Belgariad/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

** No, he's just unspeakably old by human standards ''already'' at this point, and as such [[Time Abyss|doesn't neccessarily have a normal person's perception of time]].

** All the sorcerers except Polgara and {{spoiler|Durnik}} are usually like that.

** And Belgarath's tendency to lose track of time and not pay attention to what is going on around him is lampshaded several times. So part of it probably ''is'' that he's that obtuse.

** At one point, Belgarath mentions that he realized something funny was going on when he actually ''thought'' about just how long the wolf had been hanging around. Being, as others have said, a bit out of touch with the passage of time and having a tendency to not pay attention to what is going on around him, it took a while for him to get to that.

*** Remember, though, that it's determined that during major EVENTs, people tend to go off their rockers. What Belgarath does to Zedar is even used as an example of that insanity when they're discussing it in ''Seeress of Kell''. Yes, that doesn't excuse his not returning to undo what he did, but after all, it's never denied that "'Grat is not nice."

*** ''Belgarath the Sorcerer'' gives a great deal of context to the entire backstory with Aldur's disciples, and spells out just why Zedar's actions were so inexcusable. Belgarath never claims to be a saint but he ''does'' deeply regret that whole situation and wishes he could have stopped it from ever escalating that far (he even goes so far as to admit he probably shouldn't blame Zedar for his actions, [[Because Destiny Says So]], though plain old human weakness gets to him). That said, where these [[Ron the Death Eater|Belgarath the Death-Eater]] arguments fall flat is that Aldur's disciples live almost in an ''entirely different world'' because of their roles as the [[Chosen One|Chosen Ones]]. They really are [[Completely Missing the Point|the Center of the World]], as instruments of the Light Prophecy--right along with the Dark Prophecy's [[Rogues Gallery]]. That's the one of the major points of the series, the whole story revolves around their dueling, eons-long [[Xanatos Gambit|Xanatos Gambits]]. Belgarath freely cops to his [[Jerkass]] tendencies all throughout the books, and says point blank that [[Good Is Not Nice]] because it can't ''afford'' to be; being driven by Necessity inherently means being somewhat of a [[Magnificent Bastard]] at times, and you have to harden yourself on some level to be able to do your job properly (those who still lambaste Polgara for refusing to coddle Garion, take note.). Not only that, sorcerers' immortality means they relate to each other on a far deeper level than ordinary people do, particularly Aldur's disciples. They'd been a family for thousands of years, and lived through all kinds of traumas, including their Master's grief over being betrayed by His brother, countless wars (the original cracking of the world foremost among them), and so on. They'd already lost two brothers to suicide, and it's heavily implied that Belmakor caught onto Zedar's [[The Mole|Mole turn]] before the rest of them, contributing to the depression that ultimately killed him. Given all of this, it becomes much clearer just how deeply Zedar's betrayal affected them all, but none so great as Belgarath, who was the eldest of them all and who clearly was still carrying several eons worth of survivor's guilt with him despite appearances. Belgarath himself notes the intensity of their bonds in his book, when he discusses the aftermath of Belsambar's suicide. Combine that with the above point about people having a tendency to go nuts during EVENTs and it starts to become blindingly obvious what Belgarath was going through during that final confrontation.

*** The prequel book also makes it clear that they were bonded on some sort of mental and spiritual level. They probably ''were'' maimed spiritually, and not the metaphorical kind. Belsambar's death was something that every single disciple of Aldur felt, even the ones who were almost literally on the other side of the planet and couldn't possibly have sensed any build-up of his Will. They ''knew'' that he had died in the exact instant Belgarath knew, and for the rest of their (more or less immortal) lives they have to carry a giant hole in their mind/spirit/heart that was once their brother. And Belgarath, as the eldest of them and the one who taught the vast majority of the other disciples at one point or another, would carry that even more heavily than the others.

* The morality question is something that makes the series more "realistic". The characters are three dimensional characters that have the drives and failings of real people rather than being "good" or "evil". They live in the far more densely populated gray area between those extremes. Basically, bad people do good things and good people do bad things. Then, when you add in all the extraordinary things that these good and bad people do, you have a whole different scale of morality. If you have it in your power to trap someone in a wall for eternity because they helped kill your brothers or because they caused countless deaths then wouldn't you do it? Part of this troper's love of the Belgariad stems from the deep characterisations in the whole tale and the fact that it highlights the rashness of an action and the consequences for that person when the cold light of day hits. It Is Written that Garion agonised for decades about what he did to Asharak, and that Belgarath was still guilty about what he did to Zedar two decades after he did it. David Eddings was aware that morality is a thin veneer of civilisation that we all cover ourselves in, and that comes through in how he writes his characters.