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Eragon

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For other uses, see Eragon (disambiguation).
Eragon
File:Eragon.jpg
First edition cover
AuthorChristopher Paolini
IllustratorJohn Jude Palencar
Cover artistJohn Jude Palencar
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy novel
PublisherAlfred A. Knopf
Publication date
August 26, 2003
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback) and audio-CD
Pages544 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBNISBN 0-375-82668-8 (first edition, hardback) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Followed byEldest 

Eragon is a novel written by Christopher Paolini. It is the first book of the Inheritance Trilogy. The sequel is Eldest, which was released in mid-2005. The third book has not been named or released. Eragon is set in the fantastical land of Alagaësia, and is a story about a teenager and dragon. The book has been adapted into a film, which was released on December 15, 2006.

Publication history

Christopher Paolini was home schooled, and graduated from high school at the age of 15. He and his parents felt he should wait before attending college and meanwhile he began writing Eragon. His parents' publishing company, Paolini International, LLC, published his book when he was nineteen. The book was then discovered by Alfred A. Knopf and was republished under Knopf in 2002. With Knopf as the publisher, Eragon became a success and a New York Times Bestseller.

Plot Summary

Template:Spoiler Eragon takes place in a land called Alagaësia, which is ruled by the despotic King Galbatorix. He was once a Dragon Rider, but went mad after his dragon was killed and he was denied another by the council. Dragons were once involved in a partnership with the elite Dragon Riders, and together they kept peace in the land. Galbatorix, along with the Forsworn (a group of 13 riders that betrayed the rest of the order), crippled the order of the Riders. For years many believed that dragons were extinct.

The main character of the novel is Eragon, a 15 year-old-boy who lives with his uncle Garrow and cousin Roran on their farm, 10 miles from a small village known as Carvahall. While hunting in The Spine, a local range of mountains, Eragon is surprised to see a polished blue stone appear in front of him. After failing to sell or trade his find, Eragon witnesses a baby dragon hatch from the "stone", which was, in reality, a dragon egg. He questions Brom — the elderly town storyteller — about the ways of the Dragon Riders. After this talk, Eragon names the dragon Saphira. He raises the dragon in secret until two Ra'zac, sent by Galbatorix, come to Carvahall looking for the egg. Eragon and Saphira manage to escape by hiding in the forest, but Eragon's uncle Garrow is killed, and the house and farm are destroyed.

Eragon becomes a Dragon Rider through his bond with Saphira. He seeks revenge on the Ra'zac. Eragon and Saphira begin a journey in search of the Ra'zac, accompanied by Brom, who insists on joining them, because he once was a dragon rider. On the journey, Eragon learns swordfighting, magic, and the ways of the Dragon Riders from Brom, who is something of an expert in these areas.

They travel through several cities, and Eragon is shocked by the way that the Empire is harming the land and its people. Finally, after obtaining information in the town of Teirm, Brom concludes that the Ra'zac reside in Dras-Leona. There, Eragon, Saphira, and Brom are lured into an ambush by the Ra'zac. Although they are rescued by a stranger, Murtagh, Brom is gravely injured and dies shortly after — but not before revealing the secrets of his past. Brom was a Dragon Rider who had a dragon, which shared Saphira's name, but was killed years before.

The new company Eragon, Murtagh and Saphira travel in search of the hidden leagues of the Varden, a strong rebel faction which Brom had mentioned on their journey. On the way Eragon has dreams of a beautiful elf, all of which feature her suffering great pain. Eragon is captured and imprisoned in the same prison where the elf, Arya, is being held captive. Murtagh and Saphira stage a rescue and Eragon escapes with Arya. During the escape Eragon and Murtagh battle with a Shade. The fact that a Shade is walking freely in the land deeply disturbs Eragon and he suspects that Galbatorix is planning something terrible.

