Lois H. Gresh - The Ultimate Unauthorized Eragon Guide: The Hidden Facts Behind the World of Alagaesia

The Hidden Facts Behind the World of Alagasia

Lois H. Gresh

ST. MARTINS GRIFFIN

NEW YORK

THE ULTIMATE UNAUTHORIZED ERAGON GUIDE. Copyright 2006 by Lois H. Gresh. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gresh, Lois H.

The ultimate unauthorized Eragon guide : the hidden facts behind the world of Alagasia / Lois Gresh.1st. ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-0-312-35792-4

ISBN-10: 0-312-35792-3

1. Paolini, Christopher. InheritanceHandbooks, manuals, etc.Juvenile literature. 2. Fantasy fiction, AmericanHandbooks, manuals, etc.Juvenile literature. 3. Dragons in literatureHandbooks, manuals, etc.Juvenile literature. I. Title.

PS3616.A55I5434 2006

813. 6dc22

2006040045

First Edition: November 2006

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

2. Whats the Point (of Those Ears)?
Eragon and the Elves

4. Dwarves, the Shade, Urgals, Giants,
and Other Beasties

6. Angela the Herbalist: If Plants Are Conscious,
Is She Guilty of Murder?

The Ultimate Unauthorized Eragon Guide

I m a jaded old science fiction and fantasy writer, ancient enough to be Christopher Paolinis mother. Imagine my surprise to learn that at the age of twenty, Paolini had sold over one million copies of his first fantasy novel, Eragon. How did this happen, I wondered, and is the book any good?

I rushed out to my local bookstore and grabbed (well, bought) a copy of Eragon.pages, the novel featured a dragon on the front cover and the prestigious announcement that Eragon was The #1 New York Times Best-seller. Totally impressed (remember, Im a jaded old writer with seventeen books to my name, and Ive never sold one million copies of anything), I flipped to the acknowledgments in the back of the book. Here, I learned from Paolinis notes that he began writing Eragon when he was fifteen years old and that his parents publishing company, Paolini International, LLC, first published Eragon in 2002. His mother arranged book signings throughout the United States, and at one of these events, Paolini met Michelle Frey, now his editor at Knopf Books. The rest is history: USA Today best-seller, New York Times best-seller, an upcoming movie called Eragon being released from Twentieth Century Fox in December of 2006, a second book called Eldest with a first print run of one million copies, and a young author with many millions of fans around the world.

Immediately, I returned to the front of the book and started reading.

Now I assume that you, the reader of this book, have If you havent read these two books in Christopher Paolinis Inheritance trilogy, then I urge you to race to the bookstore and buy copies right away. Of course, if your school or local library has copies, then you can check out the books rather than buy them. The important thing is to read the books because theyre a lot of fun. My guess is that schools are letting kids read the Inheritance books for English class, so you may actually get copies simply by going to school and attending class.

So whats it all about, this world of Eragon and Eldest? And why is it so popular?

Basically, the series concerns a teenager whose name happens to be Eragon. At the age of fifteen, Eragon is living with his uncle Garrow and working on the farm, wondering about the identities of his real parents. His mother, Selena, may still be alive. She left when Eragon was born. And his father is totally unknown to him.

Clearly, when a book opens the possibility that someones mother may still be alive, shell probably show up somewhere before the series ends. Its like the old smoking gun: if a novel, play, or movie has a smoking gun sitting on the mantel of a fireplace (or elsewhere) in the opening act, thered better be a reason for the gun later on!

As for the totally unknown father, this is another smoking gun. We expect Eragons father to show up at some point, to be someone powerful (think Darth Vader or a king, major magician, or major good guy), and to either create enormous obstacles for Eragon or to help him. At minimum, we expect to find out if hes dead or alive; same for Eragons mother.

At any rate, Eragon likes to wander around a no-mans land, a dense mountain range called the Spine, and there he finds a blue stone that happens to be a dragons egg. Out pops a baby dragon, later named Saphira, and she bonds with Eragon, making him the first Dragon Rider in a very long time.

It seems that thousands of years ago, elves and dragons fought, and Dragon Riders brought peace to the land. Eragons world is still packed with elves, dragons, black spells, dwarves, and magic of all kinds. There are bad guys, such as the evil king Galbatorix and the Razac, some deadly beetlelike guys. Thrown into the mix are Angela, the herbalist and fortune-teller, and her werecat, Solembum. Eragon and Saphira use mental telepathy to communicate, and the elf princess Arya also uses mental telepathy to talk to Eragon.

The notion of Dragon Riders has been in other fantasy novels. For example, a book by Cornelia Funke is actually called Dragon Rider. In ancient China in the Han dynasty, people believed that immortal humans rode dragons. They considered dragons to be closely associated with clouds and the seas, lakes, and rivers. If somebody was riding a dragon, it meant that he was in perfect harmony with nature, and hence, would live forever, which is what the word immortal means. In the famous Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, Frodo encounters a wraith who is riding a dragon. The examples of Dragon Riders are endless.

In the Dragonriders of Pern novels (fourteen books have been published to date), Dragonriders are chosen because they are able to communicate telepathically with giant sentient dragons. The lifetime friendship and close bond between Dragonriders and dragons begins when the dragon hatches. Sound familiar to you? Its what happens in