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Inheritance Cycle

redirected from Main.TheInheritanceTrilogy

alt title(s): The Inheritance Trilogy; Eragon; Inheritance Trilogy; The Inheritance Cycle; Inheritance
The Inheritance Trilogy Cycle is a series of High Fantasy novels written by Christopher Paolini. The first book was originally published by the publishing company owned by Paolini's parents, but has since migrated to Alfred A Knopf. It so far features the following books:

The novels feature the tale of a farmboy who discovers a Plot Coupon sent to a wise old mentor by a captured princess, and has his uncle who raised him killed by the impenetrably cowled servants of the Evil Empire. The two set off for revenge.

This series is [in]famous for its unusually large hatedom, and its equally vicious Fan Dumb.

Please Note: When adding examples, keep the Take Thats and rebuttals to a minimum. They're just not entertaining and lead to some of the heaviest Wiki Schizophrenia here.

This series of books provides examples of:

  • A Boy and his Dragon
  • Always Chaotic Evil - the Ra'zac,
  • A Wizard Did It: The ancient language.
  • Acceptable Targets: Paolini and his books have become this to a large portion of the Internet. Within the book, humans are this for elves.
  • Accidental Innuendo: Happens quite a lot, and often with Eragon's interactions with other men.
  • Adaptation Decay: The Film Of The Book, which makes so many mistakes in regards to the books that it winds up So Bad Its Horrible, but still made a truckload of money, and enough to inspire a Rifftrax.
  • Alien Blood: Bluish-green on the Lethrblaka
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: There's the books that very clearly designates the good guys from the bad guys, then there's the sites and the people that conclude, among other things, that Eragon is a sociopath, and so are Rooting For The Empire.
  • Alternate DVD Commentary: The questionable quality of the film version of Eragon was enough to inspire a Rifftrax [1]
  • And This Is For: Roran does this in Brisingr.
  • Angst What Angst
  • Anvilicious: remember kids! Slavery is bad...and so is religion, eating meat, and trying to keep your daughter alive, apparently.
  • Applied Phlebotinum, in the form of Functional Magic.
  • Author Appeal: Judging by his portrayal of the Elves, Paolini must really like atheist Wiccans, hippie chicks, and blue furries.
  • Automaton Horses: Lampshaded
  • Author Avatar: Eragon is Christopher Paolini and Angela is, well, his sister Angela
  • BFS: The five-foot-tall protagonist hilariously wields a six-foot blade in earlier publications of the book. This was later retconned to three feet.
  • Badass Normal: Roran
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: Save for one (minor) character all of the "good guys" can easily nab a career as a model.
    • It becomes really bad when one of the characters (Katrina) is rail-thin...when shes supposed to be pregnant.
      • Who cares about appearance; pity poor Elaine! Someone wrote that her entire purpose is to be pregnant, and this seems to be true: she began the series about six months pregnant, and is still pregnant almost a year later. This was hilariously lampshaded in the third book in which someone mentioned that Elaine could use some assistance, as her child was overdue. Really? We had no idea.
  • Blessed With Suck: Elva.
  • The Berserker (berserks in this case): In Brisingr, Imperial troops who have had their ability to feel pain magically removed are introduced.
  • Boat Lights: Morzan in Brisingr
  • Cain And Abel: Murtagh and Eragon, respectively- though according to the hatedom, it's the other way around.
  • Cant Argue With Elves: Since Paolini's Elves are pretty and magical, they know everything and are very happy to tell you that.
  • The Chosen One: Eragon, naturally.
  • Cliche Storm: Where to start: elves, dwarves, dragons, evil empire, evil family members, evil warrior race, "the chosen one is the only one who can do this arbitrary epic deed", orphan/teen hero, the list goes on.
  • Complete Monster: Galbatorix if you like the books and Eragon if you don't.
  • Creator Breakdown: Christopher Paolini all over the place. He seems to have a strong fixation on the concept of death, a strong fear of being seen as sexist or racist and doesn't seem to realize that his long tirades on how evil and stupid every religion is might be a "little" offensive.
    • Which makes things especially hilarious/sad when something sexist does pop up...
  • Creepy Child: Elva.
  • Crowning Moment Of Awesome:
    • Sloan calling Eragon out in a magnificent What The Hell Hero moment...notable because he's the first character in the series to do so.
