April 2020 AMA Spork (Part Two)
Apr. 23rd, 2020 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
epistler posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
antishurtugal_reborn
Q. Why did Eragon and Saphira need to use their True Names in order to enter the Vault of Souls? That’s never explained in the books.
Like a lot of other things.
How did Murtagh know the Name to use against Galbatorix if there was a spell making everyone forget it? Again, never explained in the books.
Even though it really, REALLY should have been. Eragon doesn't even think to ask.
People seem to mistake what age you published Eragon. Everyone says it somewhere between 14-19. I’ve heard you started at 15, but it took you several years of rewrites and edits before Eragon was ready. Is this true?
Yeah, he’s not gonna answer this one. (…and he didn’t).
A. 1. The lock set by the Riders/dragons would only open for one they felt could be trusted. And the only way to really prove such trust was by speaking your true name. 2. When Murtagh's true name changed during the fight with Galbatorix, that freed him from the spell that prevented him from using/remembering the Name of Names.
…and Now You Know. Still doesn’t explain why Galby would have used it in front of him to begin with, though. And anyway, how did the “instantly forget the Word” spell work on Ergy if Galbatorix didn’t know his true name?
Q. One of my favorite chapters from the series was the forging of Brisingr. A couple years ago Man at Arms made a video where they made the sword, and they stayed very true to the text.
Which must be why the thing came out looking like an ugly Villain Sword – with all due respect to Man at Arms. Those guys do good work. It’s not their fault their Brisingr replica come out looking like crap. Use a bad recipe, get a bad cake.
Did you know about those forging methods beforehand, or did you research it for the chapter. This applies to a lot of the details in the books. Have a great day, esterni eom ono.
A. I did a lot of research prior to writing the forging scene. Heck, I own an entire book just on how to polish a blade!
Yes, we could guess that.
It helped that I've done some metalworking myself.
I wonder what he made?
In general, I do try to research the stuff I’m unfamiliar with. It really helps in making the text feel a lot more real.
That must be why he had dirt-poor peasants eating chicken for breakfast before the advent of factory farming, and horses that can gallop all night without dropping dead, and a guy getting his hand lopped off and not spraying blood all over the place, and another guy getting flogged fifty times without going into septic shock, and…
Q. What plot points from Eragon were the hardest to follow through on/write yourself out of when writing 2/3/4? Did you find yourself backed into a corner by an off-hand event that ended up being important later?
A. 1. Eragon and Arya's relationship (or lack thereof).
Nice – some honesty at last. You could pretty much tell right from book two onward that he was having trouble making that subplot work. And that he ultimately saw sense and gave up.
2. How the werecats knew about the Vault of Souls.
Nope, never really got backed into a corner.
...Okay, I already knew Paolini is a shameless serial liar, but even so. Who the fuck does he think he’s kidding? If he never wrote himself into a corner, then why did the Blood Ex Machina thing need to happen? Or the Vault of Souls either for that matter? Two of the most blatant Author Saving Throws in history? Pull the other one, Chris – it’s got bells on.
Planning things out beforehand helps with that.
Either you’re just lying and never planned a damn thing, or you have no idea how to actually plan out a novel. Possibly both.
Q. What will you work on next after this TSIASOS is published? A new Tales from Alagaesia or the mystical Book Five? Something completely different?
What inspirations did you use in order to write this book?
Will this book be hard sci-fi? If yes, to what degree?
Here it comes…
A. Hopefully I'll have something else written this year (depending on promotional commitments). Although it won't be published in 2020. Can't tell you what it'll be quite yet, but I'm excited to finally be working on something other than To Sleep!
My inspirations came from a lot of classic sci-fi (Dune, Hyperion, Alien, stuff by Asimov, Heinlein, Le Guin, etc.)
Read: this is what I blatantly ripped off to make up for my own lack of any creativity or imagination.
Hard(ish). There's a solid scientific underpinning for the story (which I expand upon in some back material), but the story itself doesn't hinge upon the science.
Says the guy who bragged about spending a year researching physics and how scientifically accurate his book is.
It's more concerned with the characters and what they're dealing with.
