Okay, Eragon himself is fine, but can we talk about how Roran, who I thought was never going to be mentioned again after the first book, had the best character arc by far in the second one? And that the exodus of Eragon's village was the stuff of songs?
this series has one of the most internally-consistent magic system i've seen in a fantasy series. it does a good job of deconstructing the effects magic has not only on the user, but also on the world, and explains that it's a high-risk high-reward path of study that can absolutely kill you and everyone around you if you so much as mess up a syllable.
That part in the second book where his teacher talks about making his spells a process so that he doesn't drain all his energy was actually quite clever
That's one of the things I love most about this series and what made me love hard-magic systems. It also made me realize what I didn't like about Lord of the Rings, where magic just kinda seems to do...whatever.
@@armorfrogentertainment See the HelloFutureMe ideo essay on the topic. One of my faourite points: a soft magic system can most easily be used as a tool to further show the development of characters and add additional themes like relationship to the world or the world as a character, whatever. A hard magic system is much more likely to just be what it is, and serve to operate as a consistent tool without really adding to a character. I like the ancient language because it does both, the choice of what to use is both a character reflection (ooh this person prefers simple spells or hasn't studied much or went to great pains to set up this massive elaborate process because they are a control freak) and a consistent tool. It is soft enough to do almost anything the narrative needs it to but never without justification, and the extensions with the jewel belt and stuff always worked really well to add little splashes of novelty without feature creep. It's solid!
In fantasy literature, it’s what is known as a “hard magic” system. It has clearly defined rules & regulations that story characters who practice the magic must abide by in the universe of the story. Other examples are the Mistborn series, Avatar, Full Metal Alchemist, Elder Scrolls (to a certain extent), & the Codex Alera & the Dresden Files. A “soft magic system” is either intentionally mysterious for the sake of the story, with no set way of doing magic, used as a Deus ex Machina type literary prop. It’s the literary equivalent of saying “the magic user did magical stuff” to describe the magical actions of a character. Examples include everything in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth & Lewis’ Narnia, A Song of Ice & Fire, & Star Wars. There are also magic systems that fall in between the two; being neither soft & malleable, nor set utterly in stone. Examples include the Wheel of Time series & Harry Potter.
Almost like the author mistyped the word 'dragon' with E next to D and thought to themselves "Hey, that's pretty cool." Whether an accident or not, it works.
I feel like an absolute moron for never having noticed that despite the fact that i read the whole series several times as a kid; i don't even have dyslexia as an excuse; i'm apparently just an idiot smh
to be honest... as a kid I really liked the Eragon movie. I remembered it being great, but it probably was just nostalgia talking from time when I was a dumb kid
@@RaskaTheFurry The movie actually is very well done. The problem comes from the fact that it is supposed to be based off of the books, which it is NOTHING like
@@dearlybeloved2786 There are some additional problems such as bad acting, poorly represented characters and extra but I enjoyed it (before I read the books)
For me, Eragon is a pretty normal fantasy with some fun encounters thrown in here or there. I liked the story with Elva the most, her being cursed to never-ending agony because Eragon slacked off on learning the language.
@@paradoarify Paolini confirmed in an interview that he discovered it by accident. He hadn't properly smoothed out the made up language and didn't check properly when he wrote the "blessing." When he realised, he initially wanted to edit it to what it should be, but then figured it could have some interesting effects, so developed on Eragon's, and by extension his own blunder.
Guy of Cats I know this is probably a hot take but I actually wasn’t fond of how the Earthsea series handled their magic. The Inheritance Cycle handled it kind of like a science, whereas Earthsea felt a little less explained, allowing for more shenanigans. That might just be time and personal preference warping my perception tho
Well the though the magic system indeed was great it allowed a little bit too many shenanigans, for my taste. Or the story at least allowed eragon too many shenanigans (E.g. wordless magic, without any risks for eragon, even if it should be extremely risky). Still I loved the inheritance cycle and still do
My lasting impression of the inheritance cycle is the realization I had during the ending when I thought back to the begging of the series. I remembered how immature Eragon was at the beginning and how much he'd grown. It was subtle and I remember feeling impressed by how the author had done this so gradually. As it took me about a year if reading the series on and off, I felt like me and the character had both grown together. It was a really cool thought and remains how I think of the series.
I remember finishing Inheritance and reading those last few chapters with tears streaming from my eyes. It had a huge impact for me in regards to fantasy. Before reading Eragon, I hated Lord of the Rings, I hated Narnia. Couldn't pick up the books. Couldn't watch the films. I thought they were boring. After reading Eragon I grew a deep appreciation for the genre.
