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).

[4] After graduating from Snohomish High School in 1949, he worked for a year before majoring in speech, drama and English at junior college.

[8] After earning his Master's, Eddings worked as a purchaser for Boeing, where he met his future wife, then known as Judith Leigh Schall.

Eddings and his wife Leigh pled guilty to 11 counts of physical child abuse[9] of their adopted children.

Convinced that being an author was his future career, after a short period in Denver, David and Leigh Eddings moved to Spokane, where he relied on a job at a grocery shop for his funds.

Eddings at first refused, but having already signed the contract, and with Del Rey's promise that he would receive advances for five books rather than three, agreed to the arrangement.

On January 26, 2007, Eddings accidentally burned about a quarter of his office, next door to his house, along with his Excalibur sports car.

[21] On February 28, 2007, David Eddings' wife Leigh died following a series of strokes that left her unable to communicate.

[24][25] Dennis, Eddings' brother, said that he had suffered from dementia for a long time, but that the disease had progressed rapidly since September 2008, and that he needed 24-hour care.

The unfinished work, along with his other manuscripts, went to his alma mater, Reed College,[26] along with a bequest of $18 million to fund "students and faculty studying languages and literature.