Oh, and while we’re talking about deaths, don’t forget that Brand himself was murdered. Tough times for his whole family, man. Brand, his daughter (Arell? Was that her?), AND Olban (after Olban stupidly fessed up to his treachery, even).
Awww… I musta read the Belgariad a half dozen times when I was a teen - it was always my go-to ‘out of library books’ reading. I re-read them coming home from college, too. I love me some George R. R. Martin everyone-shall-die-in-the-most-heartbreaking-way-possible fantasy, but Eddings will always have a warm spot in my heart.
And here I’ve been on an Eddings kick lately; just started the Malloreon again yesterday. I had no idea. But at least we still have the books. (Though I admit I couldn’t even get through the first Dreamers book. Every writer produces some clunkers along the way.) His (their) stuff may not be great literature but the description “comfort reading” is perfect. Quite entertaining and readable stuff.
He will be missed.
(Adding a couple more deaths: Doroon, Ran Borune, and Torasin. Definitely secondary characters.)
Oh, and then there was Durnik. :rolleyes:
He got better! 
If you read “Belgarath the Sorcerer”, you do experience more deaths of semi-main characters…then again, over the course of 7000 years, you’d expect to see some of that.
Damn. Now he’ll never write the 6th (maybe 7th, I haven’t read The Dreamers) version of his one story
Still, sucks. He was one of my favorite fantasy writers 
I’m sad. Eddings may not have written Great Literature, but his books were (as others have posted) “comfort food” for the brain. I think I’ve reread his four “blue gem” series more than any other group of books. Makes me think I want to take them out of the library again…
And I want an Aphrael to worship, too.
Yeah, all my friends and I were way into them at a particular point in time, but outside of that point in my life Junior year of HS I believe, I stopped reading them. That being said, I plowed straight through from the beginning of the Belgariad to the end of the Mallorean.
Well, actually, I -don’t- care about any of Martin’s characters. That’s why I never made it past book 1. They’re all jerks, backstabbers, “tragically flawed” or otherwise not worth my time to read about.
Different strokes.
RIP Dave - Loved his books as a lad, great intro to fantasy. That first series must have been a worldwide bestseller, was in all the book shops in the 80s.
Garion was a bit of a twat, though, tbh.
He did suffer from a case of Skywalker Whinginess.
That’s one big reason why, although I liked the Belgariad/Malloreon, I liked the Elenium/Tamuli better…Sparhawk’s a better character, IMO.
Totally. Ehlana’s a better Polgara, too, and Aphrael a better Ce’Nedra. Kurik gives Durnik the balls he sorely lacked, Bevier is less of a caricature of the white knight than Mandorallen… well, all of them are less stereotypic, to tell the truth. The only miss is the gentleman/bastard thief whose name I can’t quite remember, who’s a botched Silk - the original was way more entertaining IMO.
Durnik died.
Hey! What’s wrong with the spoiler tags!
But seriously, I loved the books and I hope he’s enjoying Aphrael’s island now.
Arell was Brand’s niece, not his daughter. Brand only had sons.
It’s a little depressing that I know that off the top of my head.
Chuckle…thanks for the correction. I’d read that book about 2 months ago, so it wasn’t entirely fresh in my mind. 
that would be Stragen… and I agree
I’m going to have to do some borrowing and re-reading - I loved the Belgariad/Mallorean as a teenager, and enjoyed the Elenium/Tamuli, too. Althalus is ok, and The Losers (non-fantasy) was a good, if pretty bleak, read.
A sad day.
Si
Commenting on my own thread - Wikipedia (and other sources) indicate that The Losers was not published till 1992. I am pretty sure I read it in the late 80’s, when I was at uni. Maybe an NZ publisher picked it up earlier than 1992.
Si
I found *The Magician’s Gambit *in the closet of my room (Mom had stored some boxes of books of hers in there) when I was 11 or 12, and thoroughly enjoyed the hell out of Eddings for the next few years. As other people have mentioned, he’s still a fun “comfort read”–familiar stories and characters that I can turn my brain off and cuddle up with.