The Marags were often seen as savages by the other races due to their practice of cannibalism. Belgarath points out in Belgarath the Sorcerer that the Marags only cannibalized members of other races, and only did so due to a misreading of Mara's scriptures. He also says that nine out of every ten Marags was female. Polgara dislikes the Marags because of their cannibalism as well as because of societal practices deriving from the overwhelmingly female populace (in particular, polygamy seems to have been practiced).