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Okay, one of the confusing things about the Belgariad series is Polgara's role. Is she really considered a disciple? My answer is yes, definitely. There is a little murkyness surrounding this conclusion, however. In Polgara the Sorceress, there is a part that clearly defines when and where she becomes a disciple. She accepts her tasks from Aldur and calls him her master. This should be enough information. When she is asked why she doesn't have her own tower, she responds that she just never got around to it and she spent her time in her father's tower. But when Durnik becomes a disciple, Belgarath and Beldin seem to be treating Polgara as though she's just... Durnik's wife. Not another disciple. They're talking about how Durnik needs his own tower so he can study and stuff like that. Hmmm. That's where it seems to get confusing, but maybe Belgarath and Beldin are just really sexist. It's very possible. Anyway, I've been pondering this, and I was just wondering what you guys thought about it.

Later we can get into a discussion about Garion's discipleship. razz

I reckon that Polgara is a disciple but the others struggle to see her as a disciple because she's a woman, and they aren't sure where she stands because of that.

The person I get confused about is Poledra she appears to be a disciple to Aldur and UL @.@ it confuzzles me.

eek Did you read the first post? There's no need to shout -- we all agree with you. The whole point is determining how the OTHER disciples see her...

rofl that's a very good way of putting it, thanks, i think i get it now

You can't really go off what the prologue says, seeing as how they're excerpts for The Book of Alorn and the Book of Torak and things like that. He wrote things wrong in the prologues deliberately to show how history books sometime exaggerate things to make them more interesting. Remember it also said that Belgarath turned into a fox when he told Riva how to make the sword? It also said that everyone in history talked in verse.

Belgarath was disturbed because when he touch Polgara she sucked as much power as she could from him and he felt it. That's not to say that he didn't recognize her as a disciple. I'm saying you can't always get the facts from the prologues.

And the last is not particularly true. Durnik was a sorcerer for a while before Aldur made him a disciple. And remember the clubfoot in the Mallorean who came upon sorcery by accident? He wasn't anyone's disciple.

But I do think Pol was a disciple, most especially since she called Aldur master all of the time.

I don't think marrying Durnik would've revoked her discipleship (is that even a word?). Especially after Durnik became a disciple himself.

By the one who died do you mean Belmakor or Belsambar? They were both disciples who destroyed themselves. And of course there was Belzedar

When Belgarath touched Polgara's hair it turned white as the mark of a sorceress not a disciple. She was a disciple simply becuase she was born from two disciples and raised by disciples, and that is why she was named Polgara. The prefix Pol is reserved for female disciples of Aldur and Bel is for male disciples. That's why Garion changed to Belgarion.

Polgara never got a tower because she never wanted or needed one. Belgarath's tower will always be open to her because she's his daughter, and there is plenty of room in his or any other one of the towers for her. Plus the fact that her mother's cottage is so nearby, and not only that but Polgara is also the duchess of Erat, and has a mansion there. And now that I think about it, she also has her own apartments in the fortress at Riva. So it was all up to her, she just didn't bother.

The men just assumed that since Dunrik signed on as a disciple like they did, he would want his own tower like they did. And it's not his style to simply move into Polgara's mansion in Erat, he wouldn't know what to do with himself.