Chapter 12 – No Honor, No Glory, Only Blisters in Unfortunate Places
This chapter opens with Roran and his men stealing horses from a nearby manor house in order to get to Aroughs. I understand that it’s sometimes necessary to appropriate the enemy’s materiel during a war, but wait a tick… Let’s rewind a couple chapters to when Nasuada was sending him on the mission.
“She [Nasuada] pursed her lips, considering. ‘Very well, take whomever you want, just so long as you leave within the hour. Let me know how many are going with you, and I’ll see to it that the appropriate number of horses are waiting along the way.’”
So, am I to assume that Nasuada didn’t in fact provide the appropriate number of horses, or that Roran and his band are stealing horses just for kicks? No honor, no glory, no kidding.
Well, no honor, no glory, no worries, because they’ve got that spellcaster Carn with them. I’m sure he can paralyze their pursuers or put them to sleep or…
“As he drew level with Carn, Roran shouted, ‘Can’t you hide our trail with a spell?’
‘Don’t know how!’ Carn replied, barely audible over the rush of wind and the sound of the galloping horses. ‘It’s too complicated!’”
Or not even think about it after bringing up one thing that he can’t do. Great. Oh, but it gets better. After several pages of chase scene, they decide that they can’t escape; they have to fight. Well, with a spellcaster on their side, but not on the other side, this should be a simple fight. I mean, he could paralyze their attackers or put them to sleep or… cast a spell to hide their trail from the dogs. No, I’m serious. Even Roran calls him out on it, and Carn replies:
“Because I hadn’t thought of it yet, that’s why.”
Ho ho! That wacky Carn! Well, anyway, the Chase Scene that Never Should Have Been ends, and with it, the chapter. Well, that chapter was useful. Will the next chapter prove equally useful? Probably.
Chapter 13 – Mooneater
This year… for the fourth of July… Eragon… will Eat the Moon! Nah, I’m just kidding.
Eragon begins this chapter trying to understand what Glaedr told him earlier: You must learn … to see what you are looking at.
I wouldn’t waste too much thought on that, Eragon. It’s an Ice Cream Koan .
At any rate, as he ruminates, he eventually comes across Angela telling a story to a bunch of Urgals and werecats. She’s just getting to the part in the story about a killer rabbit:
“—but he was too slow, and the raging, red-eyed rabbit ripped out Hord’s throat, killing him instantly. Then the hare fled into the forest, and out of recorded history.”
That’s no ordinary rabbit! That’s the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on! That rabbit’s got a vicious streak a mile wide! It’s a killer!
Ok, but on a more serious note, I’m citing Paolini for thesaurus abuse here. Why? I don’t care what your thesaurus may say, Mr. Paolini, a rabbit is not a hare. Rabbits live underground in burrows (the only exception being cottontail rabbits) while hares live above ground. Rabbits are born blind and hairless while hares have fur and are able to see from birth. I also hear that rabbits taste a lot better.
Anyway, the thing with the strange rabbit/hare hybrid is just an aside. The rest of the story is about a person named Terrin getting help from a dragon named Mimring to save a besieged Dwarf city. Paolini even works in a “and there was much rejoicing” reference, just so you know the Monty Python reference was intentional. Of course, I’d expect Angela to know about Monty Python. She’s clearly from our world, not theirs.
Anyway, the story ends and Garzhvog alludes to some of the stories they tell, mentioning a victory at a place called Stavarosk, which Eragon says he’s never heard of before. Garzhvog not only takes this as an insult, but even suspects Eragon may be trying to pick a fight with him. Eragon insists he really hasn’t heard of it. The Urgals are surprised, thinking that all humans should know of Stavarosk, or at the very least it should be well known among the Varden. Eragon says that no one has mentioned to him, but maybe they haven’t gotten around it to it yet because he hasn’t been among the Varden long. Anyway, long story short, Stavarosk is where Galbatorix got his butt handed to him when he tried to exterminate the Urgals. Obviously, tale of this defeat is not widespread because Galbatorix is a liar and a coward.
There are a few things wrong with this.
