To be honest, he could probably even say that sentence in the Ancient Language - Eragon described a girl who could become another Galbatorix, driven by rage. Murtagh's only met a girl who was so desperate to get away from someone hitting her that she nearly froze to death.
Aha, you caught it! Yes, this conversation canonically takes place in the AL and is translated. Note that Murtagh specifically says he's not seen the girl Eragon described. All Eragon gave him about the dragon was "black," and he can't honestly say he hasn't seen a black dragon, but he can say he hasn't seen a girl who holds great malice because he doesn't believe she does.
It would have been easy to give Murtagh this line. Just have Verja sit in the background. If Paolini was writing this, that's how it would have gone. Instead, Verja is a character with agency and a personality, and I prefer it this way. Well done.
The line made the most sense from Verja in my eyes. She has an EldunarÃ, so it makes sense that she'd recognize one.
I enjoy the juxtaposition between "massive hulking brute" and "soft & sweet voice". It has trans vibes, even though I'm sure that's not the implication of the character.
The interesting thing about Thorn's voice having a musical quality is, it's canon. I just took that and ran with it. Gentle Giant is an archetype, but it's one that works.
As for the trans vibes... you know, now that I look at it, Thorn's narrative is kind of trans, even if I don't think he particularly objects to his assigned gender. He was forced from birth into a role that never suited him, and is now thriving as he is allowed to discover himself.
Don't you curl up with your head on your tail while you're asleep? You are cute, like a hatchling.
Yes, yes she is... but development-wise, she's somewhere in the preteen/adolescent phase, so "cute" is a dirty word.
Rider training is designed to hurt and frustrate the prospective Rider until they explode - with physical violence, with use of magic - and Murtagh's training seems to be more about finding your center, finding your calm, and using your head as much as anything else.
Indeed, which considering the Star Wars parallels in the cycle, would seem to imply that the Riders were more Sith than Jedi.
That aside, though, it's really more of a reflection on the difference between how Murtagh was trained and how elves train (which fed into how Riders train, because as Murtagh said, the first Riders were elves). The elves start off with base strength, speed, and stamina high enough that they can just jump right into sparring and have it be no big deal. Humans... can't do that. Arya is an elf, so she was trained by an elf; Eragon was trained by a Rider. Murtagh, meanwhile, was trained by Tornac, a human swordsman whom he canonically holds in extremely high regard, even viewing him as a father figure. He knows how to teach, because he actually had a good teacher.
Oh I really like this. This just completely punctures the pompous "I'm so special" of Eragon's moment when he realized the world is round.
I largely threw this in to highlight the difference in education between Uru'baen and Carvahall. Galbatorix did invest in the capital quite a bit. Plus, the world being round wasn't as unknown in the middle ages as many people think.
Which, need I remind you, is that a 15 year old child is a threat that might need to be killed
A fourteen-year-old child, even. She was thirteen at the start, and though I never really mentioned her birthday, it was probably sometime during Chapter 5. Not exactly something you celebrate, or even think much of, while you're on the run.
Then the final line of this chapter is a whammy - Murtagh, who again comes across as having a good head on his shoulders, says "I don't think Eragon has ever moved from "Why am I right?" to "Could I be wrong?" and we are immediately afraid of him and what he can justify if he's truly never asked himself that question.
This is essentially why I chose to end the chapter on that line. I was actually going to try and write further, but then I looked at that line again, and I thought, "you know, no. That's an ending line. That's an ending line if I have ever written one."
And it's going to feed very well into the next chapter.
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Aha, you caught it! Yes, this conversation canonically takes place in the AL and is translated. Note that Murtagh specifically says he's not seen the girl Eragon described. All Eragon gave him about the dragon was "black," and he can't honestly say he hasn't seen a black dragon, but he can say he hasn't seen a girl who holds great malice because he doesn't believe she does.
It would have been easy to give Murtagh this line. Just have Verja sit in the background. If Paolini was writing this, that's how it would have gone. Instead, Verja is a character with agency and a personality, and I prefer it this way. Well done.
The line made the most sense from Verja in my eyes. She has an EldunarÃ, so it makes sense that she'd recognize one.
I enjoy the juxtaposition between "massive hulking brute" and "soft & sweet voice". It has trans vibes, even though I'm sure that's not the implication of the character.
The interesting thing about Thorn's voice having a musical quality is, it's canon. I just took that and ran with it. Gentle Giant is an archetype, but it's one that works.
As for the trans vibes... you know, now that I look at it, Thorn's narrative is kind of trans, even if I don't think he particularly objects to his assigned gender. He was forced from birth into a role that never suited him, and is now thriving as he is allowed to discover himself.
Don't you curl up with your head on your tail while you're asleep? You are cute, like a hatchling.
Yes, yes she is... but development-wise, she's somewhere in the preteen/adolescent phase, so "cute" is a dirty word.
Rider training is designed to hurt and frustrate the prospective Rider until they explode - with physical violence, with use of magic - and Murtagh's training seems to be more about finding your center, finding your calm, and using your head as much as anything else.
Indeed, which considering the Star Wars parallels in the cycle, would seem to imply that the Riders were more Sith than Jedi.
That aside, though, it's really more of a reflection on the difference between how Murtagh was trained and how elves train (which fed into how Riders train, because as Murtagh said, the first Riders were elves). The elves start off with base strength, speed, and stamina high enough that they can just jump right into sparring and have it be no big deal. Humans... can't do that. Arya is an elf, so she was trained by an elf; Eragon was trained by a Rider. Murtagh, meanwhile, was trained by Tornac, a human swordsman whom he canonically holds in extremely high regard, even viewing him as a father figure. He knows how to teach, because he actually had a good teacher.
Oh I really like this. This just completely punctures the pompous "I'm so special" of Eragon's moment when he realized the world is round.
I largely threw this in to highlight the difference in education between Uru'baen and Carvahall. Galbatorix did invest in the capital quite a bit. Plus, the world being round wasn't as unknown in the middle ages as many people think.
Which, need I remind you, is that a 15 year old child is a threat that might need to be killed
A fourteen-year-old child, even. She was thirteen at the start, and though I never really mentioned her birthday, it was probably sometime during Chapter 5. Not exactly something you celebrate, or even think much of, while you're on the run.
Then the final line of this chapter is a whammy - Murtagh, who again comes across as having a good head on his shoulders, says "I don't think Eragon has ever moved from "Why am I right?" to "Could I be wrong?" and we are immediately afraid of him and what he can justify if he's truly never asked himself that question.
This is essentially why I chose to end the chapter on that line. I was actually going to try and write further, but then I looked at that line again, and I thought, "you know, no. That's an ending line. That's an ending line if I have ever written one."
And it's going to feed very well into the next chapter.