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The fact that it’s seen from an outsider’s viewpoint just makes it seem so much deeper and more complex than we are shown.
I really like this idea.
Christopher Paolini is writing a sci-fi short story, as a “dark little prelude” to his next novel.
What joy.
Christopher Paolini is writing a sci-fi short story, as a “dark little prelude” to his next novel.
Yaaaaaay.
It’ll be fantastic, I’m sure.
This should be interesting, I wonder if he gets any better? Maybe being in sci-fi he’ll not feel the need to be “poetic” like Tolkien. ._.
This should be interesting, I wonder if he gets any better? Maybe being in sci-fi he’ll not feel the need to be “poetic” like Tolkien. ._.
No, now he can write like Asimov.
I hope you’re not throwing stones at the Good Doctor, m’dear.
On the subject of the plot discussed a few posts ago:
That was the idea behind Conrad’s Lord Jim. The main character, Jim, is an idealistic, naive British naval officer who – confronted with a situation of dire peril – abandons his ship in a moment of terror. The rest of the novel is about his attempts to come to grips with himself and rise above his cowardice. Like Heart of Darkness, it’s a subtly horrifying and eventually very intense book.
I hope you’re not throwing stones at the Good Doctor, m’dear.
Oh no. I’m merely saying that as he openly compares himself to Tolkien, why should he not think himself another sci-fi master, too?
Ah, I get it now. You’re probably right.
Then if he tried Lovecraftian horror, we’d have a real nightmare on our hands. I understand what HP is doing although it’s not a writing style I would adopt. But imagine the travesty if CP took it up…
He would give birth to Ultra-Purple, the opposite of the Colour Out of Space – instead of sucking the color out of everything, everything would become so annoyingly detailed that the entire population of the earth would go blind.
... ^ My worst fears realized.
Dug up from the past. Made me chuckle, so I thought I’d share.
Bwahaha. Does not exist.
aragorn legolas
...
I’m more interested in what, exactly, an Aragorn free online jigsaw puzzle is.
I’m more interested in the potential inspiration for a aragorn/legolas slash fic, but that’s just me.
Thanks for the link!
Every time I read/watch an interview about Paolini, I think of this:
Sigh. So he just made it up? Why am I not surprised?
I always thought it had something to do with Vercingetorix, myself.
But I didn’t know you were a Welshman, Joshing! That’s pretty interesting.
“Vercingetorix” is a Gaulish name with the commonly-accepted meaning ‘king over warriors’, from ver “on, over”, cingeto “marching men, warriors”, rix “king”
“Galbatorix” is a nonsense word, and the best I can do to break it down is a mishmash of Irish and Anglo-Saxon: gall “stranger/foreigner” (Old Gaelic), batt “stick/cudgel” (AS) tor, “rocky hill” (AS), rix, “king/chief” (AS).
“Cudgel-wielding foreigner who is king of the rocky hill” (alternately, “foreign king of the hill full of sticks”). Oddly appropriate for the character, come to think of it.
Alternately, and rather amusingly, one could trace “bat” from Greek bathos “anticlimax/descent to ridiculousness”. I think Ridiculously-Anticlimactic Foreign King of the Hill suits the character perfectly.
It’s a strained interpretation, at any rate. I mean, if we really want to find an answer at any cost, we could take “Gal” from Old Danish “bad/furious” for “Furious King”, but the chances of 1. any sane man taking all of these barely-related language bits and making a name for his son, or 2. of Paolini finding all of these barely-related and thoroughly non-mystical and un-romantic (In the cultural/fantasy way, as compared to say Old Norse, or Latin, or Old Gaelic) languages and mashing then together are… slim.
However, as Paolini had originally mentioned in one of his first recorded (and internet-archived) interviews, he could have used “galba” from the Latin cognate1 of the Irish golb, “fat”, and “-torix” because he liked the sound of “Vercingetorix”. Far more lazy, and therefore far more likely. If I were to give some credit to Paolini, I might be inclined to believe “golb/tor/rix” as “fat king of the hill”, but I’ve already given Paolini far too much credit already.
1 From Wikipedia: “Suetonius says that in Gaulish Galba means “fat” (compare Old Irish golb, “paunchy, fat”), and Galba is usually regarded as Celtic in origin.”
...Because calling your villain overlord “the fat king of the hill” is so intimidating. Like Santa Claus!
Well, Wikipedia says the name was supposed to be Gallish, not Welsh.
“foreign king of the hill full of sticks”
lol for some reason I laughed really hard at this.
