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Feb. 4th, 2010 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kippurbirdClanmeet pt. 2
Despite all the churning deep in Eragon's "soul" if one such as he could be said to have a soul, he manages to fall asleep and has a Significant Dream. Or... Eragon’s thoughts wandered as he sat slumped within the embrace of the padded arms of a dwarf couch, and the frame of his consciousness dissolved into the disordered fantasy of his waking dreams. I've noticed that Eragon frequently has waking dreams. He never has sleeping dreams. They're always waking dreams. I'm not really sure how that works. I really would like to know how that works. Or why can't Paolini just say Eragon daydreamed or his thoughts wandered off. Why does he need to say 'the frame of his consciousness dissolved' ? It just sounds silly. Rather like that flashback effect from Wayne's World. At least it's not the WHOOOOOOSH of the Lost flashbacks? I shouldn't have such silly images in my head when Paolini is going for deep introspection, which is what I'm assuming he's trying to do with such florid and deep sounding prose. Instead of his thoughts wandering back to his life before all of this started... they ripple. Or something.
I have no Idea what this means. NONE. Zero. Zilich. I know the words. But it is put together in such a way that it loses its coherence and meaning. Well, he did have some mushrooms earlier. Maybe he's hallucinating?
I would love for this to just be a complete hallucination. On my part. The entire book.
Anyway, his hallucination is that of being at Horst's forge back in Caverhall and saying that he needs a sword. Horst asks him if he's alone. Where his parents are. Each time Eragon says that he doesn't know. Then a menacing figure shows up with Zar'roc and says that he is Eragon's father.
... Wait. I thought Morzan's eyes were blue and black. *double checks* his hair was dark like a raven’s feathers, and his eyes were different colors. One was blue and one was black. (pg 172)
MAKE UP YOUR MIND ON MORZAN'S EYES FOR GOD'S SAKE PAOLINI!!! CONTINUITY! IT IS NOT THAT HARD!!
Surely he must keep notes on what his characters look like. Wait. I'm probably expecting too much of him.
Never mind.
But you would think...
Wait. I'm thinking. I have to stop that in regards to this book.
There is no logic. There is no continuity. There is no logic. There is no continuity. *chants it to self* It's all a hallucination.
Eragon wakes up and is unable to go back to sleep. It takes Paolini a lot more words to say that though.
We skip ahead to the clanmeet. All the dwarves are filing in and Eragon and Orik are chatting. Orik has reminded Eragon of where the dwarves that he's stationed if they're attacked are. Eragon wants to know if things break out into fighting if he should go and kill the head of the hacking cough clan. Orik said he shouldn't, as it would look down upon. Unless, of course, Eragon is attacked first. Orik then asks Eragon to pray for luck to Sindri.
Eragon does.
The exact wording of this phrase is "And Eragon prayed."
Which is wrong.
Eragon does not pray. He does not believe in gods. We just spent an entire chunk of the previous chapter talking about how he wished he could believe in the gods of the dwarves. How he wished he could cleave onto any sort of religious belief but he couldn't commit. He believes in nothing. There is nothing for him to pray to. Even if he did pray to Sindri what is he going to say? "Hey, I don't believe in you but could you like give Orik some luck?" You don't just spend all that time talking about how you can't believe in a religion and then just knock off Eragon praying like that with a half a sentence. You need to put more into it. There needs to be more depth to this.
This is a good opportunity for character development here. He's been asked to pray. What can he do? He doesn't believe in gods. Does he make a false prayer? Would that be insulting to Orik. Should he just not do anything and wish he could do what Orik asked him to do? Thousands and thousands of things. But nothing. We just get "And Eragon prayed."
More later.
