Chapter Eleven (Part I) | Table of Contents | Chapter Twelve (Part I)

Fumurti: Welcome back to Eragon, everyone! Last time, Eragon convinced Saphira to fly back to the farm by guilt-tripping her and they discovered that, though the farm is destroyed, Garrow hasn’t been abducted. Before we begin, I need to address some things first.

1)

I have accidentally forgotten to update the calendar for this book. It’s now the 19^th of December.

2) The SCSF has asked me to put in retro-active mind-control points for Eragon trying to make Saphira calm in chapter five. Here we go, then:

Give Me a Piece of Your Mind: 2

S Give Me a Piece of Your Mind: 2

3) An addition of Tris on chapter 2 of the self-published edition. You may recall that Eragon says the path into the Spine was “worn smooth” from all the people who wanted to reach the Igualda Falls. Tris points out that, if this were the case, the villagers would make the path easier to use.

S Forgot Your Own Canon Again?: 107

Also, I have just received a somewhat newer edition of Eragon, which misses the annoying glitches my copy has had until now. There have also been some revisions between editions. On Kerlois’ proposal, I will use this revised edition as the Knopf edition, and consequently adjust the counts.

Let me run through them:

· In the prologue, Durza now says “Istalrí böetk!” instead of “Böetq istalri!”. Scales already noticed the spelling errors. I also see now that the order in the original is adjective-noun, while later on, it will always be the inverse. So:

PPP: 438

S PPP: 493

· In chapter 1, this edition uses “empty handed” without a hyphen. I do not exactly see that as an improvement.

PPP: 439

· This edition spells “oftentimes” as “often-times”, with a hyphen, in chapter 3.

PPP: 440

· It changes “Dorú Areaba” to “Doru Araeba” in chapter 3 and chapter 6, thus fixing a continuity error.

PPP: 438

· It also fixes the “Where was the noise was coming from?” line from chapter 4.

PPP: 437

· It also changes “tobacco” to “cardus weed” in chapter 6, thus bringing it in line with the later books.

PPP: 436

And that is it so far!

Let’s get into the chapter proper, then. I ended with Saphira pointing out that there are only two sets of tracks leading from the farm, so Garrow couldn’t have been taken away.

For the first paragraph, I think I’ll do it line-by-line, because I’d be quoting the entire thing anyway.

He blinked to clear away the tears and focused on the trampled snow. S

He focused on the trampled snow. K

Yes, the Knopf edition is shorter here, but I don’t mind the mention of Eragon blinking here.

He discerned the faint imprints of two pairs of leather boots heading toward the house. S

The faint imprints of two pairs of leather boots headed toward the house. K

Huh, I have a hard time imagining the Ra’zac wearing leather boots for some reason…

Other than that, why do we need to see this again? Yes, it is nice to see for ourself, I guess, but we could have sufficed with “Eragon saw it was true”. Also, why are we wasting time on this when we don’t yet know if Garrow’s alive or not? Get to it already!

On top of those were the traces of the same two sets of boots leaving, not three. S

On top of those were the traces of the same two sets of boots leaving. K

I really like the self-published edition here. Why would there be a third set of leather boots leaving? Saphira literally just said there were only two prints! Why do we need to validate what she said??

S What Dragons?: 272

Gave it this because it almost seems like he just doesn’t trust Saphira to accurately report this.

And whoever had made the departing tracks had been carrying the same weight as when they arrived.

We know it’s the strangers. There’s no need for “whoever” here, and it makes no sense for Eragon to think this.

Forgot the Narrator: 22

S Forgot the Narrator: 25

You’re right, Garrow has to be here! he exclaimed. He leapt to his feet and hurried back to the house. S

You’re right, Garrow has to be here! He leapt to his feet and hurried back to the house. K

PPP: 437 (for the comma splice)

S PPP: 494

Wow, Eragon, good to see you come to the same conclusion Saphira did! Seriously, though, this ruins the pacing in what is supposed to be a tense scene. We really don’t need to see Eragon see what Saphira saw, and then come to the conclusion himself.

