Murtagh Spork: Part 2 Chapter 10 - Softly Creeping...

[ultimate_cheetah]

 

Hello, everyone. This chapter is quite short.

The chapter starts with Murtagh lying awake at night. He uses his mind powers to check if everyone is asleep, and then creeps to a chest, using the word for quiet, Maela, in the ancient language to make sure the lid doesn’t creak. He then gets his sword and other things out of the chest. He leaves behind the guard uniform because he doesn’t feel comfortable wearing it, although he admits to himself that it could help him avoid attention. We don’t get any clue why he doesn’t want to wear the uniform, let alone why that reason is strong enough to make Murtagh do something to make the mission harder. 

He then sneaks out of the barracks. There’s a tense moment where he trips over a cot in the dark and a guard stirs, but he makes it to the archway leading to the tunnels without incident. 

He does not use an invisibility spell. Maybe he doesn’t know one. But he also doesn’t use Maela to muffle whatever noises he could make, which is something we know he can do.

 Murtagh goes down some stairs and gets to the tunnels, which he thinks are made by humans instead of elves, which is what a minor character had said earlier. He sees a secure door that’s guarded and realizes that’s where he has to go. He needs to get past the guard, though, and the guard is warded against magical attacks. He uses the Name to get past the guard’s defenses, and then puts him to sleep. He catches the guard, but the pike the guard was holding falls on the ground. 

Murtagh does not use the quiet spell at this moment either.

He pauses to see if the noise got attention, though no one comes. He watches a spider as he waits at one point, looking at it in disgust. Why he even notices a spider on the wall is a mystery to me. Anyway, no one from the barracks is coming. Given that Murtagh descended an entire set of stairs to get to the tunnels, I wouldn’t be too worried. I do wonder why there aren’t any more guards in these tunnels, though. If I was keeping werecat kittens in a creepy basement, I would definitely make sure the entrance was well-guarded.

Murtagh goes to the door, and it doesn’t open, because it is locked. Murtagh’s about to use magic, but decides to search the guard for keys instead, and, sure enough, the guard has one. I find it funny that he’s an untrained magician, but jumps to magic for mundane things. He opens the door and goes in. The chapter ends. 

I don’t really have anything else to say about this chapter. It should have been incorporated into the next one. I don’t really know why this had to be separated out. Also, if I were Murtagh, I would be using the quiet spell everywhere. I can excuse him not using the invisibility spell, since he may not actually know it, but after the first tripping incident, come on. 

The chapter also managed to be repetitive, even with this small number of pages. Twice, Murtagh accidentally makes a noise, and waits to see if guards come/anyone is awake. Twice, nothing happens. Makes him seem kinda clumsy, honestly. Also, that’s a moment that kind of needs to be used sparingly. Once was plenty. 

Also, there's an elipsis in the chapter title for some reason. It isn't necessary.

Anyway, next up is The Door of Stone with Snarkbotanya

Comments

[ultimate_cheetah]

That's a good point! I was literally thinking that. From a purely pragmatic point of view, Thorn is worth much less as a fighter if he has a phobia. What if he needs to go into a building and it's too tight for him? What if he freaks out and kills people or destroys things? I know Galbatorix is supposed to be mad, but, at least from his appearance in Inheritance, he had enough sense to keep the kingdom running, and to make a plan to subjugate magic users. Murtagh already has enough trauma; why throw in more?

[epistler]

What if he needs to go into a building and it's too tight for him?

Saphira buries him in rubble under a collapsed building in book four yet this has no effect other than making him angry? Really? He's also fine with being in the Tunnel O' Traps later on in that same book, making it even more obvious that his supposed phobia is just another retcon that did not exist until this stupid book.

What if he freaks out and kills people or destroys things?

Which he does in this book. Not that there are any consequences.

I know Galbatorix is supposed to be mad, but, at least from his appearance in Inheritance, he had enough sense to keep the kingdom running, and to make a plan to subjugate magic users.

He was absolutely in no way mentally ill in any way that was ever shown on the page. He didn't even have the paranoia that most absolute monarchs tend to develop. And other than the pointless Nausea torture the dude was very practical and pragmatic.

Murtagh already has enough trauma; why throw in more?

Because Paolini thinks torture is "OMG SO DRAMATIC" and doesn't believe in trauma. After all, in that interview he did with the stupid hat he laughingly dismissed trauma as "an over-used word", then continued to laugh uproariously while boasting about all the horrors he put Morontagh and Thorn through just because he could. The seven fucking chapters of torture added NOTHING to the story and sure as hell did not need to be even a third as long as it was.