Sticking it with the sword
Sep. 30th, 2010 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kippurbirdA Rider in Full
For some reason, whenever a hero needs a weapon they go to a weapon smith who then goes ahead and manages to forge them the Best Sword Evah. It's a big important scene and reveal. This is a sort of lead up moment for a small part of the book. The Hero has to convince the sword smith to create the weapon. They have to find the smith in the first place. They may have to do small quests to get the things needed to make the sword. They may have to prove themselves worthy to the sword maker. The sword smith then has to spend ages making the weapon or something. It's a pretty big thing leading up to the final battle. Or the Hero will find the weapon and go to the smith to discover more about its history. In any case, there is often a scene where the weapon is revealed and the smith declares that it is the finest weapon that they've ever made.
Why?
Because....
It's dramatic.
It makes the sword special.
It makes the hero special.
It makes the hero know that they have the best possible weapon to go after the Big Bad. It gives the smith a chance for a crowning moment of awesome. It's a sort of punch scene of Now we have everything we need, let's go kill the bad guy.
We don't have that here.
Indeed. There was no real quest to find the metal for the sword. It wasn't even really a chapter's worth. There was no judging to see if Eragon was worthy. There was no how do I get around the oath thing really much. Like getting absolution or something.
What we have here is the scene, because the scene is apparently important, without the substance and build up to it, so it means a lot less.
Saphira gets Eragon up in the morning, waking him up from his waking dreams. again. Why the hell does he have waking dreams!? What the hell are they!? Why can't he just have regular dreams!?
I WISH SOMEONE WOULD EXPLAIN TO ME THE PURPOSE OF THIS TWO WORD PHRASE!! I DON'T GET IT!! IT MAKES NO SENSE! HE'S ASLEEP WHEN HE'S HAVING THESE WAKING DREAMS. THEY'RE NOT DESCRIBED SO I DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE LUCID DREAMING OR NOT AND WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE MENTIONED EVERY DANGLINGING DING DANG DONGER TIME HE WAKES UP!!! WHAT IS THEIR FRACKINGLY FIRCK PURPOSE!!!
Seriously. This is really starting to irk me.
Really.
Maybe it's really 'wet dream' and not 'waking dream'.
So, Eragon goes to the forge and sees Rhunon again. She's got the sword under a white sheet. Because...
They stand before her and she speaks The Speech. (I'm sure there's a trope for this, but I'm not going over to TvTropes to look.)
Like I said. The Speech. "I don't have the tools I normally use but some how I made something awesome! In fact it is more awesome than anything I've made with my normal means because I'm just awesome like that... or something."
It's sort of backwards though.
I'm suddenly reminded of the Ironman movie where Tony Stark, being as awesome as he is, manages to build the first suit out of scraps. In a cave. It works. It is awesome. But when he's back home in America, he has time and builds another suit that is more awesome. Why? Because he has the time. He has the materials. And he has the brains. When he comes out with the final suit, it's amazing. Here he went from a good design to something even better.
In theory there's no real way that Rhunon should have been able to make the sword as amazing as she does. I think it would have been more interesting if the sword wasn't the best she'd ever made. It was the best she could do in the circumstances. It would serve, but that's all. Eragon would have to learn to deal with an 'inferior' product and then later learn that it's not the sword that makes a rider a rider, but the Rider and his actions that do. The sword should have a chance to fail, but Eragon has to risk it. He has to take a risk. Which is something that he generally doesn't do in these books. At least not real risks.
But back to the sword. Let's describe it!
OooOoooooooo Shinny.
Sorry.
He tries out the sword by slashing through a bundle of three iron rods. Cuts clean.
They are all happy with the results. All that is needed is the name.
They go through several names. Saphria would name it something like "Blue-gem-tooth or Blue-claw-red." There's also, "Reaver or Gutripper, Battleclaw or Glitterthor or Limbhacker, Terror, Pain, Armbiter, Eversharp, Ripplescale, Tongue of Death, Elfsteel and Starmetal."
