Chapter 71: Heir to the Empire

[pangolin20]

torylltales wrote in Antishurtugal, 2013-06-10 XX:XX:XX

Chapter 71: Heir to the Empire

Gee, I wonder what this chapter is going to be about.

We open with a bit of explanation about Eragon climbing a tower. Sadly, Paolini has chosen the seventy-first chapter of the fourth book to grace us with some decent description:

“It was close to sunset, and through the windows the pierced the curving wall to his right, he could see the shadow-streaked buildings of Uru'baen, as well as the hazy fields outside the city and, as he spiralled around, the dark mass of the stone hill that rose behind it.”

Okay, so it's not exactly William Morris, but it's a fair shade better than most of Paolini's work. Not overdone, just enough description for the reader to visualise it without bogging down the story. Simple, clean, and effective.

And then we get what might just be the best-written sentence in the entire series;

“The tower was tall, and Eragon was tired”.

Perfect! Immediately and strongly evocative of weariness, allows the reader to empathise with the character, no wasted words or distracting descriptions or references to semi-related subjects. Less is definitely more in this kind of scene, and Paolini nails it.

There's a bit more description and introspection about the mundane events between the last chapter and this scene.

The elves explained why the massive stone overhang didn't collapse after the nuclear blast of Galby's body being destroyed. Of course, it is because Magic. “and also because of the overhang's sheer size, which had allowed it to weather the force of the blast without significant damage”.

Wait. That's not how physics works. The larger something is, the more stress is placed on the axis/join holding it up. I'm not sure Paolini thought that bit through.

“The hill itself had helped to contain the harmful residue from the explosion”

Okay. Explosives 101. You have a cave dug into a massive stone hill with a single relatively unsecured doorway leading out. Somebody detonates a nuclear bomb inside the chamber, having already bypassed or disabled whatever locks/security was on the front doors. Where is the explosion going to go? Anybody?

Good grief.

“although a large amount had still escaped through the entrance to the citadel, and most everyone who had been in or around Uru'baen needed healing with magic, else they would soon sicken and die. Already many had fallen ill.”

By “a large amount”, I hope he means “99% of the blast energy”. There should be a massive cone of radioactivity extending outwards from the doorway of the citadel, in which pretty much everything is either dead or poisoned.

They seal off the entrance to the palace, but not before searching for survivors. You remember, the ones Eragon and co. walked over/past on their way out?

There's a bit more explanation about how the elves are going to magically cleanse everything of the nuclear fallout so it's safe to live in the area again. Meanwhile, Eragon has been dismantling the magic spells and wards that Galbatorix had placed around the city:

“Some of the enchantments seemed benign, even helpful – such as one spell whose only apparent purpose was to keep the hinges of a door from creaking”

Hey, this guy sounds like a pretty decent king, taking an active interest in his subjects' welfare.

“But Eragon dared not leave any of the king's spells intact, no matter how harmless they appeared”

Immediately after which the stone ledge collapsed, crushing the city because Eragon was too paranoid to leave sensible spellwork alone.

“As Eragon had released nobles and commoners alike from their bondage, he occasionally felt a cry of anguish, as if he has taken something precious from them”

Our hero.

The eldunari that Galbatorix had enslaved reacted badly to being released, so they have to be moved far away so their mental/magical lashing-out is out of range of the people.

Honestly, the way Paolini keeps vacillating between 'magic works everywhere' and 'magic gets weaker over distance' is frustrating. Choose one or the other, you can't have it both ways.

Anyway, after a brief mention of Arya's overwhelming grief at the death of her mother (finally, a character that sincerely grieves for another!) , Eragon notices that now that the King is dead, he has no idea what do no next.

Nice going, rebellion. Generally when someone plots to overthrow a ruler, they have somekind of a plan to replace them in order to prevent the country from spiralling into unmanageable anarchy. Not so with the Varden, they'll just wing it and see what happens. Never mind about maintaining roads or patrols, or keeping the economy viable, they'll figure that out as they need to!

Gah.

“[...]a sense of emptiness had gripped Eragon. He had expected to feel jubilant if they killed Galbatorix, and though he was glad – and he was glad – with the king gone, he no longer knew what he had to do. He had reached his goal. He had climbed the unclimbable mountain. And now, without the purpose to guide him, he was at a loss.”

I don't know if this is brilliant or stupid. On the one hand, blunted emotions are a common symptom of post-traumatic stress; on the other hand, Eragon's callousness and inability to comprehend the human element of his 'goal' has been a pervasive if unacknowledged aspect of his personality.

