History Literature / Eldest

* RoadTripPlot: Eragon spends the first third of the plot traveling to the elves' capital, which takes him through the dwarf kingdoms, down a river on canoes, and finally trekking through their magical forest. He meets many along the way and makes many friends.
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome; Ajihad, the leader of the Varden introduced in the last book, is killed less than ten pages into this one. However, this allows for his daughter Nasuada to take the job, which she ends up being much more interesting in than he might have.

* Foreshadowing:

** But on a more martial level, they resemble romantic visions of Eastern martial artists. In addition to a sequestered lifestyle, they heavily encourage meditation, asceticism (except what one needs for honing one's skills), and martial arts for the art's sake. They believe that single-minded pursuit of one's craft is one of the ultimate satisfactions, frequently overlapping their martial art with things like calligraphy or poetry. They have an equivalent of yoga called the Rimgar. And they're very light on romantic relationships and physical intimacy, with only two children born in their society in the last decade.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The world in general don't seem to have conventional military doctrine. Military units aren't taught teamwork or shieldwalls. Most everyone fights with a sword instead of using spears. While distinct units like archers and cavalry and swordsmen are mentioned, they don't seem to be being employed properly, e.g. cavalry being trotted out when the enemy flees or is being flanked. The idea of discipline or order amongst the soldiers allowing them to be more effective as a whole is discarded in favor of the idea of individually skilled soldiers and WeHaveReserves being what create victories. [[BellisariosMaxim But of course, the story is more interesting that way.]]

Note - since the characters are so prominent, at least one major spoiler is unmarked below.

* MercyKill: A sobering example. Eragon comes across a bird trapped in some thorns and considers freeing it. Arya comes along and shoots it to death, saying its wing was too badly injured for her to heal, so killing it was the best thing to do. Eragon's troubled by this but sees her point.

** Eragon's arrival in Ellesméra - Arya is the queen's daughter, and another dragon rider is still alive!
** The Agaeti Blodhren - Eragon gets a magical dragon power-up, which gives him the speed and strength of the elves, their awareness of the natural world, and most importantly, removes his back scar so he's no longer effectively disabled by the seizures it gives him.
** Katrina leaving for the Spine - Her relationship with Roran is exposed to and condemned by Sloan, he (implicitly) has sex with her for the first time, the Ra'zac break in and kidnap her, it's revealed Sloan betrayed the whole village to let them in, and they end up kidnapping both him and Katrina and flying away on their mounts.

* WolverineClaws: The dwarves have their own approximation called ''ascûdgamln'', which involves drilling holes into one's knuckles so one can screw in fitted spikes for battle conditions They're primarily used for punching instead of slashing, though they'll still draw plenty of blood. Eragon notes that their bones are thicker than a human's so it's unlikely he would be able to do it to himself.

The sequel to the lit sensation Literature/{{Eragon}}, released on August 23, 2005, four years after being the first book's self-publishing and two years after its formal release by Alfred P. Knopf.

The sequel to the lit sensation Literature/Eragon, released on August 23, 2005, four years after being the first book's self-publishing and two years after its formal release by Alfred P. Knopf.

Spoilers below!

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The world in general don't seem to have conventional military doctrine. Military units aren't taught teamwork or shieldwalls. Most everyone fights with a sword instead of using spears. While distinct units like archers and cavalry and swordsmen are mentioned, they don't seem to be being employed properly, e.g. cavalry being trotted out when the enemy flees or is being flanked. The idea of discipline or order amongst the soldiers allowing them to be more effective as a whole is discarded in favor of the idea of individually skilled soldiers and WeHaveReserves. [[Bellisario'sMaxim But of course, the story is more interesting that way.]]

