From: pfreeman@bigfoot.com.spam.blocker.after.the.com (Paul Freeman) Newsgroups: alt.fan.eddings Subject: Frequently Asked Questions: Updates & Corrections Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 20:55:45 GMT Organization: Cowboy Software Productions Lines: 632 Message-ID: <35c61156.9065090@nntp.netcomuk.co.uk> Reply-To: pfreeman@bigfoot.com.spam.blocker.after.the.com (Paul Freeman) NNTP-Posting-Host: dialup-02-36.netcomuk.co.uk Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: taliesin.netcom.net.uk 901486679 21222 194.42.228.164 (26 Jul 1998 20:57:59 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@corp.netcom.net.uk X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.5/32.452 Path: nntp.mid-ga.com!rill.news.pipex.net!pipex!baron.netcom.net.uk!netcom.net.uk!knife.netcom.net.uk!netcom.net.uk!not-for-mail Xref: nntp.mid-ga.com alt.fan.eddings:56840 The alt.fan.eddings Frequently Asked Questions Updates & Corrections Maintained by Sarabian (pfreeman@bigfoot.com) Updated 26 July 1998 CONTENTS 1. What's new 2. About this document 3. The latest information. a. Polgara the Sorceress. b. The Rivan Codex. c. The Legends Anthology, and the withdrawal of the story from Eddings. 4. Questions about the work of David & Leigh Eddings. a. What are D&LE working on currently? b. Are there any interviews with David Eddings on the Internet? c. Wouldn't it be great if there was a new book in the world of the Belgariad/Elenium? d. Will there be a movie/CD-ROM game based on the Belgariad/Elenium? e. Has anyone noticed the chess analogy in the titles of the Belgariad? f. Do the titles of the other series have similar connections? g. What was Beldin's first act of sorcery? 5. Questions about the Newsgroup. a. Who created the newsgroup, and when? b. Why does everyone have an Eddings alias, and how can I get one? c. What are the Silver Suggestions? d. Who runs the Trivia quiz, and when is it posted to the newsgroup? e. What exactly is Klael's Army? f. Where can a new user find information about this newsgroup? 6. Corrections/additions to the current FAQ. a. Bibliography. i. Polish Titles. ii. Swedish Titles. iii. Corrections to Various Foreign Titles. b. The number of patriarchs in the Elene Church. c. The Dryad thread genetic explanation. 7. Eddings resources on the Web. 8. Credits and thanks. 9. Questions about Polgara the Sorceress (contains spoilers) ---- 1. WHAT'S NEW |Modified information about the Rivan Codex(3b) |Alias homepage address updated(5b) 2. ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT This updated FAQ is designed as a supplement to the full FAQ, which is posted bi-monthly. Please read the main document first when looking for answers to questions you may have. This document contains information about new work from D&LE, some corrections to the main FAQ and some new questions about both D&LE's books and about the newsgroup itself. The newsgroup currently has a spoiler policy in place with regard to discussion about the latest book "Polgara the Sorceress". We request that you mark the headers of any post appropriately (an example being PtS [SPOILERS]) and leave some space at the top of the body of text. In light of this, any questions regarding PtS have been placed at the bottom of this document with appropriate warnings. The spoiler policy will continue until PtS is released in paperback form. 3. THE LATEST INFORMATION. a. Polgara the Sorceress. Polgara the Sorceress, the companion novel to Belgarath the Sorcerer, was released in hard back in both Britain (July 97) and the US(November 97). Both these releases were in hard back. The trade paperback was released in the UK in February 98. U.S. ISBN 0-345-41662-7 (hc) British ISBN 0-246-13844-0 (hc) British ISBN 0-002-24321-0 (trade pb) - Price £11.99 The UK paperback has just been released (July 98) with a slightly different cover (and a prettier Polgara). British ISBN 0-586-21314-7 (pb) Price £7.99 The paperback has been released in Australia (same ISBN) at a cost of $14.95. (Thanks to Anna Davies for this information) b. The Rivan Codex. Ancient Texts of the Belgariad and the Malloreon The Rivan Codex has now been released. It is a collection of notes written by David and Leigh Eddings as preliminary work for the Belgariad. Parts of it are written as "Histories of the Belgariad world", but other sections appear as notes about each nation. Anheg's diary provides great amusement, whilst the Holy Books of