Either way, this is definitely not what a classical Hero type is supposed to think or feel. How about taking a moment to grieve for the thousands of innocents whose blood is on your hands? How about being revolted, or even slightly queasy with yourself, for just a moment, for the countless atrocities that you and the Varden have committed in your campaign to depose a ruler whose worst sins over 100 years were taxes and oaths of fealty?

ANYWAY. It turns out that all this time, for the past four pages of exposition, Eragon was STILL CLIMBING THE TOWER. I mean, I like the idea of having the character's thoughts drift elsewhere while in the middle of an arduous or menial task(it's certainly better than straight flashback), but how tall is this tower? Eragon's just gone over, in detail, things that may have happened over a number of hours or days.

And then we find out that there's a council of leaders waiting for him at the top. Shouldn't he have been more worried about what's going to happen in the meeting, than about what has happened in the hours since Galbatorix exploded? At least he's not giving a tower-top victory speech to crowds of soldiers and peasants below, which was my first thought when I read this paragraph. That would have just been too much.

Waiting for him in the tower room were Arya, the Alagaesian equivalent of Thranduil, Orrin the Surdan King, Nasuada, Orik the dwarf King and the werecat king. Also, Saphira once again has changed size so that she is capable of being inside the tower-room.

“They stood – or in King Orrin's case, sat – in a widely spaced circle”

Given Paolini's penchant for highlighting everything Orrin does as evidence that he is a spoiled aristocratic swot, my first reaction to this line was to roll my eyes. Orrin can't ever be seen to be equal to the rest of the hardened leaders in the room, can he? It's not until a paragraph beyond the unfortunately-placed page break that we are reminded that he has an injury. Wait, the rest of the people in the group are uninjured? Now it seems like Paolini's trying to draw attention to Orrin's inexperience in battle as well as his spoiled-childlike demands for comfort and luxury.

I don't know if that's a fair reading of the scene or if I'm just following a self-reinforcing spiral of belief that Paoloini really dislikes Orrin, but it seems like the poor man can't do anything without it being compared unfavourably to Arya or Nasuada or Eragon or even Roran.

Okay, so all of this description of what Eragon sees upon opening the door... occurred before Eragon opened the door. Come on Paolini, either Eragon is psychic or you're getting really sloppy.

ANYWAY. There's a meeting of the leaders, much uncomfortable silence, and a moment that shows that Eragon continues to be inconsistently characterised, even after four books:

“If he had to, he would contact [Nasuada] directly with his thoughts, but he hoped to avoid that, for his did not want to intrude on her privacy. Not then. Not after what she had endured.”

First, that's all well and good for his allies, but he had no qualms about treating the enemy, innocent bystanders and civilians like that. Second, by admission of the text, he had not had a chance to talk with her about what she'd gone through, because she was taken directly to seclusion (and, assumedly, a healer) by Jormundr. So how does he know what she's suffered? This is not explained in the text, and feels a lot like the author forgetting where the character's perspective ends and where his own begins.

So, they're trying to decide what will happen now that Galby is dead. As I mentioned above, should they have thought about this before now? Generally speaking, every rebellion has some sort of plan of who's going to take the place of the toppled elite. Even the various parties of the June Rebellion had their own ideas of who should rule. In most cases, when rebel;s ask the question 'who should rule?', they tend to go a bit further than 'not this guy, am I right?'

And this quote is absolutely perfect:

“We cannot allow every lord with a measure of troops to believe that he can set himself up as ruler of his own petty monarchy. Should that happen, the Empire will disintegrate into a hundred different kingdoms. None of us want that.”

Wait, wasn't that the entire point of the rebellion? That Galbatorix ruled everyone as a single supreme overlord, not allowing anybody (except Surda) to cede and become independent? What WAS the goal of the rebellion, then, beyond Brom's and the elves' desire for revenge? Also, just as a point of political interest, why wouldn't the elves want the human nations to split into a hundred bickering nation-states? Instead of, say, massing their forces against the elves in revenge for the slaughter of the human city of Ceunon?

Forcing everyone to bow to a new supreme overlord will be just as bad, if not worse, than not having a revolution at all. Because now, the common people have seen that commoners amassed can enact change, AND they've been given the expectation of freedom from Imperial rule. When they realise that all of this loss and destruction was merely to exchange one (passably effective) King for one who does not have a hundred years of experience and the unwavering loyalty of his troops, they're probably going to be a bit disapointed.

This chapter is far too long for what it is, so I'm just going to move along.