Despite all the churning deep in Eragon's "soul" if one such as he could be said to have a soul, he manages to fall asleep and has a Significant Dream. Or... Eragon’s thoughts wandered as he sat slumped within the embrace of the padded arms of a dwarf couch, and the frame of his consciousness dissolved into the disordered fantasy of his waking dreams. I've noticed that Eragon frequently has waking dreams. He never has sleeping dreams. They're always waking dreams. I'm not really sure how that works. I really would like to know how that works. Or why can't Paolini just say Eragon daydreamed or his thoughts wandered off. Why does he need to say 'the frame of his consciousness dissolved' ? It just sounds silly. Rather like that flashback effect from Wayne's World. At least it's not the WHOOOOOOSH of the Lost flashbacks? I shouldn't have such silly images in my head when Paolini is going for deep introspection, which is what I'm assuming he's trying to do with such florid and deep sounding prose. Instead of his thoughts wandering back to his life before all of this started... they ripple. Or something.
Yet conscious of the mosaic of colored stones mounted upon the wall opposite him, he also beheld, as if a glowing scrim draped over the mosaic, scenes of his life in Palancar Valley before momentous and bloody fate had intervened in his existence. The scenes diverged from established fact, however, and immersed him in imaginary situations constructed piecemeal from fragments of what had actually been. In the last few moments before he roused himself from his stupor, his vision flickered and the images acquired a sense of heightened reality.
I have no Idea what this means. NONE. Zero. Zilich. I know the words. But it is put together in such a way that it loses its coherence and meaning. Well, he did have some mushrooms earlier. Maybe he's hallucinating?
I would love for this to just be a complete hallucination. On my part. The entire book.
Anyway, his hallucination is that of being at Horst's forge back in Caverhall and saying that he needs a sword. Horst asks him if he's alone. Where his parents are. Each time Eragon says that he doesn't know. Then a menacing figure shows up with Zar'roc and says that he is Eragon's father.
Between the gaping doors, a huge figure rimmed with pale light emerged from the clotted darkness and stood upon the threshold of the workshop. A red cape billowed from shoulders wider than a Kull’s. In the man’s left hand gleamed Zar’roc, sharp as pain. Through the slits of his brightly polished helm, his blue eyes bored into Eragon, pinning him into place, like an arrow through a rabbit. He lifted his free hand and held it out toward Eragon. “My son, come with me. Together, we can destroy the Varden, kill Galbatorix, and conquer all of Alagaësia. But give me your heart, and we shall be invincible.
“Give me your heart, my son.”
... Wait. I thought Morzan's eyes were blue and black. *double checks* his hair was dark like a raven’s feathers, and his eyes were different colors. One was blue and one was black. (pg 172)
MAKE UP YOUR MIND ON MORZAN'S EYES FOR GOD'S SAKE PAOLINI!!! CONTINUITY! IT IS NOT THAT HARD!!
Surely he must keep notes on what his characters look like. Wait. I'm probably expecting too much of him.
Never mind.
But you would think...
Wait. I'm thinking. I have to stop that in regards to this book.
There is no logic. There is no continuity. There is no logic. There is no continuity. *chants it to self* It's all a hallucination.
Eragon wakes up and is unable to go back to sleep. It takes Paolini a lot more words to say that though.
We skip ahead to the clanmeet. All the dwarves are filing in and Eragon and Orik are chatting. Orik has reminded Eragon of where the dwarves that he's stationed if they're attacked are. Eragon wants to know if things break out into fighting if he should go and kill the head of the hacking cough clan. Orik said he shouldn't, as it would look down upon. Unless, of course, Eragon is attacked first. Orik then asks Eragon to pray for luck to Sindri.
Eragon does.
The exact wording of this phrase is "And Eragon prayed."
Which is wrong.
Eragon does not pray. He does not believe in gods. We just spent an entire chunk of the previous chapter talking about how he wished he could believe in the gods of the dwarves. How he wished he could cleave onto any sort of religious belief but he couldn't commit. He believes in nothing. There is nothing for him to pray to. Even if he did pray to Sindri what is he going to say? "Hey, I don't believe in you but could you like give Orik some luck?" You don't just spend all that time talking about how you can't believe in a religion and then just knock off Eragon praying like that with a half a sentence. You need to put more into it. There needs to be more depth to this.
