Red Brick Commentary
Oct. 7th, 2020 01:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mara_dienne459 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
antishurtugal_rebornChapter Seventeen: Down the Rushing Mere-Wash
On the first day from Tarnag, Eragon made an effort to learn the names of Ûndin’s guards. They were Ama, Tríhga, Hedin, Ekksvar, Shrrgnien— which Eragon found unpronounceable, though he was told it meant Wolfheart—Dûthmér, and Thorv.
Well, let me begin by saying the first sentence is awkward. Yes, these guys are Undin’s guards, as in, they’re employed by Undin. But Undin sent them to babysit Eragon, so therefore, that would make them Eragon’s guards. So that would mean the sentence should read something like “...learn the names of the guards Undin sent with him for added protection.” or something like that. Where Eragon is somewhat taking ownership of the guards, while still giving their allegiance to Undin. Instead, it sounds like Undin is with them and these guards are protecting him instead of Eragon. Secondly, I don’t understand why Eragon finds “Shrrgnien” hard to pronounce, unless he’s hearing a different pronunciation than we are in our heads as readers. It seems pretty straightforward - Sherg-knee-enn - and therefore shouldn’t cause much issue. The name I actually have a hard time pronouncing aloud is Duthmer, because the u and e have funky accent marks that change the sound of the vowel and I don’t know how. So I pronounce it “Dooth-mare” because visually that’s the idea I get. I could be completely wrong, but that’s my way of pronouncing those names. And honestly? Dwarven names aren’t nearly as difficult to say as their entire damn language is.
We then get a description of the rafts, which is that they’re made of logs and each one has a small cabin on the center of it. That’s it. Then we get a description of the wildlife Eragon sees, and then all of the trees and things making noise. Orik joins him and Eragon says it’s beautiful. Orik agrees with him, then starts smoking. Eventually Eragon asks Orik why Brom joined the Varden. He says that he knows so little about him and that Brom was just a storyteller for most of his life. Why Eragon wants to know all this now, I don’t know. I guess we need to fill pages. Of course, nobody else gets this treatment from Eragon.
“He never joined the Varden; he helped found it.” Orik paused to tap some ashes into the water. “After Galbatorix became king, Brom was the only Rider still alive, outside of the Forsworn.”
Well, more like he founded it by himself as a machine for revenge, and then he immediately gave the reins to someone else so he could go off and kill people, seduce a woman, sire a son whose birth complications likely killed his mother, and then kill more people before he settled down in the village to creep on his son without actually letting the kid know he was his father. So. Yeah. Good guy.
“But he wasn’t a Rider, not then. His dragon was killed in the fighting at Doru Araeba.”
“Well, a Rider by training. Brom was the first to organize the friends and allies of the Riders who had been forced into exile. It was he who convinced Hrothgar to allow the Varden to live in Farthen Dûr, and he who obtained the elves’ assistance.”
Well, I’d certainly love to hear the details about that, since there’s no other information about this. We just have Orik’s word for it. What happened to these allies and friends during the actual war? Why weren’t they killed in the fighting? Or did they flee the field like the elves when all seemed lost? How did he convince Hrothgar to shelter the Varden? It seems like that would take some serious work, especially after one entire clan of theirs was all but annihilated and the Forsworn flew on the dwarves for that participation. Why would they want to house the Varden and risk another attack? Or worse, total extinction? And how did Brom get the elves to help? They ran away after their king was killed and refused to help. And all the evidence points to them being absentee support, the kind that pledges their help then shows up when the fighting is over and claims that victory belongs to them. And as far as we know, that’s exactly what they did, when it became clear that Brom got his hands on a dragon’s egg. If this was expanded upon, that’d be pretty nice, but it doesn’t. At least, not yet. And honestly? I don’t know if it even does.
They’re silent for a while, and then Eragon asks why Brom gave up the Varden. Gee, Eragon, didn’t he kind of tell you that? That his goal was to destroy Galby and everyone and everything that had to do with him? Can’t necessarily do that if you’re sitting behind a desk, now can you?
Orik smiled wryly. “Perhaps he never wanted it. It was before Hrothgar adopted me, so I saw little of Brom in Tronjheim.... He was always off fighting the Forsworn or engaged in one plot or another.”
Okay. Here’s proof that the dwarves have an adoption system. That’s why they have these set rules and regulations about adoption, and all those rituals. However, since Orik also said humans have never been adopted by the dwarves, why bother having these rituals? It doesn’t make any sense. The whole rock thing is explained later, I think, but generally it represents the dwarf’s life, and it’s supposed to break in half when the dwarf dies. But this ritual is done at the dwarf’s birth. So why the fuck would it be adapted for humans if this ritual is only done at the point of birth? Why not just have the paperwork? God, nothing makes sense in this story.
“Your parents are dead?”
“Aye. The pox took them when I was young, and Hrothgar was kind enough to welcome me into his hall and, since he has no children of his own, to make me his heir.”