Yeah, but… you fucking suck at characterisation. I’ve read maybe two pages about this Kira woman and I already don’t like her. So far the only times you’ve managed to create a sympathetic character, it was completely by accident.
A. Why do you prefer to write fantasy fiction and science fiction over other forms? What elements of fictional writing appeal most to people?
Q. I don’t! I really enjoy stories in all different genres, and I want to write quite a few of them myself. It’s just taken me this long to write my big fantasy story, and then my big sci-fi story. Lol. One of the nice things about my short story collection, The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm, is that it allowed me to write some different types of stories while still remaining in the fantasy genre.
That said, I’ll always have a particular fondness for fantasy. It’s our modern mythology, and I think that the freedoms fantasy allows for give the genre a power (or the potential for power) that few other genres possess.
“Power” – our favourite author’s true obsession.
Q. I cannot wait for To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. Counting the days until my pre-order comes!
Me too, though for rather different reasons.
What method do you use for planning and outlining novels?
He just throws in random shit he thought was cool at the time, then tries to justify it later. Let's not kid ourselves.
How do you keep all the sub-plots straight when writing?
He doesn’t. Like, at all.
The way authors can do this blows my mind.
Me too. I’m amazed how George R R Martin manages to keep such insane levels of detail straight. Paolini, not so much.
A. Honestly, I just take a ton of notes. It's pretty difficult to hold all of the details of a large novel in my head, so I write everything down. Because of the size of these novels, I tend to work in layers. First layer might be looking at the general setting (aka worldbuilding). Next layer might be the main character's story. Next layer might be the side characters. And so on. Similarly with the writing. It's almost impossible to pay attention to all the layers/details on the first pass. That's why we reread and edit.
🎵 LIAR LIAR, oh you don’t ever tell the truth – LIAR LIAR! Can nobody see you’re fireproof? 🎵
Seriously, if Paolini actually re-reads his crap (which he previously implied he doesn’t), then I’m Nicole Kidman.
Q. How did you go about making sure the rules of magic were realistic and consistent while still using magic to accomplish insane inhuman feats?
He didn’t.
Were there times you regretted using magic to solve a problem in the story or regretted the way you used the magic system?
Probably never, because he always uses magic as a cheap shortcut.
A. Hi! Glad you enjoyed them. Some good questions here.
1. The only real break with physics I had with my magic system was the assumption that living things could directly manipulate different forms of energy with their minds. That's it. That's magic. Everything else directly follows from that assumption. And as best I could, I tried to be consistent with that assumption.
Sure you did.
2. Maybe once or twice. Were I to write the Inheritance Cycle again, I would probably put a ton more restrictions on the magic -- make it a lot more object and ritual dependent.
Well, at least he realises in hindsight that he made his magic system way, way too overpowered.
Q. What color was galbatorix first dragon? And did Arya give Roran a ring with the yawe on like eragon had, feel like he should have given all roran did for the elves.
Wait, what did Roran do for the elves? On the one occasion he interacted with them it was pretty clear he didn’t like them and they didn’t like him.
A. I can't recall if I specified a color in the series,
…because you can barely remember half your own canon and don’t give a shit about your own main villain. Also the answer is no, you didn’t. You couldn’t keep the poor thing’s gender straight either. Uh, pun not intended.
And at the moment, I’m not prepared to commit myself to a certain shade (ha!). It’ll definitely be something mentioned in a future story, though.
Sure it will.
No, she didn't. But who knows what will happen in the future! (Now I want to see a conversation between Roran and Arya.)
Don’t ask me what they’d even have to talk about.
Q. On new order of Dragon Riders:
1. Who would have a final say in potential conflict of interests between Arya and Eragon? Theoreticaly Eragon have higher political position but I can't quite imagine him bossing her around. Is it going to work like 2 kings in Sparta or something?
2. Does Arya have higher possition than other kings because of her being a dragon rider? Will elvish houses try to influence riders through Arya? And in overall, how is this girl going to manage all the responsibilities you're placing on her shoulders?
3. Who will be training young riders before a trip to Mount Arngor and who is going to be the next egg courier (is it still Arya?)
4. How will new order ruling structure look like? Is it still going to be one lider and a council? Who will be directly managing riders once they go back to Alagaesia?
