I remember reading a review of Eragon which was two sentences (paraphrasing) "My son is a huge fan of the Eragon books so I brought him with me to the critics screening of this film. I cannot recommend this movie because it made my son cry."
It didn't make me cry when I was a kid, but boy did it sure make me angry. These days I don't care because I can't for the life of me ever slog through Eldest again so I can remember everything that happened for the last book.
@@pshuckle7488 The books do have a summary of the main plot points from the previous books. Even if the copies that you bought didn't have it, you could always read a 4-5 page summary online
I read these as they came out from 6 to 10th Both the movie and the books came out the same time as twilight losing in popularity and I feel like that dramatically impacted their adaption
@@pshuckle7488 hated eldest but the rest of the books are interesting enough for me to re read every few years if only for nostalgia. The magic system is fairly interesting and though the elves home is a partial lord of the rings ripoff the literal tree houses are fun. Is it over dramatic, yes. Are there better dragon books also yes temeraire comes to mind. But this is still a fun series to read every couple years imo.
I recently realized how to put into words what I liked about the magical system: because you cannot lie in the ancient language, using magic is basically forcing reality to adhere to what you just said. Eragon says that the stone is rising and because that must be the truth, the magic drains his energy to maintain the truth of his statement.
That's an amazing explanation, but it really needed to be in the book. Seeing as in it, the effort of magic is explained as "using as much energy as doing the thing physically" I'm going to hazard a guess that your explanation is not what the author intended. Though it is much better. Do you mind if I use something similar for something I'm writing?
@@NeroCM go ahead lol. i'll be honest tho, i don't remember whether that's at all an original concept or whether i picked it up from somewhere - at a guess, i'd hazard it might have appeared in earthsea (by ursula le guin), but i'm not sure
it sounds cool but thats not really how it is since (spoiler) you can use magic without the ancient language too. you just use it to form the magic with it. the not being able to lie part seems to be a different part of it
Yup. I still very strongly remember Brom’s lesson about how dangerous magic can be in that way: Eragon tried to say ‘Release me!’ as a spell, and Brom used it as an object lesson. If he had said ‘Reduce the magic holding me,’ he could have cut it off any time...but because he spoke in an absolute, it came down to whether Eragon had more magic than Brom, which he absolutely did not.
@@NeroCMBoth are not incompatible at all. Magic can use your energy to adapt reality to what you said had to be true, and while doing so use exactly the same amount of energy it would have cost you to do the thing by hand. The issues of the amount of energy and of the functioning of magic are completely different issues. That’s always how I’ve seen magic in Eragon. The ancient language is the language of truth, that’s also why oaths pronounced in it are binding. In addition, Brom and Oromis both hint that nobody knows exactly how magic works, that even the elves have but hypotheses about it. It would be fitting, then, that interpretation is left to the reader. But the idea that what you say has to be true so the world adapts itself to it is kind of implicit in the books
Basically: This movie single-handedly stopped any possibility of the other books being made into movies. Also, lying in the ancient language doesn't kill you. It's just NOT POSSIBLE. Eragon attempts to do so at one point to Arya about his feelings towards her, the words stick in his throat, and he has to skirt the truth.
which is actualy an important plot-device regarding the elves's society! They can't lie, therefore they had centuries to hone their skills in skirting the truth, hiding details and talking in roundabout ways that made'em very cunning and sometimes unreliable.
He also said that shades were made from consuming the soul of another magic user, I honestly think this dude read someone else's review of the books and went off that
@@HenshinHeroesMedia Eragon could work as a show. Each book gets it own 7-10 episode season Paolini always likes to give focus to different characters to add suspense, which could translate Example: Eragon meets Gladr, the only other good dragon we know of at the very point, and then he immediatly switches the focus to Nasuada and Rowan in the Varden. I really wanna see that TV show now
What pissed me off most about the movie was actually watching in the special features section of the DVD the director says, and I quote, "I didn't want my elves to have pointed ears because then they'd be just like everyone else's elves." Like... what kind of utter bullcrap is that?!?! That's like saying I don't want my humans to have arms because then they'd be like everyone else's humans! The director had NO business directing a fantasy movie.
To me that reads as. "Oh there were totally elves in this movie! And Dwarves too! Yeah you book fans just didn't notice because we made the elves have normal ears and the Dwarves taller. We totally didn't cut two entire civilizations out of the movie cause we were convinced this was a flavor-of-the-month Fantasy Flick made profitable by the Lord of the Rings movies. It's totally faithful you guys!"
That irritated me so much. Seriously, it's even a plot point later on when Eragon gets transformed by the spectral dragon. Not even mentioning that it was also explicitly statrd that Arya had black hair and that Zar'roc had a ruby in the hilt and not a sapphire...this movie physically hurts me.
He also said that he didn’t want to have too many practical sets but he did want to build the homestead and burn it practically. He bragged about the disproportionate cost of that. What an idiot. It’s like Uwe Boll had a dumber, less talented brother.
The best part of book-Eragon's character was that he was an angsty teenager in the best possible way. He understands that people have high expectations of him, but he struggles to understand the scope and nature of those expectations. Furthermore, he constantly doubts himself and his ability to do what is expected of him, especially as he becomes increasingly surrounded by people who are probably better suited to the task. He had all the hallmarks of a moody teenager, but it was all done in a way that enhanced his character and made him more sympathetic. Also, book-Saphira was one of my favorite characters. Despite coming across as wise and patient, she was still immature and inexperienced. She and Eragon made for a wonderful dynamic as each one awkwardly tried to act as the other's surrogate family. Film-Eragon is told to do a thing. He mopes about it for a while and then just does the thing. Film-Saphira has the personality of a cinder block. Quality writing!
Not to mention, even though hes shown to be a quick learner and becomes a maybe too good fighter, hes constantly getting his ass kicked or chased away. When they show that hes a good fighter against men, they add urgals, and they have Murtagh to show that while he might be good from an unusually short amount of time, hes not wiping the floor with a master swordsman. Then they show the elves and other creatures of magic and hes outclassed again. He only beat Durza because Saphira distracted him. He doubts himself and has real reason to.
I think the filmmakers made Eragon a cheerier, Boy Scout sort of character to remind people of Luke Skywalker. That's probably why they picked a petite guy with blond hair and blue eyes to play him. Keep in mind that I think the book is ridiculous, but it could have made an entertaining film if they maintained the characters' personalities and appearance. Eragon is an unstable young man, and those kind of heroes are a lot more fun to watch than the non-conflicted goody-goody types.
I also like that he's crushing hard on the much older woman, who first gently tells him, "not going to happen," then more firmly, then in no uncertain terms says he has to stop, and she's not going to put up with it any longer. Yes it takes him a while, he's slow, but he does actually back off and they're able to have a strong working relationship. I like that she doesn't fall at his baby boy feet, and that he actually backs off.
@@polyhymnia701 the film made the story even more derivative than it already was. Derivative is not necessarily bad, and the books became their own thing. The movie just leaned so hard into being derivative that it forgot to include the parts of the book that actually made it good
Wait, you mean the cousin who's leaving Carvahall WITH Katrina instead of going to a neighbouring one and come back for her when he's gained enough money and skill to sustain their future live together ?
True, I always imagined they looked really similar to witch doctors with their face structure, and most assumed it was a mask but it was actually their face. I dunno if its true at all but it's what I imagined.
I'm sorry, but the Fortune-Teller was possibly the best character in the book. "Oh, we're in the same battle? What a coincidence!" "Yes, my best friend IS a shapeshifting werecat. Why do you ask?" "Oh, you lost your sword? Here have this sword made from some weird crystal that can cut through ANYTHING. Just don't prop it up against anything that you want in one piece, because it WILL find a way to cut it."
The side characters are all so much better than the main characters in these books: Angela, Murtagh, Nasuada, Orik... I would have much more happily read a book about them.
It is. in the last book she's seen sowing a "spell" into the brim of a hat. Eragon asks what it is and she says "Raxicori..... nevermind." There's also a section of the book where Arya writes a poem in the sand, and it is about a lonely god drifting in a sea of time, with many faces. The author was a total whovian.
yeah, she was one of those major loose ends that the story never bothered to tie up. The few hints they dropped about her true nature and backstory made me even more curious to know exactly who and what she was, but they never bothered to give up any real details.
Have you thought of a category called "I read the back cover and I'm pretty sure I know how it goes". That's what I have always felt this movie was like.
*Gasp* That is a PERFECT quick way to describe that feeling to people without me sticking them in a room with me ranting about how this 'movie' (that does NOT exist) sucks for hours on end! With them still/more confused and not caring afterwards...
I have to confess, I adore Eragon. The later books especially-Brisingr and Inheritance are my comfort books, and I love them to death. You see, they aren't perfect, and they are basically Lord of the Rings/Star Wars mashup fanfic, but if you're a teenager looking for a long, detailed ya fantasy with some fun characters, Eragon is almost perfect. Unlike a lot of the books I liked as a kid, these ones have stood the test of time because of their intricacy and characters. And also, the audiobooks are wonderful.
There's quite a lot of very interesting things happening, especially in the later books - the whole of Elva's story, when Eragon finally got his revenge with the Ra'zac, the character developement, the worldbuilding details - like the highest punishment for dwarves is being ignored as if you don't exist (which has a huge psychological impact) or just the fact that Nasuada funds the war in part thanks to magic-made lace (similar to the efect machine lace had on the industry here), all of which are super imaginative. Yes, the story is basically a stereotypical fantasy mashup, but it's things like these that give it a bit of unique personality, which I really appreciate.
@@Missfantasyfreak Don't sell the first book short. Eragon's first encounter with Angela and Solembum had _so much_ foreshadowing of events that wouldn't come to fruition until books 3 and 4.
@@Lobomaru02 True. I didn't mean to imply the first book is lacking in this sense, just that the later books have more things like that (that I remember - it has been ages since I read the series, so I tend to remember the "bigger" stuff, or those that really stuck out to me, more)
You can however sail around that barrier by either just not telling someone something or making it so vague that it could be true either way (things the elves do ALL the time)
@@MattFyrm In either Eldest or Brisingr, Arya asks Eragon if he's recovered from his fit of insanity from the Agaeti Blodhren, where he tried to push for a more intimate relationship (I think that was what she was asking about, but I'm not entirely sure, it's been several months since I reread that myself), and he responds that he's better than he was before "referring, in his mind, to the condition of his back." (that line always stuck with me for some reason)
@Sir Duck Art honestly, I'm a little ok with Jeremy Irons still playing Brom. Hes got the voice and if he were a little more stern badass mentor than mysterious old hermit in the movie he wouldve been great. Of course Brom is both stern badass mentor and mysterious old hermit but theres a balance and much less hermit after they leave Carvahal. Idk how Irons would look with a beard but if they gave him some more, for lack of a better term, Gandalf the grey attire and less aging swordsman I wouldve been happy ish, at least with Brom.
I was look on this article of possibilities of a proper adaptation of Eragon(along with the sequels in The Inheritance Cycle), and I thought of this:How about if the author gives the rights to the BBC or any British studio? Think about it:Since JK Rowling, an author of the UK, sold the Harry Potter film rights to Warner Bros, a film studio of the US, then how about Christopher Paolini, an American author, giving the Inheritance Cycle film adaptation rights to a British studio? After all, there are some American studios(if not all) that unfortunately have been known for either screwing up important elements of fantasy books or the entire adaptation itself, while the British have supposedly been excellent at fantasy flicks/adaptations. Seems like a better idea, right?
Oh they did way more than that. -Arya was clearly described as a black haired elf who wore armor and was surprising in the fact she wore slacks, in the movie, she's a redhead with round ears (making her unrecognizable as an elf), and wore dresses most of the time since the one time she wore a dress in the book, Brisingr, was a big deal and surprised Eragon -Angela was a crazy redhead that helped the Varden a lot -They combined two towns into one -The ending of the movie was the opening of Eldest -Ajihad actually survived the battle, he was just killed in a staged attack from the Twins in Eldest -The same attack allowed the Twins to capture Murtagh -Arya and Sapphira shattered the most important thing to the dwarves, the Star Sapphire, in order to help distract Durza during the last fight with him -The fight was in a corridor -The Star Sapphire never appeared -Roran freaking disappears when he was a huge character -Also no mention of Sloan It's a horrid adaptation.
Roran didn't appeared in Eldest? I don't remember chapters in the first Book about Roran, I do remember the Eldest invested a LOT of chapters in the story of Roran and the village going through the mountains, stealing a ship and joining the Vardens in the second battle.
I actually met Mr. Paolini and got my copy of inheritance signed by him. I asked him his thoughts of the film and he said "It was their version of the story and I was quite happy that they made the version they wanted" Quite a humble guy....
"In my writing, I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf" - Christopher Paolini This talent-less, plagiarizing hack is the furthest thing from humble.
Well NGW, that is just your opinion. Lots of work (both film & book) out there is "inspired" not plagiarized by other works. So how does taking inspiration from other successful artists and making it new & different, plagiarism? It isn't, but you can keep that mindset if you want. Unless you have proof that Mr. Paolini copied entire pages of Mr. Tolkien's Middle Earth saga & Mr. Heaney's translation and pasted them right into Eragon, your opinion is not valid to me.
I'm pretty sure the plagiarism charge is not aimed at LotR and Beowulf but at STAR WARS which the story of Eragon almost parodies as idyllic fantasy world reimagination... The quote about Tolkien was meant to demonstrate a not very humble side of Mr Paolini when he compares himself to the grandfather of all Fantasy writers... a chuzpe many Tolkienfans surely would define as unforgivable hubris...
The thing is, stories such as "lord of the rings" or "Star Wars" despite being set in different universes all follow the heroes path. There is a really good teded video explaining it, but I'll try to give it a go: The hero is living his normal life, when suddenly a quest or a certain situation makes him go out of his comfort zone. On lotr, that would be the shire, while in Star Wars it would be Tatooine, both heroes leaving. Then they come across the journey, which yeah, is pretty rough on them at first, they meet new people, form alliances and discover how fucked up the world really is, and how much it needs to be changed. Then (do have in count I'm paraphrasing and I learned this like three years ago), they get to the final comfrontation, in which they usually triumph. They go back home, but realise they have changed a lot. So, yeah, that's most scyfy or fantasy stuff out there, so I wouldn't blame it on just eragon since soooo many others have done really worse 😕
@@GrosvnerMcaffrey Huh. I think certain shades of red look brown. For instance, I've always heard rust described as red, but it looks brown to me. Could that possibly mean I'm a little bit colorblind and just never realized it?
@McFlingleson could be. For the record I think rust looks like a combo of colors It could be brown red or orange so I don't know if that's the best example
@@GrosvnerMcaffrey okay. Well, another example is that one time when I was a kid I got into an argument with my stepsister because we were watching the Dreamworks movie Antz and I remarked that the ants in it were brown and she pissily told me they're not brown, they're red. I just did a google image search of "antz" and they still look brown to me.
@@McFlingleson I think that maybe people are persiving colours in different way without anything beeing wrong. To me rust sometimes looks red sometimes brown. And I had once a long discussion with my exgirlfriend about a color I percified as a typ brown while she percieved it as maroon.
One of my favorite things about this series is the whole plot is to try and kill the Mad King Galbatorix and rebuild the Riders. A four book series but you don't see Galbatorix until halfway through the final book. All that build up and mystery surrounding him for 3 and 1/2 books. Its like how the Emperor isnt introduced until RotJ. ....The movies show him right away in his "lair" yelling and loosing his temper. Galbatorix in the books speaks slow, gently with a booming voice. He's reserved with an air of command to him, he doesn't need to scream and throw stuff for his men to follow orders he only has to look at them and they KNOW. They did him dirty in that movie 😰.
Its especially interesting that whenever things don't quite go his way, he does occasionally loose his temper and it is described as quite scary. You basically get a glance at how unhinged he really is and how his calm demeanour is more of a facade to hide it.
yeah, I remember that little girl! If only Eragon had been more fluent in the ancient language by the time he "blessed" her he would have given her a valuable gift but still she managed to help him when he needed it the most.
the book may not have been very original, but at least a) the sequels did get better and b) Chris Paolini went out of his way to make the world he created feel as big and detailed as he could manage. yes there is a lot of padding because of this, but I didn't mind it as much as I normally would because it made Alagaesia so alive. love the book or hate, I think people should at least respect that much effort
I only read the first book well before the film, and only watched the film once at release. The thing that immediately stood out to me about the book when I was younger and had the active imagination was that he described just about every location in so much detail I could clearly see the world in my mind. What angered me so much about the movie was that they managed to have absolutely zero of any of the locations be anywhere close to what was described in the book. The scene where Eragon meets the Fortune-teller was like 3 different cities from 3 very different parts of the book and world and combined them into something wholly uninteresting and inaccurate to anything at all. Is it a J.R.R. Tolkein rival? I don't know, maybe not, but for a 15 year old he went as far as he could and I think Tolkein would've been proud.
Honestly the "Padding" made the book for me. It's the world development and the type of detail I've always wanted. I love being included one every aspect of Eragon and Broms travels it really makes you feel like you're walking along side them on the path
People love the shit out of Lord of the Rings and that book is padded as fuck. I remember trying to read it as a teenager and quit after the 20th poem.
Me: *ready to watch someone appropriately bash the Eragon movie!* The Dom: "...my feelings on the book are mixed at best..." Me: "oh no." The Dom: "to me...it's not like they are ruining a good story." "Underwhelming book". "Forget about the book and the film". Me: "It's okay childhood-me, everyone has their own opinions. This doesn't change how we feel about the Inheritance Cycle." To be fair, I got my somewhat movie bashing. I still watched the whole video and thoroughly enjoyed it even though The Dom is not a fan of the series. Do not worry for I am still subscribed!