Eragon and his party are pursued by an army of Urgals as they travel to the Varden's fortress, hidden deep within the Beor Mountains. Once inside the fortress, Eragon learns of the pact between the dwarves, the elves and the Varden and how it was that Saphira's egg was magically teleported to the Spine. The group is at last able to rest, although an invasion by the army of Urgals is imminent.

When the battle finally begins, the Varden and dwarves are pitted against an enormous army of Urgals. During the battle, Eragon faces the Shade, Durza, whom he had recently encountered, and kills him, though he receives a serious disfiguring wound on his back. After the death of the Shade, the Urgals seem to have a spell lifted from them, and begin to fight among themselves. This gives the Varden a chance to counter-attack, routing the surviving Urgals. The story ends at the close of the battle, and we learn that Eragon will soon be sent to be taught by the elves in the sequel where he will meet Oromis, the elf who saved him from the Shade.

List of characters

  • Ajihad: Master swordsman, brilliant tactician and leader of the Varden.
  • Angela: A powerful witch who supports the Varden and specializes in herb-based magic. She foretells Eragon's future.
  • Arya: An elf who was the guardian of Saphira's egg. She was imprisoned by Durza in Gil'ead on King Galbatorix's orders, and Eragon rescues her.
  • Brom: Eragon's mentor. Brom plays what is possibly the most important role of Eragon's growth. Earlier in life, Brom was a Dragon Rider fighting against Galbatorix.
  • Durza: A main antagonist in the book, he was a powerful Shade who controlled the Urgal army. He was killed by Eragon, with the help of Saphira and Arya, at Farthen Dûr.
  • Eragon: The main character in Eragon. One of the last Dragon Riders other than King Galbatorix.
  • Garrow: Farmer of Carvahall, Eragon's uncle, and Roran's father. He was killed by the Ra' Zac.
  • Horst: Horst is the father of Baldor and Alberich, and is a father figure to Eragon and Roran when Garrow dies. He is a blacksmith.
  • Hrothgar: King of the Dwarves who befriends Eragon. He adopted Eragon into his clan.
  • Jeod: A merchant of Teirm, Jeod is Brom's old friend, and also a member of the Varden.
  • Katrina: Daughter of Sloan and a romantic interest of Roran's.
  • Murtagh: Son of Morzan, who was the first of the thirteen Forsworn (betrayers of the Dragon Riders); he becomes good friends with Eragon and travels with him to the Varden's hidden stronghold.
  • Nasuada: Daughter of Ajihad. She befriends Eragon in Farthen Dûr.
  • Orik: Hrothgar's nephew; he befriends Eragon, and is his guide through Tronjheim and Farthen Dûr.
  • Saphira: Eragon's dragon. She is the first dragon to hatch in a century.
  • Sloan: Butcher of Carvahall who hates Eragon's family. He is Katrina's father
  • Solembum: The werecat who lives with Angela; he helps Eragon in various parts of the book, occasionally taking human form.
  • The Twins: Un-named twin magicians with strong magical abilities who betray the Varden

Unseen characters

  • Galbatorix: The antagonist, an insane, corrupt emperor who rules Alagaesia from the capital city Urû'baen with dark magic and his enslaved black dragon Shruikan.
  • Morzan: The first and the last Forsworn, he is also the father of Murtagh.
  • Selena: Eragon's mother.

The Ancient Language

Main article: Ancient Language (Inheritance)

The Ancient Language, also referred to as the 'Language of Power', is the Elven language in the book that enables certain people to use magic. Because of the nature of the language, it is impossible to lie, but one can mislead, as the Elves show in abundance. Eragon uses it many times in the books. eg.Skulblaka means scale-flapper (dragon). The Ancient Language is based on Old Norse. Many words are also derived from German, such as "Welden" (forest) which is very similar to the German "Wald". The use of an 'Ancient Language' for magic in which everything has its true name can also be found in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. [1] Template:Spoiler-end