Get to the Point Already: 11

S Get to the Point Already: 24

It also feels like he doesn’t want to take her word for it, so:

Hell-Bound Partners: 164

S Hell-Bound Partners: 166

Anyway, Saphira says she will search around the buildings and in the forest. Nice of her to offer that, but would she not be able to help more with the ruined building? I think Eragon could better walk around than try to tear apart the wreckage, after all.

Case in point: Eragon goes into the remains of the kitchen and goes digging through “a pile of rubble”. Um, Saphira, shouldn’t you keep him from doing this, given that he’s quite severely injured? What if he gets buried in the rubble, too? This is frankly irresponsible, especially since we’ll soon see that she doesn’t even bother to keep an eye on him.

Hell-Bound Partners: 165

S Hell-Bound Partners: 167

Look Away: 348

S Look Away: 355

He can easily shift pieces of debris that usually wouldn’t budge. The self-published edition has an unnecessary comma here.

S PPP: 495

Eragon gets “stymied” by a “mostly intact” cupboard for a moment, then he throws it in the air. The self-published edition notes he does so hard enough to break it open. And I see that “stymie” in this sense was first recorded in 1902. Oops.

Forgot the Narrator: 23

S Forgot the Narrator: 26

Not to mention that it’s an awkward choice of words for this bit, anyway. Well, he pulls on a board, and then something “rattle[s] behind him.” Eragon turns around, expecting an attack, but it turns out to be “[a] hand extend[ing] from under a section of collapsed roof.” So Garrow is still alive, after all! Though, given what we’ll soon see of him, he might be better off if he weren’t… Also, genuinely good way of letting us find Garrow again.

He can see the hand move weakly, and he “grasp[s] it with a cry”. He asks Garrow if he can hear him. There is, of course, no response, so Eragon digs through the wreckage, “heedless of the splinters that pierce[] his hands.” Um, if they actually pierced his hands, he can’t be doing what he’ll do next, so I think the phrase you’re looking for is “stuck in his hands”.

PPP: 438

S PPP: 496

He manages to expose Garrow’s arm and shoulder, but is blocked by a “heavy beam”. He throw his weight against it, and pushes as hard as he can, but it doesn’t budge. He calls for Saphira, who “[comes] immediately”. Good of her, but she still should have stayed at the farm. She crawls over the ruined walls, and “[w]ithout a word”, she noses past him, and pushes against the beam. She braces herself, and with some heaving and straining, she gets the beam off the floor, and Eragon rushes under it. Garrow lies on his stomach, “his clothes mostly torn off.” That doesn’t sound good at all. Also, given some stuff we’ll see later, I presume the Ra’zac tore off his clothes. It will make sense eventually (though that is sadly the case for far too little things in this book…)

Eragon grabs him and pulls him out of the debris. Once they’re clear, Saphira lets the beam fall to the floor again. Eragon drags Garrow out of the house and puts him on the ground. He is “[d]ismayed”, and he gently touches Garrow. Cue a description of Garrow’s current state. It’s a little graphic, so if you want to skip it, you can do the same thing as before and go to the three asterisks.

His skin is “gray and lifeless and dry”, as the self-published edition puts it.

S PPP: 497

Eragon says it is like “a fever [has] burned off any sweat.” Garrow’s lip is split, and there is “a long scrape on his cheekbone.” The self-published edition spells this as two words.

S PPP: 498

This is not the worst, though. The greater part of Garrow’s body is covered in “[d]eep, ragged burns”, that are “chalky white and ooze[] clear liquid.” Eek. I just hope he didn’t have too much pain from this… Eragon says it “look[s] like he [has] been sprayed with liquid fire.” I can certainly see why he’d think that, but in this case it was actually acid. (That’s why they probably stripped Garrow; this acid would only work with direct skin contact.) “A cloying, sickening smell” hangs over Garrow, which Eragon says is “the odor of rotting fruit”. That’s the smell of the acid, by the way. Garrow’s breath comes in short jerks, “each one sounding like a death rattle.” The self-published edition adds that tendons stand out in his neck “as tremors rack[] his body.”