@@RT...... I have gone back and forth on this. Eragon (the book) truly does have flaws and they become more appararent when you read other fantasy books. On the other hand, I find that there is a lot going for Eragon with certain plot and character beats and while other fantasy stories might be better, Eragon is also pretty good at getting young people interested into the genre without challenging them too much.
I know I loved the books, but I must agree they have several problems if revisited with an adut mind. Plus points for dragons and their bond, Brom, angela, eragons twisted blessing turned curse, his adoption into the dwarf clan and of cause him reconecting with roran which lead too this increadably funny scene where they compare their injuries and had no right to be anyway near that funny
@@SingingSealRiana Especially Roran. I really love that Roran has to figure out problems without a dragon and elven superpowers at his disposal. And yet its so badass how he goes at it with an analytical mind and clear determination that he has to win or else.
I'm with you, I need a movie bashing video without insulting the books xd I know they're flawed guys but cmon!! they're very dear to my teenage heart lmao
@@SingingSealRiana I loved every single interaction between Eragon and Roran after they met again. Also, between Eragon and the rest of his old town. It's like their highschool friend became a celebrity and came back to the 10 year reunion as if there's nothing special to it lmao
@@supermagnificence7503the wards played a part yes but in most of the battles Roran was in his wards wore out in the beginning of the battle it self..... Hence the broken face..... Arrow in the back... So on and so forth...... Roran deserves credit....... Ohh n yeah my boy got laid..... Eragon is still chasing after Arya...... 😛😛😛😛😛😂😂😂😂
@@supermagnificence7503 the wards only last so long. That battle was a war of attrition. By the end doesnt he get like shot in the thigh by an arrow, his side cut open by a spear, another arrow in his arm, and like several smaller injuries as well?
I encourage anyone who’s only read the first book, to read the rest of the series. As it’s been said, the first book was written by a 15 year old, a fantasy-loving 15 year old, and it shows. But the rest of the books were written a few years later, and you can actually sense that the author has done some analysis on his own writing and influences, straying away from them and fleshing out his own universe. The books start focusing on secondary characters (and there’s a bunch of very interesting ones), alternating point of view from chapter to chapter, and, even though he’s a cliché hero, continue to make Eragon relatable. The most interesting thing about Eragon is the fact that he consistently screws up, learns from his mistakes, only to be confronted to a bigger threat. Eragon has very few real individual victories in the series : he is constantly helped by others, but never refuses help, he is, sometimes painfully, conscious of his own limitations. This underlines the biggest theme of the book : Eragon is NOT supposed to win alone, to be the sole hero, because the most important thing is his relationship, his fusion, with Saphira. We just spend more time with him because he is human, and Saphira being a dragon, she doesn’t think the same way, making him more relatable. This is addressed multiple times, especially when humans see him as basically the chosen one, and considering Saphira as a stylish mode of transportation.
One thing I liked and disliked about the character of Eragon was that he always assumed that it would end up as a battle between him and Saphira vs Galbatorix and Shruikan. Not because he was the chosen one or anything like that but just because he was the only 'good/free' Dragon Rider. Yes he always hoped he would have the strength of the elves or other magic users to draw on but the battle would always come down to them. He knew that no-one else could possibly hope to match Galbatorix's strength even though many of the elves were far better combatants so he was prepared to truly only rely on his bond with Saphira.
Well, thats a bit unpopular, but I do like the book series. I like it's consistency, I like the characters, I like their development, and specialy how the second book diverges from multiple protagonists, and again, consistency keeps their stories towards the last books, specialy how the story arcs in the second book actualy converged without hinting it. Only when you realized both characters said they were going to the same place, it hits you with a nice build up and pay off. Yea, the clichés are everywhere, but not all clichés are bad, and they are not major plot points. Now, this movie, it belongs on "Last Airbender" category of "worst adaptation". The cast of some characters worked out well, but boy.....there is no salvation.
And no, this movie is not forgettable, trust me, the fanbase of the books will NEVER forget and forgive this movie xD Most of the changes they did were ruining plot points for the sequels, such as Angela and the Ra'zac.
I liked the first book, LOVED the second, was a little bewildered by the third and AB-SO-LU-TELY HATED the fourth one. Paolini obviously put SO little effort in the last book. Everything was so freaking convenient...
Pantalaymo but to be fair, the fourth book had build up since the first one. The whole thing with the well of souls was really prepared and became a bit obvious after the third book introduced the concept of Eldunari. Also, they hammered so much Saphira as the last dragon, Paolini couldn't resist giving us SOMETHING of a happy ending. I also liked how the 3rd book's alternate title was "the seven promises of Eragon Shadeslayer" But the third is my favourite too.
When the cat mentioned the "well of souls" I went like noooooo, noooo! It can't be just Eragon and Galbatorix throwing Eldunari at each other thill one runs dry... Not even mentioning the ridicoulus way Galbatorix was killed in the end, it was kinda hard for me to dislike the guy... Ofcourse he was a mass murderer but his motives in general are pretty honorable. I mean the Elves ARE arrogant and overpowered dickheads and magic users ARE very dangerous for the common people... The only thing I really liked about the last book was Paolini's solution for the Urgals. That was one perfect example of ending on a hopefull note but being aware, that it still could all go to hell after a phew decades. All together Nar'Garzvogh together with Orik (even though that awesome dwarf got reduced to a mud-cake-baking sidefigure in the last book) are my two most favorite characters by far :)
The Eragon franchise I think would be better serialized rather than made into a movie franchise. I think it would have been impossible to show Eragon's full character development in any movie. Just the scenes of him training and learning how to read take for ever. In the book it goes in to tremendous detail how he, toward the end of his training, did not recognize himself.
Most of what you said about the razac was incorrect. They were confirmed to be a seperate species, and they could speak, they spoke their own language, and in brisingr or inheritance they spoke to eragon.
only two Ra'zac were in Inheritance, and those were killed right after they hatched. When Arya, Angela, Solembum, Eragon and Wyrden went to the tunnel to get inside Dras Leona. The priests of Helgrind captured them and tried to feed Arya and Eragon to the newly hatched Ra'zac but Solembum and Eragon killed them when they hatched.
@@kirillzakharov7336 Yea i was thinking of the start of brisingir, when eragon and roan go to save his fiancee, and the ra'zac speak to eragon and try to bargain with him :)
It had been a while since I had read the books, so was a bit hazy, but watching the video actually made me go back and read them!! still my favourite series of all time. Close second is Name of the wind.
I actually really like the Inheritance Cycle, albeit I prefer the sequels to the first book, where Paolini grows a bit more into his own as a writer (although the Morzan reveal in Book 2 admittedly did little to help ease the Star Wars comparisons…), but I think Eregon had its moments. It’s slightly better than “forgettable” for me, at least, which is probably why this movie pisses me off a lot more. What I’m somewhat annoyed Dom didn’t mention is that they took out the revelation Eregon has at the end of his duel with Durza that reveals Durza’s history and tragedy to him. It’s the one moment that elevates Durza from nothing but a B-list (if that) stereotypical villain, and also makes Eregon seriously reevaluate his relationship with the enemy and magic, so removing it in favor of a giant bat/balrog monster seems like a bad trade-off (although I can understand the need to make the last fight more cinematic). What annoys me, personally, about this movie (other than its generally cheap appearance, half-hearted acting, its forever tarnishing the series’s appeal in the eyes of the general public, its decision to reinforce the Star Wars comparison by following that formula even more closely than the book… let’s just say these two things that annoy me about this movie that are less frequently brought up and leave it at that) is, one, that it seems so self-assured of its own inevitable box office failure that it completely fails to set up anything that’s supposed to happen in Eldest (Book 2) and promises a speedy confrontation with Galbatorix, which, had they ever adapted Book 2, they wouldn’t have been able to deliver. It pisses me off to watch a movie that clearly not even the filmmakers had any interest in making halfway decent or frachiseable (Is that a word? Because it should be.). Two, while Eregon has often been accused of being a Gary/Mary Sue, and not without reason, I’ll admit (although those calling him a monstrous sociopath may be taking things a bit far…), this movie only compounds that by making Eregon’s transformation into a hero even more effortless and simple. For instance, in the book it takes a long time before he can even match Bromm in combat; by not even granting him a decent montage, the film makes this look effortless. An adaptation is supposed to smooth over the elements that translate and/or have been received poorly; for this film to instead exacerbate them like this is really insulting. Anyway, sorry if this comes off as a fanboy rant; I’m actually pretty lukewarm on the series, but frequently heckling of my taste has made be defensive. The tl;dr is: I didn’t much care for the movie, and I feel it’s substantially worse than the generally okay book its based on.
solution to having a character accused of being a sociopath: write them as a yandere in fanfiction. anime/manga/touhou/insert any popular japanese form of media but doesn't necessarily mean inherently japanese people like it fans LOVE their yanderes or just overall abusive or psychotic characters in general. (although I'm trying not to glorify the sociopathic personality in my story: he ends up dead while she ends up having to cope with PTSD for the rest of her life) and whoops. sorry. this just turned into my rambling about fanfiction and writing in general. I'm going to go offline now and just listen to music...
I haven't heard of him being called a sociopath (especially as he is clearly being shown to have empathy with others, I swear some people want every hero to be a sociopath) and I wouldn't even call him a Gary sue necessarily. He has talent but also (spoiler alert) his fucking father was a dragon rider. No shit he has some predisposition to magic. But he also works for it and fails. He's not magically already good with a sword, the book specifically says he spends most nights early on covered in bruises and welts from the beating Brom gives him. And as for the star wars comparison, which is fair, id say that honestly I prefer Eragon over A New Hope. Other than Han Solo obviously. Luke doesn't give a shit about his aunt and uncle after that one wide shot after they're buried. Does he even mention them once? He cares more about the father he never met than the people who raised him. And he kinda joins the rebellion... just cuz? And the Force is completely unexplained. It's an ex machina at best. Eragons motivation is founded on garrows death, the plot of the story and the series is affected by it. Magic has rules, the Force just does whatever they need it to. Not to mention the Varden is infinitely more fleshed out than the rebel alliance. And this has been, how Eragon is better than A New Hope
Eragon isn’t a Mary Sue at all, he spends the whole first book being beaten up, by the ra’zac, by Durza, by Brom, by murtagh, etc, he only beats Durza at the end and at extreme cost.
Book one had so much "Padding" because it is difficult to create a complex and intricate world with complex dynamics and politics in only a few sentences. sometimes, worldbuilding just takes a while.
The thing I loved the most about the book was its worldbuilding. It's true, Paolini takes A LOT of time worldbuilding, there are way too many chapters (if not, story archs) that explain how a city works, or how some characters act, but that is exactly what I liked. I liked being ale to see the changes Roran goes through to the point of becoming a Hero on his own, I liked how Paolini described some cities or took his time describing how the city was related to the main plot or what effects Eragon's passage through the city were. In my opinion, that was what made the world feel alive... In hindsight though, I feel the book feels a little too much as a D&D campaign, but I still like it.
not quite sure what you mean. Tamora Pierce wrote two worlds: the World of Tortal (first book: Alanna the First adventure) and the world of Emelan (first book: Sandra's Book) she also has a few short stories and essays etc but those two worlds are her jam. Her fist book came out in the early 1980s she is still publishing in those worlds now. And what about JRR Tolkien? How many worlds did he make outside of Middle Earth? (I honestly don't know). Or Ann McCaffrey? She built a few worlds but all with a similar premise: humans going to other planets some with more tech, some with less tech (and dragons!) Anyway my point is that Paolini might STILL be building his world. He might have endless loose-leaf papers of short stories and maps and character backgrounds that we (the consumers) know nothing about.
My dear dom... You must be mistaken. As a lifelong Eragon fan I can tell you that this movie never happened. It simply just does not exist, so there is nothing worth making a video about. *goes to sit and cry in a corner while muttering "Eyddr eyreyra onr" repeatedly
+magna whiff The hell are you talking about? The only other lost in adaptation videos that dealt with such shoddy adaptations that I can think of was the two Percy Jackson films. Not to mention I made an actual reference to the Inheritance book series there so if I copy pasted that from all the previous videos, I wouldn't have been making any sense at all until now No actual thought put into your response F-
Oh so it's like the -Percy Jackson films- films that may or may not be based on the Percy Jackson books but we will never know because it doesn't exist and never will unless they get a good writer/director which makes the musical the best and only adaptation.
This is one of my favorite book series of all time, and I have extremely high standards for books. The series gets better with each book. The world is huge and intricately crafted, it's consistent and the characters are wonderful; there's little details that make the world feel really lived in and read, like how even though Arya could have used magic to help Elaine give birth within half an hour, there are stigmas against elves to the point where they won't let her do anything but the most basic spells, or how Roran finds it strange that a woman (Nasuada) is able to command such respect, even though he says that he shares that respect, as she is a phenomenal leader and soldier. Also, Eragon's respect for Nasuada and Angela is wonderful, as is the grave mistake he made with Elva that she makes him atone for. I adore this series.
That was one of the things I liked most about this series: Small stuff like a woman being so important is maddening to humans but dwarves and elves don't care because they've been around a bit. Nasuada almost immediately gains respect for her actions from some of the dwarves and Arya since she fought when other women ran away but even the Varden and King Orrin look down on her until they realize that she is probably a more capable leader than even her father. Roran leads his villagers to battle with an iron will and purely from the strength of his emotion and will he basically becomes their de-facto leader. There is some grumbling about this from the older more conservative members of the group but they eventually don't care either because he proved himself. Neither of them were 'perfect' or were 'chosen ones' they were simply people doing the best with what they had. Then along comes Angela and you just accept that she is odd because there is nothing that can explain her in any way that makes sense so people just accept her help and oddness. And you don't mess with her when she is attacked in the night and is wielding only her wool combs...
I like that it is not an outrighte power fantasy desite so clearly working through the insecurities and hopes of a teenager. He does not get the girl, he falls on his face all of the time, he has make the choice that goes against what he wants, but is right. He lerns his lesson and he learns them painfuly, he does not get handed anything for free and whith that the book teaches a tonne of importent lessons to the reader I am astonished a that young author was aware of and skirtet around the typical flaws most new writers are prone to make . . . ike writing a damned mary sue for not knowing any better . . . . well he did
@@SingingSealRiana I did enjoy that he spends the second book in crippling pain and unable to do much, due to the injury he sustained in the final battle of the first book, having to be carried by the other characters and completely out of action on the other side of the map from the main conflict. It honestly shows a remarkable level of maturity to acknowledge the vulnerability of your main character like that for a writer so young. Child me would have staunchly objected to it, but I honestly would have preferred if he stayed that way and took on more of a leadership role after that.
@@bobbys332 I honestly adore Roran's story in the series. He has to face almost insurmountable tasks without having magic or a dragon on his side. At one point, he comments on how Eragon is usually so much in the thick of it that he doesn't notice how the fight is going for the rest of the army and how many Varden are slacking off. Its thoroughly established how they are both fighting on woefully different levels. However, the nice thing is that Roran uses his wits and cunning to win. He sees a challenge, he starts looking for possible weaknesses, forms a plan, sometimes has to convince his allies of the plan and sees it through. Very often scared shitless of the dangers but he pushes through because he also knows what will happen if he fails. I honestly found his fights in the later books much more interesting than Eragon's.
I think my overall attitude toward the books, while not as happy as it used to be, is still generally positive in a flawed gems type of way. While they have their problems and are certainly iterative in many areas, the actual execution of those story elements and the overall structure of the series is handled very well. The author clearly understands a lot of core story rules, and he showcases that understanding very well. Especially as the series goes on and it branches further off in its own direction with a lot of really clever ideas added in the later books. It's a shame the film only seemed to change things in explicitly worse ways.
The first book is blatantly Star Wars in Middle Earth, and it is certainly the weakest of the 4 books. The writing definitely got much better with each new instalment, and whilst the essence of Star Wars remained there were always enough intricate little details beneath the surface that set it apart from the its inspiration. The world building is spectacular. What the film did was take away all those interesting little tidbits that made the world interesting and added in extra Star Wars elements so it looked even more like a casual rip off than it already was.
As someone who read the book, I can say this movie at best only captures a rough outline of the basics of the book itself Major plot elements, characters and other material are left out, leaving you with a generic fantasy movie that would feel more at home a straight to dvd movie.
The Scottish accent guy was supposed to be King Hrothgar. He was supposed to be THE FREAKING DWARF KING, considered ancient even by his own people. I had to look it up because I was SURE he was left out of the movie. Also, a nitpick I know, but you did not mention Roran very much. He was one of my favorite characters in the series. The movie screwed up his motivation. They screwed up his relationship to Katrina, and all of Sloan's relationships for that matter. Such a disappointment for me. This is one of those movies where there is just enough to seriously tick me off. I practically foamed at the mouth over this movie.
That wasnt King Hrothgar. That was Jörmundur the Varden General and member of the Council of Eldest of the Varden people. But this movie never happened anyways so fuck it.
It's been a long time since I read the books, (I was actually around the same age that the author was when he wrote them.), and looking back on the general story arc, I can totally see how the narrative was a touch clunky and slow; but I feel like the universe was so unique that the film had a massive amount of potential that it just ignored. The book took plenty of generic fantasy races and tropes, but mixed in unique concepts and a very detailed style of storytelling which made the overall story feel both immersive and original. The film had dozens of unique sequences that could have been both visually and thematically intriguing, but instead chose to just be the generic fantasy story everyone assumes the books are.
