Has anyone who has read David Eddings' the Belgariad noticed how much Kal Torak is like Sarevok?

I thorougly disagree with you. Kal Torak isn´t a single bit like Sarevok. Have you read the follow on stories, the Malloreon-Saga?
There the character of Kal Torak is worked out much more, he actually is an important figure and becomes a friend of Belgarion. Rad it and you will think different.

However, the Belgariad-Saga is great. Nice characters.

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited April 26, 2001).]

Hmmm... It's been a while for these books, so correct me if I'm wrong, but Torak was completely insane and was killed in the Belgariad. Errand became the new god of the Angoraks in the Mallorean; there was no Torak in the Mallorean.

Ragusa, you are thinking about (Kal) Zakath.

The only importance that Kal Torak has in the Mallorean is in the Ashaba Prophecies, where he wrote that letter telling Garion to prevent the Dark sides version from coming true.

Torak was The Child of Dark, as opposed to Garion being The Child of Light. Torak was a god too, if I remember right. So I'd agree that Sarevok and Torak are fairly different.

Wasn't Kal Zakath the one that was imprisoned in stone at the end of the Belgariad? Being a wizard, he sure as hell isn't like Sarevok either.

No it was (Bel)Zedar who was imprisoned in stone. 'Zakath is the Emperor of Mallorea who ends up being the overking of Angarak but only after he's become Garion's friend and an all round nice guy.

As for the differences between Sarevok and Torak the ones I can think of off the top of my head are:-
1) Torak is a God, Sarevok is the offspring of a god
2) Torak has a disfigured face, Sarevok didn't
3) Torak only had 1 hand, Sarevok had 2
4) It turned out that Torak was also against the Dark Prophecy, while Sarevok is trying to cause a prophecy to come true.

Hmmm that's all I can think of for now.

Talk about a blast from the bast! Wow, I have to blow the dust off my brain for this one.

I think you've gotten the characters right by now, and while there isn't any direct similarities between Torak and Saravok, they do fill the same "character slot" in both story-lines.

IMHO, the biggest difference is that while the PC is set directly against Saravok, Garion does not equal/rival Torak. It is Errand who ultimately overtakes his "slot in the pantheon" and achieves diety.

But thanks for posting the question. Great memories of reading those books! Unfotunately I lent all 10 of them to a friend who moved away! :(

Filling in a character slot as a similarity. That's just obvious. If that's the only similarity you would be able to have similarities between every evil character there ever was. Sarevok, Irenicus, Torak, Zandramas, Murmandramas, Darken Rahl, Draken-Korim ....just to name a few ;)

[This message has been edited by Cerryl (edited April 28, 2001).]