years rereading his works and laughing with Silk and the gang. ---
**Author:** ![quixotic78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3ab097/32.png) [@quixotic78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quixotic78)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/19 "2009-06-03T22:44:42Z")
The best tribute any fan can give to the man is just pretend that his latest series (The Dreamers) doesn’t exist. Not to spoil it (can you spoil something that already stinks to high heaven?), but if you pretend it never happened, you won’t miss the mark by too much. Still, like others, his earlier works were comfort reading to me. Thanks for the memories, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569/20 "2009-06-03T23:03:14Z")
Eddings was my first real introduction to fantasy. Comfort reading is a really great way to put it. I re-read those books for years and waited anxiously for each of the Mallorean books to be released in paperback as a teenager (of course, re-reading the books again from Pawn of Prophecy before each release.) I’ve been thinking of digging those battered old paperbacks out for my daughter this summer. I know she’ll love them like I did. No, he wasn’t Tolkien, but his books have a place and he’ll be missed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-eddings-dies/498569.md?page=2)