The Rivan Codex
by David and Leigh Eddings
Publication date: 1998 in hardcover
Copyright © 1998 by David and Leigh Eddings
Use of this excerpt from THE RIVAN CODEX by David and Leigh Eddings may be made only for purposes of promoting the book, with no changes, editing or additions whatsoever, and must be accompanied by the following copyright notice: copyright © 1998 by David and Leigh Eddings. All Rights Reserved.
Notes
1 This first-person narrative was written to give us a grip on Belgarath's character and we wrote it almost twenty years ago. I always felt there was a story there. As it turned out, there were two, Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress. After we'd finished the Belgariad/Malloreon, we knew how the story ended, so we could then go back and write the beginning. Most of Part I of Belgarath the Sorcerer is an expansion of this ancient manuscript, which also dictated the first-person narrative approach.
2 The name of the village was added in Belgarath the Sorcerer to justify his name linguistically. 'Garath' could mean 'of the village of Gara' in the archaic form of several languages.
3 These old people are those Ulgos who chose not to follow Gorim to Prolgu. 'As the branch that is cut off, they are withered and dying.' (Because their women are barren.)
4 It was not until the Malloreon that we revealed the Orb's off-world origin. At first it was simply a rock Aldur had picked up in a riverbed and modified with the touch of his hand.
5 An early indication of the prohibition against unmaking things.
6 A note here for the linguistically obsessed. 'Bel' may or may not be 'the symbol of the Will and the Word'. It is more likely that it means 'beloved'. 'Bel' is the masculine form, and 'Pol' is the feminine. Polgara's name derives directly from her father's name, since it's a patronymic like 'Ivan Ivanovitch' (Ivan son of Ivan) or 'Natasha Ivanova' (Natasha, daughter of Ivan) in Russian. Note that this principle does not apply to the name of Pol's sister, Beldaran, which perhaps indicates that Belgarath loved Beldaran more than he loved Pol.
7 Notice that Belzedar's obsession with the Orb is introduced here.
8 This is grammatically incorrect. When using archaic language it is important to pay attention to the verb forms, which are not the same in second person familiar as they are in second person formal. The proper form here would be 'wouldst'.
9 'The high places of Korim, which are no more' are visited at the end of the Malloreon. This is misdirection from Belgarath.
10 That is not 'another story'. It's the core of this one.
The Rivan Codex has been published in the US by Del Rey Books. The above extract was taken from their website. It has also been published in the UK by Voyager (an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers).
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