Heartwarming / The Belgariad

• When Garion learns Polgara's real age, he realizes she couldn't possibly be his aunt. But along the way, he learns how much she does love him, and begins to understand that they can still have their surrogate mother/child relationship, whether they share blood or not. And it turns out she's his great (great-great-add-a-few-hundred) aunt anyway. Belgarion is descended from her sister.
• Vordai, the witch of the Drasnian fens, will only help Belgarath, Silk, and Garion get out of the fens if Belgarath gives the intelligent, otter-like fenlings the power of speech, so that humans will no longer view them as animals and stop trapping them for their fur. When one of the fenlings demonstrates his success by speaking the word "Mother" to Vordai, echoed by many other fenlings emerging from the swamp in excitement, the witch breaks down in tears. The reader may also, just from the touching impact of the moment. The fact that Belgarath does as Vordai asks out of sympathy for her lonely, sad life, rather than using his power to get the party out of the fens directly, just makes it better.
  • The coda to this in Guardians of the West: Garion, on his way to the shrine where the Mrin Prophet was kept to read the original scroll of the Codex, runs into the fenlings again, only to find out that Vordai has indeed passed on. The simple, childlike way the fenlings speak of her being "tired" and how they put flowers on her grave is heartbreaking, but also shows how much they really loved her.
• Porenn taking care of Silk when he breaks down crying after revisiting some old family issues.
  • Mixed with Tearjerker, as Porenn makes it clear she's done this before, and knows exactly what to expect each time Silk visits his mother.
    • Add to that Silk is in love with Porenn, who knows but is married to his Uncle and has no romantic feelings towards him whatsoever. And Silk is fully aware of this.
• In Belgarath the Sorceror, after Beldin announces his desire for his own tower, his brothers start arguing over what kind of tower to build. Appalled at their fussing and arguing over the design, he demands to know why they are going to so much trouble, to which Aldur replies that it's because they all love him and want him to have a nice place to live. Beldin, who's been an outcast for much of his life and assumed that nobody would ever care about him, breaks down weeping.
  • To wit: when Belmakor suggests one design won't stay up without magic, even self-important future apostate Belzedar says if it takes constant application of the will to hold up Beldin's tower, then he'll just hold it up by will for all eternity. All his brothers are bound and determined that Beldin should have the most beautiful tower in the Vale and it's absolutely heartwarming.
• The end of Polgara the Sorceress.
  "I loved my father. It was as simple as that. I loved him in spite of his many flaws and bad habits. That stunning realization brought tears of happiness to my eyes as that love filled my heart."
• The end of Seeress of Kell.
  Then, with the God-light bathing their faces, the three friends started down from the snowy hilltop to view that miracle, which, though it is most commonplace, is a miracle nonetheless.
• A sweet and rather humorous one: when Polgara marries the resurrected Durnik at the end of the first series, the Gods seem to imply that the condition for their relationship is that she give up her powers so that they can be equals, which she does without a second thought. Then, months later, it turns out that she still has her powers; the Gods made Durnik a sorceror instead.
• In general, how much of a Nice Guy Aldur is. In fantasy and mythology, most deities are Jerkass Gods, or at least apathetic and/or condescending, but he is genuinely very sweet and caring about his disciples, Garion, and Eriond.
• In the first book of The Malloreon, Garion helps relieve some of Ran Borune's pain by bringing him cherries and allowing him to see a vision of his wife one last time. During the funerals, when he notices the rival ruling families of Tolnedra are subtly insulting Ce'Nedra and are secretly rejoicing, he intimidates them with his mere presence to leave her alone and, when he becomes sick of their attitude, he leaves while making it clear to them that he finds them disgusting. He then takes Ce'Nedra to a private place in which she can grieve in peace, as she refuses to give her enemies the satisfaction of watching her break down and cry.
• In the final book of The Malloreon, Eternal Salmissra straight-up telling Sadi she missed him dearly.
  • In a bit of a weird way, she also thanks Polgara for changing her into a snake.
• Mandorallen and Lelldorin's Odd Friendship. Mandorallen may not be the smartest guy, but he is far kinder than his reputation might suggest.
• In Belgarath the Sorcerer, Beldin goes on a scouting mission to the Angarak lands, and though Belsambar offers to come with him, Beldin explicitly says that he loves him too much to risk his life. But what's really heartwarming is the fact that Beldin, of all people, is willing to be so free with telling someone that he loves them.
  • The cherry on top is that, given how casual Beldin is about saying it, it's almost certainly not the first time he's told his brother he loves him. Given how both Beldin and Belsambar started out, it's just so lovely and sweet.
• The same book has Belgarath share a moment of connection with the Salmissra who was manipulated into sending assassins to murder the Rivan royal family, of all people. You'd think he would loathe someone who had had his grandkids killed, but as she explains, she's just a tired and scared old woman who never wanted to be Salmissra in the first place and knows that she's due to be murdered by her own eunuchs soon (though given that the Rivans are on their way, it's probably fortunate she took her own life before then). She tells him her true name, and he offers her a little consolation by letting her know that one Rivan heir survived before she dies.
• Ce'Nedra and Garion sharing a tender moment in Castle of Wizardry, where they hold hands and she tells him she knows what he gave up in pretending that he only thinks of Zubrette as a friend. Since most of her dialogue with Garion involves snarking, guilt trips, and confusing him (deliberately or otherwise), it's really nice to see them sharing this genuinely tender moment.

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