The rebel leaders spend another couple of pages arguing about who should rule, with the elves making threats (the way Eragon sees it; whereas the words themselves seem to be nothing more than a wise consideration) and Orik immediately accepting that humans are racists who would never accept a dwarven king; Eragon declines the crown because he has 'other responsibilities' which I assume involves rebuilding the order of dragon riders (...That's going to end well...)

Okay, so that boils it down to Nasuada versus Orrin, and now Orrin wants to rule and isn't going to step down. He threatens Nasuada with civil war, and then states his claim. Poor timing. To be fair, it's a strong claim. His people have sheltered and protected the Varden, risking and eventually going to war with a far superior military force, and probably crippling the lace-making industry by flooding the market with cut-price magically-produced product, and the largest bulk of Varden redshirts was made up of Surdan soldiers.

Sadly, he didn't make the point about the plummeting value of lace, but he did wax poetic about the rest of it. The elves and dwarves restate their allegiance to the Varden, with the implication that an attack on the Varden by the Surdan people would constitute and attack on the elves and the dwarves.

Gosh, isn't politics exciting? Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, this is not.

Anyway, there's more bickering, Nasuada reveals plans to enact exactly the same philosophy of magic-restriction as Galby was about to introduce, and Orrin is bullied into withdrawing his claim because, and I quote, Nasuada “believe[s] [she] can make a good queen”. Yes, even though Orrin has demonstrably and relatively successfully ruled an entire country for many years, Nasuada believes she would do better than him at ruling a larger one, without any experience whatsoever except for commanding the rebel group. And that's good enough for everyone else in the room.

“Then Orik (who had earlier proclaimed that he would not interfere in the question of human rulers) struck the butt of Volund's haft against the floor and proclaimed “The king is dead, long live the queen!”

Shouldn't it be a human saying that? What right does Orik, a dwarf, have to finalise the negotiations as to who will rule the human empire? This is just dramatic scenery without regard for political substance. The humans in the room should be insulted that a dwarf who promised earlier that he would not try to influence negotiations, has made their decision for them.

Finally the chapter ends with the setting sun, because there's only two ways that Paolini knows how to close as scene: loss of consciousness, or the sun setting.

I really dislike the level of Orrin-hate in this chapter. It's not deserved, it flies in the face of the evidence, going so far as to call him a "snarling cur" in mental dialogue, and makes a mockery of the contributions and involvement of Surda in the Varden's plans. Without Surda, the rebellion would likely have never gone any further than one ex-rider and the elves cradling a stolen egg and hoping Galby doesn't find them. Without Surda, there was no Varden, and no rebellion. And yet they continue to brush the Surdan king off like a spoiled child, even demanding that he swear allegiance to the Empire!

Wow, this got long. True, it was a long chapter by Paolini's current standards, but the sheer level of emptyheadedness and ignorance of psychology, logic and the process of political negotiations makes me quail. Possibly even grouse.

25 comments

[1]

Anonymous
June 10 2013, 19:25:51 UTC
And thus the rule of Nasuada began, first undoing any laws or reforms that Galbatorix because they were obviously 'evil'. Eragon's removing of the enchantments caused many structures t collapse, killing hundreds of innocents trying to rebuild. Years passed and Surda, fed up with being the Empire's second fiddle, attacked the now complacent and decadent Empire, leading to Orrin beheading the tyrant queen and became king.
Hundred of years later when Eragon returned, the Empire had flourished into a magic-tech superpower, keeping the invading elves at bay and creating an era of culture and art. Eragon's role in the tyrant queen's ascension was not forgotten and so he was shot down by magical fighter jets.
The End

-Dragonturtle Monk

[1A]

silverphoenixx
June 10 2013, 19:51:01 UTC
Your ending is much better than the actual one.

[1B]

torylltales
June 10 2013, 20:16:08 UTC
I concur. I would love to see magical fighter jets. (Seems a bit like Steam Time would get in the way, but still a cool idea)

[2]

the_bishop8
June 10 2013, 19:38:21 UTC
“Some of the enchantments seemed benign, even helpful – such as one spell whose only apparent purpose was to keep the hinges of a door from creaking”
Hey, this guy sounds like a pretty decent king, taking an active interest in his subjects' welfare.

How does he even know which spells are Galbatorix's?

The chapter title also just reminds me of the name of a famous star wars book.

[3]

silverphoenixx
June 10 2013, 19:50:03 UTC
I just cannot fathom why Paolini chose to make Orrin such a jerk in this book. He'd always struck me as slightly dotty but sufficiently capable of ruling. I wonder if Paolini's editor told him that there was no logical reason why Nasuada should become ruler instead of Orrin, so Paolini tried to make Orrin seem like a complete jerk in order to be like, "SEE? HE SUCKS! HE'D BE A ROTTEN KING AMIRITE?"

