eragon pt. ten
Jan. 26th, 2007 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kippurbirdICON!
Not that great of an Icon, but I'm not that great of an Icon maker. Still, perfectly gankable, with credit to me.
Gundamkiwi did this icon here though,
I'm assuming that's also Gankable.
Anyway, Onto the analysis.
Chapter Therinsford
Shiny Magical Objects in Eragon's Possession Zar'roc of DOOOM. Lots of Meat. >> Cadoc, a horse.
Summary
Brom and Eragon leave their little nest of thorns. Here we get a lesson in Dragon Biology. Brom knows a lot about dragon biology. Far more than an ordinary person should know. Eragon doesn't question that. This is, also another bit of Info dumping. And I'm not really certain how necessary it is that we know about dragons life cycles. This is what Brom says about dragons and their life cycles.
"You see," he said, "When a dragon lays an egg, the infant inside is ready to hatch. But it waits, sometimes for years, for the right circumstances. When dragons lived in the wild, those circumstances were usually dictated by the availability of food. However, once they formed an alliance with the elves, a certain number of their eggs, usually no more than one or two , were given to the riders each year. These eggs, or rather the infants inside wouldn't hatch until the person destined to be its Rider came into their presence - though how they sensed that isn't known..." (112)
Now, let us look at this. It looks very clever on the surface, but there are some problems with it. First of all, an egg is supposed to be something that protects the baby until it's full grown and ready to hatch. There's food in the yolk sack and once it's gone, the infant is ready to hatch. This is one of the reasons why the infant hatches, because there isn't any food. If the dragon is ready to hatch, then it's not going to be able to survive in the egg all by itself with no food. Basically that dragon is starving to death inside the egg as it waits for the right time. Now, for the fact that the dragon is waiting for the right time to hatch, like food or something like that. These dragons are supposedly intelligent creatures, surely they would know not to lay eggs when there isn't enough food around. And usually, animals won't go into mating cycles when there isn't enough food around for their children to eat. Then there's the point of how did the dragons' biology change so that they went from hatching when there's enough food around to hatching when the right person is there for them? In the Pern Series, the dragon hatchlings were genetically modified to search the room of candidates and find the right person to bond with. It was a modification of the fire lizards ability to impress onto anyone who offered them food. There's no explanation for why these dragons would suddenly change their habits like that.
Another question I'd like answered is how many eggs are laid per clutch. This seems to be an important part of dragon biology. But it's not answered.
In any case, Brom goes on to talk about dragonic eating habits like how they don't need to eat for months at a time when they're sedentary and full grown. Brom knows an awful lot about dragon biology. Which, again, should be a specialized field. But Eragon, as I said, doesn't question this.
We then get the standard training scene. It's really very standard. There's nothing interesting in it that happens at all. Eragon gets beaten by Brom. Whoo. Actually, that's the best thing about it. Eragon gets beaten. I like Brom for that.
On their way into Therisnford they're stopped by a greasy looking man who demands a toll to cross the bridge. This man is bad. We know that he's because he's a greasy looking man and everyone knows that greasy looking men are not good. If the toll man had been an honest looking man, Brom probably wouldn't have stolen his money on the way over the bridge. But since he's greasy looking, it's perfectly okay to assume that he's not supposed to be collecting a toll and take his money.
And yet stealing is bad.
Brom and Eragon then buy horses. Brom gets a white stallion named Snowfire. Putting aside the fact that the name is just idiotic, I mean, snow fire... melted snow... water, and that seems to be trying to rip off the name Shadowfax, stallions are generally not the best sort of animal you want to have with you while traveling. They're rather temperamental. But stallions are cool. And Gandalf rode a stallion. Eragon, meanwhile, learns that he can talk to the animals! How useful. Apparently it's unusual for someone so young to have that ability. But Eragon is just special that way.
You would think, that while they were in Therinsford they would stop to buy supplies that they needed. Since all they had was meat. But no. Instead Brom has Eragon wait for him outside of the village and he goes and finds the Ra'zac's tracks. The man that Brom talks to described them with many shudders. So obviously they were something not nice to deal with and you would want to give them the information they wanted, but still, Sloan is evil for doing that. (There should be an icon that says, "Sloan's not evil, just missunderstod")
Paolini then throws in a "homage" to Weathertop. Brom and Eragon go by a outpost of the Riders where the last rider fell and Galby killed him. In a lovely display of missorder of information, Paolini names Utgard first before telling us what exactly Utgard is. He mentions the name several times and the reader is left wondering what is Utgard? Then he tells us it's the name of the rider's outpost.
Eragon then names his horse after his grandfather. Who must be important, if we're following the naming rules that Paolini has set down, because he's named Cadoc.
Not that great of an Icon, but I'm not that great of an Icon maker. Still, perfectly gankable, with credit to me.
