The Malloreon [5] The Seeress of Kell (1991)

So finally we come to it.  The culmination of thousands of years of dueling prophecies, good vs. evil, light vs. dark... it all comes down to this.  Like the previous volume, I had to wait for this one to come out in paperback.  As a teenager, I would sadly look at the hardback in my local B. Dalton or Waldenbooks, resist opening it to read it bit by bit on each visit to the store. I'm pretty sure I bought the paperback at Southroads Mall in Bellevue, NE, when I was in the 10th grade (not long before I first started The Wheel of Time).

Apparently that mall is long dead; we used to go to movies there a lot, but I personally stopped going after high school, stores closed and half of it was empty by that point.  I find empty malls to be disconcerting and a bit scary.  Makes me think of all the properties they've built in China, which sit empty, like ghost towns.

Man, was that really 22 years ago?

Also of note, as far as I know, The Seeress of Kell was Eddings's first and only #1 NY Times Bestseller.

Before you continue:

• This is part 10 of my The Belgariad and The Malloreon retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of both series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOTH SERIES

The Cover

This time, I actually have something to say about the cover: I don't like it.  Of all the things they could portray on the final cover of an epic 10-book sequence... they show two knights jousting?  Really?

I mean, I get that it reflects the dual nature of the Prophecies, and how they constantly meet and "battle" throughout time, but this cover is quite underwhelming.  The Perivor section of the book is not bad (more on that later), but there are so many better things they could have put on the cover.

The party approaching Kell, its giant mountain in the background.  Garion and Zakath fighting the dragon on Perivor.  Arriving at the Place Which is No More.  The party in the presence of the Sardion.  And on and on... they could have done so much better with this cover.

If you've read my blogs on The Wheel of Time, you've probably noticed that I'm not impressed by most covers, because most covers suck.  These days I generally prefer some kind of landscape or abstract imagery - no characters.  Because artists rarely draw characters properly.

However, take a gander at the alternate covers for The Seeress of Kell on the David Eddings Wikia.  Some are definitely better, probably the most amusing is the French one (shown farther down in this post).

Poledra

And so we finally learn the truth.  Poledra did not die giving birth to Polgara and Beldaran all those thousands of years ago.  She was visited by UL and told that she would need to make a sacrifice in order for the prophecy to take the right course and Belgarath and Polgara to fulfill their individual destinies.

I would say this was not exactly a shock to me, but it was a pleasant surprise.  It's also quite brutal to think about what she gave up for all this to come about.  She essentially had to walk away from her family for 4,000 years.  That's a long time, if you haven't noticed.  It's almost impossible to imagine what living that long is like; you'd think these people would go insane or be bored out of their minds living that long.

Anyway, Poledra is back for reals, she's the final addition to our party (The Woman Who Watches), joining them as the injured she-wolf at the beginning of the novel, revealing herself later on.  Belgarath will finally have to change his vagabond ways.  It's an interesting parallel to the way the world has been stuck in the same state, with very little change since Torak cracked the world.  Belgarath and his family can get on with their real lives, much like the world can get on with progressing once the two prophecies end.

Poledra just kickin' it, waiting for Belgarath

Beldin's Place in Prophecy

One thing that bothered me when I first read these last few books was how Beldin kept hanging around the party.  He was not mentioned by Cyradis in the first book as a necessary member of the group.  Yet from Book 3 onward, he's with the party every step of the way.  Usually the Prophecy is pretty strict about those things.  What gives?

Well... we learn why in this final book.  It seems that Zandramas cheats by trying to kill Garion's friends here and there.  And since the Prophecy lets that go, they allow Beldin to tag along on the Light side, when normally something would happen to keep him away.  How convenient.

Chaldan... or Chamdar?

I only mention this because it's one of the most notable printing errors I've ever seen in a book, and I shake my head every time I read it.  In The Seeress of Kell, the god Chaldan (patron god of the Arends) is referred to numerous times as Chamdar.  Which, if you remember, is the Grolim who killed Garion's parents, and who Garion killed way back in Book 2 of The Belgariad, Queen of Sorcery.

