Eddings' villains

[Talysia]

There doesn't seem to be a thread for this, so I thought I might as well start one. Who is Eddings's best villain, and his worst? (and by worst, I mean the ones who don't really cut it as villain material.)

For best villain, I'd say Zakath (in the Belgariad). I know he sides with Garion in the Malloreon, but... A close second might be Martel in the Elenium, or Ctuchik in the Belgariad.

For the worst villain, I'd have to say the Vlagh in the Elder Gods series. I know that it was just an insect, but it just seemed a bit pointless to me.

So what does everyone else think?

[HappyHippo]

I don't think he can write a really convincing bad guy, or at least and know what to do with them. Torak dies feebly, Zedar is entombed, Zandramas flies to bits, Otha and Annias get squished, MArtel repents.... blah, blah, blah. They're all feeble!

The 'bad' God in Althalus has to be worst, he never actually does anything!

Princess Arissa is rather bad, I suppose, as she's just totally degenerate, even comitting incest.

[The Ace]

I'd go for Torak, BS tells you a lot about his background, and what sticks in Belgarath's teeth also sticks in mine, the fact that he encouraged, rather than attempted to stop, the grolim practise of human sacrifice. Religious fanatics can do terrible things on their own, but Torak made no attempt to stop them.

[devilsgrin]

Originally Posted by Talysia

There doesn't seem to be a thread for this, so I thought I might as well start one. Who is Eddings's best villain, and his worst? (and by worst, I mean the ones who don't really cut it as villain material.)

For best villain, I'd say Zakath (in the Belgariad). I know he sides with Garion in the Malloreon, but... A close second might be Martel in the Elenium, or Ctuchik in the Belgariad.

For the worst villain, I'd have to say the Vlagh in the Elder Gods series. I know that it was just an insect, but it just seemed a bit pointless to me.

So what does everyone else think?

Well to be honest, i think Eddings goes out of his way to make his villains seem sympathetic, with few Exceptions.

That said... I love Zedar - for his not quite villain/not quite-anti-hero qualities. Martel is one of the best villains in the Elenium... he should have put up a better fight imho - tho i guess the big fight was Sparhawk vs that elder god thing...
Annias is disgusting, BUT IS a very good villain. Indeed, I think Annias should have won the Archprelate's throne. He could then have been an awesome villain... he could have been Eddings' best villain ever.

[Talysia]

Now, Annias, I completely forgot about him, and it's too late to edit my first post! Well, I'll have to amend it here.

I agree with you, Devilsgrin. Annias probably would have been the best ever of Eddings' villains, if he was ever allowed to be. Now that I think about it, Arissa wasn't exactly a villain as such, but she was one of Eddings' more colourful characters. Both willing to go to such extreme lengths for power, and seemingly made for each other. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened should Annias have got the throne of Chyrellos rather than Dolmant. Would the Church Knights have declared war on the church, as was suggested? I'd like to read that story.

[devilsgrin]

Since i have an aversion to such stringently organised religion, fundamentalism and fanaticism intrinsic to many religions I would also have loved to see the Church Knights declare war on The Church... I would also have loved to see Ehlana declare war on Chyrellos, it could have been the best thing she could have done.

[Zombie]

I got to thinking about the Church Knights declaring war on the Church and could see them doing that ... all but Arcium. They were supposed to be a little more fanatical then the others. Maybe they'd stay true to the Church?

[Abbot]

My favorite villian is Zedar, although im a bit upset cause I was really looking forward to an installment called Zedar the Apostate. I mean he is still alive and intombed wat if they found a copy of hes diary? I mean reading the Rivan Codex makes u feel like the book of Torak is the correct version of wat was going on in the perspective.

Worst villian has got to be Urvon cause hes just a fraidy cat with no real power and hes soul excuse to be alive is to be afraid of Beldin and be extreemly ugly.

[The Ace]

I tend to see Zedar as more a victim than anything else, in BS Belgarath states he'd, "Rather carry a mountain," than what he did to Zedar. There is also the fact that without Zedar, Eriond would never have arrived.
Urvon had absolute authority over the church in Mallorea and was no slouch as a sorceror until his mind went. Although Eddings seemed to have planned Zandramas as an eminence gris I never really was convinced. Naradas being far more effective.

[Sir_Sparhawk]

My favourite villain would be Klael, i just like the idea of a planet-wandering being of supreme evil

[Talysia]

As villains go, Klael was one of the better of Eddings' non-human villains. My one gripe was that he didn't feature as much as the Bhelliom did, only putting in an appearance at the start of book three of the Tamuli, and I thought he didn't get the chance to show off his menace in the same way that Annias and Zalasta did.

Oh, and welcome to the Chronicles, Sir Sparhawk!

[Zombie]

I sometimes wonder if Eddings had planned Zalasta's involvement from the beginning or developed it as he decided to do a sequel. Not that I didn't like Zalasta as a villain, he was way to self-effacing when he was trying to be a good guy. That was something I agreed with Ehlana about in 'Domes of Fire' at least - he put out a bad vibe.

[Sir_Sparhawk]

@Talaysia: Thanks for the welcome, but i think that Klael isnt supposed to show menace as it is non-human and i believe that David Eddings tried to give Klael and Bhelliom as little human qualities as possible. This also explains why in the Elenium, Sepherina tells sparhawk that the bhelliom cannot understand love.

[Sir_Sparhawk]

@Talaysia: thanks for the welcome, but i see that Klaels lack of capacity for malice to be part of the design of his character. I believe that David Eddings tried to remove the majority of human traits when he was creating the idea behind the Bhelliom (note Sepherinas referance to it being incapable to comprehend love) and since Klael is supposed to be a creature/entity similar to Bhelliom, it also should lack in many human emotions and concepts, i think that its malice is one of the things that it lacks.

[Sir_Sparhawk]

@ Talysia: Thanks for the welcome. I see Klaels lack of malice as one of its character traits, I believe that David Eddings tried to create both Klael and Bhelliom as non-human as possible, and did this by removing several human emotions and concepts.