      • To be fair trying to make a deal with the Ra'zac wasn't one of his better ideas.
    • Murtagh kicking Eragon's ass all over the place at the climax of Eldest.
    • Oromis's CMOA is when Eragon kills Durza, almost dying in the process, and is saved by Oromis.
    • Roran's CMOA is killing the Twins, although he was already a Badass Normal, followed by killing an insane number of soldiers single-handed in Brisingr.
      • No, it was when he kicked the soldier BETWEEN the fork of the legs (see Groin Attack entry lower down...wait—that did not sound right).
  • Designated Villain: According to several Alternate Character Interpretations, Galbatorix. For a clearer example, Murtagh.
  • Designated Hero: Eragon.
  • Detractor Nickname: Eragon is "the blue brick," Eldest "the red brick," and Brisingr "the black brick."
  • Deus Ex Machina: Frequently, especially the Blood Oath Ceremony, which magically transforms Eragon in a super-attractive half-elf and heals his crippling back scar.
  • Distressed Damsel: Arya, and later Katrina.
  • Double Standard: Eragon, after his training, doesn't want to eat meat anymore because of moral difficulties. At the beginning of the third book, he refuses meat after healing his cousin and eats bread instead. Naturally, he then eats meat THREE TIMES over the course of the book without even thinking about it.
  • Draco In Leather Pants: Murtagh (spoiler due to Face Heel Turn).
  • Dragon Rider: Eragon, naturally.
  • The Dragon: Murtagh and his literal dragon, who are the dragons for his evil King, and his dragon.
  • Dropped A Bridge On Him: Glaedr.
  • Dude Shes Like In A Coma: Done in the first first book as Pao-, er, I mean Eragon observes her overall hotness...after she'd been tortured...and poisoned...and is still very much in danger.
    • Eragon, meet Shinji!
      • Overlaps nicely with Beauty Is Never Tarnished. A month in torture, poisoning and living in a dank cell in the basement, without a wash...
  • Egg Mc Guffin: The one from which Saphira eventually hatches in the first book.
  • Evil Tower Of Ominousness: Helgrind. Also, from the little description given, Uru'baen sounds like one, or at least Galbatorix's stronghold there.
  • Elves Vs Dwarves: Because it's a fantasy story with elves and dwarves. Duh.
    • Although they aren't exactly best friends, they do get on better than most Elves Vs Dwarves do, although arguably only due to a common enemy. Also, a huge desert in between them probably helps.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Murtagh: even some of the anti-Eragon fans like him. So why, exactly, is he portrayed as the villain?
    • Technically not portrayed as a villain as such, more like forced to work for the 'evil' side and wondering whether he will automatically become his father or not.
  • Face Heel Turn: Murtagh.
  • Female Gaze: Arya's breasts or butt never get the same scrutiny from Eragon that several male character's muscles get, or even Oromis' hairless groin.
  • Foe Yay: Quite a few slashy moments between Eragon and his brother/nemesis Murtagh, to the point where Eragon acts like a whiny little jilted girl when Murtagh tells him off. Also, Eragon takes the chance to ogle Sloan's "hard and lean muscles" when given the chance.
    • The backstory on Brom and his former best friend Morzan screams "We are gay Dragon-riders!"
      • You sure it's not "We are the Gay-Dragon Riders"?
  • Franchise Killer: The film adaptation of Eragon was a critical failure and a financial disappointment.
    • Though this may have been for the best, as the next book was more or less plotless propaganda.
  • Fridge Logic
  • Functional Magic
  • Generation Xerox: Murtagh is doomed to follow in the footsteps of Morzan, his father.
  • God Mode Sue: Eragon, who can magically do anything because he's a Rider.
  • Good All Along: The Urgals.
  • The Government: Source of all evil, since drafting, taxes, and medieval-era slavery are obvious signs of corrupt and evil people.
  • Groin Attack: One of the things Galbatorix is actually definitely guilty of.
  • Guilty Pleasures: A lot of people like the books as long as they turn off their brains.
  • Hatedom
  • Heroic Sociopath: an Alternate Character Interpretation for Eragon, as well as Roran occasionally.
  • Ho Yay: A lot of subtext between Eragon and Roran. Seriously.
    • Read the first few paragraphs of this. So Yeah. Actually, the entire thing can be an innuendo.
    • Eragon ogles his ex-nemesis' "lean and hard muscles," and gets slashy with his half-brother. Oromis in turn gets ogled because he has pretty red lips, flowy hair, hard muscles, and a hairless groin. Funny how Arya's breasts and butt never get the scrutiny of the hairless groin.
