Brisingr Chapters 11-20

[amatyultare]

Chapter Eleven: Bloodwolf

Hi, Nasuada!

We....watch Nasuada do paperwork for a couple of pages. Ho hum. And then, the elven spellcasters are almost here! They were sent to protect Eragon who isn’t actually here at the moment, but hey, it’s all good.

Nasuada races to the edge of the camp to await their arrival. Her bodyguards catch up to her, and the captain actually bawls her out for not waiting for them – not only for her immediate protection, but because it gives the idea that her bodyguards are less than thorough, and may encourage more assassination attempts. Nasuada is impressed with his reasoning and apologizes.

And the elves are here. Eleven of them are normal. One is magical-plastic-surgery-enhanced and looks animalistic. To wit, he is covered in fur. He also had pheremones that send Nasuada into waves of lust. This is just getting embarrassing.

Well, she gets over it. Nasuada recognizes the subtle manipulation the elves can employ, as well as their unpredictability. My opinion that Nasuada is one of the few really intelligent characters in this series? Not really changed.

The chapter ends with a mass of people, including King Orrin and Saphira, approaching the elves. And we bid adieu to Nasuada for the time being as she wonders how to keep every woman in the camp from throwing herself at Pheromones Elf.

Chapter Twelve: Mercy, Dragon Rider

The case for Eragon being a sociopath just gets stronger all the time.

Eragon and Arya are traveling when they encounter a group of Imperial soldiers at a spot with no hiding places. They brace themselves to be questioned and do their best to look meek. The ranking officer of the group is a nasty guy with a huge mustache and a bad opinion of the poor. He decides to search their packs on the suspicion that they have stolen valuables from their theoretical masters. He also threatens to draft Eragon and force him to swear an oath to Galbatorix in the ancient language, and to turn Arya into a camp follower (i.e. prostitute).

What follows is CPao’s imitation of a kung fu movie. Eragon and Arya EXPLODE into action. Eragon first kills the nasty mustache guy by throwing a pebble at his head so hard it penetrates his helmet and his skull. Let’s switch to a brief montage:

Arya bounded up the side of the horse nearest her, jumping from stirrup to saddle, and kicked the head of the oblivious soldier who was perched on the mare. He wet hurtling more than thirty feet. Then Arya leaped from the back of horse to horse, killing the soldiers with her knees, her feet, and her hands...

Eragon dispatched his next opponents by twisting their heads until their spines snapped.

[Eragon] struck the man in the chest with all his might. A fount of blood and sweat erupted as his fist connected. The blow staved in the man’s ribs and propelled him more than a dozen feet over the grass...

Eragon then pursues the last remaining soldier, who is begging for mercy. However, the oath he was forced to take will make him go back to the Empire and tell what happened, a risk that Eragon finds unacceptable. Eragon strangles the man with one hand, in (relatively) cold blood.

When he returns to Arya, she questions him about his attitude towards killing that man versus Sloan. I’m kind of sick of hearing about Sloan, but it’s a valid question. Eragon’s response is that ‘this man was a threat, Sloan wasn’t’. Which is true, but frankly I would be concerned, given Eragon’s track record, that his definition of ‘a threat’ might become overly wide. But Arya not only finds this reasonable, it makes her question her own values towards when it’s acceptable to kill another! Eragon is giving Arya moral lessons. *rolls eyes*

Also, for the record, Eragon feels really bad about killing the guy for three, maybe four paragraphs. Then he forgets about it and starts thinking about himself again (in this case, about how he needs a proper sword).

To add a final touch of the macabre to the chapter, as if it needs it, Arya and Eragon must now disguise that the men were killed by hand. The death of this many without weapon-wounds will immediately point to elves and/or Dragon Riders in the area, meaning Galbie will know they’re around and getting back to the Varden will be much more difficult. So they spend a grisly indeterminate amount of time giving the dead bodies various stab wounds, etc. Apparently BURNING THE BODIES, which would hide the killed-by-hand evidence nicely and wouldn’t point to elves or Dragon Riders particularly, doesn’t occur to them. This is particularly ridiculous because several wounds (most notably shattered-chest guy from our action montage) are acknowledged to be simply impossible to disguise.

Chapter Thirteen: Shadows of the Past

Another long chapter of sitting around a campfire and talking, except instead of Saphira being snarky, we just have Eragon and Arya awkwardness.