***

With this out of the way, let me talk for a while about this. First, I think it’s safe to say that Garrow dying is a foregone conclusion at this point. True, he’s still alive, so there might be a chance of survival. Then again, what can Gertrude do? He’s got burns on the greater part of his body, and I think that’s far above her expertise. And, as far as I know, there aren’t any magicians in the area who might be able to heal him, either.

On a more meta level, I’m quite sure I’m not feeling what I’m supposed to feel about this. Yes, it is suitably awful, and it establishes the Ra’zac’s threat level well, but it’s probably supposed to be very sad, too, because Eragon will lose his uncle. Given how awful Garrow was, I’m mostly glad Eragon and Roran don’t have to deal with him anymore, though.

Come to think of it, I’d have liked it too if Garrow survived here and died at the beginning of Roran’s plot in Eldest instead. That might be an interesting moment…

On to another point, as I want to construct what exactly happened here. Let’s see… As we will learn later, the Ra’zac only came here this morning. They went into Garrow’s house, and then, going by Garrow’s split lip and scraped cheekbone, got into a fight with him. We’ll soon see that Garrow has a piece of their robes in his hand, so he also grabbed their robes during that fight. Once they subdued him, they stripped off his clothing and poured the acid on him. Then they left the house again. Some time after that, the house exploded, and the wreckage lit the barn on fire. And then Eragon and Saphira came.

That leads me to ask how the house exploded, then. Yes, it might be that the Ra’zac tried to blow it up. I have several points against that, though:

1) Eragon and Saphira did not see any large change in the departing footprints, which I would expect if the Ra’zac had rigged the house to explode.

2) Yes, they might have explosives with them (we see them use some in Eldest), but those don’t have fuses, so if they were to blow it up, there ought to be a trace of them trying to get away as fast as they could.

3) Also, why go to the trouble of torturing Garrow like this, then? If the house is blown up, there would be a good chance that Eragon couldn’t find him again, after all.

So, with these things in mind, my best idea is that the acid they use vapourised, spread throughout the house, and was then ignited by a spark from a lamp, which caused a flashover that was powerful enough to blow up the house.

On to my last point: why did the Ra’zac do any of this? Why didn’t they just abduct Garrow, which would give them much more effective leverage? Why get into a physical fight with Garrow?

I think I agree with CN here: they’re probably just doing this for the hell of it. I certainly don’t get the impression, at least, that they care about getting Eragon and Saphira, no matter how much Paolini tries to sell us on this. As for why they tortured Garrow… My best guess, though it’s a bit out there, is that they picked up on how bad Eragon’s childhood was (maybe using mental powers), and that they decided to make him pay.

That also fits in better with them physically beating up Garrow. It just seems like very much effort to go to if they didn’t care beyond leaving a message for Eragon. You know what, I’m actually willing to accept this as canon.

And yes, I know Paolini didn’t mean this, but then he should have made clear what he did mean. After all, we will never get an indication why the Ra’zac do what they do, aside from other people saying they are evil.

Manual Patch Job: 55

S Manual Patch Job: 56

It does make me wonder what they would have actually done if Brom hadn’t interrupted them. They didn’t seem particularly concerned with actually doing something to Eragon, after all, and more with being threatening. (I would love to see the Ra’zac travel along with Eragon and Saphira, by the way.)

Back to the story.

Saphira says “[m]urders”. In the self-published edition, Eragon does this: “Not yet,” muttered Eragon to himself. He immediately follows this up in both editions by telling Saphira not to say that, as Garrow can still be saved. It’s just a bit of a clash to go from Eragon muttering “not yet”, which to me carries the implication that he knows that Garrow will die soon, to him vigorously saying that Garrow can be saved.