I seriously wish Paolini would take a course in political intrigue from Hobb. She is a master of it, and his absolute naivety makes any politically oriented scenes in the books difficult to stomach.

[3A[

torylltales
June 10 2013, 20:18:48 UTC
Hobb is one of the most brilliant masters of the fantasy genre the world has ever seen.

As for intrigue, even Susanna Clarke can blow Paolini out of the water.

[3A1]

rhyson
June 11 2013, 03:58:02 UTC
My cats have more political intrigue between the three of them in one hour than Paolini has in his whole series. lol

[3A1A]

torylltales
June 11 2013, 05:58:49 UTC
It occurs to me that I used a terrible example, because Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was extremely intriguing. It is as a luxury cruise liner to a bamboo-and-back-hair raft.

[3A1A1]

Anonymous
August 3 2013, 12:47:49 UTC
Tell me about Robin Hobb, please. I am currently looking for a good fantasy series since I finished A Song of Ice and Fire.

[3A1A1A]

torylltales
August 3 2013, 14:06:48 UTC
Hobb is so brilliant, I wish I had more of her books! Sadly, only have the Assassin trilogy, which centres on the bastard son of the heir apparent, who becomes the stableboy to the disgraced-andabdicated prince's retainer, and eventually given a position in the court, where he learns to eventually take over the role of Royal Assassin. At the same time it's the story of a prince raised to be second, who now has been unwillingly made first in line, trying to protect his kingdom from the vicious and mysterious Raiders who are using some unknown magic to turn their victims into mindless animal-zombies, all while navigating the realities of courtly politics, economics, and balancing the needs of the coastal and inland towns.

The things that really stand out for me about Hobb's works are the depth and broadness of detail in her histories, political allegiances, social customs and superstitions, and the intricacy of her plots where a half-dozen different things might be happening in the same chapter and at the same time. Her prose is at times like honey, sweet and sensuous and dripping from your tongue. At other times (changing as necessary and appropriate) it is harsh and unforgiving and cold like jagged rocks on a snowy mountain path.

Hobb is an author who can write about a character dreaming about being another character telepathically taking control of a different character, and have it make sense. She is an author who can weave the real with the surreal and the unreal, the real world with dream world, human first-person perspective and animal first-person perspective, and make you believe it.

In short, I cannot recommend Hobb enough to anybody looking for good fantasy.

I would recommend Dave Luckett with equal fervour, but he is, to my eternal chagrin, out of print. If you happen to find the Tenebran Trilogy (A Dark Winter, A Dark Journey, and A Dark Victory -- the only series he ever published) in a second hand shop, it is one of the most realistic and gritty fantasy series you will ever find, right down to the psychological effects of plate armour, and the olfactory downsides to a packed medieval city next to a slow-moving river. His thoughts on the nature of magic, warfare, and day-to-day life in a pseudomedieval pseudo-France are inspired. But, alas, he is out of print.

[3A1A1A1]

Anonymous
August 11 2013, 21:53:54 UTC
Thanks a lot! I'll try and purchase these books on Amazon! :) Oh and by the way, if you're interested in mocking the Inheritance Cycle, check out my website at www.kris-norge.com . In the essays section, as a medieval warfare enthusiast, I analyzed all the battles in the Inheritance Cycle from a strategic and tactical perspective. They are filled with tactical errors which I number.

[4]
Deleted comment

[4A]

torylltales
June 10 2013, 23:59:36 UTC Edited: June 11 2013, 03:23:48 UTC
Exactly. He's the most qualified person in the known continent to rule, because he's the only person aside from Galbatorix who has actual hands-on experience at governing a country, but that doesn't matter because Paolini wanted Nasuada to be this tragically heroic warrior-queen archetype in the image of Boudicca without actually doing anything to earn the reputation.

I would love to read a fantasy story about a benevolent scientist-king doing experiments that combine magic and tech to benefit his people. Orrin would have been an awesome king.

[5]

zorbulon
June 11 2013, 05:09:21 UTC
"In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. [ . . . ] . All shall love me and despair!"

That's the option Paopao chose.

[5A]

torylltales
June 11 2013, 05:54:43 UTC
Granted, I don't know of anyone who wouldn't vote for Galadriel, if she were running for office.

[6]

borgseawolf
June 11 2013, 12:59:36 UTC
I love how nobody asks the actual people - you know, the oppressed masses for whom this rebellion was fought, allegedly? - whom they'd wish for a ruler. But then they would probably vote for bringing Galby back to life.

