Brought up from last chapter.
Oct. 18th, 2010 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kippurbirdWhy Oromis’ statement that Galbatorix’s confidence would be shaken learning that he’s still around won’t work, but Paolini thinks it might because this is what happened in Star Wars.
Long title.
In our chapter entitled Leave Taking, Oromis says that Galbatorix might believe that there are other dragon Riders still alive when he learns of his existence. This comes, likely, from the idea in Star Wars where after Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi are dead, other Jedi come out of the woodwork once the Empire is defeated. Also there have been smaller resistances of Jedi in various places during the war, it’s just for their own safety they had to remain hidden.
This is possible for one reason: the Star Wars universe takes place in an entire Galaxy. Galaxy which means hundreds of thousands of planets and hundreds of billions of people. Trying to find several thousand Jedi who may have survived the purge is like trying to find a needle in a haystack the size of Montana. Not all Jedi would have been working on the front lines with the Clone Troopers when Order 66 went down. Some Jedi might have survived the attacks, like Yoda did. The thing is, when you get down to it, there’s no real way to know who lived and who died with any certainty. Especially when you consider “I am not the Jedi you are looking for” at their disposal.
With a galaxy so large, the Jedi were able to hide away from the Empire as long as they were smart about it.
Now lets look at Eragon’s empire. For starters it’s only on one continent. Not even an entire continent. Varying sizes exist, but it can’t be more than the size of North America. This makes it a much smaller territory to explore and try to find people in it. The second part is that the Riders have... you know... dragons.
Dragons are big. They can get to the size of a mountain big. Or so we’re told. In any case they’re pretty hard to hide. That’s why Saphira couldn’t leave the Varden. People would notice she was missing. There are only so many places that a dragon could hide in safety where they can be taken care of and their riders can be taken care of. Remember, they require lots of food to eat. As we’re told by Oromis that he’s the only one with the elves, the Riders would have to live else where.
Where exactly would you hide a dragon?
Admittedly, they could have also hidden with the elves, but then that leaves us with this problem. If they were hiding with the elves, then why? Shouldn’t they still be out fighting the evil empire? After all there’s now only Galby and he’s just one man. If Eragon, not even quarter trained as he is, is supposedly capable enough of destroying Galbatorix with maybe six months at the most training, what could three or four dragon Riders who have had full training be able to do?
If Galbatorix had half a brain, he’d be able to figure this out rather quickly.
But for some reason, if the dragons decided to hide, where would they hide. If you had a bunch of dragons with the elves, their territory isn’t large enough to support them. They would need cattle or other domesticated animals because the native forest life like deer wouldn’t be enough to feed them. The domesticated animals would be noticeable because they need a place to graze. Forests don’t have good grazing grounds. Forests aren’t grazing grounds, if they were we wouldn’t need to deforest things. It’d make life a lot easier.
So, the dragons couldn’t have hidden with the elves. They most certainly wouldn’t have been welcomed with the dwarves. That leaves... well, very few places to hide where they wouldn’t be seen and Galby’s men would have picked them out. If the dragons attacked the men, then it would get back that hey there’s something eating the men over that way. Again, not good for hiding.
Therefore they couldn’t have been lazing about hiding somewhere in safety.
Then why even mention it?
Because that’s what happened in Star Wars. There were Jedi in hiding and the Emperor knew about it. That’s why he had Jedi hunting squads like the Inquisitors and his Hands. He had people searching out young Force Sensitives so that he could bend them to his will and change them to the Dark Side. There was always a possibility for there to be more Jedi to be turned against him. Case in point: Luke Skywalker.
Even though, in Paolini’s world it’s impossible for there to be more Riders, the idea must be brought up for that’s what happened in Star Wars, the Inheritance novel’s template. While it may bring some moral bonuses to the common folk, (I think I’d be more pissed off that they were hiding a Rider all this time) it shouldn’t do any harm to Galbatorix’s confidence.
At least, it shouldn’t if these books were written in some sort of logical manner. However, we’ll never know for certain, I don’t think, because we never see Galbatorix’s point of view.
Long title.
In our chapter entitled Leave Taking, Oromis says that Galbatorix might believe that there are other dragon Riders still alive when he learns of his existence. This comes, likely, from the idea in Star Wars where after Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi are dead, other Jedi come out of the woodwork once the Empire is defeated. Also there have been smaller resistances of Jedi in various places during the war, it’s just for their own safety they had to remain hidden.
This is possible for one reason: the Star Wars universe takes place in an entire Galaxy. Galaxy which means hundreds of thousands of planets and hundreds of billions of people. Trying to find several thousand Jedi who may have survived the purge is like trying to find a needle in a haystack the size of Montana. Not all Jedi would have been working on the front lines with the Clone Troopers when Order 66 went down. Some Jedi might have survived the attacks, like Yoda did. The thing is, when you get down to it, there’s no real way to know who lived and who died with any certainty. Especially when you consider “I am not the Jedi you are looking for” at their disposal.
With a galaxy so large, the Jedi were able to hide away from the Empire as long as they were smart about it.
