Belgarath

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Belgarath is a fictional character in the David Eddings book series The Belgariad followed by The Malloreon. He is the father and ultimate grandfather, respectively, of Polgara and Belgarion. He is called "The Ancient and Beloved" in the Mrin Codex and the Eternal Man by various storytellers, and is generally regarded as the most powerful sorcerer in The Belgariad universe.

Belgarath began life as a young orphaned thief thousands of years ago, in a village named Gara. At the time he was called Garath, which means "Of the town of Gara" in the language spoken at the time. After visiting one of the lost tribes of man, he found himself in the Vale of Aldur. Caught there in a snowstorm and dying, he was leaning back and feeling sorry for himself when a voice invited him inside a nearby tower. He went inside, planning to steal, and found himself given tasks to do for the owner. He eventually discovered the power of the "Will and the Word", also known as sorcery. At that point he became a disciple of the tower's owner, Aldur, who was one of the Seven Gods. He renamed him Belgarath, the "bel" meaning "beloved".

He is sent on a number of missions throughout the world, dealing with issues that Aldur wishes a human representative to see to. He came across a young she-wolf in his travels, while traveling in the form of a wolf himself, and she followed him to his errand and back to his tower. After hundreds of years, she saw him turn into a man, and changed her form to an owl. After some time of continually springing surprising new forms on him, she eventually told him she was leaving. She built a farmhouse in the Vale and Belgarath stumbled on her, finding out her name was Poledra. He apparently didn't realize who and what she was (he drops some hints that he did in Belgarath the Sorcerer) and married her, and they had twin girls. One of these girls was Polgara, and the other was Beldaran.

During his later travels, after the apparent death of his wife, he helped his sorceress daughter Polgara protect the last of the royal line of Riva, as well as opposing the evil, one-eyed god Torak. It is under this alias and under the guise of a storyteller that he is first introduced to the protagonist of "The Belgariad," a boy named Garion who is a descendant of Beldaran and the Rivan kings in Polgara's care. Also, his supposedly dead wife returns during The Malloreon.

[edit] Personality

Unlike most archetypical wizards(or mentors) of the genre (Gandalf, Obi-wan Kenobi, Dumbledore, Brom, etc.), who are portrayed as wise, calm and good men who never lose their tempers without reason, Belgarath is often grumpy, can be foolish, and loses his temper with people. He has a number of bad habits (such as thieving & wenching), and clearly states in Belgarath the Sorcerer that he's no saint when he fails to apologize for the occasional murders he was sent to perform, to remove certain people from the chain of events that could destroy the groundwork he was laying under Aldur's instruction. Also unlike the archetypical wizard, who dresses in impressive robes, Belgarath is comfortable wearing an ordinary -- and none too clean -- tunic and hose. He is also possibly unique in using a length of soft rope as a belt. In fact, in Belgarath the Sorcerer he commented that people have fantastic yet false images of what they call sorcerers, although he has often used the role of the mighty wizard in white flowing robes with a magic staff to his advantage in the past. Belgarath reveals that his habitual clothing is actually by design, including the mismatched boots, so he can look the part of an iterant storyteller, and the entire outfit--apart from the rope belt--was made to his specifications and intended to look scruffy when they're really so well made they're nearly indestructible (a claim borne out by Belgarath still owning the same garments 500 years latet)

Belgarath looks upon the human condition with a mix of sympathy, amusement, and cynicism, a result of his long lifespan, which in Belgarath the Sorcerer, is about 7,000 years. He has admitted that he has to distance himself from people as they grow older, because endless grief is not a condition the human mind can endure, and he, despite millennia of life, is still human. He's profoundly unfond of work except when there is a true crisis, and then his reserves of energy and dedication are seemingly inexhaustible. This strange mix of disciple and drunk, sorcerer and (occasional) lecher, irritated the young Polgara to no end, until Poledra, her mother, told her Belgarath can be serious when he has to be, but plays when he doesn't need seriousness.

Belgarath retains a soft spot for his interminable line of 'grandsons', the Rivan line, often spending time with them when they are young, enjoying such activities as fishing or story-telling. While this sometimes causes consternation in Polgara and the mother of the boy, Belgarath often had some advice or consolation for the current Rivan heir, to help him out with whatever problems the boy had at the time.

Belgarath's relationship with his daughter is a scene of some amusement. To an outsider, they are continuing wrangling--usually Polgara making comments about Belgarath's appearance, habits, and hygiene, and Belgarath wincing or making dry comments of his own right back. This, however, is their own peculiar form of affection, as they'd be too embarrassed to outright admit they love each other.