5. How will Eragon keep track of all the events taking place in Alagaesia? Just by Eldunarya and scrying mirrors or will he have his own metode
On dragons:
1. Is the newly hatched dragon bonded or wild?
2. How far will two-legs be involved in raising wild dragons? Will they just raise a few and then let the rest take remaining eggs and Eldunarya of wild dragons to let them be "as wild as possible"?
On human tribes:
1. Where do they came from? Are they the same people who came to Alagaesia with king Palancar?
2. Can humans from wild tribes living next to Mount Arngor become dragon riders? Will we see such riders in upcoming books?
On war and politics:
1. Why didn't dwarves and elves want more for participating in war? (Come on! Their casualties were severe and they got almost nothing for it!)
You know what, that’s a good point. What the hell did they even get out of it?
2. Will relations between the races (for example dwarves and humans) still be so peacefull and friendly in the future?
3. How Imperium's political system used to work like? It seems a bit like european feudal system but why then there is no landlord in Carvahall or other villages?
4. Did the war made an impact on Imperium's society (like improving villagers laws or reducing a number of nobility)? And how about other races?
Games:
1. What are the rules of Maghra, runes and other games being played in Alagaesia?
2. Will fans ever get a merchandize connected to this games or official set of rules to play on our own?
Bonus no-comment-question:
Uh-oh, they’re starting to catch on.
What terrible event made Grey Folk bond magic to the ancient language? Did it happened in El-Harim? Does it have anything to do with Unnamed Shadow/ Nameless One?
A. Lotta great questions here. Let's see:
“How am I going to dodge them this time??”
1. No one. They're of equal standing.
Please. As if you’d ever let any other character hold any authority over your precious little Sue.
The rest of Alagaësia might give Eragon a bit more standing, but the elves will side with Arya, and the elves are not to be trifled with. Plus, they're both Riders now.
2. Arya's position among the other leaders is high because of the amount of military and economic (and magical) power she wields. Not just because she's a Rider.
3. Yes, Arya and the elves will oversee the first stages of training for Riders whose eggs hatch in Alagaësia prior to traveling to Mount Arngor.
Because damned if they’re letting go of their hold over the order.
4. You'll have to wait to read Book 5 to find this one out.
*takes another shot*
Dragons:
1. No comment.
*…and another…*
2. Humans/elves/dwarves and even some Urgals will be very involved in raising the young wild dragons, since Saphira is the only semi-grown dragon around who isn't an Eldunarí.
Good thing Paodragons are basically self-raising, much like another special sparkly baby I could mention.
Human tribes:
1. They came to Alagaësia later.
From…?
2. Any human could become a Rider (in theory).
Gee, thanks for acknowledging that those “half-wild” barbarians are human.
War & politics:
1. The dwarves are going to get a huge amount from reopening trade with the humans. The elves don't care to expand their territory much beyond Du Weldenvarden. These things will be explored in greater detail later.
I’m sure. And I’m sure it’ll be even more paralysingly dull than usual.
2. No comment.
Wow, another shot this soon? I’m going to regret this tomorrow. *hic*
3. Morzan actually held title over the lands of Palancar Valley at one point. When he died, Galbatorix assumed control over his properties. Thus, Palancar Valley was essentially owned by the state, not any one noble/earl.
Then why the hell did “the state” not have any presence there? Where was the local law enforcement? The tax collector?*hic*
4. Huge impact. Again, something that will be explored in later works.
The longer you put it off, the worse it’s going to get. Ever find yourself procrastinating about doing the dishes for days on end, only to end up having to scrub every goddamn plate, cup and pot in the house because you used up all the clean stuff? That’s pretty much what we have here. At this rate there won’t even be enough room to tell a story amongst all the explaining he’s going to have to do. Not that he’s ever had much of a problem with ignoring story in favour of endless boring exposition, mind you. But this really isn’t helping.
Games:
Hmm. I’ll see about getting some rules posted on my website in the future.
The merchandise situation is tricky, as Fox owns a lot of the rights (they bought them along with the movie).
Guess you’re not getting that Saphira action figure after all.