The Eragon craze was doubly impactful for me as a kid because both Paolini and I grew up and live in the same State. He's a local author who made it big! Back in Middle school we wrote letters to our favorite author as an assignment and I wrote one to Paolini. He wrote back with kind words, a signed photo and everything. Even today, he serves as my inspiration to write, no matter how my feelings change about his work. Top notch video, James. Thank you.
Chris is incredibly active on Reddit. You should check his profile, it's quite fun and he even answers a lot of questions or just "things" over on r/Eragon. Awesome guy
The Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings craze of the early 2000s was one of the main reasons why Nickelodeon greenlit Avatar. They wanted a piece of that fantasy pie.
Avatar is a great demonstration of the fact that copying the structure of the original star wars trilogy is fine. (the character arcs are much different but the major story beats echo star wars very clearly).
I thought the magic system was pretty cool. I like how it explains that fireballs and shit are actually not great combat spells because spells take the same toll on you that performing an action physically would, and it's way more efficient to do a spell that just snaps your enemies' spinal cords than one that creates a fiery explosion or something.
I quite like the inheritance cycle. I'll admit that in the starting it pretty much rips off star wars, but by midway of the second book it does enough of its own things and has a distinct identity. What I really liked about the series was Roran, the magic system, the urgals not being just orks and the fact that things had different names for different races, as dumb as that sounds.
I never finished reading the cycle (I read and loved the first when it was originally published and had grown out of it by the time book 3 came along) but I think Book 2 and 3 largely overcomplicates things Which wouldn't be an issue if it didn't slow down the plot as much. 1 Is not original but the fact that it's very straightforward works in its favor as an intro to the genre. I think the sequels were a little too weird and with too many tangents for my taste. That said some of the nuances were very nice.
But the magic system is kind of...(like 90% of it) taken from the Earthsea books...soooo not original either. The point is Paollini was young and he just kind of copied what he liked.
Aleksandra Tsankova the Earthsea cycle’s magic is from the ancient language that was not supposed to be used by human kings and was banned for the use of dragons but the Inheritance cycle’s magic is different. Also, Seriously, it is exactly like Star Wars except with magic and medieval stuff
@@poppygloria3819 can you believe it: Some people claim there a two Percy Jackson movies? Silly talk, Percy Jackson movies sound like a great idea though, someone should make that.
the magic system was one of the most amazing things about the series. I also liked the overall plot tbh. yeah like the video said it was similar to star wars but it was unique in it of itself. Eragon was my first ever long book series I read and I just re-read them and I still feel enthralled by them as I was when I was young
it also allowed for one of the best bossfights ever. it would have been so lame and standard if Eragon just bested Galbatorix, but instead he defeated him in such a creative and original way.
This was one of the first series's I had ever read as a child, and I remember my elementary school librarian not allowing me to check it out because it was intimidatingly large and she deemed me incapable of reading the book, but that doesen't even make sense bc why was it in an elementary school library then, huh??????
I know the feeling. When I was in year four I think I either wanted to read this or re-read one of the later Harry Potters (I had read the whole HP series over the summer holidays) and some of the older kids helping around the library told me it was too long, thankfully the librarian let me borrow it anyway.
poppy gloria I was super lucky. My librarians knew I was pretty advanced in primary school (like reading dan brown and other stuff on that level in year 4 {god they were bad when I got older}) and they took me on trips to the high school to pick up new books that were more on my level. D read so much of the primary schools library by that point. I spent so much time there when I wasn't getting into fist fights with my bullies. They knew what happened and literally hid me a couple of times. One of them treated me like I was her granddaughter. And didn't treat me like a dumb kid who couldn't understand shit.
@@watson483 This was right after I got really into reading, and there were a few kids like me, notably my best friend at the time. They learned pretty fast how advanced we were. The librarian was lovely, she always had a recommendation as soon as I was done with a series and she would even go out and buy the rest of an incomplete series with her own money if someone was reading it. Fortunately (or unfortunately from some perspectives) I was always one of the biggest kids in my grade and all the bullies were usually the short, sporty type so beyond a few insults nothing really happened at primary school.
It was the first book I got my then reluctant reader hooked on books. I would read a bit out loud, then he had a turn, then me....till he picked up the book and read alone. Being older I enjoyed the story too.....but then I like many kids books as much as as the more developed grown-up ones.
No one here is talking about the little details with the dragons. I always loved how Saphira and the others were described with this "wisdom but also is very instinctual vibe. It gives them all a really unique feeling. Dragons in other medias are either too human-like or too animal-like. I feel like Paolini really nailed the them in the series.
I'm never going to not love these books. They've always been a comfort to me, and I go back to them time and time again when I need some good fantasy that doesn't require a lot of focus.