S PPP: 499

Anyway. In the self-published edition, Eragon says that they have to get him to Gertrude, as she can help him, and Eragon “hope[s] that it [is] true.” He asks what the fastest way to get Garrow to Carvahall would be, as he can’t carry him.

The Knopf edition cuts this down to Eragon saying they have to get him to Gertrude, and then saying he can’t carry Garrow. Between the two, I’d say the self-published edition goes smoother.

I also want to talk about what they’re doing here. I explained in some detail why Garrow will die, after all, so why should they bother to take him to Carvahall, if it won’t help Garrow? I would say it still matters because they’re making the effort for him. For all they know, something might happen if they bring him to Carvahall. And even if it wouldn’t make any tangible difference, they at least ought to try. Not that I would blame Eragon if he decided that the risk to himself was to great; he is already going beyond what could be expected of him.

Back to the story, Saphira sends Eragon a picture of “Garrow hanging under her while she [flies].” I can’t really come up with anything better than that, especially since this is the only way that he wouldn’t be hurt any further. In the self-published edition, Eragon asks where he would go, and Saphira sends him an image of him sitting where he usually does. Okay, it’s a good way to show that Eragon is confused, but it really breaks the tension, and it was rightly cut.

S Get to the Point Already: 25

Eragon asks if Saphira can lift them both, and she says she must. The self-published edition has an additional paragraph here:

Garrow “groan[s] and twist[s] on the ground” (yes, thank you). Eragon hesitated, and then gives in. He says there are no better options, and besides, even if Saphira can’t take them all the way, “it [will] save some time.” He tells her to watch Garrow.

I have no idea what the point of this paragraph was. Why would Eragon hesitate about this? Because he fears that Saphira cannot take it? That should be made clearer, then.

S PPP: 500

Oh, we’ve reached 500 already! Not that this book is uniquely bad; we’re just very liberal with this count.

Anyway, Eragon digs a bit and pulls out “a board and leather thongs.” I guess those come from the same source as the leather strips Eragon used back in chapter 5. Saphira makes a hole in each corner with her claws, and then Eragon loops a piece of leather through each hole and ties the board to Saphira’s forelegs. Noticeably without any difficulty because of the splinters in his hands.

You know what, let me get rid of Forgot Your Own Canon Again? and introduce the count This Cannot Be, because these issues are more indicative of Paolini’s work than continuity errors in general.

Let me see…

1 point for Eragon running into the explosion in chapter 1.

1 point for what Tris pointed out about the mountain route.

5 points for the people of Carvahall never intervening with Garrow.

2 points for there not being any gossip after Selena came back.

1 point for Eragon asking why Carvahall hasn’t yet heard of the news about the state of Alagaësia.

1 point in the self-published edition for Eragon taking very long to understand that the traders ripped off the people of Carvahall.

5 points for Eragon’s behaviour in chapter 4.

1 point for Roran and Garrow not finding anything suspicious about how Eragon acts in chapter 5.

1 point for Brom apparently never opening his windows.

1 point for the books and the chair in his house.

1 point for Brom implying that everyone in the valley has only come her in the last few generations.

1 point for the claim that Saphira experiences a “growth spurt” during chapter 8.

1 point for Eragon trying to climb on Saphira in chapter 10.

2 points for Eragon’s legs.

1 point for this.

So that is….

This Cannot Be: 23

S This Cannot Be: 25

This count will go for all the times that patently false claims are made, a character behaves quite OOC, or something happens that should not be able to happen.

Anyway. Eragon checks to make sure the knots are tight, and then rolls Garrow onto the board and lashes him down. As he does so, the aforementioned “piece of black cloth” falls from Garrow’s hand and Eragon angrily puts it in his pocket.

