There was no reason for Thorn to have claustrophobia in the first place because there was no reason for Galby to keep him in that tiny cave in the first place! Just how long did the guy waste on pointless torture when he could have been getting them trained and ready to send after Eragon and Saphira? I mean think about it - Eragon's training with Oromis lasted for how long? A month or two? Certainly less than five. And we don't know how long it took the Twins to get Murtagh to Uru'Baen (and going on the flashback we got, they weren't exactly hurrying). Then when they got there Thorn hatched and then the torture started. Getting up to that point probably took a month or two of travelling since they weren't using boats and didn't have a dragon, so if my rough estimate is correct Eragon was already training while Murtagh was being flogged and chained up and whatnot. Then Galby wasted even more time by making Baby Thorn fight wolves for no reason. So when did he get around to teaching them how to fly together, how to fight from dragonback, how to use all that impressive-sounding magic Murtagh boasted about when he showed back up at the end of Eldest? And yet somehow Murtagh is better trained than Eragon by this point.
Of course all of that torture wasn't just a complete waste of time. Galby is a master of breaking into people's minds! He should have just led with that! Instead he left Thorn with a crippling phobia and could easily have straight-up killed him. How does any of that contribute to making the two of them his useful servants? None of this makes any sense!
Anyway... as you say, the torture in THIS book, followed by the business with the cave, just retraumatises the two of them like crazy. Frankly by this point there shouldn't have been any coming back from it. There's only so much a person can take, however much "willpower" they might have. Morontagh should be fucking catatonic, not just having "a trying night" with some bad dreams.
On a lighter note, here's a joke I recently came across:
End claustrophobia! Santa can get married if he wants to!
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And yet somehow Murtagh is better trained than Eragon by this point.
Of course all of that torture wasn't just a complete waste of time. Galby is a master of breaking into people's minds! He should have just led with that! Instead he left Thorn with a crippling phobia and could easily have straight-up killed him. How does any of that contribute to making the two of them his useful servants? None of this makes any sense!
Anyway... as you say, the torture in THIS book, followed by the business with the cave, just retraumatises the two of them like crazy. Frankly by this point there shouldn't have been any coming back from it. There's only so much a person can take, however much "willpower" they might have. Morontagh should be fucking catatonic, not just having "a trying night" with some bad dreams.
On a lighter note, here's a joke I recently came across:
Heh.