Wait, I thought Hrothgar was Orik’s uncle? That’s what Hrothgar told Eragon when they had their first chat back in Book One. Orik was Hrothgar’s sister’s boy. So, therefore, Hrothgar would be obligated to care for his sister’s child. Also, I really enjoy how this information makes Orik a prince, but nobody points that out. Nobody cares. But Eragon flips the fuck out when he finds out Arya’s a princess, so much so that Arya has to explain to him that the elves have no such titles - despite Islanzadi using the word “queen” to describe herself - and the elves vote on their next ruler. Arya doesn’t get the position just because she’s the queen’s daughter.
Which, ironically, is how the dwarves choose their next ruler. Orik by rights should have the throne, seeing as he’s Hrothgar’s heir, but that doesn’t happen. The dwarves vote on their next ruler, and then it’s their god - or whatever - that approves their choice. There is no succession of birthright between either of these two races. Yet... both Arya and Orik “win” their positions. Arya, because all the elves think she’s the best choice (and because she’s Islanzadi’s daughter, if I remember right) and Orik because he manages to turn everybody against the Anhuin clan (granted, they broke the law) and then convinces enough people to end their own bid for the crown and support him. Of the two, Orik’s win is the least nepotistic, in that he uses his own actions and words to win, not basing his gambit solely on the fact he’s Hrothgar’s heir. Arya, however, does win by nepotism, which is thinly covered by the elves citing her deeds and service. Except when Islanzadi banished her for 70 years, nobody but Rhunon spoke with her, and nobody cared enough to defy their queen’s orders to go find her. So everything they cite to make her a perfect ruler for them stems from the shit she did during the war, the fact she’s her mother’s daughter, and the fact she’s a Rider.
Eragon thought of his helm, marked with the Ingeitum symbol. Hrothgar has been kind to me as well.
I mean... kind in that he didn’t throw you out on your ass when you got there and didn’t order you executed out of hand. Oh, and he fed and clothed you, gave you and Saphira armor, took care of your horse, and gave you the cause for this other clan trying to murder you. A fact nobody warned you about. A fact that is really shitty because none of it’s your fault but you get to suffer anyway. Seriously, why don’t we discuss those facts instead of being all goofball happy about the kindness that’s gonna get you an assassination later.
Time moves on to evening and we get to see the dwarves start hanging their flameless lanterns, which are colored red, because red preserves night vision. Eragon is now beside Arya and he asks her how the lanterns are made. She tells him that the elves gave the dwarves a spell long ago (of course they did) and now they use it with great skill.
Eragon reached up and scratched his chin and cheeks, feeling the patches of stubble that had begun to appear. “Could you teach me more magic while we travel?”
Immediate onset of puberty hooooooooo! No, seriously. He’s been 15 the entire story, turns 16 just before Gil’ead in Book One, and now we’re at least a month or two beyond that. Sure, we can say he’s a late bloomer, but even fucking Roran doesn’t start growing a beard until he’s been home for five months after Eragon initially leaves. This doesn’t make any sense. Also! Murtagh has no beard, he’s never described as having any kind of stubble or five o clock shadow, nor is he described as needing to shave during his travels with Eragon. So what the hell is Eragon getting a beard now for?
She looked at him, her balance perfect on the undulating logs. “It is not my place. A teacher is waiting for you.”
And yet, in a couple of chapters, she’s gonna get on his case about not being “educated” in the greetings of the elves. And then make him memorize the hundred different greetings the elves have to give based on gender, social rank, whether they’re adults or children, or whatever else. Instead, she could teach him that now and work with him so she’s sure he’s memorized it, rather than tell him and expect him to remember it the moment he needs it.
“Then tell me this, at least,” he said. “What does the name of my sword mean?”
And of course, Eragon just accepts it without much of an argument. He’s such a fucking idiot. And all he wants to do is bang Arya, so of course he’s gonna do everything he can to make her happy.
Arya’s voice was very soft. “Misery is your sword. And so it was until you wielded it.”
So, two things: one, I was so certain someone had told Eragon the name of his sword before that I went back and looked. I was wrong. Second, that’s it? That’s how she delivers the news of the true meaning of the name of his sword? Just a whisper of “misery”? That seems... incredibly anticlimactic. Just a “So your sword’s name is Misery, and yeah, that’s about it, but glad you’re wielding it because nobody’s miserable now!” Very nonchalant. You’d think - or at least in my opinion - there’d be a little more pomp and circumstance. Or at least more explanation.
Eragon stared with aversion at Zar’roc. The more he learned about his weapon, the more malevolent it seemed, as if the blade could cause misfortune of its own free will. Not only did Morzan kill Riders with it, but Zar’roc’s very name is evil. If Brom had not given it to him, and if not for the fact that Zar’roc never dulled and could not be broken, Eragon would have thrown it into the river at that very moment.
