I do wonder how Brom and Saphira (in my eyes considerably worse than Eragon) came off.

I agree; in book one I didn't like Eragon, but I hated Brom and Saphira. The only times I ever sympathised with Eragon was when he was being bullied and constantly condescended to by those assholes - I was bullied and treated like an idiot as a child, so it was actually possible for me to relate to him a bit despite disliking him for being a whiny entitled moron.