How to Make Eragon's Heroes into Heroes

[ultramega10]

Well, since someone started a post about how best to make Galbatorix evil, we should have one for the heroes. Which is, perhaps, the far harder choice. 

 

Keep in mind, we're trying to rewrite the characters, so they become what they were meant to be. So let's try to make our rewrites stay true to their basic concept, if not their portrayal. 

 

For my part, I would probably have Eragon's entitled attitude be a character flaw he has to overcome. Have him get shut down several times by Arya and force him to gradually mature. Have Murtagh chewing him out act as a wake-up call for the character. Another thing I'd do is cut out the constant feasts and parties. They add nothing to the story and only serve to make Eragon seem all the more spoiled.

 

Murtagh, I would have him defect of his own free will. Have him become disheartened with the Varden and take the side of the Empire. This would mean there would be a sympathetic character on the Empires side. Murtagh would provide a POV for the Empire and a chance to see Galbatorix. It might also force the characters to acknowledge their own flaws. 

 

I would have Arya feel resentful of her people. She would be upset at how they just closed themselves off from the world when she was captured. Attention would be paid to the flaws of the elves. And the elves eventually sending troops to help would be a result of Eragon. He and Arya would point out how they can't just abandon the rest of the world. 

 

Roran, honestly, I would have get drafted into the Empire. The entire Carvahall subplot adds nothing to the plot at all. Having him as a POV character could show off the worst aspect of the Empire. It could also have him meet Murtagh and maybe strike up a friendship with him. If Roran makes himself a career and gains great renown as a war hero, set the stage for a great dynamic. You could have Murtagh and Eragon facing off against one another. Maybe Roran and Arya could end up having a rivalry. 

 

Angela um... Well, Angela can dive under a tractor, and I think that would be better for all involved. 

Comments

[oblakom]

This could be go in a lot of directions, but there is one in particular that could be used to tackle the whole "Morzan is Eragon's father, not it's Brom" subplot: Oromis.

We know that the Bloody Shit Ex Machina Celebration is the point of no return after which Eragon NOT ONLY gains uber powers that make him absolutely unreliable from that point on, but also switches personality losing that bit of humanity he still had and becoming a complete psychopath.

First of all, I would have characters react accordingly to his new behavior. I would have him do the same things, but with other results.

Murtagh may call him out in the Battle of the Burning Plains.

Katrina may want to see her father's corpse, at least, and Eragon may refuse to concede her this little thing, resulting scary and oppressive to Katrina and unlikable to Roran, who loves Katrina and believes that she deserves to pay respects to her father. Make Eragon's entitlement bite him in the ass.

Make him behave the same rude, entitled way with the dwarves, but this time make the dwarves get offended, and make Orik get offended as well, for fuck's sake! Am I the only who remembers that the dwarves do not like the Riders? They already disliked Eragon getting adopted. Now this little entitled shit shows up looking like an elf, disrespecting them and behaving like their politic is just and instrument for HIM to obtain what HE wants. Fuck, make the dwarves rightly PISSED.

Make Orik, the one responsible for Eragon's action, losing approval because of his actions and trying to ask Eragon to leave to save the election. Eragon reacts badly, basically threatening him and forcing his presence on the dwarves.

Brisingr is such a useless book that I cannot even remember what happens after the fuckass long election. I just now that herebwe would be at 1/3 of the book more or less. I would have Oromis and Glaedr leave the Du Weldenvarden at this point, having being informed of everything Eragon did.

Because one thing Oromis is canonically said to regret is not having slapped Morzan in face when he still could correct his mistakes. Honestly, for someone who raised an abusive bully into a monster and spent the next century regretting it Oromis is astonishingly quick to close an eye at the behavior his current abusive student is displaying.

So, have here a reunion in which Eragon expects Oromis to have to come to congratulate him and kiss his ass, and instead gets punched in the face. Metaphorically. Physically would be even more perfect but OOC, so, alas, verbally it is. Have Oromis say to his face that he will NOT raise another Morzan, and hopefully also drop an implicit threat that the elves have been observing, and they'd sooner get rid of him for good than being responsible for the raise of another monster.

And BAM. Eragon had tried to push the thought of Morzan being his father aside for all this time, and now his teacher basically crosses the world to say to his face that he is EXACTLY like Morzan. That his behavior is exactly the same.

So, from this point on, the entitled boy who believed he had everything under control and to be more important than the others finds himself on a very short leash, forced to make amend for all the races he disrespected (human, elves and dwarves) or to be executed for his mistakes. And until now to the end of Inheritance it will be a personal journey to grow the fuck up and become who he was really meant to be.