** On the surface, they're Tolkien's elves - immortal unless killed, uniformly healthy and beautiful except on very rare occasions, faster and stronger than any human, and living in forests where they craft beautiful works of art.
** On the next most-obvious level, they resemble idealized New-Age hippies. Cooperation with the environment is a spiritual obligation. They're all vegetarians, and even refuse to use an animal's products unless the animal has already died of other causes or was unharmed by the practice. They don't seem to have an economy or need to work, and lack any desire to dominate or economically innovate. They frequently compose songs and poems about the beauty of nature. And they heavily encourage meditating and attempting to be in tune with nature, although their magical ability makes this more literal than the real thing. And all this results in a seemingly perfect society, where everyone has what they need and unlimited ability to pursue what they want.
** But on a more martial level, they resemble romantic visions of Shaolin monks. In addition to a sequestered lifestyle, they heavily encourage meditation, asceticism (except what one needs for honing one's skills), and martial arts for the art's sake. They believe that single-minded pursuit of one's craft is one of the ultimate satisfactions, whether it be calligraphy, swordsmanship, poetry, or singing. They have an equivalent of yoga called the Rimgar. And they're very light on romantic relationships and physical intimacy, with only two children born in their society in the last decade.
* HollywoodTactics: The final battle consists of the Varden's vastly outnumbered army - something like 10,000 to 100,000 - deciding to clash with the Empire's in an open field. Even disregarding the Varden's disadvantage, 100,000 is way too large a number to solve this problem, essentially only being good for one battle before having to disband. The Empire would've been better off with 60,000 or so. On the other hand, the Varden would be best off finding a fortified position with water and supplies and drawing out a siege so the Empire would have trouble keeping their numbers in the field and had to send at least some home. Notably, this makes even less sense than the previous book's final battle, as in that case the heroes were defending a fortified position that they took advantage of, the enemy's numbers were much smaller, and they were fighting someone explicitly vicious and stupid enough to throw away his forces' lives for quicker victory.
** Eragon and Saphira are probably the worst examples of this. Saphira can breathe fire now, where she couldn't in the last battle. All they'd have to do to win is climb into the sky and strafe the enemy lines, killing hundreds each time. The soldiers aren't warded against fire, and she's a great flier with good armor that can handle any projectiles, with Eragon warding her against any sneaky magical attacks. Even if the enemy improvises some protections on the fly, they can't protect everyone at once.
** The Empire gets in on this themselves when their dragon rider is revealed near the end of the battle. He reveals that he was ordered to try to capture Eragon and Saphira, since they need Saphira to breed more dragons. Which means that the soldiers trying to kill her during the battle would've messed up leadership's goals disastrously if they'd succeeded! If they couldn't risk actually hurting them, the Empire should've prioritized giving battle to the Varden ''before'' they arrived, and then dispatched their rider as soon as they got there. The author even confirmed the rider would've won even if Eragon and Saphira had been fresh, so they didn't even need the army to soften them up! They essentially threw away thousands of soldiers just so their rider could have a more dramatically scary entrance. But hey, maybe that's why Galbatorix is losing.
* {{Jerkass}}: Sloan serves as this for the majority of Roran's plot, as he both doesn't like Roran, doesn't really respect Katrina's wishes, and isn't generally liked by anyone.

* WeaponBasedCharacterization: Roran ends up using a hammer in battle, remembering a tale of a folk hero who did the same. It reflects how he's not lucky enough to have a teacher who'll teach him to be a great swordsman like Eragon, but is still very strong an very determined.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The world in general don't seem to have conventional military doctrine. Military units aren't taught teamwork or shieldwalls. Most everyone fights with a sword instead of using spears. While distinct units like archers and cavalry and swordsmen are mentioned, they don't seem to be being employed properly, e.g. cavalry being trotted out when the enemy flees or is being flanked. Eragon and Saphira fight on the ground for hours during the final battle, and no dedicated attempts to flank or kill or use artillery to take them down is ever discussed. The alternative - simply avoiding them like hell wherever they appear - is never discussed either.

