The Belgariad is a five-book fantasy epic written by David Eddings, following the journey of protagonist Garion and his companions, first to recover a sacred stone, and later to use it against antagonist Torak. It was a bestseller from the first book in the series. It has been called both the "last gasp" of traditional fantasy and "one of the founding megasagas" of modern fantasy. Background David Eddings, who had been writing adventure and thriller genres, has said he developed the idea for a fantasy series somewhat "cynically" after noticing how many times J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series had been reprinted. He had an epiphany, realizing the fantasy genre might be very lucrative and was currently "underserved". He mapped out an imaginary world to use in developing the story for the Belgariad. He has also said he was influenced by reading medieval epics and by Lester del Rey's editorial input. In later works he acknowledged his wife, Leigh Eddings, as an
The Belgariad es un épico de fantasía de cinco libros escrito por David Eddings, después del viaje del protagonista Garion y sus compañeros, primero para recuperar una piedra sagrada, y más tarde para utilizarlo contra el antagonista Torak. Fue un best-seller del primer libro de la serie. Se ha llamado tanto el "último gasp" de la fantasía tradicional y "uno de los megasagas fundadores" de la fantasía moderna. El fondo David Eddings, que había estado escribiendo géneros de aventura y thriller, ha dicho que desarrolló la idea de una serie de fantasía de una manera algo "cínica" después de notar cuántas veces el Señor de los Anillos de J. R. R. Tolkien había sido reimpreso. Tenía una epifania, dándose cuenta de que el género de fantasía podría ser muy lucrativo y que actualmente estaba "subservido".