Red Brick Commentary

[mara_dienne459]

A whole bunch of waiting turns into physical abuse turns into thievery turns into escape. But hey, we're getting closer to the end now.

Chapter Fifty-Four: Escape

 

Roran and his group spend some time hammering out details with Jeod about the plan, and then Roran sends Nolfy to go get Mandel and Gertrude and bring them to Jeod’s house, because Jeod’s like “mi casa es tu casa”. Jeod then says excuse me, I need to go talk to my wife. There’s some commentary from the peanut gallery about Helen being an ogress. Shut up. Roran then wanders the mansion for a little while, thinking about things, and then he’s confronted by Birgit. They have a little chat to remind us that she still wants payment for her husband’s death and she’ll get it from Roran one way or another, and after she walks away, Roran’s like hey, we’re two peas in a pod because we feel the exact same burning desire for revenge. Sure. Then Roran goes a-wandering again but this time comes across Jeod and Helen in the dining room having a private conversation. Instead of minding his own business and walking away, he instead eavesdrops. And his eyes are forever blinded by the bright white moon of Jeod’s butt as he and Helen make sweet sweet vigorous love on the kitchen table.

 

Just kidding. 

 

Instead what Roran gets to witness is Jeod and Helen talking about the upcoming journey. He wants her to go, she’s wiffly about it, he tries to woo her with the “I still love you and I want to be with you and I want you safe” and Helen is like yeah, but. She asks if Eragon was really a Rider, yes he is, and then Helen randomly says:

 

“Are you important among the Varden?”

 

“They owe me some consideration for my part in acquiring Saphira’s egg.”

 

“Then you would have a position with them in Surda?” 

 

See? All the females in this story are either super focused on sex and having babies or they just want power. Helen doesn’t even ask what would be in store for them if they were to leave, or what they would find when they got there, or how dangerous it will be. No, instead she asks if he’s important and if he’d have a “position” among the Varden. All she cares about is appearances. All these females are seriously one-dimensional and I hate it.

 

Jeod is like I might. (Note from the future: he doesn’t have any position among the Varden. Not really. He becomes the head librarian, for all intents and purposes, scouring reams of text for any hint as to a secret passage into any of the cities they’re about to attack, and that’s it) Helen is like don’t push me, I need to think about it. Jeod asks her if she will, and she’s like yeah, I will. This somehow translates into Roran’s heart paining him - I wonder if he’s having a heart attack? - and thinks about Katrina. Time skip, and we’re at dinner now. Roran notices Helen is staring at him. He randomly thinks that she’s no doubt comparing him to Eragon. Not sure why he has that thought, but there ya go. After dinner, Roran goes to have a private chat with Mandel. Now Roran wants to have the conversation about the sailors that Mandel’s mom asked him to do five chapters ago.

 

Mandel gets his back up and says the sailors aren’t their enemies. Roran’s like they’re not friends either. He says the friendship wouldn’t be a problem if Mandel was responsible, which pisses off Mandel. Roran then asks him what the most important thing that they could be doing is. Mandel says it’s to protect their families. What else? Mandel doesn’t know. Roran explains that it’s to help one another. He says he was disappointed to learn that Mandel gambled food away because that endangers the entire village. Roran also says that because Mandel’s dad is dead, Mandel is now responsible for caring for his mom and siblings.

 

See, this is the speech he should have given when he talked to Mandel that first time, not explaining why it’s a bad idea to throw knives. Then I could understand Mandel wanting, or getting, to come along on this expedition to Teirm in order to prove himself and get Roran’s trust back. But that didn’t happen. So I feel like this is too little too late. Back to the book, though, having this speech said to him by Roran (who is still Mandel’s age, if not slightly older) makes Mandel reassess his life choices. Roran wants to know if it’ll ever happen again. Mandel says no. Roran says good.

 

“Good. Now I didn’t bring you here just to chastise you. You show promise, which is why I’m giving you a task that I would trust to no one else but myself.” 