You know, this whole thing bothers me. It goes back to the argument of “guns kill people”. Guns don’t kill people. People with guns kill people. Guns are not sentient, they cannot make decisions for themselves. They cannot move on their own. If you left a gun on a table and nobody touched it for years, that gun would still be sitting on that table. It’s the same idea here with Zar’roc. The sword didn’t choose to kill people. Its owner chose to kill people. And dragons. But the point is, the sword didn’t sprout arms and legs and use itself to slaughter people and dragons. Morzan chose. A person chose. Weapons don’t have free will, dolt. Also, I hate this idea Eragon has of “if I didn’t need it, I wouldn’t keep it”. That’s not practical at all. What if he never got another weapon? That’s the whole idea trundling around in Book 3, how he goes through like three or four different weapons and keeps whining that he needs a Rider’s blade. Well, he had one, one he constantly complained about having, and then Murtagh yoinked it. And then all of a sudden life wasn’t fair because he didn’t have a proper weapon.
Eventually Eragon swims out to Saphira. Yes, she’s been swimming in the water alongside the rafts this entire time. She hasn’t been mentioned or has said a single word since this chapter started. I wonder if dragons prune like humans do. Or if she gets mold under her scales. Or wet rot. Anyway, the two morons decide it would be a really good idea to fly together for a while, so they do.
Without the saddle, Eragon gripped Saphira tightly with his knees, feeling her hard scales rub the scars from their first flight.
Wait. When did they take her saddle off? Before she slithered into the river back at Tarnag or after? Paolini sucks at this continuity shit. Also where was this description when he flew bareback in the first book? There was no mention of her scales rubbing against his scars then!
As they’re flying, Eragon spots three brown flecks launch themselves from the mountainside and quickly come up toward them. These creatures are twenty feet long, with attenuated tails, and leathery wings. Eragon compares them to dragons, but their bodies are smaller, thinner, and more serpentine than Saphira’s. Their scales also don’t glitter. These creatures also don’t matter because we never see them again.
Excited, Eragon pointed them out to Saphira. Could they be dragons? he asked.
Really. You’re asking that question after you just described them to be inherently different than Saphira? They look nothing like her and yet you’re hoping that they are? Really? Also if they were dragons, do you really think Galbatorix would let them live? Or do you think the elves would bother with you so much? That the story would be about you? That Brom would’ve worked so hard to get one dragon egg? I swear this is just to fill pages, and has nothing to do with the story. In fact, I’m fairly certain we never see these creatures again.
Saphira replies that she doesn’t know, so she kind of hangs out and watches the creatures as much as they watch her. They’re confused by her, so they start getting closer to inspect her. Then Eragon does something stupid.
Eragon grinned and reached out with his mind, trying to touch their thoughts. As he did, the three recoiled and shrieked, opening their maws like hungry snakes. Their piercing keen was mental as well as physical. It tore through Eragon with a savage strength, seeking to incapacitate him. Saphira felt it too. Continuing the racking cry, the creatures attacked with razor claws.
Yes, we don’t know what the things are, or what they can do, so let’s poke them with our mind and see what happens. That’s such a bad idea I can’t even begin to describe. I mean, now that they’re flying around Saphira, it should be pretty easy to tell that these things are not dragons. Therefore they should be treated with caution and respect. But no. In Eragon’s usual way of doing things, he finds the biggest stick possible and beats the unknown thing with it. Like you have to be able to tell that these things aren’t benign birds or the falcons Eragon thought they were originally. They have sharp teeth, talons, big wings, twenty foot long bodies whose shapes are definitely not evoking the idea of fluffy flamingoes. These evoke the idea that these things are dangerous. But Eragon apparently has a bad habit of doing dangerous shit without thinking first.
Hold on, warned Saphira. She folded her left wing and spun halfway around, avoiding two of the animals, then flapped quickly, rising above the other. At the same time, Eragon worked furiously to block the shriek. The instant his mind was clear, he reached for the magic. Don’t kill them, said Saphira. I want the experience.
I kinda wish Saphira was more freaked out by this than she is. I mean, rare few things have the power to eat her now that she’s so big. And she’s just like “Oh, I probably should do something about this.” And then she’s like “don’t kill them” which if Eragon hadn’t poked them in the first place, they wouldn’t be in this situation. But it seems like killing them is exactly what Eragon intends to do.
Though the creatures were more agile than Saphira, she had the advantage of bulk and strength. One of the creatures dove at her. She flipped upside down—falling backward—and kicked the animal in the chest.
Just because Saphira’s bigger than they are doesn’t necessarily mean she outclasses them in strength. Alligators should outclass anacondas in strength, but the anaconda still manages to win more often than the alligator. I also don’t understand why Saphira doesn’t just cuss at Eragon and call him an idiot for instigating this. It’s his fault, and she’s treating it as a training exercise. She tells him not to kill the creatures, but kicks one in the chest, disregarding her own words. Both of them are stupid.
Saphira does some fancy aerial acrobatics, and eventually breathes fire on the creatures, which scares them all off. Eragon’s only comment on that is that Saphira almost threw him off her. Her response is:
She looked at him smugly. Almost, but not quite.