And I just have to say that Welsh sounds absolutely beautiful and I wish I spoke it.
That was in the actual Inheritance Wikia? That’s kind of a burn.
I’ve only been learning Welsh recently (I’m a terrible Welshman, I know)
Eh, my parents put me in Indian Sunday School for eight years and I still can’t speak a word of Tamil. :P
I’ve only been learning Welsh recently (I’m a terrible Welshman, I know)
And after 8 years of Spanish, I still can’t order off a Taco Bell menu. My ancestors must be s -o-o-o proud.
Taco? Nacho? Burrito?
How about Latin?
Oreo…Nabisco…I’monabus you’reonabus we’reallonabus
I’monabus you’reonabus we’reallonabus
I just lol’ed. I love you. :)
Ah, omnibus. How I enjoy the many puns your third person plural dative and ablative have brought unto me.
You’ve just reminded me of the horrors of Latin with it’s six or so bloody cases. There may be more, I don’t know. I quit while I was ahead. XP
Ah, I’m sorry, Sen. Latin was the happiest time of my life (which probably says something about my life). It was so ordered, so rich in history, so delightfully quirky. Besides, every guy I ever dated (including my husband), I met in Latin class. Latin: truly the first romance language. ;)
Haha. That’s really interesting, ‘cause, for me, once you start breaking down a pretty sounding language, it starts sounding a little less pretty. Same goes for French. I liked listening to it, kind of. And then you’ve got to pronounce the r’s all funny in your throat when you actually have to speak it yourself and then it doesn’t sound so wonderful anymore. XD
Latin was the happiest time of my life
Ah well, I’m glad someone enjoyed it. :D
Well said, Wulf.
The more I study Latin the more I love it. I had the incredible good fortune to have a teacher who lived and breathed Latin, not as dry textbooks but as a fire in her eyes. Latin is a language of a people who loved order, knowledge, a language for engineers and mechanics. It is a language of paved roads and democratic sentiment, a simple, powerful, manly language. Latin knew peace and war, knew the poetry of the country and the elegant, fiery patriotism of what may have been the finest politics in history. It is a beautiful thing.
Lawl, so like two years ago, I made a “good parts” edition of the Eragon movie (aka, nothing but the parts where Garrett Hedlund was in it). It got blocked fairly quickly, but I remembered it the other day and got it unblocked. So if you have a burning desire to watch it, here it is.
Still makes me giggle when I watch it, though.
He and Jeremy Irons were the best parts of the movie. I love how over the top Irons’ acting was (although not quite as over the top as in Dungeons and Dragons). He and Hedlund actually looked like they were trying to have fun with their roles.
That’s always the impression I got. The movie became watchable when they were onscreen and was intolerable when they were not.
I do have to say, though, I forgot how much I loathed that movie until I started rewatching my video. It’s just so horrible!
I agree it’s pretty bad. I thinks it’s kinda funny how the producers rearranged some of the plot points to make it even more of a Star Wars rip off than it already was.
@Inkblot- Just…yes. Exactly.
An Inheritance music video? Oh, this is going to be great
And he’s also coming to Aussie and NZ on his world tour [the article’s on the main site]. I feel like I have an Impish obligation to go and talk to him about character development and why it’s important and long words and why putting twenty of them in a sentence isn’t actually great writing sometimes. And why putting your heroine in tight black leather with a sword in her hand is objectifying her and continuing the long-held tradition of females in fantasy being either sex symbols or walking soapboxes or both.
And do you think that he actually has enough fans outside of the USA/Europe to justify coming over here?
Eh, you might be surprised. I knew a number of Aussies/New Zealanders (is that what you call people from New Zealand?) who were involved with the fansites. (although I’ll admit most of the ones I knew weren’t exactly blown away by his stellar writing. On the fanfiction side of things we could get pretty harsh. :P)
Actually, now I think about it, you’re right. I do remember there being a lot of Aussies/Kiwis on Shurtugal Fanfiction when I was writing there.
It’s a lot more, I don’t know, rock than I thought it would be.
Not bad. Give them some time and they might be a decent metal band (at least he’s not screaming/growling). A shame they have to be tied to Inheritance, though.
And Blue, what genre would you expect for a song about dragons? A nice melodic acoustic piece? Screw that!
Apep: You’ve never head “Dragonfire”? That’s a bouncy little jazz/pop/honkey-tonk fusion with a piano solo.
Eh, it’s okay, if a little cheesy IMHO. Also the guy’s voice kinda grates on me a bit.
Welcome to power metal! Here is your complimentary sword, feel free to sing about it as epically as you can.