 

And here it is. The lecture Mandel’s mother asked him to do three chapters ago. It’s such bullshit that it happens now, and not back when it was asked of him. That doesn’t show responsibility on Roran’s part, either. But nobody ever calls him on it. Felda doesn’t call him on it when Roran decides to take her son with them. She instead kept quiet and helped him pack for the outing. In my opinion, this conversation should’ve happened in the immediate when Roran was asked to by Felda. It would have more impact here, when Roran gives Mandel this “task” that Roran would trust to “no one” but himself. 

 

Mandel gets all excited, and Roran explains he needs the kid to head back to the camp and deliver a message to Horst. He says don’t let anyone follow you. If you notice anyone, try to lose them in the countryside. Kill them if you have to. Roran tells Mandel what to tell Horst, which we don’t get to find out because it wasn’t written in, but we can assume it’s something nasty because Mandel asks what to do if Clovis objects. Roran says:

 

“That night, break the tillers on the barges so they can’t be steered. It’s a dirty trick, but it could be disastrous if Clovis or any of his men arrive at Teirm before you.” 

 

Wow, Roran, you’re a dick. A class A dick. What the fuck. Why not just tell Clovis the truth? He’s already said that he wouldn’t betray Roran, and he’s said that he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize them. All you’d have to tell the man is that his job is complete and give him the rest of his money, but wait! You don’t have his money. But instead of seeing if Jeod would front you that payment - because he still has servants, which means he’s likely paying them, otherwise they wouldn’t be there, and everyone in that household still has to eat, which costs money - you decide you’re going to break the tillers and strand Clovis and his men so they can’t reach Teirm and they can’t go back to Narda until they fix the tillers. That is, if they can fix them. Depending on how the tillers are broken, they might not be able to be fixed. That destroys Clovis’s income. But wait, Clovis has other means to support himself, says Roran, so that makes it okay to destroy his property! Goddamn, Roran is just like the soldiers who came to the village and did whatever they wanted without consequence. And he’s the hero? We’re supposed to like this guy? Root for him? Feel bad for him? Are you serious?

 

Mandel promises that nothing bad will happen and Roran’s like good. He’s very confident that he single-handedly resolved the matter of Mandel’s behavior and pats himself on the back for it. I suppose he’s right, because Mandel doesn’t act like he’s going through the stages of grief at all, or even that upset about his dad being dead. But in reality, that’s not how behavior correction works. It might for some? But typically not. Anyway, Roran goes to sleep. A time skip, and we’re back with Roran and everyone sans Mandel getting ready to get gone. They spend the day resting, reviewing strategies, and honing their weapons. Helen is bustling about the house doing whatever, the butler is there but seems to have a case of rictus because he’s constantly smiling, and Jeod is MIA because he’s gone to find his buddies and tell them the time to act is now. He manages to get five guys to join their scheme. When night comes, they all get ready to go, and meet by the front door. Everyone’s there except Helen and the butler. There’s some fluff about Roran noticing Jeod’s rapier and deciding it suits the man. Jeod lights a lamp and asks if they’re ready to go, they say yes, so they go. Jeod lingers, waiting for Helen, but she’s a no show, so he has to leave without her. Whatever his feelings are on the matter, we don’t really know (aside from a single “shudder” as he closes the door behind him), because they aren’t written in.

 

So they go through the city, trying to act casual when they come across a guard, and there’s some flavor text about Roran hearing footsteps on a nearby roof and Jeod has to explain that the design of the city makes it super easy for thieves to get around. They get to the gate protecting the docks and they’re stopped by the guards. Jeod whips out a scroll and hands it to the guard. The guard eventually hands it back and lets them through.

 

Once they were on the wharf and out of earshot of the city wall, Jeod said, “It’s a good thing he couldn’t read.” 