The Grey Ones messed up a whole bunch of spells, which poisoned the land and nearly destroyed their society. The Ancient Language was essentially weapons control for magic.
Which was clearly a miserable failure considering what went down later on.
Q. So my question is, what three other authors would you pick to have on your team and how many six year olds do you think that team could reasonably take in a fight?
A. Bradley Trevor Greive (ex-Australian paratrooper), Brandon Mull (he's super nice, but very tall and has a great reach), and . . . Jim Butcher. Between the four of us, I think we could hold off a horde of six-year-olds pretty much indefinitely.
I don’t really have anything to add here. This is just so juvenile.
Q. Thanks for doing the AMA! I see you have an extensive bookshelf behind you. What is a non sci-fi or fantasy book you have read that you would recommend?
A. My pleasure!
Style by F. L. Lucas. Best book on prose style I've read. Also Shakespeare's Metrical Art. Best book on verse. For something different try The Ancient Engineers by L. Sprague de Camp (I think that's the book I'm remembering).
“How about that! I looked something up! These books behind me don't just make the office look good!"
Q. Hey Christopher! Huge fan since the Inheritance cycle. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars will be at the top of my list! Wanted to note that my wife and I both used to geek out about your books since we were just friends. We'd go to B&N to get the books on release day. We got married, then Inheritance came out and we read that as a married couple! All that to say, we had our first kid some years later, a son, and couldn't figure out what to name him. We went back and forth for a whole day after he was born. We mulled it over and both, independently were afraid to admit our first choice for a name was actually Roran. When I finally broke down and told her, I was so stoked to hear she had the same thought! So now Roran Scott is 4.5 years old and is an awesome little dude! Just thought you should know!
Oh good, you named your kid after a violent, arrogant, bloodthirsty lunatic who kills little girls and threatens teenage ones with his hammer!
Dude, what the hell were you thinking?
My question is more to do with your career up to this point vs going forward. How are you finding writing now? Do you still feel inspired? Do you feel shoehorned into being a YA author and do other things to break free to spite that, or is sci-fi something you always wanted to explore? I would imagine I would feel very intimidated had I had success so early in life. Sorry if that's too pointed but I hope you keep at it and still feel some joy doing it! You inspired me greatly and I look forward to reading more of your work! Cheers!
A. Oh, wow! That's awesome! So honored that you used that name.
…shut the fuck up.
If you go to my website, paolini.net, and write to me via the address there, I’ll send you a package of stuff signed just for Roran Scott.
“Are photographs of me posing on a couch wearing a satin shirt open to the navel okay? Just asking.”
Writing still inspires me. But I gotta say, I'm really, really, REALLY looking forward to working on something new. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars took up way more of my life than I expected. And no, I don't feel shoehorned. The new book is adult, and I don't think readers will have any problem accepting me as an adult author.
Prepare to be unpleasantly surprised.
The nice thing about early success is that it frees you to try whatever you want without fear of failure.
Please pat yourself on the back a bit more, Chris.
It's like ... whatever I do in the future, I can always point back at the Inheritance Cycle and say, "I did that."
I can’t help but picture a toddler pointing proudly at the giant shit he just dumped on the couch. And for rather similar reasons now I think about it.
On the flip side, I might never match what I accomplished in that series.
True enough. Success (financial and sales-wise) like that doesn’t come along very often, and you really can’t afford to rely on luck. I myself have no expectations of ever living up to or surpassing my own past successes, and for good reason.
Unless he’s referring to the, uh, artistic accomplishment involved, in which case boy is he setting the bar low.
But you know ... that's okay. I'm happy to have had this experience.
Good for you.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 04:26 am (UTC)Couldn't help myself, even though I'm pretty sure there is very little crossover in DMC-Antishurtugal people.
I'd comment that way more people seem interested in Inheritance than TSiaSoS, but he seems to be hoarding even the most basic plot details so I can't blame them.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 06:51 am (UTC)It seems to me that at the end of the day the only thing he really knows how to do as a "professional" is self-promotion and advertising - emphasis on the "self". He knows how to say all the 'right things' in interviews and such, how to pose for a publicity photo and how to make nice with people... but that's it. The actual product seems to be a barely relevant afterthought.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 06:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 07:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-28 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 05:25 am (UTC)And yet Eragon makes lots of very basic, stupid mistakes with his weapons care (mostly out of laziness) that any military captain would have had him disciplined for.
