Yeah. If memory serves, it's even worse in the Mallorean, where the characters themselves are commenting on how it seems like the prophecy is repeating itself, and it turns out there's an in-story reason for that... come to think of it, this may be one of the reasons why the Belgarath and Polgara backstories are arguably better than the main series. Or possibly just because they make Polgara seem more human.

Hmmmm. She starts out that way, but there's at least supposed to be character growth, with her whole arc of leading that army near the end... and, you know, unlike Egwene, she apologizes when going out of line and can admit to being wrong - afterwards, at least. She never really bothered me, I have to say.

The things that most irritated me on my Eddings reread last year (though it was the Elenium, not Belgariad) were the protagonists' penchant for extreme violence on the one hand, and, once you start paying attention to it, Eddings' irritating habit of spelling everything out in terms of character development - he clearly never heard of "show, don't tell". Oh, and everyone has the same sense of humour, which ties in with the penchant for extreme violence.