First, the whole Garzhvog taking Eragon’s ignorance as an insult is odd. I get that they have a different culture wherein there’s the possibility of unintentional insult. I don’t have a problem with that. What I have a problem with is this particular situation being an insult in any culture. Say a French person hears an American mention Washington crossing the Delaware and asks where the Delaware is because he/she has never heard of it. Hard to see how the American would take offense. Try it with any culture, though. An American hears an Ethiopian mention the victory at the Battle of Adwa, and the American asks about it. A Brazilian hears a Russian mention the victory at Maloyaroslavets and… you get the idea.
Second, so Galbatorix tries to keep word of this spectacular defeat quiet. He also apparently succeeds to a limited extent because Eragon has only heard that he lost a bunch of people in the Spine, but never heard what exactly had happened. That’s kind of odd since he lost them in the Spine, which is where the Urgals live, but no one seems to put two and two together. It’s further odd because well, “Remember the Alamo!” or how about Pearl Harbor and the date that will live in infamy? Defeats—especially spectacular defeats—are often turned around into something of a moral victory as in “Remember those who fought against impossible odds right until the bitter end.” It seems to me that Galbatorix would want to turn this defeat into umbrage against the monstrous Urgals.
Third, this just really solidifies my suspicion that Galbatorix had nothing to do with the Urgals under Durza’s command. His first dragon was killed by Urgals, then he tries to wipe them out and loses more than half his army in the Spine. That makes sense and fits with his character. He then recruits Urgals into his army… That never made sense, and knowing now that he tried to exterminate them all makes it all the less likely.
Fourth, the menace of Galbatorix and the Empire just got taken down a peg here. Remember how we’re constantly told how powerful Galbatorix is, and if he just shows up, they’ll all be toast? Well, here’s something Nasuada says in an earlier chapter when Orrin wants her to break her pact with the Urgals:
“If, in their wisdom, the elves, the dragons, and the Riders all decided to tolerate the existence of Urgals—even though they could have destroyed them easily enough—then we ought to follow their example.”
Ok, so you get that? The elves, the dragons, the Riders could all have exterminated Urgals easily, but they fought off Galbatorix. And now, an army of elves and Urgals is marching against Galbatorix along with humans, dwarves, and a dragon and Rider to boot. Does anyone think Galbatorix stands a chance especially since the Empire hasn’t won a single battle since the books began? Yeah, me either.
The chapter wraps up with Eragon asking Angela some questions. We find out that the Angela’s Urgal name means Mooneater, which she earned by eating the moon. Now, if someone had told you that an entire race of people call her Mooneater because she ate the moon, what would your next question be?
“Why did Garzhvog give you that stone?”
Was that your question, too? No? It wasn’t mine, either. Eragon is extraordinarily bad at asking follow-up questions. At any rate, we also find the story behind the “Cheep cheep” comment earlier. She had come across Grimrr toying with a bird he’d caught, and she punished him by casting a spell that caused him to chirp whenever he opened his mouth for the next week. Aren’t you glad you finally know the answer to that mystery? I think this kind of anticlimactic reveal is supposed to foreshadow the fight with Galbatorix, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Chapter 14 – Rumors and Writing
The reason I’m doing more than two chapters is because I need to increase the pace of this, or I’ll be doing it forever.
This is a short, unimportant chapter anyway, which makes a nice contrast to all of the long, unimportant chapters. Eragon listens in on some Varden complaining about elves. I’d say this is supposed to show racism on their part, but the complaints seem legitimate. One complains that they look down their noses at the humans and half the time won’t talk to you when you ask a friendly question. So, instead of showing the human’s anti-elf sentiment, this really seems to be showing the elves’ anti-human sentiment. Furthermore, when one complains that the elf women are beautiful but uninviting, one of his friends suggests that’s because he’s ugly. Now, if we were just trying to show anti-elf sentiment, his friends should all agree that elf women are just frigid. As is, the humans seem reasonable.