The self-published edition has some more stuff here. Eragon takes a look “over the ruins of what [has] been his life.” He says it is a “dismal sight”, and wishes there was “time to put out the fire.” He wishes he could have stopped this. The Knopf edition deletes this entirely. I have to agree with Tris here: if the Knopf edition had to cut stuff, it shouldn’t have been the emotional stuff.

Now Eragon mounts Saphira and grips her tightly, then closes his eyes “and tighten[s] his arms as his body settle[s] into a steady throb of pain.” He tells her to go.

She leaps into the air, “hind legs digging into the ground”. She slowly climbs, her wings “claw[ing] at the air.” The self-published edition notes that they encounter a wind gust, “forcing her to slide downward, out of the sky”. (I don’t think they sky works like that, but whatever.) Both editions note that “tendons strain[] and pop[]” as she struggles to stay airborne. For a short while, nothing happens, but then she lunges forward and they’re climbing again.

The Knopf edition also has the line about nothing happening without the line about Saphira going downward, which doesn’t make much sense.

PPP: 439

Again, haphazardly cutting things out is not the way to go.

Once they have reached the forest, Eragon tells her to follow the road, as it will give her enough room to land if she needs to. She says she might be seen, and he says “[i]t doesn’t matter anymore”. Saphira does not argue anymore, and goes to follow the road. I have to say I agree with Eragon here. After all, if Saphira needs to land, it is better to do it on the open road than over trees, as she might get hurt if she does the latter. And I would count “might get seen” (and the people of Carvahall will see her tracks anyway if they go to the farm) as less bad than “might get severely hurt”. Also, they’re doing this to save Garrow, so I can cut this exchange some slack.

Garrow swings underneath them, and only the leather thongs “[keep] him from being thrown in the air.” Eragon anxiously watches for any weakening. The Knopf edition deletes the second sentence and changes the first to “kept him from falling”.

Saphira is, of course, slowed by flying with Garrow and tires quickly. Before long, “she shudder[s] with each breath, her head sag[s], and there [is] froth at her mouth.” Yeah, that’s really not good. The self-published edition says that when Eragon looks at her eyes, they “[are] bloodshot.” Quite certain that doesn’t actually work this way, given that he needs to see the white of her eye for that, and that shouldn’t happen with dragons.

S This Cannot Be: 26

Despite this, she keeps on going. Let me first go with the self-published edition here, as the Knopf edition is much shorter. Eragon says he “never suspected that she was so strong.” “[A]lmost a league from Carvahall”, she locks her wings and glides down to the road. Eragon quickly tells her not to stop there, they’re too far away and can she please get a little closer? Well, she hears him, so she goes to flying again, “drawing on some last reserve of strength.” But soon she goes for the road again. She skims it for a bit, and then glides to a stop.

The Knopf edition just has Saphira go to the road at almost a league out. (She still covered 7 out of 10 miles, so it’s quite an improvement. Also, it’s a very clear illustration of why living ten miles it is a terrible idea.)

Her hind feet touch down with “a shower of snow”. The self-published edition notes that she balances on her hind legs and carefully lets Garrow down before going to all fours. In both editions, Eragon falls off her for the third time, landing on his side so he doesn’t hurt his legs any more. He gets up and unties the board from Saphira. Her “thick panting” fills the air. Eragon tells her to find a safe place to rest. He doesn’t know how long he’ll be gone, so she’ll have to “take care of [her]self for a while.”

She says she will wait. In the self-published edition, Eragon nods, and in both editions, he grits his teeth and begins to drag Garrow down the road. And now Saphira drops out of the story for a bit. Again.

Anyway, the first few steps send “an explosion of agony” through him. He falters and cries out that he can’t do this. Well, he shouldn’t even be alive, by rights, so it’s a miracle he’s doing this at all. Once he does that, he takes a few more steps, and “[h]is mouth lock[s] into a snarl.” He stares at the ground beneath him as he makes himself keep a steady pace. “It was a fight against his unruly body—a fight he refused to lose.”