Kell finally tell us the secrets behind the |Mallorean. It has 394 pages, with a 100 illustrations and 16 maps. For more information, visit http://members.tripod.com/~Castellan/ (Thanks to Charles Meigh) British ISBN 0-002-24677-5 (hc) Price £19.99 The date for the US publication appears to be October '98, as stated in the Del Rey newsletter (thanks to Kamion) c. The Legends Anthology, and the withdrawal of the story from Eddings Legends: Stories by the Modern Masters of Fantasy. Ed. By Robert Silverberg. A short story by David Eddings was due to appear in this anthology but has recently been withdrawn. The book was going to be published in the UK in June '98, but has been pushed back until October. When the book's publishing date was moved back the Eddings story was replaced, as was a story from Terry Brooks. Little is known about the story, except that it was going to come from the world of Belgarath the Sorcerer. In case the story is restored the British ISBN is 0-002-25666-5 (hc) Price £16.99 4. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WORK OF DAVID & LEIGH EDDINGS. a. What are D&LE working on currently? David and Leigh are working on an entirely new world (Creating worlds is a real fun hobby according to David). There will be new characters, a new quest and a new "innovative magic system". A quote from the Del Rey's Polgara scrapbook page (http://www.randomhouse.com/polgara) indicates that it will be set at the end of the Ice-Age, although it was pointed out that this might be where DE has reached in the history of his world. In June 97, DE was quoted in the Polgara Scrapbook saying "Right now, I'm working on a darkly comic political novel about the President's mistress, who goes missing one day in possession of quite a few state secrets. Though I may wait to publish it posthumously, because if offends everyone - which was of course my intention." Whether this work is complete or not is unknown as we have heard nothing more about it since. b. Are there any interviews with David Eddings on the Internet? Del Rey's Polgara Scrapbook is an excellent source of information about David Eddings, and each month leading up to the US publication of Polgara the Sorceress, David sent a "letter" to the web page. It is well worth a read. Also, the main Del Rey page at http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ may contain future information about his new series. On Wednesday 29th October 1997, David conducted an online interview on AOL. It can be found on the Del Rey site, and can also be found on Kamion's web page. David also did an interview with Stan Nicholls for Interzone and Starlog magazines, which can be found in various places on the Internet. It is from some time ago, but contains lots of useful information. A copy can be found at http://gotw.home.ml.org/eddings_interview.html. A more recent interview, where Eddings discusses his new work can be found at http://web.reed.edu/community/newsandpub/reedmag/eddings/index.html. c. Wouldn't it be great if there was a new book in the world of the Belgariad/Elenium? It would probably be a good story if David Eddings wrote it, however it is not going to happen. He has stated quite firmly that there will be no further books in either of the worlds he has created so far. So, there will be no "Sephrenia the Styric", "Poledra the Wolf" or "The Story of Talen and Aphrael". d. Will there be a movie/CD-ROM game based on the Belgariad/Elenium? I have been asked to pass on the following reply to this question: - NO! On the Polgara Scrapbook, David quite clearly states his position. There will be no spin-offs of any sort, as he will not allow anyone to touch something he spent twenty years writing. e. Has anyone noticed the chess analogy in the titles of the Belgariad? The titles of the Belgariad all have two parts to them. One part refers to a chess piece or move (e.g. Pawn, Gambit) and the other part is a reference to some form of magic, or magical person. There is quite a strong connection with chess throughout the Belgariad. The game between the LP and the DP can be seen as a complicated game of chess involving the characters (some people have gone as far as associating each character with a type of chess piece). It has also been speculated that the strange geometric design on Garion's amulet is in fact a chessboard. f. Do the titles of the other series have similar connections? They do, but they are slightly more