Anghraine

And it also probably explains why he clings to Palpatine like he does for the next two decades: he has just enough self-awareness to realize that it really doesn't end well when he tries to make strategic as opposed to tactical decisions, so to speak.

Right -- I think this goes back to the scene in AOTC where he explicitly states that he wants somebody, who is (1) wise and (2) NOT HIM, to have complete control over everything. So basically a philosopher-king. It is completely unsurprising to me that his bids for galactic domination never involve sole domination; I think he knows that he'd kind of suck at it, and that's why he invariably asks another, subtler person to do it with him.

As you know (lol), I don't tend to think the prequels improve the original trilogy, but the scene with Luke equating saving a loved one with saving their life and not getting that keeping them alive is maybe not the most important thing must, given the PT, be agonizingly familiar to Anakin. And then you've got him insisting that escape is impossible ("it is too late for me...") to the very end of his life -- and framing his perhaps only free action ever still in terms of rescue and other people's agency. ad;fka;dkfjal;dfjk

Re: Eddings -- right. I mean, if it's about experience, then Polgara should vastly outclass Durnik, and she doesn't. So that makes Belgarath > Polgara seem more that he's just more badass than she is. (Which is manifestly not true, because NOBODY is more badass than Polgara. *impartial judge*)