I really like Saphira; she's definitely one of the book's more interesting points, cause she's not just some dumb beast to be ridden but has a fairly interesting personality and perspective
My favorite thing about the series is the way the magic system has two clear, simple rules (a spell must be made in the ancient language and anything done with magic takes as much as energy as it would normally) that immediately lay out some obvious boundaries, yet the author attacks those rules like a D&D munchkin exploiting the game to give themselves as big an advantage as possible without ever doing anything impossible. "Can I use the energy of something else?" "Oh, that's standard procedure. Dragons shared energy with their riders all the time. You can even store energy in objects for later use." "Can I use figurative meanings of words for unrelated effects?" "Sure. Eragon's mother once used 'heal' to heal assassins of their will to kill and render them docile." "Could I order myself to stop existing and become a nuke once the matter of my body is converted to energy?" "If you're willing to sacrifice yourself, certainly." "If I learn the name of the ancient language, can I use it to control magic itself?" "What do you think Galbatorix has been doing this past decade? Perfecting his mustache twirl?"
Every couple years I reread the fourth book. I'm a big fan of stories which describe war well, and GOD DAMN is everything involving Roran in Inheritance great. His siege of Aroughs and general baddassery in all the other battles is just so believable and inspiring. Also, the Urgals are great. They're such a step-up from Orcs, and the way Paolini describes them fighting besides Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Werecats at Uru'baen is fucking amazing.
Yeah, I really liked how Urgals were not just stupid orc warriors there to be sliced with a sword by the Varden, but a developed race with a distinct culture
@@laufert7100 Yeah i loved how in the beggining Eragon too saw them as some eliv war animals or something, but then around book 3 he had to travel with one for a while and both him and the Urgal explained about their culture and how the other species hurt theirs, and it made them in a more grayish light, like you can understand those who you thought were your enemies and you can see where their hatred comes from.
Yes it has a standard plot, that doesn't mean it's 'ripping off starwars.' You think george lucas created the hero's journey story? I can definitely see why someone wouldn't like the books but I like them, I've read them over many times. They're like comfort food. Also the quality of the writing significantly improves with each book.
I’m currently re-reading the books, they are very fun to read and I really liked it years ago when I first read them (before the fourth book was even a thing). Specially after not reading for fun for about 7 years because of my academic career, i feel like this and Percy Jackson were a good choice to warm up to reading again.
Man, when I read these books back in my days I wouldn't even notice all the described Star Wars similarities for which it is massively criticized for (which I've learned later). For me it was just a good story. And it still is. I really love the setting, main and side characters and narration. And also big props to the magic system in Eragon's universe (as mentioned in other comments) - it is really masterfully designed.
I watched it. The whole thing. Twice, if I recall. I can't remember why I watched it the second time. I think I wanted to show my mom how bad it was, but since she hadn't read the book and couldn't compare, she was a bit nonplussed.
Gosh, thank you so much. I do think that the Inheritance Cycle isn’t super original, but I’m still really fond of it. It doesn’t deserve all of the hate.
If it weren't for the Inheritance Cycle, I don't think I would have my current love for fantasy. The magic system definitely defined how I imagine magic would work if it were boiled down to a science, and it influenced how I saw the world for a strangely long portion of my childhood.
The cycle of all things. Underated to trendy to hated. Story of most things as people try to be different on something to stand out and then more people do that until it is the norm and then everyone hates it.
@@squiddle5193 ? Yeah a 15 year old did not write a perfect story? He got a bet selling book published at *fifteen* man, come on, stop being such a prick about it
He began writing the book when he was 15. It wasn't released until he was 18. It's still pretty respectable, but I reckon he rewrote it a couple of times, a good amount of work went into it by editors, or both. Also, it kinda shows in the first book and how it blatantly copies the New Hope arc (not that the arc itself is too original in the first place...); Eldest is more mature already.
@Bob Bobbertson Lmao no. Eragon's training is boring as hell, and the way Paolini wrote his reaction to having his body altered without his consent was gross. Roran's and Nasuada's stories were good, but Eragon's part of that book was terrible. Brisingr was much more political, dived deeper into the lore, and had better action.
@Bob Bobbertson No you idiot. He gets turned into an elf without warning and his reaction is to shrug it off and go "cool," that's poor writing whatever way you slice it. I've never been emotionally attached to Eragon. I read the series for the first time when I was seventeen or eighteen. Why did your moronic rant (best narrative flow? You mean slowing down the story to a parade of neverending training montages, Arya being a plank of wood and not a character, and an ending which is literally just The Empire Strikes Back? You really think the story should've ended before they even defeated the bad guy?) into assumptions about my life? For your information, I'm not an English major, I haven't been unfairly passed up for a job, and my book has only been exposed to my friends because I haven't finished it yet. Your opinion on story structure holds no weight because you're a total rando nobody on the internet. Your total arrogance would be hilarious if it wasn't so annoying. Paolini hasn't written literally anything since the Inheritance Cycle except a book of short stories set in the same world. His new novel is only coming out this year. You have no basis to judge the evolution of his writing on.
