eldest part twenty two

[kippurbird]

Chapters The Hammer Falls, The Beginning of Wisdom


Summary

Reader's advisory, there is more poetry in this analysis.


Now that we have that lovely thing to look forward to, we go back to Roran.

Roran has watch. It's dark. The moon is floating. He's trying not to fall asleep. A wind blows and all of a sudden he starts feeling the need to flee. And the Ra'zac are back. Or one of them at least. Riding on their parent, which apparently is very cunning... but doesn't seem to be able to speak... unless they do it telepathically. In any case, this very cunning creature lets out a very loud screech thus breaking its cover and letting everyone know it's there.

This gives the watch time to get to everyone and tell them to shut up. They also have time to calm the animals down, though Roran has to shoot a donkey that doesn't shut up. This donkey has alerted the Ra'zac to their position. However... they fly away. Which then leaves me to wonder, what was the point of this scene? The Ra'zac knew they were there... but they left. It vaguely reminds me of the scene in the Lord of the Rings in Hollin when the Crebin attack the the Fellowship.

But it's over and done with and then the next morning they go to talk to the Barge owner. They discuss when they're going to leave and things like that. Then the villagers prepare to leave. The next day, Roran and a group of villagers who are going to guard the boats and help man them go into town again. This time the guards stop them and one of them goes, and the following scene ensues:

Gaurd: Um.. you look familiar, what's your name?
Roran: Stronghammer.
Gaurd: Are you sure it's not Roran?
Roan: RORAN SMASH PUNY GUARDS! *stabity*

See, now what I would have done, is bluffed my way through, saying something, like, "No, I'm sorry. Remember I came through here a few days ago. That's probably where you remember me from." No, instead he ups and kills them and thinks "Now I've killed ten." And then has one of the guys get rid of the bodies in a ditch. They then go to the docks and get ready to leave. The barge captain wants to know how he won such loyalty from his men. Roran says because he saved them from slavery and being eaten. I think it's because he's going to go all berserker on them.

The barge captain's daughter shows up to wish him a good journey and makes Roran feel all sad for the people he killed, "As he watched Clovis bid his family farewell, Roran thought of the two soldiers dead by the gate. They might have had families as well. Wives and children who loved them and a home they returned to each day... He tasted bile and hate to wrench his thoughts back to the pier to avoid being sick." (page 424). My only response to this is, Roran should have thought about this before he went all stabity. I think it's there to show that Roran isn't a cold blooded killer and feels that he did something wrong. But it doesn't work because he didn't think when he went all stabity. He just did. And he had no bad thoughts about it until maybe several hours later. So, he's not a man who doesn't like killing, but instead, a cold blooded killer who maybe later feels remorse and only for a minute. In fact he probably wouldn't have felt remorse at all, unless he saw the child.

As they're leaving the town goes up into alarm. There's some talk about going to see what's up, but they decide they can't because they'll lose the tide. As they float out to see, Roran contemplates how beautiful the day is, the fact that he just killed two people completely forgotten.

When they get to the cove where the other villagers are, the barge owner is all WTF, this isn't what I signed up for! And Roran is yeah well, you're still gonna do it or else. And the barge owner is Okay fine, then tries to stab Roran in the back. And Roran is All No you don't, you're going to do what I say or I'll steal your boats. Barge owner is "oh fine, whatever, I never liked the king anyway." They load up and they leave. The End.

Back to Eragon. Eragon loves the elves' city. He really does. All the animals love the elves because they're not going to get eaten. However, Arya is avoiding Eragon and he's sad about that. So he picks her a bunch of flowers and goes to her room. She's not there, so he proceeds to snoop. He discovers a poem she wrote.

Under the moon, the bright white moon,
lies a pool, a flat silver pool,
among the brakes and brambles
and black hearted pines

Falls a stone, a living stone
cracks the moon, the bright white moon
among the brakes and brambles,
and black heart pines

Shards of light, swords of light
ripple 'cross the pool
the quiet mere, the still tarn
the lonely lake there.

