Supposedly...

[mara_dienne459]

This popped up on my Facebook today. I had to laugh. Then I had to share.



There's so much wrong with this. It's a terrible lie. Based on contextual evidence within the books, Brom didn't give two shits about Murtagh, and arguably didn't bother to acknowledge that Murtagh existed.

Brom hated Morzan with the burning passions of a thousand burning suns, such that he actively wanted to hurt Morzan by seducing and then MURDERING Selena but then fell in love with her himself. According to the text, Selena also apparently didn't seem to care any for her elder son, as she actively used the opportunities that she had to visit Murtagh to visit Brom instead (or, "as well", as the text says). There's nothing in the books that indicate either one of them remotely gave a rat's ass about Murtagh, and indeed, whenever anyone talks about Brom and Selena's combined past, Murtagh is never mentioned as being present, save for one instance where Selena was "forced" by Morzan to give up Murtagh to a wet-nurse and allowed to visit only infrequently. (Which not conducive to forming a healthy relationship between parent and child, and is a whole 'nother tirade I have, by the way, but I won't get into it here.)

Moreover, it could be argued that both Selena and Brom had the opportunity to get Murtagh away from Morzan but didn't bother, and it could also be argued that Brom had every opportunity to whisk Murtagh away once both Morzan and Selena were dead, but he didn't. I mean, they played house for three freakin' years under Morzan's nose and didn't do anything involving the rescue of the kid or considering the rescue of the kid. They just got freaky with each other and played spy for the Varden.

For three. Freaking. Years.

Plus, it's never outright stated when exactly Murtagh ended up in Galbatorix's care, but one could assume it was after Galby found out both Morzan and Selena were dead. Going with the argument that Brom was the first to get back to Morzan's castle after the whole Gil'ead debacle, he could've easily left with Murtagh once he saw Selena was dead and decided he would take revenge on her killers (not that she had killers, which he found out after forcing the healers to violate HIPAA and tell him every little detail about Selena's symptoms). But he didn't. He instead left the castle, went and found Eragon in Carvahall, then left Carvahall to dick around some more with the Varden before finally returning to Carvahall to creep on his son. He spared not one thought for Murtagh. Not even an "I could but... all I'd be reminded of is Morzan. I'm not exactly in the healthiest mind-frame when it comes to that guy, and I can't take out my frustrations on an innocent child."

Murtagh was literally outright ignored by Brom.

So I don't believe this for a second, no matter what anyone says.

Comments

[epistler]

LOL, more blatant lying in an attempt at making the supposed heroes look good.
If you want your characters to come off as good and heroic, don't write them as raging assholes and then try to retcon it away a decade after the fact.

[torylltales]

Paolini seems to have a habit of conveniently forgetting the details of his story that imply his heroes are bad, and then rewriting those blank spots in ways that somehow make them worse.

[vorpaltongue]

I'm trying to think of a way that makes Brom at least neutral here, and I am failing.

Either he knew and didn't care enough, or he didn't know (not likely, but still) which would mean Selena didn't mention him (not opening that can of worms...), and he didn't find out some other way, which would make him terrible at spying.

Maybe Galby was breathing down Murty's neck by the time Brom had the notion to extract him with Morzan and Selena being dead and all, but since there's nothing to even suggest this as I recall, I'm just going to believe Brom's hate of Morzan to be so great that he'd attempt to peel Mrutagh the moment he'd lay eyes on him.

[epistler]

By the way, where did that illustration come from? Is that fanart or completely unrelated stolen art or something official?

[torylltales]

edited for corrections:

According to TinEye, the earliest upload of it was in 2014 on shurtugal.com, then it was reposted in 2016 on an Italian blog that no longer exists. The shurtugal.com post must be down or private, because TinEye did not find shurtugal.com in its list of places the image has been uploaded, except it linked to the shurtugal.com upload via a blog site that no longer exists.

It's a bit weird, but the shurtugal.com upload is still online on their servers, so you can see the original image here:

https://shurtugal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/murtagh-and-thorn.jpg

EDIT TO ADD: through a bit of sleuthing, I have tracked down the original shurtugal.com post, here:

https://www.shurtugal.com/2014/10/09/murtagh-as-youve-never-seen-him-before-this-beautiful-piece-of-art-helps-us-understand-and-explore-the-polarizing-character/

which attributes the art to DeviantArtist Anna Hollinrake, with an upload date in 2013.

What is weird is that the shurtugal post is dated 2016, but it appeared within the 2014 post archives, and the actual file upload is dated 2014. Perhaps they edited the post date post posting (heheh) to bring it back to the front page a few years after the original post.

[torylltales]

Unrelated note, you guys should totally check out Anna Hollinrake. Small flaw of having once been an Inheritance fan aside, she's a genuinely amazing artist, video game visuals designer, and animator. And apparently a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award winner. Respect.

[epistler]

Ooh, great detective work! And is that article in need of sporking perchance?

[mara_dienne459]

Toryll is the one who did all the research about where the picture came from. All I know is that the picture popped up on my Facebook last night and I laughed bitterly at the suggestion. Sometimes when I troll through, random stuff that has to do with the Inheritance Cycle or Paolini pops up. Most of it is unremarkable, some of it is stuff that's been discussed already here, and some of it is kind of eyebrow-raising.

[snarkbotanya]

As someone who has actually taken Murtagh in, all I can really say to this "Inheritance Cycle Fact" is BULL. FUCKING. SHIT.

[epistler]

"Facts" tend to be extremely shaky things in Paolini land. Remember all that stuff that was totally 100% going to happen in book four but didn't?

[nofoxhere]

Good catch here...this "fact" is debatable at best. While we're on the topic of Murtagh with the new book coming out, it was pretty ridiculous how he kept getting shafted by the narrative.
Oromis' "tragic" tale of Brom and Selena did not paint them in the best light; it seemed like both of them and Morzan were all incredibly self-absorbed people. That chapter didn't reflect well on Oromis or Eragon either: no matter what the current situation was, Eragon only paid lip service to wondering why they couldn't save Murtagh, and Oromis didn't seem to care either way (so much for Elves caring about children. Only Elven children matter, apparently). A normal person would probably be disgusted that Selena's priority seemed to be having an affair rather than the safety of her kid, and Brom seemed willing, per the narrative, to turn a blind eye to child abuse if it meant he got his. If any of our "heroes" had a shred of human decency, they would be furious at Brom for not even trying to help the child of the woman he loved, rather than touched by the sad story. It's probably just as well that Brom didn't take Murtagh in: he seems to have turned out a better person than any of his family.