 

I’m glad Jeod knew the guard couldn’t read, because that could’ve been disastrous. But then again, the one controlling the story is Paolini, so of course everything turns out just fine for our heroes. It would’ve been more exciting if Jeod handed the guard the document and some bribing money. Some hush money. Or that he arranged it earlier with the night watch on the docks, saying that the guard was an agent for the Varden or that he owed Jeod a favor. Either one of those options would’ve been better than the dude can’t read. Usually they don’t put guards who can’t read in a position as important as this one is, because then anyone can get through, as evidenced here. And considering the lord of Teirm is smart enough to make his merchants have offices in his castle, I don’t think he’d put illiterate guards in positions where they’d have to read.

 

They get to the docks and wait around for Jeod’s guys to show up. When they do, they get described, and they’re apparently identical because they all have the same hair style and they all have tar-smeared hands and they all have scars. Roran instantly likes all of them and he somehow can tell they like him, too. But they don’t like Birgit. One of the sailors immediately is like how can I concentrate when some chick is getting in my way? And my immediate thought is why can’t you concentrate? Are you too busy staring at her boobs or her ass to focus on your own work? What makes you think she’d be getting in your way at all? Anyway, Nolfy then makes his presence known by telling the guy not to call his mom a tramp (which the sailor did) and the guy is like “shit, her kid is here too?” Jeod’s like relax, my dude. This lady is good. She fought the Ra’zac (no she didn’t) and her son has already killed one of Galby’s best soldiers (allegedly, we never saw him actually kill the guy and best? Really? Somehow I don’t think he’d send his best to go wrangle some random kid in BFE) and asks if the guy, whose name is Uthar, can claim as much. Somebody else is like it’s not proper. He won’t feel safe with a woman at his side, because they do nothing but bring bad luck. He starts saying something about what ladies can or cannot do and then this happens:

 

Whatever he was going to say was lost, for at that instant, Birgit did a very unladylike thing. Stepping forward, she kicked Uthar between his legs and then grabbed the second man and pressed her knife against his throat. She held him for a moment, so everyone could see what she had done, then released her captive. Uthar rolled on the boards by her feet, holding himself and muttering a stream of curses. 

 

So what I got out of this was Birgit walked up to Uthar, kicked him in the balls, then grabbed another guy from the front and put her knife to his throat, leaving his hands free to grab her back or stab her with his knife. She didn’t incapacitate the guy she’s threatening with a knife, she didn’t disable him so he couldn’t fight back, she didn’t do any of that. She just... shoved a knife in his face and dared him to retaliate. That’s bullshit. I get that Birgit probably knows nothing about real fighting, but she has to know that if she’s in front of her enemy and he’s got his hands free, he’s going to overpower her and kill her. Like this entire scene doesn’t make sense. I really don’t see why Birgit here can’t be thought of as just as badass as a man. I mean, she popped out like 13 kids, is a frontier woman who likely could gut a rabbit in less than a minute, and scared off bears and wolves. And I don’t really like this whole misogynist undertone that’s running throughout the whole book. Women could do shit. Women could do shit better than the men. Why do you think the church (all men) and the government (all men) labeled Joan of Arc a witch? Because she had become the darling of the people for winning in the war and the men were afraid of losing their power to her. Why did the idea of male-only primogeniture start? Because kings were afraid of their sisters taking their power, and because men didn’t think women were fit to rule. They had the power and they didn’t want to share. So this is all bullshit.

 

“Does anyone else have an objection?” demanded Birgit. Beside her, Nolfavrell stared with openmouthed amazement at his mother.

 

Roran pulled his hood lower to conceal his grin. Good thing they haven’t noticed Gertrude, he thought. 

 

Or know that 150 other women are going to show up, along with all their daughters. I mean, seriously, get over yourself. Just because they have tits and a vagina doesn’t mean they can’t do anything but cook, clean, sew, give a man sex and pop out his babies, and bring bad luck. Sometimes men are such assholes. They look at a woman and are afraid if she’s more dominant, call her a bitch and a slut if she doesn’t obey them, and generally beat her down to make themselves feel powerful. There is literally nothing a man can do that a woman can’t do either, except, I guess, get an erection. Pretty sure women don’t get those.

