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antishurtugal_reborn2022-10-08 08:58 pm
What Will Happen in Eragon 4: Chapter 5: Murtagh
Originally posted in 2017
Sorry for the delay, but aside from me going away for a week, and then having various other duties and responsibilities, I also really, really don’t want to deal with this chapter. Epistler, as much as I love you (not like that, guys, eww), I really hate you for talking me into this. It's just awful.
Anyway. Murtagh.
“Fate can play the cruellest of tricks on people. For proof, you don't have to look any further than what happens to the character of Murtagh in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle.”
I’m now convinced this guy was paid by the word. This is a book specifically and only about Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. There is and can be no ambiguity that he is writing about the characters and events of Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. It makes ZERO sense for a guy writing a book specifically and exclusively about discussing the characters of Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle as well as the possible future events of the next book of Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle to sufface every mention of any of the characters of Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle with a notation that they are in fact a character from Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, and the events that happen to them are events that occur in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle.
Even this guy cannot be so absent-minded as to suddenly start writing about a completely different book series without thinking to mention it. It’s not like the readers might, a third of the way through a book discussing the characters and events of Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, suddenly get confused and think we're discussing somebody else’s Inheritance Cycle. It’s not like we’ll suddenly get the idea that maybe Richard Marcus has started writing about NK Jemisins’ Inheritance Trilogy (an undoubtedly better series by a far superior writer, even thought it doesn’t have any dragons at all, and only a small amount of large-scale massacre), for example, or confuse Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle with any of Christopher Paolini's other works. [note from 2017: this was LONG before Paolini had even mentioned any possibility of publishing asnything not related to the Eragon books]
My point is that Richard is a terrible writer who treats his readers like idiots with short attention spans. Much like Christopher Paolini ('s Inheritance Cycle).
He follows that with a short – hahaha, I joke – four page summary of Murtagh’s role in the first three books, and follows that with an equally concise – ha, it is to laugh – analysis of his personality.
I don’t even want to go into too much detail, because he treats Murtagh like rubbish, just like Paolini treats him.
“Murtagh is too caught up in his own battle against the world and fate to see that it is because he is so one-dimensional, a being filled with anger and nothing else, that made it easy for the king to figure out his nature and his true name.”
Victim-blaming bullshit.
“there’s a great deal of self-pity in Murtagh, expressed in the bitterness and resentment he feels toward Eragon"
Then he tries to argue that growing up under the thumb of the allegedly insane and evil king was a much better life than Eragon had on the farm, very much with the undertone that Murtagh shouldn’t be so whiny, and should be grateful for his cushy palace upbringing.
“Murtagh is one of those people who bemoan their fate, but at the same time are unwilling to try to do anything about it.”
“If you’re looking for clues as to how much his bitterness and self-loathing have taken over his thought processes, look no further than what he says just after he’s agreed to not capture Eragon and Saphira in Eldest: ‘If I have become my father, then I will have my father’s blade,’ he proclaims.”
“Although it’s true that Murtagh and Thorn are confused and scared, Murtagh has yet to show himself willing to do anything to help himself. It’s as though he expects the world to help him. He’s too enmeshed in his own anger and resentment to see anything beyond his own troubles or be willing to do anything about them”
As though he expects the world to help him...? Are we talking about Murtagh, or Eragon?
“it really looks as though he will be unable to carry out the changes in himself that are required if he ever wants to be free”
Go ahead, Mr. Marcus. Change your personality. Right now. Oh, but before you do, remember that any thought of doing so for the purpose of betraying your master is forbidden and prevented by magic, so you have to try to change your personality, significantly enough for you to effectively be a different person, for a reason other than your only real motivation for doing so. Go on. I’ll wait.
... Not so easy, is it?
Fuck you.
There’s like a paragraph of speculation that maybe Murtagh will find a way to redeem himself in the last book, and that’s the end of the chapter.
Next up: the amazing spectacle of the self-immolation of what's left of my soul, otherwise entitled: "Chapter 6: Arya, The Proud Princess".
*shudder*
Comments from the original post:
theepistler
Murtagh REALLY can't catch a break. Not only does his own author treat him like shit, but now we've got this asshole bending over backwards trying to paint him as a bad person/villain in order to excuse what Paolini did to him.
Oh yeah, Murtagh totally complains about his lot while doing nothing to fix it. That would be why, when he decided he objected to Galbatorix's plans and didn't want any part in it, he ran away rather than just sit there and take it. And that would also be why, when Eragon says there's a way to escape his oaths, he sat down and listened to what he had to say rather than telling him it was all hopeless.
I have an idea - why don't we take this chapter and switch out "Murtagh" with "Eragon". It would make SO much more sense.
“Eragon is too caught up in his own battle against the world and fate to see that it is because he is so one-dimensional, a being filled with anger and selfish entitlement, and nothing else.”
“there’s a great deal of self-pity in Eragon, expressed in the bitterness and resentment he feels toward Murtagh, even though Murtagh hasn't done anything wrong."
“Eragon is one of those people who bemoan their fate, but at the same time are unwilling to try to do anything about it.”
“Although it’s true that Eragon is an ignoramus with the IQ of pond slime, Eragon has yet to show himself willing to do anything to help himself. It’s as though he expects the world to help him. He’s too enmeshed in his own extreme egotism to see anything beyond his own troubles or be willing to do anything about them, instead expecting everyone else to solve his problems for him, free of charge.”