I don't know if this error was in the hardback version, or something unique to the paperback version.  I'm also assuming it has since been corrected.  I honestly have never checked current versions in stores today.  But either way, someone failed miserably when prepping this novel for publication.  A book goes through many hands and is reviewed many, many times.  How could they all have missed this?

Kell

Onto the locations for this volume.  Kell is somewhat shrouded in mystery, due to its remoteness, reclusive inhabitants and the fact that any Grolims that come near it are instantly struck blind.  But our party has the blessing of Cyradis, the eponymous character of this book, and considering they are not Grolims, they are allowed to approach Kell.

And for once, our party is in the lead.  Yay!  They've passed Zandramas, who being a Grolim, cannot go to Kell.  So she must wait for them to leave and follow them for a change.  Belgarath and Beldin are quite happy about this, though Garion seethes as usual, as he only wants his son back.

Anyway, Kell sits in the shadow of a massive mountain, the tallest in the world, one which no one has ever climbed.  Zakath is surprised at how advanced the place is.  He thought he knew everything about Mallorea... he is the Emperor, after all.  The people are rather dull, though.  Our party is here only briefly, to pick up Cyradis and for Belgarath to look at the only true copy of the Mallorean Gospels, which will tell him the location of the Place Which is No More.

They also learn that Seers have the knowledge of all the other Seers before them - they've been making choices at each meeting of Light and Dark ever since it began, and have existed for that sole purpose.  I've always found it odd that people like Polgara and Belgarath know very little about his.  They've lived for thousands of years.  Not once did they explore Kell?  Of course, you can always explain it away with Prophecy.  It didn't want them to go there, so any time they tried, something else happened to keep them away.  How convenient.

Perivor

It almost feels like Eddings finally ran out of interesting cultures to toss into his world, so instead of trying to create something new for Perivor, he simply reused Arendia.  Perivor is populated by descendants of shipwrecked Mimbrate Arends, so it's very medieval and formal, lots of theeing and thouing, knights and chivalry, things like that.

Cyradis tells our party they must go to Perivor to learn specifics regarding the location of the Place Which is No More.  Once there, Garion and Zakath have to keep their identities hidden by wearing their full armor at all times.  That sounds like it sucks.  They fight another dragon (a real one, not Zandramas) and have a final run-in with Naradas, Zandramas's top cohort, who managed to become the King of Perivor's most trusted councilor and advisor in a matter of days, just before our party gets there.  How convenient.  It's the archetypal evil-sycophant-influences-a-good-king storyline that you find all throughout fantasy and plays out as expected (Naradas dies, the King realizes he's been duped and now helps, Garion and Zakath can reveal their identities).

So after much foul treachery and flowery language, our heroes journey posthaste to the last major location of the story...

The High Places of Korim

Eddings has teased us about this location the entire series, but finally, in the first section of this book, when our party stops in Kell, we learn that the Place Which is No More is the High Places of Korim.

This is a location that I believe is referenced back in The Belgariad, when the tale of how Torak cracked the world is told.  The High Places of Korim is where he went to do the deed, creating the Sea of the East and splitting the world into the two major continents.  So it's only fitting that this would be the place where the Prophecies come together and all is mended.

In current times, instead of a mountain top, this is a reef in the ocean called the Turim Reef.  I think they messed up the map, though, since it says Korim Reef, despite everyone referring to it as Turim Reef.  Anyway, there's a cave where the Sardion has resided for centuries and it is here that the final meeting of Childs Light and Dark takes place.

No much else to say about Korim.  It's not a land or a kingdom, but since it has a section in the book, I'm obligated to cover it.

The Last Sacrifice

Good guys rarely die in fantasy stories, it seems.  At least not those in the 80's and 90's.  Eddings did kill someone in The Belgariad - only to bring him back to life a chapter later.  That would be Durnik.  This time, however, it's a permanent death.  Gasp!  Apparently each meeting of Light and Dark involves a sacrifice of some kind.  Foreshadowed since the end of Book 1, Guardians of the West, we knew it was coming.

Unsurprisingly, Toth is one who dies.  Toth, who is fairly invisible and one-dimensional (though not as bad as Eriond, who goes chapters without being mentioned or speaking).  It's also completely given away when they start talking about their tasks and Ce'Nedra thinks she is going to die because  she hasn't done hers yet (though she has; she told Zandramas where the Meeting is).  You think about the other characters and realize they all had specific tasks that were called out as completed (even the little snake Zith)... except Toth and Eriond.  Since you know what's in store for Eriond, that only leaves our mute giant.

