Dramatis Personae: B

Balera

Giddy-looking wife of a Borune nobleman whom the Light Brigade meet on the road south from Tol Honeth. Her husband was one of the many Tolnedrans duped by Naradas' gold.

Barak
(The Dreadful Bear)

Huge, red-bearded Cherek warrior, companion of Garion on the quest for the Orb. Known in the Mrin Codex as "The Dreadful Bear" due to the fact that he turns into a bear whenever Garion is in danger. Husband of Merel and father of Gundred, Terzie, and Unrak.

Belar

Youngest of the Seven Gods (colour: brown?, totem: bear). His favourite occupations are carousing and making speeches (which, apparently, can go on for days ...). Often rash, but yet indecisive when it comes to choosing among his own people (see the problems he had choosing a leader of the Alorns when marching to the War of the Gods - Chaggat was only chosen when Belgarath persuaded him to let them cast lots).

See also Aldur, Chaldan, Eriond, Issa, Mara, Nedra, Torak, and UL.

We found the God Belar in a rude encampment some miles deeper into the forest. He appeared to be very young - scarcely more than a boy, though I knew that he was very nearly as old as my Master. I have my suspicions about Belar. He was surrounded by a bevy of busty, blonde-braided Alorn maidens, who all seemed enormously fond of him. Well, he was a God, after all, but the admiration of those girls didn't seem to be entirely religious.

(BtS, Part One (The Vale), Chapter Five)

Beldaran - 1: daughter of Belgarath and Poledra

Born in the year 1897 A.C., Beldaran is the younger daughter of Belgarath the Sorcerer and his wife Poledra, and sister to Polgara the Sorceress. She married Riva in the year 1913, and became the mother of the line of Rivan Kings that ultimately led to Garion.

Beldaran - 2: daughter of Garion and Ce'Nedra

Beldaran is the first daughter and second child of Garion and Ce'Nedra, and was named after her distant ancestral mother.

Beldin
(Din, Feldegast)

Born somewhere from 1600-1000 B.C., Beldin is the third youngest of the Disciples of Aldur (the other two being Polgara and Durnik). Hideously ugly and often hair-raisingly foul-mouthed, he is, despite appearances, very gentle and extremely intelligent. He often takes the form of a blue-banded hawk, a species of his own devising.

Princess Ce'Nedra had been riding beside Aunt Pol, her tiny face troubled. "How can you stand him, Lady Polgara?" she burst out finally. "He's so ugly."

"Who's that, dear?"

"That awful dwarf."

"Uncle Beldin?" Aunt Pol looked mildly surprised. "He's always been like that. You have to get to know him, that's all."

"But he says such terrible things to you."

"It's the way he hides his real feelings," Aunt Pol explained. "He's a very gentle person, really, but people don't expect that - coming from him. When he was a child, his people drove him out because he was so deformed and hideous. When he finally came to the Vale, our Master saw past the ugliness to the beauty in his mind."

(QoS, Part Three (Ulgo), Chapter Thirteen)

Belgarath the Sorcerer
(Garath, Old Wolf, Ancient One, Ancient Belgarath, Eternal Belgarath, Beloved and Eternal, the Eternal Man, etc.)

Belgarath (originally known as Garath) is the first disciple of the God Aldur. Born about 2100 years before the cracking of the world, he is gifted with immunity to old age and (presumably) fatal illness due to his ability to perform sorcery. His natural form is that of a white-bearded old man of indeterminate race, but he is also fond of the form of a wolf, and occasionally takes the form of a falcon when he needs to travel quickly.

Belgarath was the Child of Light in the EVENT that took place shortly before he recovered the Orb of Aldur from Cthol Mishrak, when Zedar was the Child of Dark. He has acted as guardian to much of the Western world since the Gods departed, and was responsible for ensuring that the people foretold by prophecy to take part in the final EVENTS came to be born. He is married to Poledra, and has twin children, Polgara, the elder, who also has the power of sorcery, and Beldaran, the younger, who was mortal. Beldaran married Riva and became the mother of the Rivan line, which ultimately led to Garion.