  • Idiot Hero: Extra stress on the "idiot", a bit less on the "hero".
  • Instant Expert: Eragon learns magic faster than any of the other characters, despite him being Just A Kid.
    • He also becomes the greatest swordsman who ever lived with both his right and left hands, just from practicing with Brom. Or him instantly mastering horse riding through his mind tapping powers (the mind tapping powers themselves having developed unusually early). You present him with a skill, he'll have picked it up and mastered it without even a Training Montage.
    • It seems the only thing he can't instantly master is common sense. Case in point: He attempts to levitate and throw an army rather than killing them with a simple spell. The effort instantly knocks him unconscious for three days.
  • Internet Backdraft: Fans of the Inheritance trilogy have their hands full defending the object of their fandom from a gigantic number of anti-fans.
  • Kick The Dog: Setting aside the morally dissonant atrocities our heroes are mentioned to have done, we have the elves attacking an allied village without warning or mercy. To ensure that Galbatorix is a true villain, he also has his henchmen destroy several villages on their own.
  • Killed Off For Real: Brom, Ajihad, and Oromis. Glaedr just happens to have survived by giving away his 'heart of hearts'.
  • Lady Of War: Nasuada, Arya.
  • Language Of Magic
  • Language Of Truth: The same as the language of magic.
  • La Resistance: The Varden.
  • Left Field Description: All the time.
  • The Load: Eragon himself in the first two books, as he always has to either become unconscious or be saved by someone in order to get anything done.
  • Love It Or Hate It: These are very, very polarizing books.
  • Luke I Am Your Father: Used twice.
  • Mayfly December Romance: Eragon and Arya. (Interestingly, Arya once indirectly described such a relationship to be viewed by the elves as similar to pedophilia on the elves' part. And it's implied that the perfect elves may not be right about everything after all.)
  • Meaningful Name: "Eragon" is "dragon" with one letter changed, but then Paolini retconned this into "era gone by".
  • Mind Rape: Done by Eragon to Sloan when Sloan didn't believe it was Eragon who "rescued" him.
  • Monster Fun Facts: All over the place.
  • Moral Dissonance
  • My Sensors Indicate You Want To Tap That
  • Names To Run Away From Really Fast: You only name your child Galbatorix if you want him to grow up to be evil.
  • Narm
  • New Powers As The Plot Demands: This ties in with Instant Expert, as Eragon seems to master new spells instinctively without having spent much time training them. It becomes way more obvious with the compressed movie adaptation ("OMG I GOTZ MAGICK?!").
  • No Pronunciation Guide: You'd definitely need one with some of these words. Some gems: Skgahgrezh, kveykva, grimstnzborith, shrrg.... (A pronunciation guide is given at the end of the third book, "Brisingr", however it only includes character names.)
  • Not Quite Dead: Murtagh and the Twins.
  • The Obi Wan: Brom.
  • Offstage Villainy: Anything King Galbatorix does...when he's not sitting on his throne and ordering his subordinates to do things.
  • Old Master: Oromis.
  • Our Dragons Are Different
  • Our Dwarves Are All The Same
  • Our Elves Are Better: And how!
    • It's probably illustrated no better than in Eldest, where Eragon can't defeat Vanir no matter what...until he is MAGICALLY TRANSFORMED INTO AN ELF.
      • Not an elf. He has mostly human characteristics apart from physical ability and some appearance changes. Shades get a similar deal.
  • Patchwork Map: Desert suddenly meets lush grassland! Rivers double back on themselves!
  • Plot Hole: Your Willing Suspension Of Disbelief will have snapped before you get weary of all the Purple Prose.
  • Plot Levelling: In Brisingr, Eragon suddenly starts encountering enemies immune to his new Story Breaking Powers. What is this, an RPG?
  • Plot Relevant Age Up: Elva in Eldest (A Wizard Did It), and, inexplicably, Saphira in the Eragon movie.
    • However, it must be considered that Elva supposedly grows at like, 12 times the normal rate because Eragon accidentally cursed her.
  • Punctuation Shaker: Ra'zac and Zar'roc, amongst others.
  • Purple Prose: Quite a lot.
  • Pursued Protagonist: How Eragon gets the egg in the movie.
  • Recycled IN SPACE!: Up until Brisingr, the series could have been best described as Star Wars in a Standard Fantasy Setting!
    • In fact, moving the plot away from this was pretty much the entire point of Brisingr.
  • Rebellious Princess: Arya, sort of.