This is a good opportunity for character development here. He's been asked to pray. What can he do? He doesn't believe in gods. Does he make a false prayer? Would that be insulting to Orik. Should he just not do anything and wish he could do what Orik asked him to do? Thousands and thousands of things. But nothing. We just get "And Eragon prayed."
More later.
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 07:42 am (UTC)What I got was that, in his dream, he saw a mosaic of his life before he found Saphira. Bits of his childhood and stuff. But some of the things had stuff happen that wasn't real, so he's confusing reality with stuff that his mind has thrown at him, but it seems real because most things in dream, though really absurd, seem real. And then he wakes up, but before he does everything seems to become REALLY real.
We-ell, that's just what I got. Other than that, coolie-doolies! Nice goin'.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 07:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 09:10 am (UTC)“Give me your heart, my son.”
Darth Vader: There is no escape! Don't make me destroy you. Luke, you do not yet realize your importance. You've only begun to discover your power! Join me, and I will complete your training! With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict, and bring order to the galaxy. [...] Luke, you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny! Join me, and together, we can rule the galaxy as father and son! Come with me. It is the only way.
Look, Paolini, when people said Eragon and Eldest were Star Wars ripoffs, they didn't mean 'Please, be even more blatant about it!'
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 07:50 am (UTC)I am sad now.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 10:47 am (UTC)This reminds me very strongly of my experiences at a Catholic school as an atheist. I never knew quite what to do at church and in the end, I just didn't join in because it felt wrong.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 12:18 pm (UTC):DDD
Sadly, no. Eragon does actually exist. And it is as bad as you think it is.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 05:33 pm (UTC)Not so much that he himself is obviously agnostic - based on the atheism of his perfect race and the agnosticism of his stu, that's pretty well-established. More like he just doesn't care about it. That part of the human experience appears to have simply left him cold. And his fantasy world is considerably poorer for it.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 05:37 pm (UTC)In fairness:
1) It was a dream, I suppose.
2) Perhaps this is foreshadowing to the Brom reveal. If I recall correctly (which I may not, but all the good guys in fantasy have blue or green or grey eyes, never brown, so I probably recall correctly), Brom is described as having blue eyes in Eragon. Perhaps in the dream he is conflating his actual father with eviiiil, ambitious Morzan.
Though I'll grant that's being especially charitable.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 05:46 pm (UTC)Huh.... that's an interesting observation... now you've got me wondering.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-05 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 04:08 am (UTC)This is just like that time he gave a persuasive and charismatic speech, isn't it? These are the turning point moments, the times when we truly get to see how our characters act and think...and Paolini edits them out.
What did Eragon pray? This is a deeply emotional and spiritual moment, tell us something!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 07:25 am (UTC)So much fail. Soooo much fail.
Dreams as medieval LCD televison (or maybe that's medieval LSD television...). Eragon's nonsensical agnosticism. Probable continuity fail...or nonsensical forshadowing, I'm not sure which is worse.
I swear it seems like Paolini goes out of his way to fail. He manages to get so much backwards or sideways of how it ought to be. How do you do that purely by accident?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 08:41 pm (UTC)2) Let your family edit all criticisms and unpleasant things you might see.
3) Don't watch or read any sci-fi except the acknowledged big-league 'classics'.
Thus insuring no contact with other ideas or thoughts, opposing opinions, or anything else that might make you stop, think, change, adapt, re-evaluate. All the things other people do as they grow up.
Also,
4) Believe that publishing the book you began at 15 means you never have to evolve.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 06:05 am (UTC)But maybe you're right, it's the combination of all of the above. It's just hard to imagine how sheltered a person has to be to end up writing the warped "good" guys of the series without having the vaguest idea that things are warped.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-11 09:01 pm (UTC)About the waking dream thing... It kind of sounds like Paolini just ripped the DnD elves on that one. DnD elves can't sleep, they instead fall into a trance and relive memories in vivid detail for the purpose of reflection. But they remain more or less aware of their surroundings. Except they are actually LIMITED to memories and can't dream of anything that hasn't happened to them that exact way, and Eragon isn't, because Paolini's elves get the best of both worlds and are just special like that. Heh. XD