History Creator / DavidEddings

Both David and Leigh served prison time for child abuse in the early 1970s, having been found guilty of abusing their two adopted children. (The children were consequently removed from the Eddings' custody.) The trial and conviction ended Eddings' former career as a college professor, but incredibly, although the conviction was extensively covered in the local South Dakota press at the time, the story was never resurrected during the Eddings' long joint writing career -- even though both used continued to use their real names as authors and in their personal lives.

David Eddings was a modern American author who specialized in archetypical epic tales. All of his work was written jointly with his wife, Leigh Eddings, but she only started to receive co-author credit on works published from 1995 on.

Due to a stint in prison for child abuse that made his former career as a college professor untenable, the Eddingses turned to fiction to make ends meet. After a series of flopped one-shot modern-day adventure novels published in the 1970s, Eddings was inspired by seeing a copy of ''The Lord of the Rings'' at the grocery store he worked to turn his attention to fantasy. Most of the books Eddings wrote (from the 1980s on) were HighFantasy {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe]]). They were also StrictlyFormula, {{Troperiffic}}, and were decidedly Love-them-or-hate-them.[[note]]If you’re wondering how a pair of convicted child abusers became acclaimed and beloved fantasy authors, the Eddings child abuse convictions did not become widespread knowledge until 2020, due to only being reported on by local newspapers that were not archived online until years after they’d both died.[[/note]]

Leigh Eddings died in February 2007 and David Eddings in June of 2009.

Not to be confused with [[VideoGame/{{Borderlands}} Claptrap's]] [[NamesTheSame voice actor]].

Due to a stint in prison for child abuse that made his former career as a college professor untenable, the Eddings turned to fiction to make ends meet. After a series of flopped one-shot modern-day adventure novels published in the 1970s, Eddings was inspired by seeing a copy of ''The Lord of the Rings'' at the grocery store he worked to turn his attention to fantasy. Most of the books Eddings wrote (from the 1980s on) were HighFantasy {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe]]). They were also StrictlyFormula, {{Troperiffic}}, and were decidedly Love-them-or-hate-them.[[note]]If you’re wondering how a pair of convicted child abusers became acclaimed and beloved fantasy authors, the Eddings child abuse convictions did not become widespread knowledge until 2020, due to only being reported on by local newspapers that were not archived online until years after they’d both died.[[/note]]

Due to a stint in prison for child abuse that made his former career as a college professor untenable, the Eddings turned to fiction to make ends meet. After a series of flopped one-shot modern-day adventure novels published in the 1970s, Eddings was inspired by seeing a copy of ''The Lord of the Rings'' at the grocery store he worked to turn his attention to fantasy. Most of the books Eddings wrote (from the 1980s on) were HighFantasy {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe]]). They were also StrictlyFormula, {{Troperiffic}}, and were decidedly Love-them-or-hate-them.[[note]]If you’re wondering how a pair of convicted child abusers became acclaimed and beloved fantasy authors, the Eddings child abuse convictions did not become widespread knowledge until 2021, due to only being reported on by local newspapers that were not archived online until years after they’d both died.[[/note]]

Due to a stint in prison for child abuse made his former career as a college professor untenable, the Eddings turned to fiction to make ends meet. After a series of flopped one-shot modern-day adventure novels published in the 1970s, Eddings was inspired by seeing a copy of ''The Lord of the Rings'' at the grocery store he worked to turn his attention to fantasy. Most of the books Eddings wrote (from the 1980s on) were HighFantasy {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe]]). They were also StrictlyFormula, {{Troperiffic}}, and were decidedly Love-them-or-hate-them.

After a stint in prison for child abuse made his former career as a college professor untenable, the Eddings turned to fiction. After a one-shot modern-day adventure novel published in the 1970s, most of the books Eddings wrote (from the 1980s on) were HighFantasy {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe]]). They were also StrictlyFormula, {{Troperiffic}}, and were decidedly Love-them-or-hate-them.

After a stint in prison for child abuse made his former careers as college professors untenable, the Eddings turned to fiction. After a one-shot modern-day adventure novel published in the 1970s, most of the books Eddings wrote (from the 1980s on) were HighFantasy {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe]]). They were also StrictlyFormula, {{Troperiffic}}, and were decidedly Love-them-or-hate-them.

After a one-shot modern-day adventure novel published in the 1970s, most of the books Eddings wrote (from the 1980s on) were HighFantasy {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe]]). They were also StrictlyFormula, {{Troperiffic}}, and were decidedly Love-them-or-hate-them.

Leigh Eddings died in February 2007 and David Eddings in June of 2009. Best-selling authors in their lifetimes, their work is now UnderminedByReality, as posthumous revelations about their early life have cast a long shadow over their previous popularity. At the beginning of the 70's, years before their successful joint careers as authors, David and Leigh actually served jail time in South Dakota after pleading guilty to the abuse of their two adopted children. David had been working as a college professor in Spearfish at the time, and lost his job as a result of the abuse. Nonetheless, as this was in the days before the internet, these details about the Eddings' lives were long kept a secret and did not resurface until 2020, years after both had passed.