In the night, the dark and heavy night
flutter shadows, confused shadows
where once...



Well, this one certainly has better rhythm than the other poems we've discovered. Not great rhythm, but better. The imagery needs some work however. I'm not sure what exactly are confused shadows are. It's nothing really spectacular either.

Arya, of course, shows up and Eragon is all I got you flowers as an apology for the picture I made of you, I didn't mean to cause you problems can we still be friends? After a bit Arya is "oh fine." They talk for a bit and the Blood Oath celebration is mentioned. Apparently you're supposed to compose a piece of art for it. Eragon says that her poetry was really good and she demurs saying if he had read any real poetry he would know it's not good. And he tells her that he has. And she goes, "Forgive me. You are not the person I first met in Gil'ead"

We then get an infodump on how the nature of the dragon and elves' bond and how it was formed. The word Thereupon is used at one point.

The joining changed us. We dragons gained the use of language and other trappings of civilization, while the elves shared in our longevity since before that moment, their lives were as short as humans'. In the end, the elves were the most affected. Our magic, dragon's magic- which permeates every fiber of our being - was transmitted to the elves and, in time, gave them their much-vaunted strength and grace. Humans have never been influenced as strongly, since you were added to the spell after its completion and it has not had as much time to work upon you as with the elves. Still- and here Glaedr's eye gleamed. - it has already gentled your race from the rough barbarians who first landed in Alagaesia, though you have begun to regress since the Fall.

"Were dwarves ever part of this spell?" asked Eragon.

No, and this is why there has never been a dwarf Rider. They do not care for dragons, nor we for them, and they found the idea of being joined with us repellent. Perhaps it is fortunate that they did not enter into our pact, for they have escaped the decline of humans and elves.

Decline, Master? queried Saphira in what Eragon would have sworn was a teasing tone of voice.

Aye, decline. If one or another of our three races, so do they all. By killing dragons, Galbatorix harmed his own race as well as the elves. The two of you have not seen this, for you are new to Ellesmera, bu the elves are on the wane; their power is not what it once was. And humans have lost much of their culture and been consumed by chaos and corruption. Only by righting the balance between our three races shall order return to the world.

The old dragon kneaded the scree with his talons, crumbling it up into gravel so that he was more comfortable. Layered within the enchantment Queen Tarmunora oversaw was the mechanism that allows a hatchling to be linked with his or her Rider. When a dragon decides to give an egg to the Riders, certain words are said over the egg -which I shall teach you later - that prevent the dragon inside from hatching until it is brought into contact with the person with whom it decides to bond. As dragons can remain in their eggs indefinitely, time is no concern, nor is the infant harmed. You yourself are an example of this Saphira.

(page 438)

So what have we learned here? Dragons are wonderful, of course. However, one has to wonder something. Treaties are things that civilized people use to end conflicts. If the dragons weren't civilized, how did they know what a treaty is and what its purpose was? Such an understanding would only come with civilization. And it took them nine years after they decided to do it to get civilization. I'm curious as to what else the dragons learned from the elves. Did they learn how to make art? It looks like the elves really got the better end of this bargain. They got long life, good looks and magic. The dragons got...language and civilization. Which they apparently already had.

And then how did the first Eragon and dragon bond if this magical ability only happened after the treaty and the magical spell. This spell also is reminiscent of what Wind Blossom did to the fire-lizard eggs to make them dragons. One of the things that she did was create the "need" for the dragon hatchling to bond with the right person when they hatched.

We also have the decline of the elves cliche. There is no particular need for this, nor reason. From what we are told, the dragons and elves start entwining souls or something. By this logic, that the decline of the dragons have caused the decline of the elves, instead almost all the elves should be dead, because almost all the dragons are dead, and so should all the humans. After all the dragons aren't declining they're near extinct. Of course, that's how it should be done logically. But really, if we were to do that, then there wouldn't be any people in the story.