A nice melodic acoustic piece?
That would be nice.
Welcome to power metal!
But . . . but . . . you’re a Blind Guardian listener! Aren’t they considered power metal? And it’s hard for me to make fun of power metal. I mean, few things are better than throwing on some Falconer or Dragonforce and going for a long car ride down the open road.
Did you see my hidden post? I love Blind Guardian, but I’m not above affectionately ribbing the genre. It can get grandiose at times. :)
My favorite to make fun of is Norsecore/viking metal/whatever the hell they call it.
It’s just SO STUPID! It’s making me giggle just thinking about it. They literally write songs about burning villages and killing peasants, and expect people to take them seriously.
Did you see my hidden post? I love Blind Guardian, but I’m not above affectionately ribbing the genre. It can get grandiose at times. :)
Ah, I see. Yeah, I agree that it can definitely be over the top. I just think of it as the fantasy genre of the music world.
It’s making me giggle just thinking about it.
Amon Amarth comes to mind here. I have one of their CDs and I put some of the songs on my MP3 player. I was listening at the gym and realized that I was listening to a bunch of modern dudes singing about dying epic deaths that speed them away to Valhalla; it was then that I burst out laughing.
My favorite to make fun of is Norsecore/viking metal/whatever the hell they call it.
Yeah, it’s kinda hard to take that seriously. But this is a group of people whose idea of heaven was “fight all day, party all night”. And that’s kinda awesome.
Also, there’s a Norwegian folk metal band who wrote a song called “Longships and Mead”. If that’s not some kind of awesome, I don’t know what is.
I just think of it as the fantasy genre of the music world.
Yeah, power metal is pretty much short-hand for “these guys are huge nerds”. And that’s awesome.
And he’s also coming to Aussie and NZ on his world tour [the article’s on the main site]. I feel like I have an Impish obligation to go and talk to him about character development and why it’s important and long words and why putting twenty of them in a sentence isn’t actually great writing sometimes. And why putting your heroine in tight black leather with a sword in her hand is objectifying her and continuing the long-held tradition of females in fantasy being either sex symbols or walking soapboxes or both.
I wouldn’t mind seeing him too, just for the hell of it. But somehow I don’t think he’d come to ChCh…
^^I dunno, I don’t think it’s worth my time going to see him, if he even comes to my city. Unless he happens to show up at this writing festival that I might be going to.
He’s skipping my city altogether (despite it being one of five UNESCO-listed Cities of Literature), and since it’s a three-day drive to the nearest of the two Aus cities he’s actually stopping at, I won’t be able to see him
I would have liked the opportunity to ask him, “did you intentionally write a self-parodying critique on the hero myth in popular culture, or was that incidental?”
Wait, which city is he stopping at?
Perth and Sydney, according to his press release.
Know where I can find his itinerary?
is he hitting New York? I’m curious to see him to.
it’s all on his website, and I think it’s primarily Europe. London, Paris, Rome, etc. except for a few cities in Aus and NZ.
Wow. Have any you noticed how long Inheritance Forums has been down? There was a time where I was partisan enough that I would probably would’ve felt quiet gleeful at a the major Eragon forum being down. But I just feel bad for the IF community. Like back in July they were having some troubles, but I think since August it’s been permanently down. I can’t imagine.
When there are not more books coming out…
I hadn;‘t noticed, but I hope they as a community can keep going. No sense being anti-something if the opponents are scattered to the winds.
Fortunately II has moved on beyond mere anti-shirturgal-ism to embrace many things more.
Really? They’re down? Didn’t even notice… just checked the Twitter (which I was unaware they had) and I guess they’ve been down permanently since September, but a couple of weeks ago they said they thought they had someone who could help them get back up.
They split off from Shurtugal.com several months back, though (don’t ask me why, I have no idea). Shurtugal itself is still up.
Wait, the Inheritance Forums are splitting away from Shurtugal.com? Is this irony? Or are the parallelisms just too perfect? (or not so perfekt, as the case may be).
Oh I didn’t realize they had separated. I know there was an ‘understanding’ with the previous admins and Mike of Shurtugal wanted to move in new directions. There was a sub-forum thing where the old admin went- never amounted to much.
I rather liked those that stepped up afterwards. Thorin and BlackManga and the others are pretty great (and BlackManga in particular heavily critiques the series.) I popped in from time to time just because I kinda miss the old A-S days. But for some reason I never picked up that IF was now separate from Shurtugal entirely.It would kinda make sense though. Mike has always struck me as a very passionate Eragon fan, whereas for the last however many years the leadership of IF has been been ambivalent at best as to the quality of Eragon. Even after a pretty big line of leadership stepping down, more people that were at least somewhat critical of Eragon took their place.