Fixed it.
anontu
Epistler, you speak complete wisdom. Poor Murty.
theepistler, as much as I love you (not like that, guys, eww)
Too late. Consider yourselves shipped
theepistler
Honestly, the two of us have met in person several times and we get on really well. Plus he's a guy and I'm a girl, so what more d'you really need? Eh? Eh? Nudgenudge winkwink, say no more say no more!
Except we're both aromantic asexuals. Curse you, cruel biology! We could have had such beautiful babies!
Torylltales
He was a boy
She was a girl
Can I make it any more obvious?
She wrote a book
He fought melee
What more can I say?
torylltales
except we're both asexual. Our idea of a romantic date is roast chicken, mead, and admiring Epistler's collection of pet rats.
anontu
theepistler You'll have a hard time convincing the legions of anty shirty fangirls to believe otherwise. [insert snigger]. In all serious I know you guy are just friends. Just count me as envious of both of your weapons collections. Our preferences of things to do are also similar, though rats are neutral for me.
torylltales
toryll and epister, sitting in a tree
W-R-I-T-I-N-G.
First comes plot,
Then comes a character
Then comes the red pen of the editor.
Crossing out words,
Working freelance,
Asking for payment in advance.
Theepistler
Pardon me while I crack up laughing. That's brilliant!
anontu
Aaaand there go the fangirls.
Nice parody poem. It's better than anything I could come up with.
theepistler
There was also the long walk on the beach at sunset, ice cream for two, the trip to the funpark where you won a stuffed animal for me, [insert further romantic cliches here].
Or maybe not.
torylltales
If I win a stuffed toy at the fair, I’m keeping it for myself thank you.
anontu
I hardly ever get offended by the characters in this series or what Paolini implies, but this:
“Murtagh is too caught up in his own battle against the world and fate to see that it is because he is so one-dimensional, a being filled with anger and nothing else, that made it easy for the king to figure out his nature and his true name.”
This is delusional, petty and insulting to anyone who thinks different to Eragon
“there’s a great deal of self-pity in Murtagh, expressed in the bitterness and resentment he feels toward Eragon"
If I ever needed proof that Eragon's word is law and anyone who thinks less than perfect of him is a villain. Opposition to Eragon = self pity.
“Although it’s true that Murtagh and Thorn are confused and scared, Murtagh has yet to show himself willing to do anything to help himself. It’s as though he expects the world to help him."
Have we ever seen him not do anything to help himself? It was suggested in Brisingr and Inheritance that he was working behind the scenes, keeping an eye and ear out for ways to free himself of his oath. Breaking free of Galby isn't something you can just do. And then why should we know what he's up to? Murtagh wasn't a POV character and he wouldn't tell Eragon or anyone else what he's thinking and planning.
theepistler
Eragon is the one who whines and does nothing to fix his problems. Murtagh is one of the only proactive characters in this entire stupid series. It honestly feels like everyone including Paolini and this asshole right here just plain hate the guy for being more popular than the protagonist, so they bully and belittle him at every turn in a pathetically transparent attempt to stop people from liking him.
So basically Paolini's massive ego takes centre stage and squashes anything potentially interesting in this series. Again. The part I don't get, though, is why everybody else in his circle is so obsessed with pandering to said ego. Sure, I can understand why Paolini would be doing it, narcissist that he is, but why this guy as well? And the editors? And the publishers? And other authors who should really know better? It's ridiculous.
star_dragon5
Fuck this guy and his victim-blaming bullshit.
thegharialguy
“Murtagh is one of those people who bemoan their fate, but at the same time are unwilling to try
to do anything about it.”
Eh...So running away and becoming homeless essentially forced to fend for himself was doing nothing? I mean seriously Murtagh has tried more than anyone else to have agency in this series. He's being magically coerced into serving Galbatorix and he still manages to take action and spare Eragon....Just like, what does this guy actually expect Murtagh to do? What can he do?
atoraruka
This whole thing reminds me a LOT of Paolini's treatment of torture in this series: If you can't resist unspeakable torture without "breaking" that means you are weak.
If you have anything resembling a Post traumatic syndrome afterwards, you are pathetic.
Murthag is the only character who reacts realistically (more or less) to what happens around him, and everyone blames him for doing so.
minionnumber2
Might be because he's breaking the heroic super duper awesome fantasy with boring things like human emotion or struggles or actual sacrifice.
theepistler
That's exactly it. The whole series has this constant disgusting underlying message along the lines of "if you can't just instantly shake off your problems, you're weak and a bad person". That's why Eragon, Mr Paragon Of Awesomeness, can just brush off any trauma he suffers in one page and never be troubled by it again. That's why Nasuada just "gets over" weeks of torture with no transitional phase or change in personality. Entering into speculation here, you can SO easily tell that Paolini has never suffered a day in his life and has absolutely no idea what pain (both emotional and physical) actually feels like. I'm reminded of those idiots who tell seriously depressed people to "just cheer up!" and "snap out of it!". Someone actually said exactly that to me while I was suffering from crippling anxiety. I snarled back "do you seriously think I can just 'snap out of it' whenever I want to? D'you think I'm CHOOSING to feel this terrible?" It's incredibly offensive.
no subject
There's a lot of blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments in this series, after all.
Me too. The way it's immediately abandoned makes it all the worse.
no subject
That we didn't get any mention of what ultimately became of them, or better still a scene of Ergy releasing them from their oaths of loyalty so they can all go home, speaks volumes about how little Paolini even cares.