I do try to research the stuff I’m unfamiliar with. It really helps in making the text feel a lot more real.
That must be why he had dirt-poor peasants eating chicken for breakfast before the advent of factory farming, and horses that can gallop all night without dropping dead, and a guy getting his hand lopped off and not spraying blood all over the place, and another guy getting flogged fifty times without going into septic shock, and…
and Eragon shoving dirty, bloodied armour under his mattress instead of cleaning it immediately
I really enjoy stories in all different genres, and I want to write quite a few of them myself.
*bracing for a Paolini bodice-ripper romance*
It's pretty difficult to hold all of the details of a large novel in my head, so I write everything down.
He writes it all down, then never references or read back through his notes to make sure he's being consistent... and then writes something completely different down on a separate page, and pretends that was the correct version all along.
The only real break with physics I had with my magic system was the assumption that living things could directly manipulate different forms of energy with their minds. That's it. That's magic. Everything else directly follows from that assumption. And as best I could, I tried to be consistent with that assumption.
I just love that pseudoscientific use of the word "energy". It's like crystal healers and feng shui decorators. They can't actually define what "energy" means, what it is or how it operates within the world.
So Paolini's assumption is based on non-scientific superstition, and then he pretends that it fits into "physics" somehow.
And his magic is so inconsistent that that last sentence is basically nonsense.
If magic were really only about telepathically manipulating "energy" in the actual physics sense, then spells would be limited to things like bending light, heating or cooling objects, gathering or dissipating electrical energy, and changing the rate of chemical and biochemical reactions. "Wards" are not energy in the science sense. Whatever the fuck happened to Elva isn't merely manipulation of "energy". Eldunari and consciousness that exists external to a functioning brain is not "energy". The ritual that results on the creation of a Shade is not based on energy as physics understands it.
Just... stop with the bulshit and just call it magic, Paolini. Honestly, nobody will judge you for having magic in a fantasy story, stop tryng to rationalise it.
I fear for whatever "technology" appears in the Space Opera.
"And in overall, how is this girl going to manage all the responsibilities you're placing on her shoulders?"
"girl"?! Arya is over a hundred in this series, an adult even by elf standards!
"humans from wild tribes"
Your colonialism is showing, Random Commenter.
"The elves don't care to expand their territory much beyond Du Weldenvarden."
Except for Ceunon, of course.
"Morzan actually held title over the lands of Palancar Valley at one point. When he died, Galbatorix assumed control over his properties."
Which raises the question, why the HELL Brom hide away from Morzan's supporters, the remaining foresworn, and Galby himself, in Morzan's own lands which Galby now controlled, without so much as changing his name or appearance?! That's just asking to be caught. And the only reason he wasn't is because of Galby's indifference.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 07:08 am (UTC)Mind you, he never said he actually read said book.
The more he tries to "science" his magical fantasy land the deeper he digs himself into a hole. This is just like Smeyer pretending she knew the first thing about chromosomes, because she apparently thought it would make her sparkly vampires seem more plausible. 🙄
Yeah, but she's got, like, internal sex organs so therefore it's noteworthy that she can keep up with the menfolk! And by "menfolk" I of course mean "a bunch of goddamn teenagers, one of whom can't even read". 🙄
Further proof that "I never really got into a corner" is a lie, as is him not just making shit up as he goes. If you actually plan everything out in advance instead of pulling everything out of your ass, you don't get this many ridiculous plot holes.
My Quantum Pony: energy is magic
Date: 2020-04-23 08:34 am (UTC)Increasing energy anthropomorphizes things: putting a kitten on a shelf or launching it out of a canon makes it smart enough to talk.
Burning aluminum creates force fields.
Crystals exposed to sunlight accelerate like crazy and magically heal any living thing they ram into.
You can power a train by enslaving ghosts.
Sometimes, if you drop something and try to catch it, a mystical force field will randomly send it flying, which will give it the ability to talk.
Pyramids collect stray radio waves and convert them into number one jams. I guess different materials would correspond to different genres. Metal is obvious. Maybe the Egyptians were really into soft rock...
