Finally finished the Inheritance series 20 years later...

[u/WhichFun5722]

Started back in Highschool in 2006. Read the first two books, and since I graduated before the 3rd was out, I just sort of forgot; until all the Disney Announcments about a TV series possibly in the works.

So I was pleased to learn the series was finished and there were two extra "side stories" as I call them.

I re-read from the beginning, which I could recall pretty much everything major, thanks in part by how bad the movie was.

It was entertaining for my Dad, since he's a huge dragon nerd. I still laugh whenever I think of the scene at the Battle of Farthen Dur, the commander orders the archers to take positions, and its literally just two guys moving up.

My dad just impulsively answers "Both of them, are we sure about that?" As he tends to do with some movies 😆.

But I digress... 2nd book I read up to the part where Eragon is healed, but thats where I either got too distracted or lost interest because of how uneventful the story was.

But now that I'm older and can pick up the subtleties better, I was able to appreciate the smaller, vauge details that I missed or it went over my head at the time.

Like Saphira and Eragon being affected by the Elves "horny song", as if call it. 😆

I recalled Roran saving Carvahall and protecting himself from the Barge captain. So maybe my younger self skipped a few pages 🤔.

All the while, I enjoyed picking up and making the comparisons to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Which I certainly didnt notice until some YouTube pointed it out.

On to Brisingr.

So much to unpack! Always enjoyed Roran and Eragon together. Tho I always was never overly excited to get a "Roran chapter" through out the series, his feats were entertaining to read, especially the call back to his bare handed fight with an Urgal, or was it a Kull, and his final battle with Lord Barst.

His whipping scene was infuriatingly understandable. Basically real life level manager logic there, Nasuada.

Yeah let's talk about Nasuada. It's totally in character for her to be prickly. She was overly cautious with Eragon upon initial meeting. Same with Roran. But she has the audacity to think a country bumpkin is showing up out of nowhere just to take her job!? C'mon Nas, you're smarter than that. Ill chalk it up to her recovering from the Long Knives trial, if I got the timing right.

Eragon used his weapon enchantment 1 time to great effect... JUST ONCE!? Ugh, whatever... it was cool tho, and the forging scene was interesting.

But the biggest scoop of all was seeing how horrifying using the True Name of a person can be. Eragon guessed Sloan's name so easily. Then they throw in the facts like you can repent your ways and change your name. Which makes me think the same could be true of Alagaesia, and the prophecy that "Eragon will never return" is just a play off that, one can hope.

And double scoop, we also catch rumor from the Raz'ac no less, about the plans to build the Death St- i mean "the name, the name of names!" Dun, dun, duuuun!!!

I cant recall how, but there was a part explaining that the Ancient Language had destroyed most living things, before it was reformed into what it is in the story; but I do hope we get our "Death Star" back in a future series 😆.

By far my favorite part was the Dwarves politics and the finale of banishing the whole Clan that hated Eragon 😆 That was fantastic and so satisfying how that was written and played out 👏.

Enjoyed Eragon essentially being forced to play nice with the Kull. Gnargazvog was always a joy to read when he was involved.

There for awhile, it seemed to me that our favorite blue Furry Boi was about to stab some backs. Dude was catching flak from everyone. Eragon gave some sass, I thought for sure hands were gonna get thrown. Blue boi was getting dissed from all angles.

But he seemed to mature and do his duty above and beyond his orders, once he sees how Eragon intends to command. Seemed that way to me at least. Would've been funny if out of nowhere Blud had changed something of himself like he says he likes to do. But I get why he wouldnt. Like, suddenly he reports in and he's sporting a bright red Rooster crest 🤣.

I didnt care much for the dama, and the few revelations surrounding Eragons family. But we had to get some sort of "Your Father is." Line from Yoda, I mean Oromis.

4th book.

Battle, battle, battle, some revelations. Oh kitties!

So great to have the Pussycat King join the fighting 😆 also Angela sure gets around, woman has mysteries for days. By far the best character in the series.

The Vroengard arc was good. I enjoyed meeting all the other dragons. I didnt care for the overall vague writing on these important bits, like Eragon figuring out his name, I just enjoy when things are spelled put for me. But I get it sells the point on its just for Eragon to know, unless he chooses to let others know.

Next to lastly, the King. The Big bad. The Emperor himself. 🤔Yep. 💣 🍄 💥. 🤯. Hahaha. Dude had it. He HAD it, the ultimate spell, and he still lost because we all knew Murtagh would figure out his name.

Personally I thought there might be a tug of war where Eragon would figure it out himself. Or better yet, he'd figure out Gabby's. I was fully expecting a Avatar Firelord ending, order him to teach the Name of Names, then use it to make the Kind absolutely powerless, but im guessing the NoN would render his name moot? 🤔

Lastly Arya... worst character, but maybe that will change... in a few centuries.

Well this is way too long, and Arya doesnt deserve more than that. And I need sleep. G'nite friends!

[u/Resident-Resolve612]

Really? HOW IS ARYA WORST😭

[u/csgskate → u/Resident-Resolve612]

She’s painfully boring and is a stereotypical elf with all that that entails

[u/MarkTurbulent2029 → u/csgskate]

Can you explain what stereotypical elf is in your eyes? Is this based on the Alagaesia world, mainstream media, Harry Potter, Middle Earth, Santa Claus, or what?