Okay, what? This line kind of reminds me of that adage “almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades”. I get that she’s smug about almost throwing him off, because it’s a testament to her skills that she didn’t throw him off. Rather, it’s more a testament to the strength of Eragon’s arms and grip because most of the acrobatics she did would cause him to be pulled away from her body by the G-forces that she generates. But I have to ask, he’s got his arms wrapped around her neck right? So how come his arms aren’t torn to shreds right now? They should be, considering friction. And his legs should be bleeding again too. This doesn’t make any sense.
Eragon laughs at her words and then the two idiots return to the rafts. As soon as they’re close enough, Orik shouts and asks if they’re hurt. Eragon answers:
“No,” called Eragon. The icy water whirled around his legs as Saphira swam to the side of the raft. “Were they another race unique to the Beors?”
No, they’re just visiting as part of their migration path. Seriously? Wouldn’t your first clue be that they had fucking nests on the mountains? I get that this kid is as ignorant as the backside of a hog, but Christ, can’t he make assumptions based on his observations?
Orik pulled him onto the raft. “We call them Fanghur. They’re not as intelligent as dragons and they can’t breathe fire, but they are still formidable foes.”
Why do we have to compare these things to dragons? To stroke Saphira’s ego? She doesn’t even say anything about these things’ intelligence. And why mention that they can’t breathe fire if you’re not trying to stroke Saphira’s ego? I don’t understand this. The line Orik says two paragraphs from now would be more appropriate here, about how the Fanghur use their minds to hunt, rather than comparing them to a dragon.
“So we discovered.” Eragon massaged his temples in an attempt to alleviate the headache the Fanghur’s attack had brought on. “Saphira was more than a match for them, however.”
Sure she was. Because these things didn’t attack like a pack of ravenous wolves. If the three had attacked simultaneously instead of one at a time - or never got the chance to, as evidenced by the two Saphira tried to roast with her fire - she wouldn’t have stood a chance. They would have killed her and Eragon too. But we can’t have that, so Saphira wins by reason of Main Character Entitlement.
Of course, she said.
“It’s how they hunt,” explained Orik. “They use their minds to immobilize their prey while they kill it.”
Which is actually a pretty good way to hunt... but also very stupid, because likely nothing they hunt can withstand their mental assault, and therefore they have no Darwinism for their species. They would likely overfeed, thus kill their environment, and then they’d all starve to death. If an animal species can hunt without limits, then they’re going to end up destroying the ecosystem as well as themselves.
Saphira flicked water at Eragon with her tail. It’s a good idea. Maybe I’ll try it next time I go hunting.
He nodded. It could come in handy in a fight too.
Not that this ever happens. Saphira never uses the trick, as far as we’re aware, and when the two go into battle later on, they can’t be in each other’s minds - or anyone else’s - for fear of an enemy mage trying to break in and kill them via their mind. Which makes this entire scene pointless and stupid.
Arya came to the edge of the raft. “I’m glad you did not kill them. Fanghur are rare enough that those three would have been sorely missed.”
Wait, what? They’re rare? Despite having the ultimate hunting method that would literally drive them into extinction with starvation? Maybe that is why they’re rare. They already drove their species into extinction and these three happened to be the strongest. Or it’s a breeding pair and their single offspring. Still, the next line puts that theory in doubt, since they’re apparently eating enough to sustain a decent population. And it bothers me that Arya has this attitude now, but later on kills an injured animal just because she doesn’t have the time or inclination to “waste” magic on the animal to heal it.
“They still manage to eat enough of our herds,” growled Thorv from inside the cabin. The dwarf marched out to Eragon, champing irritably under the twisted knots of his beard. “Do not fly anymore while in these Beor Mountains, Shadeslayer. It is difficult enough to keep you unharmed without you and thine dragon fighting wind-vipers.”
“Champing irritably” means he’s grinding his teeth because he’s pissed off about Eragon and Saphira taking a jaunt in the air. Well, why didn’t you lay down ground rules for what they could and couldn’t do before you left? Like that seems to be a pretty smart idea. Oh. Wait. None of these characters do the obvious things. They only think about it after the fact, which is kind of annoying.
Eragon promises to stay on the ground, at least until they reach the plains, and Thorv is happy with that. Eventually they stop for the night and set up camp. After Eragon realizes he’s got nothing to do, he goes to sit by the fire with Orik and Shrrgy. He watches Shrrgy pull off his gloves and there’s a plot device reveal that we don’t see again until Brisingr and even then it’s kind of stupid. Shrrgy has his own portable brass knuckles. Eragon asks what they are.
Shrrgnien looked at Orik and laughed. “These are mine Ascûdgamln... mine ‘fists of steel.’ ” Without standing, he twisted and punched the bole of an aspen, leaving four symmetrical holes in the bark. Shrrgnien laughed again. “They are good for hitting things, eh?”