Re: My Quantum Pony: energy is magic
Date: 2020-04-23 02:15 pm (UTC)Re: My Quantum Pony: energy is magic
Date: 2020-04-23 05:57 pm (UTC)The idea of objects animating through velocity is both hilarious and a bit concerning.
Re: My Quantum Pony: energy is magic
Date: 2020-04-23 06:15 pm (UTC)It’s all really weird. For example healing magic isn’t a thing, but you can reverse entropy by reversing time. So you can physically get younger by eating salt and vinegar potato chips throwing a broken cup at some quartz could make all the pieces snap back together in a sort of time bubble thing. It could be dangerous to trip and fall in a cave. You might suddenly de age into a baby.
Re: My Quantum Pony: energy is magic
Date: 2020-04-23 06:58 pm (UTC)Re: My Quantum Pony: energy is magic
Date: 2020-04-23 08:04 pm (UTC)Which would mean that any spell can only function as long as it has a supply of real energy, kinetic, potential (gravity, chemical, electrical, strong or weak nuclear), EMR, thermal...
Re: My Quantum Pony: energy is magic
Date: 2020-04-23 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 07:56 am (UTC)Because the plot says so, why do even bother asking. I myself am still wondering why in Eldest or Brisingr (I cannot be bothered to remember) Murtagh says that Galbatorix has a fuckton of spells that will activate should he manage to change his True Name, implying that Galby is more than ready to instantly recatch Murtagh and Thorn and to prevent a rebellion, but in Inheritance we see nothing of sort. Because Galbatorix needed to go down, yes, yes. I still call a plot hole. Murtagh should have dropped on the ground paralyzed the split moment he tried to attack Galbatorix, if you ask me. Because we know that Galbatorix can make certain spells work even without knowing your True Name (like the one that kills those who try to use *his* True Name... So why didn't he have something similar?). That's the problem with certain types of magic systems: they are so fucking overpowered that villains have pass each other the idiot ball to make the main character survive.
Still wondering why the royal fuck didn't the Eldunarya contact Oromis. Wasn't he trustworthy? (I mean... No. And good call, guys. But still in-plot the dude did help built the fucking thing and was technically an Old and respected Rider, so... Oh, well. PlotReasonsTM!).
*cough*Eragon'sscar*cough*
...No, ok. Honestly. If that Bloodly-Ex-Machina Celebration was planned it is even worse. I can forgive more backing yourself into a corner that planning such a moronic narrative.
No, he doesn't. Or if he does he does so without visualizing his own characters, because more than once he graces us with some logistic problems (Eragon dueling soldiers on the ground while flying on Saphira, Saphira taking forever to cross small spaces when it's convenient but crossing the whole Alagaesia in days, etc).
...Well, Eragon didn't do shit for the elves (except existing and being his annoying little self) either, and yet...
Please. Being a Rider IS NOTHING NOTEWORTHY for what concerns personal talent, accomplishments and the position one should held in the world. Literally anyone can be a Rider. It is nothing but the preference of a baby dragon with zero experience of the world. Wtf. Does it mean that if a baby dragon decides that I am cool I suddenly have power over other people? Can this saga stop counting as accomplishments things that are not accomplishments?
This. Doesn't make. Any. Sense. Elves fighting style is NOTHING like that of Dwarves and Urgals. Pass the humans because elves are just humans but betterTM. But Dwarves and Urgals no. They should be trained by their own people, because elves cannot train them better than what they can do on their own. Pass the magic or the secrets of the Riders, but since these will come much later in the training (probably when the Riders will be sent over to train with Eragon), having the elves train all the races is frankly bullshit. It screams that only elves are good and the other races are worth nothing, and completely cuts off them and theit culture. Also, there is no way Urgals and Dwarves would or even could learn the dance-like fighting style of the elves. They are NOT built for it, and forcing them into this is borderline abusive. Goddammit. Why would the Dwarves and the Urgals want to be part of it on these terms?
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 08:08 am (UTC)Indeed. Even overconfidence shouldn't have been enough to do Galby in, considering. The guy just suddenly turned into a blithering idiot so Ergy could win.