How did you neglect to mention the fact that the adaptation was so bad, it actually made it impossible to continue on to the next book in the series, which was already out before the movie?
I've just read Eragon and really enjoyed it. I'm curious, what changes in the film prevented them from adapting the sequels? I haven't seen the film in a long time.
@@th3lonef0x4 Neglecting Katrina, Sloan, changing Roran's motivation to leave just enough, killing the Ra'zac, not acknowledging Dwarves, the Twins, Nasuada, properly establishing Urgals and how their tribes function and changing why the Varden managed to survive the battle at the end of Book 1, etc.
TV series? Maybe... but please as cartoon or CGI not live action. Live Action with small budget makes awful TV adaptations of fanasy books... And I do not think anybody will put the money behind Game of Thrones into any Eragon project...
Eragon - the book - is sadly underrated, honestly... It has a pace of its own, and certainly needs improvement, which comes in the sequel books, as the author matured and developed into an adult with more set ideas on his own mind. I do think book 1 is weak in comparison to the others, but definitely not worth such contempt or forgetting it. It is rather an amazing story, and - dare I say it - has a more thought out look on magic and how its world works than my beloved Harry Potter series. I cannot recommmend Eragon enough!
I agree! The fact that he included *gasp* consequences for the use of magic! I thought that was awesome because it immediately gave you more respect for the characters who could wield it. You knew they didn’t just wake up one day and go “oh cool I can magic now” 🤦♀️
@@katiek.5614 I love the Inheritance Cycle and regularly go back to re-read but I almost always start at Eldest, Eragon the book is a fairly good introduction but it does seem to be fairly basic. It is in no way a bad book (I quite like it) but I often find that Eldest does things so much better. We get Roran as an important secondary character, Eragon has to overcome his own weakness and come to grips with his true nature as a Dragon Rider, Saphira goes through Dragon Puberty and is lectured by Eragon, Eragon goes through puberty and is lectured by Saphira, Eragon learns how his bond with Saphira is both a strength and a weakness, Magic is explained in far more detail, Eragon finally goes into battle properly trained and kicks butt, and we end on a downer story reveal. So much is constantly happening and the characters are constantly evolving so the book never seems to drag on. Example: Roran convinces the survivors of Carvahall to leg it through the Spine to the coast, then chapters later they are at the coast looking to the next bit. No "they spend weeks traveling, the road is hard and they are tired" dragging out. One thing that royally irked me about one of the minor details mucked up by the film is the mark on Eragon's hand marking a Dragon Rider. In the books it is literally described as a silver round/oval mark where in the movie it is some weird spiral scar? The common tongue name for it is literally 'shining palm'!
Sorry I am so long in responding. But I agree. I find Christopher Paolini is more though in bringing every aspect of World Building. That especially includes magic and its consequences.
The Inheritance Cycle actually surpassed Harry Potter as my favorite fantasy book series.. It's more mature, even going the way of linking magic to real world stuff (use of magic requires the amount of energy that doing the same job normally would require, the spell the elf in Vroengard used being basically an atomic bomb, the fact that the Elves are basically very advanced scientists, and other science related things that are embedded into it in a pretty good and complex way) The story is like you say, weird paced at first but then from Eldest onward you can see that Paolini got better, I especially like how he goes from one storyline to another being like"ok nothing interesting happening here, I'm going to tell something happening to other characters " the Ancient Language's lore is cool and the way it is shrouded in mistery until the very end (with Galbatorix using the Word to overpower Eragon initially), and the whole lore and story is actually super mature from the beginning.... Shame that the film adaptation absolutely murdered it
Tangentially related: Fuck Harry Potter. Lazy writing, entirely forgotten plot lines, multiple Deus ex Machina out of nowhere, Mary Sue characters, shit tier world building. It's just an awful story through and through. It's fine that it's bad, it was written for literal children, but I don't get ADULTS cooing over it. It's kids going to school and fighting Magic Bad Guy that does evil because he's evil and he wants to be evil while dealing with RELATIONSHIPS OH MYYYYY. Absolute shlock.
and the razac are huge parts of the other books, like destroy towns chase roran and the people of carvahall across alagaesia, and kidnap rorans love interest.
Saphira's voice not so much as Eragon couldn't even tell at first that she was female. Whilst the voice in the movie is clearly very female. The rest I agree with tho :D
I’m disappointed Dom thought the books were so lackluster... Eragon has always been my favorite series!! Watching Eragon and Saphira develop their powers and struggle with everything was honestly a powerful lesson to learn as a child. Many main characters in children’s stories are just given these awesome powers that they hardly struggle with at all. I will also admit that I read this book series before I ever read Lord of the Rings and other older fantasy novels. As a result, this book series kind of stands as the OG massive world building fantasy in my mind even though I technically know it’s not 😅
I'm angry he gets so much wrong. The Ancient language is very different from true name magic in earth sea, Dragon riders of pern is actually sci-fi, and the heroes journey is standard stuff
+Patrick Shields depends on what you consider the worst. Is having no attention the worst? No money? Or no acclaim? look at birdemic or sharknado so terrible that all those movies got was money (atleast more than they deserve considering that they got sequels and broke even with the budget). However, being bland and average just makes whatever it was just sort of fall into obscurity after a while.
I remember watching this when I was younger and being so upset, just so overwhelmingly disappointed for the first time ever by a movie.The books were flawed, but I was new to the fantasy genre and I LOVED stories about dragons. They were my favorite. It's been years since I've touched any of the books but I still remember being ultra pissed about the 1v1 fight with Durza that didn't give Eragon a scar - the elves not looking like elves, the dwarves (if they were even there?) not looking like dwarves, the little girl that he scars for life trying to give a blessing but accidentally being shit at Elvish - not even in it, I think, the charming Luna Lovegood-esque fortune teller (my favorite character) with her werecat friend were not at all like the book... man. I remember looking at my grandma and bursting into tears as the credits rolled because I made her see that movie with me instead of going to see Happy Feet with my cousins and aunt. Only one movie has devastated me as much as Eragon, and that's The Last Airbender.
I loved the books, the series actually jump started my love of reading. I did nothing but read, eat and sleep for three days when I got Brisingr. I was thrilled to find the movie while browsing channels one day. I thought it was okay at the beginning, Saphira's feathered wings were pretty cool, young me was optimistic. But by the middle of the film poor 13 year old me was crying tears of pure frustration. Elves dont look like elves. Plot points are all jumbled around. They added bits from Eldest. Characters look nothing like described as in the books. It really sucked and I was really reluctant to see any movie adaptions of other books I read after. (The elf thing really ticked me off. I grew up watching lotr with my dad and had a massive crush on Legolas. Elves should look like elves! I know they had more feline-like features than in Tolkien's world but still! WHERE ARE THE POINTY EARS AT LEAST!?!?)
the books: brilliant, deep plot, great storyline, awesome characters - especially Angela the herbalist film: don't even get me started on everything wrong with the film
it kind of hurts when you trash the book so much, because the series was such a huge part of my childhood. almost as much as Harry Potter. I know it has it's flaws and I may not like it as much if I reread it, but it still hurts.
personally, the Inheritance Cycle is by far my favorite fantasy series. Yes, Eragon borrows from Star Wars practically at every turn, but it somehow feels more interesting. and then Books 2, 3 and 4 continue the greatness
Bit late to the party here but I’m on the 3rd book of reading and I’m 18. Absolutely loving this series! Amazing characters and although some of the twists I’ve predicted, it still makes the overall story satisfying. Was kinda shocked to hear this guy didn’t think much about the books but each to their own
@@wolfhex3233 yes I agree. I reread the whole series 4 times already and it always has a very profound effect on me. Each time I finish it it takes a long time before I feel ready to reread it. I am 15, and was 12 when I first started reading. I even went as far as reading several fanfics about it on Wattpad.
Personally, I love the books. I feel like the movie didn't do it justice. If they gave it the same running time as LotR, I'm pretty sure it would of been better. That, and they should of changed the movie rating. Instead of PG, make it PG-13.
When I saw the movie I hadn't read the books and the movie was so bad that I was like "I have to read the books there is no way a book can be this bad."
I hatebit when they half arse or alter a character death scene in an adaptation. Brom was supposed to die in a different setting in a different part of the story. And I hate that they made it so the death of the rider would cause the death of the dragon, making the bravery of Saphira in rescuing Eragon look like convoluted self preservation...
I thought that was in the books too? I'm pretty sure I remember reading that, but I will admit it's been a while since I've read this series so I may have gotten some of the details confused.
Rider or dragon can live without his other half, but as stated by Glaedr(i think it was him)dragons often request to destroy thier eldunari if thier rider dies, or story about Thuviel whos dragon died and he gladly "self destructed" and made Doru Areabas vault of souls safe.. On other hand Brom was able to live without his dragon.
I am a huge Brandon Sanderson fanboy so that may explain why my favorite part of the books is the way the magic system works. I love that there are essentially 2 ways to use the magic system, traditional casting, and mental battles to attack or defend somebodies mind. I remember throughout the books seeing people who could do more with magic than others, and then sometimes seeing people who were really good at the mental domination part but weak at the regular casting and I just found that to be really intriguing.
It's sad how I watched the movie, then years later read the book, and didn't even make the connection. I then watched the movie AGAIN after hearing how bad it was and realised "Oh... I'VE ALREADY WATCHED THIS!?"
Eragon, much like certain popular heroes in fiction, initially appears to be a conventional protagonist, or cardboard cutout. However, what distinguishes him is his significant growth even within the first book of the series. It's not as much as in later books, but he still goes through changes. I hold a deep appreciation for Eragon's narrative, and what truly captures my imagination is its world-building. The story transcends its central characters, providing a comprehensive view of a nicely developed universe. Eragon's character development is both engaging and unique, as it plays with the typical romantic interest and then ultimately swerved it. Instead, he embraces the responsibility of safeguarding the dragon eggs and training future riders. One of the most captivating aspects of this series is its magic system. In the world of Eragon, magic is intricately tied to a language where words represent the true names of objects. It differs from the conventional idea of memorizing spells; instead, mastery of the language's essence is essential for wielding magic effectively. This system is further enriched by the fact that magic utilizes the caster's physical energy, making it a quantifiable and controlled force and because the language uses the true names of things, it's physically impossible to lie outright in it, forcing you to learn wordplay to say one thing while meaning another. Furthermore, the story's perspective shifts to other characters, offering insight into how the unfolding events impact them and their unique struggles. While the narrative may incorporate familiar storytelling elements, he's not a Gary Stu either. Eragon's journey is far from perfect, as he grapples with distinct flaws and embarks on a journey of self-discovery and change, defeats that leave him crippled, and heartbreak.
Being totally honest I don't really see much similarity with Star Wars at all unless Star Wars holds the IP for fighting an evil empire as a rebel group. The Vader-Luke comparison wasn't even a true plot point simply because Eragon's father wasn't "revealed" till Eldest and then clarified in Brisinger.
I never read the book, but I watched the movie and hated it. I didn't notice the Star Wars parallels a the time, but most of it felt terribly rushed. The final battle seemed like it was setting up some kind of Lord of the Rings-esk epic fight, but then faceplanted from the moment it started when someone shouts "Summon the archers!" and two guys jump out.
I remember loving those books, and dragging my best friend to see the movie with me. I remember as soon as it ended, she and I looking at each other and saying "... Is that it?" Like the whole movie just felt like set up with no plot. By the time it ended it just felt like it was getting started. I have a lot of nostalgia for the series but also hated the ending (it literally went "well we could go on forever about this, but instead of telling you.. bye") but I remember regretting they made it into a movie.
I've always loved this book and just about everything in it, especially the 'padding' (as you say) that they left out of the movie. I mean sure, most of it wasn't exactly required to forward the plot of this book, and serves more toward foreshadowing the future installments in the series, but I think it serves another, much more important purpose: character development and worldbuilding. I hated this film because most of the things they left out are the things that made the story and characters feel real to me. I love reading about Eragon's adventures with Brom and Saphira and Murtagh, and all the shit they go through and how their relationships change and grow over the many months that take place in the book, and if you take all of that out you're just left with three days of Star Wars in Middle Earth, and it's just really boring. Now granted, I do think the overall plot is one of the weaker points of this book, and the later entries in the series are much stronger for having actually original plots, but I do still really like this one regardless.
Seriously though none of this was original when Star Wars did it either. If anything it sounds like these books are more inventive than the original SW trilogy, it's just that SW is more well known than the stuff it stole from.
+Painocus You are aware that star wars was made in the 70's when these themes were still relatively new to storytelling. And there's a difference between being inspired and outright stealing. Did you watch the doms other video on Eragon this is scene for scene the same story as a new hope, not just some plot points and general themes. Any story Lucas may have gotten ideas from (there's no actual proof there was one ) could just have easily just been inspiration. Why is there such a cynical view on SW when this topic comes up? Don't you think there'd be some info, some angry author or fans who would've said something about Lucas stealing their work by now?
Ahem. Valerian, John Carter, Flash Gordon, the Arthurian Legends, The Searchers, The Hidden Fortress, and EVERY. SINGLE. HERO’S. JOURNEY. STORY. EVER!!! Don’t tell me that Star Wars didn’t take things from other stories! The Hero’s Journey is an ANCIENT story structure, found in everything from Greek Mythology to Shakespeare! Don’t tell me that it started in 1977 with Star Wars, kiddo!
+Maria ER Yeah, for real. I can remember reading about Legolas traipsing around on the snow, teasingly telling Gandalf he was going to get the sun for them. They were more dimensional than shown in the films.
Im currently rereading the books (the first time I read them I was 13) and I love them still very much now being 20. I absolutely LOVE the magic system and the characters and even though it is very obvious that paolini drew inspiration from star wars and lotr, i think that is still very much it's own story.
Thing is, I hadn't read LotR when I first read these, but having now read both, I see almost no connection whatsoever aside from them taking place in a fantasy world, and I can only really see the Star Wars comparison if I'm reading single paragraph summaries of the two side by side.
Tip to fantasy-writers: when creating an epic amazing city, don't get lazy on the name! Don't just google-search your way to an 'exotic' sounding place and then change one letter. To people familiar with the location in question it's just gonna be really weird! Sincerely, native and resident of Trondheim, Norway
Correct me if I'm wrong, my geography sucks, but aren't dwarf originaly norse creatures and doesn't/didn't noway belong to the norse culture? If I'm right about that, maybe the similarity in names was on purpose.
Almost all of Tolkien's names are from legends, mostly norse. Maybe because he's seen as one of the most influental fantasy writers this practice seems to stuck.
Honestly I never got all the shaming this book got for being basically Star Wars. In my opinion this is just common operating procedure in fantasy. Most famous fantasy authors(at least recent ones) copied other famous works, at least in their earlier works, until they found their own styles in later works. Terry Brooks first Shanarra Book, for example, was basically a copy of lord of the rings(and I don't mean that in the way that every high fantasy book is basically based on his works(elves, orcs, dwarves, etc.) I mean he basically lifted entire plot threads from it. Later he found his own style. And this is true for most fantasy authors. Eragon never particularly stood out for me there.
The first Eragon book should serve as a cautionary tale on nepotism in the publishing industry and how it can be harmful to aspiring authors. His parents have not done him a favor by publishing the book. Had Paolini sent in the book to a publishing house, got rejected, reworked the book, set it to another one and failed again until he he had significantly improved the book, Eragon could have been decent to amazing. Paolini obviously has some pretty creative ideas once he gets over relying on trite clichees and the second book clearly shows that, by expanding on old characters and introducing new one that are much deeper nd likeable than Eragon or Brom were i the first and by both playing with tropes he played straight earlier and daring tointroduce plot twists that are not standard for fantasy. The third book is even better in my opinion and clearly shows his growth as an author. Unfortunately the 4rth book is the worst one of the series. Obviously he was counting on it to sell and be celerated like the otherthree and therefore half-assed it (a pitfall many authors fall into)
+MrsXanatrix While I see our point, I didn't like the second and third book so much. It might be because I've read them later and became more aware of what makes a good or bad book in the time (the first book was one of the first high-fantasy stories I read as a child, and I haven't reread it since then), but I felt like the books got more and more tiring, the plot holes the story had became more and more obvious, and the bigger the scope and the more ridiculous the power levels got, the more annoyed I became with the story. Then there are countless Deus-Ex-Machina moments (which the series always had, but they got worse and worse the more time went on). It doesn't help that the story lines I did like got pushed to the side for the countless chapters Eragon spend with the elves, which I didn't like because a lot of it was spent on a stupid lovestory, inconsequential filler, and on bragging about how AMAZING elves are. To me, the first one was a fun, but nor very memorable adventure, and the later ones where dragged down by trying to hard to be epic without having enough to stand on to really make a huge story work. But as I've said, I read the books over a span of several years and the first one at a very young age, so I would have to reread the whole series to make a proper judgement. Which I might just do out of curiosity. I have really good memories of the first one, and I would like to see how well it holds up after I've read Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire...
