Murtagh and Thorn

[u/Triktor5]

I'm on my thir re-read, and just finished Eldest.

Thinking about the first two books, I recall some key details:

• Murtagh is older than Eragon
• Murtagh had pretty much just left the Empire when he encountered Eragon and the Raz'ac in the first book
• Oromis mentions that Brom got his Saphira when he was a bit younger than Eragon

With all these facts, I gotta ask, why didn't Galby bring Murtagh to the eggs before?

I get he (Galby) wan't going to bring Murtagh to the eggs the first time he saw him, when Murtagh was like 3, but after that he had like 14 years to do so, why did he wait until after Murtagh escaped?

[u/Hershey32]

I think there's a couple of plausible explanations.

1. He was presented with the eggs but he wasn't right for any of them at the time. After his adventures with Eragon his name changed and he was ready so thorn hatched.

2. As mentioned by saphira she wasn't sure that Eragon being near wasn't a trap after everything she endured so she was slow to hatch. It's possible Thorn felt the same and only hatched after an extended exposure to Murtagh.

3. Galby didn't want the new riders to start quite yet. I believe he mentioned that he was still doing a lot of work creating his vision of the future and I don't know that he wanted new riders until after he found the name of names. Eragon getting saphira kind of forced his hand

[u/Huggable_Hork-Bajir → u/Hershey32]

Yeah I think Galbatorix mostly did it when he did because of Eragon & Saphira.

After Saphira hatched for Eragon, (and Eragon killed Durza, his last really powerful henchman) he no longer had a right hand man/enforcer, and he suddenly needed a flunky who could go toe to toe with Eragon and Saphira for him.

Before Eragon & Saphira he didn't really need a rider lackey, but like you said, I think Eragon's sudden appearance sort of forced his hand. If the Varden had a rider, he needed a rider. And the son of Morzan, his most loyal rider servant, had just been recaptured by the Twins.

I think it's also important to point out that judging by the interactions between he and Galbatorix that Murtagh talks about in Eragon, it sounds like he absolutely intended to groom Murtagh to become his daddy, and probably would have exposed him to Firnen & Thorn's eggs once he was 100% sure of his loyalty & had firmly cemented his control over him.

Unfortunately for Galbatorix, he lost his temper in front of Murtagh, and Murtagh saw that he was a few chocolate chips short of a full cookie, and he ran off before that could happen.

[u/Triktor5 → u/Huggable_Hork-Bajir]

My only problem with this is that I really don't see the point in needing someone's loyalty of admiration, not when Galby was so adept at finding people's true names

[u/NeyaFlowerfairy → u/Triktor5]

Which one is easier to keep and to manipulate - some who adores, maybe even idolizes, you and shares your vision or someone you forced into servitude and who tries to break free from your controll (or even gave up and just does what they're told)?

[u/Triktor5 → u/NeyaFlowerfairy]

Yeah, fair point

[u/Huggable_Hork-Bajir → u/Triktor5]

Same reason he wanted Nasuada to swear eternal loyalty to him rather than just forcing her to do it.

A loyal & willing servant was infinitely preferable to him than one he had to force to serve him.

He wanted his flunkies to truly believe in his twisted vision of Alagaësia. He wanted fanatics & zealots, not slaves.

Yeah he'd take either, but he really wanted true believers who would willingly do whatever he asked because they were eternally loyal to him and really believed in what he stood for and the world he was making.

A follower who really believed in his cause and would put Galbatorix & his needs above their own would be way more useful to him than someone he had to force to obey every little command and would be constantly trying to find ways to escape or defy him.

He didn't only want to rule Alagaesia, he wanted everyone to worship him like a god and admit he should be in charge and that his way was best.

He wanted to everyone to bow down & pledge themselves to his glorious empire willingly because he was so smart and powerful and right.