 

When no one else challenged Birgit, Jeod asked, “Did you bring what I wanted?” Each sailor reached inside his vest and divulged a weighted club and several lengths of rope. 

 

Okay, what are those vests? Bags of holding? Seriously, the rope I could understand because that’s easy to hide on a shoulder or waist, but clubs? Clubs generally aren’t hidden in vests. They’re big and bulky and generally are noticeable if you’re trying to be sneaky about having one. This is just ridiculous.

 

With this out of the way, they all head down toward the Dragon Wing, trying to be inconspicuous. They hide behind a warehouse and watch the sentries on the ship for a while. Jeod reminds everyone not to sound the alarm, and there’s some talk about “two men above and two men below” and it “being the custom”. Not sure what that custom is, really, because personally I think a ship as big as this, as important as this, would have more than just four guys guarding it. But whatever.

 

Roran and Uthar stripped to their breeches, tied the rope and clubs around their waists—Roran left his hammer behind—and then ran farther down the wharf, out of the sentries’ sight, where they lowered themselves into the frigid water. 

 

Left his hammer behind with who? Because he somehow gets it back later on. Unless he gets a new one from the Varden, but I don’t remember that happening. Continuity error? Possibly.

 

Uthar says he hates doing this, Roran’s like you’ve done this before? Uthar responds he’s done this four times and don’t stop moving or you’ll freeze. Well, more like you’d get hypothermia and eventually fall unconscious and drown before you’d freeze, but semantics. The guys swim to the ship, get to their respective positions, and climb up to wait. Roran tells us he’s super cold.

 

Not three minutes later, Roran heard the scuff of Birgit’s boots above him as she walked to the end of the pier, opposite the middle of the Dragon Wing, and then the faint sound of her voice as she engaged the sentries in conversation. Hopefully, she would keep their attention away from the bow. 

 

So what are they having Birgit do? Act like a lady of the night and try to entice the men to give her a little coin in exchange for a little leg? You know, it’s this scene that makes me appreciate all the ship stealth levels in the Assassin’s Creed games. You literally just climbed up the ship’s hull, waited for some guy to walk by, then grabbed him and before he could yell, pulled him overboard, killed him, and let him drop in the drink. Nobody ever seemed the wiser. But of course, that’s a video game. And there were always more than four men left to guard the ship, especially a ship as important as this one seems to be. Everything is always too convenient for these characters, I swear. Nothing ever goes wrong, nothing terrible ever happens. Sure they might get wounded once in a while, but that’s easily fixed with magic. This story really doesn’t reflect real life, and I do understand that, but come on. Can we have just a little bit of realism?

 

Roran and Uthar jump over onto the deck of the ship, incapacitate the sentries and everything goes just perfectly because of course it does. Everyone else joins the guys on the ship and they start clearing the ship so they can make sure they have everyone and there won’t be a tripping of an alarm or anyone escaping to alert anyone to the piracy. We’re told Birgit manages to capture two guys on her own. Take that, Uthar. Soon everybody is above deck again and Jeod tells Roran Uthar is captain, so listen to what he says. They then spend two hours getting the ship ready to sail. They toss unneeded supplies overboard, but do it quietly so the stuff doesn’t splash, and then in the middle of all this, someone hisses that someone’s coming so everyone stops what they’re doing to wait to see what happens. Jeod addresses the intruder and...

 

It’s Helen. She’s come to be with her husband after all. Yay.