When I get to his death, I'm actually more sad that Durnik has lost his friend than the fact that Toth is dead.  He was a gentle and nice man, but not a very prominent character that I really cared about.  He was just kind of there, fishing with Durnik, providing some muscle here and there.

Toth on the cover of the French
edition.  I always imagined him
with a bit more clothes on...

The Choices We Make

It seems rather odd that after all this time, after thousands of years of dual prophecies and constant crafting of events, that it all comes down to Cyradis simply choosing between two people, Geran and Eriond.  That's it.  She just picks one and that's the winner.  How convenient.

Well... what did you expect?  Another sword battle?  That's probably the worst way to chose a victor.  Trial by combat isn't about right or wrong, or what's just, it's simply who is stronger or more clever than someone else.  Thinking about what you're choosing, considering it from all sides and then making the choice - logically - that's a better way to decide between Light and Dark, yes?

Of course, this makes for a rather dull climax.  Cyradis wrings her hands a bit and she's supposed to just make a choice without thinking about it... but you know she has been influenced by the Light side while travelling with them.  How could you not choose the Light in her position?

Speaking of choices, the fact that Garion isn't sure at first who to choose for the new Child of Light makes me wonder how dumb he really is.  He regards his companions and wonders who he should choose, and hopes he doesn't screw it up.  Really?  This isn't the first time he's been portrayed as an idiot.  Remember the birds and the bees in Guardians of the West?  The way he acted when Ce'Nedra was giving birth?  Enough said.

The Places We Didn't Go

In The Belgariad, Eddings cleverly crafted a story that took us to every country and kingdom in the western continent, and had our main characters meet every monarch in the process (Garion met them all in person, except for King Gethell of Mishrak ac Thull... but then no one cares about the Thulls, so it doesn't matter).

In The Malloreon, Eddings did something similar, but there are some distinct places he missed.  Though our party set foot in each major "kingdom" (Ancient Mallorea, Karanda, Melcene Empire, Dalasian Protectorates), large sections were never explored.  The biggest omission is Gandahar, a jungle-like part of Melcene which I've always imagined as analogous to India.  In Sorceress of Darshiva, the armies of Zandramas and Urvon feature elephants, which come from Gandahar.  It's mentioned many times, but our party skips it.

Most of the Dalasian Protectorates are ignored as well.  We go to Kell, of course, but aside from that, only a few ports are visited briefly in this last volume. Given how unremarkable most of the cultures on this continent have been (compared to The Belgariad and its melting pot of anachronistic cultures), it's not a big surprise.  That and the fact that Eddings only had 3 books to tell the entire journey over Mallorea (compared to the 5 in The Belgariad), as we didn't reach Mallorea until partway through Book 3.

A Fond Farewell

As I've mentioned before, occasionally Eddings would jump back to the characters we left behind, providing a usually boring update on what the rest of the world is doing while our party is questing.  And at the end of the day, Barak and Co. just happen to arrive at Korim after the Meeting, to give our party a lift back to Perivor and ultimately home in the western continent.  How convenient.

Turns out, this gathering of at least one person that could represent each sovereign nation in the world provides an excuse to create a new peace treaty, called the Accords of Dal Perivor, the most obvious sign of the new age that has just begun.  Now that Eriond is god of the Angaraks, peace shall reign in the world, and this is the first step.

This also sets up a - again, convenient - way of saying goodbye to virtually every character that we've come to know and love over the course of 10 volumes.  One by one we drop them off over the next few chapters, saying one last goodbye to everyone.  It's actually very nicely done, and a great way to close the saga.  So Eddings is forgiven for working Barak and Co. back into the story when they were supposed to be absent.

And then there's the Epilogue, giving us a quick look at Garion and family a year or so after the Meeting...

But Wait, There's More!

Twins?!  Polgara had twins?  Yes, she did.  Finally, Polgara becomes a mother, an indication that the stasis her and some others (like Belgarath, and progress in the world in general) have been in has come to an end.  We have entered a new age, everyone is happy and there's really no more adventures to tell of, not when our enemies have changed for good (Angaraks moving from evil Torak to benevolent Eriond).