The conversation continues with a speculative discussion of “What if the elves turn on us after this is over?” Basically, they feel at the mercy of the elves, at the mercy everyone that can use magic. Someone even stupidly says they need the Riders back only for one of his friends to point out the obvious: you’d still be relying on someone else to defend you.
The men then tell rumors about a general named Barst that works for Galbatorix. Eragon then closes out the chapter by doing some writing. Oh, and Eragon is still hallucinating:
“Then Eragon set aside the book, extinguished the candle, and lay down on the cot to rest. He wandered through the fantastic visions of his waking dreams for only a short while; once the first hint of light appeared in the east, he rolled upright to begin the whole cycle anew.”
Poor boy didn’t get any sleep at all, he was awake dreaming all night.
Chapter 15 – Aroughs
In this chapter, Roran arrives at Aroughs, takes command, surveys the city’s defenses which are hopelessly impenetrable to their small force, and then comes up with a plan to breach the city (we’re not yet told what the plan is).
I wish I could say I’ve left out something important, but I haven’t. Instead, I’m going to use this space to expound on what I alluded to earlier. One of the big problems with this book is what I called the Inexorable March to Victory. Try to name a war in which one side never lost a single battle—not even one. I doubt there are very many, but statistically speaking, I’m sure it must’ve happened sometime, so let’s add the follow-up question: Was the side that never lost a single battle in the war ever expected to lose the war? And yet, that’s the situation we’ve come across with the Varden. In order for there to be dramatic tension, we have to believe they could lose, but they win every single battle (and always against dire odds we’re told!). Does anyone doubt that Roran’s plan will work?
Forget real life for a moment; have you ever seen this in fiction before? Let’s take a look at Eragon’s main source material, Star Wars. When The Empire Strikes Back opens, where are the Rebels? Hoth. Why are they on Hoth instead of Yavin IV? Because even though the Rebels scored a strong victory by blowing up the first Death Star, the Empire has been kicking their butts in retaliation all across the galaxy, starting by crushing the base on Yavin IV. And the movie even opens with the Empire crushing the base on Hoth. You want to show everyone a hopeless fight against a superior foe, Star Wars does it.
Now, I may rag on Paolini a bit for ripping off Star Wars in broad strokes, but one of the things he doesn’t copy is showing the Empire being victorious by virtue of its tremendous military advantage. The Varden never lose a large open engagement, and they never fail to take a city that they besiege. Why would I think they’d lose just when they get to Galbatorix?
Let me show another example of doing this well. The following is something of a spoiler for The High King, the last book of the Prydain chronicles, so I’ll put it in the spoiler box just to be safe. However, I feel this kind of spoiler actually makes one more eager to read the story.
The High King centers around the final conflict between the Sons of Don and Arawn Death-Lord (I shouldn’t have to mention who’s the bad guy in this conflict). The Sons of Don are mustering all the lords at their capital of Caer Dathyl. However, when King Pryderi arrives—the king they were counting on the most because he had the largest army—he announces that he’s sick of the cantrev lords constantly fighting amongst themselves and only uniting because they’re afraid of Arawn. He declares that he will join Arawn to bring order to the realm and demands their surrender. Shortly thereafter, Caer Dathyl is in flames, High King Math has been slain, and much of the army perished defending the city. You want a hopeless situation that it doesn’t look like the good guys can win? This is it in spades.
So, how could Paolini have managed something like this in Inheritance? Here’s a few off the top of my head:
1. When Nasuada and Orrin argue over breaking the pact with the Urgals, what if Orrin gave her an ultimatum: You can have either the support of the Urgals or the support of Surda, not both. Furthermore, if you choose them, understand that Surda will do everything in its power to exterminate the Urgals even if they have to fight the Varden to do it. That’s a real lose/lose since we already know the Urgals won’t react well to having the pact broken, so it will mean either fighting against them or fighting against Surda, which is precisely the worst thing to be happening when you’re trying to carry on a military campaign against a larger foe.
2. We’re told that if Galbatorix ever shows up, they’re toast. So, how about Galbatorix shows up at one of the cities under siege and kills everyone that doesn’t manage to escape? That’d look pretty hopeless.