 

Well, morning comes and someone alerts everyone else to let them know the villagers have been spotted. Aup, time’s up, gotta get moving. We’re told that the villagers are hurrying down the coast, which is all part of the plan, because for whatever reason, Teirm’s outer wall isn’t open to the sea but rather encircles the whole city to ward off those frequent pirate attacks that we never get to actually see or hear about actually happening. Well, to buy even more time, Uthar orders the javelins be loaded into the ballistae and smeared with tar. Why? This is why:

 

The villagers were two-thirds of the way to the ship before the soldiers patrolling the battlements of Teirm spotted them and trumpeted the alarm. Even before that first note faded, Uthar bellowed, “Light and fire ’em!” 

 

This is dumb. Instead of immediately having the villagers move as soon as possible so they were already waiting at the walls to sneak over at dark, they’re showing up at first light. And of course the sentries spot them, because why not? Let’s throw some tension into this scene! But it’s false tension, and do you know what happens? The thieves ignite the entire damn city, nobody on their side gets hurt or killed, and they get away safely while regrettably destroying half of Teirm. It’s stupid! 

 

Nolfy goes and lights each javelin and the moment one’s ablaze, the guy behind the ballistae fires it. And now the wharf is on fire. Uthar tells them to keep going. So they do, and the fire quickly spreads and now nobody can reach the ship because of the fire. So the soldiers start shooting at the ship... until the smoke from the flames blocks their view, because of course it would. Uthar now commands to fire at will, so they do.

 

The villagers were running pell-mell down the beach now. They reached the north end of the wharf, and a handful of them stumbled and fell as the soldiers in Teirm redirected their aim. Children screamed in terror. Then the villagers regained momentum. They pounded down the planks, past a warehouse engulfed in flame and along the pier. The panting mob charged onto the ship in a confused mass of jostling bodies. 

 

Is “stumbled and fell” a euphemism for “these people died”? Apparently not, because the next sentence clearly states that “the villagers” - meaning those who stumbled and fell and everyone else - regained momentum and made it safely. So you see? No one on the good guys’ side dies. No one gets hurt. There’s no description of bodies lying on the beach full of holes. There’s nothing. Everyone makes it safely. It isn’t realistic. Now, I’m not saying I want the bad guys win to all the time and the good guys always lose no matter how hard they struggle; I’m saying I want some reality here. That sometimes people die, good or bad. That the good guys lose people important to them. And not random periphery characters nobody gives a shit about, but characters you’ve come to actually care for because the main character made you care for them. I mean, Rowling killed off Sirius Black, and people got pissed at her for it! Paolini killed off Brom and people were like, “eh”. But nobody dies here. Nobody even gets so much as a splinter, and I don’t like that.

 

Everyone makes it on board safely because of course they do. All the men from the village are gathered around the mainmast, so Uthar starts barking out orders. He wants everyone to the oars. So they go and do, and he orders some ballistae-men to change sides and to get ready for boarding parties. Roran is part of this group. In the meantime, Jeod and Helen nicely roll the prisoners off the ship and onto the docks. I guess so they can burn to death or die of smoke inhalation, since it isn’t mentioned that they unbound the soldiers. Eventually the ship starts moving and they’re soon away from the dock and close to open sea. Roran goes with Jeod to the quarterdeck where they stand there and watch the fire spread across the city. Roran the Sociopath wonders what his kill count is now. Jeod says a great many innocent people will be harmed because of this. No shit.

 

Guilt made Roran respond with more force than he intended: “Would you rather be in Lord Risthart’s prisons? I doubt many will be injured in the blaze, and those that aren’t won’t face death, like we will if the Empire catches us.” 

 

See, this is what I don’t get. Roran and everyone else are willing to do whatever it takes to get away and accomplish their goal, but immediately regret doing those “whatever it takes” things. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t be willing to do whatever it takes and then turn around and whine about those actions. And honestly, none of what Roran does he has to do. There are ways to achieve the same results but without making him out to be the biggest douchebag ever. Like Roran could’ve used his words to deal with the white-haired guard at Narda instead of killing him. They could’ve snuck out with the ship instead of firing burning pitch into the town and killing a whole bunch of people just to provide cover so they could get away. But instead, the author chooses the most violent and unnecessary mode of escape, when there’s literally no cause for it.