If you asked Paolini he'd probably just give you some BS about how Oromis was too weak and crippled to be of any use. As if 200 dead dragons as a power-up couldn't have compensated for that, and as if he couldn't at least have raised the unhatched dragons and found and trained multiple new riders instead of relying on the one idiot they got! That would make too much sense and would make Eragon less special and important.
Indeed. You don't even have to go through any trials to prove yourself worthy in order to get a dragon to hatch for you, and they're apparently quite capable of choosing to hatch for the corruptible (Morzan) and the mentally unstable (Galbatorix). It's just a default ranking.
He can stop overusing the word "accomplishment" while he's at it. Even Saphira murdering a messenger by roasting him alive is referred to as an "accomplishment". (Instead of, y'know, a warcrime).
But who else can teach the new recruits how to stare at ants and do yoga for hours on end?!
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 08:29 am (UTC)Yeah, and we have already seen how disabled characters in this saga can do nothing great except making the protagonist look good. You are disabled? I am sorry, you are either a villain or completely useless.
Yeah... Just look at our least favorite dragon Saphira. She hatched for a fucking psychopath like Eragon. And if we really want to go this way, Saphira is very horrible herself, and I would personally consider it more a punishment than a gift to be mind-linked to someone (something?) like her.
Oh, ehi! Speaking of the devil! I so wish people would have called her out and exposed of callous and horrible she is.
Dwarven goats are cooler anyway ù.ú
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 08:38 am (UTC)Or you're under punishment and will only be healed if you become what noted sociopath Saphira considers to be a "better person". The series' obsession with physical perfection is really gross.
Agreed. Saphira is an awful, awful character and just as much of a raging douchebag as Eragon himself. Except unlike him she was horrible pretty much from day one, whereas Eragon didn't become completely hateful until a bit later on after he got elfified. Which is why some people think he became a cruel, vain, bullying, bloodthirsty psychopath as a direct result of her mental influence on him.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 10:06 am (UTC)Aka: someone who kisses her mast--ahem Rider's ass.
Oh, yes. She was. Which pains me because she would have been such a better character if only people did react accordingly to her flaws. If everyone hated her and her Rider for this and so it forced her to pull her head off her ass and actually grow. But nope. The narration tries to push down our throats how beautiful and perfect she is.
Goddammit. I keep thinking that Saphira is just a plain and bad version of Sintara, if you know who Sintara is.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 12:49 pm (UTC)...pretty much, yes. Eragon didn't even bother to ascertain whether the guy was guilty of anything first. He doesn't like Sloan, therefore Sloan is guilty.
It definitely could have worked, if it were woven into her identity as a dragon who doesn't "get" human emotions and empathy because dragons are by nature solitary creatures who don't need to have an instinctive sense of community the way us humans do. Humans are social animals, and we flat-out would not survive if we had a natural "every man for himself" mentality. An apex predator like a dragon, not so much.
Instead she just comes off as a vain, arrogant brat who has no problem hurting those weaker than herself... just like Eragon.
I certainly do! In fact us Aussies even made a movie about what a douchebag he was. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320159/
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 02:07 pm (UTC)Er...isn't Sintara the blue female dragon in Robin Hobb's books? Or is this a different Sintara implied by Oblakom?
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 02:18 pm (UTC)No regrets though - that was hilarious.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 02:11 pm (UTC)No, I meant SINTARA, not "Sinatra". That was not a typo xD
Sintara is a female (concidentially, blue) dragon of The Rain Wild Chronicles of Robin Hobb.
Sintara is... a pretty unbearable character. She is a deformed dragon (like most of the dragons in this saga) who has to rely on humans to survive, because she cannot fly and so she cannot hunt, and so has an assigned "dragon keeper", Thymara, that abandoned her life and her family to come and help her in her travel toward an ancient abandoned city that the dragons remember in their memories, but don't even know if it still even exists. It's basically a suicide mission and the only reason why the government allows it is to get rid of the dragons, because they cannot sustain them anymore (there are almost twenty large dragons, all deformed and that cannot hunt on their own).
So, the government finds a number of people willing to go and... basically likely DIE to help these deformed dragons find this city that may be only ruins or may even exist no more.