Of course, Eddings and Lester Del Rey thought otherwise.  Not content to let the saga end after this, riding the popularity of the series, Eddings wrote 3 more books in this world - two character biographies that function as a mix of prequel and history lesson, and one reference text - all co-authored with his wife, Leigh.

The character biographies are for Belgarath and Polgara, unsurprisingly.  Who else would get an entire novel to themselves?  The books are entitled Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress.  I've only read them once, back when they came out.  So it will be fun to finally read them again, almost for the first time.

The reference book is The Rivan Codex, which I have not read.  It mostly concerns background material for the series, along with some essays by Eddings on fantasy.  I have no idea what to expect, but it will be a good one to end this retrospective on, since it's Eddings's own look back on his series.

Stay tuned for blogs on for those.


Next:

Related Works
Novel - Belgarath the Sorcerer

Previous:
The Malloreon
Book 4 - Sorceress of Darshiva
Book 3 - Demon Lord of Karanda
Book 2 - King of the Murgos
Book 1 - Guardians of the West

The Belgariad
Book 5 - Enchanter's End Game
Book 4 - Castle of Wizardry
Book 3 - Magician's Gambit
Book 2 - Queen of Sorcery
Book 1 - Pawn of Prophecy

All maps by Shelly Shapiro

The Hope of Memory [Update 12] Of Estimates and Editing

A quick update my trilogy, The Hope of Memory.

The Malloreon [4] Sorceress of Darshiva (1989)

I was in new territory when I first read this book, because I had to wait for it. It had only been released in hardbook once I finished the previous entry, Demon Lord of Karanda, and as an 8th grader with a paltry allowance, I could not afford it.  So I had to wait for the paperback, which didn't come out until November 1990.

The agony!  This was my first experience with having to wait for the next entry in an ongoing series.  Looking back, it wasn't all that bad since I only had to wait a couple of years for these last two books.  That's nothing compared to the 20 years I experienced as an early The Wheel of Time reader.  But of course you can read all about that in those blogs.

Anyway, all starts to become clear as our party now continues their trek, this time through the Melcene Empire.  This is my favorite entry in The Malloreon, with the last book, The Seeress of Kell, coming in a close second.

Before you continue:

• This is part 9 of my The Belgariad and The Malloreon retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of both series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOTH SERIES

What Everyone Else is Doing

We open this book with a chapter that doesn't focus on Garion and our heroes, but rather all the people that they left behind in the West.  It's kind of a dull opening, nothing more than a series of cameos to sate those readers who might miss those characters.  There was one in the previous book, I believe.  Later on, there's another, and I honestly want to skip over them half the time, because Garion's quest is much more interesting.

However, it is somewhat necessary, as it explains how Barak and the other warriors we had to leave behind meet up with our heroes near the end of the final book.  Which is rather amusing... we know they won't be able to catch up to Garion, because the prophecy won't let them.  So it's fun to see misfortune befall them (mainly because they can be pretty stupid at times, i.e. Lelldorin and Mandorallen).

The Cover

What else can I say about these covers that I haven't already said before?  Same style as usual, nothing too exciting.

This time we have Zandramas, Garion and Poledra in her wolf form.  They are at a farm, and this is during the attack of Zandramas on them in the night (she first attacked in her dragon form).  The background, of course, shows the Melcene Empire, which is featured in this volume.

Garion seems a bit short in this picture, if you ask me... Zandramas just towers over him.  But it's good that Zandramas is on the cover.  You can't title the book after a character and not put them on the cover!  Oh wait... they did that for King of the Murgos.  And they do it for the next book, The Seeress of Kell... so never mind, I guess they can.

The Complete Zandramas

As I mentioned in my post for Demon Lord of Karanda, each book in this series progressively reveals an aspect of our antagonist, Zandramas.  Here we finally learn her background - where she came from, how she became the Child of Dark, etc - conveniently told to us by a Melcene bureaucrat Garion and Co. find in an abandoned village in Peldane.

French cover... not sure why Zandramas
is pictured in the snow, but she looks cool.