This never would have happened if Paolini Sr. had stayed.
Paolini Sr?
Paolini Senior, aka Papa Kenneth. In the early days of IF, he was reknown for banning anyone who questioned or criticised the books. Hence Anti-Shurtugal, originally a group of banned members fed up with the nicewashing policies of IF staff and KP.
On a different topic, observe the following:
On October 23, 2012 the Inheritance Deluxe Enhanced Ebook, Inheritance Deluxe Hardcover and Ebook will be released.
The Deluxe Enhanced Ebook includes 17 exclusive videos, never-before-seen artwork by Christopher Paolini, a letter from Paolini to fans reflecting on the series, and a new scene within the text.
groan. What’s next, the Ultimate Deluxe Enhanced Metallic version? And then the Ultimate Deluxe Enhanced Extended Holographic version, I guess. Those ones are collectible.
Actually, I think Random House is just finally getting around to exploiting the flexibility of digital publication mediums. You can’t exactly include videos in a print copy, unless you also want to pack a disk with the book. All the other books in the Cycle have had deluxe editions (which are really nice, quality-wise), so it’s not unexpected that Inheritance gets one.
Up next shall be a deluxe enhanced ebook omnibus edition of the entire Cycle. ;P
@Falling – They’re still linked from Shurtugal.com, but they were moved onto their own domain and kind of became their own thing. I agree with you that it probably had to do with differing perspectives on the series. I’m fairly certain it was more because Shurty wanted to distance themselves from IF, not the other way around, but that’s just speculation. Regardless, the upshot was that some admins stayed with Shurty, some went off with IF, and never the twain shall meet. Or at least it seemed to end up that way.
And for what it’s worth, Thorin always seemed like a decent fellow to me too. I never really knew many of the other new admins.
@Kyllorac
You know what I think would be cool with digital publications is if authors could pick out certain mood songs for certain points. It wouldn’t play automatically, but if you wanted, there would be these little play buttons at certain points that you could press. I used to embed song files on my stories on word processor back in the midi file/ wave file days. All sorts of copyright issues I’m sure, but it would be really cool.
@Taku
Ah, I only came around during the Arthryn admin days Charles too I guess. I think they recently had a mass step down prior to that (Aaron). Things had loosened up substantially by then. (It sounded like there were some real characters even before that Yoli etc. Dunno, why but I find forum drama vaguely interesting- maybe I’m just sick. But yeah, I’d hate to see this generation of IF staff go down as they were reasonable people.
Oh. Haha. I was looking through Dog-Eared and The Black Manga is of the Anti-shurtugal crew. Kinda funny how some of the old A-S crowd in the end rose to the top of IF.
People are probably way too busy with NaNo, but I came across two interviews by Paolini
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-prince-of-dragons-christopher-paolini-and-the-rise-of-inheritance-20120308
Is it just me or does the columnist seem rather condescending. (Narrative tone and contradicting how much of an impact CUT had on Paolini?)
http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/at-28-bestselling-author-christopher-paolini-is-ready-to-move-on/Content?oid=3176653
We were always very harsh on Paolini, callling him oblivious to his errors, but some of his comments make me wonder:
(“I write schmaltz with dragons,” says Paolini about his work.)
You’ve finished what’s an elaborate series while still at a young age. Have you had an opportunity to take a step back and look at the experience at this point?
Not quite as much as I would have liked. It’s a complicated thing for me, because I spent so long working on the series. And in all honestly, I spent longer than I would have liked on the series. I’m glad I wrote it, it was a story I needed to tell and wanted to tell. But it’s also a story I devised at 15. And I think there are very few people who are the same person at 27—which is how old I was when I finished the series—as they were when they were 15.
So I’m glad I got it out of my system, but I really don’t want to write another big epic fantasy, at least not right away.
Although I guess like any author, you would see errors in your writing.
Don’t mind the thread-zombie, I just wanted to say that I finally found one! A dying breed, but I’ve never had one respond directly to me before.
XD you guys make me laugh. You buy the books and post your criticism here. You pay too much attention to what is written. I bet you if you did that to every book you would find the same amount of criticism in them. I know! How about you write a book yourselves and show the world how great you are with having nothing that anyone could complain about. You guys need to get a life or at least criticise something worthy or criticism like The Hunger Games. You know some people I just don’t get. If you don’t like the books you don’t need to create a website for it.