obscure. The Mallorean titles are of the form of person and place mentioned in the book (e.g. Seeress of Kell). The Elenium titles are all related to types of precious stones. The Tamuli is the hardest. The closest anyone has come up with is that they refer to cities. The only problem is "The Shining Ones" but that could refer to the city of Delphaeus, as Delphaeus means both the city and The Shining Ones. g. What was Beldin's first act of sorcery? There is an inconsistency between accounts in Belgarath the Sorcerer and Sorceress of Darshiva. In SoD Beldin says he was angry with Belgarath but turned his will onto a tree instead. In BtS Belgarath asks Beldin to move a rock to his tower and Beldin translocates it instead. A possible explanation for this is that Beldin didn't want everyone to think his first act of sorcery was to do something as simple as moving a rock. 5. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NEWSGROUP a. Who created the newsgroup, and when? The control message sent to alt.config came from Bob Snyder, on behalf of Lydia Leong. The date was 17 May 1992. The reasons given for the creation of the new group was that the existing place for discussion about Eddings, rec.arts.sf.written, had a lot of flame wars about whether Eddings was a good writer or not. It was felt that fans' questions were being lost as a result of these flame wars. Interestingly, alt.fan.eddings was created with the idea that it should also be a home for discussion about the Belgariad MUSH as well. A fuller history of the newsgroup, and a full copy of the control message can be seen at http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~pfreemn/afecodex.html. b. Why does everyone have an Eddings alias, and how can I get one? This popular habit was started around the summer of 97. There had always been a few people using aliases, most notable of which was our resident Goddess Aphrael, but more and more people started using them until it was decided that some sort of system was needed to ensure that no two people took the same alias. Aslade monitors who has what alias and any questions regarding aliases should be directed to aslade@cheerful.com. A web site regarding the aliases has been created by Itagne, and can be found at |http://alias-scrolls.home.ml.org/ c. What are the Silver Suggestions? The "Silver Suggestions" are alt.fan.eddings' guide to good netiquette and is posted, twice a month, by Aslade. They are a collection of statements which people should aim to follow when posting to alt.fan.eddings. Newcomers are encouraged to read them, as well as the FAQ, before posting for the first time. They include Aphrael's Three Commandments, as mentioned in the main FAQ. To see the on-line copy of the Silver Suggestions, visit http://home.att.net/~marthalanclos/silver.htm. d. Who runs the Trivia quiz, and when is it posted to the newsgroup? Simon Nickerson runs the AFE Trivia Quiz. A new quiz is posted once every two weeks and everyone is encouraged to enter. Looking in the books for answers is positively encouraged. Please don't post the answers to the newsgroup, instead mail them to triviaquiz@sigma.demon.co.uk. For further information, refer to the guidelines set out in the Trivia Quiz posts, or the web page at http://www.sigma.demon.co.uk/quiz. e. What exactly is Klael's Army? Klael's Army was a rather innocuous looking thread about how the Arcerans (aliens that Klael brought over to fight in the Tamuli) could forge weapons in the highly explosive atmosphere they lived in. It developed into a highly complex and incomprehensible discussion about biology. Very quickly, it became an in-joke to refer to it when any complicated thread was started, no matter the subject. It has returned this year and if anything, is even more complicated. Klael's Army has now joined the Dryad and Immortality threads into the history of alt.fan.eddings. |f. Where can a new user find information about this newsgroup? |Itagne (itagne-ambassador at greenbeak dot demon dot co dot uk) runs |the AFE Daemon Catalogue which can automatically send you various |information packs about this newsgroup. To get the Newbie pack send |a blank email to afe-daemon@greenbeak.demon.co.uk with a subject of |get -newbie. For a catalogue of all the documents send an e-mail to |the same address as above with a subject of get -cat. Please ensure |that your return email address is *NOT* disguised as you will not get |a reply. 