There it is again. That stupid verbal tic. In front of a consonant. I wish I was confident that it really was a dwarvish tic and not just some more of speech Paolini thought was neat. Really the only people who use it are the dwarves and Eragon uses it once, I think, so I want to give the benefit of the doubt that it’s just a dwarf thing. But it bothers me that it isn’t used properly. I could understand if something had been mentioned that these dwarves weren’t used to speaking the “common” tongue, and so the verbal tics were just evidence of their struggle with the language, but we don’t even get that as an explanation. It’s just poor writing and grammar. Also, enter the stupidest idea ever - metal knuckles that are surgically attached to the bone. And of course Eragon wants them, despite the fact his bones would sooner break than take the weight of the metal.
Eragon’s curiosity and envy were aroused. “How are they made? I mean, how are the spikes attached to your hands?”
Shrrgnien hesitated, trying to find the right words. “A healer puts you in a deep sleep, so you feel no pain. Then a hole is—is drilled, yes?—is drilled down through the joints...” He broke off and spoke quickly to Orik in the dwarf language.
Okay, neat, here we go, something finally showing that these dwarves don’t have a great grasp of the common tongue. However, this example is the only one. All other dwarves either never talk or speak perfect “common”. So that makes this really kind of annoying. I’m not really sure what Paolini was trying to show, but I’m fairly certain he failed.
“A metal socket is embedded in each hole,” explained Orik. “Magic is used to seal it in place, and when the warrior has fully recovered, various-sized spikes can be threaded into the sockets.”
Magic is used to seal these sockets in place? How? Eragon learns (soon) that magic spells are constantly taking energy from the caster, and that’s why spells have to be made finite. Otherwise, the magic continues to drain energy from the spell’s caster. If magic is used to hold these sockets in place, then the spell would be constantly drawing energy from the caster, and if the caster dies, then these sockets would no longer be held in place, but would move or fall out entirely. It doesn’t make any sense that this would be a thing in context with the rules Paolini has set down for this world. I could see magic being used to hold the sockets in place until the bone heals around them, and dwarf bones being more sturdy and stronger than human bones, but even if this is the case, it’s never stated.
Shrrgy then shows Eragon how to remove his finger studs, and even drops one into Eragon’s hand for him to marvel at. Eragon then says he wants a set for himself (which is foreshadowing if I’ve ever heard it, and doesn’t actually come up until a plot contrivance in Book Three) and gives the stud back.
“It’s a dangerous operation,” warned Orik. “Few knurlan get Ascûdgamln because you can easily lose the use of your hands if the drill goes too deep.” He raised his fist and showed it to Eragon. “Our bones are thicker than yours. It might not work for a human.”
That would’ve been nice to know like... two paragraphs ago. That dwarf bones are thicker than human bones. In the end, though, I still feel like there’s a lack of information here. Like does the magic end once the bones have healed? What happens if a socket falls out? Also, human knuckles aren’t that thick, an inch maybe. If dwarves’ hands are the same shape, then their knuckles have to be four times as thick as a human’s for this procedure to be done safely, otherwise you run the risk of drilling through the bone. Besides that, you could have nerve damage. It’s great that there’s this fantasy weapon in this story, but it isn’t practical.
“I’ll remember that.” Still, Eragon could not help but imagine what it would be like to fight with Ascûdgamln, to be able to strike anything he wanted with impunity, including armored Urgals. He loved the idea.
I like how he just ignores the warnings Orik just gave him. It’s dangerous, and he could lose the use of his hands, but he wants them anyway just so he can cause wanton violence without consequence to himself. That’s not healthy behavior at all. Also, he’s missing the point entirely, and that I’m blaming Paolini for. Or more accurately, Paolini’s science. Because the force of the punch is translated up from the knuckles to the wrist to the arm to the elbow and then the shoulder. The concentration of the force, however, is on your knuckles and then your arm. You would need to have pretty thick bones to withstand the force coming from the metal knuckles and into the bones of your arm. That’s a lot of force being applied to your bones. A human’s arm would break under that strain. Our bones can withstand a lot, but they’re still more fragile than you think.
There’s a bit of a time skip, in which we’re told that Eragon returns to his tent after dinner. He sees Saphira’s shadow on the tent wall via the firelight. She’s outside the tent. Doing... who knows.
Eragon sat with the blankets pulled over his legs and stared at his lap, drowsy but unwilling to sleep quite yet. Unbidden, his mind turned to thoughts of home. He wondered how Roran, Horst, and everyone else from Carvahall was doing, and if the weather in Palancar Valley was warm enough for the farmers to start planting their crops. Longing and sadness suddenly gripped Eragon.
And again the plot calls for homesickness, despite the fact he hasn’t thought about any of this since the book really started. Really, Eragon only shows human emotion when the plot calls for it, and that’s a strain even then, because a lot of the emotion he shows isn’t appropriate for the situation. And, in the end, none of these feelings even come to matter because he decides he can’t live in the valley and be a farmer after all he’s done and seen. To quote the line from Book Four, he says that “he and Saphira were Rider and dragon and therefore would always be at the forefront of history”. While that’s very conceited, he doesn’t take into account whether he should, nor does he take into account Saphira’s feelings on the matter. He just decides.