Eragon suggests Kingkiller. And she doesn't think it's a good idea because "Will [he] do nothing else of worth with [his] sword"? Well he could stick it up his ass. XD
He then suggests Hope in the Ancient Language. Since Zar'roc means misery it would be neat to have a sword that counteracts misery. This Saphira doesn't like because Do you really want to give your enemies hope. Do you want to stab Galbatorix with hope?
I dunno.
There's some deep thoughts on his end.
Dues Ex Machina?
Well, no, as we all know it's Brisingr. But because that's hardly an appropriate name, I'm going to call the sword Dues Ex Machina.
Anyway when Eragon says the name of the sword out loud, it bursts in to flames. Sadly it does not melt into goo. However Eragon is so startled at the fact that it bursts into flames he drops the sword. He's confused as to how it lit on fire without him casting a spell. Rhunon on the other hand is pissed that he dropped the sword. He might have scratched the guard.
It's a sword.
He's going to be using it in battle. He's going to be hacking things with it. And it's going to be getting banged around and everything. It's going to get scratched. That's what happens when it gets used.
Fortunately she protected the sword against damage like scratches.
This sort of goes back to the whole idea that surface looks are more important than other things in the Eragon universe. Rhunon wasn't worried about the fact that the sword mysteriously caught on fire, but instead that it might have gotten scratched. Instead she tells him that he should never drop the sword again, even if it turns into a snake or she'll take it away from him.
Um. Yeah.
Rhunon wants to know if he did it on purpose.
He did not.
She makes him say "brisingr" again. It catches on fire again. This time he makes sure not to drop it. It turns on every time he says the word Brisingr, but it doesn't when Rhunon tries to.
Rhunon says she has two theories for why it does that.
I'm not really sure how a sword's true name could be fire. Especially since Eragon wasn't even thinking about those sort of things when they were forging the sword. I think that would have made the sword forging scene a bit more tolerable, is if he actually had thoughts about the sword he was making. That I think would be the only way it could get some of Eragon's personality it in. After all, Rhunon had a hand in making the sword and it doesn't respond to her.
But I forget. Eragon is just that special.
Eragon then thanks her for the sword and leaves.
For some reason, whenever a hero needs a weapon they go to a weapon smith who then goes ahead and manages to forge them the Best Sword Evah. It's a big important scene and reveal. This is a sort of lead up moment for a small part of the book. The Hero has to convince the sword smith to create the weapon. They have to find the smith in the first place. They may have to do small quests to get the things needed to make the sword. They may have to prove themselves worthy to the sword maker. The sword smith then has to spend ages making the weapon or something. It's a pretty big thing leading up to the final battle. Or the Hero will find the weapon and go to the smith to discover more about its history. In any case, there is often a scene where the weapon is revealed and the smith declares that it is the finest weapon that they've ever made.
Why?
Because....
It's dramatic.
It makes the sword special.
It makes the hero special.
It makes the hero know that they have the best possible weapon to go after the Big Bad. It gives the smith a chance for a crowning moment of awesome. It's a sort of punch scene of Now we have everything we need, let's go kill the bad guy.
We don't have that here.
Indeed. There was no real quest to find the metal for the sword. It wasn't even really a chapter's worth. There was no judging to see if Eragon was worthy. There was no how do I get around the oath thing really much. Like getting absolution or something.
What we have here is the scene, because the scene is apparently important, without the substance and build up to it, so it means a lot less.
Saphira gets Eragon up in the morning, waking him up from his waking dreams. again. Why the hell does he have waking dreams!? What the hell are they!? Why can't he just have regular dreams!?
I WISH SOMEONE WOULD EXPLAIN TO ME THE PURPOSE OF THIS TWO WORD PHRASE!! I DON'T GET IT!! IT MAKES NO SENSE! HE'S ASLEEP WHEN HE'S HAVING THESE WAKING DREAMS. THEY'RE NOT DESCRIBED SO I DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE LUCID DREAMING OR NOT AND WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE MENTIONED EVERY DANGLINGING DING DANG DONGER TIME HE WAKES UP!!! WHAT IS THEIR FRACKINGLY FIRCK PURPOSE!!!