I liked the books, they are quite derivative, but at the same time the plot is coherent and the characters have a good amount of depth. However, you can tell that over the course of the series Christopher Paulini (I think I spelled that right) improves a lot as a writer. He includes more modern storytelling characteristics (there aren’t just good guys and bad guys, having multiple developed characters with actual depth and separate storylines that all contribute to the plot). He also improves as a writer and a storyteller, and I always found that he was struggling against the first book in the last 2, since he had put himself in a place where he had to deal with a plot that no longer fit with his style of writing.
I totally agree that he got better over time. The first book was very boring for a large part of it, but the story improves the further you read into the series.
I love the series. I especially like how there are consequences for actions. Like the reason the village was in danger was because Eragon had found the egg near there or the consequences when he worded what was supposed to be a blessing incorrectly and instead made a curse. There was also the details that really helped make the world like how the dwarven king looked forward to retirement because he would no longer have to sit in a throne that was intentionally built to be uncomfortable to make a point about power.
I really enjoyed eragon as a late HS/ early college student partly because of the simplicity of the story, but also the subversions of many of the standard tropes. You only touch on them and brush them off, but for me they were what made the story special. I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t read it, but let’s just say that Eragon is not the center of the universe in the story. Especially in later books, we jump between several characters all of whom have important roles in the story. Yes, Eragon is important because he is the resistance’s only defense against enemy dragon riders and other major threats , but without the other characters he would never get very far due to his inexperience. He is grounded by the others and he supports them as much as they support (and sometimes deride) him just as much. The characters are quite organic, is what I am trying to say. There is only a veneer of unified ‘team good people’ that covers how separate each characters desires really are. While the story does NOT have the same depth as GoT or other epic fantasy, it, as you said, straddles the line between true epic fantasy (such as those aforementioned) and what I consider light fantasy (such as Harry Potter- the reason for that is a story for another comment ;) )
I really loved it as a teenager. Never finished the series (by the time the last book came out, I had grown out of teen/YA oriented books, and thus never actually even got it). Sure, it rips off a lot of its author's inspirations, but back then I found its worldbuilding, magic system and some characters pretty captivating and I still remember a lot of details fondly. I feel like it's one of those book series that was written with quite a lot of passion and enthusiasm and it shows, despite the lack of originality.
@@cortster12 YES. My dad just randomly bought the first 2 books when i was in elementary school, and now as a junior in high school im still loving them and cant wait for the next one to come out
I actually loved it. It gave me an appreciation for the dwarves far more than I felt for Tolkein Dwarves. Not to diss Tolkein but like I found it more interesting to learn about the culture than a single family's bloodline history for the past few centuries.
I liked how religious dwarves were and how dismissive of their religion elves were. Like drarves had like 190481 gods and stuff and everything was sacred, like they had the big rose-glass thingie Arya broke in the end of book 1, they had some painting and stuff and they tried to teach Eragon some of their religion and gods and meanwhile elves were like "oh we get out power from everything around us, we dont need stupid gods to praise" , they were so zen xDDD
I haven’t seen anyone talk about Nasuada yet. . . She’s an amazing character. Intelligent and shrewd, and dang good at her job. And paying for an army with lace is sheer utter brilliance and probably one of my favourite Inheritance Cycle moments.
I remember reading these books and loving them when they came out, now looking back I can see that maybe I hyped them up a bid (and got a bit to obsessed) but they aren't terrible, they are great books for helping young people get into fantasy. As with other classic entries like Lord of the Rings they can easily become to verbose for younger audiences to understand, but these books are easier to read mainly because of the age of the author.
Emily Greenman I never found it too verbose when I read the books (was in 3rd-4th grade), but I did have that problem with LOTR at about the same time. Don’t really know why.
Yeah there's nothing wrong with it being kind of a "LOTR-lite" for middlegrade. I think that's what the criticism stems from, they kinda forget that they're meant for middle schoolers, so it's not really surprising that older readers don't find it as stimulating
I read them for the first time a few weeks ago. I'm 23, and I know I'm not the target audience, but I have read Wings of Fire and loved those books to death, so I kind of hoped it would have at least some of the magic those books had. Ehhhh, nope. I couldn't get into it. At all. Barely got halfway done with the first book before I stopped reading. Then I learned the author was a teenager when he wrote it, and then it all made sense. Didn't have enough experience to make something other than just... okay.