 

Jeod says don’t lecture me. I know what I was doing. He says they did what they had to, but he doesn’t want to take pleasure in the suffering of others. Especially when this needless suffering didn’t have to happen. Well, a time skip brings us to noon of that same day, and they’re making a pretty good clip now because the weather is in their favor.

 

The ship was miserably overcrowded, but Roran was confident that with some careful planning they could make it to Surda with a minimum of discomfort. The worst inconvenience was that of limited rations; if they were to avoid starvation, food would have to be dispensed in miserly portions. And in such cramped quarters, disease was an all too likely possibility. 

 

But this ship is supposed to be supplied for a voyage, isn’t it? Sure Jeod said it was supposed to leave "within the week", so the preserved food should already be on board. The fresh food wouldn’t last all that long, so that would’ve been loaded the moment before the ship was to sail. How is it that these people are always starving? Yet they always seem to have just enough to see them through? None of this makes any sense. The heroes always seem to have just enough of everything so that they never suffer any real hardship. It’s super annoying.

 

After Uthar gave a brief speech about the importance of discipline on a ship, the villagers applied themselves to the tasks that required their immediate attention, such as tending to their wounded, unpacking their meager belongings, and deciding upon the most efficient sleeping arrangement for each deck. They also had to choose people to fill the various positions on the Dragon Wing: who would cook, who would train as sailors under Uthar’s men, and so forth. 

 

Why the hell would you bother to unpack anything? That’s a quick way to lose your stuff. This isn’t a cruise where everyone has their own private cabin and key code to get in. Also, cook? Didn’t Roran just get done saying that the food was so low that everything was going to have to be rationed? Why would you have a cook then? Did you magically find food while you were digging through the kitchen? None of this makes any sense! Everything else in this paragraph makes sense, except those two things. Why is there no consistency in this story? Why are certain things said and then immediately contradicted? The world may never know.

 

Roran was helping Elain hang a hammock when he became embroiled in a heated dispute between Odele, her family, and Frewin, who had apparently deserted Torson’s crew to stay with Odele. The two of them wanted to marry, which Odele’s parents vehemently opposed on the grounds that the young sailor lacked a family of his own, a respectable profession, and the means to provide even a modicum of comfort for their daughter. Roran thought it best if the enamored couple remained together—it seemed impractical to try and separate them while they remained confined to the same ship—but Odele’s parents refused to give his arguments credence. 

 

The fuck? They’ve only known each other a couple of weeks and they want to marry? This is some whirlwind romance. And yet another instance of a female just wanting to get hitched to the first guy who shows interest in her. This is not how women act. This is not what somebody in Odele’s position would immediately do. The only reason I could see them getting married is because they had sex and she’s now pregnant, and they need to get married lest Odele brings shame upon herself and her family, and births a bastard. I mean, why not? This is essentially the idea behind Roran and Katrina getting married. She’s pregnant and he needs to marry her to save face. Also, I get why her parents are pissed. This kid was nobody from Narda. He’s a barge crewman, if that. And now, other than learning to be a sailor, he’s really got nothing. He can’t provide Odele with stuff. Literally, that’s why her parents object. It isn’t that he loves her, it isn’t that he wants to provide for her, it isn’t that he’s giving her emotional comfort now, it’s that he can’t give her stuff. Which is a bullshit reason to oppose a marriage. Roran’s right about one thing - it’ll be impossible to separate them while they’re stuck in the same space forever. Trying to separate them will only make things harder, and it could cause them to do something stupid, like jump overboard, or run away when they make landfall, or have sex and get pregnant so now they have to marry. Either way, this entire village is full of dumbasses and I really don’t know how they could possibly survive.

 

Roran’s in the middle of asking her parents what they want to do when someone cries out “Ra’zac!”