Eragon continues to bemoan the fact that he doesn’t have a sword. He’s especially concerned because that ridiculous punch he landed damaged his own hand as well. Nothing he couldn’t heal, but it’s a reminder of the drawback of hand-to-hand combat. Short of a good sword, Eragon would like to get that dwarf-version-of-Wolverine thing. Of course he would. But for now, he settles for magically growing thick calluses over his knuckles.

Eragon has another flicker of guilt over killing the guy begging for mercy. He asks Arya if she is bothered when she kills. Her response was ‘elves don’t eat meat because can’t bear to kill animals, and you ask if we are BOTHERED by killing people?’ Which is fine, except that CPao has never shown us a single instance of an elf being concerned or demurring from killing someone in any way. Then she gives Eragon advice on how not to dwell on the guilt of killing. Which, okay, dwelling is not good, but Eragon could stand a little more healthy regret and thought about the consequences of his deadly actions in his life.

Eragon starts badgering asking Arya about the time she was captured by Durza, and if how she’s dealt with it, and if she’s talked about it with anyone. SPOILER Arya was totally in love BFF with Fäolin, one of the elves who was killed when she was captured way back in the first book. Then Arya starts venting about her experience with Durza, etc. This part is actually pretty interesting; Arya describes her experiences vividly but without overdramatizing, in a way I find emotionally affecting.

In an attempt to cheer her up, Eragon sing-grows Arya a flower. It’s actually kind of cute. He then makes a discovery that Brom’s ring, which I had totally forgotten he has since it was not mentioned once in Eldest, has a huge pool of magical energy in the sapphire. Another legacy from Brom.

Eragon and Arya discuss Murtagh and his dragon; she suggests that Galbatorix accelerated Thorn’s growth but is not sure why Murtagh is so powerful. Arya then writes a random line of poetry that, according to a CPao interview, is supposed to be referencing Doctor Who. ?!?!?

Random information: the dragons of the Forsworn were cursed by the rest of the dragons for their betrayal. Their names can no longer be remembered. Apparently CPao read Tigana between Eldest and Brisingr.

Arya writes another random line of poetry, which probably also references some pop culture figure but I’m not motivated to figure it out.

They discuss Galbatorix’s true name. Unfortunately, he’s cast a spell that whoever says/uses this true name dies. Therefore it’s not that useful. Bummer.

Then Eragon and Arya encounter a group of floating spirits. Coming into physical contact with them induces ecstasy. It’s quite weird. They find out that Eragon is the one who killed Durza, therefore freeing the spirits who had been bound in him. In gratitude, they turn the flower he made for Arya into gold and other precious metals. LIVING metals, that will continue to grow. Arya warns that spirits can be fickle, and their motives are so different from humans that it’s hard to understand them.

Chapter Fourteen: Amid the Restless Crowd

Aaaand Eragon and Arya arrive back the Varden camp! Everyone is happy to see them. We have a genuinely nice little scene between Eragon and Saphira. Eragon meets the elves sent to protect him, and we find out that Pheromones Elf’s scent is only noticed by females, not males, and it seems to be magically induced. Yet he doesn’t seem to be taking advantage of it to woo smitten females, so there must be some other reason for it....oh, who cares.

Roran and Katrina thank Eragon again; he promises he will always come to his aid when they need it. Eragon wishes them them a long life and many children.

Katrina: Er...
Eragon: What?
Katrina: ....nothing.

He briefly greets the people of Carvahall, then is formally welcomed back by Nasuada and King Orrin. Nasuada makes a great little rabble-rousing speech about how Eragon’s return shows Galbatorix’s weakness. Orrin makes a speech as well but it’s fairly dry; Eragon is struck again by the fact that Nasuada is an exceptional leader. (Could we have Nasuada bond with the remaining dragon instead of Arya? Please, pretty please, CPao?) Eragon also has to say a few words to the crowd, which he find embarrassing. If it sounds like I’m bored with this chapter, well, it’s because I am.

Is Eragon falling for Nasuada? I can’t think of any character besides Arya who’s gotten this kind of treatment:

Nasuada was garbed in a green silk dress that shimmered in the sun, like the feathers on the breast of a hummingbird, in bright contrast to the sable shade of her skin. The sleeves of her dress ended in lace ruffs at her elbows. White linen bandages covered the rest of her arms to her narrow wrists. Of all the men and women assembled before her, she was the most distinguished, like an emerald resting on a bed of brown autumn leaves. Only Saphira could compete with the brilliance of her appearance.