I loved those books when they came out and I still do :) I even wrote fanfiction about Murtagh! Yes, it has some issues but I love how Eragon grows up along with his author, and the character´s maturity reflects Paulini´s (whatever his name is) .
Well, nothing wrong with that. Plus you can't really be bothered about authors drawing inspiration from someone else when you have the hunger games books. The entire premise is after all blatantly stolen with the author adamantly denying it despite of it being easier to spot then a fat person in the US.
To be fair, Daenerys was a product of imbreeding for generations and that's where the evil thing came in... it was supposed to be some wrong gene or whatever... anyway, personally i'm not a big supporter of the evil Daenerys /mainly because yes, having evil parents doesnt mean you yourself are evil/, also it was not really evil, more like mentally ill
I just liked the thought of having a big deadly friend flying with you that you could trust completely and talk to at any time. Every side conversation Eragon and Sapphira had was extremely comfy.
"Derivative" I detest that particular insult, both to the Eragon series and to work in general. *Everything* is derivative. Nothing is wholly new and unique. Everything is influenced by the things the creator has experienced in life, which almost certainly includes other works in that genre of that medium. I remember reading someone bringing up how Eragon is bad because it was "just ripping off Star Wars" in their words. They brought up how Brom is basically jus Obi Wan, including dying, and various other things. And I was just shaking my head as I read it and thinking "Wow, so you've never heard of the hero's journey huh? Do you actually think Star Wars is the first thing to ever use this template?"
One of my favorite bits about Eragon that's kind of similar to Harry Potter is when he has to use a synonym for fire so that he doesn't ignite his sword. Kind of reminded me of when Voldemort had Death Eaters teleport to whoever used expelliarimus because Harry used it so much
Benjamin Haskin I think you’re conflating two different things from the Deathly Hallows. 1) The Death Eaters identified Harry as the real Harry instead of one of his Polyjuice Potion-transformed friends while they transported him to The Burrow at the start of the book because he used "expelliarmus" instead of the more logical stunning spell, and 2) after Voldemort's silent takeover of the Ministry, a charm called a Taboo was placed over Britain that would break all layers of magical protection concealing any person who had uttered the name "Voldemort" and reveal their location to the authorities, which is how Harry, Ron, and Hermione were captured and brought to Malfoy Manor.
I really liked this series when I was younger, and still hold a soft spot for it. I love the magic system, and roran’s adventures are brilliant, and I honestly like Eragon better than Luke. I’m sorry...
I can say I was one of those people. Unfortunately Minecraft deleted my world and I couldn’t get it back idk what happened. I was about 10 then and I cried for a very long time... I will never forgive Minecraft!
MCAlagaesia it was called. They renamed to Arcaena a while ago. I was a builder on the server for a time! I would have continued, if i had any time for it!
@@evilsorosfundedgovernments433 I played on that server for a while too! It was a fun little community but wasn't all that active and I stopped playing because of that
"Can you imagine a ten year old reading Dune?" You say to the guy who stole his father's copy on the sly and fell in love with it in spite of the fact that he couldn't understand half of the high-concept space magic. Sorry, that was just too tempting an opportunity to pass up. The inheritance saga is a fine entry-level epic fantasy story, and I still appreciate it in that capacity to this day, even if I can't recommend it to someone other than a new reader. What enchanted me about it on first reading was the level of worldbuilding that went into making Alagaesea distinct from its many influences, and I still find the cultural commentary interesting to this day. From the tribal meritocracy of the Urghals to the insular and supremacist elves, (in the cultural and not the literal sense) to the dwarves, who blend romantic Norse and Japanese ideas of a warrior culture that honours personal, communal and generational obligation, sometimes to their own detriment, to the gamut of human cultural groups, even the razak and their cult, and the effect which institutionalised fear can have on culture and society. And of course the Riders, among them, yet ever apart, with all the dramatic tension that can bring. For that alone, the Inheritance cycle is worth a close reading, even if the rest of the story is wanting, for reasons brought up in the video. thanks for the commentary.
A lot of people hate on Eragon because it is popular to hate on it. It's kind of the Twilight of high fantasy, except Twilight deserves most of it's hate while I don't believe Eragon does. Sure it's plot is a rather unoriginal high fantasy Hero's Journey (but with dragons), but i don't think that saying it is just a rip-off of Star Wars is really fair, as Star Wars is itself a rather unoriginal high fantasy Hero's Journey (but in space). In fact most of the things the two stories have in common are really just standard tropes of the genre. In my opinion Eragon is still a well written story and while it has it's problems (superhuman vegan elves just annoy me to no end, even moreso when they convert Eragon) they do not compromise the story. Also I think the characterization in the story is very good, Sapphira in particular is a delight and Eragon and Murtagh (how do you spell this again) make very effective foils of eachother.