 

Without a second thought, Roran yanked his hammer from his belt, whirled about, and scrambled up the ladder through the fore hatchway, barking his shin on the way. He sprinted toward the knot of people on the quarterdeck, coming to a halt beside Horst. 

 

See! Hammer! Roran has his hammer back despite leaving it on the beach where he went into the water and never going to retrieve it or having someone else bring it back to him! This is a complete continuity error! 

 

Horst points and there’s the Ra’zac floating on the edge of the coastline. Roran is super creeped out by seeing the Ra’zac and the flying mount in daylight. The lethrblaka screams and the Ra’zac delivers Bad Guy Trope Line #365, “You shall not escape!” Roran’s like anybody got a bow? Baldor says he does and he drops to one knee so he can string it and nock an arrow. Horst wonders why the Ra’zac don’t attack. Roran has no idea and Jeod suggests maybe it’s too bright for them. He says they hunt at night and they don’t willingly venture out into the day if they can help it. Gertrude randomly says she thinks they’re afraid of the ocean. Horst laughs at her. She says watch, they don’t fly out more than a yard over the water.

 

“She’s right,” said Roran. At last, a weakness I can use against them! 

 

Not that he does. He gets his ass kicked by them and then he and Eragon kill them, so this never comes into play. Which is a shame, because foreshadowing. 

 

Baldor soon pops back up and fires off his arrow. Baldor is apparently a professional archer and has some kind of modern bow or something because, though the Ra’zac are at the extreme edge of a longbow’s range, “far beyond any mark Roran had seen an archer hit”, Baldor still somehow manages to lob his arrow with enough force to hit the flying creature on the right flank. The beast then gives its best Emo Scream and shatters all the glass on the ship and makes rocks on shore break in two. Then it disappears. Jeod asks if they killed it, and the answer is always no to that question. Baldor says it was just a flesh wound. It’s mentioned that at least Baldor hurt him and made the Ra’zac think twice about tangling with the villagers again. Roran gets depressed and says this was no victory. Why not?

 

“Because now the Empire knows exactly where we are.” The quarterdeck fell silent as they grasped the implications of what he had said. 

 

Well. At the moment they know where you are. That will change soon enough. But they also know where you’re going now, so the point is kinda moot. I mean, I really don’t know how the Ra’zac found them in the first place? Considering the Ra’zac had left early on with Katrina and spent lots of time torturing Sloan, they would’ve returned to the village, found it empty, and then had to figure out which direction they went in. The chapter where the villagers were complaining about the barges and the Ra’zac showed up, the Ra’zac didn’t find them. They didn’t know that the villagers had gone in that direction. So the fact that the Ra’zac shows up here is really kind of odd. Other than to provide a visual, I guess? But it’s a rather poor visual, if you ask me.

Comments

[ultimate_cheetah]

And his eyes are forever blinded by the bright white moon of Jeod’s butt as he and Helen make sweet sweet vigorous love on the kitchen table.

Hahaha!

Helen doesn’t even ask what would be in store for them if they were to leave, or what they would find when they got there, or how dangerous it will be. No, instead she asks if he’s important and if he’d have a “position” among the Varden. All she cares about is appearances.

What I think the problem is here is that women are characterized as "bad" for wanting power, but men are characterized as "good". I actually like that Helen isn't willing to put up with her husband's bullshit (I mean, he joined the Varden without telling her and caused them both to be bankrupt). She's better than 3/4ths of the main cast by having ambition and wanting to get things done. Helen's a wasted character.

Wow, Roran, you’re a dick. A class A dick.

I know. He just goes straight to violence, and the worse part is, no one condemns him for it.

And considering the lord of Teirm is smart enough to make his merchants have offices in his castle, I don’t think he’d put illiterate guards in positions where they’d have to read.

This guy also seems like a wasted character. Hmmm.

