Belgariad series
The Belgariad series is a series of high fantasy works, written by David Eddings (credited) and Leigh Eddings (uncredited).
Works in the series
The Belgariad series includes several subseries:
- The Belgariad
- Pawn of Prophecy (1982)
- Queen of Sorcery (1982)
- Magician's Gambit (1983)
- Castle of Wizardry (1984)
- Enchanters' End Game (1984)
- The Malloreon
- Guardians of the West
- King of the Murgos
- Demon Lord of Karanda
- Sorceress of Darshiva
- The Seeress of Kell
- Related works
- Belgarath the Sorcerer
- Polgara the Sorceress
- The Rivan Codex
Gender issues
The "Eddings formula" almost always focused on a male "hero", with a female love interest subplot.
A couple of the various "races" / nations in the series had specific gender-issues angles; otherwise they were mostly the standard patriarchal semi-medieval fantasy worlds of much high fantasy.
the Marags of Mara
The Marags, the people of Mara, were a matriarchal race, thought at the beginning of the Belgariad to be destroyed. Female births outnumbered male births eight or nine to one; marriage was uncommon; and sexual freedom was common.
Godless Ones
The Godless Ones were cursed by Ulgo so that all female Godless Ones were infertile.
Dryads
A species of all-female promiscuous tree nymphs, who breed with human males to produce offspring.
Pregnancy & Fertility
Pregnancy and fertility play repeated roles in the series.
- The Malloreon begins with Belgarion and Ce'Nedra failing to conceive for many years before finally having a child.
- Marags are defined in large part by their female/male birth ratio
- female infertility is punishment for the Godless Ones
- dryads conceive only through seducing human males
- in Demon Lord of Karanda (Malloreon #3) human females are repeatedly raped by demons; they typically die from any resulting pregnancies
Further reading
- The Belgariad (wikipedia)
- The Malloreon (wikipedia)