From: greg@pomona.claremont.edu (Tigger)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.eddings
Subject: Re: changing history (was Eddings vs. Tolkien)
Date: 31 Jul 92 04:36:24 GMT
Organization: Pomona College

In article <Jul29.222801.79620@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU>, wardw@CS.ColoState.EDU (william bradley ward) writes:
> 
> I disagree.  After reading both series MANY times, I believe that Eddings only
> led us to believe that the meeting with Torak was the last.  Throughout
> the Belgariad this event was mentioned, but it was always mentioned kind of
> obscurely.  I don't believe that it was stated anywhere in the Belgariad
>  on "unequivocal terms."

Oh, you just had to call me on this, didn't you.  Now I'm going to have
to dust off those old English-major-type skills that I haven't used
since I left school.  Argh.

I too have read the series many times (ie I stopped counting at ten).
Very little of the textual evidence says anything about Torak by name.
It talks about the meeting itself, and about the Child of Light and the
Child of Dark, both of which are concepts beyond the actual holders of
those titles.  Let's see if I can convince you.

In chapter five of _Magician's Gambit_, the party crosses through
Maragor.  During the first part of the journey, Garion has a little
chat with the "dry voice" in his mind.  This is when we hear about
the "convergent destinies" for the first time.  The Prophecy tells
Garion, "The point where they meet is the point where you'll have
to act.  If you succeed, things will be all right again; if you don't,
everything will keep going wrong, and the purpose for which the
universe came into existence will fail."  It goes on to say, "You're
the only one who can do what needs to be done, and it's the most
important thing that will ever happen..." and finishes by stating,
"The other line of possibility leads to absolute chaos and the
ultimate destruction of the universe, but you and I lead to something
else."  Garion asks, "What?" and the Prophecy replies "If you're
successful, you'll live to see it happen."  Not might live to see
it happen if the next meeting goes okay.  WILL live to see it.
There is also talk of how the universe has been waiting for Garion
since the before the beginning of time.  This ties into the next
example.

In chapter sixteen of _Castle of Wizardry_, the Prophecy shows
Garion the key passage regarding the meeting of the Child of Light
and the Child of Dark.  They talk about it afterwards, and the
Prophecy says, "As the Codex says, everything will be decided when
you finally meet him."  Everything, not just one meeting.  And
the meeting will finally be happening.  As we found in the last
example, the universe has been waiting a long time for this to
finally come to pass.  That doesn't sound like just one of a 
countless series to me.

After talking to the Prophecy, Garion goes and talks to Belgarath.
Garion tells him that he has seen the section regarding the meeting
of the Child of Light and the Child of Dark, and Belgarath knows
exactly which passage he means.  There is no question of which
meeting.  It is referred to as *the* meeting, and there is no mention
of the Mrin Codex predicting any other meetings. They end their
conversation with Belgarath commenting, "It's a long way to Cthol
Mishrak and the tomb of the one-eyed God."  Garion asks, "And then?"
and Belgarath answers, "Then, Garion, we settle this once and for
all."  Sounds pretty final to me.

Finally, we come to the meeting itself in chapter twenty three of
_Enchanter's End Game_, which the text refers to as "the EVENT
for which the Universe had waited since the beginning of time."
When Belgarion triumphs and kills Torak, a peculiar thing happens.
For a moment the universe stops dead in its tracks.  All light
and all movement stop.  "In that dreadful instant all that existed--
all that had been, all that was, all that was yet to be was wrenched
suddenly into the course of one Prophecy.  Where there had always
been two, there was now but one."  That sounds *very* final, but
there is more.

In the next chapter, the other gods appear and everything gets
cleaned up.  Durnik starts his second life, and the Orb restores
Torak's beauty.  As the night ends, the story is essentially
complete.  The only thing left in the book is the Epilogue where
Garion and Ce'Nedra marry and we have a happy ending.  That takes
another thirty fives pages in my copy of the book, but the story
really ends here.  And Eddings ends it with this:  "The storm that
had raged through the long night had passed.  For years beyond
counting, the universe had been divided against itself, but now
it was one again.  If there were such things as beginnings, this
was a beginning.  And so it was, through broken cloud, that the
sun rose on the morning of the first day."  Does that sound like
the description of a repetitious event to you?

Okay, I'm done pulling rabbits out of my hat.  This reminds me a
little too much of all the papers I wrote in college, and those
memories really aren't pleasant enough to make me want to relive
them.  Read this message again, and then go back and read the
passages from which I have quoted.  Then make up your own mind.

--
|  Greg Orman                         greg@pomona.claremont.edu  |
|     A man's best friends:  a Harley, a Baretta and a Gund.     |
Newsgroups: alt.fan.eddings