Gundamkiwi did this icon here though,
I'm assuming that's also Gankable. Anyway, Onto the analysis.
Chapter Therinsford
Shiny Magical Objects in Eragon's Possession Zar'roc of DOOOM. Lots of Meat. >> Cadoc, a horse.
Summary
Brom and Eragon leave their little nest of thorns. Here we get a lesson in Dragon Biology. Brom knows a lot about dragon biology. Far more than an ordinary person should know. Eragon doesn't question that. This is, also another bit of Info dumping. And I'm not really certain how necessary it is that we know about dragons life cycles. This is what Brom says about dragons and their life cycles.
"You see," he said, "When a dragon lays an egg, the infant inside is ready to hatch. But it waits, sometimes for years, for the right circumstances. When dragons lived in the wild, those circumstances were usually dictated by the availability of food. However, once they formed an alliance with the elves, a certain number of their eggs, usually no more than one or two , were given to the riders each year. These eggs, or rather the infants inside wouldn't hatch until the person destined to be its Rider came into their presence - though how they sensed that isn't known..." (112)
Now, let us look at this. It looks very clever on the surface, but there are some problems with it. First of all, an egg is supposed to be something that protects the baby until it's full grown and ready to hatch. There's food in the yolk sack and once it's gone, the infant is ready to hatch. This is one of the reasons why the infant hatches, because there isn't any food. If the dragon is ready to hatch, then it's not going to be able to survive in the egg all by itself with no food. Basically that dragon is starving to death inside the egg as it waits for the right time. Now, for the fact that the dragon is waiting for the right time to hatch, like food or something like that. These dragons are supposedly intelligent creatures, surely they would know not to lay eggs when there isn't enough food around. And usually, animals won't go into mating cycles when there isn't enough food around for their children to eat. Then there's the point of how did the dragons' biology change so that they went from hatching when there's enough food around to hatching when the right person is there for them? In the Pern Series, the dragon hatchlings were genetically modified to search the room of candidates and find the right person to bond with. It was a modification of the fire lizards ability to impress onto anyone who offered them food. There's no explanation for why these dragons would suddenly change their habits like that.
Another question I'd like answered is how many eggs are laid per clutch. This seems to be an important part of dragon biology. But it's not answered.
In any case, Brom goes on to talk about dragonic eating habits like how they don't need to eat for months at a time when they're sedentary and full grown. Brom knows an awful lot about dragon biology. Which, again, should be a specialized field. But Eragon, as I said, doesn't question this.
We then get the standard training scene. It's really very standard. There's nothing interesting in it that happens at all. Eragon gets beaten by Brom. Whoo. Actually, that's the best thing about it. Eragon gets beaten. I like Brom for that.
On their way into Therisnford they're stopped by a greasy looking man who demands a toll to cross the bridge. This man is bad. We know that he's because he's a greasy looking man and everyone knows that greasy looking men are not good. If the toll man had been an honest looking man, Brom probably wouldn't have stolen his money on the way over the bridge. But since he's greasy looking, it's perfectly okay to assume that he's not supposed to be collecting a toll and take his money.
And yet stealing is bad.
Brom and Eragon then buy horses. Brom gets a white stallion named Snowfire. Putting aside the fact that the name is just idiotic, I mean, snow fire... melted snow... water, and that seems to be trying to rip off the name Shadowfax, stallions are generally not the best sort of animal you want to have with you while traveling. They're rather temperamental. But stallions are cool. And Gandalf rode a stallion. Eragon, meanwhile, learns that he can talk to the animals! How useful. Apparently it's unusual for someone so young to have that ability. But Eragon is just special that way.
You would think, that while they were in Therinsford they would stop to buy supplies that they needed. Since all they had was meat. But no. Instead Brom has Eragon wait for him outside of the village and he goes and finds the Ra'zac's tracks. The man that Brom talks to described them with many shudders. So obviously they were something not nice to deal with and you would want to give them the information they wanted, but still, Sloan is evil for doing that. (There should be an icon that says, "Sloan's not evil, just missunderstod")
Paolini then throws in a "homage" to Weathertop. Brom and Eragon go by a outpost of the Riders where the last rider fell and Galby killed him. In a lovely display of missorder of information, Paolini names Utgard first before telling us what exactly Utgard is. He mentions the name several times and the reader is left wondering what is Utgard? Then he tells us it's the name of the rider's outpost.
Eragon then names his horse after his grandfather. Who must be important, if we're following the naming rules that Paolini has set down, because he's named Cadoc.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-01-27 08:37 am (UTC)And indeed, the above icon is perfectly gankable. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-27 09:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-27 09:20 pm (UTC)Oooh, yes, theft is bad, but Eragon steal. Oh, and hurting people is bad, but he still threatens to push a burning hot grain of sand into a soldier's eye. Because he's a good guy and things like that don't matter for the good guys.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-27 11:52 pm (UTC)How do they know when they've found the rider they're destined to bond with? Magic.
