Laundry List

[kippurbird]

Gifts of Gold


Here again is another useless chapter. I still don't know what the plot is. Eragon isn't doing anything important. Instead he's merely 'cleaning up' which doesn't make for very compelling story telling. In fact in this chapter we have even more house cleaning.

After having left Nasuada's tent Saphira and Eragon part. She is going hunting and bathing. Eragon warns her not to fly to close to the Empire because then they might see her. Which is silly because they already know she's there. She says she wouldn't mind being seen by a small troop of soldiers because then she could eat them. As she says Besides, humans taste just as good as deer

Um... how does she know that?

Really. Honestly.

How does she know that?

From what she says next? Because she's done it already. Her eyes sparkled.Maybe, maybe not. It depends on whether they are wearing armor. I hate biting through metal, and scooping my food out of a shell is just as annoying .

Does Eragon, protector of life, hero to the people, tell her not to?

No.

I see. He glanced over at the nearest elf, a tall, silver-haired woman.The elves won’t want you to go alone. Will you allow a couple of them to ride on you? Otherwise, it will be impossible for them to keep pace.

He never tells her not to do it. She never says she's not going to do it. While yes, I realize that dragons are predators, they're supposed to have a truce with the humanoid races and not eat them now.

Instead this conversation feels more like Saphira saying she likes fish just as much as she likes deer. Except the fish in this case are people. I imagine that if these people were on the Varden's side or if they were someone Eragon knows personally he would put up a bigger fuss. But these are nameless and abstractions. Just possibilities and so they don't count as "real".

The thing is they should count as real. A person mentioned is still a real person even if we never see them. That's how the world works. That's why people get upset about hearing about things they'll never see or ever interact with. There's a basic human connection between people and a built in empathy. It's what makes humans able to connect and cooperate. The fact that Eragon, Nasuada and others are incapable of doing this marks them completely as characters -puppets - moving to Paolini's tune and not fully actualized people which is what you want in a good story.

Once Saphira goes off, Eragon with his elf harem walks to the training field. There he makes gold balls.

No, really.

He strode through the camp until he found a large square of open space where thirty-some Varden were practicing with a wide assortment of weapons. To his relief, they were too busy training to notice his presence. Crouching, he lay his right hand palm-upward on the trampled earth. He chose the words he would need from the ancient language, then murmured, “Kuldr, rïsa lam iet un malthinae unin böllr.”

The soil beside his hand appeared unchanged, although he could feel the spell sifting through the dirt for hundreds of feet in every direction. Not more than five seconds later, the surface of the earth began to boil like a pot of water left to sit for too long over a high flame, and it acquired a bright yellow sheen. Eragon had learned from Oromis that wherever one went, the land was sure to contain minute particles of nearly every element, and while they would be too small and scattered to mine with traditional methods, a knowledgeable magician could, with great effort, extract them.

From the center of the yellow patch, a fountain of sparkling dust arched up and over, landing in the middle of Eragon’s palm. There each glittering mote melded into the next, until three spheres of pure gold, each the size of a large hazelnut, rested on his hand.

I don't know how much a hazelnut size piece of pure gold is worth, but it's a lot. And he says a knowledgeable magician could do it. So, there appear to be a lot of knowledgeable magicians around and since Nasuada is foolishly spending her money/gold she could have them maybe once a day mine gold from the earth. Money problem solved.

The question now is, however, why is Eragon making gold? Anyone would be willing to give him anything he asked for as he is the Dragon Rider. Their savior. Etc. Etc.

We shall see.

The spell apparently has taken a lot of out of him. It would almost be easier to mine the gold, though. A spell hasn’t taken so much out of me since I carried Sloan down from the top of Helgrind . Really now. Let's see he's cured cancer and flubbed up a spell that was so complex it required five minutes to say and those barely bothered him. This one made him a bit sleepy but then he's fine. Still no lasting effects. Which really, makes it seem like the effort is easier than mining gold. Getting that much gold in that little amount of time? Miners would have to do hours of back breaking labor to find that much, if they're lucky. Especially of such pure quality.

Magic for mundane things doesn't appear to be used a lot. It's not used to help fields grow or make homes more comfortable. It's as if it doesn't exist except to blow things up or invade people's minds.

So, after that? Eragon eats lunch.

Gripping.

It's a big lunch too.

We don't get to find out what he ate though, which is somewhat disappointing. After all where's the lavish and strange descriptions of the food that we've come to expect from Paolini?