6. CORRECTIONS/ADDITIONS TO THE CURRENT FAQ. a. Bibliography. i. Polish Titles. Poland is still waiting for the release of both The Hidden City, and Polgara the Sorceress, but the other books titles, in Polish, are: - BELGARIADA 1.Pionek Proroctwa 2.Krolowa magii 3.Gambit magow 4.Wieza czarow 5.Ostatnia walka czarodziejow MALLOREON 1.Straznicy zachodu 2.Krol Murgow 3.Demon wladca Karandy 4.Czarodziejka z Darshivy 5.Prorokini z Kell Belgarath czarodziej ELENIUM 1.Diamentowy tron 2.Rubinowy rycerz 3.Szafirowa roza TAMULI 1.Kopuly ognia 2.Blyszczacy Thanks to Luna, an Eddings fan from Poland, for this information. ii. Swedish Titles. In addition to the titles in the main FAQ, we have additions for The Elenium and Belgarath the Sorcerer. tDT = Diamanttronen tRK = Rubinriddaren tSR = Safirrosen BtS = Belgarath besvärjaren http://www.users.wineasy.se/oz/english/html/the_citadel_of_riva_-_books.htm has Swedish ISBNs (though be warned, at least two of them look invalid). iii. Corrections to Various Foreign Titles. Spelling Corrections: English: Enchanter's Endgame -> Enchanters' End Game German: Die Schimmernde Stadt -> Die schimmernde Stadt (looks strange in German otherwise, as "shimmering" becomes a noun) French (all but one of these depend on having accent characters available) Le pion blanc des presages -> présages (e acute) La Reine des sortileges -> sortilèges (e grave) La Tour des malefices -> maléfices (e acute) Le Demon majeur de Karanda -> Démon (e acute) La Sorciere de Darshiva -> Sorcière (e grave) Le trone de diamanta -> trône (o circumflex), diamant Les domes de feu -> dômes (o circumflex) Swedish: Stenens v*ktare -> Stenens väktare (a umlaut) Besv*rjarnas kamp -> Besvärjarnas kamp (a umlaut) *dets Fullbordan -> Ödets fullbordan (O umlaut) I Zandramas sp*r -> I Zandramas fotspår (a ring) Sierskan from Kell -> Sierskan från Kell (a ring) ISBN's tDT: British pb: 0-586-203742-9 -> 0-586-20372-9 tRK: British pb: 0-586-20343-7 -> 0-586-20373-7 b. The number of patriarchs in the Elene Church. The number given in the main FAQ (167) is incorrect. The actual number is 168. Talen does say that 167 would be more logical, however. (tSR) c. The Dryad thread genetic explanation. The following is the missing explanation by Rumor about the Dryads: It's really very simple (long, but simple): The dryad invariably has one "human" X chromosome and one "dryad" X chromosome. When a dryad (female, of course) and a human male produce a female child, the male has donated an X chromosome, which still pairs with during mitosis and meoisis so that the child can grow and produce eggs (not so strange - the Y and X chromosomes of humans are extremely different and still pair in cell division, and in this case, it's the dryad X that varies slightly from the human X). Now, in human females, one X chromosome in _every_ cell of the body becomes inactivated after a few weeks of life. (It becomes super-condensed because a double-dose of genes would be too much - it is then called a Barr body). In dryad female offspring, the human X serves to determine sex of the child, and then is the one condensed in every cell of the dryad's body (in humans, it is a random choice in the cells, but it could _easily_ be forced in dryad cells, because the two X chromosomes are slightly different, so one can be recognized as the human one and then condensed). The simplest mechanism for this would be a protein or series of protein reactions derived from the dryad X to inactivate the human X. Thus, a female child develops via the dryad X. Because half of her genome is human, dryads appear very much like humans. (The dryad half couldn't be much different anyway, because all chromosomes have to pair in cell division). Males: Child receives human male Y and a dryad female X. The male Y chromosome codes for a gene product (TDF maybe - the testis (male) determining factor) that inactivates portions of the dryad X chromosome that deal with dryad physiology. This is entirely possible - on all chromosomes, areas of the chromosome are regulated separately and turned 'on' or 'off' at the genetic level by protein and DNA packing regulation. Thus, a protein from the Y, normally meant only for some human purpose (such as TDF, which develops a male into a male) could also bind to the dryad X or cause some sort of signal cascade that deactivates the specific dryad genes - remember that the dryad X is quite similar to the human X which can clearly be