This is more like a terribly-performed coup than a revolt.

[6A]

torylltales
June 11 2013, 22:59:52 UTC
That's probably because the Varden was never about freedom for the people - it was about one dragon rider's (Brom's) quest for revenge for his fallen brothers.

[7]

katnip_of_thrae
June 13 2013, 02:19:29 UTC
If Orrin was the prissy, arrogant, idiotic, ruler that Paolini portrayed him as, then how does Orrin have a perfectly healthy and thriving city (or country) under his command? Last time I checked, idiotic rulers can't govern a prosperous country (except in the event that there are people working behind the scenes). Surda was threatened??? (I believe) by Galby's rule, but not directly If I recall correctly (I now try to block all of these books out of my mind for the sake of my own sanity....). Orrin and his country of Surda greatly contributed to the "victory" we see here now as the end to the series draws nearer. Orrin, as a king, had to make the decisions to engage in war and aid rebel forces (which weren't that well put together to begin with). He came out on top when the outcome of the (pointless) war was finally reached. How is this not a victory by a knowledgeable king? I'm beyond annoyed by Paolini's hate for characters that actually seem like well put together (realistic) characters. Does he want all of them to be so infuriating? ( I think this was his motive all along).

I also will do any other sporkings that are abandoned by their sporkees, if they are not already claimed.

[8]

Anonymous
June 19 2013, 19:59:40 UTC
XD you guys make me laugh. You buy the books and post your criticism here. You pay too much attention to what is written. I bet you if you did that to every book you would find the same amount of criticism in them. I know! How about you write a book yourselves and show the world how great you are with having nothing that anyone could complain about. You guys need to get a life or at least criticise something worthy or criticism like The Hunger Games. You know some people I just don't get. If you don't like the books you don't need to create a website for it.

[8A]

torylltales
June 19 2013, 20:27:32 UTC
If I were playing Inheritance Fan Bingo, I'd almost win. At least you haven't accused us of being jealous.

1. I doubt very much that we could find as many fundamental beginner mistakes in the works of, say, Robin Hobb or Diana Wynne Jones, or even Dave Luckett, the unknown who published one slim trilogy about an epic fantasy war and then disappeared. (Actually, Luckett's work is among the finest high fantasy I have ever read).

2. You do not need to have caught and gutted the fish yourself to know when it is rancid. Many members of our group are authors and have written their own works, but even then that does not make them any more capable of criticising a bad book than anybody else. They may have a bit more subjective authority when discussing the process of writing a book, but the elements within can be discussed by anybody who is capable of rational discussion. One cannot normally go to a restaurant, complain about the food, and have the waiter tell them "are you a qualified chef? Maybe you should open a restaurant before you criticise others. If you don't like it, you don't have to make a big issue of it." That is because most rational people understand that opinions are subjective, and everyone has the right to express their opinion.

3. How is The Hunger Games more worthy of criticism than Inheritance? That is a subjective value judgement that you are making, exactly the same as when we decide that Inheritance is worthy of criticism.

4. The reason Anti-Shurtugal exists is because of people like you who have tried and continue to try to stifle any sort of negative discussion about Inheritance. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from criticism, but the exact opposite. Also because the series is deeply and fundamentally flawed in every aspect, and by studying these flaw we learn how not to repeat them.

[9]

Anonymous
August 3 2013, 12:52:45 UTC
I've been doing some sporking on my own end, specialized in the battles of the Inheritance Cycle because i'm a medieval warfare enthusiast. Does antishurtugal accept such work if I were to try and send it here?

[9A]

torylltales
August 3 2013, 13:51:22 UTC
Sure thing! We welcome any and all work of a critical literary nature, especially if it focuses on the Inheritance Cycle.

You might also want to take a look at ImpishIdea and talking to someone about hosting it there. They're always looking for new discussion topics, articles, essays and so forth.

[9A1]

Anonymous
August 14 2013, 11:09:47 UTC
Okay. Thanks. How do I proceed to submit them?

[9A1A]

torylltales
August 14 2013, 11:28:54 UTC
On here? make or log into your LiveJournal Account, join the group, and post! On ImpishIdea, they've got an FAQ about submitting. http://impishidea.com/about/how-to-submit-for-the-first-time

[9A1A1]

Anonymous
August 16 2013, 12:12:17 UTC
Ok Thanks. I shall begin work shortly.

[10]

Anonymous
August 3 2013, 16:35:05 UTC
Wouldn't Orrin be the rightful king since he claimed in Brisingr that he was a descendant of the king that Galbatorix deposed?