Inheritance (novel)

Inheritance
The English cover of Inheritance, featuring the green dragon Fírnen
Author(s)	Christopher Paolini
Cover artist	John Jude Palencar
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Inheritance Cycle
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Publisher	Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date	November 8, 2011
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback), audiobook, and e-book
Pages	860
Preceded by	Brisingr

Inheritance is the fourth and final book in the Inheritance Cycle written by American author Christopher Paolini.

The Inheritance Cycle was originally intended to be a trilogy, but Paolini has stated that during writing, the length of Brisingr grew, and the book was split into two parts to be published separately. Because of this, many plot elements originally intended for Brisingr are in Inheritance.

Since the release of Inheritance, Paolini has expressed his future interest in expanding upon Alagaësia and the Inheritance Cycle. In an interview, he talked about a potential "book five," a prequel centering around Brom, and said that he has planned "around seven more stories set in Alagaësia — and one of those is in fact a series."

Plot synopsis

Inheritance opens with the Varden's siege on Belatona, a city of the Empire. In the battle, Saphira is nearly killed by a Dauthdaert (death spear) named Niernen—a spear from the Dragon Wars intended to destroy wards and kill dragons. Belatona soon falls, and an alliance is formed between the Varden and werecats.

Roran is sent on a mission to capture Aroughs, which proves to be a rather challenging task. He comes up with a risky, yet potentially rewarding, plan and Aroughs is taken, although Roran's force sustains many injuries. Roran rejoins the Varden at Dras-Leona when they are in the process of making plans to attack the city.

Murtagh and his dragon Thorn are occupying the city, thus eliminating the chance of pulling off a direct siege successfully. Jeod finds references to the start of a sewer system that was never completed under the city. Assuming the existence of a secret tunnel into the city, Eragon leads a small group (himself, Arya, Angela, the werecat Solembum, and an elf named Wyrden) into the city to open the gates for the Varden. It turns out that the tunnels are used by the priests of Helgrind, and Eragon and Arya are captured after being separated from Angela and Solembum and witnessing the death of Wyrden. Because the priests are angry at Eragon for killing their gods, they intend to feed Eragon and Arya to Ra'zac hatchlings. Eragon and Arya struggle and injure themselves while being held captive until Angela and Solembum save them. Eragon is able to open the city gates and defeat Murtagh and Thorn allowing the Varden to take control of the city. In the middle of the night, Murtagh and Thorn attack the Varden camp and capture Nasuada. In her absence, Eragon is appointed as the leader of the Varden as they march on to Urû'baen with hopes of overtaking the city.

Eragon remembers Solembum's advice (in Eragon) concerning the Vault of Souls and the Rock of Kuthian. He summons Solembum to his tent and questions Solembum's knowledge of the Rock of Kuthian, of which the werecat has none. During the conversation, Solembum loses his consciousness as a new voice talks to Eragon before abruptly ending, bringing Solembum back from a trance he cannot remember. Eragon eventually discovers that the Vault is on Vroengard Island. Eragon then consults with Glaedr about the Vault of Souls but Glaedr cannot remember the conversation. Eragon realizes that powerful magic is causing everybody—except for Saphira and himself—to forget about the Vault of Souls after they hear of it. After Eragon finds a roundabout way to let Glaedr understand him, Glaedr believes that Eragon is telling the truth and advises him and Saphira to immediately find the source of and reason for the powerful magic, as it could help them in the fight against Galbatorix. Eragon and Saphira take Glaedr's Eldunarí as a guide.

After a while on the island, Eragon and Saphira learn that they must speak their true names in order for the Rock of Kuthian to allow them to enter. After days, they find their true names and the rock opens. Inside, the three of them find a hoard of Eldunarí and dragon eggs that were hidden away before Galbatorix destroyed the Riders. Umaroth, the dragon of the last leader of the Riders, Vrael, speaks for all of the Eldunarí and says that the time has come for them to reveal themselves and to aid Eragon and the Varden in overthrowing Galbatorix. Eragon and the others depart from Vroengard with all the Eldunarí save five, who opted to stay and guard the eggs, and as they pass through the rock back onto the surface the knowledge of the existence of the stored dragon eggs is hidden from their minds. They make their way to Urû'baen, where the combined forces of the Varden, the elves (led by Queen Islanzadí), and the dwarves (led by Orik) are preparing to attack Urû'baen.