After Torak was killed, the Dark Prophecy fled into a new Child of Dark: Zandramas.  She was consumed by it and fled into the forest for years.  Eventually she returns to begin preaching that a new god of Angarak is coming.  Of course Urvon, the last living disciple of Torak, didn't like this.  So they've been at each others' throats ever since - and it's all coming to a head in this book as their armies converge in Darshiva.

Of course, when they hear that Zandramas intends to be the bride of the new god, should the Dark win... Ce'Nedra's more upset with the fact that Zandramas would be her daughter-in-law more than anything else.  Women!

Silk's Empire

This book also gives us more insight into Silk and Yarblek's vast merchant empire that they started building after The Belgariad.  Throughout this series we have been learning of their exploits, and they have offices everywhere it seems.  Here they put it to good use in Melcene when tracking Zandramas and the Sardion.

I always felt this was another sign of the world changing and finally moving on from the repetition and stagnation of the dual prophecies.  Before The Belgariad, Silk and Yarblek would have never been able to do something like this, not with Torak still alive, the Grolim Church strong and the enmity between Alorn and Angarak.  But much like the fall of any type of oppressive society, with the death of Torak trade opens up and the West infiltrates the East, so Silk's successes are not exactly surprising.

To Silk, however, it's all a game.  He's on his way to literally becoming the richest man in the world, but actually having the money doesn't seem to mean that much to him.  Just the fact that he bests all his opponents.  Money is simply the way they keep score.  Men!

Melcena

So our party finally leaves the Seven Kingdoms of Karanda, heading for the Melcene Empire.  The island of Melcena reminds me of Tolnedra, only better.  Tolnedra prides itself on their educational system and modernization, yet they won't acknowledge the existence of sorcery.  The University of Melcene here is a greater center of learning than that found in Tolnedra, plus they accept sorcery and magic.  It's essentially the greatest center of learning in Eddings's world.

Here our heroes follow the trail of the Sardion and Zandramas (they lead to the same place), and it's here that they learn much of the history of the Sardion from the clubfoot Senji, who is really an untrained sorcerer that's lived for a few thousand years himself.  The couple of chapters where Belgarath, Beldin and Garion visit Senji are probably my favorite of the entire saga.  There's a lot of history and discovery, and some memorable dialogue as well.

The Sardion resided at the University for thousands of years, but eventually it was stolen... and since it left, so must we.  At this point Belgarath learns that they must go to Kell to discover the location of the Place That is No More.  So off we go!

Peldane

Simply another region of Melcene that our party must cross, there's not really much to say about Peldane.  It's torn by war and we slowly make our way across it, hot on Zandramas's trail; they've pulled within a day or so now.  No special history, no unique people - pretty much the same as anywhere in Melcene.  A stark contrast to the variety of cultures found from region to region in The Belgariad.

A few important things do happen here.  One is that they learn Zandramas's backstory from a Grolim they capture and drug.  The other is another encounter with Zandramas in her dragon form, along with another appearance of Poledra, both on a farm that reminds our main characters of Faldor's Farm, way back in the very first book, Pawn of Prophecy (from the cover).  Poledra still has more to do; we'll be seeing more in the next volume.

Darshiva

This is the home of everyone's favorite Child of Dark, Zandramas.  Our party is cutting across these regions because they are heading for Kell... but now they're in danger of being sandwiched between two armies: those of Zandramas and Urvon, fighting for dominion of the Angarak Church (which is ultimately pointless, considering where the story is headed).  Zakath's army is converging along the River Magan as well... so you can guess what will happen...

...Zakath rejoins our party.  Zakath's army captures them when they try to cross the Magan to get into Darshiva.  Cyradis, the Seeress of Kell, orders Zakath to join them or risk dying within the year.  Zakath has a secret crush on Cyradis, so it doesn't take much convincing to get him to go in the end.  We also get new party members in the form of a she-wolf and her cub... the identities of which are revealed in the next book, and which will complete our party just in time for the Meeting.

And finally, Durnik completes a very important task at the book's climax.

A New Disciple

Durnik not only is meant to be a sorcerer, but a new disciple of Aldur, perhaps to replace Zedar the Apostate.  He earns his amulet by defeating the Demon Lord Nahaz at the end of the book, banishing him and Urvon to Hell with a giant hammer, weighted by the power of Aldur.  It's a touching scene since we all know that Aldur has not chosen another disciple in a long, long time.  Beldin and Belgarath finally get a new brother.