Chapter Fifteen: To Answer A King

Nasuada dismisses the large gathering but holds a sort of meet-and-greet in her tent between Eragon and the various sub-commanders of the Varden, nobility of Surda, etc. This goes on until Saphira gets fed up and growls to indicate her frustration, essentially scaring everyone away. Not so tactful, Saphira – but nobody seems to care.

”Even Galbatorix in his dark seat of power at Urû’baen fears the fickle crowd, although he may deny it to everyone, including himself.”

I just flatly don’t believe that. We’ve seen a total of two people (those nasty traders from book one) who are anything like content under his rule, and absolutely no indication or evidence of Galbatorix ever deigning to notice the people he rules. But then, we don’t know all that much about Galbie, so....

The next section, I really cannot be objective about, because I strongly disagree with the premise. After some status-squabbling between Nasuada and King Orrin, Eragon tells his story about Sloan (again). And Nasuada and Orrin approve – because to have killed Sloan without the approval of a sovereign would have been ‘taking the law into his own hands’ and therefore bad.

I fully admit, my main problem with this is at I simply don’t agree. Blame it on my Heinlein obsession. He argued that “anything it is moral for a government to do, it is moral for an individual to do; anything that it is immoral for an individual to do is also immoral for a government to do.” Plus, by circumventing what would clearly have been Sloan’s fate if he had actually faced a court/governing authority, Eragon has really taken the law into his own hands anyway.

Then we get the trope that it’s good because ‘Eragon’s power is so vast, and power corrupts you, so we must hope you have the strength of character to resist these temptations. So this is a good sign!’

it would have been far worse, and for you as well, if you had killed to please yourself and not in self-defense or in service to others.

*blink* Let us remind ourselves that Eragon went to the Helgrind, besides his personal concern for his cousin, in order to kill the Ra’zac. Why? Because of a PERSONAL quest for vengeance, not because he was trying to help or protect the Varden. The Ra’zac caused the death of his uncle and have been the cause of suffering among the people of Carvahall. Sloan caused the near-death of his daughter, who is now like a sister to Eragon, and caused dealth and suffering among the people of Carvahall. I fail to see how his vengeance killing of Sloan would have been any better or worse in the sense of ‘killing for personal motives’ than Eragon’s vengeance killing of the Ra’zac.

(N.B. I personally don’t mind that Eragon let Sloan live. The guy had already been punished for his actions by how the Ra’zac treated him – they pecked his EYES out, for goodness sake – and I sympathize with unwillingness to kill an old, tortured man who is not a threat in cold blood. However, it’s an issue of personal squeamishness and preference and sympathy, not a profound question of justice or proof of Eragon’s infallible moral judgement.)

Anyway, Nasuada and Orrin spend a while questioning Eragon, then finally let him go to bathe and eat. Nasuada invites Eragon to a sort of political working dinner that night. Eragon isn’t looking forward to it but agrees.

Chapter Sixteen: A Feast With Friends

Can Orik show up in this chapter? Please? No? Darn it...

Eragon returns to his tent to find a hot bath waiting. Instead of thinking about how much he’ll enjoy his first bath in a while, like a normal person would do, he (of course) breaks into rhapsodies about how pretty it is:

There he found a hogshead of boiling water waiting for him, the coils of steam opalescent in the oblique light from the large evening sun. Ignoring it or the moment, he ducked inside the tent.

Eragon changes and then pulls out Murtagh’s broken sword, which Eragon took from the battlefield after their confrontation and saved. He considers fixing it with magic and using it as his new sword. It strikes him, however, that this is ridiculously emo even for him, and sends the wrong message to the Varden, so he decides against it.

Eragon goes to this ‘working dinner’ with Nasuada to find out that in fact, it’s a surprise welcome-back party for him. Surprise! General friendly partying ensues.

Nasuada pulls Eragon aside to give him the next two days off. Eragon uses this opportunity to bring up Elva; he’s ready to try to fix the curse, but Elva is extremely useful to Nasuada. She asks Eragon to fake his attempt to fix the curse, he indignantly refuses. Instead, they’ll jointly ask Elva if she’s be willing to bear it for a while longer for the good of the Varden. It strikes me that this is unfair, since Elva’s very nature forces her to risk and hurt herself for the good of others, so this is not really a request she’ll be able to refuse.

Roran then grabs Eragon and asks him to officiate Roran’s marriage to Katrina (apparently they don’t have things like ‘priests’ for weddings, it’s whoever you want).

