Inheritance Trilogy

Encyclopedia : I : IN : INH : Inheritance Trilogy

---

The Inheritance Trilogy is a fantasy trilogy about a 16-year-old boy named Eragon and his dragon Saphira, written by homeschooled author Christopher Paolini. It is set in the imaginary land of Alagaësia, which resembles Viking-era Scandinavia. Both of the first two books, Eragon and Eldest, became New York Times bestsellers.

Background

Christopher Paolini began Eragon at the age of fifteen. The book was originally self-published in 2002, and was promoted by Paolini and his family. On a recommendation from Carl Hiaasen, Knopf Publishing Group took on Eragon and the rest of the Inheritance trilogy; a second edition of the book appeared in 2003 (see Christopher Paolini).

Books

The first edition of Eragon was self-published by Paolini's family in 2002; the second (Knopf) edition was published in 2003. Eragon was released in paperback in 2005.

• ISBN 0375821337 (paperback), ISBN 0375821337 (hardcover)

Eldest was released in hardcover in 2005. It is due for paperback release in September of 2006.

• ISBN 037582670X (hardcover)

Though not yet officially confirmed, many fans believe the third book to be called Empire, in keeping with the trilogy's other titles: both have six letters, begin with the letter 'e' and give a hint to the main event/person in the books. Both previous books, however, refer directly to a main character. Empire is due to be published in 2007.

Important people and places

See List of characters in the Inheritance Trilogy

• Ajihad - Leader of the Varden
• Alagaësia - Land where story takes place
• Angela - Witch who helps Eragon
• Arya - The Elvish princess rescued by Eragon, and with whom he falls in love
• Brom - Former Dragon Rider and Eragon's mentor. Thinks the King has much to answer for.
• Dragon Riders- One-time keepers of the peace in Alagaësia
• Durza - A Shade and an evil magician
• Eragon - Main character and main protagonist
• Farthen Dûr - The mountain in which the Varden are hiding from the Empire
• Galbatorix - The evil king of the Empire; a Dragon Rider. He has much to answer for. The main antagonist.
• Helgrind - A strange formation next to the city of Uru'baen, which is home to the ra'zac.
• Hrothgar- Dwarf king
• Jeod - Brom's friend in Teirm
• Murtagh - Rescues Eragon and takes him to Farthen Dûr; also Eragon's brother, later becomes a Rider
• Nasuada - Daughter of Ajihad and leader of the Varden
• Ra'zac - Evil creatures born to hunt humans
• Roran - Eragon's cousin
• Saphira - Eragon's dragon, also name of Brom's dragon
• Solembum - Angela's werecat
• Urgals - A race of creatures with Orc like qualities until recently thought to be evil by Eragon.
• Varden - A group of rebels against the Empire and King Galbatorix

A compressed synopsis of 'Eragon'

Eragon, a 15-year-old farmboy, is shocked when a polished blue stone appears before him while he is hunting in the range of mountains near his village, known as "The Spine." Eragon takes the 'stone' back to his uncle's farm near the village of Carvahall, where he lives with his cousin Roran, as well as his aforementioned uncle, Garrow. Garrow and his late wife, Marian, raised Eragon, and very little is known of his parentage, save that his mother was named Selena, and has not been seen since shortly after Eragon's birth. Soon after Eragon returns from hunting, the 'stone' hatches, revealing a baby dragon, which Eragon names Saphira. Eragon is now the sole bearer of the ancient responsibility of the Dragon Riders, or Shur'tugal.

The Shur'tugal were destroyed long ago by a maniac named Galbatorix, whose defeat will eventually become Eragon's quest. After Eragon and Saphira have spent a short time together, during which Saphira grows in size and mental ability, Eragon's home is attacked by creatures called Ra'zac. Garrow dies as a result of wounds sustained during the attack. Eragon and a mysterious old storyteller named Brom escape with Saphira, and embark on a quest to find the Ra'zac and avenge Garrow's death. Brom teaches Eragon how to fight with a sword and use magic (or gramaraye, as it is properly called). On the way, they visit the seaside city of Teirm, and Eragon has his fortune told by an herbalist named Angela. Unfortunately, a turn of events causes them to not be able to journey to the Ra'zac's base for quite some time. Later Brom dies and Eragon loses hope when he is ambushed by the Ra'zac and a young man named Murtagh, later revealed to be the son of Morzan saves his life; he becomes Eragon's ally. Brom is fatally wounded in an attack by the Ra'zac; in his final words, he reveals that he was a Rider before the Fall, and that he is an agent for the Varden. He also tells Eragon seven special words from the Ancient Language, but both the words and their meanings are as yet unrevealed.