@@cekojuna6930 That sword making scene in the 3rd book was awful. The books being overly long was what really killed them for me. Also I feel that the entire third book could be a few chapters at the end of the second or at the beginning of the fourth and nothing of value would be lost Edit: Also I remember being confused by all the unnecessary language. In one book something is described as being "the size of a winter rutabaga". In 7th grade I had no clue what that meant, and still don't get a good image from that. I could rant about other stuff like this, but it might take me hours.
@Bob Bobbertson easy money? I disagree with you there. The whole series was clearly moving twords a battle against the king ( don't remember how to spell it ) why end it after book two? Also the book didn't lose its charm after book two.
@Bob Bobbertson First >Objective Second, I wouldn't exactly call writing 2 books that large easy money. Even if you think they're worse it's not like they had no work put into them.
Eragon is probably the fantasy story I remember most looking back at when I was younger and reading much fantasy. I really loved it, this magical mysterious world and all the interesting details it had.
Eragon was a big part of my early teenage/middle school years. It took me a while to realize how similar it was to other stories. Regardless of that I just really liked a lot about it. The magic was one of my favorite systems, I loved the telepathy with a dragon and the consequences that had on both of their mental states at times. It's been a long time since I read it though and have forgot nearly everything.
One of my all time favorite parts of the series is Eragon's skill with a Sword, first he learns over a realistic period of time even if he is "A Natural". Then his skill continue to improve until is so skilled that he can compete with Elves who are Physically superior to him in most ways. When he loses his magic sword he has trouble using a normal one that has to be sharpened and can break. And most of all when he gets magic blessings and basically becomes an Elf he gets extremely lazy from fighting people who have no chance against him and has to train his way back up to his previous skill level.
Although by the time the books got around to the true OP murder powers even Eragon is like "well that's a bit.... much". Wizards being OP is part of the story beyond the power fantasy
@@fangsabre I don't know about that, he's a walking talking nuke, mowing down entire armies with a thought. The fact he doesn't really grapple with that in any meaningful way other than lip service to the viewer, I find it hard to excuse. Mr.Gary Stu is always framed as being in the right instead of it being up to us to decide. You can have an OP wizard story, but typically wizards are wise enough to be stingy with their powers BECAUSE its excessive. That or make it so there's an actually personal cost beyond using up your mana points. In "the first law", because magic "comes from the other side" its more unpredictable. You can do op things, but controlling the price you pay is difficult. (Totally give it a read, its really good) I guess I'm saying its about balance? Eragon is comically OP so it'd be good to challenge him meaningfully, question if hes the lesser of two evil, rather than the boring "good guy" who think's being angsty makes up for whole sale murder. Lol, I'm sorry for the long response, I didn't mean to write an essay XD
@@LadCorazon I wouldn't say Eragon pays lip service. Its kindof half the reason he leaves at the end. Not only does he need to find a new homeland for the dragons, but also because the last thing the world needs is for another possible Galbatorix to hang around. It's why he wont teach the Name to anyone else, because it's simply so powerful it would make that person unstoppable, and by the end of the series he himself is unstoppable, so he removes himself from the situation. Not to mention for most wizards there is a personal cost to magic, you die if you get too greedy with your abilities. Admittedly this stops affecting Eragon in the 4th book, but we do see other magicians (specifically Rorans mage friend) pay the price for some of their magic use. Not to mention his growing power is constantly on his mind and builds his feeling of alienation from other humans. He doesnt insist hes just the same old farm boy despite being a walking nuke. And he does often wonder if hes doing the right thing, he does have doubts. I mean I guess you could call his several conversations with Saphira and Oromis about the morality of his actions (remember Oromis had a whole chapter long debate/lecture on this subject) lip service but I think that would be a bit disingenuous
@@fangsabre Hmm, I see what you mean, but I realize I didn't make it clear that I'm more speaking to the narrative itself, because it never quite sells me on him really being very deep ya know? He does leave because he doesn't trust anyone else with his kind of power, but there's no question at all whether or not he himself would be corrupted. And if essentially some farm boy can become god and not be corrupted by it, who's really to say others can't be taught? He just doesn't have enough real internal struggle. It's never occurred to me that he could really do a bad thing, because that's how he's framed by the narrative. And because of that it does feel like lip service when he feels angst about it. But if the narrative actually challenged that, at some point saying something akin to "That's nice you feel bad, but you keep doing it and it doesn't bring anyone back", then maybe I'd buy it. Strip the narrative context, and suddenly he's a callus punk the government uses to destroy their enemies. I haven't read through the whole thing in years though and I concede that this is my interpretation looking back on it! I'd have to give it another read to really be confident in what I'm saying xux
Maybe it's just me, but the character development in those books is astonishing. You start with a normal farm boy and end up with a demigod. But there wasn't one huge event, it was gradual. By the time you realise how much he's changed, you're surprised.