With the idea that the dragons brought culture to the humans with their bonding, if we recall, the humans had enough culture to have nobles and kings and they knew also what a treaty is and how to write one up even. Generally speaking barbarians don't know how to do such things. And there hasn't been much chaos among the human lands since the dragons all died. It's been pretty peaceful, as far as we've been able to tell. Unless this chaos is all happening somewhere else that we don't know about.

With this lovely infodump done, there is some discussion of the soul, basically saying that if the flesh is destroyed so is the soul. I'm not completely up on atheist practices, but the idea of the soul seems to be something that religion would deal with, especially what happens to the soul after it dies.

In any case, they have to learn how to sever their bond so that way in case one of them is injured it will be protected from the pain. I thought one of the points of the bond between them is that they share everything good things and bad. It's not something that can be broken. Apparently, of course, I was wrong. The bond is merely something of convince.

Eragon muses on the fact that it's horrible to die alone and Glaedr says well yeah, everyone dies alone.

Lovely thoughts.

Finally Eragon gets sick of the vegetarian fair and decides to go hunting for meat. He and Saphira fly out to some place and Eragon kills some rabbits with magic. He muses how easy it was... which took out some of the fun of hunting. In any case, he gets the rabbits all nice and cooked and then he has a revelation.

As he opened his mouth to take the first bite, his thoughts turned unbidden to his meditations. He remembered his excursions into the minds of birds and squirrels and mice, how full of energy they felt and how vigorously they fought for the right to exist in the face of danger. And if this life is all they have...

Gripped by revulsion, Eragon thrust the meat away, as appalled by the fact that he killed the rabbits as if he had murdered two people. His stomach churned and threatened to make him purge himself. (page 445)

Now, why didn't this revelation occur to Eragon when he used his mind reading powers to locate the rabbits in the first place, before he killed them? Obviously, he's not so concerned as he appears to be, if it's coming to him after he's skinned and cooked them already. And then, he feels like he just killed two people, but if we recall Eragon's reaction to killing people, he has no reaction to it. He doesn't ever feel remorse or guilt or horrible or anything. So he shouldn't be having these reactions to killing the rabbits. He should be fine. But of course, since Paolini doesn't see this in his character, and doesn't see that he's made Eragon a remorseless killer, we have such statements as this, that completely contradict the previously stated actions of the character.

When Saphira returns from hunting, she tells him its the way of the world, things eating things. Still Eragon takes a vow of Vegetarianism. When Saphira asks him why he answers her thus:

Because we can better ourselves, he answered Saphira Should we given into our impulses to hurt or kill anyone who anger us, to take whatever we want from those who are weaker, and in general, to disregard the feelings of others? We are made imperfect and must guard against our flaws least they destroy us. He gestured at the rabbits. As Oromis said, why should we cause unnecessary suffering?

Would you deny all your desires, then?

I would deny those that are destructive.(page 444)

I find this discussion to be highly ironic. Once again Eragon has shown no remorse for the killing and torture of people, yet here he talks about not needlessly causing pain and destruction. While this is fine and good philosophy, it doesn't fit in with his character and who he is, as loose of a term we can use in regards to him as a character. Instead it feels like Paolini preaching the reason why we shouldn't eat meat. Eragon has come to the realization that it is cruel to the animals to kill them and hunt them. But then again, how much suffering did they go through when he magically snuff their lives out? I doubt very much, so his argument holds no water. It is just the preaching forced into the mouth of a character who is forced out of character to recite it.