He decides he’s going to scry home, so he pulls out a bowl and his waterskin, fills he bowl, concentrates on Roran, and speaks the magic spell.
As always, the water went black before brightening to reveal the object being scryed. Eragon saw Roran sitting alone in a candlelit bedroom he recognized from Horst’s house. Roran must have given up his job in Therinsford, realized Eragon. His cousin leaned on his knees and clasped his hands, staring at the far wall with an expression that Eragon knew meant Roran was grappling with some difficult problem. Still, Roran seemed well enough, if a bit drawn, which comforted Eragon. After a minute, he released the magic, ending the spell and clearing the surface of the water.
So where was Roran the first time Eragon scryed him? Therinsford? In the woods? The way that these two stories are intersecting doesn’t make much sense. Events aren’t quite lining up in the way that makes sense. Also, wouldn’t Eragon have come to this conclusion earlier? Like, I dunno, after Garrow died? Roran would have to come back. He’d have to give up everything. Insofar, Roran’s been the one to give up everything, while Eragon’s given up nothing and has indeed rather inherited everything. Eragon doesn’t have to lift a finger to obtain the power granted to him - he gets his power solely on his position alone. Roran, on the other hand, has to take it by force, and even then, he earns it through his bravery and deeds. To me, this is just a sign of Eragon’s selfishness. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone else’s needs or wants, just his own, and when he doesn’t get what he wants, he pouts about it. And when someone else has to sacrifice their dreams, he’s just like “Ah, whatever, such is life.”
Reassured, Eragon emptied the bowl, then lay down, pulling the blankets up to his chin. He closed his eyes and sank into the warm dusk that separates consciousness and sleep, where reality bends and sways to the wind of thought, and where creativity blossoms in its freedom from boundaries and all things are possible.
First of all, stop with pushing the word count. I know it’s fancy flowering language to describe to the reader about sleep and dreamland, but for fuck’s sake, everyone knows about this if they hit REM when they sleep. Also, I resent the sentence about “creativity” because that’s not always true. Sometimes, you just don’t dream. Sure, the dreams I have are where most of my story ideas come from, but that’s because I can remember my dreams in acute detail for the most part. Most people can’t do this. So I feel like Paolini is calling people who don’t or can’t dream unimaginitive, because if they were creative, they’d dream, right? Blegh. Anyway, second of all, where did he empty that bowl? He didn’t drink the water. He didn’t put it back inside the waterskin. He didn’t get up to go outside and dump it. So did he just pour it out inside his tent? And if he did, he’s now sleeping on soaked blankets and muddy earth. Or a puddle, if this tent has a bottom to it. We don’t know! Just magical disappearing water! This bothers me a whole lot, by the way.
Anyway, while Eragon’s sleeping he has a prophetic dream again, and this dream is never explained away by the Deus Ex Machina dragonballs. They admit to sending him the visions of Arya, but not this one and, I think, Eragon’s dream in the beginning of the story. The dream is basically of two armies fighting while carrion birds fly above (although that’s wrong, because carrion birds don’t arrive until after the fighting is done) and there’s a guy with an arm obscuring his face while somebody else’s hand points down at him. It’s such a powerful dream that Eragon still remembers it when he wakes up, and he tells Saphira what he dreamed about. She mentions that the last time he had a dream like this, they ended up finding Arya. She wonders if a battle is going on somewhere. Eragon replies:
He kicked a loose branch. I’m not sure.... Brom said you could only scry people, places, and things that you had already seen. Yet I’ve never seen this place. Nor had I seen Arya when I first dreamt about her in Teirm.
It annoys me that Eragon’s go-to emotion with stress and anger is violence. Like, this is not a kicking offense. This is not a situation that warrants violence. Also, I now have to wonder if Eragon has some kind of prescient power, because this is actually a vision of the future - the battle at the end of this book, in fact. Spoiler alert. Also, spoiler alert, the Eldunari Eragon and Saphira find in the vault at the near-end of Book Four admit to sending Eragon the visions of Arya in prison, but no mention is made of this “vision”. Eragon doesn’t even ask about it. So I have to wonder, is it really a dream, and therefore Eragon has some kind of prescience (which only occurs this once) or is this another vision sent to him by the Eldunari, and Paolini simply forgot to mention it at the end? Either explanation is iffy, but the former seems much more plausible, because it’s more abstract than the previous visions, and doesn’t exactly happen as he dreamed. It’s still recognizable, but only in the fact that things seem very similar, as well as the fact that the Eldunari couldn’t possibly know when this event would take place, or why. The whole reason they give is because Arya needed help, and none was forthcoming at the time. However, as mentioned before, this prescience Eragon seems to display is done only this one time, and then there are no more visions after that.