How do the dragons survive indefinitely inside the egg, if there's only so much nutritious yolk in there?
Suspended animationMagic.The problem with unskilled fantasy writers is that they think they can do whatever they want with their world, and chalk everything up to "magic." That way, they don't have to explain things, or even think about them before writing them down.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 12:36 am (UTC)It certainly seems like that.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 03:15 am (UTC)Actually, no, wait... I KNOW he reads Eddings. There's no way he could rip off Garion so fully and not have. So, assuming that to be true, he could have read the Rivan Codex, in which Eddings claims that there are four types of hero and that Eddings himself chose the dumb type because you get to explain everything to them, and thus to the reader.
Which leads me to believe that Paolini is simply following this instruction literally, completely missing that Garion himself is not actually stupid.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 03:34 am (UTC)I'm trying to figure out how that works, and I'm failing.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 03:38 am (UTC)The number of exemptions he makes in his world for Eragon are plain ridiculous. He can talk to animals even though he's soooo youuuuung. He can venture into the Spine without mortal injury. He has three arms. People are divided into the 'like/don't like' categories of good and evil.
I'll stop spouting the obvious now and just congratulate you on your bravery in reading this brilliant work of fiction.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 04:27 am (UTC)*pets* it's okay. Sometimes I feel like I'm stating the obvious too.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 06:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 09:09 am (UTC)(You need to be a young age, preferably around 17, for this to work.)
Ingredients:
a Star Wars DVD set
the Lord of the Rings trilogy
several Anne McCaffrey books
1 overused, cliched plot
Three thesauri
1 alphabet, to taste
Instructions:
Beat the Star Wars DVDs, LOTR books, and Anne McCaffreys in a large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly until each appears unrecognizable to the undiscerning reader.
Take your thesauri and be liberal when mixing them in. If the mixture seems too dry or is not purple enough, prepare several clever typos and anagrams and add them to your mixture.
This is the difficult part and should only be attempted by numskull writer wannabes who wish to appear original. Take your alphabet and flip it upside down or backwards, or both. Then scatter the letters around and make sure no combination creates an already existing word. Give every U an umlaut and sprinkle in apostrophes wherever necessary.
Take your processed alphabet and dump it into your bowl. When mixing, we recommend that you use Tolkien--by now he should be spinning in his grave, which is very convenient for mixing purposes.
Pour the mixture into your standard cliched plot.
When you are done with all this, it should look disgusting. A good test is to introduce a beta reader to your creation--if said beta barfs and runs away, it's a sign that you are ready. Hand your slop to the nearest publishing company--nepotism is your best bet. If your parents are not publishers, sucks for you!
Publicize widely by telling everyone that you are seventeen. If you receive any movie offers, say yes immediately.
Remember to ignore your critics. They're just jealous, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 09:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 09:29 am (UTC)Ooh, that works. Wasn't Paolini 15 or something when he finished Eragon, though?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 09:31 am (UTC)Eragon: "SHUT UP OR I'LL GET SAND IN YOUR EYE!"
Guard: "Noes! Please, anything but red-hot SAND in my EYE!"
And now I'm just being juvenile for the hell of it.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 09:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 11:32 am (UTC)He's twenty-three now, and people still damn well think he's still 15.
Sigh.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 05:54 pm (UTC)*whimper*
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 06:05 pm (UTC)And how does it take four years to write something like Eragon? When i was fifteen, I wrote a novel in one year. While it may not have been publishable, I'd be doing myself an injustice if I said it wasn't at least as good as the Inheritance trilogy.
(Pluggage upon request.)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 07:26 pm (UTC)Don't boys throw sand in girls'/boys' eyes to say they like them? Maybe Paolini was trying to hint at something!
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 08:03 pm (UTC)Entitlement laces the following comment.
Date: 2007-01-29 12:31 am (UTC)Re: Entitlement laces the following comment.
Date: 2007-01-29 01:00 am (UTC)Re: Entitlement laces the following comment.
Date: 2007-01-29 02:35 am (UTC)By the way, this is Araine from the PPC, and you are doing an AMAZING job!
no subject
Date: 2007-01-31 01:31 am (UTC)Have an unhatched dragon egg? No problemo! Just add
waterEragon, and you've got yourself a dragon!Oh, I wandered over here from Deleterius, BTW. *waves to everyone.*
no subject
Date: 2007-01-31 01:37 am (UTC)because I want to write some HAWT Durza/Arya, yobecause I want to see how bad it is.*But yeah, Jack Bauer, he ain't. Bauer's way cooler.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-06 03:41 am (UTC)What? That's not possible, unless the dragon is actually hibernating. Just because it's sedentary doesn't mean that it doesn't need calories. After all, most caloric intake is for body maintenance, and only a small portion is for moving about.