When they ran out of cadre men they gave me my very own platoon and said, 'Here are 63 men, try to keep as many of them alive as you possibly can.' That was one of the more harrowing experiences of my life.

After graduating from high school in 1949 he worked for a year before majoring in speech drama and English at junior college. The Losers (1992) - a story about a man struggling to rebuild his life after an accident. On January 26 2007 it was reported that Eddings accidentally burned about a quarter of his office next door to his house along with his Excalibur sports car and the original manuscripts for most of his novels.

With his wife Leigh he authored several best-selling epic fantasy novel series including The Belgariad (1982–84) The Malloreon (1987–91) The Elenium (1989–91) The Tamuli (1992–94) and The Dreamers (2003–06).