A Timeline for The Belgariad and The Malloreon

In Fall 1984, I went into Baker Book Store in Grand Village Mall in Grandville, Michigan, looking for something new to read. The blurb on the back of the book I found began:

Long ago, so the Storyteller claimed, the evil God Torak sought dominion and drove men and Gods to war. But Belgarath the Sorcerer led men to reclaim the Orb that protected men of the West. So long as it lay at Riva, the prophecy went, men would be safe.

That is, of course, the blurb from the back of Pawn of Prophecy. It set me back $2.95 (most of two weeks' allowance for the 11-year-old I was at the time). I've still got it around somewhere; after more than 30 years, it's ready to fall apart. All that's preventing that is the clear packing tape I've used on it in several places.

When the series got to Belgarath the Sorcerer, I realized that there were enough specific date references that it might just be possible to reverse-engineer the timeline that went into the books. I was also on the campus of Michigan State University to work on my M.S. degree, with nothing to do until classes actually started. This meant I had some time on my hands.

So, I started working on a personal webpage. And eventually, my mind came back to the timeline… and I decided, why not?

So here you are. The timeline was compiled starting in September 1995, and ending in November 2000. And frankly, with all that was going on in my life over that time period–I've since earned the aforementioned M.S. (in computer science), gotten a job, gotten married, and had a child (who is now driving)–I'm amazed I'm done.

Disclaimers

• The characters and situations described in this timeline are the property of David and Leigh Eddings. They are used here without permission. Their use herein should not be considered a challenge to the Eddings' ownership.
• This timeline compilation is © 1995-2015 by Matthew Korth. Again, I emphasize that I am not challenging the Eddings' ownership of the source material–I claim copyright only on this timeline compilation.
• Finally, the lists of characters were originally compiled by a regular on alt.fan.eddings named Amy Sheldon. They are used here with her permission. People wishing to use the character lists elsewhere should contact Amy directly.

Updates

The latest and greatest updates (in a very long time) involve HTML 5. The content hasn't changed in quite a long while–that might have something to do with the fact that I finished the content for the timeline way back in 2000.

Credits

Abbreviations and Editions

Characters

• The Belgariad
• The Malloreon

The Timeline

I've divided this timeline in two separate ways: years and ages. The years are all by the Alorn calendar; the ages are the ages of Dalish prophecy.

The Ages

Now These are the Ages of Man…
The Book of Ages, Book One of The Mallorean Gospels

The First Age
The Second Age

The Third Age

• 2000-2035
• 2038-2537
• 2560-4002ish

The Fourth Age

• 4012-4875
• 4875 (the Battle of Vo Mimbre)-5349
• 5349-5370
• 5370
• 5370-5371
• Part 6
  1. 5371: Belgarath, Silk, and Garion
  2. 5371: Polgara, Ce'Nedra, and everyone else
• 5371

The Fifth Age

• 5371-5380
• 5380
• 5380-5381
• 5381 (continued)
• 5381 (continued)
• 5381 (continued)
• 5381 (continued)
• 5381-5382

The Sixth Age

Timeline compilation is © Matt Korth, 1995-2001
Timeline is drawn from material that is © David and Leigh Eddings, 1982-1998; my copyright on the timeline compilation should not be construed as a challenge to the Eddings' ownership of the original source material.
Character lists are © Amy Sheldon, 1996.