+seigeengine No need to worry about ASoIaf. I'm a world building guy too. Martin really pulls of his world and explores a great deal of it through intertwining narratives and some wild surprises. I have reread them all multiple times (and am doing so right now) Also I couldn't stand the Lord of the Rings books either, except some of The Hobbit which I only read when I was pretty young. I would also recommend the Kingslayer Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, world building through stories within stories and some of the best prose I've ever read. (though the main character is a slight marry sue and the wait for the next book is killing me.)
seigeengine arithine But in ASoIaF, the world building actually plays an important part for the narrative. Almost every little world building bit somehow relates to the story, in Eragon, a lot of it is just unnecessary filler or straight up nonsensical. Which is why Westeros feels much more like a living, breathing world then Alageasia (I hope I spelled that right). Everything is somehow connected, and the massive amount of world building we get in the core books alone is closely tied to whatever is going on at the moment. The later Eragon books seem like they had a lot of good ideas, but they where not tied together very well, progressing more because of Deus Ex Machinas then because of a well constructed plot. The same thing can be said about Lord of the Rings, which is can be a chore to read because of Tolkiens attention to detail, even on things that are only tangentially related to the story of the book.
Except that EL James, author of Fifty Shades of Grey, was contacted by the publishing industry specifically for the fact that her Twilght fanfic, Master of the Universe was incredibly popular online. She was offered money and publishing her fanfic by just changing the names and little to no edits in her work. Most likely the No Edit Clause on her contract and so she didn't have to accept her editor's suggestions and edits. It's actually disturbingly common, the no edit clause.
I’ll concede that the first book may be a bit slow and dull at points but i’ll firmly say that this series is honestly one of the best fantasy series. Sure it took inspirations from other stories in the genre and it isn’t 100% original but not a lot of stories are original. What makes a story good though is being able to make it into your own concept. And Paolini, in my humble opinion, did a damn fine job making his own unique story and built a mystical world that captured my heart when I first read it in sixth grade and still does when I read them today. The movie is hot garbage and ruined the chance of the series gaining mass popularity. And look, I very rarely comment on videos, I just wanted to try to convince at least one person to give the books a shot. I promise you that Paolini isn’t some hack that just copies other people. To each their own though.
I like the books a lot at one point I read them twice in a row and I only started reading them as an adult. I adore these books especially because Paolini was so young when he started wirting those books. I am a writer too. -Ironically I only started reading the books because I saw the movie.
I love the books the author managed to make every thing feel grand and epic yes I'll admit the colored swords is silly but he managed to create a world and cast of characters the I care about and the ending of the fourth book was down right tear jerkingly sad
I first read Eragon when I was 14 and loved it! I reread it and the other books until I started college. I reread them again at 24 and was definitely underwhelmed. I still had the nostalgia for the series and still like it to some extent but it wasn’t as good as I thought. Personally I think the world, lore, and side characters are more interesting than Eragons story is. I’d like to see what else could be written within the world itself.
(SPOILER warning for the ending of the fourth book) I did like the book series. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot that was cliche and derivative and I realized that as I got older, but I still enjoyed the stuff that actually was creative and well done. I think the magic system being connected with the ancient language was kind of cool and the depth of the special bond between the dragons and their riders was well described, and other stuff like that, so I guess I just focused on enjoying the positives as I read the books. One thing where I just couldn't go along with it, though, was the ending to the fourth book. The hero, after going through his journey, feels that he can no longer stay in the world he calls home and so he decides to leave. He gets on a ship and goes sailing off with the elves for other lands. It's pretty much EXACTLY THE SAME as the end of Lord of the Rings! Like not just very similar, like with the parallels to Star Wars, but almost exact! Also, I didn't quite understand why Eragon couldn't have raised the dragons on that island (Vroengard I think?) where they dragons used to live. It's an isolated island that was somewhat difficult for Eragon to reach even by dragon, so they would probably be undisturbed there, and if the dragons used to live there then I would think that it could be made to be suitable for them again (unless I missed some detail that explains why he couldn't go there lol). So yeah, I still enjoyed the book series overall, but it is definitely flawed (the second and third book were better than the first) and I didn't care for that ending.
Vroengard had fallout from basically a magical nuke, causedwhen a rider whose dragon had been killed decided to attempt to take the forsworn with him. Converting his body to energy, he effectively nuked Vroengard.
He wanted to stay but realized that he could fall to the temptation of being so powerful dragon rider whose opinion was well respected and knew he had to leave to prevent that, and even the stupid prophecy trope foreshadowing that is important to the story.
Yes and no. In LotR the characters leave for the undying lands because that's their reward for murdering Lucifer. In Inheritance, Eragon leaves his home in search of an isolated area to live and train the new dragon order, he leaves behind all of his friends and everyone he knows because he's putting them in... danger? (It's been a few years). While, in LotR, it's implied that the characters are essentially going to heaven, and will live out the rest of their lives separated from the mortal realm, in Inheritance, Eragon leaves very reluctantly, and it's implied that he will have a distant relationship with Alagaesia. Hell, he's even hoping that the queen of the elves will one day abdicate the throne to come and join him.
I feel the need to also point out that they killed the Ra'zac within the first third of the movie, despite them being (what I personally consider to be) the secondary antagonists of the entire series. If this movie had turned into a series, their death would have made many of the events going forward make no sense.
I'll never really forgive the movie for basically making Saphira a pokemon who came with a name and 'evolved' into her maturity. That was the exact moment in the theatre my teenage fangirl mode disengaged from the series.
Am I the only person who couldn't get into the books as a kid? I was a huge reader and really, really wanted to love it. But, I drew the line when I had to translate entire pages from the dictionary in the back. It got to a point I felt like he might as well have created a whole companion book to teach you the language first, then reading Eragon would have been enjoyable. As it stood it felt more like the author was so proud of creating a language he forgot that only he (at that point) understood any of it. Plus, a number of words were left out of the books dictionary entirely, making entire paragraphs unreadable without completely guessing at the actual intent.
The thing that pissed me off the most was the fact that they turned Arya, an originally oriental looking character with slanted green eyes and black straight black hair, into a fucking ultra white ginger girl. They completely changed her character and the very essence of her existence. She went from being a wise, multi-faceted, interesting character to just another whitewashed damsel in destress.
I remember seeing this movie in theaters with a friend; I knew nothing about the series while he was a big fan of the books. What made it memorable leaning over to my friend half way through and telling him it was pretty much Star Wars taking place in Lord of the Rings. That revelation apparently ruined the whole series for him.
@@voldy3565 I love getting notifications for these sorts of years old comments and wondering what the context is for someone insulting me. Looking back on it I suppose I can't say you're really wrong.
Revisiting this review. I have actually realized that the whole "true name" thing really remind me of one of the myths of Ra and Isis, dealing with exactly that.
I'm so glad I saw the movie before I read the books. I think experiencing the story that way is the best way to do it if you're new to it. Eragon, if you watch it at 9 years old, without having read the books, its a basic but entertaining and campy fantasy movie. Then you read the books a few years later and you're way more impressed with it lol. Now as an adult, of course i see way more flaws with both book and movie, but they both have a fond place in my memories.
I have a soft spot for the movie because I saw it first. It made me want to read all the books. After finishing the cycle and rewatching, I could only wonder if they even planned to finish the story. So many major plot points or character setups were glossed over it would make the sequels NOTHING like the books and DEFINITELY give them the title, “in name only.”
Here's something else the movie got wrong. In the book, the only way to kill a shade was to stab it through the heart AND use powerful magic to kill it. In the book, Murtagh actually shoots Durza in the heart with his arrow but Durza is fine. HE is finally killed when Eragon ignites his sword with magic and then stabs him in the heart. There was also nothing inherently magical about Dragon Rider swords in the book, so I don't know what the deal with the sword glowing like that was. Aside from the fact that they were totally indestructible, they were basically the same as any other sword.
2 years after OG post but how cares, the Shades could only be killed by being stabed through the heart by a blade(Sword, dagger, it dosnt matter) eragon shot the Shade in the Head and though he killed him.
my mind after watching Eragon: 10 sec after "That was a complete disservice to thevbooks!" 20 min after "Well it could have been better." 3 hours after "They did their best and my hopes were just too high." year or two later watch it on cable. "Well, that was shit."
I read Eragon as a child, before I was able or willing to tackle LOTR so I appreciate it for that. And the fact that a 15 year old kid wrote it is impressive.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: the inheritance cycle caters to the specific audience of elementary and middle schoolers with a college reading level. I LOVED these books as a kid partly because of how "grown up" they felt.
Very nice review, I loved this series, but looking back, yeah the first book is not the best, but his writing does improve considerably as the books go on and the similarities to Star Wars lessen as well. I too was pissed off at the letdown of the Dwarven capital in the film, as that was by far the best part of the book, I don't think we ever actually see a single dwarf in the film.
The most nitpickiest of changes is the one scene I remember from the movie: Brom tries to guess Eragon's age, and guesses correctly on his first two tries, 15-16 (as apparently, as in it's been so long since I've read it I don't remember when, his birthday passed by the end of the book) but instead Eragon "CORRECTS" him, loudly proclaiming he's 17. This pissed me off. Sure, it probably needed to be done because of the actor, but this is a detail that the movie had in its clutches only for them to announce they're getting it wrong. And that's just dumb
After reading all the books and hearing they were making a movie i was so excited, but after seeing what horrible mistake they made i got depressed....
In defense of the end credit song. It was a thing in 90s and 2000s. It rose in ferocity after Hollywood realized how much free advertising you can get when you overplay My heart will go on on the radio. But end credit song by popular music act with music video showing film footage was normal part of advertising campaign. Hiring Avril Lavigne to write a credit song was a bit "hello, fellow kids" but reasonably well targeted to the audience they wanted to attract.
Im glad you finally did this and I think you got a lot of things right, but yeah as you said since you didnt enjoy the series that much you did miss a lot out, some of your nitpicks were explained, such as Saphira having a deep voice in the books, which is established early on, and the Ra'zac being very much a genuine but very rare race of which some of its species followed the humans over from the long-lost (unmapped and forgotten) continent of origin as a predator/prey relationship. Also, in terms of the stone being blue... That was actually an inspiration from another book series known as the Belgariad. The series revolves around the retrieval of a blue stone of immeasurable power in order to fulfil a destiny. Sounds shit in short but its actually a pretty good series. Anyway, a lot was taken from this series (more so than what Star Wars, which people say Eragon ripped off, which is bollocks) and it makes sense since this was Paolinis favourite series growing up. The last thing I have to say is just that the omissions and choices made in the movie I hated most were the ones which destroyed the sequel, such as killing off the Ra'zac and not introducing Jeod, both of whom have tremendous influence in the second book (of which the director had no excuse because Eldest had been out for a very long time by the time the film was being made). Anyways, aside from that, pretty good analysis as to why the film was a terribad adaptation.
I'm curious what you thought about the sequels, while i do agree the first one isn't the best story i think the sequels do make an interesting universe with some of the characters becoming more interesting.
I remember sort of liking the book as a young'un but not as much as other fantasy series I'd read like Redwall. I tried reading the second book but found that it didn't feel like it connected to the first one very well and quickly got bored of it and pretty much forgot about the series. Overall, what I can say that I liked with the movie... I like the design of Saphira. They made bird wings on a dragon look pretty cool.
"You'll have to forgive me for not wanting to talk about the piles of corpses or the babies on spikes...." Me (who hasn't read the book since middle school): Oh, yeah! Now I remember that scene! Thanks The Dom 🙃
I know I shouldn’t get mad at this, but saying the books are forgettable is kind of harsh. He wrote it as a teenager and as an aspiring teenage fantasy author I respect how hard it is to actually put a story on paper. It is very hard to know what to include and how to keep the story from dragging. I’ve read the original series six times over, working on the seventh. I soak up new information each time through. Even the new book, “The Fork the Witch and the Worm,” as much of a tease as it is, I’ve read five times already. I love the books. I met Paolini in 2019, exchanged the elvish greeting with him, and got all my books signed. I look up to him so much as an author and a role model. He was a homeschooled teen like me with nothing to do, so he sat down and created an entire world. Saying that it is forgettable, this video and anyone else who says that disrespects Paolini even more than the lazy attempt that this movie was. He’s so humble, just laughing it off when people disrespect his work. I for one could never do that. I’m so much of a hothead, obviously. But when I put my story out their, if someone disrespects it, especially by saying, “it’s forgettable,” I mean I couldn’t do anything but I could never laugh it off. Yes I’m an Eragon Nazi! Live with it!
I remember reading a review of Eragon which was two sentences (paraphrasing) "My son is a huge fan of the Eragon books so I brought him with me to the critics screening of this film. I cannot recommend this movie because it made my son cry."
@@MeepChangeling Similar experience here.
It didn't make me cry when I was a kid, but boy did it sure make me angry. These days I don't care because I can't for the life of me ever slog through Eldest again so I can remember everything that happened for the last book.
@@pshuckle7488 The books do have a summary of the main plot points from the previous books. Even if the copies that you bought didn't have it, you could always read a 4-5 page summary online
I read these as they came out from 6 to 10th Both the movie and the books came out the same time as twilight losing in popularity and I feel like that dramatically impacted their adaption
@@pshuckle7488 hated eldest but the rest of the books are interesting enough for me to re read every few years if only for nostalgia. The magic system is fairly interesting and though the elves home is a partial lord of the rings ripoff the literal tree houses are fun. Is it over dramatic, yes. Are there better dragon books also yes temeraire comes to mind. But this is still a fun series to read every couple years imo.
I recently realized how to put into words what I liked about the magical system: because you cannot lie in the ancient language, using magic is basically forcing reality to adhere to what you just said. Eragon says that the stone is rising and because that must be the truth, the magic drains his energy to maintain the truth of his statement.
That's an amazing explanation, but it really needed to be in the book. Seeing as in it, the effort of magic is explained as "using as much energy as doing the thing physically" I'm going to hazard a guess that your explanation is not what the author intended.
Though it is much better. Do you mind if I use something similar for something I'm writing?
@@NeroCM go ahead lol. i'll be honest tho, i don't remember whether that's at all an original concept or whether i picked it up from somewhere - at a guess, i'd hazard it might have appeared in earthsea (by ursula le guin), but i'm not sure
it sounds cool but thats not really how it is since (spoiler) you can use magic without the ancient language too. you just use it to form the magic with it. the not being able to lie part seems to be a different part of it
Yup. I still very strongly remember Brom’s lesson about how dangerous magic can be in that way: Eragon tried to say ‘Release me!’ as a spell, and Brom used it as an object lesson. If he had said ‘Reduce the magic holding me,’ he could have cut it off any time...but because he spoke in an absolute, it came down to whether Eragon had more magic than Brom, which he absolutely did not.
@@NeroCMBoth are not incompatible at all. Magic can use your energy to adapt reality to what you said had to be true, and while doing so use exactly the same amount of energy it would have cost you to do the thing by hand. The issues of the amount of energy and of the functioning of magic are completely different issues. That’s always how I’ve seen magic in Eragon. The ancient language is the language of truth, that’s also why oaths pronounced in it are binding. In addition, Brom and Oromis both hint that nobody knows exactly how magic works, that even the elves have but hypotheses about it. It would be fitting, then, that interpretation is left to the reader. But the idea that what you say has to be true so the world adapts itself to it is kind of implicit in the books
Basically: This movie single-handedly stopped any possibility of the other books being made into movies.
Also, lying in the ancient language doesn't kill you. It's just NOT POSSIBLE. Eragon attempts to do so at one point to Arya about his feelings towards her, the words stick in his throat, and he has to skirt the truth.
which is actualy an important plot-device regarding the elves's society! They can't lie, therefore they had centuries to hone their skills in skirting the truth, hiding details and talking in roundabout ways that made'em very cunning and sometimes unreliable.
He also said that shades were made from consuming the soul of another magic user, I honestly think this dude read someone else's review of the books and went off that
the weird guy
Weren't shades once Sorcerers who had practiced soul-magic only to have the souls turn on them and corrupt them into haunted vessels.
With the trend of making book series into tv series, eragon could survive again
@@HenshinHeroesMedia Eragon could work as a show.
Each book gets it own 7-10 episode season
Paolini always likes to give focus to different characters to add suspense, which could translate
Example: Eragon meets Gladr, the only other good dragon we know of at the very point, and then he immediatly switches the focus to Nasuada and Rowan in the Varden.
I really wanna see that TV show now
What pissed me off most about the movie was actually watching in the special features section of the DVD the director says, and I quote, "I didn't want my elves to have pointed ears because then they'd be just like everyone else's elves." Like... what kind of utter bullcrap is that?!?! That's like saying I don't want my humans to have arms because then they'd be like everyone else's humans! The director had NO business directing a fantasy movie.
Rikusgirl001 Well Tolkien's elves didn't have pointed ears either, in the books anyway.
Even teen fantasy with a non elven species uses pointed ears to display a long lived wise neutral race.
To me that reads as. "Oh there were totally elves in this movie! And Dwarves too! Yeah you book fans just didn't notice because we made the elves have normal ears and the Dwarves taller. We totally didn't cut two entire civilizations out of the movie cause we were convinced this was a flavor-of-the-month Fantasy Flick made profitable by the Lord of the Rings movies. It's totally faithful you guys!"
That irritated me so much. Seriously, it's even a plot point later on when Eragon gets transformed by the spectral dragon. Not even mentioning that it was also explicitly statrd that Arya had black hair and that Zar'roc had a ruby in the hilt and not a sapphire...this movie physically hurts me.
He also said that he didn’t want to have too many practical sets but he did want to build the homestead and burn it practically. He bragged about the disproportionate cost of that. What an idiot. It’s like Uwe Boll had a dumber, less talented brother.
The best part of book-Eragon's character was that he was an angsty teenager in the best possible way. He understands that people have high expectations of him, but he struggles to understand the scope and nature of those expectations. Furthermore, he constantly doubts himself and his ability to do what is expected of him, especially as he becomes increasingly surrounded by people who are probably better suited to the task. He had all the hallmarks of a moody teenager, but it was all done in a way that enhanced his character and made him more sympathetic.