indicated by their stark similarity to humans, so all the normal physiological genes needed from the X chromosome remain active. So, there you go. Gene regulation and inactivation. Simple, real, human genetics that can be applied to the dryad system, which must be amazingly similar to ours if human males can actually manage to reproduce with them. Re: "Half-dryad" and "full-dryad" nomenclature Or, why there are no full dryads _All_ dryads are half-dryad because half their genome is from a human, in which case, the definition for "dryad" becomes "half-dryad," and the word "dryad" still is correct: Dryads are all half-dryads, but are still called dryads, because there are no full-dryads. An analogy: the word hypercholesterolemia. This is a disease in which a person has one of _two_ genes defective for a certain receptor that allows cholesterol to be taken out of the blood. That is to say, the person has one mutant copy of the gene and one wildtype (normal) copy. Hypercholesterolemia breeds true (it is genetic, so obviously...), but the definition refers to a half-hypercholesterolemic, technically... However, people with two copies are _not_ called hypercholesterolemic (ack, bad example! Typing that is annoying! ^_^), because there aren't any. Two copies of the mutant are lethal, so all "full-hyper'emics" are dead. Hence the word, like dryad, technically means a half-breed, but that's _all_ it means, so it is still the correct connotation. "Dryad" _means_ half-breed, and there are _no_ "full-dryads." So, essentially, when Polgara refers to Ce'Nedra is a half-dryad, it's still what we're all used to. My explanation way above also explains how a female with only one dryad X can have the same phenotype of a theoretical full dryad. Re: Children of dryads, especially males. Without a deletion, half the male children of a dryad would have all their daughters (grand-daughters of the dryad) be dryads again; the gene causing dryad-ness in females would resurface after a generation. So, deletion of this gene by male children of dryads is likely possible, probably through an induced inversion mechanism, although it deoesn't really matter. Actually, if a dryad X underwent auto-inversion in males across the centromere of the X chromosome... the dryad X chromosomes would break up. Thus, sons of dryads could only have male kids, and the dryad chromosome would be _lost_ in that first generation. Would anybody ever notice that particular orphans found near the Wood of the Dryads only have male children. Probably not, actually. Medical records in Tolnedra were probably sketchy. The necessity for such a mechanism depends on whether a dryad is in any way recognizable from a normal human. Suppose the gene is not normally deleted, and a dryad-borne male is dumped into Tolnedra as an orphan (as per Aphrael's theory). He has three children in his lifetime, two of which are female, and thus both are dryad. _However,_ he doesn't know he's carrying the dryad genes on his X chromosome (which is given to all female children), and so nobody ever realizes they're dryad. _And_ if they're never bonded to a tree... then they don't have an extended lifetime (we _know_, despite the dryad/tree argument going on currently, that tree age is the reason the dryads live so long. Xantha states it). So, nobody ever realizes she's dryad, and nothing ever comes of it... If this is the case, there's probably a lot of unclaimed dryads running around clueless in Tolnedra. ^_^. Personally, I prefer the deletion/inversion theory, because it's simpler, neater, and wraps everything up just fine. Occam's Razor, n' such. 7. EDDINGS RESOURCES ON THE WEB. The Del Rey web site, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ can be seen as the official Eddings web site, but there are a large number of fan web sites as well. In addition to the ones found in the main FAQ, there is also, Guardians of The West http://gotw.home.ml.org/eddings.html Maintained by Kamion, this contains many excellent features, including Eddings in the Real World. It also has some good links to other Eddings web sites. Be warned this contains many advanced HTML features and may only be used with some of the later browsers. Aphrael's Isle http://www.microserve.net/~aphrael/eddings.html This site, by our very own Goddess, concentrates on the Elenium and Tamuli series, which makes it unique in itself. It has a very good character list. The AFE Codex