This is most certainly a mistake. Wisdom tells me that it would be far better to leave things as they are, with event and cause alike half-buried in the dust of forgotten years. If it were up to me, I'd leave it that way. The truth is going to upset a lot of people.

Few will understand and fewer still accept what I am about to set forth, but as my grandson and son-in-law so pointedly insisted, if I don't tell the story, somebody else will; and, since I alone know the beginning and middle and end of it, it falls to me to commit to perishable parchment, with ink that begins to fade before it even dries, some ephemeral account of what really happened - and why.

(BtS, Part One (The Vale), Chapter One)

Belgarion

See Garion.

Belkira and Beltira
(Kira and Tira)

Gentle identical twin sorcerers with, to all intents and purposes, a single mind. Formerly Alorn shepherds, they became Disciples of Aldur sometime from 1600-1000 B.C. Since Belgarath discovered how the Darine Codex could be used as a map to the Mrin Codex, they have spent all their time studying the Prophecies.

I don't think any of us have ever given full credit to the twins for their patient centuries of labor. That pair of gentle Alorn shepherds have been so vital to what the rest of us have done that in a rather special way, they've been our guides. We run around the world in response to what they discover. The Necessity usually doesn't bother to talk to us. It talks to the twins instead. They've worn out six or eight copies of the Mrin and the Darine over the years, and the Gods know that I wouldn't have had that kind of patience, and neither would Beldin. To this very day, if the twins told me to jump, I'd be about four feet up in the air before I even bothered to ask "Which way?" That's probably what Aldur had in mind when he first sent for them. The Master's at least as much a slave to the Necessity as the rest of us are. That's why we're all here, I guess.

(BtS, Part Six (Garion), Chapter Forty-Nine)

Beltira

See Belkira.

Berentain

Young Asturian nobleman, cousin of Lelldorin and Torasin and nephew of Reldegen. Mimbrate sympathiser.

Beridel, Sir

Young, curly-haired Mimbrate knight, the son of Sir Andorig.

Berig

Former Arendish serf who fled from a lord who was about to hang him over a matter of a pig to live in a gold camp on the southern edge of Maragor.

Besher

Gold-hunter who meets Silk and Garion in a tavern in Gar og Nadrak; recruited by the Malloreans after a fight with Varn.

Bethra

Tolnedran courtesan and employee of the Drasnian Intelligence Service, recruited by Javelin to act as Hunter and ensure that the successor to Ran Borune XXIII would be someone the Alorns could live with. Murdered on the orders of Baron Kelbor, with the connivance of Harakan.

Brador, Count, Ambassador

Tolnedran ambassador to the court of King Fulrach and Queen Layla.

Bralon

See Verdan.

Brand - 1: first Warder of Riva

See Kamion.

Brand - 2: Warder of Riva at the Battle of Vo Mimbre

Brand was the Child of Light to Torak's Child of Dark at the Battle of Vo Mimbre, and was responsible for putting Torak into the comatose state in which he remained until his confrontation with Garion by thrusting his sword through Torak's head.

"In the name of Belar I defy thee, Torak. In the name of Aldur I cast my despite in thy teeth. Let the bloodshed be abated, and I will meet thee to decide the battle. I am Brand, Warder of Riva. Meet me or take thy stinking host away and come no more against the kingdoms of the West."

(QoS, Prologue)

Brand - 3: Warder of Riva at the return of the Rivan King

The last Brand was physically strong yet highly intelligent, like all the Brands before him, and served Belgarion with unswerving loyalty until he was murdered by Cherek Bear-Cultists shortly before Geran's abduction by Zandramas. He had four sons: the eldest is called Bralon in the Belgariad and Verdan in the Malloreon; the other three are Kail, Brin, and Olban.

Brendig

Sober Sendarian baronet, one of King Fulrach's most trusted advisors. Lost his left arm in the Battle of Thull Mardu.

Brill
(Kordoch)

Elite Dagashi assassin sent to track Garion and his companions from Faldor's farm. Killed by Silk at Rak Cthol.