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In both the Belgariad and the Mallorean we learn that

Torak was a mistake and Eriond was the true Angarak god

In the Epilogue we see that the true god begins to reform his people, and that it will eventually willingly spread to the other peoples.

Does this mean that all the gods were a mistake, and created by the EVENT that caused the universe to change?

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I don't have reference materials available, but I do note that as far as we see in the two main series, neither Prophecy spends time trying to "fix" the other Gods. To me, this is pretty good evidence -- anything that those two agree on has to be pretty solid. ;D

Side note. The Melcene people don't really believe in any of the Gods or Prophecies; call them ... "Cthragnostic" if you will. From their point of view, all those disciples and grolims &c are just wasting time.

Update: Inspired by @harry-johnston in comments, I did a little digging. I couldn't find the exact passage about "this world exists so you could stand on it", but I found references to it. As well as the drunken Arend whose entire purpose in life was to heckle Ce'nedra and get her past her stage fright. Add to that Belgarath telling Garion that if he'd lost to Torak fully half of creation would have "shimmered and vanished" and it looks like we have a more complicated vision of how much of reality is supposed to be there, and how much is there only to support the Prophecies' battling.

I'm starting to see this in terms of Venn diagrams... There are some people, planets, etc which are relevant to the light prophecy alone, some relevant to the dark prophecy, and some in the overlap zone (though with a different destiny in the different visions). Relevant to the actual question, we never see any hints that the Gods are only useful to one prophecy, or any indication that they would disappear if the Dark Prophecy wins. So I'm going to conclude that they are "real", where "real" means they are germane to both P's and will still be around whichever P wins. Now if that demon lord's "third way" had won out, everything is on the table.

Final thought ... if the Light Prophecy wins, will thousands of galaxies just ... disappear? That would reinforce the "us-vs-them" mentality Belgarath likes to talk about!

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  • There's a subtlety here. If I remember rightly, the entire world, including the Gods (with the possible exception of Ul) were only created in the first place in order to serve as a battleground between the two Prophecies. So in that sense they all only exist because of the accident. It's not entirely clear to me why Torak is any different. Out-of-universe, the confusion mainly arises because of the retcons that were necessary in order to write a second series.
    – Harry Johnston
    Commented Sep 30, 2017 at 2:26
  • @HarryJohnston do you have a passage for this? I'll be excited if there is one! As I remember it, the Universe was created for a reason and then that reason bifurcated -- hence two prophecies. This was when the Prophecy was explaining to Garion using the throwing a rock to bounce off another rock analogy. I'd understood that the world (hell, pretty much everything but Torak) was supposed to be there, just aimed in the wrong direction. So please do hit me with the passage if you can locate it!
    – akaioi
    Commented Sep 30, 2017 at 2:56
  • I think I'd have to re-read the entire series to do that, which isn't going to happen in the near future. I'll try to keep it in mind though and get back to you eventually. I think it went something along the lines of "this world was only created so that you'd have a place to stand" but I may be misremembering or misinterpreting it. Perhaps someone with a better memory will speak up. :-)
    – Harry Johnston
    Commented Sep 30, 2017 at 3:03
  • @HarryJohnston I updated the answer after contemplating your feedback
    – akaioi
    Commented Sep 30, 2017 at 21:17
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Apologies - I cannot yet post comments everywhere.

It does state in Seeress of Kell (SoK), *"Was Eriond always a God?" [Garion] asked. "Weren't you listening when he explained? Eriond was meant to be the seventh God. Torak was a mistake caused by the accident." * (p347 hardback)

All 8 Gods (7 plus UL) are present at the birth at the very end and "all is well".

The other Gods were not mistakes, only Torak was and Eriond was around in spirit form since the very beginning as the potential to be the post-choice God.

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