We then get a bit about how time seems to slow and the road seems very long, noticeably without any kind of thoughts from Eragon. Hours seem to pass, and Carvahall is still not in sight, and he desperately wonders if the Ra’zac have burned it down, too. After a while, “through a haze of pain”, he hears someone shouting and he looks up. Let me do a comparison of what happens next:

Brom was on the road, running toward him—his hair awry and one side of his head caked with dried blood. He waved his arms wildly, eyes large. Brom dropped his staff and grabbed Eragon’s shoulders, saying something in a loud voice. Eragon blinked uncomprehendingly. He felt dizzy, weak. A concerned expression came over Brom’s face as he said something else. Eragon swayed and his vision flickered. Without warning the ground rushed up to meet him. He tasted blood, then blacked out. S

Brom was running toward him—eyes large, hair awry, and one side of his head caked with dried blood. He waved his arms wildly before dropping his staff and grabbing Eragon’s shoulders, saying something in a loud voice. Eragon blinked uncomprehendingly. Without warning, the ground rushed up to meet him. He tasted blood, then blacked out. K

I’d say the Knopf edition is considerably tighter here, so good edit. Also good to see that Brom is there to help both Eragon and Garrow out, and also that Eragon’s injuries have finally caught up with him. Further, I like how we get some mystery with Brom apparently being injured. On the whole, I’d say the Knopf edition is quite decent here.

And this is also the end of the chapter.

Protagonist Unconsciousness: 4

S Protagonist Unconsciousness: 4

What has happened in this chapter?: Eragon guilt-tripped Saphira into flying back to the farm, Eragon found Garrow heavily injured, Saphira managed to fly him most of the way to Carvahall, Eragon dragged him some further, and then Brom came and Eragon fainted. And that’s it. It’s not there to do more.

What have we learned in this chapter?: Not much, really. It’s not a learning chapter.

How does this affect the characters?: It affects them reasonably well, actually. Saphira is allowed to be angry when Eragon yells at her, and Eragon actually has a breakdown when he sees that Garrow’s missing. It could be better, but at least something’s there. The only problem is that the feeling kind of drops off at the end. I don’t really mind that, either, because we’ll have plenty of time for emotion next chapter.

Another thing is that it just doesn’t really connect with me. I’m not sad to see Garrow disappear from the book, so I don’t really get that invested.

Anyway, that is it. See you again next chapter, everyone!

		K	S
Content
A Better Commando Name		10	10
All the Isms		7	7
Bullyay		31	32
	Murdered by the Convocation	8	9
	Perfection is Pure	3	3
Hell-Bound Partners		165	167
Ill Logic		128	149
Just Drink the Poison		0	0
Look Away		348	355
Manual Patch Job		55	56
No Touchy		5	5
No-Wave Feminism		56	62
Petty Ain’t the Word For You		60	68
Resistance Is Futile		3	5
RVMP		45	46
Some Father You Are		33	34
Some Teacher You Are		0	0
Sparkly Damsel		14	15
The Perfect Sparkly Ways of Elfdom		140	140
This is Fine		79	84
Use ‘Em As You Will		28	28
What Dragons?		271	272
Writing
Backpedal Lip Service		8	7
Dead Herrings		60	82
Drop It Like It’s Hot		33	33
Forgot the Narrator		23	26
This Cannot Be		23	26
Get to the Point Already		11	25
Give Me a Piece of Your Mind		2	2
Just Gonna Stand There		3	6
Missing Puzzle Pieces		197	198
Paoclichés		17	20
PPP		439	500
	Forgot Your Own Canon Again?	84	106
Reaction, Please		65	65
Shine Bright Like a Diamond		5	5
Thanks for Explaining		3	16
The Power of Plot Compels You!		76	78
Write It, And Keep It		168	168
Why Are We Doing This?		53	55
Cliffhanger Chop		2	3
Mid-Scene Break		0	0
Other Ending		6	6
Protagonist Unconsciousness		4	4