48 The Bear-cult makes its first appearance here. At the time we had no idea how important it would turn out to be.
49 The reindeer were later eliminated.
50 We chose not to follow up on this battle.
51 This was written before the scale was established. It is in fact 80 leagues from Boktor to the Vale, and crack infantry could make that far in eight days.
52 Quite frequently the costumes proved irrelevant.
53 This was not retained.
54 The ‘secret language’ proved to be very useful, although it was just an aside in the Preliminaries.
55 This section is more detailed because ‘Our Hero’ is raised in Sendaria and believes that he’s a Sendar.
56 Mandorallen and Lelldorin grew out of this segment.
57 We expanded on the destruction of Vo Wacune at the beginning of Queen of Sorcery and during Polgara the Sorceress.
58 We largely ignored the Arendish church in the story. There were occasional references to monks and monasteries, but we saw no real purpose in getting too deeply involved in the intricacies of a religion resembling medieval Catholicism.
59 This is almost entirely misconception—something on the order of those late medieval geographies which announced (in all seriousness) that the natives of Madagascar had a foot growing out of the tops of their heads.
60 Obviously, the Algroths, Hrulgin, and Eldrakyn, among others.
61 Salmissra is modeled in part on Cleopatra, obviously, and Nyissan society is to a degree Egyptian, though not entirely. In the Belgariad the Nyissans are incomprehensible villains, but in the Malloreon Sadi proved to be an important character, as did Zith.
62 An obvious reference to the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
63 So much for “prissy.”
64 The Tolnedrans didn’t know about southern Cthol Murgos at this point.
65 Gethel was elevated to the throne in the Belgariad.
66 This was significantly modified as the character Vella was developed.
67 In the books, there are the additional characters Ctuchik and Urvon.
68 This changed. Mal Zeth is probably bigger than Tol Honeth.
69 This was greatly modified in the writing.
70 This section is pastiche romance, intended to establish Arendish psychology.
71 Another aside which proved very important.
72 This was modified.
73 This is probably a geological impossibility. Volcanoes do erupt under the oceans of this world, and that does not produce thermonuclear detonations.
75 This was a common practice in antiquity. Attila the Hun, for example, spent several years of his childhood in the City of Rome. The idea was to civilize and Christianize him. It didn’t work out that way, however.
76 The Orb and the Sardion.
77 Eriond changed this.
78 This is the vision of Cyradis.
79 Read the opening canto of The Divine Comedy for a comparison.
80 The Mallorean Gospels took three months to write. It was worth the time and effort, since in a rather obscure way these Gospels provided a philosophical basis for The Malloreon. This is what Cyradis believed, and Cyradis was ultimately the core of Malloreon.
81 I always like Anheg. He has his faults, but he’s a lot of fun.
82 We dropped the apostrophe at the beginning of Zakath’s name, although it was an indication that ‘Kal’ had been omitted (‘Kal Zakath’ hints around the edges of Zakath’s insanity. Right at first he was at least as mad as Taur Urgas).
83 This was heavily revised, eliminating the meeting between Belgarath and Urvon and the confrontation between Polgara and Zandramas. The conference did not happen, and Cyradis visited the town of Rheon after Garion had put down the Bear-cult uprising at the end of Guardians of the West.
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By David Eddings
Published by Del Rey Books:
THE BELGARIAD
Book One: Pawn of Prophecy
Book Two: Queen of Sorcery
Book Three: Magician’s Gambit
Book Four: Castle of Wizardry
Book Five: Enchanters’ End Game
Book Six: Belgarath the Sorcerer
THE MALLOREON
Book One: Guardians of the West
Book Two: King of the Murgos
Book Three: Demon Lord of Karanda
Book Four: Sorceress of Darshiva
Book Five: The Seeress of Kell
THE ELENIUM
Book One: The Diamond Throne
Book Two: The Ruby Knight
THE TAMULI
Book One: Domes of Fire
Book Two: The Shining Ones
Book Three: The Hidden City
THE REDEMPTION OF ALTHALUS
THE RIVAN CODEX
HIGH HUNT
THE LOSERS
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A Del Rey® Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 1998 by David and Leigh Eddings
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in Great Britain by Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, in 1998.
Del Rey is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
www.delreybooks.com
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-90778
First American Edition: October 1998
First Mass Market Edition: November 1999
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eISBN: 978-0-307-41735-0
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