The Prophecy of the Belgariad and The Mallorean: Is it Destiny or Choice?

During our discussion of destiny, my mind immediately jumped to the book series, The Belgariad and The Mallorean by David Eddings. The whole story of both book series revolves around the idea of destiny. A prophecy that was written when the world was being formed stated that in centuries time, the child of dark will meet the child of light and the fate of the universe will be decided on this particular meeting. This prophecy was written down into two books, The Book of Alorn and The Book of Torak. The Book of Alorn was written by the Alorns and depicts the creation of the world to the battle of Vo Mimbre. Alorns can recite the book, even if they haven't read it, because it is in their bloods. The book of Torak was written by the God Torak himself, who happens to be the child of the dark. The book is twisted in its facts as well. According to this book, Torak was the one that led the Gods to create the world, certain protagonists in the story are actually considered to be villains, the reason why the Riva Iron Grip is able to touch the Orb of Aldur is different, and finally, the book states that the Angaraks are a good race and Torak is also good.

The story focuses on a young named Garion. He was orphaned when he was very young and then sent to live on a farmstead with his "Aunt" Pol. Pol was actually Polgara, a very famous sorceress who has lived for centuries, making it her life's work to chase after this prophecy. After Garion reached his teens, the storyteller he knew only as the "Old Wolf" came for a visit. He informed Pol that the events of the prophecy were beginning to take place and it was time to move. Zedar had stolen the Orb of Aldur and was going to use it to awaken Torak from his sleep. He had been almost completely destroyed in years past, but instead of death, he was under a sleep slumber. Gathering up their things, Pol, Garion, and the "Old Wolf" prepared to leave. Durnik, the blacksmith of the farm, noticed their departure and begged them to take him with them. They agreed with reluctance, but it turned out that he had to have come with them, because he was destined to become "The Man that Lived Twice." They met up with two more individuals, which Garion thought were giants or something and completely freaked out and ran away like a little baby, which was kind of interesting. These two individuals were named Silk and Barak. Silk was destined to be the Guide and Barak was destined to be "The Bear." When provoked, Barak turns into a very large bear.

The six of them started off there journey and met up with with the other members of the people destined to be apart of the destiny: Ce'nedra, the "Queen of the World and Bride of the Light." She is also destined to be Garion's wife, Hettar, "The Horse Lord" because of his ability to talk to horses, Lelldorin, "The Archer," Relg, "The Blind Man," Taiba, "The Mother of the Race That Died," and Mandorallen, "The Knight Protector." All these people were destined to take place in the prophecy that was told in the beginning of time.

It was Garion's destiny to face Torak and everything he did seem to lead up to that point. He of course did not learn about this destiny till much later in their journey. He also did not know that he was destined to be the King and to marry the Imperial Princess of Ce'Nedra. Ce'Nedra knew that she was destined to marry the new Rivan King, but she did not know that her destined husband was Garion. Needless to say, that it was a work of progress between the two, but they did eventually fall in love like they were destined to. Garion learned the "Will and the Word" and become a full fledged sorcerer, changing his name to Belgarion as all sorcerers add Bel before their name.

Throughout the whole story, Belgarion constantly asked himself why him? Why did the prophecy chose him? He, more than anything, wanted to go back to his life in Sendaria on Faldor's farm. However, he kept going, because it was his destiny to go. He knew that he had to do it, despite his insecurities. Of course he was scared, but he pushed forward.

The future was uncertain, though. Neither parties knew how the meeting was going to turn out. It really was up to the individual. The forces of nature, controlled by the Orb of Aldur, only had the power to put things in motion, not influence the result. Hence, Belgarion and Torak did have some control over their own destiny in a sense.

The Mallorean is the next part of the story. Many years had passed since Belgarion's adventures with the first part of the prophecy, but it was revealed that the prophecy was not completed yet. The Child of Dark and Child of Light had to meet again. Belgarion and Ce'Nedra had a child, who Belgarion named after his father, Geran. Zandramas, an Angarak Grolim (Angarak's versions of sorcerers), kidnapped their son. Zandramas becomes the new child of dark and their quest to stop the child of dark starts again. This time, in the place that is no more.

Silk, Belgarath, Ce'Nedra, Durnik, and Polgara return on this adventure, joined by new travelers. Sadi, "The Man Who is No Man," Toth, "The Silent Man," Velvet, "The Huntress, and finally, Eriond, who becomes the new Child of Light and God of the Angaraks.

Again, the orb and a new character, the Seeress named Cyradis, both set the courses in action to make sure that the prophecy would be set in motion, however, Cyradis would be the ultimate decision maker about what would happen to the world after the Child of Dark and Child of Light meet. Destiny had a larger control over this story and it appeared that the people involved did not have a choice in their own destiny. However, it was hinted throughout the whole story that Eriond knew exactly what was going. He would often make things happen that were supposed to happen when the other's didn't really know what to do, so I guess you could argue that he had some control over his own destiny. The Orb of Aldur also played a big role in this. He often spoke to Belgarion, telling him the path he must choose. Only Belgarion and Eriond can hear his voice, because they are the only ones that can touch the orb.

This brings the unending question on whether or not we truly have control of our destiny. In this case, things that were supposed to happen did happen, but the outcome was clearly up to the individual. They were not able to back away from the chosen path, but their strength and ability were what chose the outcome. It is truly an interesting question that I don't think can ever be answered. Most of us would like to think we have control over our own lives and can make our own choices, but how do we know whether or not the forces of the world had already defined this path and we can't stray from it?