Also, book-Saphira was one of my favorite characters. Despite coming across as wise and patient, she was still immature and inexperienced. She and Eragon made for a wonderful dynamic as each one awkwardly tried to act as the other's surrogate family.
Film-Eragon is told to do a thing. He mopes about it for a while and then just does the thing. Film-Saphira has the personality of a cinder block. Quality writing!
Not to mention, even though hes shown to be a quick learner and becomes a maybe too good fighter, hes constantly getting his ass kicked or chased away. When they show that hes a good fighter against men, they add urgals, and they have Murtagh to show that while he might be good from an unusually short amount of time, hes not wiping the floor with a master swordsman. Then they show the elves and other creatures of magic and hes outclassed again. He only beat Durza because Saphira distracted him. He doubts himself and has real reason to.
I think the filmmakers made Eragon a cheerier, Boy Scout sort of character to remind people of Luke Skywalker. That's probably why they picked a petite guy with blond hair and blue eyes to play him.
Keep in mind that I think the book is ridiculous, but it could have made an entertaining film if they maintained the characters' personalities and appearance. Eragon is an unstable young man, and those kind of heroes are a lot more fun to watch than the non-conflicted goody-goody types.
Wow I really dig your analysis! Nice work.
I also like that he's crushing hard on the much older woman, who first gently tells him, "not going to happen," then more firmly, then in no uncertain terms says he has to stop, and she's not going to put up with it any longer. Yes it takes him a while, he's slow, but he does actually back off and they're able to have a strong working relationship. I like that she doesn't fall at his baby boy feet, and that he actually backs off.
@@polyhymnia701 the film made the story even more derivative than it already was. Derivative is not necessarily bad, and the books became their own thing. The movie just leaned so hard into being derivative that it forgot to include the parts of the book that actually made it good
Killing the Razac was also just dumb from a storytelling perspective because they return later and have significant impact on his cousin's story
And they aren't shadow-insect creatures summoned by Durza, either. They're supposed to be bird-people that are an actual race.
the fact hey are insects that can be summoned, makes it so their death does not matter, since they can be resummoned and still attack him.
The Ra'zac were responsible for pretty much half the events of the entire second book.
Wait, you mean the cousin who's leaving Carvahall WITH Katrina instead of going to a neighbouring one and come back for her when he's gained enough money and skill to sustain their future live together ?
True, I always imagined they looked really similar to witch doctors with their face structure, and most assumed it was a mask but it was actually their face. I dunno if its true at all but it's what I imagined.
I'm sorry, but the Fortune-Teller was possibly the best character in the book.
"Oh, we're in the same battle? What a coincidence!"
"Yes, my best friend IS a shapeshifting werecat. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, you lost your sword? Here have this sword made from some weird crystal that can cut through ANYTHING. Just don't prop it up against anything that you want in one piece, because it WILL find a way to cut it."
The side characters are all so much better than the main characters in these books: Angela, Murtagh, Nasuada, Orik... I would have much more happily read a book about them.
and lets not mention she knows a spell that can STOP TIME!! Give her a couple eldunari and she will rule the world!
Pretty sure it's half-established that Angela is a Time Lady. No human would be that weird and talented.
It is. in the last book she's seen sowing a "spell" into the brim of a hat. Eragon asks what it is and she says "Raxicori..... nevermind." There's also a section of the book where Arya writes a poem in the sand, and it is about a lonely god drifting in a sea of time, with many faces. The author was a total whovian.
yeah, she was one of those major loose ends that the story never bothered to tie up. The few hints they dropped about her true nature and backstory made me even more curious to know exactly who and what she was, but they never bothered to give up any real details.
Have you thought of a category called "I read the back cover and I'm pretty sure I know how it goes". That's what I have always felt this movie was like.
Actually, read the "prologue" of the Eldest. That's what they did. I swear it. I was completely dumbfounded when readding it for the first time... x'D
*Gasp* That is a PERFECT quick way to describe that feeling to people without me sticking them in a room with me ranting about how this 'movie' (that does NOT exist) sucks for hours on end! With them still/more confused and not caring afterwards...
Percy Jackson movies would also perfectly qualify
@ I didn't know some of them were bookd
I remember watching it when it first came out and it felt like a Star Wars fanfic set in a dragon AU.
I have to confess, I adore Eragon. The later books especially-Brisingr and Inheritance are my comfort books, and I love them to death. You see, they aren't perfect, and they are basically Lord of the Rings/Star Wars mashup fanfic, but if you're a teenager looking for a long, detailed ya fantasy with some fun characters, Eragon is almost perfect. Unlike a lot of the books I liked as a kid, these ones have stood the test of time because of their intricacy and characters. And also, the audiobooks are wonderful.
my favorite scene is the forging of Brisingr,
only read the books like 3 times, but i read that scene at least 20 times
There's quite a lot of very interesting things happening, especially in the later books - the whole of Elva's story, when Eragon finally got his revenge with the Ra'zac, the character developement, the worldbuilding details - like the highest punishment for dwarves is being ignored as if you don't exist (which has a huge psychological impact) or just the fact that Nasuada funds the war in part thanks to magic-made lace (similar to the efect machine lace had on the industry here), all of which are super imaginative. Yes, the story is basically a stereotypical fantasy mashup, but it's things like these that give it a bit of unique personality, which I really appreciate.
@@Missfantasyfreak Don't sell the first book short. Eragon's first encounter with Angela and Solembum had _so much_ foreshadowing of events that wouldn't come to fruition until books 3 and 4.
@@Lobomaru02 True. I didn't mean to imply the first book is lacking in this sense, just that the later books have more things like that (that I remember - it has been ages since I read the series, so I tend to remember the "bigger" stuff, or those that really stuck out to me, more)
I've been trying to think of the phrase for so long, thank you! Inheritance is 100% my comfort book, and has been since I was ten.
You don't die when you lie in the ancient language, its simply imposible, you literally couldnt lie even if you wanted to
You can however sail around that barrier by either just not telling someone something or making it so vague that it could be true either way (things the elves do ALL the time)
@@MattFyrm Or think about something else while saying it. (though I think that requires a vague enough question)
@@Great_Olaf5 is that so? It's been a long time since I've read the books... is there an example where this happens or is explicitly explained?
@@MattFyrm In either Eldest or Brisingr, Arya asks Eragon if he's recovered from his fit of insanity from the Agaeti Blodhren, where he tried to push for a more intimate relationship (I think that was what she was asking about, but I'm not entirely sure, it's been several months since I reread that myself), and he responds that he's better than he was before "referring, in his mind, to the condition of his back." (that line always stuck with me for some reason)
@@Great_Olaf5 oooh, you mean just taking your own words out of context. That makes sense
If you ask me the only thing the Eragon movie did right was casting Jeremy Irons as Brom.
I think Rachel Weisz was a pretty decent choice for Saphira as well.
@Sir Duck Art honestly, I'm a little ok with Jeremy Irons still playing Brom. Hes got the voice and if he were a little more stern badass mentor than mysterious old hermit in the movie he wouldve been great. Of course Brom is both stern badass mentor and mysterious old hermit but theres a balance and much less hermit after they leave Carvahal. Idk how Irons would look with a beard but if they gave him some more, for lack of a better term, Gandalf the grey attire and less aging swordsman I wouldve been happy ish, at least with Brom.
And Garrett Hedlund as Murtagh! ;-)
Super cool dude
I was look on this article of possibilities of a proper adaptation of Eragon(along with the sequels in The Inheritance Cycle), and I thought of this:How about if the author gives the rights to the BBC or any British studio? Think about it:Since JK Rowling, an author of the UK, sold the Harry Potter film rights to Warner Bros, a film studio of the US, then how about Christopher Paolini, an American author, giving the Inheritance Cycle film adaptation rights to a British studio? After all, there are some American studios(if not all) that unfortunately have been known for either screwing up important elements of fantasy books or the entire adaptation itself, while the British have supposedly been excellent at fantasy flicks/adaptations. Seems like a better idea, right?
Brina Owens Am I right about what I said?
Oh they did way more than that.
-Arya was clearly described as a black haired elf who wore armor and was surprising in the fact she wore slacks, in the movie, she's a redhead with round ears (making her unrecognizable as an elf), and wore dresses most of the time since the one time she wore a dress in the book, Brisingr, was a big deal and surprised Eragon
-Angela was a crazy redhead that helped the Varden a lot
-They combined two towns into one
-The ending of the movie was the opening of Eldest
-Ajihad actually survived the battle, he was just killed in a staged attack from the Twins in Eldest
-The same attack allowed the Twins to capture Murtagh
-Arya and Sapphira shattered the most important thing to the dwarves, the Star Sapphire, in order to help distract Durza during the last fight with him
-The fight was in a corridor
-The Star Sapphire never appeared
-Roran freaking disappears when he was a huge character
-Also no mention of Sloan
It's a horrid adaptation.
Vesta Blackclaw Angela was blonde in the books with curly hair
I have the book in front of me and she has thick brown curly hair
Roran didn't appeared in Eldest? I don't remember chapters in the first Book about Roran, I do remember the Eldest invested a LOT of chapters in the story of Roran and the village going through the mountains, stealing a ship and joining the Vardens in the second battle.
@@alejandroyava No, what he meant was that the movie didn't really acknowledge Roran. The books most certainly did, but not the movie did not.
Plus Roran was supposed to be a big bulky dude and he looks fuckin 11 in the movie
I actually met Mr. Paolini and got my copy of inheritance signed by him. I asked him his thoughts of the film and he said "It was their version of the story and I was quite happy that they made the version they wanted" Quite a humble guy....
"In my writing, I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf" - Christopher Paolini
This talent-less, plagiarizing hack is the furthest thing from humble.
Well NGW, that is just your opinion. Lots of work (both film & book) out there is "inspired" not plagiarized by other works. So how does taking inspiration from other successful artists and making it new & different, plagiarism? It isn't, but you can keep that mindset if you want. Unless you have proof that Mr. Paolini copied entire pages of Mr. Tolkien's Middle Earth saga & Mr. Heaney's translation and pasted them right into Eragon, your opinion is not valid to me.
I'm pretty sure the plagiarism charge is not aimed at LotR and Beowulf but at STAR WARS which the story of Eragon almost parodies as idyllic fantasy world reimagination...
The quote about Tolkien was meant to demonstrate a not very humble side of Mr Paolini when he compares himself to the grandfather of all Fantasy writers... a chuzpe many Tolkienfans surely would define as unforgivable hubris...
The thing is, stories such as "lord of the rings" or "Star Wars" despite being set in different universes all follow the heroes path. There is a really good teded video explaining it, but I'll try to give it a go:
The hero is living his normal life, when suddenly a quest or a certain situation makes him go out of his comfort zone. On lotr, that would be the shire, while in Star Wars it would be Tatooine, both heroes leaving. Then they come across the journey, which yeah, is pretty rough on them at first, they meet new people, form alliances and discover how fucked up the world really is, and how much it needs to be changed. Then (do have in count I'm paraphrasing and I learned this like three years ago), they get to the final comfrontation, in which they usually triumph. They go back home, but realise they have changed a lot.
So, yeah, that's most scyfy or fantasy stuff out there, so I wouldn't blame it on just eragon since soooo many others have done really worse 😕
Kinda like Propp's scheme
2:58 Christopher Paolini is partially color-blind, so he sees the color blue almost exclusively. That's why Saphira is blue.
So what does Zoroc and Thorn look like to him because some think red looks brown when colorblind
@@GrosvnerMcaffrey Huh. I think certain shades of red look brown. For instance, I've always heard rust described as red, but it looks brown to me. Could that possibly mean I'm a little bit colorblind and just never realized it?
@McFlingleson could be. For the record I think rust looks like a combo of colors It could be brown red or orange so I don't know if that's the best example
@@GrosvnerMcaffrey okay. Well, another example is that one time when I was a kid I got into an argument with my stepsister because we were watching the Dreamworks movie Antz and I remarked that the ants in it were brown and she pissily told me they're not brown, they're red. I just did a google image search of "antz" and they still look brown to me.
@@McFlingleson I think that maybe people are persiving colours in different way without anything beeing wrong. To me rust sometimes looks red sometimes brown. And I had once a long discussion with my exgirlfriend about a color I percified as a typ brown while she percieved it as maroon.
One of my favorite things about this series is the whole plot is to try and kill the Mad King Galbatorix and rebuild the Riders. A four book series but you don't see Galbatorix until halfway through the final book. All that build up and mystery surrounding him for 3 and 1/2 books. Its like how the Emperor isnt introduced until RotJ.
....The movies show him right away in his "lair" yelling and loosing his temper. Galbatorix in the books speaks slow, gently with a booming voice. He's reserved with an air of command to him, he doesn't need to scream and throw stuff for his men to follow orders he only has to look at them and they KNOW. They did him dirty in that movie 😰.
Or how the firelord is shown only near the end of the Avatar series. He also is intimidating while just standing there and speaking normally.
Its especially interesting that whenever things don't quite go his way, he does occasionally loose his temper and it is described as quite scary. You basically get a glance at how unhinged he really is and how his calm demeanour is more of a facade to hide it.
Galbatorix does have fits of insane rage. Murtagh describes it in his second meeting with Galbatorix.
They also cut out a baby girl he "blessed"... which leads to fucking huge consequences in the later books.
Its even part of the title in the third book! "the seven promises of Eragon Shadeslayer" and that girl was ONE OF THEM!
Buckmenstaf The Weasel Cough *Dune* Cough Cough
yeah, I remember that little girl! If only Eragon had been more fluent in the ancient language by the time he "blessed" her he would have given her a valuable gift but still she managed to help him when he needed it the most.
and suffered a terrible life meanwhile
"may you be a shield from danger"
the book may not have been very original, but at least a) the sequels did get better and b) Chris Paolini went out of his way to make the world he created feel as big and detailed as he could manage. yes there is a lot of padding because of this, but I didn't mind it as much as I normally would because it made Alagaesia so alive. love the book or hate, I think people should at least respect that much effort
I quit after he pussied out on Eragon having to adapt to his injury.
Arella17 his transformation played a large part in the later parts of the series
I only read the first book well before the film, and only watched the film once at release.
The thing that immediately stood out to me about the book when I was younger and had the active imagination was that he described just about every location in so much detail I could clearly see the world in my mind. What angered me so much about the movie was that they managed to have absolutely zero of any of the locations be anywhere close to what was described in the book. The scene where Eragon meets the Fortune-teller was like 3 different cities from 3 very different parts of the book and world and combined them into something wholly uninteresting and inaccurate to anything at all.
Is it a J.R.R. Tolkein rival? I don't know, maybe not, but for a 15 year old he went as far as he could and I think Tolkein would've been proud.
Honestly the "Padding" made the book for me. It's the world development and the type of detail I've always wanted. I love being included one every aspect of Eragon and Broms travels it really makes you feel like you're walking along side them on the path
People love the shit out of Lord of the Rings and that book is padded as fuck. I remember trying to read it as a teenager and quit after the 20th poem.
Me: *ready to watch someone appropriately bash the Eragon movie!*
The Dom: "...my feelings on the book are mixed at best..."
Me: "oh no."
The Dom: "to me...it's not like they are ruining a good story." "Underwhelming book". "Forget about the book and the film".
Me: "It's okay childhood-me, everyone has their own opinions. This doesn't change how we feel about the Inheritance Cycle."
To be fair, I got my somewhat movie bashing. I still watched the whole video and thoroughly enjoyed it even though The Dom is not a fan of the series. Do not worry for I am still subscribed!
@@RT...... I have gone back and forth on this. Eragon (the book) truly does have flaws and they become more appararent when you read other fantasy books.
On the other hand, I find that there is a lot going for Eragon with certain plot and character beats and while other fantasy stories might be better, Eragon is also pretty good at getting young people interested into the genre without challenging them too much.
I know I loved the books, but I must agree they have several problems if revisited with an adut mind. Plus points for dragons and their bond, Brom, angela, eragons twisted blessing turned curse, his adoption into the dwarf clan and of cause him reconecting with roran which lead too this increadably funny scene where they compare their injuries and had no right to be anyway near that funny
@@SingingSealRiana Especially Roran. I really love that Roran has to figure out problems without a dragon and elven superpowers at his disposal. And yet its so badass how he goes at it with an analytical mind and clear determination that he has to win or else.
I'm with you, I need a movie bashing video without insulting the books xd I know they're flawed guys but cmon!! they're very dear to my teenage heart lmao
@@SingingSealRiana I loved every single interaction between Eragon and Roran after they met again. Also, between Eragon and the rest of his old town. It's like their highschool friend became a celebrity and came back to the 10 year reunion as if there's nothing special to it lmao
I liked Roran better than Eragon......... He was badass...... N he didn't even use magic...... STRONG HAMMER
My boi killed 297 men in one battle with just a hammer.
Roran was basically thor the whole time
BUUUUT, that was only because he had been warded be his brother to basically make him invincible.
@@supermagnificence7503the wards played a part yes but in most of the battles Roran was in his wards wore out in the beginning of the battle it self..... Hence the broken face..... Arrow in the back... So on and so forth...... Roran deserves credit....... Ohh n yeah my boy got laid..... Eragon is still chasing after Arya...... 😛😛😛😛😛😂😂😂😂
@@supermagnificence7503 the wards only last so long. That battle was a war of attrition. By the end doesnt he get like shot in the thigh by an arrow, his side cut open by a spear, another arrow in his arm, and like several smaller injuries as well?