Reviews

Anne McCaffrey is quoted as saying: "Full praise to Eragon, and I want more."[2] Kenneth Oppel, best known as a children's author, found the book "depressingly uninspired... At times, the world seems so familiar you could be forgiven for thinking you were playing a CD-ROM computer game."[3]

The New York Times Book Review stated that the novel was, "for all its flaws... an authentic work of great talent."[4]

School Library Journal, while noting correctly that the book would garner many fans, added that it "does not approach the depth, uniqueness, or mastery of J. R. R. Tolkien's works, and sometimes the magic solutions are just too convenient for getting out of difficult situations."[5]

Common Sense Media, a family-friendly review site, was particularly scathing, stating that, "It's not long, however, before they begin to notice the long-winded descriptions, the clichés and hackneyed dialogue, and the derivative nature of the plot—straight out of Star Wars by way of The Lord of the Rings, with bits of other great fantasies thrown in here and there. That this is a great achievement for one so young is undeniable, and many children will love it. It certainly ranks right up there with other derivative, overblown fantasies written by adults, such as Terry Brooks's Sword of Shannara series."[6]

This criticism from USAToday mirrors Common Sense Media's accusation of derivative storytelling: "The novel also owes a debt to Luke Skywalker as the teen hero trains to be a Dragon Rider while avenging his uncle's murder,"[7] as well as the fact that the book "echoes Tolkien in its pseudo-Celtic language and imagined universe of dwarfs and elves."

Eragon in other media

Movie

Main article: Eragon (film)

Fox 2000, a division of 20th Century Fox, purchased the rights to Eragon and released the adaptation of the book to film on December 15th, 2006 (December 13, 2006 in Singapore). The movie stars were John Malkovich, Edward Speleers, Jeremy Irons and Sienna Guillory and had a budget of $125 million. It was directed by first-time filmmaker Stefen Fangmeier, who previously oversaw the visual effects for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004). The majority of the reviews were mixed.

Video game

Main article: Eragon (video game)

Eragon is a video game released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Cube (cancelled), Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3 (Coming out soon), Microsoft Windows, developed by Stormfront Studios. Also released are unique versions of Eragon for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PSP handheld gaming systems, developed by Amaze Entertainment. The games are based upon the book Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, and the recent Eragon film.

Parody

Eragon spawned an Italian parody titled Aerosol, Il Fratello Furbo Di Eragon ("Aerosol, the Clever Brother of Eragon"). It was written by Joey Luke Bandini,[1] the pseudonymn of the Italian writer Gianluca Bedini. Following (more or less) the plot of Eragon’s story, the book is about a young boy named Aerosol who studies mycology as a hobby. He finds an egg in the forest while he is searching for mushrooms. Thinking he has discovered a new species of fungus, he takes the egg home, where he understands, with the help of a telepathic fish called Matsugoro, the true nature of the egg, and awaits for the birth of the giant pink musk turkey called Ceesyra (the blue turkey called Palmyra pictured in the front cover of the book doesn't take part in the story). Aerosol, with the two animals and a personal trainer called Cyro, takes part in an adventure in which he learns to use his cabalistic magic power to fight against Migarbangliorix, the Emperor of Analgesya. During his adventure Aerosol and his company meet a lot of characters who are parodies of most of the characters of Eragon.

References

Notes

  1. ^ Sara. "Eragon". The Book List.
  2. ^ Eragon, Random House Inc., 2005, p.1
  3. ^ Kenneth Oppel. "Dragon tale needs a magic potion". globe insider.
  4. ^ Liz Rosenberg. "CHILDREN'S BOOKS; The Egg and Him". New York Times Book Review.
  5. ^ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0375826688/ref=dp_proddesc_0/002-7636601-3839210?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
  6. ^ Matt Berman. "Eragon". Common Sense Media.
  7. ^ Susan Wloszczyna. "More of the 'Rings' magic". USA Today.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Eragon.

Official

Interviews


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