Continuing our ever thrilling adventures of Eragon Shadeslayer we follow him to the place where the Carvahall people are staying where he find Horst working on a makeshift forge. He's working near the tent instead of with the other smiths because he's worried about his wife's condition. Which is actually a human response. It seems the NPCs are more human than the PCs.

We also learn that Nasuada is mismanaging her money. See they need smiths. They were thrilled to learn that Horst was a smith. But they're not paying him well. You pay your skilled workers more than the unskilled and the valuable ones even more. After all Horst does likely need to buy supplies and things, so if he's not able to pay for them he can't make them and then he's no use to the Varden who needs him. However Katrina and Roran who have no skills whatsoever are given enough money to make them rich for the rest of their lives.

Yeah. That totally works.

I wonder if Paolini had a hand in the economy's collapse.

They chit-chat for a bit and then Eragon asks where Gedric is. Gedric is the man Eragon stole the leather from way back in the first book.

Here we get an interesting comment. Gedric is described and then there's this: Although he was far from handsome, Eragon knew him to be a kind and honest man. Despite being ugly he's nice. Basically we're being told ugly people can't be honest and kind normally. This is a trait that only handsome or beautiful people can have. Gedric here is the exception to the rule. What I believe Paolini is trying to say is that Gedric might look scary but he wasn't. By using handsome as the descriptive word his physical looks are being made to define what sort of man he is.

Eragon asks him about the three ox hides that were stolen. Gedric says that anyone could have stolen them. However the village seems small enough that everyone knows everyone and so it would be easy to find the culprit. But that's using logic. Anyway, Eragon admits to being the one who stole the hides and then gives him one of the gold balls in payment.

Of course it's far too much for the hides.

Of course Gedric says he wants to refuse it because it's too much for the hides.

Of course Eragon insists because he's a good and wonderful person and wants to be overly generous.

Of course Gedric takes it after being convinced and declares how wonderful Eragon is.

Is there a trope for this? There has to be a trope for this. I've seen this so often it's not even funny. One day there ought to be a similar scene except for it stops at the guy taking the hero's gold and saying thank you. He never tries to give it back, never says it's too much.

Gedric asks what Eragon used his hides for. When he learns that it was for Saphira's saddle he dances himself jig and then runs off to tell everyone he provided the hide for her saddle. Eragon escapes.

Comments

[silver-chipmunk.livejournal.com]

"The thing is they should count as real. A person mentioned is still a real person even if we never see them. That's how the world works. That's why people get upset about hearing about things they'll never see or ever interact with. There's a basic human connection between people and a built in empathy. It's what makes humans able to connect and cooperate. "

Yeah, but it's also quite possible to turn it off, and ignore it, de-humanify people, especially in war. That's what makes possible such things as "collateral damage", "We had to destroy the village in order to save it", and genocide.

[kitsuneikkin.livejournal.com]

There's a basic human connection between people and a built in empathy.

I've started to wonder if part of the problem with questionable fiction is that there is no built-in empathy for fictional characters. A real person is a human, even if they're just a name, whereas a character is a nothing until they've done something to earn our empathy.

Which is part of the challenge of being an author - you need to force yourself to see all of your characters empathetically, including the bit-part players, because your heroes should be seeing them that way. Failing to do so can lead to anything from a fairly common bit of moral dissonance (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhatMeasureIsAMook) to people declaring your hero an out-and-out sociopath.

(Paolini digs himself way further into that particular hole than he needs to, though - showing the reader why a character should be empathized with makes it so much worse when the hero acts without any empathy whatsoever)

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

Of course it can be turned off. Like you mentioned, war and other terrible actions that people justify in some manner to aid their conscience.

The thing is... having your dragon suddenly mention something like this isn't the normal kind of thing you should turn your conscience off against. Dragons and their riders supposedly have a strong mental bond and Eragon is supposedly vegetarian. SOME kind of discussion should be had beyond "Well, take people with you when you go, okay?"

It's really an issue of Paolini not connecting the logical dots or him leaving out information he knows and assumes others will already know, such as Saphira's comment maybe being a joke or even just something to insinuate this situation has happened/been discussed before. Instead, it comes across to me as a major WTF moment. This scenario flies in out of nowhere and proceeds off into the sunset without another glance, never to be seen again I'll bet. ^_^;

[ravenswept.livejournal.com]

This was the same problem when Eragon killed that soldier. He had no name, and was the enemy, and so was killed without remorse and weak justification.