I encourage anyone who’s only read the first book, to read the rest of the series.
As it’s been said, the first book was written by a 15 year old, a fantasy-loving 15 year old, and it shows.
But the rest of the books were written a few years later, and you can actually sense that the author has done some analysis on his own writing and influences, straying away from them and fleshing out his own universe. The books start focusing on secondary characters (and there’s a bunch of very interesting ones), alternating point of view from chapter to chapter, and, even though he’s a cliché hero, continue to make Eragon relatable.
The most interesting thing about Eragon is the fact that he consistently screws up, learns from his mistakes, only to be confronted to a bigger threat. Eragon has very few real individual victories in the series : he is constantly helped by others, but never refuses help, he is, sometimes painfully, conscious of his own limitations. This underlines the biggest theme of the book : Eragon is NOT supposed to win alone, to be the sole hero, because the most important thing is his relationship, his fusion, with Saphira. We just spend more time with him because he is human, and Saphira being a dragon, she doesn’t think the same way, making him more relatable. This is addressed multiple times, especially when humans see him as basically the chosen one, and considering Saphira as a stylish mode of transportation.
One thing I liked and disliked about the character of Eragon was that he always assumed that it would end up as a battle between him and Saphira vs Galbatorix and Shruikan. Not because he was the chosen one or anything like that but just because he was the only 'good/free' Dragon Rider. Yes he always hoped he would have the strength of the elves or other magic users to draw on but the battle would always come down to them. He knew that no-one else could possibly hope to match Galbatorix's strength even though many of the elves were far better combatants so he was prepared to truly only rely on his bond with Saphira.
Well, thats a bit unpopular, but I do like the book series. I like it's consistency, I like the characters, I like their development, and specialy how the second book diverges from multiple protagonists, and again, consistency keeps their stories towards the last books, specialy how the story arcs in the second book actualy converged without hinting it. Only when you realized both characters said they were going to the same place, it hits you with a nice build up and pay off. Yea, the clichés are everywhere, but not all clichés are bad, and they are not major plot points. Now, this movie, it belongs on "Last Airbender" category of "worst adaptation". The cast of some characters worked out well, but boy.....there is no salvation.
And no, this movie is not forgettable, trust me, the fanbase of the books will NEVER forget and forgive this movie xD Most of the changes they did were ruining plot points for the sequels, such as Angela and the Ra'zac.
+MrKlausbaudelaire it's one of my absolute favorite book series.
I liked the first book, LOVED the second, was a little bewildered by the third and AB-SO-LU-TELY HATED the fourth one. Paolini obviously put SO little effort in the last book. Everything was so freaking convenient...
Pantalaymo but to be fair, the fourth book had build up since the first one. The whole thing with the well of souls was really prepared and became a bit obvious after the third book introduced the concept of Eldunari. Also, they hammered so much Saphira as the last dragon, Paolini couldn't resist giving us SOMETHING of a happy ending. I also liked how the 3rd book's alternate title was "the seven promises of Eragon Shadeslayer" But the third is my favourite too.
When the cat mentioned the "well of souls" I went like noooooo, noooo! It can't be just Eragon and Galbatorix throwing Eldunari at each other thill one runs dry... Not even mentioning the ridicoulus way Galbatorix was killed in the end, it was kinda hard for me to dislike the guy... Ofcourse he was a mass murderer but his motives in general are pretty honorable. I mean the Elves ARE arrogant and overpowered dickheads and magic users ARE very dangerous for the common people...
The only thing I really liked about the last book was Paolini's solution for the Urgals. That was one perfect example of ending on a hopefull note but being aware, that it still could all go to hell after a phew decades. All together Nar'Garzvogh together with Orik (even though that awesome dwarf got reduced to a mud-cake-baking sidefigure in the last book) are my two most favorite characters by far :)
The Eragon franchise I think would be better serialized rather than made into a movie franchise. I think it would have been impossible to show Eragon's full character development in any movie. Just the scenes of him training and learning how to read take for ever. In the book it goes in to tremendous detail how he, toward the end of his training, did not recognize himself.
+John Lemus I agree. And who better to handle a series than Netflix?
Maybe.
I just realized...
Eragon is Dragon spelled with an E!
Mind! Blown!!
........................................................................................................................................................ :O !
really? I realised that from day one.
becsbabe7465 yes. I realy just realised it, when i made that comment.
I just never thought about it before :(
Also Eragon is basically Star Wars with a coat of LotR painted over it.
+becsbabe7465 was July 4th the day one for you
I will forever find it endlessly hilarious how much more loyal to the books the fucking licensed GBA game for the movie was than the movie itself.
Most of what you said about the razac was incorrect. They were confirmed to be a seperate species, and they could speak, they spoke their own language, and in brisingr or inheritance they spoke to eragon.
only two Ra'zac were in Inheritance, and those were killed right after they hatched. When Arya, Angela, Solembum, Eragon and Wyrden went to the tunnel to get inside Dras Leona. The priests of Helgrind captured them and tried to feed Arya and Eragon to the newly hatched Ra'zac but Solembum and Eragon killed them when they hatched.
@@kirillzakharov7336 Yea i was thinking of the start of brisingir, when eragon and roan go to save his fiancee, and the ra'zac speak to eragon and try to bargain with him :)
It had been a while since I had read the books, so was a bit hazy, but watching the video actually made me go back and read them!! still my favourite series of all time. Close second is Name of the wind.
Also, their demonic raven mounts were actually their parents
Its quite possible that Dom didn't read the later books in the series.
I actually really like the Inheritance Cycle, albeit I prefer the sequels to the first book, where Paolini grows a bit more into his own as a writer (although the Morzan reveal in Book 2 admittedly did little to help ease the Star Wars comparisons…), but I think Eregon had its moments. It’s slightly better than “forgettable” for me, at least, which is probably why this movie pisses me off a lot more.
What I’m somewhat annoyed Dom didn’t mention is that they took out the revelation Eregon has at the end of his duel with Durza that reveals Durza’s history and tragedy to him. It’s the one moment that elevates Durza from nothing but a B-list (if that) stereotypical villain, and also makes Eregon seriously reevaluate his relationship with the enemy and magic, so removing it in favor of a giant bat/balrog monster seems like a bad trade-off (although I can understand the need to make the last fight more cinematic).
What annoys me, personally, about this movie (other than its generally cheap appearance, half-hearted acting, its forever tarnishing the series’s appeal in the eyes of the general public, its decision to reinforce the Star Wars comparison by following that formula even more closely than the book… let’s just say these two things that annoy me about this movie that are less frequently brought up and leave it at that) is, one, that it seems so self-assured of its own inevitable box office failure that it completely fails to set up anything that’s supposed to happen in Eldest (Book 2) and promises a speedy confrontation with Galbatorix, which, had they ever adapted Book 2, they wouldn’t have been able to deliver. It pisses me off to watch a movie that clearly not even the filmmakers had any interest in making halfway decent or frachiseable (Is that a word? Because it should be.). Two, while Eregon has often been accused of being a Gary/Mary Sue, and not without reason, I’ll admit (although those calling him a monstrous sociopath may be taking things a bit far…), this movie only compounds that by making Eregon’s transformation into a hero even more effortless and simple. For instance, in the book it takes a long time before he can even match Bromm in combat; by not even granting him a decent montage, the film makes this look effortless. An adaptation is supposed to smooth over the elements that translate and/or have been received poorly; for this film to instead exacerbate them like this is really insulting.
Anyway, sorry if this comes off as a fanboy rant; I’m actually pretty lukewarm on the series, but frequently heckling of my taste has made be defensive. The tl;dr is: I didn’t much care for the movie, and I feel it’s substantially worse than the generally okay book its based on.
solution to having a character accused of being a sociopath: write them as a yandere in fanfiction. anime/manga/touhou/insert any popular japanese form of media but doesn't necessarily mean inherently japanese people like it fans LOVE their yanderes or just overall abusive or psychotic characters in general. (although I'm trying not to glorify the sociopathic personality in my story: he ends up dead while she ends up having to cope with PTSD for the rest of her life)
and whoops. sorry. this just turned into my rambling about fanfiction and writing in general. I'm going to go offline now and just listen to music...
I haven't heard of him being called a sociopath (especially as he is clearly being shown to have empathy with others, I swear some people want every hero to be a sociopath) and I wouldn't even call him a Gary sue necessarily. He has talent but also (spoiler alert) his fucking father was a dragon rider. No shit he has some predisposition to magic. But he also works for it and fails. He's not magically already good with a sword, the book specifically says he spends most nights early on covered in bruises and welts from the beating Brom gives him. And as for the star wars comparison, which is fair, id say that honestly I prefer Eragon over A New Hope. Other than Han Solo obviously. Luke doesn't give a shit about his aunt and uncle after that one wide shot after they're buried. Does he even mention them once? He cares more about the father he never met than the people who raised him. And he kinda joins the rebellion... just cuz? And the Force is completely unexplained. It's an ex machina at best. Eragons motivation is founded on garrows death, the plot of the story and the series is affected by it. Magic has rules, the Force just does whatever they need it to. Not to mention the Varden is infinitely more fleshed out than the rebel alliance.
And this has been, how Eragon is better than A New Hope
Eragon, his name is Eragon.
Eragon isn’t a Mary Sue at all, he spends the whole first book being beaten up, by the ra’zac, by Durza, by Brom, by murtagh, etc, he only beats Durza at the end and at extreme cost.
Book one had so much "Padding" because it is difficult to create a complex and intricate world with complex dynamics and politics in only a few sentences. sometimes, worldbuilding just takes a while.
The thing I loved the most about the book was its worldbuilding. It's true, Paolini takes A LOT of time worldbuilding, there are way too many chapters (if not, story archs) that explain how a city works, or how some characters act, but that is exactly what I liked. I liked being ale to see the changes Roran goes through to the point of becoming a Hero on his own, I liked how Paolini described some cities or took his time describing how the city was related to the main plot or what effects Eragon's passage through the city were. In my opinion, that was what made the world feel alive...
In hindsight though, I feel the book feels a little too much as a D&D campaign, but I still like it.
but this is his only work. its been nearly a decade and he hasn't written anything since
not quite sure what you mean.
Tamora Pierce wrote two worlds: the World of Tortal (first book: Alanna the First adventure) and the world of Emelan (first book: Sandra's Book) she also has a few short stories and essays etc but those two worlds are her jam. Her fist book came out in the early 1980s she is still publishing in those worlds now.
And what about JRR Tolkien? How many worlds did he make outside of Middle Earth? (I honestly don't know).
Or Ann McCaffrey? She built a few worlds but all with a similar premise: humans going to other planets some with more tech, some with less tech (and dragons!)
Anyway my point is that Paolini might STILL be building his world. He might have endless loose-leaf papers of short stories and maps and character backgrounds that we (the consumers) know nothing about.
He is writing new things. In a comic con panel, he said he is writing a new sci-fi book and working on the 5th inheritance cycle book,
that was one of the things that actually got ten year old me into the series
world building can add a lot to a story when done right
Tronjheim, the city that the dwarves live in, is flat out one of my favorite fantasy settings. It's a shame that it wasn't really done justice.
My dear dom... You must be mistaken. As a lifelong Eragon fan I can tell you that this movie never happened. It simply just does not exist, so there is nothing worth making a video about.
*goes to sit and cry in a corner while muttering "Eyddr eyreyra onr" repeatedly
+chocobros1 Copy/paste from every adaptation video ever made. No self-respect. F-
+magna whiff The hell are you talking about? The only other lost in adaptation videos that dealt with such shoddy adaptations that I can think of was the two Percy Jackson films. Not to mention I made an actual reference to the Inheritance book series there so if I copy pasted that from all the previous videos, I wouldn't have been making any sense at all until now
No actual thought put into your response F-
"As a lifelong Eragon fan"
You have my deepest sympathies.
Oh so it's like the -Percy Jackson films- films that may or may not be based on the Percy Jackson books but we will never know because it doesn't exist and never will unless they get a good writer/director which makes the musical the best and only adaptation.
Some Crazed Nerd to be fair, Rick riordan is doing a fine job ruining his own stories
Fun fact: Eragon was the last film to be released on VHS in the United States.
hmmmmm wonder why
A quick google search proves this to be entirely untrue
This is one of my favorite book series of all time, and I have extremely high standards for books. The series gets better with each book. The world is huge and intricately crafted, it's consistent and the characters are wonderful; there's little details that make the world feel really lived in and read, like how even though Arya could have used magic to help Elaine give birth within half an hour, there are stigmas against elves to the point where they won't let her do anything but the most basic spells, or how Roran finds it strange that a woman (Nasuada) is able to command such respect, even though he says that he shares that respect, as she is a phenomenal leader and soldier. Also, Eragon's respect for Nasuada and Angela is wonderful, as is the grave mistake he made with Elva that she makes him atone for. I adore this series.
That was one of the things I liked most about this series: Small stuff like a woman being so important is maddening to humans but dwarves and elves don't care because they've been around a bit. Nasuada almost immediately gains respect for her actions from some of the dwarves and Arya since she fought when other women ran away but even the Varden and King Orrin look down on her until they realize that she is probably a more capable leader than even her father. Roran leads his villagers to battle with an iron will and purely from the strength of his emotion and will he basically becomes their de-facto leader. There is some grumbling about this from the older more conservative members of the group but they eventually don't care either because he proved himself. Neither of them were 'perfect' or were 'chosen ones' they were simply people doing the best with what they had. Then along comes Angela and you just accept that she is odd because there is nothing that can explain her in any way that makes sense so people just accept her help and oddness. And you don't mess with her when she is attacked in the night and is wielding only her wool combs...
I like that it is not an outrighte power fantasy desite so clearly working through the insecurities and hopes of a teenager. He does not get the girl, he falls on his face all of the time, he has make the choice that goes against what he wants, but is right. He lerns his lesson and he learns them painfuly, he does not get handed anything for free and whith that the book teaches a tonne of importent lessons to the reader I am astonished a that young author was aware of and skirtet around the typical flaws most new writers are prone to make . . . ike writing a damned mary sue for not knowing any better . . . . well he did
@@SingingSealRiana I did enjoy that he spends the second book in crippling pain and unable to do much, due to the injury he sustained in the final battle of the first book, having to be carried by the other characters and completely out of action on the other side of the map from the main conflict. It honestly shows a remarkable level of maturity to acknowledge the vulnerability of your main character like that for a writer so young. Child me would have staunchly objected to it, but I honestly would have preferred if he stayed that way and took on more of a leadership role after that.
@@bobbys332 I honestly adore Roran's story in the series. He has to face almost insurmountable tasks without having magic or a dragon on his side. At one point, he comments on how Eragon is usually so much in the thick of it that he doesn't notice how the fight is going for the rest of the army and how many Varden are slacking off. Its thoroughly established how they are both fighting on woefully different levels.
However, the nice thing is that Roran uses his wits and cunning to win. He sees a challenge, he starts looking for possible weaknesses, forms a plan, sometimes has to convince his allies of the plan and sees it through. Very often scared shitless of the dangers but he pushes through because he also knows what will happen if he fails. I honestly found his fights in the later books much more interesting than Eragon's.
Elva is such a tragic part of Eragon's story.
I think my overall attitude toward the books, while not as happy as it used to be, is still generally positive in a flawed gems type of way. While they have their problems and are certainly iterative in many areas, the actual execution of those story elements and the overall structure of the series is handled very well. The author clearly understands a lot of core story rules, and he showcases that understanding very well. Especially as the series goes on and it branches further off in its own direction with a lot of really clever ideas added in the later books. It's a shame the film only seemed to change things in explicitly worse ways.
The first book is blatantly Star Wars in Middle Earth, and it is certainly the weakest of the 4 books. The writing definitely got much better with each new instalment, and whilst the essence of Star Wars remained there were always enough intricate little details beneath the surface that set it apart from the its inspiration. The world building is spectacular.
What the film did was take away all those interesting little tidbits that made the world interesting and added in extra Star Wars elements so it looked even more like a casual rip off than it already was.
As someone who read the book, I can say this movie at best only captures a rough outline of the basics of the book itself
Major plot elements, characters and other material are left out, leaving you with a generic fantasy movie that would feel more at home a straight to dvd movie.
Between this movie and "The Last Airbender" I'm not sure which one made me want my money back more.
ye Murtagh, Angela and Arya were completely ruined
The Scottish accent guy was supposed to be King Hrothgar. He was supposed to be THE FREAKING DWARF KING, considered ancient even by his own people. I had to look it up because I was SURE he was left out of the movie.
Also, a nitpick I know, but you did not mention Roran very much. He was one of my favorite characters in the series. The movie screwed up his motivation. They screwed up his relationship to Katrina, and all of Sloan's relationships for that matter. Such a disappointment for me.
This is one of those movies where there is just enough to seriously tick me off. I practically foamed at the mouth over this movie.
seigeengine
I know, right? Surprised me
+bradwolf07 God damn it, movie, you continue to piss me off as the sins start piling up.
Roran didn't do much in the first book. You nearly forget about him.
True. But he wasn't running from conscription. He was leaving for work so he can make enough to marry Katrina.
That wasnt King Hrothgar. That was Jörmundur the Varden General and member of the Council of Eldest of the Varden people. But this movie never happened anyways so fuck it.