Seriously. This is really starting to irk me.
Really.
Maybe it's really 'wet dream' and not 'waking dream'.
So, Eragon goes to the forge and sees Rhunon again. She's got the sword under a white sheet. Because...
They stand before her and she speaks The Speech. (I'm sure there's a trope for this, but I'm not going over to TvTropes to look.)
"I have done the impossible," she said, the worse hoarse and broken. "I made a sword when I swore I would not. What more, I made it in less than a day and with hands that were not my own. Yet the sword is not crude or shoddy. No! It is the finest sword I have ever forged. I would have preferred to use less magic during the process, but that is my only qualm, and it is a small one compared with the perfection of the results. Behold!"
Grasping the corner of the cloth, Rhunon pulled it aside, revealing the sword.
Like I said. The Speech. "I don't have the tools I normally use but some how I made something awesome! In fact it is more awesome than anything I've made with my normal means because I'm just awesome like that... or something."
It's sort of backwards though.
I'm suddenly reminded of the Ironman movie where Tony Stark, being as awesome as he is, manages to build the first suit out of scraps. In a cave. It works. It is awesome. But when he's back home in America, he has time and builds another suit that is more awesome. Why? Because he has the time. He has the materials. And he has the brains. When he comes out with the final suit, it's amazing. Here he went from a good design to something even better.
In theory there's no real way that Rhunon should have been able to make the sword as amazing as she does. I think it would have been more interesting if the sword wasn't the best she'd ever made. It was the best she could do in the circumstances. It would serve, but that's all. Eragon would have to learn to deal with an 'inferior' product and then later learn that it's not the sword that makes a rider a rider, but the Rider and his actions that do. The sword should have a chance to fail, but Eragon has to risk it. He has to take a risk. Which is something that he generally doesn't do in these books. At least not real risks.
But back to the sword. Let's describe it!
He had thought that in the handful of hours since he had left her, Rhunon would only have time enough to fabricate a plain hilt and crossguard for the sword, and maybe a simple wooden scabbard. Instead, the sword Eragon saw on the bench was as magnificent as Zar'roc, Naegling, and Tamerlein and, in his opinion, more beautiful than any of them.
Covering the blade was a glossy scabbard of the same dark blue as the scales on Saphira's back. The color displayed a slight variegation, like the mottled light at the bottom of a clear forest pond. A piece of blued bright carved into the shape of leaf capped the end of the scabbard while a collar decorated with stylized vines encircled the mouth. The curved crossgaurd was also made of blued bright steel, as were the four ribs that held in place the large sapphire that formed the pommel. The hand-and-a- half hilt was made of hard black wood.
(...)
Like the rest of the sword, the blade was blue, but of a slightly lighter shade; it was the blue of the scales in the hollow of Saphira's throat rather than the blue of those on her back. And as it was on the Zar'roc, the color was iridescent; as Eragon moved the sword about, the color would shimmer and shift, displaying any of the many tones of blue present of Saphira herself. Through the wash of color, the cable-like patterns within the brightsteel and the pale bands along the edges were still visible.
OooOoooooooo Shinny.
Sorry.
He tries out the sword by slashing through a bundle of three iron rods. Cuts clean.
They are all happy with the results. All that is needed is the name.
They go through several names. Saphria would name it something like "Blue-gem-tooth or Blue-claw-red." There's also, "Reaver or Gutripper, Battleclaw or Glitterthor or Limbhacker, Terror, Pain, Armbiter, Eversharp, Ripplescale, Tongue of Death, Elfsteel and Starmetal."
Eragon suggests Kingkiller. And she doesn't think it's a good idea because "Will [he] do nothing else of worth with [his] sword"? Well he could stick it up his ass. XD
He then suggests Hope in the Ancient Language. Since Zar'roc means misery it would be neat to have a sword that counteracts misery. This Saphira doesn't like because Do you really want to give your enemies hope. Do you want to stab Galbatorix with hope?