* HollywoodTactics: The final battle consists of the Varden's vastly outnumbered army clashing with the Empire's in an open field, despite having defenses they could hide behind. They also don't appear to be employing proper maneuver, as the men don't seem to be commanded by anything more complex than "go hit those guys." Notably, this makes even less sense than the previous book's final battle, as in that case the heroes were defending a fortified position that they took advantage of, and they were fighting someone explicitly willing to throw away his forces' lives for a quicker victory.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The world in general don't seem to utilize this conventionally, and it makes even less sense than in the previous book, as the heroes were defending a fortified position last time and facing an enemy with poor strategy.

** On the surface, they're Tolkien's elves - immortal unless killed, uniformly healthy and beautiful except on very rare occasions, and they live in forests where they craft beautiful works of art.

* {{Jerkass}}: Sloan serves as this for the majority of Roran's plot, as he both doesn't like Roran, doesn't really respect Katrina's wishes, and isn't generally liked at all.

* PuppyLove: Saphira has an

** The hardest to avoid talking about comes about halfway through the book - another dragon rider is still alive! The elf Oromis and his mount Glaedr. They've been hidden away in Du Weldenvarden for one hundred years so they could be used to train the next rider, and now the time has come. They are prominent characters for the remainder of the book, so this section will remain unmarked.
* WeaponBasedCharacterization: Roran ends up using a hammer in battle, remembering a tale of a folk hero who did the same. Since his battle effectiveness is related to how angry he is, and the angrier he is the stronger he gets, the hammer is a good choice.

** Eragon's arrival in Ellesmera - Arya is the queen's daughter, and another dragon rider is still alive!

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The elves have a number of influences fictional and real.
** On the surface, they're Tolkien's elves - they're immortal unless killed, uniformly healthy and beautiful unless they choose to change their appearance, and they're so empathetic that they refuse to eat animals or even use animal-harming products.
** On the next most-obvious level, they resemble idealized New-Age hippy ideas of oneness with nature. Cooperation with the environment is of paramount importance, and they magically craft their homes and buildings out of still-living trees to avoid destroying them. Magically singing products or works of art into being from nature is a ubiquitous practice, as is composing poems and songs about the beauties of nature.
** In another respect, they also resemble romantic images of samurai, as it seems all of them have the comfort and utility of a medieval nobleman, and their most common pursuits include calligraphy, poetry, swordsmanship, archery, and appreciating the beauty of nature.

* MasterSwordsman: Eragon ends up training in the morning with elite elf swordsmen in sparring areas, and while he's very good, he finds himself frequently outmatched by creatures stronger and faster than he is.

** The most significant comes about halfway through the book - another dragon rider is still alive! The elf Oromis and his mount Glaedr. They've been hidden away in Du Weldenvarden for one hundred years so they could be used to train the next rider, and now the time has come.

* WolverineClaws: The dwarves have their own approximation called ascûdgamln, which involves drilling holes into one's knuckles so one can screw in fitted spikes for battle conditions They're primarily used for punching instead of slashing, though they'll still draw plenty of blood. Eragon notes that their bones are thicker than a human's so it's unlikely he would be able to do it to himself.

* AcheyScars: Eragon's back scar from Durza. It ends up giving him painful, immobilizing, magically-induced seizures that end up being a serious health hazard that leave him afraid for his health.

* ScarsAreForever: Eragon still has his massive back scar from when Durza laid him open.
* WeaponBasedCharacterization: Roran ends up using a hammer in battle, remembering a tale of a folk hero who did the same. Since his strength usually relates to how angry he is, he ends up very effective with it.

** Roran's episode with Katrina leaving for the Spine. In the space of a day, his relationship with her is exposed to and condemned by Sloan, he (it's implied) has sex with her for the first time, but then the Ra'zac break in and kidnap her, it's revealed Sloan betrayed the whole village to let them in, and they end up kidnapping both him and Katrina and flying away on their mounts.