Shortly afterwards, Eragon is captured and taken to prison. Murtagh comes to his rescue, and whilst pulling off an escape from Gil'ead, the indomitable duo also manage to rescue a beautiful female elf named Arya, who has been poisoned. They travel many leagues over the Hadarac Desert to find the antidote for her. They are taken in by the Varden, and Eragon is tested by the smarmy, bald-pated Twins. They ask him to perform an act of magic that is impossible at his skill level, but Arya intervenes in time to stop them from killing him. The forces of Galbatorix attack the Varden's hideout, and during the battle that follows, Eragon kills a Shade named Durza, suffering a terrible wound which will cause him endless grief during the next book. Whilst he is immersed in a healing sleep, he converses mentally with a being who calls himself "Togira Ikonoka", or the Mourning Sage. When he awakes, he decides to go with Arya and complete his training with the elves, following advice from the Mourning Sage.

A compressed synopsis of 'Eldest'

Following the battle of Farthen Dur, Ajihad, leader of the Varden, is killed in a sudden surprise attack by Urgals. Murtagh and the Twins disappear during the attack, and are presumed dead. After swearing fealty to Nasuada, Ajihad's daughter and new leader of the Varden, Eragon then sets out on his journey to Ellesmera, the Elf kingdom, accompanied by Orik.

Much of the book is devoted to Eragon's training with the ancient Dragon Rider, Oromis, and his unsuccessful attempts at wooing the aloof Arya. While this is going on, Roran returns to Carvahall after learning of his father's death, and discovers that he's wanted by Galbatorix. Consequently, his presence is endangering the entire town, which has come under attack by the Ra'zac. He convinces most of the villagers to follow him in an attempt to reach sanctuary in Surda. Before they can make good their escape, however, Roran's fiancée Katrina is captured by the Ra'zac. Forced to leave without her, Roran and company join up with Jeod at Teirm and set sail in pirated ships for the southern coast.

Eragon returns to the Varden to help them in the approaching battle against Galbatorix's army. Thanks to the timely arrival of Roran, Jeod, and the villagers, the battle is a victory for the Varden, but only after Eragon meets up again with a decidedly not-dead Murtagh, now a Dragon Rider in Galbatorix's service, and the treacherous Twins. Roran manages to kill the twins turning the tide of battle once more.Then Murtagh and Eragon begin to fight, and Eragon is defeated, but he manages to convince Murtagh to let him go. Eragon loses because he has lost too much energy in the battle before and was not expecting another Dragon Rider to come this late in the game. Murtagh then reveals that they are, in fact, brothers, Morzan being the father of both. He relieves Eragon of the sword Zar'roc, claiming it as his inheritance. The book ends with Eragon promising to accompany Roran and free Katrina.

Magic users, Magic and the Rules of Magic in the Series

In the first book, Brom teaches Eragon how to use magic and its limitations and in the second book his elvish teacher, the Ancient Dragon rider Oromis teaches him more of the nature of magic and even more of its capabilities.

Types of Magic users known to date:

1)Human Dragon Riders: Human dragon riders usually have very little magical strength to begin with, but as their dragons and they mature and train they become exceedingly powerful beings capable of matching and even defeating Elven Dragon Riders. It is believed that humans bond and grow more rapidly in power then Elvish riders. Examples: Brom, Eragon, Murtagh and Galbatorix

2) Elven Dragon Riders: Very little is known about the power or skill of these riders, due to the fact that the only Elvish Dragon Rider we meet is the crippled Oromis. From the hints in the books they were perhaps better magic users in some ways then their human counterparts due to the fact that magic comes more naturally to elves, who have been using for much longer then humans have. Examples: The original Eragon and Oromis

4) Elves: Elves are natural magic users who have been using it for countless ages and have nearly perfected their use of it. Even Elvish children are powerful magic users and the typical elf commoner is as powerful as the most skilled human magicians. Examples: Arya, Vanir

5) Magicians/mages: These are human spellcasters who use magic generally the same way that Dragon Riders and elves do, but these generally are much weaker magically then any of the above and have less skill or vocabulary in the ancient language. Example: The Twins

6) Sorcerers/sorceresses and Shades: It is not well explained how a sorceror and magician's spellcrafter differs, because they appear to have the same results as each other. What is known though is that where a or mage/magician uses his/her own internal power to fuel their spells, the sorcerer summons/manipulates spirits to do spells for them. A Shade on the other hand is a sorcerer whose body was taken over by a spirit when the sorcerer tried to summon a spirit more powerful than him/herself. Shades also possess amazing magical and physical strength. Examples: Shade: Durza, Sorceress: Trianna

7) Witches: Little is known about witches because the only one we meet is Angela. She is also a herbalist and combines herbs to cause poisons and such. She is also an amazing fighter, wielding a double-bladed staff.