Saphira suggests Yoda might be able to explain it, and then they get ready to leave. When they get underway, the dwarves randomly start singing a song. I don’t think I really need to put the song here, but suffice to say that it’s written down in English so we can all read and understand what’s being said. Which is fine. It’s a terrible song/poem/whatever. Worse, though, is this paragraph that comes after that song:
The other dwarves joined Ekksvar, slipping into Dwarvish as they continued on to other verses. The low throb of their voices accompanied Eragon as he carefully made his way to the head of the raft, where Arya sat cross-legged.
Why do we need these song and dance numbers! Not that they’re really dancing, but come on! And it bothers me that they start the song off in English and then switch to dwarvish. It’s been established earlier that some of these dwarves can’t speak “common” so well, so this doesn’t make sense. Moreover, this is a dwarf song, right? Which means that this song should be sung in dwarvish to begin with. There’s no reason for them to start singing a song in “common” since this song deals with the dwarvish culture and no other. Also, I really hate these random songs. They serve no purpose to the story.
So, I really don’t understand why the dwarves start singing in “common” and then switch to their native tongue. It really should be the other way around. I guess it was just Paolini flexing his poetry muscles. Anyway, the dwarves are out of the picture for a moment as Eragon confides in Arya the dream he had and wonders if he was scrying in his sleep. Arya abruptly interrupts him and says it wasn’t scrying, and there’s a sentence there describing her speaking slowly, and that makes me feel as if she’s treating Eragon like a particularly slow child that needs things explained as simply as possible for him to understand. She then says that she’s pondered on how he saw her imprisoned in Gil’ead and that she believes her spirit was searching for help and that’s how he managed to see her. ...Isn’t that a bit too existential for an elf? Anyway, Eragon wonders why him.
Arya nodded toward where Saphira undulated through the water. “I grew accustomed to Saphira’s presence during the fifteen years I guarded her egg. I was reaching out for anything that felt familiar when I touched your dreams.”
Wait. Fifteen years she had this egg? But she was with the Varden for a total of seventy? I really wish we’d gotten this information earlier in the story, because fifteen years is an important number. Fifteen years ago was when Eragon was born. Well, sixteen. But still, the moment Brom got his hands on Saphira’s egg was the moment Eragon was born, more or less. And fifteen is also important because after fifteen years, you’d think there’d be innumerable paths Arya could’ve taken to prevent an ambush. Instead, she ends up taking the same path for an extremely long amount of time. That lends itself to the theory that, even though Durza was told where to wait, he shouldn’t have been so impatient. The elves wouldn’t have ever changed their path.
“Are you really strong enough to contact someone in Teirm from Gil’ead? Especially if you were drugged.”
The punctuation here should be a question mark, not a period. He’s questioning, not making a statement. Also, I love how he’s so shocked. Throughout the entire last book that elves are the ubermensch and are ultra powerful, so this shouldn’t really be a surprise for him.
A ghost of a smile touched Arya’s lips. “I could stand on the very gates of Vroengard and still speak with you as clearly as I am now.” She paused. “If you did not scry me in Teirm, then you could not have scryed this new dream. It must be a premonition. They have been known to occur throughout the sentient races, but especially among magic users.”
Of course she could. Even while drugged. Which makes no sense, then, that she couldn’t somehow contact the spellcasters in the Varden and tell them where she was. This seems a little hinky. Also, I enjoy the fact that premonitions are mentioned here as occurring among the sentient races, especially magic users, but Eragon only has a prescient dream on his own once and then none of this ever occurs again throughout the rest of the books. Also, wait. If she’s so powerful that she could stand on Vroengard and talk to him as clearly as she’s talking to him now, then why the fuck did Angela say she almost died holding up the shattered pieces of the star sapphire? That it took nearly all of Arya’s magic and strength to keep the shards suspended in the air, as well as set them down gently so they didn’t shatter further or land on Eragon? Because it takes a damn powerful mage to contact someone with their mind from halfway across the country. Also, this is never, ever used. Instead, they use magic mirrors to talk to each other.
Eragon clutched the netting around a bundle of supplies as the raft lurched. “If what I saw will come to pass, then how can we change anything that happens? Do our choices matter? What if I threw myself off the raft right now and drowned?”
“But you won’t.” Arya dipped her left forefinger in the river and stared at the single drop that clung to her skin, like a quivering lens. “Once, long ago, the elf Maerzadí had a premonition that he would accidentally kill his son in battle. Rather than live to see it happen, he committed suicide, saving his son, and at the same time proving that the future isn’t set. Short of killing yourself, however, you can do little to change your destiny, since you don’t know what choices will lead you to the particular point of time that you saw.” She flipped her hand and the drop splattered against the log between them. “We know that it’s possible to retrieve information from the future—fortunetellers can often sense the paths a person’s life may take—but we’ve been unable to refine the process to the point where you can choose what, where, or when you want to see.”
