Thanks, Bruno, I had my suspicions about who the Arends might be based on, so it's good to know that someone else shared them.
And thanks too, Devilsgrin. Come to think of it, I never knew whether the Tamul gods were just an extra bit of detail or something else. I haven't read it in a while, though.
Has anyone read enough of Eddings' last series (The Elder Gods) to see whether there are any comparisons to the nations in that? I just wondered if Eddings had changed anything in the last series, or if he'd followed the same pattern again.