• When you use magic, it requires the same amount of effort as doing the task non-magically. Therefore, magic should usually be reserved for tasks like lighting a fire in a desert with fresh sticks. But complicated tasks that require little energy, such as making silk lace can be done without the hassle and more efficiently.
• It is possible for a highly skilled magic user to draw energy from the plant and animal surrounding them. This method of regaining and using energy is neither used by the elves or the Dragon Riders due to the fact that it generally kills the things in the magician's surroundings due to the strain of providing energy.

Criticism

Since its publication, Inheritance has been criticised by many for its formulaic approach and its close imitation of several other well-known fantasy works, among them Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, George Lucas' Star Wars, David Eddings' The Belgariad, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern (although McCaffrey actually approved of the books), and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea.

Some of the main criticisms are:

• The plotline appears to have many similarities to Star Wars, with a few tweaks ([link])
• Brom is nearly identical in characterisation to Obi-Wan Kenobi of Star Wars or Gandalf of Lord of the Rings
• The story of men/elves making peace and uniting with dragons to form a spiritual bond between individuals after a long time of warfare as well as the one evil dragon rider, who betrays the order, is close to the world of the video game (1999).
• The concept of Dragon Riders resembles that of the Dragonriders in Anne McAffrey's Pern novels.
• Character and place names are reminiscent of those in Lord of the Rings; for example, "Eragon" for "Aragorn", "Arya" for "Arwen", "Isenstar" for "Isengard" (see Eragon: Critical reaction). However, others have pointed out that "Arya" is an old Sanskrit word, meaning "noble", and that "Eragon" is derived from the phrase "Era gone".
• The Ancient Language is similar in concept and usage to that of Earthsea, especially concerning "true names" (see Magic in Earthsea).
• The old king of the Broddring Kingdom was called Angrenost, the old name of Isengard from the Lord of the Rings. The word Furnost, a minor city in the Empire, is similar to the word Fornost, capital of the kingdom of Arnor in the Lord of the Rings. The lake Isenstar bears resemblance to the name Isengard from Lord of The Rings. The Hadarac Desert is similar to the Harad desert in Lord of the Rings as well.
• The name of a town in the trilogy is called Melian, which was the name of an angelic being in the The Silmarillion by Tolkien. The name Oromis is similar to Oromë, another character from The Silmarillion.
• A major city in the beginning of the first novel is named Carvahall, very similar to the Norse mythological equivalent to heaven, Valhalla (this, if it indeed is inspired by the word Valhalla is not necessarily a "ripoff" as Norse mythology lies in the public domain; Tolkien himself borrowed significantly from Norse myths).
• The Forsworn alluded to in the book is a similar concept to the Forsaken in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
• The causation of physical fatigue by the use of magic works in a similar way to the Belgariad's magical system

References

1. Eragon, second edition, 2003. Christopher Paolini. ISBN 0375826688
2. Eldest, first edition, 2005. Christopher Paolini. ISBN 037582670X
3. [Christopher Paolini Q&A] from [Shurtugal.Com]

See also

• [WikiProject Inheritance TrilogyProject Page]
• List of characters in the Inheritance Trilogy (in progress)

External links

• [Official site for the first book]
• Wikia has a wiki about:
• [Eragon the movie]
• [Shur'tugal fan site]
• [Anti-Shur'tugal Critique Site]

Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Trilogy
Books	Eragon | Eldest | Empire
Films	Eragon
Main Characters	Eragon | Brom | Arya | Galbatorix | Murtagh | Roran | Ajihad | Nasuada | Angela | Saphira | Oromis
Places	Alagaësia | Beor Mountains | Carvahall | Dras-Leona | Ellesméra | Farthen Dûr | Hadarac Desert | Helgrind | Surda | Teirm | Urû'baen
	Blood-Oath Celebration | Battle of the Burning Plains | Battle for Carvahall | Dagshelgr Invocation | The Fall

 

---

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

?