Sloan, on the other hand, had a name, and really could be seen as slightly worse then the generic soldier, was given mercy (twisted and sadistic as it was) and the small chance to live.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Except it doesn't feel like a war and Eragon doesn't think about it being collateral damage. Also this fits in with his previous characterization of not caring a whit about NPCs.

[khittyhawk.livejournal.com]

I see. He glanced over at the nearest elf, a tall, silver-haired woman.The elves won’t want you to go alone. Will you allow a couple of them to ride on you? Otherwise, it will be impossible for them to keep pace.



He never tells her not to do it. She never says she's not going to do it. While yes, I realize that dragons are predators, they're supposed to have a truce with the humanoid races and not eat them now.

See, after reading this, I thought that it could be a good way to show that Eragon is willing to excuse Saphira's behavior, and then make that a character flaw. Maybe the humans are going to find out and accuse him sometime in the future, or maybe it shows that he is unwilling to contradict his dragon and turns a blind eye when she runs wild. Though if that were the case, I would expect a reaction, such as Eragon convincing himself she's joking. Though, I would expect a reaction here too, like "This was one of Saphira's jokes. They upset Eragon at first, but he soon grew to understand she meant no harm by it." Or something that better fits the context.

Regarding Gedric, if someone I knew had ridiculous powers and confessed to stealing something of mine, I'd take the money and thank them, hoping they wouldn't crush me into dust. No matter how good everyone says the person is, I still think that most people would be terrified of someone that powerful getting angry. Unless he hasn't seen Eragon's power and still thinks of him as a kid... Great, now this book is giving me ideas...

[torylltales.livejournal.com]

THIS. Eragon needs to flaunt his power more. Get some free stuff by bullying people into it.

Not that he doesn't already, but he needs to do it more. Really cement that fact that's he's a villain.

[smurasaki.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't Eragon be at least disconcerted by Saphira's people munching? I mean, he's a person - finding out he tastes good with ketchup should disturb him.

As for the rest... *headdesk*

[berseker.livejournal.com]

Although he was far from handsome, Eragon knew him to be a kind and honest man.

Uh. I know this is a trope (one of the most overused, I think), but I can´t remember if it worked like that in the previous books. We know people with "cool" names are important and people who like Eragon are good, but beauty? Was that relevant?

(hey, I see you´re not drinking anymore! I´m glad- that would probably end up killing you)

[attack-bunny.livejournal.com]

So did Saphira catch sociopathy from Eragon, or did Eragon catch sociopathy from Saphira?

I just sat there for a few minutes wondering when was the last time I mentioned Saphira as opposed to Eragon or Nasuada or Arya. She's barely there. It's like discussing the furniture.

[falconwhitaker.livejournal.com]

The fact that Eragon, Nasuada and others are incapable of doing this marks them completely as characters -puppets - moving to Paolini's tune and not fully actualized people which is what you want in a good story.

A puppet or a sociopath - I think your "Eragon is a socipath" theory is becoming more and more accurate by the chapter.

[mistyeyedreamer.livejournal.com]

Your icon is so relevent to the plot of this book.

Hmmm...tropewise, maybe Beauty Equals Goodness (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeautyEqualsGoodness/)?

[araine.livejournal.com]

It seems the NPCs are more human than the PCs.

Video game terms seem like a very good way to describe this entire book. Because it reads like a series of games - at least to me.

In fact, had they been written as video games, I suspect that they would likely even be good games. (Not that I am any expert on the subject.)

[ravenswept.livejournal.com]

The hell?...he has three, three , gold - walnuts - and passes by Horst. Horst tells him of the woes of lack of funding, and Eragon then goes and gives all three of his golden nuts to Gedric. For a few pieces of leather.

How generous is Eragon to pass by somebody who is in actual need of funds and do nothing (especially considering how much Horst has done for the whole family) and give what probably equals an earldom in cash to a guy he took some essentials from in (what should have been but really doesn't seem like it) a very trying time in his life, which probably equaled a few copper pieces at most.

...why didn't Roran give Horst any money either, Horst basically became a father to him back in Carvahall. Assdouche must run in the family.

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

I didn't read your response before posting mine and I temporarily forgot about Roran, which is also a very good point! Roran is also supposedly Horst's apprentice! Wasn't he? Shouldn't he at least help with the materials? Then again, it sounds as if Roran gave up blacksmithing. He hasn't done any smithing whenever it was mentioned a book or two ago. Unless I've blocked out some of the details of Roran's most current exploits (whee.) I do think Assdouche runs in their family. XD

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

So, basically, this entire chapter should have been cut. And it was meant to show what a good person Eragon is except it proves the opposite. Wonderful.

