And if Morontagh does get caught, so fucking what? Just tell them you're the Rider Murtagh and show 'em your silver palm and they'll be freaking out and apologising and calling you "sir" and asking what they can do for you! Who in their right mind is going to try and mess with a freaking DRAGON RIDER? And one whose powers they saw on full display about a year ago? The guy who took down a fellow Rider and a dragon ten times bigger than his? Even if they don't like him they'd still have the sense not to mess with him, let alone risk pissing off Thorn. It's like I said in a previous spork: Morontagh is having "adventures" and "peril" that simply do not belong to a character in his position, with his level of power and status. I could see Roran doing something like this, but Murtagh? The guy who repeatedly kicked Eragon's ass? Absolutely not.
As it happens I'm currently writing about a character who is more powerful than most of the people around him, and he also has special status due to his parentage. How did I handle that? Certainly not like this.
The external conflict for this character: there are others like him out there who are up to no good, and it's up to him to stop them. If he ends up having to fight one there is no guarantee he will win. He also has to do this in secret because he has so far been living anonymously, not wanting others to find out who and what he really is because a lot of them would instantly hate and fear him (he also had an evil father, as it happens).
The internal conflict, though, was at least to my mind way more interesting: because he's so powerful and has some even more powerful friends, this character's problem is that he's had it too easy his entire life. He's been constantly protected from the consequences of his actions and other than doing what he has to do in order to make a living he's been free to do whatever the hell he likes. Which means that despite being very much an adult in years, he never really grew up. He acts like an irresponsible, self-indulgent teenager who regularly gives in to his impulses. Of course this means he ultimately screws up big time, so along with the further external conflict of trying to undo his mistake comes the internal progression of realising what a stupid jerk he's been and finally getting past that stage to become a mature adult.
And in this context that last point is rather pertinent, because like Eragon, Morontagh has not become a mature adult because neither he nor his author has realised that he acts like a stupid, petulant teenager who doesn't think ahead, makes stupid impulsive decisions, and cannot deal with frustration and otherwise not getting his way. It's so fucking insufferable.
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As it happens I'm currently writing about a character who is more powerful than most of the people around him, and he also has special status due to his parentage. How did I handle that? Certainly not like this.
The external conflict for this character: there are others like him out there who are up to no good, and it's up to him to stop them. If he ends up having to fight one there is no guarantee he will win. He also has to do this in secret because he has so far been living anonymously, not wanting others to find out who and what he really is because a lot of them would instantly hate and fear him (he also had an evil father, as it happens).
The internal conflict, though, was at least to my mind way more interesting: because he's so powerful and has some even more powerful friends, this character's problem is that he's had it too easy his entire life. He's been constantly protected from the consequences of his actions and other than doing what he has to do in order to make a living he's been free to do whatever the hell he likes. Which means that despite being very much an adult in years, he never really grew up. He acts like an irresponsible, self-indulgent teenager who regularly gives in to his impulses. Of course this means he ultimately screws up big time, so along with the further external conflict of trying to undo his mistake comes the internal progression of realising what a stupid jerk he's been and finally getting past that stage to become a mature adult.
And in this context that last point is rather pertinent, because like Eragon, Morontagh has not become a mature adult because neither he nor his author has realised that he acts like a stupid, petulant teenager who doesn't think ahead, makes stupid impulsive decisions, and cannot deal with frustration and otherwise not getting his way. It's so fucking insufferable.