Of course, the first time I read it I still expected Durnik to be renamed to Beldurnik, but it doesn't happen.  Which is good... it just doesn't seem right.  Plus, being a Sendarian (one of the peoples who don't have a patron god), he's never been very pious beyond respecting all seven Gods for major holidays like Erastide.  So it seems weird... but it makes more sense after the next book.

Durnik fighting Nahaz on the Turkish cover

Of Sorcerers and Amulets

As part of his induction into disciplehood, Durnik receives an amulet with an engraving of a hammer, to go along with those of the other sorcerers (Belgarath = Wolf, Polgara = Owl, etc). And keeping with the theme of repetition from The Belgariad, this is essentially another one, when you really think about it.

In that series, Garion becomes Belgarion and gets an amulet of his own, which features... um, so until I was writing this I didn't even know what was on his amulet.  If you remember, Garion received his between Pawn of Prophecy and Queen of Sorcery, right at the beginning of our saga.  He starts Queen of Sorcery with it, and just mentions that he doesn't like wearing it, and he takes it off a few times when he shouldn't have.  But never do we learn what is on it.

I did some searching online and in the books and confirmed that what's on it is never revealed. It's simply described as "curiously carved" with a "strange design."  It's not important in the grand scheme of things, but I wonder why Eddings never revealed what the design was, when the designs of others' were clear.  Maybe he just forgot.  We'll never know.

Speaking of sorcerers... are you wondering what happened to Beltira and Belkira, the twin disciples from The Belgariad who finish each other's sentences?  So am I.  They never appear in this series.  Eddings ignores them entirely.  I wonder what was on their amulets... or Beldin's, for that matter.  A falcon, perhaps?

Consistent Cultures

At this point, after travelling through Ancient Mallorea, Karanda and Melcene, you may have noticed that the cultures here on the Mallorean continent are actually somewhat consistent and actually make sense with each other (*gasp*) compared to the hodge-podge of anachronistic cultures found on the unnamed western continent of The Belgariad, and which I mentioned way back in my post for Queen of Sorcery.

Eddings obviously created the Mallorean continent's history separately at a much later date than The Belgariad.  This should be clear given how much of that continent is godless and doesn't fit into the theology that dominates the story at the beginning.  Well... I'm not sure about Mallorea, but apparently everything was done deliberately.  Not too long ago, on an old FAQ, I found this quote from Eddings, featured in Contemporary Authors: New Revision Series, Volume 35 (essentially a reference book with biographical info on authors of the day):

"My current excursion into fantasy has given me an opportunity to test my technical theories [of writing]. I made a world that never was, with an unlikely theology splattered against an improbable geology. My magic is at best a kind of pragmatic cop-out. Many of my explanations of how magic is supposed to work are absurdities - but my characters all accept these explanations as if there was no possibility of quibbling about them, and if the characters believe, then the readers seem also to believe."

Of course his magic system has always been weak, but it has never bothered me, since it worked in the confines of the world, and as he mentions, the characters believe in it.  And if you remember, I also went into great length about distances and the size of the world itself, in my post for King of the Murgos.  They make no sense, and coupled with his comment on theology and geology, you can see why: he didn't intend for it to make sense, if his quote is to be believed.  He simply incorporated whatever he wanted to in the series to "test" his "technical theories" - whatever that means.

If an author today came up with a world like this, it would be widely panned as unrealistic, considering how much more plausible and believable fantasy worlds are now.  Does that lessen Eddings's work?  Not to me... I still find it enjoyable, and it's important because it was the standard of popular fantasy at the time.  To understand where fantasy is heading, it's important to know where it's been.


Next:

The Malloreon
Book 5 - The Seeress of Kell

Previous:

The Malloreon
Book 3 - Demon Lord of Karanda
Book 2 - King of the Murgos
Book 1 - Guardians of the West

The Belgariad
Book 5 - Enchanter's End Game
Book 4 - Castle of Wizardry
Book 3 - Magician's Gambit
Book 2 - Queen of Sorcery
Book 1 - Pawn of Prophecy

All maps by Shelly Shapiro