Comments

[christinaathena.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that poem's a little better than previous poems (not that that's saying much, of course)

This spell also is reminiscent of what Wind Blossom did to the fire-lizard eggs to make them dragons. One of the things that she did was create the "need" for the dragon hatchling to bond with the right person when they hatched. Although, Wind Blossom was only strengthening the fire-lizards' tendency to Impress on the first person to feed them, and somehow altering that into a more specific form, in which the dragonet looked for a specific person

With this lovely infodump done, there is some discussion of the soul, basically saying that if the flesh is destroyed so is the soul. I'm not completely up on atheist practices, but the idea of the soul seems to be something that religion would deal with, especially what happens to the soul after it dies. In theory, one could believe in a soul without believing in some kind of higher power. Atheist doesn't have to mean materialist, especially if there's some logical, experimential, reason to believe in the existence of some non-corporeal sentience.

but if we recall Eragon's reaction to killing people, he has no reaction to it. He doesn't ever feel remorse or guilt or horrible or anything. So he shouldn't be having these reactions to killing the rabbits. Hitler was a fairly consistent vegitarian, believing meat to be cruel, yet when it came to humans, he was far from humane. Yet another reason to believe that Eragon means Adolf. ;-)

P.S., there's a couple of broken html tags in your post.

[lccorp2.livejournal.com]

Ah, but don't you know? Those humans were EVVVVIL! That's why killing them was necessary! (/sarcasm)

Oh, and feast your eye on this and feel sad:

“Bringing the full power of his will to bear, Eragon demolished the magician’s resistance, took control of his consciousness … determined which troops the man was guarding, and slew the man with one of the twelve words of death. Without pause, Eragon located the minds of each of the now-unprotected soldiers and killed them as well. … The ease with which he slew them amazed Eragon” (Eldest, pg. 624).

Paolini loses. Really.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

In theory, one could believe in a soul without believing in some kind of higher power. Atheist doesn't have to mean materialist, especially if there's some logical, experimential, reason to believe in the existence of some non-corporeal sentience.

I'm not too sure about Atheist beliefs hence my tentative statements to that effect. It is the use of the word soul that makes me red flag the section though.

Hitler was a fairly consistent vegitarian, believing meat to be cruel, yet when it came to humans, he was far from humane. Yet another reason to believe that Eragon means Adolf. ;-)

This isn't looking good for Paolini, is it?

*fixes tags*

[jacedraccus.livejournal.com]

I think the only thing wrong with Oromis's theory about the soul and the afterlife is that he put it in terms of a soul. That doesn't seem to jibe.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what bothered me in that section too.

[thelittlebudgie.livejournal.com]

I fail to see any "regression" of humanity here (Unless Eragon is an example thereof?). They're thriving, the elves are thriving; really, only the dragons are near-extinct, and it hasn't impacted the others at all.

The only possibly logical explanation for the treaty bit is that it was more of a "We'll kill you if you don't agree with us" sort of thing that was glorified later. But, knowing dearest Pao Pao, he probably had it told in the Generic Ancient Language of Elfiness, which means it's The Truth.

I wanted to do a story where one person every three generations got to choose how the magic would work. Two countries in a situation not unlike the Hundred Years War sent a representative each off to find the current 'Magic' and try to be named the next one. The first was pretty idealistic, but the second realized fairly soon on that since magic could change reality, the person who could define magic could redefine magic.

"Should we given into our impulses to hurt or kill anyone who anger us, to take whatever we want from those who are weaker, and in general, to disregard the feelings of others? We are made imperfect and must guard against our flaws least they destroy us."

Yet he still gets ridiculously upset when Arya continues to reject his advances, threatens to torture people, and generally disregards the feelings of others for the duration. And shouldn't Saphira already understand why he took the oath? After all, they've got the whole souls-being-entwined thing going on.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Neither do I. There is no mention of regression anywhere. In fact things seem to be rather peaceful. No one seems to be in fear of their lives or anything.

The oath thing was particularly ridiculous and preachy. There was no reason for it. With all the magic at his disposal, Eragon could have made the deaths painless, thus eliminating his argument that it causes needless suffering. But this aspect of magic is apparently forgotten in Paolini's need to preach the virtues of vegetarianism. Even, as I said, it makes no sense for the character based on previous actions.

[dryaunda.livejournal.com]

Pao Pao would make an ideal supporter of PETA.