http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~pfreemn/afecodex.html More about alt.fan.eddings rather than Eddings' himself. It has descriptions of many of the regulars on AFE and also has a history of the newsgroup too. The Happy Bunny Sanctuary http://www.sigma.demon.co.uk/ Contains the Trivia Quiz and also a graphical display of the Rivan line family tree. The Eddings Web Ring http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/6498/Eddings_Ring.html This collection of web sites is a link to 18 different sites. Aquarius' Site http://www.cryogen.com/aquarius/afe.html This is still under construction, but contains good information about alt.fan.eddings 8. CREDITS AND THANKS. Aphrael and Amy Sheldon, the previous two FAQ maintainers, for making the job of doing an update so easy. Having such an excellent base to work with made the job so much easier. Vanan, for getting the whole update moving and also for setting up the IRC channel for discussion about the FAQ. Kamion, for provided some excellent information especially regarding the foreign titles. Both Vanan and Kamion had HTML versions of the FAQ, but special thanks must also go to Ian Hutcherson for creating the original version and setting up the Geocities site. Aquarius, Rumor, Charles Meigh, Simon Nickerson, Itagne, Daniel Peters, Dominic Wynn, Aslade, Ce'Nedra, Bernadette Crumb(aka Taiba), Anna Davies and Kalten, all for providing valuable information, being excellent reviewers and finding all my mistakes. And many, many more people on alt.fan.eddings for thinking of the questions and making my job simple by providing the answers. 9. POLGARA THE SORCERESS (CONTAINS SPOILERS) Contents of this section a. What is the sex of Polgara's twins? b. Who is the Wolf? c. How did Polgara and Poledra merging help them remain unseen by Torak? d. Why are there so many differences between BtS and PtS? The Questions a. What is the sex of Polgara's twins? It is never said. In the prologue and epilogue of PtS, the twins are mentioned many times, and are quite clearly not referred to by name or sex. This is quite deliberate. The reason given is that no one can now come up with any suggestion for stories about the twins, because absolutely nothing is known about them. b. Who is the Wolf? This is thought to be, as with the twins, an attempt to keep a few loose ends lying around in the world of the Belgariad. The wolf we are referring to is the one found by Poledra in the Mallorean. He is now Geran's pet/friend, and in the epilogue of PtS he is described as having rather more intelligence than your average wolf. Some of the various explanations are: he is just an ordinary wolf, it's just that wolves are very intelligent creatures, he is an embodiment of the Light Prophecy, enjoying his retirement, or finally, he is David Eddings himself. c. How did Polgara and Poledra merging help them remain unseen by Torak? The first time Polgara and Poledra merge form into the SuperOwl(tm), Polgara remarks that it was the inward turning of themselves that made them invisible. But that cannot be the whole reason, for it should be possible to someone to turn their thoughts inward without merging with someone else. The turning of thought can be seen as creating a shield against searching thoughts. The merging process in combination with turning inward enables them to remain unseen from Torak. It is possible that the merging means they can create the shield and be aware of events happening outside of their merged form. Whereas the shield Garion and Polgara made was imperfect at the join, a combined form could create a perfect shield. d. Why are there so many differences between BtS and PtS? It seems to be on purpose. In one of the letters to the Polgara scrapbook, David speaks about this, and says not to bother pointing them out. In the book, Polgara says that she has a different viewpoint and remembers things differently to Belgarath. Now, given the fact David has put this in, it means he knows there are differences and doesn't want to change them. It is more realistic to think that Polgara and Belgarath cannot remember something exactly when it's something that occurred 3000 years ago. -- AFE Web Page - http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~pfreemn/afecodex.html "Though there were several others who worked in the kitchen, no loaf, stew, soup, roast, or vegetable ever went out of it that had not been touched at least once by Aunt Pol."