Leigh Eddings died in February 2007 and David Eddings in June of 2009. Best-selling authors in their lifetimes, their work is now UnderminedByReality, as posthumous revelations about their early life have cast a long shadow over their previous popularity. At the beginning of the 70's, years before their successful joint careers as authors, David and Leigh actually served jail time in South Dakota after pleading guilty to the abuse of their two adopted children. David had been working as a college professor in Spearfish at the time, and lost his job as a result of the abuse. Nonetheless, as this was in the days before internet, these details about the Eddings' lives were long kept a secret, and did not resurface until 2020, years after both had passed.

Leigh Eddings died in February 2007 and David Eddings in June of 2009. Best-selling authors in their lifetimes, their work is now UnderminedByReality, as posthumous revelations about their early life have cast a long shadow over their previous popularity. At the beginning of the 70's, years before their successful joint careers as authors, David and Leigh actually served jail time in South Dakota after pleading guilty to the abuse of their two adopted children. David had been working as a college professor in Spearfish at the time, and lost his job as a result of the abuse. Nonetheless, as this was in the days before internet, these details about the Eddings' lives were long kept a secret, and did not resurface until years after both had passed.

Leigh Eddings died in February 2007 and David Eddings in June of 2009. Best-selling authors in their lifetimes, their work is now UnderminedByReality, as posthumous revelations about their early life have cast a long shadow over their previous popularity. During the early 1970's, long before their successful joint careers as authors, David and Leigh actually served jail time in South Dakota after pleading guilty to the abuse of their two adopted children. David had been working as a college professor in Spearfish at the time, and lost his job as a result of the abuse. Nonetheless, as this was in the days before internet, these details about the Eddings' lives were long kept a secret, and did not resurface until years after both had passed.

Leigh Eddings died in February 2007 and David Eddings in June of 2009. Best-selling authors in their lifetimes, their work is now UnderminedByReality, as posthumous revelations about their early life have cast a long shadow over their previous popularity. Long before their writing careers, when they were living in North Dakota (where David was teaching university courses) the couple adopted a boy in 1966, and a younger girl between 1966 and 1969. In 1969 they lost custody of both children and each were sentenced to a year in jail, after each pleaded guilty to child abuse in separate trials. The nature of the abuse, the trials and the sentencing were all extensively reported in North Dakota newspapers at the time, but these details did not resurface during their successful joint career as fantasy authors, only coming to light several years after both had died.

Leigh Eddings died in February 2007 and David Eddings in June of 2009. Popular best-selling authors in their lifetimes, their work is now UnderminedByReality, as posthumous revelations about their early life have cast a long shadow over their previous popularity. Long before their writing careers, when they were living in North Dakota (where David was teaching university courses) the couple adopted a boy in 1966, and a younger girl between 1966 and 1969. In 1969 they lost custody of both children and each were sentenced to a year in jail, after each pleaded guilty to child abuse in separate trials. The nature of the abuse, the trials and the sentencing were all extensively reported in North Dakota newspapers at the time, but these details did not resurface during their successful joint career as fantasy authors, only coming to light several years after both had died.

Leigh Eddings died in February 2007 and David Eddings in June of 2009. Popular best-selling authors in their lifetimes, posthumous revelations about their early life have cast a long shadow over that popularity. Long before their writing careers, when they were living in North Dakota (where David was teaching university courses) the couple adopted a boy in 1966, and a younger girl between 1966 and 1969. In 1969 they lost custody of both children and each were sentenced to a year in jail, after each pleaded guilty to child abuse in separate trials. The nature of the abuse, the trials and the sentencing were all extensively reported in North Dakota newspapers at the time, but these details did not resurface during their successful joint career as fantasy authors, only coming to light several years after both had died.

After a one-shot modern-day adventure novel published in the 1970s, most of the books Eddings wrote (from the 1980s on) were HighFantasy {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe]]). They were also StrictlyFormula, {Troperiffic}}, and were decidedly Love-them-or-hate-them.

David Eddings was a modern American author who specialized in archetypical epic tales. He died in June of 2009. Most of the books he wrote were HighFantasy, were {{Doorstopper}}s, and were part of a long series (some of which were in [[TheVerse the same universe]]), were StrictlyFormula, were {{Troperiffic}}, and were Love-them-or-hate-them.

* TheStoryThatNeverWas: The fourth book describes a DeusExMachina that one-ups the {{Physical God}}s already present as viewpoint characters: the two {{amnesiac|God}} [[TheOldGods Old Gods]] remember their powers, effortlessly neutralize the BigBad, and make their victory retroactive so the plot of the series never happened. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d, even, when they make a passing comment on all the CharacterDevelopment that they unmade.

Not to be confused with [[VideoGame/Borderlands Claptrap's]] [[NamesTheSame voice actor]].