r/Eragon • u/Powerful-Boss-7141 • 3d ago
Question Brom could have saved Garrow? Spoiler
Why didn't Brom save Garrow? He probably had the knowledge about the ancient language and with the energy in the ring it would be possible, I think.
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u/Flynnick_ Kull 3d ago
My headcannon logic is that Garrow being tortured by the Ra'Zac, themselves being "magician hunters", his injuries were resistant to treatments and could even reject magical mending.
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u/sheffy55 3d ago
Yes, the Seither Oil, nasty stuff. I do think that Brom would have been able to heal Garrow had Chris wrote the book knowing what he would add in later books, it's really just hindsight stuff. What I have to do when I think about the whole thing is just that, the world is as limited as Eragons depth of knowledge. Mistakes were made because we didn't know any better
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u/WhichFun5722 3d ago
I thought for sure Eragon would need to resurrect Brom for some crucial bit of information or training. They explained so much how impossible the feat is, which in storytelling usually means its either really impossible, or theyre gonna do it anyway and its all hype.
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u/Bjart-skular 3d ago
It's stated in the book that Brom was knocked unconscious by the Raz'ac which is why he didn't make it to the farm on time. By time Eragon made it to Carvahall with Garrow, he was past the point of saving.
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u/DolphinSmooth21 3d ago
In universe? I believe he was unconscious after fighting off the Ra’Zac. Narratively? Because it was necessary to drive the story forward, give the situation higher stakes, and justify Eragon and Brom setting out on their adventure.
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u/RellyTheOne Dragon 3d ago
Kind of a dark theory here
But what if Brom allowed Garrow to die so that Eragon would be willing to leave Carvahal with him? If Garrow survives then Eragon wouldn’t want to hunt down the Razac to avenge him. So Brom decides not to heal Garrow so as to more easily manipulate Eragon
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u/Ok-Entertainer9968 3d ago
If garrow lived, no way eragon would leave him and roran behind to travel with Brom alone, and that would put a huge wrinkle in the story
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u/RellyTheOne Dragon 3d ago
Exactly my point
Maybe Brom knew this was Eragon’s Uncle Ben moment. It had to happen, so he let it
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u/Thecrowing1432 3d ago
First book-itis, and Chris wrote it when he was 15.
We know Chris didnt think of wards until book 2, and wrote in an explanation of why Eragon didnt have them because the urgal spellcasters were under orders not to kill him and the twins lied about his knowledge of them.
So its possible the idea of energy storage and the ring having so much energy in it, hadnt been thought of yet, especially since Brom just gives the ring away to confirm his identity to Ajihad, and Eragon doesnt get it back until he gets to Furthen Dur.
Of course, with the revelation that the ring DID have so much energy in it, it makes you wonder why Brom didnt use any of it during the time he did have it.
We see him struggle to light a fire, which presumably he drew on his own strength to do so instead of the ring.
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u/Ok-Entertainer9968 3d ago
Well we can assume that the stored energy was for confronting galbatorix or something of similar magnitude. Oromis also never touched the energy in his ring/gems that had like years of energy from 2 elves poured into it once weekly.
Eragon also never used the energy in Aren until the siege on Dras leona.
Thete is precedenfor not using stored energy
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u/LetterheadRough4643 3d ago
It's a bit of a plot hole same as with his own death
He could have told Eragon what spell to say and had saphira power it
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u/Dense-Tangerine7502 3d ago
There’s not a good explanation in the books but Brom had an issue casting complicated spells/wasn’t a particularly good spellcaster.
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u/Inmortal27UQ 3d ago
Obligatory reminder that Brown did not finish his training as a rider, he escaped with his dragon when he went to help in the battle on the island of the riders.
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u/Ok-Entertainer9968 3d ago edited 3d ago
Uh reminder that Brom was directly involved in the downfall of the majority of the forsworn and succesfully bested Galbatorixs right hand man, Morzan, one on one...
Eragon also had perhaps 1/100th of proper rider training but look at his feats. Surely you can grant Brom the same grace
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u/BeginningPlatform424 2d ago
Not sure about that, he had a rider sword and according to the lore you only get one when you finish your training
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u/Sorfallo Grey Folk 2d ago
Brom was a prodigy at using complex spells that bypassed wards. It's why he was able to kill half the forsworn.
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u/Dense-Tangerine7502 1d ago
It would’ve been nice to see it in action then. He doesn’t use any complex spells the entire time he’s with Eragon.
He doesn’t use it to heal Eragon when he’s injured from flying without a saddle, or from when he almost dies attacking the Urgals.
He also doesn’t use magic to heal Garrow.
He doesn’t use it to track or kill the Razac.
He doesn’t use it to contact the Varden so that Eragon could be protected.
He doesn’t use it to heal himself from the Razac.
He doesn’t cast a single ward on Eragon or himself.
It really seems as if he grew weaker from when his dragon died and he stopped fighting the Forsworn. I think there was some truth when he told Eragon he had difficulty casting spells.
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u/Sorfallo Grey Folk 1d ago
There probably were complications as he only became a spellcaster due to having a dragon bond, but saying he wasn't good is inaccurate.
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u/that_one_fella 3d ago
IIRC, he apologized to eragon for not making it to their farm in time to save Garrow. He was trying to but Razac knocked him unconscious and when he woke up it was too late. He was on his way to the farm when he met Eragon on the road to carvahall