[sonic-sues.livejournal.com]

With this lovely infodump done, there is some discussion of the soul, basically saying that if the flesh is destroyed so is the soul.

He took that from Egyptian mythology. They mummified bodies because they believed that flesh was part of the soul, along with ka (life force) and ba (spirit).

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

That doesn't surprise me one bit. At all.

[dryaunda.livejournal.com]

What would happen if you ate somebody?

[reverie-shadow.livejournal.com]

At this point, Alexander would like for me to mention that when he had first killed a person, he was severely devastated by it, both mentally and emotionally. His first response to it had been vomiting, which is not a very uncommon reaction when a person kills for the first time. He is also thoroughly disgusted with how these teenage boys just kind of kill people by the dozens and are able to simply shrug it off (even though Roran angsts for like, what? a couple paragraphs?). I think that Johnny Cash song, "I Hung My Head", is also a pretty good song about a young man's reaction to accidentally killing someone.

That being said, we both find it terribly hypocritical that Eragon feels disgust in himself for killing the rabbits, but not his fellow humans (we do not care if he doesn't see himself as a human fucking robot). After all, like Roran thought after killing the soldiers, the men they kill more than likely had families. Wives, children, parents, friends, loved ones--

No wait, what am I thinking? They were the Bad Guys! Pshhh. Bad Guys don't have families and loved ones.

I also found how you would've gotten past those guards far more sensible. I mean, wouldn't a sane person try to find a passive, non-violent way to get through situations like that? But then, judging by the maniacal laughter, Roran clearly isn't a sane person. So there you go.

Arya's poem is a step-up from the crap Paolini usually writes, but that isn't saying a whole lot.

I would like to nominate "You are not the person I first met in Gil'ead" as the second Most Ironic Sentence said in "Eldest".

[berseker.livejournal.com]

would like to nominate "You are not the person I first met in Gil'ead" as the second Most Ironic Sentence said in "Eldest".

What was the first?

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

His first response to it had been vomiting, which is not a very uncommon reaction when a person kills for the first time.

Incidentally, why is that a common reaction to killing? I mean, if I killed someone I know I'd feel very upset. But I'm curious as to why vomiting happens in that situation. Is it because the severe anxiety typically upsets the stomach?

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Alec agrees with Alexander, saying that when he first killed someone it utterly devastated him and he wasn't really functional for several days. And he did it by accident too. He is also disconcerted with the boys random killing and no real remorse. Deciding to kill someone is the hardest thing he does.

Eragon and Roran both appear to be utter hypocrites, their words not fitting their actions at all. And they're both blood thirsty.

Violence, as you say, should be the last resort. Not the first. I believe that Roran is leading by fear and not by charisma.

That definitely could be.

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

Roran seems to be concerned about killing people for the sake of pretending to be normal. Killing the guards should have been the last tactic he took not the first, yet it appears that Roran just really wanted to kill somebody so he did. Lovely role model. I can't quite decide if his level of sociopathy is the same or greater than Eragon's level.

The vegetarism arguement just sounds like Paolini trying to be preachy without seeming too and failing at it as always. If Eragon is so upset with meat eating why isn't he forcing Saphira to become a vegetarian? Shouldnt' she be feel feeling his revulsion at her meat eating?

[christinaathena.livejournal.com]

Well, dragons have different metabolism than humans. Humans can survive, and even thrive, on a vegetarian diet (if carefully planned), but that's not true of all animals including, presumably, dragons.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

And even then it doesn't feel like real concern. It's more like, the appropriate response for me is to be concerned, so I'll act concerned now.

As for the bond thing, it could also be the other way around, since Saphira doesn't feel revulsion for eating meat, Eragon shouldn't either. But I'm being logical again, forgive me.

[millenium-king.livejournal.com]

I would assume that the act of SKINNING and GUTTING the little rabbits would trigger revulsion long before he got a chance to eat them. In fact, the blood involved in dressing them is far more repugnant than the look of cooked meat.