And I don’t really like this whole misogynist undertone that’s running throughout the whole book.

It's a pretty realistic attitude for this society, but the fact that it's reinforced with the elves and the dwarves (the leaders are mostly men), as well as the book itself just rubs salt in the wound.

Now, I’m not saying I want the bad guys win to all the time and the good guys always lose no matter how hard they struggle; I’m saying I want some reality here.

Yeah. It doesn't have to be grim dark, but you can't have the protagonist burning people one moment, and everyone getting away the next. The Walking Dead comics have reality, and lots of people die, which is realistic for a zombie apocalypse. Also, be prepared to see this a lot during the cycle.

Which is a bullshit reason to oppose a marriage.

Actually, it's really not. This society is pretty patriarichal, so the man of the family has to have something to earn income from. Also, it's reasonable for the parents to not want their daughter to marry someone without a job, because, 1st, in this society, you either pull your own weight, or you starve. Second, it's the same reason someone wouldn't want their kid to marry a deadbeat today. They have a good reason to want Odele to have a happy life.

Baldor still somehow manages to lob his arrow with enough force to hit the flying creature on the right flank. The beast then gives its best Emo Scream and shatters all the glass on the ship and makes rocks on shore break in two. Then it disappears.

It just left. It just- sigh. Fuck. I literally can't anymore. My suspension of disbelief has been repeatedly violated, stomped on, chopped up, violated again, and then, finally, finally has been killed.

The lethrblaka screams and the Ra’zac delivers Bad Guy Trope Line #365, “You shall not escape!”

"You sshall not esscape!" the Ra'zac cried. The Lethrblaka screamed. "Really? Really?! That's the best you could come up with?!" The Ra'zac rolled his eyes. Why did mother have to do this right now? "I'm sorry mother. It was in the script." "Script, what script?" The Ra'zac took out the paper scroll again. "You know, the script that all of us creatures say that makes our quarry quake in fear." The Lethrblaka sighed. "Your sister told you that, didn't she? And no, it makes us seem ridiculous." Below, Roran waved his arms on the ship. "You'll never catch us, stupid creatures." The Ra'zac leaned forward. "Never mind. Can we just eat him now." In answer, the Lethrblaka dived, dodging an arrow and landing on the ship. The villagers cowered and some dove off the side." The Ra'zac locked eyes with the human that had been annoying him for days. "You were saying?"

Questionable misogyny

[kris_norge]

"I really don’t see why Birgit here can’t be thought of as just as badass as a man."
Well firstly, the sailors don't know her, where she is from, what she has done, or what she is capable of. Most likely they only know women from cities where their ships have docked and city-life makes people soft and in a city the women would be mostly burghers with jobs that aren't too physically demanding, or (more likely in sailors' circles) tavern wenches and whores. Secondly, in a predominantly manly world like ships (or the army), misogyny runs wild even today (believe me, I know) so I can get the sailors not wanting her on the ship. The main issue I have is that it's not presented in a believable manner. The way I know sailors, there would have been a lot more humour involved, likely sex jokes that can be degrading.
Also, I truly don't think this book has misogynist undertones... just bad stereotypical portrayal of characters, male or female. Paolini falls into stereotypes like the warrior princess (Arya), the female leader (Nasuada), the tough country woman (Birgit), the domineering house wife (Helen) etc. The same way, his male characters fall into stereotypes too. Paolini has many flaws but I don't think misogyny falls among them. It's more accidental misogyny due to not even being able to do tropes right.

Re: Questionable misogyny

[ultimate_cheetah]

It doesn't seem far-fetched that this society would have misogyny. The thing that bothers me is that the "progressive" society, the elves, still think that human women are useless even though they are egalitarian along gender lines. It seems odd.

Also, I truly don't think this book has misogynist undertones... just bad stereotypical portrayal of characters, male or female.

It's both. There are stereotypes like you said, and then there are other things, like the women getting captured, the constant objectifying description, etc.