Okay, so not much of one, but it still counts! Right? Am I cool now? Guys?
Welp, that’s someone who clearly has never come to these forums, or else they would have seen that we have indeed had rather lengthy debates on the merits/issues of The Hunger Games!
At any rate, in regards to creating a website specifically to mock something, why not? It’s funny. And seeing as we’re all sad pathetic neckbearded losers ( especially the women), it’s not like we have anything better to do with our lives.
You buy the books and post your criticism here.
Well…usually we don’t buy them. Not unless we can help it.
You pay too much attention to what is written.
...As opposed to what isn’t written? I pay a lot of attention to that too. Or do you mean spoken? Seriously, that comment just makes no sense.
I bet you if you did that to every book you would find the same amount of criticism in them
Well…if you read my reviews…
There are some books I can’t find fault in, but it’s not for lack of trying.
How about you write a book yourselves and show the world how great you are with having nothing that anyone could complain about.
That would be hard…and why would I? People have the right to complain about what I write, just like I have the right to complain about what they write. The real question is do their complaints make sense or are they just whining?
You guys need to get a life or at least criticise something worthy or criticism like The Hunger Games.
I’ve been considering actually giving a full review of the issues that I have with the series as well as what I think the strengths are.
You know some people I just don’t get.
I don’t get a lot of people either. Like ones who complain about people who entertain themselves in a quiet, mostly non threatening way.
If you don’t like the books you don’t need to create a website for it.
Did we hurt your feelings?
Yeah, they’re pretty cute. Using some lovely canned arguments and whining about people having the gall to disagree with them. I liked the person who called me an ass better. This one at least can use proper grammar.
Turns out people had originally guessed correctly. Had the series stuck with three books, it would have been called “Empire”
In addition, Eragon sold 1 million copies in its first 6 months under Kopf.
The series has sold 35 million.
Jargon is the Dragon rider who only speaks in corporate buzzwords.
I approve most heartily.
Reagan: to everyone’s surprise, an actor becomes a Dragon Rider and becomes unexpectedly well-liked for it.
Breakin’: a klutzy, kleptomaniac dragon who just isn’t that good at robbery (due to being the size of a house); the name refers both to breaking and entering and his habit of just plain breaking things.
Cragon: a dragon who, uh, looks like a mountain?
Iragon is the Rider from New Zealand, in Alagaesia on a cultural exchange.
This act of thread necromancy shouldn’t be apologised for.
Vragon: a dragon rider who moonlights as a member of a constructor fleet, and writes poetry widely regarded as the worst in the universe.
Iragon is the Rider from New Zealand, in Alagaesia on a cultural exchange.
Taku, I am laughing so hard you would not believe. That is perfect. Is anyone inspired to write a little imagine spot about how that might go? I’m trying to but I’m coming up with nothing.
“What do you mean you don’t know how to make fush and chups, bru? This is bullshut!”
“End you duddn’t even vote for Gelbetorex? Et least thet guy Mertor hes some gud ideas, eh!”
“Shit yeah bro, he’s real deep ey. Deep as, bro.”
“Oy bro, Sepphira got unto the mead and she’s all over the place ey.”
Paolini did / is a third of the way through doing an AMA on Reddid/Fantasy.
so far all he’s answered is softball questions about minor details, his writing process, and the same three questions by a dozen different commenters each.
The actually hard questions (courtesy of Antishurtugal members) are being ignored entirely. Some of the Epistler’s questions (through a friend) are really harsh.
lol, I’ll have to look that up later.
Having flashbacks to the golden age of ASF. Good times.
I’m so late to this party, but:
Argon – A draconic noble filled with bluster and hot air. He doesn’t so much as breathe fire as suffer neon blue vapors.
draconic noble
lol
This just in, in the latest round of AMA answers, Paolini lied through his teeth to say that galby’s death, a point-for-point lift from Magician’s Gambit by Eddings, is a completely original consequence of the plot and world, and has no outside inspiration.
Also that the series is about Eragon learning to become a moral and responsible person.
moral and responsible person
teeheehee yeah right
Full quote:
The takedown of Galbatorix arose naturally out of the restrictions and conditions I’d created within the series. There was no other source/inspiration. Since so much of the Inheritance Cycle revolves around Eragon learning to understand himself (and to be a moral and responsible person), it seemed only right that he would force Galbatorix to do the same, and by doing so, slay the king.
By the way, if anyone’s interested, the Anti-Shurtugal folks are doing a mass group sporking of Brisingr, like we did with Inheritance a few years back. This time, organised and participated in by The Epistler.