Also, I find it hard to believe that a guy who spent his ENTIRE life hunting would change his mind so abruptly.

Also - killing. Wouldn't it be awesome to actually see a character who feels disgust at killing, but then slowly grows more and more jaded to it? That's what I imagine happens in real life. Unless you're a real monster and just never feels anything at all from the get go.

[christinaathena.livejournal.com]

Also, I find it hard to believe that a guy who spent his ENTIRE life hunting would change his mind so abruptly.

Indeed. *nods* If Paolini wanted him to become a vegetarian, he could've approached it in a more gradual manner. Eragon first takes care to kill his prey with a minimum of suffering, and becomes concerned about the well-being of domestic animals, making sure they're kept in nice large enclosures, are well-treated, etc. Gradually he could eliminate meat from his diet, being increasingly reluctant to kill, and only then would he become a complete vegetarian.

But, of course, that would require planning.

Few vegetarians become vegetarians overnight, unless they saw something that distrubed them, like witnessing a slaughterhouse in action. And for someone who grew up hunting, that wouldn't be an issue.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

You would think that. But logical thought processes seem to not exist in Paoland.

Unless you're a real monster and just never feels anything at all from the get go.

That would be Eragon, from what I've seen.

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

*waves* Hey! Sorry again for my comment in the fanfic post. I'm not good at remembering names (I kind of remember the icons first.) Hence why I thought you were a random person from the middle of nowhere, doing a sort of drive-by commenting. XD

And yeah, it's really unrealistic for Eragon to be able to get through all of that before feeling repulsed by it. Then again, I'm pretty certain that Paolini has no idea what goes into preparing meat for consumption (or else he really is just that illogical.) :P :)

[votgs.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that the poem is actually a reference to a kind of balladic poem, which tended to have repeating structures like that.

Except he fucks it up, and breaks the pattern, when the whole -point- of that form is the pattern itself.

Then again, my mind might be reaching to poetry from another fantasy novel--in any case, it's not a well done poem. It's only grace in my mind is that it recalls echoes of a poem or a song that I did like.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that the poem is actually a reference to a kind of balladic poem, which tended to have repeating structures like that.

I believe you're right, and as you say, he completely fucks it up. He's very good at picking the right things but his execution is horrible.

[gjohnsonkoehn.livejournal.com]

The barge captain wants to know how he won such loyalty from his men. Roran says because he saved them from slavery and being eaten.

Except that he's the one who created that threat in the first godsdamned place! Frankly, he should be down on his knees thanking whatever non-deitic no-doubt New Age Paganistic 'earth mother' force the humans worship that the town didn't just toss him to the king's forces in the first place. They've had to abandon their homes and farms and everything they knew because of him!

"Were dwarves ever part of this spell?" asked Eragon.

No, and this is why there has never been a dwarf Rider. They do not care for dragons, nor we for them, and they found the idea of being joined with us repellent.

Well, it's nice of them to, nevertheless, fall all over Eragon and Saphira, going so far as to make the dragon a set of custom armour and adopting Eragon into the royal family and all. Primitive-and-outmoded-concept on a crutch...

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Except that he's the one who created that threat in the first godsdamned place! Frankly, he should be down on his knees thanking whatever non-deitic no-doubt New Age Paganistic 'earth mother' force the humans worship that the town didn't just toss him to the king's forces in the first place. They've had to abandon their homes and farms and everything they knew because of him!

Well, there you go using logic again. Paolini needed to put Roran into a leadership position and the only way he could do that is to force him to become a leader in battle, even though common sense dictated otherwise. Once he started down that road, everything else is just screwed up.

Well, it's nice of them to, nevertheless, fall all over Eragon and Saphira, going so far as to make the dragon a set of custom armour and adopting Eragon into the royal family and all. Primitive-and-outmoded-concept on a crutch...

Yes, well Eragon is the Hero, what else do you expect?