Not to mention, if Eragon is handing money out, why the HELL isn't he giving some to Horst after having found out the Varden isn't paying him well? Or, you know, pulling other minerals up out of the soil. Give Eragon enough time, plenty of food and rest, and he could get a lot of iron that way...

I hate this book so much. Especially how useless that lot of elves is. c_c;

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

The chapter isn't even done.

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

Seriously? Crud... XD

[lenka0602.livejournal.com]

"I wonder if Paolini had a hand in the economy's collapse."

it wouldnt surprise me at all, since he only listens to college courses while he is doodling:

"Paolini also produced the iconic dragon's eye drawing at the front of each of his books. While drawing, he listens to self-paced college courses on an iPod. "I think it's an economics course now," he says."

for the full horror of the article, at your own risk visit http://www.fox59.com/pages/landing_sit_down_shut_up/?Young-Eragon-author-says-fantasy-world-w=1&blockID=61594&feedID=13

[faded-enmity.livejournal.com]

He only thinks it's an economics course? Shouldn't it be obvious if it is? Clearly he's not listening, it just happens to be playing. If it even is.

And he probably thinks that it's an actual education.

[lenka0602.livejournal.com]

well, he is obviously too good to actually attend a real University. in one of the interviews he said - "so it came down to choosing whether I would finish "Eragon" or go to college"

CHOICE FAIL

[faded-enmity.livejournal.com]

You know what bothers me the most about this? The fact that he's going to pick up concepts every now and then and utterly abuse them because he doesn't actually understand them. Especially for topics where readings and bookwork are essential to understanding the material.

He'll be like that person who takes a single psych class in high school and then thinks they know everything about human and animal psychology.

Well, he already is like that, but this is evidence he's getting progressively worse about it.

[chaosarmoury.livejournal.com]

We also learn that Nasuada is mismanaging her money. See they need smiths. They were thrilled to learn that Horst was a smith. But they're not paying him well. You pay your skilled workers more than the unskilled and the valuable ones even more. After all Horst does likely need to buy supplies and things, so if he's not able to pay for them he can't make them and then he's no use to the Varden who needs him. However Katrina and Roran who have no skills whatsoever are given enough money to make them rich for the rest of their lives.

Horst is employed by an army, so I would expect Nasuada to provide him with all the supplies, lodgings and food that he needs. Where would he find merchants to spend gold on anyway?

...

Actually, where are the merchants and how do the Varden get all the supplies that they need?

[torylltales.livejournal.com]

how do the Varden get all the supplies that they need?

"magic".

Not Paolini's laughable language-system-magic-system magic system, but the rather more powerful magic of Authorial Override. If Paolini says they're getting supplies, they're getting supplies. Like when a cartoon character pulls something much larger than then from behind their backs.

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

Well, it's plausible that Horst should be handling the purchases. He knows what qualities good workable metal should have, the typical going price of everything he'll need, and would know soonest when he has to get more fuel for his forge. Why add middle management when the smiths can handle that for you and report on their expenditures?

Besides, why else would they pay him? Like you said, what would he spend it on that would make money matter unless he's taking care of something himself? XD

[chaosarmoury.livejournal.com]

The most efficient way to do it would be to have one Master Smith or a merchant specializing in ores handle all the purchases and then give the ore to the smiths along with orders on what to forge. That way, the smiths don't need to waste time sorting the ores and fighting each other for the good stuff and if the Varden need two smiths working on armour, one working on swords, one working on spears and one working on horseshoes, they get what they need instead of three smiths doing swords and two smiths doing spears. Plus, Nasuada can make sure that none of the ore that the Varden have access to gets wasted on equipment they don't need.

[ravenswept.livejournal.com]

In theory they are still in Sudra...Suedra... they're in Soda, because Nasuada needs to be close to the King so they can have wild and wacky court scenes. They're still in the army encampment from the Battle of Terrible Field Choices, living in tents outside of the city.

If the battle is over, and no immediate threat around, why does Nasuada keep her people exposed for attack outside of protective city walls. Because she is not a leader.

...or rather she is; just a suckass one.

[faded-enmity.livejournal.com]

Rape.

Everyone else who responded to you is wrong.