And despite it all Sintara is SO ungrateful. She is vain, arrogant, entitled, she believes to be the queen of the world and treats her keeper Thymara like a slave and never shows an inch of gratitude. Like, in Sintara's mind it is a concession and a magnanimity that she allows Thymara to serve her. She even refuses to tell Thymara her name, saying that Thymara is not worthy this "honor". She is the only dragon to refuse to give her name to her keeper.
She keeps think back to the days when the dragons lived in that city and had human servants and instead of making an effort she just complains and bitches around.
...Once she almost kills her keeper by mistake and instead of recognizing her mistake she gets pissed because the emotional pain of the girl annoys her. And she is like "Stop crying. You are embarassing me". Such a majestic creature, eh?
I swear... At moments you want to jump in the book and slap that fucking reptile.
But the great thing is that EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER knows how bitchy and unberable Sintara is. The only way Sintara can keep people with her is by using her magic on their minds, even at moments even that fail, because at the end of the first book the wisest of these deformed dragons - coincidentially a golden male called Mercor - does step in busts all her plans. "You cannot always have it your way Sintara. I know what you own to your human, and so I'll force you to do so".
...And by reflex even Sintara gets less unberable. Because from her pov you can see what an unsatisfied creature she is, and by the pov of the other characters you see how much the others despise her, and how much she hurts them, especially her keeper.
I did not finish the whole saga (it was not translated in Italian and now I need to find the books in English but I never got the time), but I keep caring about Sintara and I keep hoping that she did obtain a sort of redemption in the last books. Sintara is HORRIBLE, but I keep liking her way more than I ever liked Saphira. And if Saphira was a Sintara with a personal growth she would be just perfect... but nooo, let's pretend the bitchy blue reptilian bully is actually a lovable character. Bah.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 02:25 pm (UTC)OMG that queen bitch. She uses Thymara bc she can't be bothered to fucking lift her ass to hunt. Even Tats told Thymara to just ditch that insufferable cyanosed lizard to which Thymara didn't...for reasons I sadly can't recall.
Dude. Queenie blackmailed Reyn Khuprus into releasing her from the huge log that was Dragonwood. She'd do anything to force people to do her biddings.
Do you mind spoilers? Because I'm about to give an example of Sintara's character and it's one hell of a spoiler.
Actually it's a nice headcanon to think about.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 02:40 pm (UTC)I think it was for sense of duty, because Sintara would not let her (Do you remember when Thymara tried when Kalo was looking for a keeper and Sintara was like "No, this human is mine"?) and finally because after she became an Elderling Sintara kind of had the control of her body, no? But also because she had that weird toxic love-hate relationship with Sintara.
Go on, I don't mind spoilers at all. I already spoiled myself who she will mate with by mistake xD
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 03:23 pm (UTC)And guess what? She mated with Kalo in the end after Kalo defeated Icefyre. Both Kalo and Queenie had batches of eggs of their own, and Kalo threatened Icefyre into sparing his offspring. 🙄
Our beloved Queenie changed Reyn and Malta's son, Ephron, into a defected newborn and flew off to her nest, leaving the poor babe being virtually unable to eat. Then Fitz offered to heal him which he did a great job of, and guess what Queenie did when she found out? Yeah she got super pissed and basically bitched about her Dragon Rights of retaining Ephron's features. Why you little--
🙄🙄🙄
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 03:32 pm (UTC)Wait-- Didn't Tintaglia mate with Kalo and Sintara with Mercor? ಠ_ಠ
Oh, god. No character development in sight, eh? xD
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 03:38 pm (UTC)to save her ass from the corona pandemic before the enforcement of lockdownI mean, to look after her batch of eggs. And later bitched about her rights on Phron's physical features.She was also the dragon who blackmailed Reyn and Malta into releasing her from her...egg, which is basically Dragonwood. In Hobb's books, Dragonwood contains the soul of dragons but I can't recall why later there was this scene where Kalo threatens Icefyre to stay away from his and Tinta's eggs.
You're right, Sintara did mate with Mercor LOL. My memory was fuzzed out and I've not re-read them in a while.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-23 03:58 pm (UTC)