Eragon and Saphira reach Urû'baen as the siege begins. The Eldunarí are revealed to the leaders of the Varden and all of them form a plan to attack the city. The forces of the Varden attack Urû'baen while Eragon, Saphira, Arya, Elva, and eleven elven spell-casters led by Blödhgarm break into Galbatorix's citadel. They proceed to the throne room after progressing through a series of traps, during which the elven spell-casters are taken captive. In the throne room, Galbatorix subdues Eragon, Saphira, Arya, and Elva and informs them that he has learned the true name of the ancient language (referred to as the Word). With the Word he is able to control the usage of magic. Galbatorix orders Murtagh and Eragon to fight using only their swords; Eragon eventually defeats Murtagh. Murtagh, whose oath to Galbatorix was broken due to a recent change in his true name, uses the Word to strip Galbatorix of his wards. Enraged, Galbatorix renders Murtagh unconscious and attacks Eragon with his mind, while Saphira and Thorn attack Shruikan. Using energy from the Eldunarí, Eragon casts a spell to make Galbatorix understand his crimes, and the pain and suffering that they have caused. Meanwhile, Arya kills Shruikan using the Dauthdaert. In retaliation to the pain and agony caused by Eragon's spell, Galbatorix utters the incantation for unmaking himself, which results in a huge explosion that destroys most of Urû'baen. Eragon, using energy from the Eldunarí, is able to protect those in the citadel.

Murtagh and Thorn, being broken from their oaths of loyalty to Galbatorix, retreat to somewhere in the north to have some time to themselves to do some thinking. Before leaving, Murtagh teaches the Word to Eragon and then bids him farewell. Nasuada, after a heated debate with the leaders of the Varden, becomes the High Queen of Alagaësia and King Orrin of Surda pledges his allegiance to her. Arya returns to Du Weldenvarden to help choose a new monarch for the elves after the death of Queen Islanzadi in battle, and is chosen. She takes with her the rescued green dragon egg, which soon hatches for her. Thus, Arya becomes a Rider with her dragon named Fírnen.

Eragon reworks the magic of the original pact between Riders and dragons to include both dwarves and Urgals, allowing the dragon eggs to hatch for members of their races. Eragon, coming to the conclusion that there is no safe place to raise the dragons and train new Riders in Alagaësia, begins planning transport of the Eldunarí and the eggs to a region east of Alagaësia. Save for two eggs which are kept in Alagaësia: one is to be sent to the dwarves, and the other to the Urgals. Those future Riders will travel to Eragon's new home for training, while new eggs will be sent back to Alagaësia to hatch for new Riders.

Pre-release history

Decision for a fourth book

In a video that was released on October 30, 2007, Christopher Paolini stated that during the work on the third book, he realized it would become too long and so he decided to split it into two separate books. His explanation is as follows:

“	I plotted out the Inheritance series as a trilogy nine years ago, when I was fifteen. At that time, I never imagined I’d write all three books, much less that they would be published. When I finally delved into Book Three [Brisingr], it soon became obvious that the remainder of the story was far too big to fit in one volume. Having spent so long thinking about the series as a trilogy, it was difficult for me to realize that, in order to be true to my characters and to address all of the plot points and unanswered questions Eragon and Eldest raised, I needed to split the end of the series into two books.	”
—Christopher Paolini

Publication announcement

On March 23, 2011, Random House announced the title, cover artwork, and release date of Inheritance. It was released on November 8, 2011 in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

Post-release

Released with a first print of 2.5 million copies, Inheritance sold nearly half a million copies on the first day in the United States. It debuted at No. 1 on the USA Today's "Best-Selling Books" list.

External links

• alagaesia.com official Inheritance Cycle website
• shurtugal.com, leading Inheritance Cycle fan website
• Inheritance Cycle, an external wiki