Chamdar

This page is written in the in-universe perspective of the "Garion" series' of novels.

Character Info
Full name and title(s)	Chamdar Asharak Asharak the Murgo
Race	Murgo, Grolim
Appearances	Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Belgarath the Sorcerer, Polgara the Sorceress

He swung his right arm, and at the instant his palm struck Chamdar's scarred left cheek, he felt all the force that had built in him surge out from the silvery mark on his palm. "Burn!" he commanded, willing it to happen.

— Queen of Sorcery

Chamdar was a Grolim sorcerer, generally considered Ctuchik's second-in-command, apprentice, and illegitimate disciple (as Ctuchik's god, Torak, would have been extremely cross if he had discovered his disciples had taken disciples of their own). He was considered dangerous, if not too bright. On one occasion, Belgarath commented "Ctuchik was kind enough to give me a tail, so I'm going to drag it through the mud for a bit".

Chamdar's task for the several centuries of his life was to find and kill the heir to the Rivan throne. His task was not an easy one, as the Rivan royal family was very effectively hidden by the sorceress Polgara, daughter of Belgarath. To find the Rivan king, he tailed Belgarath for decades on and off; the latter took great pleasure in spending years at a time leading Chamdar on elaborate wild goose chases, including having women adopt a stream of white in their brow (a la Polgara). Chamdar returned the favor, taking a page from Belgarath's book when Chamdar had numerous regular Murgos look-a-likes, in various cities of the West. Unfortunately, Chamdar managed to find the descendants of the Rivan kings from time to time, often spelling near-disaster.

On one of those occasions, shorty after the Battle of Vo Mimbre, Chamdar showed his true ambitions. Having found the current Rivan heir, he preyed on his latent egotism to draw him into a phony sect of the Bear-Cult (who believe that the Rivan king will lead them to victory against the rest of the world). Chamdar, rather than kill him, intended to present him to Torak himself, gaining power far beyond what Ctuchik would allow him. Luckily, Polgara and Belgarath were able to intervene in time to break Chamdar's control over the young Rivan's mind and send him scurrying away.

Chamdar's next encounter with the Rivan line was somewhat less fortuitous. Polgara had closeted the family away in Annath, a remote village in Sendaria whose chief resource was its stone quarry. Chamdar killed the eldest of the Rivan line, Darral, by causing a landslide in the quarry. He then used the shock of Darral's death to drive his wife insane, turning her into a pawn that he would use to great advantage later. When Darral's daughter-in-law was due to have a baby, Chamdar caused the late Darral's wife to wander off into the forest, luring Polgara after her. While the sorceress was away, he set fire to the house that the last remaining members of the Rivan family were in, burning all to their deaths but the baby Garion (later Belgarion). A vengeful Belgarath, arriving moments too late, was only kept from killing Chamdar by having the baby thrown at him while the Angarak sorcerer made his getaway.

Chamdar continued to lurk near Garion while he grew up, and nearly succeeded in capturing him in the palace of Val Alorn. Garion only barely escaped from him and back to safety. Chamdar managed to escape Cherek and tailed the party through Arendia, projecting his shadow to verbally harass them as well as to control Garion's mind to think that he was being held by captors.

Later, upon exiting the Forest of the Dryads, Garion and his party happened upon Grand Duke Kador and Chamdar. There, without Belgarath around to help, Chamdar revealed himself, attempting to coerce Polgara to agree to come before Torak as his destined bride since he claimed he had his hand around Garion's heart. However, upon Polgara's calling Chamdar a swine, the Grolim hit her and Garion was driven to finally avenge his parents, the injustice just done to Polgara, as well as completely embrace his growing powers of sorcery by striking Chamdar and willing him to burn. This ignited Chamdar, who burned to death. This violent act of spontaneous sorcery would plague Garion's dreams for quite a few years.