3. We’re told that if Roran can’t prevail in the siege against Aroughs, Nasuada will have to send Eragon, which will leave them vulnerable. What if Roran didn’t prevail, Eragon went to break the siege, and the Varden were attacked and defeated while he was away?
It’s not that hard. In fact, sometimes it’s fun to play a game of “Make it as hard on the protagonists as possible.” I may write an article just on that some time.
goldedge on 6 March 2013, 01:32 said:
“Make it as hard on the protagonists as possible.” How about this:
4. The Urgals are split on supporting the Varden or the Empire and the next force has the Empire has Urgals from a rival tribe fight with Galbys forces, or at least
set up ambushes to harass and wear down the Varden and give the Varden bad PR. Nasuada and Orrin tension could be heightened And show the Urgals as being flawed and divded. what do you think?
Nate Winchester on 6 March 2013, 19:39 said:
Easy solution that is in keeping with the theme/motif of the books: the Varden ONLY win major conflicts when Eragon is involved. He’s the ace in the hole to the point that every other major skirmish is hopeless without him.
But he’s just one man… and he can’t be everywhere needed…
Taku on 6 March 2013, 20:59 said:
That’s because there are no conversations in this series, only plot or background details (however useless), framed in a character’s voice.
Putting the story before characters, having the good guys unable to be defeated, etc. makes for a very shallow sort of story.
Tim on 7 March 2013, 02:23 said:
You have to be careful with that, if it’s too hard for them to win then the reader will figure out they’re going to have to cheat somehow and everything that looks like a legitimate action in the meantime is just killing page count.
Asahel on 7 March 2013, 12:34 said:
That’s pretty good. In order for it to work its best, Urgals would have to have been set up to be a multicultural race with tribal differences instead of a homogeneous fantasy race all the way back in book 1. For example, I could buy that Galbatorix would only hate the tribe of Urgals that had killed his dragon and used other tribes of Urgals against them and his other enemies.
True, but the trap there is if Eragon never experiences a defeat, we won’t have any reason to believe Galbatorix can defeat him (other than being constantly told so).
Agreed there.
I definitely agree. There’s certainly an art to it. It’s puzzling that Paolini managed to do both. Not to go into to much detail since I’ll cover this in later installments of this series, but not only did I never get the sense that the Varden could lose, but in the last fight with Galbatorix, I got the sense that Eragon had cheated reality—that Galbatorix should have realistically won that encounter.
Nate Winchester on 7 March 2013, 15:17 said:
Not necessarily. The proper way to reinforce would be that battles only win with Eragon, and while the other side doesn’t have dragonriders. If Murtagh shows up? Fights are close and/or Eragon actually loses. So it becomes a shuffle. The Varden want Eragon to go to battles Murtagh won’t be at, while Galby & Co try to guess where the young rider shows up, etc etc (it all writes itself really).
Then if Pao-Pao wanted to go dark, he could even have it where Galby appears and his side handily wins battles. Or rather, we see the aftermath of a fight he’s participated in (he’s still never seen by the reader) and the devastation is FAR worse than those Eragon’s victories.
Asahel on 7 March 2013, 22:30 said:
Ok, I see what you mean now. Yeah, that would work a lot better.
And I especially like this. That would’ve been much better.
Juracan on 9 March 2013, 07:14 said:
I got this impression, too. Dragon Riders, at full power, are pretty much gods— see what Eragon did to Sloan for instance. He made a spell that not only gave the butcher a compulsion to walk to Elesmera, but to also receive food from animals.
Galbatorix, on the other hand, is much more powerful than Eragon is. So we’re constantly told that the war would be over if the King would just get off his lazy ass and kill the Varden, yet he never does so for no reason.
Darsaan on 2 April 2013, 07:59 said:
Another excellent and thought provoking article – thank you! I quite agrees with what you said about the Varden never losing, kind of reminds me of the Redwall series: sure they might lose a few battles, but they NEVER lose a war, despite the fact that they are just county-bumpkin monks who have never fought a day in their lives, and despite ther being, what, more than 14 books in the series? (I gave up reading the series years ago in disgust).
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