Saying "Eragon is just Star Wars" is incredibly lazy. They both follow a hero's journey and have some of the same tropes, but you can say that about a lot of books. There are a tonne of significant differences and big parts of the books that have no direct correlation to Star Wars.
The first book maybe. Later on it became very different from Star Wars and most of the similarities were coming from the fact that they are both about a typical hero's journey against an evil usurper
I would argue that at a certain Point in the Series, Eragon starts being more adult fantasy and less for children. Considering how Brutal it got starting with the third Book. So kind of similar to Harry Potter it grew up with its audience (and its Author). Also i really dont understand the Furrybait critique of it, did i miss something?
Yeah, it's kind of hard to really argue that Eragon is a good guy especially after some of the things he does to people. Also this book does not shy away from some seriously dark shit.
Just the length of the second half would be enough to deter children. You could drop the final book from a high window and kill some by bonking them on the head. I’m a fast reader and it took me a month to read.
Jay Barry I think the length of even the first one (500+ pages) is still a fair amount for kids. People were surprised at me reading the books at 8, each one took a week each. It didn’t put me off but I can 100% get why others were, especially since it requires kids to have a long attention span. Hell I remember finding the non-Eragon sections of Inheritance boring as a kid though, which made those sections harder to get through
I actually really enjoyed the series, and while it was far from perfect, had some amazing moments. The author's age at the time also inspired me to write, because if he could do it that young, why couldn't I?
When you talked about how Brom was actually Eragon's father, wasn't it more of Eragon's mother ran away with Brom and they had Eragon? For some reason I thought there was a bit were Murtagh and Eragon were at odds, due to Murtagh feeling abandoned by his mother and feeling resentful towards Eragon for getting a better life. It has been like...8 years or so since I read the series, so I might not remember it right. Also, the fact that Eragon is healed and made into, essentially, a half-elf is pretty neat. Great video! Also same on Wheel of Time, it is a slog.
People claiming it's furry bait makes no sense??? Seriously it came from the mid 2000s. This was the "FuRrY iS a SeX cUlT" cable news era, Furry bait straight up wasn't a thing that existed yet.
@@jaojao1768 the writing isn't even all that bad, aside from the first book. Apart from being a bit tropish (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), probably the biggest fault of the writing is some parts not really adding anything to the story, but that is an easy hole to fall into, particularly for a write without a lot of practice.
I always loved the series and always will. It's a true love where you don't care for the enormous amount of bad stuff but still see and enjoy the good stuff.
"They were called dragon riders which is a bit misleading since they had a magical bond with the dragons and rode them around" How is that misleading? Does having a bond with the creature you're riding on make it something other than riding?
Especially when that bond is an element Paolini took directly from Dragonriders of Pern. So it's actually on the nose _exactly_ what you'd expect from someone called a Dragon Rider!
I mean Eragon did actually want to bang the elf princess so it makes sense. Although the Dwarves got a nice helping of lore too. Even the Urgals got some decent backstory.
@@fangsabre Eragon could have had a "thing" with the Elven princess even without all "Elves are flawless, perfect, immortal demigods and infinitely superior to humans".
The magic system will always be one of my favourites because even as a young reader I was frequently annoyed at how characters that could throw a car with their mind would bother instead of using less energy to do creative things like throw a small rock like a bullet and so forth. And this brought a whole new perspective on it, allowing that within the system but presenting the realistic consequences of that in a fight between two people that could kill eachother instantly
Sam Reddig For me they were a big part of my younger reading years. I started brotherband but didn’t finish the first book- idk why. I’m thinking of trying to read them again.
I've always had a strong connection to this book series; I was a TA at the same high school library he wrote the first book, a year after he graduated. It was really inspiring, and is what pushed me to start writing for myself.
Thank you for this video! It makes me wanna reread the whole cycle. To this day i still revisit certain passages in those books that just bring my imagination to life. Ive always been strangely obsessed with the sword-forging scene since first reading it. Even as a child i could see that the books werent perfect, but they still hold a special place in my heart.
Kai Rønning I’m in the middle of re-reading it, but i left my third and fourth books at my parents house and I am quarantined 8 hours away until at least June 😭😭😭😭
Honestly, I'll always have a huge fondness for this series, and I still occasionally re-read it. This was my first 'big kid' series, and I felt so grown up when I was allowed to read something so 'mature'. Heck, I think I actually read this series before I saw Star Wars. So the writing is a little plain, and the story hits some cliche notes. For me? This was my first introduction to my favorite genre.