I love how Arya trots out this super depressing story that’s basically taken straight from every Greek tragedy ever. Father gets a prophesy about something regarding a child, does something to the child (typically), and then a few years pass in peace before the child returns, grown up or in disguise, and the thing prophesied comes to pass. Granted, Greek tragedies were about obeying fate and saying it was inescapable, that what’s meant to pass always will, one way or another. None of the Greeks ever thought about suicide as preventing fate from happening, because they believed suicide would only get you sent to the Underworld rather than the Elysian Fields (or heaven). Paolini’s elves don’t have this issue because they don’t believe in an afterlife. However, I enjoy how Arya mentions nothing of the son after the father kills himself. Sure, the dad prevented himself from killing his son in war, but did the son die? That’s basically the point of the premonition, right? That the son died in battle. And okay, maybe I’m reading too much into this, but, what would’ve happened had the dad lived? What would the accident have been? That he killed his son by his own hand? Or that he gave orders that resulted in his son’s accidental death? Also, it annoys me that Eragon doesn’t ask questions about this. Like... how could he be certain that killing himself was the answer? He could’ve just not gone into battle at all. He could’ve made that choice. He could’ve sworn an oath that would’ve prevented him from fighting. I mean, if Rhunon can swear that she’ll never make another sword, then the dad could have made the same kind of oath. This doesn’t make any sense to me. Also, it’s entertaining that everyone knows that fortunetellers can sense all the paths that a person’s life can take, but not even the elves have managed to become super precise. Yet Angela is able to do exactly this for Eragon, and he doesn’t even bring this fact up.
Eragon found the entire concept of funneling knowledge through time profoundly disturbing. It raised too many questions about the nature of reality. Whether fate and destiny really exist, the only thing I can do is enjoy the present and live as honorably as possible. Yet he could not help asking, “What’s to stop me, though, from scrying one of my memories? I’ve seen everything in them... so I should be able to view them with magic.”
Okay, what the fuck? First of all, so fucking random I can’t even begin to describe where this comes from. Why is he talking about scrying his memories and not talking about Angela and how fucking perfect her fortune telling was for him? That everything she predicted for his life is coming true, no matter what he decides? This doesn’t make any sense, and with the previous conversation, there’s no context for this.
Arya’s gaze darted to meet his. “If you value your life, never attempt it. Many years ago, several of our spellweavers devoted themselves to defeating time’s enigmas. When they tried to summon up the past, they only succeeded in creating a blurred image on their mirror before the spell consumed their energy and killed them. We made no more experiments on the subject. It is argued that the spell would work if more magicians participated, but no one is willing to accept the risk and the theory remains unproven. Even if one could scry the past, it would be of limited use. And to scry the future, one would have to know exactly what was going to happen and where and when, which defeats the purpose.
All I can think of is “of course the elves would devote their time to this, because it isn’t like they have anything better to do with their power and time. Like honestly, instead of doing anything more productive - like solving world hunger, or global warming - they spend all their time doing stupid shit. Granted, we don’t know exactly when this took place, whether it was before dragon riders or after, or before, during, or after the war with Galbatorix, or what, but this seems like a complete waste of time on the part of the elves, especially when they complain about the atrocities they suffered at the hands of the Forsworn, and whatever else they think is theirs but was taken from them. I mean, they’re quick enough to jump on Brom’s ass about controlling the fate of the new rider that’s gonna be bonded with the egg the Varden managed to get their mitts on, but they don’t lift a finger to help get it. They don’t even enter the war until the humans go into the forest to start cutting down trees. They make the claim they’re going to war in Book Three, I think, but they don’t actually get off their asses to do anything until the forest itself comes under “attack”. The elves bother me as a race. They really do.
“It’s a mystery, then, how people can have premonitions while sleeping, how they can do something unconsciously that has defeated our greatest sages. Premonitions may be linked to the very nature and fabric of magic... or they may function in a similar way to the dragons’ ancestral memories. We don’t know. Many avenues of magic have yet to be explored.” She stood in a single fluid movement. “Take care not to lose yourself among them.”
Oh boy, I’m so glad that we’re told now that dragons have ancestral memories! Because this literally never comes up when Saphira is learning how to basically be a dragon in the beginning of Book One, or any other time in that book. Not does it come up at any point before this time. Not even Saphira - who is a dragon and therefore should be all over this shit - mentions anything about this. Although, yes, people do dream about things that haven’t happened yet. That’s why the saying deja vu exists. It’s happened to me. I’ve dreamt about doing, seeing, saying, or touching something, and then I experience that in real life, and I’m like “whoa, I swear I’ve done this before.” It’s unexplainable. Does it happen often? No. Does it mean anything? Who knows. But I love how she says “many avenues of magic have yet to be explored” but the elves have already figured out 18th and 19th century science with magic, and they can cure cancer, and they can make people look younger than their years, but they can’t fix Alzheimer’s or the deterioration of one’s mind. Despite the fact that elves seem to have done everything else.
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Date: 2025-02-07 03:17 am (UTC)