It's been a long time since I read the books, (I was actually around the same age that the author was when he wrote them.), and looking back on the general story arc, I can totally see how the narrative was a touch clunky and slow; but I feel like the universe was so unique that the film had a massive amount of potential that it just ignored. The book took plenty of generic fantasy races and tropes, but mixed in unique concepts and a very detailed style of storytelling which made the overall story feel both immersive and original. The film had dozens of unique sequences that could have been both visually and thematically intriguing, but instead chose to just be the generic fantasy story everyone assumes the books are.
How did you neglect to mention the fact that the adaptation was so bad, it actually made it impossible to continue on to the next book in the series, which was already out before the movie?
ShadowSaberBaroxio maybe he didn’t read the sequels
@@kylecampbell565 He didn't - see what he says about the elven language, the ra'azac etc
@@b-beale1931 Honestly, it feels like either he didn't actually read the first book or he wasn't paying attention when he was
I've just read Eragon and really enjoyed it. I'm curious, what changes in the film prevented them from adapting the sequels? I haven't seen the film in a long time.
@@th3lonef0x4 Neglecting Katrina, Sloan, changing Roran's motivation to leave just enough, killing the Ra'zac, not acknowledging Dwarves, the Twins, Nasuada, properly establishing Urgals and how their tribes function and changing why the Varden managed to survive the battle at the end of Book 1, etc.
Sounds like the book should have been a TV show
+Kosky Power Or a mini-series. That would have worked pretty well.
Yeah, something like Legend of the Seeker. It'd work better that way.
TV series? Maybe... but please as cartoon or CGI not live action.
Live Action with small budget makes awful TV adaptations of fanasy books...
And I do not think anybody will put the money behind Game of Thrones into any Eragon project...
Kosky Power For once, I concur. When it comes to stories, epic fantasies like this are hard to tell in a single sitting.
Urs F Also fair, though with the right names behind it, the proper funding can probably be secured. Though even Game of Thrones has to limit the CGI.
Eragon - the book - is sadly underrated, honestly... It has a pace of its own, and certainly needs improvement, which comes in the sequel books, as the author matured and developed into an adult with more set ideas on his own mind. I do think book 1 is weak in comparison to the others, but definitely not worth such contempt or forgetting it. It is rather an amazing story, and - dare I say it - has a more thought out look on magic and how its world works than my beloved Harry Potter series. I cannot recommmend Eragon enough!
I agree! The fact that he included *gasp* consequences for the use of magic! I thought that was awesome because it immediately gave you more respect for the characters who could wield it. You knew they didn’t just wake up one day and go “oh cool I can magic now” 🤦♀️
@@katiek.5614 I love the Inheritance Cycle and regularly go back to re-read but I almost always start at Eldest, Eragon the book is a fairly good introduction but it does seem to be fairly basic. It is in no way a bad book (I quite like it) but I often find that Eldest does things so much better. We get Roran as an important secondary character, Eragon has to overcome his own weakness and come to grips with his true nature as a Dragon Rider, Saphira goes through Dragon Puberty and is lectured by Eragon, Eragon goes through puberty and is lectured by Saphira, Eragon learns how his bond with Saphira is both a strength and a weakness, Magic is explained in far more detail, Eragon finally goes into battle properly trained and kicks butt, and we end on a downer story reveal. So much is constantly happening and the characters are constantly evolving so the book never seems to drag on. Example: Roran convinces the survivors of Carvahall to leg it through the Spine to the coast, then chapters later they are at the coast looking to the next bit. No "they spend weeks traveling, the road is hard and they are tired" dragging out.
One thing that royally irked me about one of the minor details mucked up by the film is the mark on Eragon's hand marking a Dragon Rider. In the books it is literally described as a silver round/oval mark where in the movie it is some weird spiral scar? The common tongue name for it is literally 'shining palm'!
Sorry I am so long in responding. But I agree. I find Christopher Paolini is more though in bringing every aspect of World Building. That especially includes magic and its consequences.
The Inheritance Cycle actually surpassed Harry Potter as my favorite fantasy book series.. It's more mature, even going the way of linking magic to real world stuff (use of magic requires the amount of energy that doing the same job normally would require, the spell the elf in Vroengard used being basically an atomic bomb, the fact that the Elves are basically very advanced scientists, and other science related things that are embedded into it in a pretty good and complex way)
The story is like you say, weird paced at first but then from Eldest onward you can see that Paolini got better, I especially like how he goes from one storyline to another being like"ok nothing interesting happening here, I'm going to tell something happening to other characters " the Ancient Language's lore is cool and the way it is shrouded in mistery until the very end (with Galbatorix using the Word to overpower Eragon initially), and the whole lore and story is actually super mature from the beginning.... Shame that the film adaptation absolutely murdered it
Tangentially related: Fuck Harry Potter. Lazy writing, entirely forgotten plot lines, multiple Deus ex Machina out of nowhere, Mary Sue characters, shit tier world building. It's just an awful story through and through. It's fine that it's bad, it was written for literal children, but I don't get ADULTS cooing over it. It's kids going to school and fighting Magic Bad Guy that does evil because he's evil and he wants to be evil while dealing with RELATIONSHIPS OH MYYYYY.
Absolute shlock.
The book series is awesome, if slightly flawed. But the film is shit, it misses everything good.
The way that galbatorix was able to defeat the other riders with only a couple of forsworn is a major plot point in the book series.
and the razac are huge parts of the other books, like destroy towns chase roran and the people of carvahall across alagaesia, and kidnap rorans love interest.
they also destroy the very interesting and unique race of urgals
also no star sapphire no blessing
changing the fucking seasons and how long the trip takes
Some things that I'll give this movie are that Saphira's design and voice are just perfect and that Jeremy Irons was CLEARY having a lot of fun.
Saphira's voice not so much as Eragon couldn't even tell at first that she was female. Whilst the voice in the movie is clearly very female. The rest I agree with tho :D
Saphira's design was a catastrophe. Feathered wings? Gross.
I’m disappointed Dom thought the books were so lackluster... Eragon has always been my favorite series!! Watching Eragon and Saphira develop their powers and struggle with everything was honestly a powerful lesson to learn as a child. Many main characters in children’s stories are just given these awesome powers that they hardly struggle with at all. I will also admit that I read this book series before I ever read Lord of the Rings and other older fantasy novels. As a result, this book series kind of stands as the OG massive world building fantasy in my mind even though I technically know it’s not 😅
I'm angry he gets so much wrong. The Ancient language is very different from true name magic in earth sea, Dragon riders of pern is actually sci-fi, and the heroes journey is standard stuff
I thought the books were not bad but waaaay to long and overly detailed. I skimmed like half of them because i just got bored
A book can be good or bad but the worst thing it can be is forgettable.
That's some sage lime wisdom there, friend
+notribad theBookTheif *like*
+Patrick Shields depends on what you consider the worst. Is having no attention the worst? No money? Or no acclaim? look at birdemic or sharknado so terrible that all those movies got was money (atleast more than they deserve considering that they got sequels and broke even with the budget). However, being bland and average just makes whatever it was just sort of fall into obscurity after a while.
Same thing with a movie
Can't that be applied to all forms of media?
I remember watching this when I was younger and being so upset, just so overwhelmingly disappointed for the first time ever by a movie.The books were flawed, but I was new to the fantasy genre and I LOVED stories about dragons. They were my favorite. It's been years since I've touched any of the books but I still remember being ultra pissed about the 1v1 fight with Durza that didn't give Eragon a scar - the elves not looking like elves, the dwarves (if they were even there?) not looking like dwarves, the little girl that he scars for life trying to give a blessing but accidentally being shit at Elvish - not even in it, I think, the charming Luna Lovegood-esque fortune teller (my favorite character) with her werecat friend were not at all like the book... man. I remember looking at my grandma and bursting into tears as the credits rolled because I made her see that movie with me instead of going to see Happy Feet with my cousins and aunt.
Only one movie has devastated me as much as Eragon, and that's The Last Airbender.
I loved the books, the series actually jump started my love of reading. I did nothing but read, eat and sleep for three days when I got Brisingr. I was thrilled to find the movie while browsing channels one day. I thought it was okay at the beginning, Saphira's feathered wings were pretty cool, young me was optimistic. But by the middle of the film poor 13 year old me was crying tears of pure frustration. Elves dont look like elves. Plot points are all jumbled around. They added bits from Eldest. Characters look nothing like described as in the books. It really sucked and I was really reluctant to see any movie adaptions of other books I read after.
(The elf thing really ticked me off. I grew up watching lotr with my dad and had a massive crush on Legolas. Elves should look like elves! I know they had more feline-like features than in Tolkien's world but still! WHERE ARE THE POINTY EARS AT LEAST!?!?)
the books: brilliant, deep plot, great storyline, awesome characters - especially Angela the herbalist
film:
don't even get me started on everything wrong with the film
"Gosh, is this actually a loyal adaptation?" *cue laughter*
it kind of hurts when you trash the book so much, because the series was such a huge part of my childhood. almost as much as Harry Potter. I know it has it's flaws and I may not like it as much if I reread it, but it still hurts.
It’s actually my entrance into fantasy and I read the whole series once a year lol
personally, the Inheritance Cycle is by far my favorite fantasy series. Yes, Eragon borrows from Star Wars practically at every turn, but it somehow feels more interesting. and then Books 2, 3 and 4 continue the greatness
Bit late to the party here but I’m on the 3rd book of reading and I’m 18. Absolutely loving this series! Amazing characters and although some of the twists I’ve predicted, it still makes the overall story satisfying. Was kinda shocked to hear this guy didn’t think much about the books but each to their own
@@wolfhex3233 yes I agree. I reread the whole series 4 times already and it always has a very profound effect on me. Each time I finish it it takes a long time before I feel ready to reread it. I am 15, and was 12 when I first started reading. I even went as far as reading several fanfics about it on Wattpad.
@@wolfhex3233 im 23 and i still read these books. Eragon is still a relatable character to me as someone who is still trying to find out who he is .
Personally, I love the books. I feel like the movie didn't do it justice. If they gave it the same running time as LotR, I'm pretty sure it would of been better. That, and they should of changed the movie rating. Instead of PG, make it PG-13.
When I saw the movie I hadn't read the books and the movie was so bad that I was like "I have to read the books there is no way a book can be this bad."
I'd watch it if it was as long as lotr movies it might be more like the book then
It was PG? No tattooed nude dancing elf maids in the nonexistent sequel then, huh?
@@TheTwilitHero
Also no pain immune half dead maniacs with crushed ribs, missing limbs and smashed up faces.
Idk I think the director was a big problem too. They clearly made choices that were simple to add like the elves having pointed ears.
I hatebit when they half arse or alter a character death scene in an adaptation. Brom was supposed to die in a different setting in a different part of the story. And I hate that they made it so the death of the rider would cause the death of the dragon, making the bravery of Saphira in rescuing Eragon look like convoluted self preservation...
Jenny Sweeney To be fair, the Dragonriders of Pern series started the whole "death of either becomes death of both" thing.
Jenny Sweeney well, if rider or dragon dies or is seriously injured, the other does suffer. I think they just overdid it a bit.
I thought that was in the books too? I'm pretty sure I remember reading that, but I will admit it's been a while since I've read this series so I may have gotten some of the details confused.
If the dragon dies, the human can live on. Without the human, the dragon, essentially, lost half of its soul. Glaedr goes on about this quite a bit.
Rider or dragon can live without his other half, but as stated by Glaedr(i think it was him)dragons often request to destroy thier eldunari if thier rider dies, or story about Thuviel whos dragon died and he gladly "self destructed" and made Doru Areabas vault of souls safe.. On other hand Brom was able to live without his dragon.
I am a huge Brandon Sanderson fanboy so that may explain why my favorite part of the books is the way the magic system works. I love that there are essentially 2 ways to use the magic system, traditional casting, and mental battles to attack or defend somebodies mind. I remember throughout the books seeing people who could do more with magic than others, and then sometimes seeing people who were really good at the mental domination part but weak at the regular casting and I just found that to be really intriguing.
It's sad how I watched the movie, then years later read the book, and didn't even make the connection. I then watched the movie AGAIN after hearing how bad it was and realised "Oh... I'VE ALREADY WATCHED THIS!?"
I loved the movie until I read the book. Then I became a huge fan of the book series.
same, and when I rewatched the movie I was screaming at my laptop
😂 same here
Same xD
Same.
Eragon, much like certain popular heroes in fiction, initially appears to be a conventional protagonist, or cardboard cutout. However, what distinguishes him is his significant growth even within the first book of the series. It's not as much as in later books, but he still goes through changes. I hold a deep appreciation for Eragon's narrative, and what truly captures my imagination is its world-building. The story transcends its central characters, providing a comprehensive view of a nicely developed universe. Eragon's character development is both engaging and unique, as it plays with the typical romantic interest and then ultimately swerved it.
Instead, he embraces the responsibility of safeguarding the dragon eggs and training future riders.
One of the most captivating aspects of this series is its magic system. In the world of Eragon, magic is intricately tied to a language where words represent the true names of objects. It differs from the conventional idea of memorizing spells; instead, mastery of the language's essence is essential for wielding magic effectively. This system is further enriched by the fact that magic utilizes the caster's physical energy, making it a quantifiable and controlled force and because the language uses the true names of things, it's physically impossible to lie outright in it, forcing you to learn wordplay to say one thing while meaning another.
Furthermore, the story's perspective shifts to other characters, offering insight into how the unfolding events impact them and their unique struggles. While the narrative may incorporate familiar storytelling elements, he's not a Gary Stu either. Eragon's journey is far from perfect, as he grapples with distinct flaws and embarks on a journey of self-discovery and change, defeats that leave him crippled, and heartbreak.
Being totally honest I don't really see much similarity with Star Wars at all unless Star Wars holds the IP for fighting an evil empire as a rebel group. The Vader-Luke comparison wasn't even a true plot point simply because Eragon's father wasn't "revealed" till Eldest and then clarified in Brisinger.
I never read the book, but I watched the movie and hated it. I didn't notice the Star Wars parallels a the time, but most of it felt terribly rushed. The final battle seemed like it was setting up some kind of Lord of the Rings-esk epic fight, but then faceplanted from the moment it started when someone shouts "Summon the archers!" and two guys jump out.
The books were much much better than the movie I promise
Netflix should do this as a series
series like A series of unfortunate events
Or an animated series
I remember loving those books, and dragging my best friend to see the movie with me. I remember as soon as it ended, she and I looking at each other and saying "... Is that it?"
Like the whole movie just felt like set up with no plot. By the time it ended it just felt like it was getting started. I have a lot of nostalgia for the series but also hated the ending (it literally went "well we could go on forever about this, but instead of telling you.. bye") but I remember regretting they made it into a movie.
I've always loved this book and just about everything in it, especially the 'padding' (as you say) that they left out of the movie. I mean sure, most of it wasn't exactly required to forward the plot of this book, and serves more toward foreshadowing the future installments in the series, but I think it serves another, much more important purpose: character development and worldbuilding. I hated this film because most of the things they left out are the things that made the story and characters feel real to me. I love reading about Eragon's adventures with Brom and Saphira and Murtagh, and all the shit they go through and how their relationships change and grow over the many months that take place in the book, and if you take all of that out you're just left with three days of Star Wars in Middle Earth, and it's just really boring. Now granted, I do think the overall plot is one of the weaker points of this book, and the later entries in the series are much stronger for having actually original plots, but I do still really like this one regardless.
This. Exactly this. My feelings on the story perfectly.
Seriously though none of this was original when Star Wars did it either. If anything it sounds like these books are more inventive than the original SW trilogy, it's just that SW is more well known than the stuff it stole from.
+Painocus You are aware that star wars was made in the 70's when these themes were still relatively new to storytelling. And there's a difference between being inspired and outright stealing. Did you watch the doms other video on Eragon this is scene for scene the same story as a new hope, not just some plot points and general themes. Any story Lucas may have gotten ideas from (there's no actual proof there was one ) could just have easily just been inspiration. Why is there such a cynical view on SW when this topic comes up? Don't you think there'd be some info, some angry author or fans who would've said something about Lucas stealing their work by now?
Ahem. Valerian, John Carter, Flash Gordon, the Arthurian Legends, The Searchers, The Hidden Fortress, and EVERY. SINGLE. HERO’S. JOURNEY. STORY. EVER!!! Don’t tell me that Star Wars didn’t take things from other stories! The Hero’s Journey is an ANCIENT story structure, found in everything from Greek Mythology to Shakespeare! Don’t tell me that it started in 1977 with Star Wars, kiddo!
AJ even 4 years later I’m cringing at this ignorance
The LOTR elves were only that stoic in the films.
+Maria ER Yeah, for real. I can remember reading about Legolas traipsing around on the snow, teasingly telling Gandalf he was going to get the sun for them. They were more dimensional than shown in the films.
This just makes me think about how great an Earthsea episode would be
Im currently rereading the books (the first time I read them I was 13) and I love them still very much now being 20.
I absolutely LOVE the magic system and the characters and even though it is very obvious that paolini drew inspiration from star wars and lotr, i think that is still very much it's own story.
Thing is, I hadn't read LotR when I first read these, but having now read both, I see almost no connection whatsoever aside from them taking place in a fantasy world, and I can only really see the Star Wars comparison if I'm reading single paragraph summaries of the two side by side.
If you love the magic system you should read Ursula K LeGuin's Earthsea books, because he just copied it from thete
Tip to fantasy-writers: when creating an epic amazing city, don't get lazy on the name! Don't just google-search your way to an 'exotic' sounding place and then change one letter. To people familiar with the location in question it's just gonna be really weird! Sincerely, native and resident of Trondheim, Norway
Correct me if I'm wrong, my geography sucks, but aren't dwarf originaly norse creatures and doesn't/didn't noway belong to the norse culture? If I'm right about that, maybe the similarity in names was on purpose.