Arya is far from your typical Elf in Alagaesia. If anything, she is going against her races wishes with being a courier between the other races. That's just one example of how she is far from the "typical" elf brand of Alagaesia. That is assuming if you are comparing her to her in the world elf friends.

[u/WhichFun5722 → u/Resident-Resolve612]

Kept teasing and leading on my boy, she kept giving just enough of a hint that she could be interested, but never said a flat no.

[u/Resident-Resolve612 → u/WhichFun5722]

What…. That’s not really a great reason to described her character as bad 🥲 but I respect your opinion not to like her. One of the reasons I lover her moments with Eragon is that she is always cantered and down to earth (they’re 100 years apart in age) while also showing moments of vulnerability and child-like behavior , like Eragon does.

[u/MarkTurbulent2029 → u/Resident-Resolve612]

You hit that particular positive part of their relationship really well. I think their intimate relationship is a huge part of them having good chemistry in the heat of battle but also exposes Eragons' flaws as you is drop dead in love with her and tends to make mistakes due to it.

The best scene/chapter in Brisingr that shows this is when Arya goes into the Empire to find Eragon after he and Roran kill the Ra'zac. She expresses her difference of opinion of how she would've just killed Sloan. It also shows how much they really do know each other as they stay hidden from the Empire.

[u/Resident-Resolve612 → u/MarkTurbulent2029]

Yes I love that little arc when theyre both traveling to get back to the Varden from Dras Leona. There’s a moment when they are visited by free spirits - Arya does a beautiful piece of magic that sends a little boat sailing in the air - and she writes some Attempts at poetry too.

Idk , I feel like some people forget they had also shared a connection even before meeting each other (Eragon sees her in his dreams)

And I feel like Arya by herself is such a -troubled- and deep character of which we did not see enough. “I wasn’t always like this” she said to Eragon , don’t recall exactly when but it was either in Brisingr or Inheritance.

[u/MarkTurbulent2029 → u/Resident-Resolve612]

Yeah, exactly. I feel like in a different life, or maybe in the future, they could've worked out.

[u/Resident-Resolve612 → u/MarkTurbulent2029]

I pray in this one 😂🙌

[u/MarkTurbulent2029 → u/WhichFun5722]

So that's what makes her a stereotypical elf, or is that what makes her a boring character? Because I think it's healthy to change the traditional narrative of the "hero" gets the pretty girl in the end with little effort. It makes her less generic, if anything.

On a side note, it doesn't mean they dont have a chance in the future. Both Eragon and Arya will have long life spans based on their predicaments.

[u/xBlack_Heartx]

Arya was….Arya is….

Elf, she is Elf, she also had a few good moments with Eragon one I really recall was the spar between the two once Eragon’s back is healed.

[u/MarkTurbulent2029 → u/xBlack_Heartx]

So... non-descript.

You attempted to describe it but ended up being more non-descript while attempting to describe a moment of her character without elaborating. Was she elvish in this spar or non-elvish? What specific actions made her "elvish"? Do you think her being "elvish" is boring?

Is this "elvishness" perspective based on Alagaesia elves or elves in modern society or influenced from other worlds from other books/movies?

[u/Brazenmercury5]

Iirc Murtagh didn’t “figure out the name.” he knew the name of the ancient language, but wasn’t able to use it till he changed his own nature and therefore his true name, enabling him to able to break free of galby’s control.

[u/Cats_Waffles]

Man I'm not an Arya fan either but I do understand Eragon's obsession. The poor guy is used to sweet Carvahall farm girls, he has no natural defenses against Mean Baddies. If Eragon gets emotionally jerked around by a hot elf queen for the rest of his days, just know that's exactly where he wants to be.

[u/Resident-Resolve612 → u/Cats_Waffles]

I cracked with the Mean Baddie description of Hot Elf Queen Arya

[u/Cats_Waffles → u/Resident-Resolve612]

Unpleasant hotties are a universal weakness lol

[u/Resident-Resolve612 → u/Cats_Waffles]

that is very true

[u/Sonseeahrai]

U did Arya dirty.

Also how come you write so much words with not a single mention of Glaedr or Thorn? Or the best angsty relationship in the history of fantasy, Murtagh and Nasuada...

[u/WhichFun5722 → u/Sonseeahrai]

Omg that shipping. Like Nasuada is down bad with Stockholm syndrome. That and the fact part of her torture was living her ideal life with Murtagh which was when Murtagh was doing the torture?

Not much to say about Thorn, hard for me to imagine his voice from Eragons description, which my expectation was matched more with Arya's dragon.

I really like how defensive Murtag would get about Thorn whenever he was injured. Always reminded me that the dragon is less than 2 or 3 years old, tho Saphira isn't much older.

[u/Sonseeahrai → u/WhichFun5722]

Nasuada doesn't have Stockholm's, they're both captives in Uru'baen! And yeah this relationship is doomed with that angst but it's still amazing.

But yeah the relationship between Murtagh and Thorn is beautiful <3

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