Green Brick Commentary

[mara_dienne459]

 Now we're at about the halfway point in this story. They've discovered their goal. It's right in front of them. There's just one itty bitty problem.

Chapter Fifty-One: The Rock of Kuthian

 

Through the funky apple grove and over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house the Eragon group goes. They stop in front of the rock and when they stop, a bunch of crows launches into the air saying nasty things about Saphira. Eragon takes it as a bad omen. For half an hour, Eragon stands there in his spot and cast spell after spell trying to find anything that’ll harm them. There’s a bunch of spells in the clearing and the island itself, of varying degrees of strength and power, and a lot of them are dormant for some reason. Eragon also can’t determine most of the purposes of the spells, since no record of the spells exist, and the structures of the magic are so difficult, if not impossible, to figure out. Glaedr helps a little, because he’s familiar with a lot of the magic, because of course he is, but otherwise Eragon has to guess. Most of the time, all he can figure out is if the spell is going to hurt them or not, and it takes him yet another hour to examine everything.

 

We’re told that he’s most worried - and what Glaedr is worried about, too - are the spells that he can’t detect, and we’re told that it’s near impossible to find another magic user’s work if they tried to hide it. Finally he’s confident enough to proceed, and he and Saphira head across the green to stand in front of the spire. Eragon looks toward the top and decides it seems so far away. He sees nothing unusual about the stone, and neither does Saphira, so she says let’s say our names and be done. Eragon asks Glaedr for a second opinion, but Glaedr agrees with Saphira and tells them to get a move on. So Eragon says his name, plus who his daddy is. Saphira says her name, and who her mama is, and Glaedr says his name, plus Eldunari like it’s his surname now, and says his mom is somebody named Nithring and she had a super long tail.

 

Because any of that is necessary.

 

Anyway, they wait, and the crows laugh at them, and Eragon gets uneasy but he ignores it. He finally tells us that he hadn’t expected opening the vault would be that easy. So Glaedr says let’s try again but in the ancient language this time. So they do, and again nothing happens. Eragon gets nervous and starts whining about their trip being in vain... but he decides not to think about it, and then he says that maybe all of their names have to be said aloud. Saphira asks how that’s supposed to happen, since she doesn’t have a physical voice. Is she supposed to roar at the stone? And Glaedr can’t talk either. Eragon says he can say their names for them. Glaedr says that’s probably not the answer, but whatever, let’s try. Eragon asks which language he should say their names in, and Glaedr says the ancient language, but do both anyway just to be sure. So Eragon does so, and nothing happens for a third time. Eragon gets frustrated and says maybe they’re in the wrong place and maybe the entrance to the Vault is on the other side of the rock. Or maybe it’s at the very top. Glaedr says that if that were the case, wouldn’t the directions be in the Book ex Machina? Eragon wonders when riddles are ever easy to understand.

 

Saphira then pipes in and wonders if Eragon is supposed to say his name by himself. She repeats what Solembum told him early on, and she points out that it’s supposed to be his name, not hers, not Glaedr’s, but Eragon’s and Eragon’s alone.

 

Eragon frowned. It’s possible, I suppose. But if only my name is needed, then perhaps I have to be by myself when I say it.

 

Why would you think you have to be by yourself when you say your name? That wasn’t in the instructions at all. Also, neither were Saphira’s or Glaedr’s names mentioned in the instructions. In fact, the rules are pretty much right there for all their vagueness. This is just a stupid filler chapter to tell us that the goal is finally right there but they can’t access it because they don’t know their name. Which is just fancy speech for “you don’t know your true name and therefore you can’t enter”. Which, now that I think about it, is a really stupid way to key a lock. True names change as the person grows, and beyond that, you can’t pinpoint a true name so accurately that some random asshole a century and a half later will be able to open a damn door. What if you guess wrong? What if the person’s true name changed between the time you set the lock and to when they arrive? There’s too many variables. And if this stupid door is linked to Eragon’s true name, then there’s a fucking paradox going on here. And I say that because only Eragon would be able to know his true name, and therefore only he would be able to set the lock, which means he would have to orchestrate his own conception in order to be able to open the door. That, or the dragonballs in the vault guessed at his coming and his true name. Or they manipulated Brom into getting with Selena to make Eragon, which opens up that Pandora’s Box of paradoxes again, because how would the dragonballs know which true name would be needed unless they already somehow knew from being told, and they had to orchestrate the conception of Eragon in order to get the stupid door open? When you think really hard about this, you realize just how stupid this is. It’s not clever. It’s just stupid. 

 

Saphira growls but she leaps into the air and snaps at him to hurry the fuck up. When she’s far enough away, Eragon looks back at the rock, raises his shield, and says his name in Alaglagian and in the ancient language. Nothing happens.

 

And I’m so reminded of the scene in Lord of the Rings where they’re trying to get into Moria and they have to figure out the riddle on the door, and Frodo is the one who figures out that they have to say the Elvish name for “friend” to answer the riddle.

 

Eragon calls out to Saphira to bring her back, and he starts swearing and pacing and reacting with violence as is his wont. Saphira returns and Glaedr states the obvious, that Eragon didn’t win the game. Eragon replies:

 

No, snapped Eragon, and he glared at the spire. 

 

Oh my god, get the fuck over yourself. Did you really think it was going to be that easy? That you’d just be able to waltz up to a place you didn’t even know existed except for a fucking prophecy you were given and bam! you’d just be able to get in like that? Since when in the history of ever has that happened? Even Indiana Jones didn’t have an easy time of it trying to get the Holy Grail. He had riddles and had to figure out the answer to those riddles or end up dead. He didn’t just get to waltz in and immediately cross the bridge of faith. He had to figure out that the bridge was there by taking the first step and having faith that the bridge would be there. Otherwise he’d be dead. But it’s nice to see the little pissant hasn’t matured any. His first reaction is still violence and anger that life isn’t going his way. Instead of, you know, thinking that there has to be some other explanation as to why this isn’t working and figuring out it has to be his true name. But he can’t figure that out on his own, apparently, so he’s got to be told. This kid is denser than a brick, I swear. An insufferable, selfish, irritating brick.

 

Glaedr sighs and says he figured this would happen, and then says there’s only one explanation. Eragon immediately jumps the gun and starts whining about how Solembum lied to them and sent them off on this wild goose chase so that Galby can fuck everyone up while they’re away. Glaedr says no, that in order to open this... this... he flails for a bit before Saphira supplies him with the “vault of souls” as the answer, and Glaedr says yes, that, and says that in order to open it, they must speak their true names. Everyone is silent after that and Eragon says his intimidated by the thought, but he’s reluctant to say so because maybe doing so would make the situation worse. Saphira suggests that it might be a trap, and Glaedr agrees with her that it would be the worst trap, but the question that needs answered is do they trust Solembum. He starts explaining the whole “if you tell anyone your true name they can control you” and asks if they can be honest with themselves enough to discover their true names, and quickly. He drones on for a while about it, like are you sure, are you really really really sure you can deal with this. Eragon feels dismay and the chapter closes with him asking himself who he is.

Comments

[dryaddryagain]

They work! Thank you!

The title was "On the Nature of the Stars", by the way (didn't really have anything much to do with the content).

Seems pretty on-brand ;)

[pangolin20]

Seems pretty on-brand ;)
Yep. That's why I love the cut title for the Brick Commentary: a play on the original title and the new title actually having something to do with the chapter.

I think you could randomly shuffle all the chapter titles and end up with the same amount of actual relation.