Eragon: Oh wow! That’s an honor for me. Are you sure you don’t want Nasuada or Orrin to do it?
Roran: You’re a Dragon Rider, idiot, you outrank them.
Eragon: Okay then. I’ll be busy after the next couple of days, so how about in a month or so?
Roran: ....how about the day after tomorrow?
Eragon: What unseemly haste!
Roran: Not as unseemly as Katrina going into labor during the wedding ceremony.
Eragon: You... Katrina... She’s.... Fair enough. Day after tomorrow it is!

Reality check. We have two possibilities. One is that Katrina got pregnant AFTER she was rescued from the Ra’zac. Which has been, oh, a week? Even modern pregnancy tests hardly work that early in the pregnancy! There’s no way she’d know yet.

The other is that Katrina got pregnant when she and Roran slept together the night she was kidnapped. That was at least three months ago. She’s be showing by now, and her malnourishment/skinniness would only emphasize it. Plus, if she’s been pregnant for three months, whether they marry now or in a month, it’ll be obvious the baby was conceived several months before the ceremony. A few weeks one way or the other are not going to materially affect Katrina’s reputation here.

The chapter ends with Eragon ‘getting away from it all’ by flying with Saphira and resting, almost sleeping, on her back. I shall quote the last lines, for they are priceless in a how-stereotypical-can-you-get sort of way:

And he rested, and visions beset him of a circular stone city that stood in a center of an endless plain and of a small girl who sang a haunting melody.

And the night wore on toward morning.

Oh good, it’s time for our traditional strangely uninteresting vision of the future. Also, it strikes me for the first time – since the vision is probably referencing something that’ll happen near the end of Brisingr – to wonder how CPao will end the book. Remember, this was originally supposed to be the last book, but he wrote so much, he had to make it into two books. Call me crazy, but he’s not the best writer, nor a good editor of his own work, so I am suspicious of how well he’s been able to ‘split’ the plot and still write a skillful and satisfying end to this book.

Chapter Seventeen: Intersecting Sagas

The next morning, Eragon wakes with the plan to find Elva and offer to remove the curse. However, he is delayed in several ways.

First, one of the Varden soldiers begs him to heal his wife who has a tumor. Eragon does it, although it takes a fair amount of energy. Afterwards he discusses with Saphira the idea of having some kind of court once a week where people can formally ask him for help with such things.

He also brings up his need for a sword again – and see, CPao is actually doing a good job of characterization here. The need for a sword is something that occurs to Eragon consistently, something he mentions and is distracted from and returns to ponder again and again. The lack of one is believably a thorn in his side. If CPao wants us to believe other things about Eragon’s character, that he feels remorse for the deaths he’s caused for example, this constant bringing it up and worrying over it is exactly what he should be portraying.

Eragon sets off for Nasuada’s tent, but encounters Angela reading the fortunes of two intriguing female strangers. We spend about a page on their physical descriptions. Angela asks Eragon to bless them, so he does...using the same blessing as was so disastrous with Elva, but with ‘sköliro’ instead of ‘skölir’. Oromis said the -o ending made it the ‘past tense’ of the verb, so his blessing should translate to “May luck and happiness follow you, and may you have been a shield against misfortune” which doesn’t make sense. Maybe past tense=passive form of the verb in Alagaësia.

Eragon and Angela chat briefly. Angela, I think, references Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

”If I didn’t [knit], where would I get a sweater with Dvalar’s ward against mad rabbits knit [...] across the inside of the chest?”

“Mad rabbits–”

She tossed her thick curls. “You would be amazed how many magicians have died after being bitten by mad rabbits. It’s far more common than you might think.”

Eragon mentions Crazy Pea Guy, and Angela is recognizes the name; she studied under him for a number of years, though they “parted badly”. Her opinion of him is that he’s crazy but brilliant.

Chapter Eighteen: Making Amends

PLOT TIME! Finally.

Eragon arrives at Nasuada’s tent for the Healing of Elva. Nasuada makes an eloquent speech about how she wishes Elva would keep her abilities because they are so useful and sometimes one must suffer for the good of all, etc. etc.

Elva’s response, which goes on for quite some time, can be boiled down to, “Fuck you, Nasuada. After you’ve experienced the deaths of a few dozen people and been in constant agony from the effort needed to resist sacrificing yourself for every person in a mile radius, THEN you can lecture me about sacrifices for the greater good. Until then, spare me.”