Tldr; he was crazy

[u/Triktor5 → u/Hershey32]

I like theory #1, and theory #3 fits really well. Theory #2 kind of breaks the whole Arya mail service system, doesn't it? I mean, how long did the egg stay in both Elesmera and the Beor Mountains each time, and how long where the kids exposed to the eggs? My point being that, it the eggs were to be too cautious, they would never hatch, because they would never spend enough time with their would be riders.

[u/Armadillo_Prudent]

Until Saphira hatched for Eragon, Galbatorix was in no hurry and would rather present the eggs to people that were voluntarily loyal to him. Galbatorix's priorities changed once Saphira hatched and Eragon joined the Varden, at that point it became the "voluntarily" part of it was less essential as long as he could control him and use him to counter the advantage they Varden had gained by obtaining a dragon ands rider. I imagine Galbatorix would have been content to wait centuries until someone that idolized him appeared before presenting anyone to the eggs of Saphira's egg had never been stolen from him.

[u/Triktor5 → u/Armadillo_Prudent]

Makes sense, however, in the first book, when Murtagh is telling Eragon his life story, he mentions the first time he spoke with the king, and the vision he had for the future of the empire, with the new riders and stuff. Murtagh was captivated by that story; that combined with Galby's silver tongue could make Murtagh idolize him.

Murtagh becomes disinchanted with the king, when he asks him to raid a village and kill everyone; at that point, Galby considered Murtagh old/mature enough to go to war, commanding his ow men no less.

My point being that he could have brought him to the eggs around that time, before antagonizing him.

[u/Armadillo_Prudent → u/Triktor5]

That was Galbatorix grooming Murtagh to become a faithful servant. Galbatorix had his eyes on him and saw the potential in manipulating him, but he knew he'd need to charm Murtagh a lot more before he gained such loyalty. Murtagh proved his point by running away.

[u/Triktor5 → u/Armadillo_Prudent]

My problem with this is, I don't really see the point of needing someone's loyalty and/or admiration, not when Galby was so addept at finding people's true names

[u/Armadillo_Prudent → u/Triktor5]

Part of it was his narcissistic pride/ego and part of it was practicality.

He considered himself the smartest, most cunning, calculating, charming person ever born and wanted other people to see him like that too. In his mind he was a victim to the old rider order and he wanted his servants to validate those feelings.

The practicality factor was that with a faithful, loyaland (most importantly) willing servant, he could just give orders and send them off on their mission and then focus on other matters, but with unwilling name-slaves forced to do his bidding against their will, he'd need to:

1. carefully think exactly how he would phrase his orders or the slaves might find loopholes that enabled them to disobey (like happened at the end of Eldest when Murtagh and Thorn returned to Urubaen without Eragon and Saphira despite being ordered to "try to" capture the and bring them to him, because technically they had already "tried" and had therefor already followed the orders, enabling them to leave Eragon and Saphira behind even if they could easily succeed now)

2. Stay vigilant against them secretly working against him in small ways (like happened in Inheritance when Murtagh 1. told Nasuada Galbatorix intended to break her so she wasn't fooled by his illusions, and 2. Made Nasuada immune enough to pain that torture wouldn't break her, and 3. Healed her wounds just enough to not pose real dangers of permanent damage (and therefore psychological trauma that might otherwise have have broken her spirit)

3. Pay attention that their personality wouldn't change enough for their true name to change so much that he no longer had power over them, like eventually happened.

He thought of most of his servants and subjects as disposable, but he only had three eggs so he needed to be sure he kept the potential riders alive.

[u/kintokae]

Without giving spoilers, they do delve into his relationship with Galbatorix in the book Murtagh. It’s from his point of view and it covers quite a bit of his time as a kid in his court and his relationship with Thorn.

[u/Frazier008]

Murtagh was not the same person when he was recaptured as he was when he left. Whether he wants to admit it or not, his time with Eragon and Saphira changed him.

[u/Liraeyn]

I believe it was later explained that he wanted to test Murtagh and could have retrieved him at any time.

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