Lets never forget, that the author was indeed a teenager during the first book. Writing a book is pretty hard, and creating something, that hit enough people to stay in the minds of many for almost two decades is something I highly respect
This series always will hold a place in my heart. The second book had come out around the time my grandmother died and I used that book to help me get through everything.
I have honestly never understood all the critique Eragon recieves. I grew up reading the books as they were relased and I loved them so much, and now as an adult, I honestly still love them. They are perfect? No, for some of the reasons you have very well explained. But they have a lot, A LOT of amazing things that not many other books have even now and people always seems to ignore that. Arya and Eragon not ending up together is one example, Nasuadas whole character is another (there is so few women like her in fantasy that as a young girl reading about her was amazing), the magic system is one of the best I have ever read (and I have read quite a lot now), the fact that the hero is not the leader of the revolution but instead swears loyalty to all the other parts as he wants the best for the world not be the best himself. Could go on but I think I said enough. I love Eragon and I am so sad that so many people critixe it so much, so thanks for this video!
Eragon got me into reading. I used to hate reading before finding Eragon but now it's one of my favorite past times. I took me over a month to read the first book, less than a week to read the last one.
honestly I loved this series because it really got me into fantasy. I didn't have any issues with it because, like you said, I really hadn't read anything like it and therefore didn't know they were common for the genre. looking back, it was pretty cookie cutter, but I enjoyed reading them and how smart they made me look (really, those books didn't need to be that big. the font was fucking huge man)
I think what I loved most about the series was the ending. It took steps that very few stories I’ve read have taken, and I really appreciated the fact that Paolini devoted over 100 pages to tying up loose ends. I hate when a series ends with basically “Main villain is dead, here’s two chapters of resolution, end of story.” It has its flaws, but it’s still one of my favorite series of all time.
I still haven't finished reading the Inheritance Cycle, and it saddens me a bit to have missed out on so much of it when I was at the right age to appreciate it. Eragon was also my first introduction to epic fantasy and I loved it. Read it at age 10. But I lived in small town and went to a small school, both with small libraries... trying to get a copy of Eldest to read during the height of the craze was impossible, and I ended up forgetting about it for a while. Didn't read Eldest until high school, but it was worth the wait. I was honestly kind of surprised at how well it held up. I still want to finish the last two books, even moreso after watching this video actually.
I reread these books a few years ago as a nostalgia binge. They definitely aren’t as good as I remember, or more accurately my standards rose quite a bit, but they hold up well. Especially for being written by a 16 year old. I think they’re perfect as, teenager’s first epic fantasy novel. Then you can throw them into the deepend with Wheel of Time.
One thing I hardly see anyone talk about is that we get to read Saphira's POV in a few chapters of the later books. Those were always some of my favourites partially because Saphira is the best character after Angela, and partially because it really drives home how differently dragons think. I feel like most other books would have just made the dragons basically be humans in ginat reptile bodies, but the Inheritance Cycle makes them way more interesting by doing this.
I enjoyed the books tremendously as a young reader and have all of them on the most prominent part of my bookshelf. I remember indulging in them at hard times in my life and rereading whole chapters because I thought they were so good. I haven’t read them in years but I finished them when I was around 14 and I remember thinking they were the best books I had ever read. I am thinking of going back and rereading them but I have a whole word document of books that need to be read before it so it might take a while. I think that the video was spot on when it says that it got young readers into fantasy. I distinctly remember reading these books and then diving into the library more that I ever had before. Maybe the books aren’t as good as I remember them. But the effect they had on me was nothing small and I’ll remember them fondly no matter what.
They acually are really good, you just have to look at it in another way than more "grown up" storylines, like GOT or LOTR. Ive read lots of other fantasy, but Eragon is still my favorite, its so describing and paolini had real talent in describing nature and characters.
In my case, hating on Eragon was just me trying to distance myself from my younger, less educated self, because I had yet to realise that knowing more than your past self is the default state of life and that just because I learned about the existence of something like media analysis didn't mean I understood it. All I knew was that Eragon no longer had the same effect on me it used to have and the internet gave me lots of explanations of why it was bad so not liking it was the logical conclusion of having gained more information. Nowadays I appreciate it for what it is, I recently ordered the audiobooks from the library and listen to them while doing other things.
I used to borrow these books from my classmate who's mother would buy them for him. Firstly he read it, then me. When the second book came out I borrowed both of them and read the first one again and then the second one and I did this with the whole tetralogy, always reading all the previous books before the new one. Best memories of how I hid under the blanket with a flashlight so my parents wouldn't see the light from the room and reading well into the night, living the fantasy with Eragon. I remember how I laughed at the part where he thought the rocks grow in the ground (when he got to know of corals) or how I was amazed by the fact that the ants take care of aphids. I have very fond memories of this series.