I dunno.
There's some deep thoughts on his end.
As he gazed into the depths of the steel, his eye chanced up on the flamelike pattern that marked the transition between the softer steel of the spine and that of the edges, and he recalled the word Brom had used to light his pipe during the memory Saphira had shared with him. Then Eragon thought of Yazuac, where he had first used magic, and also of his duel with Durza in Farthen Dur, and in that instant he knew without a doubt that he had found the right name for his sword.
Dues Ex Machina?
Well, no, as we all know it's Brisingr. But because that's hardly an appropriate name, I'm going to call the sword Dues Ex Machina.
Anyway when Eragon says the name of the sword out loud, it bursts in to flames. Sadly it does not melt into goo. However Eragon is so startled at the fact that it bursts into flames he drops the sword. He's confused as to how it lit on fire without him casting a spell. Rhunon on the other hand is pissed that he dropped the sword. He might have scratched the guard.
It's a sword.
He's going to be using it in battle. He's going to be hacking things with it. And it's going to be getting banged around and everything. It's going to get scratched. That's what happens when it gets used.
Fortunately she protected the sword against damage like scratches.
This sort of goes back to the whole idea that surface looks are more important than other things in the Eragon universe. Rhunon wasn't worried about the fact that the sword mysteriously caught on fire, but instead that it might have gotten scratched. Instead she tells him that he should never drop the sword again, even if it turns into a snake or she'll take it away from him.
Um. Yeah.
Rhunon wants to know if he did it on purpose.
He did not.
She makes him say "brisingr" again. It catches on fire again. This time he makes sure not to drop it. It turns on every time he says the word Brisingr, but it doesn't when Rhunon tries to.
Rhunon says she has two theories for why it does that.
"I can think of two explanations for this marvel. One is that because you were involved with the forging, you imbued the blade with a portion of your personality and therefore it has become attuned to your wishes. My other explanation is that you have discovered the true name of your sword. Perhaps both those things are what has happened. In any event, you have chosen well, Shadslayer. Brisingr! Yes, I like it. It is a good name for a sword."
I'm not really sure how a sword's true name could be fire. Especially since Eragon wasn't even thinking about those sort of things when they were forging the sword. I think that would have made the sword forging scene a bit more tolerable, is if he actually had thoughts about the sword he was making. That I think would be the only way it could get some of Eragon's personality it in. After all, Rhunon had a hand in making the sword and it doesn't respond to her.
But I forget. Eragon is just that special.
Eragon then thanks her for the sword and leaves.
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 02:34 am (UTC)God, all the meaningless specialness is just sickening. XD
"Wondrous things happen around dragons" is something I'm not happy with, but might be willing to shut my eyes against.
"Wondrous things happen around Eragon", on the other hand, is just ridiculous, because the "dragons" part should be enough, dammit.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 02:39 am (UTC)"I made it in less than a day"
Well then, you are a crap smith and have no pride in your work. My god, why does everything have to be done so fast? And so unbelieveibly fast? Even if you consider that they used magic, the fact that they took less an a full day to craft a sword, the sword that is supposed to be so uber special, is just insulting to the craft.
In that time, it's as you said, it would be a blade that gets the job done. It was made to be what it is, no more and a lot less. But to be this detailed, this ornate in this short a time, it should be metal that looks like a sword, if that.
Urg, I don't know why I care, but this is just...