Eragon then casts a counter-spell that should theoretically nullify his previous blessing/curse. It works...sort of. Elva no longer feels compelled to shield others from suffering, but she can still sense others’ pain, doubts and fears, weaknesses, etc. After a moment of disappointment, Elva realizes this is actually even better. She keeps her special abilities, but can ignore the suffering she senses unless it suits her own purposes.

Nasuada and co. are concerned because Elva shows no particular desire to help the Varden, but Elva manages to play on their fears enough to guilt them into letting her be for the moment. After a final “Eragon, I appreciate that you removed the curse, but since you were the one who set it in the first place, don’t expect any gratitude,” Elva sweeps out of the tent.

Eragon: ....well, looks like I made things even more difficult.
Nasuada: *cough*toldyouso*cough* Complication is the nature of life.
Angela: *apparently has defenses against Elva’s prying* Dammit, now I have to spend years and years teaching Elva manners! *slaps Eragon*

Note: while Elva is now set up as a theoretical neutral/possible enemy of the Varden, I don’t believe it. This seems like a huge deus ex machina where Elva gets to keep her abilities of being the perfect weapon without nasty moral ambiguities of her having to suffer for the Varden’s good.

Chapter Nineteen: Gifts of Gold

Saphira flies off to swim and hunt. Eragon sets out to repay some old debts. With a large expenditure of magical power, he calls up enough gold to make three small spheres, about the size of grapes. He gives one to the tanner from Carvahall; Eragon stole some hides back in the first book in order to make a saddle for Saphira. A second use of the phrase “winter rutabata” is used.

Eragon then gives the second to Jeod and his wife Helen. Jeod, as we recall, was Brom’s compatriot, co-stealer of Saphira’s egg, and helped the Carvahallans with their Pirates of the Caribbean-esque ship-stealing adventure. Eragon and Jeod also have several pages of conversation about Brom and the past which exist for the sole purpose of ‘hinting’ that Brom was Eragon’s father. Brom spied on Morzan for a long time by inserting himself into the househouse. Brom is the one who found out about Selena’s existence as Morzan’s companion. Brom must have ‘found something out’ that he never shared with a soul, which drove him to move to Carvahall after stealing the egg.

Also, Selena is presented as a fairly bad woman. Apparently she was Morzan’s assassin, torturer, and secret weapon. Eragon decides she must have been manipulated or controlled by Morzan; surely BOTH of his parents weren’t evil.

Oh, and let me end with quoting a particularly absurd line:

Silence crept among them then, like a shy animal ready to flee at the slightest motion.

Chapter Twenty: I Need a Sword!

Eragon goes to get a sword. The weapons master makes a prediction I find funny because it’s so true:

”The curse of the named blade, I call it. [...] Just you watch; as soon as you fight Murtagh or do anything else memorable with your new sword, the Varden will insist upon giving it a title. And they will look to see it on your hip from then on.”

Suddenly, I’m getting HP flashbacks to the Choosing of the Wand. The lecture about how the matching of wand sword and user is an art, recollection of previous weapon users, getting more and more invigorated as weapon after weapon is discarded.

After a certain amount of back and forth and debating about Eragon’s fighting style and heretical suggestions of non-heroic weapons (a MACE? *gasp* Of course not!), Eragon chooses a dwarf-made blade.

We get more of Eragon flying around with Saphira for fun. Time for purple prose? Oh, I think so:

They were so high, height had ceased to matter and things on the ground no longer seemed real. The Varden’s camp was an irregularly shaped playing board covered with tiny gray and black rectangles. The Jiet Rier was a silver rope fringed with green tassels. To the south, the sulfurous clouds rising from the Burning Plains formed a range of glowing orange mountains, home to shadowy monsters that flickered in and out of existence.

The chapter ends with some fun flying acrobatics and Saphira and Eragon going to sleep content. Tomorrow: the wedding!

Comments

Re: Is Eragon Shadeslayer falling in love with The Lady Nasuada Svit-Kona Nightstalker?

[amatyultare.livejournal.com]

I would disagree with you there - I would actually characterize the Eragon/Arya subplot as 'filler' (and poorly planned as well, since their potential relationship is based on, essentially, nothing) between the major plot of Eragon Being Awesome (TM).

Although I have to agree with you that it's unlikely that Eragon will actually fall for Nasuada; I simply would be very pleased (and impressed with CPao) if he did.