@@aniflowers1998 Chris wrote, at some point, that the elvish language was based on Norse.
So that might also make some sense.
Almost all of Tolkien's names are from legends, mostly norse. Maybe because he's seen as one of the most influental fantasy writers this practice seems to stuck.
Tell Tolkien he needs to rename Gandalf and all the dwarves from the Hobbit. He took every single one of them straight from the Eddas.
Honestly I never got all the shaming this book got for being basically Star Wars. In my opinion this is just common operating procedure in fantasy. Most famous fantasy authors(at least recent ones) copied other famous works, at least in their earlier works, until they found their own styles in later works. Terry Brooks first Shanarra Book, for example, was basically a copy of lord of the rings(and I don't mean that in the way that every high fantasy book is basically based on his works(elves, orcs, dwarves, etc.) I mean he basically lifted entire plot threads from it. Later he found his own style. And this is true for most fantasy authors. Eragon never particularly stood out for me there.
The first Eragon book should serve as a cautionary tale on nepotism in the publishing industry and how it can be harmful to aspiring authors. His parents have not done him a favor by publishing the book. Had Paolini sent in the book to a publishing house, got rejected, reworked the book, set it to another one and failed again until he he had significantly improved the book, Eragon could have been decent to amazing. Paolini obviously has some pretty creative ideas once he gets over relying on trite clichees and the second book clearly shows that, by expanding on old characters and introducing new one that are much deeper nd likeable than Eragon or Brom were i the first and by both playing with tropes he played straight earlier and daring tointroduce plot twists that are not standard for fantasy. The third book is even better in my opinion and clearly shows his growth as an author. Unfortunately the 4rth book is the worst one of the series. Obviously he was counting on it to sell and be celerated like the otherthree and therefore half-assed it (a pitfall many authors fall into)
+MrsXanatrix While I see our point, I didn't like the second and third book so much. It might be because I've read them later and became more aware of what makes a good or bad book in the time (the first book was one of the first high-fantasy stories I read as a child, and I haven't reread it since then), but I felt like the books got more and more tiring, the plot holes the story had became more and more obvious, and the bigger the scope and the more ridiculous the power levels got, the more annoyed I became with the story. Then there are countless Deus-Ex-Machina moments (which the series always had, but they got worse and worse the more time went on). It doesn't help that the story lines I did like got pushed to the side for the countless chapters Eragon spend with the elves, which I didn't like because a lot of it was spent on a stupid lovestory, inconsequential filler, and on bragging about how AMAZING elves are.
To me, the first one was a fun, but nor very memorable adventure, and the later ones where dragged down by trying to hard to be epic without having enough to stand on to really make a huge story work. But as I've said, I read the books over a span of several years and the first one at a very young age, so I would have to reread the whole series to make a proper judgement. Which I might just do out of curiosity. I have really good memories of the first one, and I would like to see how well it holds up after I've read Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire...
+seigeengine No need to worry about ASoIaf. I'm a world building guy too. Martin really pulls of his world and explores a great deal of it through intertwining narratives and some wild surprises. I have reread them all multiple times (and am doing so right now)
Also I couldn't stand the Lord of the Rings books either, except some of The Hobbit which I only read when I was pretty young.
I would also recommend the Kingslayer Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, world building through stories within stories and some of the best prose I've ever read. (though the main character is a slight marry sue and the wait for the next book is killing me.)
seigeengine arithine
But in ASoIaF, the world building actually plays an important part for the narrative. Almost every little world building bit somehow relates to the story, in Eragon, a lot of it is just unnecessary filler or straight up nonsensical.
Which is why Westeros feels much more like a living, breathing world then Alageasia (I hope I spelled that right). Everything is somehow connected, and the massive amount of world building we get in the core books alone is closely tied to whatever is going on at the moment. The later Eragon books seem like they had a lot of good ideas, but they where not tied together very well, progressing more because of Deus Ex Machinas then because of a well constructed plot.
The same thing can be said about Lord of the Rings, which is can be a chore to read because of Tolkiens attention to detail, even on things that are only tangentially related to the story of the book.
+MrsXanatrix i love Eragon but i can see so many things that needed fixing and the star wars with dragons
Except that EL James, author of Fifty Shades of Grey, was contacted by the publishing industry specifically for the fact that her Twilght fanfic, Master of the Universe was incredibly popular online. She was offered money and publishing her fanfic by just changing the names and little to no edits in her work. Most likely the No Edit Clause on her contract and so she didn't have to accept her editor's suggestions and edits.
It's actually disturbingly common, the no edit clause.
Best part of the books was when they used Magic to make Embroidery to pay for the Army
I’ll concede that the first book may be a bit slow and dull at points but i’ll firmly say that this series is honestly one of the best fantasy series. Sure it took inspirations from other stories in the genre and it isn’t 100% original but not a lot of stories are original. What makes a story good though is being able to make it into your own concept. And Paolini, in my humble opinion, did a damn fine job making his own unique story and built a mystical world that captured my heart when I first read it in sixth grade and still does when I read them today. The movie is hot garbage and ruined the chance of the series gaining mass popularity. And look, I very rarely comment on videos, I just wanted to try to convince at least one person to give the books a shot. I promise you that Paolini isn’t some hack that just copies other people. To each their own though.
I want you to know that at least one person agrees with you
I like the books a lot at one point I read them twice in a row and I only started reading them as an adult. I adore these books especially because Paolini was so young when he started wirting those books. I am a writer too. -Ironically I only started reading the books because I saw the movie.
I love the books the author managed to make every thing feel grand and epic yes I'll admit the colored swords is silly but he managed to create a world and cast of characters the I care about and the ending of the fourth book was down right tear jerkingly sad
Funny enough, this recap made me want to read the book again. Thanks Dom
2:01, it was raining in that shot. You can see the rain in the Blu-Ray version.
Isnt blu-ray like an updated version? Where mistakes can be fixed
I first read Eragon when I was 14 and loved it! I reread it and the other books until I started college. I reread them again at 24 and was definitely underwhelmed. I still had the nostalgia for the series and still like it to some extent but it wasn’t as good as I thought. Personally I think the world, lore, and side characters are more interesting than Eragons story is. I’d like to see what else could be written within the world itself.
most of the questions brought up about the books are answered later, theyre worth the read!
(SPOILER warning for the ending of the fourth book) I did like the book series. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot that was cliche and derivative and I realized that as I got older, but I still enjoyed the stuff that actually was creative and well done. I think the magic system being connected with the ancient language was kind of cool and the depth of the special bond between the dragons and their riders was well described, and other stuff like that, so I guess I just focused on enjoying the positives as I read the books. One thing where I just couldn't go along with it, though, was the ending to the fourth book. The hero, after going through his journey, feels that he can no longer stay in the world he calls home and so he decides to leave. He gets on a ship and goes sailing off with the elves for other lands. It's pretty much EXACTLY THE SAME as the end of Lord of the Rings! Like not just very similar, like with the parallels to Star Wars, but almost exact! Also, I didn't quite understand why Eragon couldn't have raised the dragons on that island (Vroengard I think?) where they dragons used to live. It's an isolated island that was somewhat difficult for Eragon to reach even by dragon, so they would probably be undisturbed there, and if the dragons used to live there then I would think that it could be made to be suitable for them again (unless I missed some detail that explains why he couldn't go there lol). So yeah, I still enjoyed the book series overall, but it is definitely flawed (the second and third book were better than the first) and I didn't care for that ending.
+Sakura4anime25 I hear Paolini's writing a fifth book.
Vroengard had fallout from basically a magical nuke, causedwhen a rider whose dragon had been killed decided to attempt to take the forsworn with him. Converting his body to energy, he effectively nuked Vroengard.
It requires a lot of unnessecary work to live there is why he disregarded it.
He wanted to stay but realized that he could fall to the temptation of being so powerful dragon rider whose opinion was well respected and knew he had to leave to prevent that, and even the stupid prophecy trope foreshadowing that is important to the story.
Yes and no. In LotR the characters leave for the undying lands because that's their reward for murdering Lucifer. In Inheritance, Eragon leaves his home in search of an isolated area to live and train the new dragon order, he leaves behind all of his friends and everyone he knows because he's putting them in... danger? (It's been a few years). While, in LotR, it's implied that the characters are essentially going to heaven, and will live out the rest of their lives separated from the mortal realm, in Inheritance, Eragon leaves very reluctantly, and it's implied that he will have a distant relationship with Alagaesia. Hell, he's even hoping that the queen of the elves will one day abdicate the throne to come and join him.
I feel the need to also point out that they killed the Ra'zac within the first third of the movie, despite them being (what I personally consider to be) the secondary antagonists of the entire series. If this movie had turned into a series, their death would have made many of the events going forward make no sense.
Eragon and Percy Jackson, two series where i watched the movie first, loved it, read the books and now absolutely hate the movies
I'll never really forgive the movie for basically making Saphira a pokemon who came with a name and 'evolved' into her maturity. That was the exact moment in the theatre my teenage fangirl mode disengaged from the series.
I just saw that there's now a 5th book in the Inheritance saga and Eragon has been re-released with beautiful illustrations
Am I the only person who couldn't get into the books as a kid? I was a huge reader and really, really wanted to love it. But, I drew the line when I had to translate entire pages from the dictionary in the back. It got to a point I felt like he might as well have created a whole companion book to teach you the language first, then reading Eragon would have been enjoyable. As it stood it felt more like the author was so proud of creating a language he forgot that only he (at that point) understood any of it. Plus, a number of words were left out of the books dictionary entirely, making entire paragraphs unreadable without completely guessing at the actual intent.
The thing that pissed me off the most was the fact that they turned Arya, an originally oriental looking character with slanted green eyes and black straight black hair, into a fucking ultra white ginger girl. They completely changed her character and the very essence of her existence. She went from being a wise, multi-faceted, interesting character to just another whitewashed damsel in destress.
who do you think would make a good arya im legit curios cuz in all the fancasting for a remake i have done i can't figure out who to play her lol.
Dichen Lachman
I totally agree
Lucy Liu would have worked years ago
Yes, because so many "orientals" have green fucking eyes 😑
I remember seeing this movie in theaters with a friend; I knew nothing about the series while he was a big fan of the books. What made it memorable leaning over to my friend half way through and telling him it was pretty much Star Wars taking place in Lord of the Rings. That revelation apparently ruined the whole series for him.
neither star wars nor eragon are original stories.
Went with my brother, he had a field day while I got an aneurysm watching this and whispershouting the inaccurances.
Your friend is a dumbass, and you are an asshole.
@@voldy3565 I love getting notifications for these sorts of years old comments and wondering what the context is for someone insulting me.
Looking back on it I suppose I can't say you're really wrong.
Revisiting this review.
I have actually realized that the whole "true name" thing really remind me of one of the myths of Ra and Isis, dealing with exactly that.
I remember really enjoying the book when I read it. I liked the relationship between Eragon and Saphira.
I wonder how Galvatorix feels about sand.
It's coarse and rough.....
@@darthwhatever9959 And irritating. And it gets everywhere.
Galbatorix.
Man, I hope Dom does "Lost in Adaptation" on The Golden Compass.
I would love to see his opinion on both.
Paige Arnol That would be awesome :0
Jeremy Irons, among all his highly acclaimed virtues, is such a good sport.
I'm so glad I saw the movie before I read the books. I think experiencing the story that way is the best way to do it if you're new to it. Eragon, if you watch it at 9 years old, without having read the books, its a basic but entertaining and campy fantasy movie. Then you read the books a few years later and you're way more impressed with it lol. Now as an adult, of course i see way more flaws with both book and movie, but they both have a fond place in my memories.
The elven language for spells is more impressive when you've read the book and revisit the movie.
I have a soft spot for the movie because I saw it first. It made me want to read all the books. After finishing the cycle and rewatching, I could only wonder if they even planned to finish the story. So many major plot points or character setups were glossed over it would make the sequels NOTHING like the books and DEFINITELY give them the title, “in name only.”
Here's something else the movie got wrong. In the book, the only way to kill a shade was to stab it through the heart AND use powerful magic to kill it. In the book, Murtagh actually shoots Durza in the heart with his arrow but Durza is fine. HE is finally killed when Eragon ignites his sword with magic and then stabs him in the heart. There was also nothing inherently magical about Dragon Rider swords in the book, so I don't know what the deal with the sword glowing like that was. Aside from the fact that they were totally indestructible, they were basically the same as any other sword.
It didn't actually say that, Murtagh only got him in the shoulder, not the heart
2 years after OG post but how cares, the Shades could only be killed by being stabed through the heart by a blade(Sword, dagger, it dosnt matter) eragon shot the Shade in the Head and though he killed him.
And they were immune to some magics and other effects of magic on them.
my mind after watching Eragon:
10 sec after "That was a complete disservice to thevbooks!"
20 min after "Well it could have been better."
3 hours after "They did their best and my hopes were just too high."
year or two later watch it on cable. "Well, that was shit."
WORST. MOVIE. EVER.
and I loved the books :(
I read Eragon as a child, before I was able or willing to tackle LOTR so I appreciate it for that. And the fact that a 15 year old kid wrote it is impressive.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: the inheritance cycle caters to the specific audience of elementary and middle schoolers with a college reading level. I LOVED these books as a kid partly because of how "grown up" they felt.
Very nice review, I loved this series, but looking back, yeah the first book is not the best, but his writing does improve considerably as the books go on and the similarities to Star Wars lessen as well. I too was pissed off at the letdown of the Dwarven capital in the film, as that was by far the best part of the book, I don't think we ever actually see a single dwarf in the film.
The most nitpickiest of changes is the one scene I remember from the movie: Brom tries to guess Eragon's age, and guesses correctly on his first two tries, 15-16 (as apparently, as in it's been so long since I've read it I don't remember when, his birthday passed by the end of the book) but instead Eragon "CORRECTS" him, loudly proclaiming he's 17. This pissed me off. Sure, it probably needed to be done because of the actor, but this is a detail that the movie had in its clutches only for them to announce they're getting it wrong. And that's just dumb
After reading all the books and hearing they were making a movie i was so excited, but after seeing what horrible mistake they made i got depressed....
Where the hell did you find a shirt with "One by one the penguins stole my sanity"...
In defense of the end credit song. It was a thing in 90s and 2000s. It rose in ferocity after Hollywood realized how much free advertising you can get when you overplay My heart will go on on the radio. But end credit song by popular music act with music video showing film footage was normal part of advertising campaign. Hiring Avril Lavigne to write a credit song was a bit "hello, fellow kids" but reasonably well targeted to the audience they wanted to attract.
Im glad you finally did this and I think you got a lot of things right, but yeah as you said since you didnt enjoy the series that much you did miss a lot out, some of your nitpicks were explained, such as Saphira having a deep voice in the books, which is established early on, and the Ra'zac being very much a genuine but very rare race of which some of its species followed the humans over from the long-lost (unmapped and forgotten) continent of origin as a predator/prey relationship.
Also, in terms of the stone being blue... That was actually an inspiration from another book series known as the Belgariad. The series revolves around the retrieval of a blue stone of immeasurable power in order to fulfil a destiny. Sounds shit in short but its actually a pretty good series. Anyway, a lot was taken from this series (more so than what Star Wars, which people say Eragon ripped off, which is bollocks) and it makes sense since this was Paolinis favourite series growing up.
The last thing I have to say is just that the omissions and choices made in the movie I hated most were the ones which destroyed the sequel, such as killing off the Ra'zac and not introducing Jeod, both of whom have tremendous influence in the second book (of which the director had no excuse because Eldest had been out for a very long time by the time the film was being made).
Anyways, aside from that, pretty good analysis as to why the film was a terribad adaptation.
I'm curious what you thought about the sequels, while i do agree the first one isn't the best story i think the sequels do make an interesting universe with some of the characters becoming more interesting.
like Rowling Paolini got better as he went
I remember sort of liking the book as a young'un but not as much as other fantasy series I'd read like Redwall. I tried reading the second book but found that it didn't feel like it connected to the first one very well and quickly got bored of it and pretty much forgot about the series.
Overall, what I can say that I liked with the movie... I like the design of Saphira. They made bird wings on a dragon look pretty cool.
"You'll have to forgive me for not wanting to talk about the piles of corpses or the babies on spikes...."
Me (who hasn't read the book since middle school): Oh, yeah! Now I remember that scene! Thanks The Dom 🙃
I know I shouldn’t get mad at this, but saying the books are forgettable is kind of harsh. He wrote it as a teenager and as an aspiring teenage fantasy author I respect how hard it is to actually put a story on paper. It is very hard to know what to include and how to keep the story from dragging. I’ve read the original series six times over, working on the seventh. I soak up new information each time through. Even the new book, “The Fork the Witch and the Worm,” as much of a tease as it is, I’ve read five times already. I love the books. I met Paolini in 2019, exchanged the elvish greeting with him, and got all my books signed. I look up to him so much as an author and a role model. He was a homeschooled teen like me with nothing to do, so he sat down and created an entire world. Saying that it is forgettable, this video and anyone else who says that disrespects Paolini even more than the lazy attempt that this movie was.
He’s so humble, just laughing it off when people disrespect his work. I for one could never do that. I’m so much of a hothead, obviously. But when I put my story out their, if someone disrespects it, especially by saying, “it’s forgettable,” I mean I couldn’t do anything but I could never laugh it off.
Yes I’m an Eragon Nazi! Live with it!