And again, brisingr is used as a deus ex machina itself. He wonders why it lit up when he didn't cast a spell; I'm still wondering why that happened the first time he said it, and it still doesn't make any sense.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 03:05 am (UTC)Inheritance:
Kill Bill:
Also, the deal about 'waking dreams' is because Eragon, as an immortal half-elf bishie, does not technically sleep. He merely meditates, during which he hallucinates. This was explained in Eldest, although I can't for the life of me figure out why I still know it. Or, for that matter, why Paolini insists on calling a rabbit a smeerp in such a stupid and unnecessary manner. It's functionally exactly the same as sleeping and dreaming, but Eragon is such a super-special Sue that it has to be pointed out every single time.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 03:35 am (UTC)Um, actually, yes. A good book could do something interesting with that concept. But it doesn't surprise me a bit that Paolini wouldn't see that.
And...isn't the entire purpose of saying brisinger to conjure fire? I could have sworn that's how it used to work. Not that consistency is really Paolini's strong point.
I will say that the phrase "the stupid, it burns" has never been more appropriate.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 05:50 am (UTC)But seriously, naming your sword fire? That's pretty simple, but not epic like Truth or Freedom or Courage. His sword should've been called something like Starfire or Blueflame or Iceblaze or something.
This whole get-a-sword mission feels wholly tacked-on, unnecessary, and unearned. Eragon doesn't need a special sword and he hasn't done anything special to deserve one. The only possible plot purpose would be for him to become utterly dependent on the thing, lose it, and have to find the inner determination to prevail without the aid of a gaudy crutch. Not that Paolini will likely give us such a scene.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 08:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 08:15 am (UTC)y halo thar, Luke, I mean Eragon. What a shiny new blue lightsaber, I mean sword, you have.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 09:17 am (UTC)But I am sick of it.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 10:36 am (UTC)... um, that is, your icon scares me :D
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 11:34 am (UTC)Tamerlein?
TIMUR LENK KHAKHAN IS NOT AMUSED.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 02:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 08:51 pm (UTC)That totally made the new-favourite-expressions-list.
As for 'waking dreams', in all other contexts than this particular book I would say a waking dream was a dream (as in while properly sleeping) that was either so scary or so downright weird that it made you wake up. But it doesn't really fit into the context here, though, does it?
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 09:26 pm (UTC)And the magical blue-burning super-sword is completely unlike anything that has ever appeared in any other fantasy novel! Specifically, it bears absolutely no similarity to the Sword of the Rivan King in David Eddings's Belgariad! At all! (It's been a while since I read those books, and I don't have them here with me to check, but I think said sword was also originally forged by a hero-type instead of an actual swordmaker.)
*re-lurks*
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 09:48 pm (UTC)But Eragon is the HERO. Of course Wondrous things happen around him.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 09:48 pm (UTC)I think the 'waking dreams' thing is another Elf trait ripped from Tolkien. If I recall correctly, Tolkien's Elves never actually slept, but instead would rest their minds within memories and dreams while still maintaining awareness of their surroundings...'waking dreams.'
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 09:52 pm (UTC)Because he discovered its true name!!!!! That's why. Or something.
And Rhunon had to make it in less than a day because Eragon needed it quickly. Duh. Never mind the fact that it should be physically impossible, magic or no.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 09:54 pm (UTC)And...isn't the entire purpose of saying brisinger to conjure fire?
Yes, but he didn't mean to!
no subject
Date: 2010-10-01 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-02 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-02 01:13 am (UTC)*facepalm* He didn't mean to the first time either. Paolini really is a prize idiot.
And you are a brave, brave soul for reading these things.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-02 03:05 am (UTC)The story of how the Rivan blade was made is vastly superior to Paolini's tale. Eddings could take a cliche scene like this and make it interesting and funny. There's a whole raft of mentors who could stand to take lessons from Belgarath.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-02 03:49 am (UTC)And he just has to have a prettier scabbard for it than Garion did. I wonder where he cribbed the description from.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-02 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-03 12:44 am (UTC)Just sayin', I agree.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-03 06:50 am (UTC)But Paolini always writes about them as if Eragon's just calmly dreaming, and Eragon never seems to be bothered by these horrible waking dreams, so I think Paolini is just using that word as a "cool way" of saying "dreaming" without, once again, knowing what the word means. I guess just saying that he's dreaming is too mundane for good ol' CP!