Now lets look at Eragon’s empire. For starters it’s only on one continent. Not even an entire continent. Varying sizes exist, but it can’t be more than the size of North America. This makes it a much smaller territory to explore and try to find people in it. The second part is that the Riders have... you know... dragons.
Dragons are big. They can get to the size of a mountain big. Or so we’re told. In any case they’re pretty hard to hide. That’s why Saphira couldn’t leave the Varden. People would notice she was missing. There are only so many places that a dragon could hide in safety where they can be taken care of and their riders can be taken care of. Remember, they require lots of food to eat. As we’re told by Oromis that he’s the only one with the elves, the Riders would have to live else where.
Where exactly would you hide a dragon?
Admittedly, they could have also hidden with the elves, but then that leaves us with this problem. If they were hiding with the elves, then why? Shouldn’t they still be out fighting the evil empire? After all there’s now only Galby and he’s just one man. If Eragon, not even quarter trained as he is, is supposedly capable enough of destroying Galbatorix with maybe six months at the most training, what could three or four dragon Riders who have had full training be able to do?
If Galbatorix had half a brain, he’d be able to figure this out rather quickly.
But for some reason, if the dragons decided to hide, where would they hide. If you had a bunch of dragons with the elves, their territory isn’t large enough to support them. They would need cattle or other domesticated animals because the native forest life like deer wouldn’t be enough to feed them. The domesticated animals would be noticeable because they need a place to graze. Forests don’t have good grazing grounds. Forests aren’t grazing grounds, if they were we wouldn’t need to deforest things. It’d make life a lot easier.
So, the dragons couldn’t have hidden with the elves. They most certainly wouldn’t have been welcomed with the dwarves. That leaves... well, very few places to hide where they wouldn’t be seen and Galby’s men would have picked them out. If the dragons attacked the men, then it would get back that hey there’s something eating the men over that way. Again, not good for hiding.
Therefore they couldn’t have been lazing about hiding somewhere in safety.
Then why even mention it?
Because that’s what happened in Star Wars. There were Jedi in hiding and the Emperor knew about it. That’s why he had Jedi hunting squads like the Inquisitors and his Hands. He had people searching out young Force Sensitives so that he could bend them to his will and change them to the Dark Side. There was always a possibility for there to be more Jedi to be turned against him. Case in point: Luke Skywalker.
Even though, in Paolini’s world it’s impossible for there to be more Riders, the idea must be brought up for that’s what happened in Star Wars, the Inheritance novel’s template. While it may bring some moral bonuses to the common folk, (I think I’d be more pissed off that they were hiding a Rider all this time) it shouldn’t do any harm to Galbatorix’s confidence.
At least, it shouldn’t if these books were written in some sort of logical manner. However, we’ll never know for certain, I don’t think, because we never see Galbatorix’s point of view.
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 10:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 12:12 pm (UTC)portkeyportal to another world, in which all the dragon riders are hiding, and from which they will emerge in the final chapter in a dramatic and original epic battle not at all like the Rohan Army's arrival at Pelennor Fields.¬_¬
⌐_⌐
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-20 05:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 12:45 pm (UTC)Then again, I think I'd be an actual evil emperor instead of a guy who is, essentially, just a bureaucratic king who sits on his throne all day and effectively polices his empire for a tiny bit of tax.
Instead, Galby will do literally nothing and we won't be shown any villainry because these books are retarded.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-20 05:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-20 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 09:17 pm (UTC)... Are there other continents besides Alagaesia? It would be silly if there weren't more continents. Rather, if there weren't more populated continents, with states and countries and the like.
Anyway. If there are other continents beside the elf one, I don't see why the dragon riders wouldn't go there. Galby COULD follow dragon riders to other continents, but if other countries besides Alagaesia exists, maybe he doesn't want to mess with them by charging into their territory to look for rogue dragon riders. I would believe that before I believed Galby killed them all with only 13 other dragon riders with him.
Yeesh, I just opened up a can of worms with that idea of other continents. It's highly questionable to me why we don't see more evidence of it in the books when we have characters who can control massive flying creatures. Seems to me like dragon riders would be extremely well-traveled and would probably precipitate a lot of global interaction. Alagaesia is looking ridiculously culturally isolated, considering that.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-20 06:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-20 06:02 am (UTC)But the EU? The thing I wondered is what were all these Jedi doing all that time? There's an epic battle raging between good and evil for the very soul of the galaxy and they're...what? Lounging around somewhere? If I was Luke, I'd want to smack every one I ran into. "Could've really used your help, lazy good-for-nothing!" "Don't you know there's a Rebellion on?"
Like the Jedi, I have to wonder what the heck any of these dragons are doing. You just know that the second Eragon stabs Galbatorix all by himself they'll come swarming in out of nowhere with various unconvincing excuses as to why they couldn't be arsed to do anything.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-21 02:15 am (UTC)With that last chapter, it'd be interesting if Oromis was just getting over-excited and impatient because he can't stand sitting around doing nothing while there's a war on. And then Ergy could point out why it's a bad idea and talk him out of it. Except Ergy never really argues with anyone, for some reason.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-21 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-22 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-24 08:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-24 08:56 am (UTC)