  • Religion Of Evil: It's apparently there just to show that the author characters despise anyone who isn't an atheist. It's not just an evil religion, but also a stupid one.
  • Rival Turned Evil: Murtagh.
  • Rooting For The Empire: Among those who don't accept the canon delineation of who's good and who's evil, some have concluded: Eragon is a sociopath, the Varden are terrorists, Surda is their hostage, the original Dragonriders were a racist military junta and Galbatorix is, at worst, equally as evil as the heroes.
  • Rule Of Cool: Possible Lampshade Hanging when the elven blacksmith chastises Eragon for specifying a design for purely aesthetic reasons.
    • The whole damn series runs of rule of cool... or at least it tries to until it just became Rule Of Narm.
  • Sand In My Eyes: Every emotional scene is punctuated with "a single shining tear".
    • This leads to the implication that many of the characters never cared much for their loved ones, as more tears have been shed for other, lesser things.
  • Shout Out: Inexplicable reference to Doctor Who in Brisingr. Arya doodles something about a lonely god in the sand.
    Eragon: "What does it mean?"
    Arya: "I don't know."
    • He actually mentions this in the afterword. He says he did it because he's "A fan of the doctor."
    • Comedy gold.
    • Maybe it didn't happen, Maybe I'm just being picky, but similarities between Blazing Saddles tribute to The Treasure of Sierra Madre "Badges, we do't need no stinking badges" and the villagers in Eldest's "Barges, we don't need no stinkin' Barges!" seems too similar for words. Also, its completely at odds with the rest of the prose.
    • Morn (who is himself a Shout Out/parody).
  • Small Name Big Ego: Paolini, who strives "for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf" and doesn't think much of the richest woman in England. Admittedly, at least he left open the possibility of falling short of such lofty goals by using the word "strive".
  • Skeleton Government: This article explains it very well
  • So Bad Its Good: Some people consider the series to be this way, except for The Film Of The Book, which is pure old-fashioned Snark Bait.
  • Standard Fantasy Setting: Gets Paolini a lot of flak from Eragon haters, who accuse him of plagiarism, among other things.
  • Stronger Sibling: Murtagh is more than capable of kicking Eragon's scrawny behind.
    • The loser had just fought in a battle while the other hadn't. Otherwise they were evenly matched before Eragon's magical transformation and Murtagh's joining Galbatorix.
      • Then of course, there's round two early in Brisingr and Eragon doesn't fare a whole lot better... despite having thirteen Elven High Spellcasters aiding him... Murtagh may be advantaged because of the Eldunari he has, but he needs something to even up the greater amounts of time Eragon had to learn his skills and Saphira had to grow, and the Ass Pull ceremony that increased Eragon's strength.
      • A Wizard Did It. An evil wizard. An evil wizard king.
  • The Wesley: Eragon, he is the author's pet hero, it's hard to argue against.
  • To The Pain: Eragon's threat to a soldier early in the first book.
  • Trilogy Creep: What was once a "Trilogy" is now a "Quadrilogy" "Cycle."
  • Twist Ending
  • Unfortunate Implications
  • Vanity Publishing: The series probably wouldn't have gotten off the ground without it.
  • We Are As Mayflies: The Elves.
  • Who Wants To Live Forever: A source of Wangst for Eragon.
  • The Woobie: Murtagh - face it, his life is just one long series of people kicking him in the balls. Also Sloan, who goes through hell to protect his daughter, and is punished even by the hero for it.
  • What Measure Is A Mook: The heroes can be very hypocritical about this, which also often leads to Moral Dissonance.
  • What The Hell, Hero?: Sloan to Eragon in Brisingr in a Crowning Moment Of Awesome.
  • Words Can Break My Bones: The Ancient Language, being the language used for magic, is perfectly capable of killing you.
  • Writer On Board: The Elves again. They're vegetarian atheists, and annoyingly preachy about it.
    • With some scientism and Nay Theist beliefs mixed in. When asked to explain their religious beliefs, the Elves tell Eragon: "Death, sickness, poverty, tyranny and countless other miseries stalk the land. If this is the handiwork of divine beings, then they are to be rebelled against and overthrown, not given obeisance, obedience, and reverence.” Never mind all the good stuff—-love, happiness and well, dragons that are around.
    • Paolini tries to fix this in Brisingr, but it's just awkward.
  • Ye Goode Olde Days: Everybody is always rambling about how awesome the days before Galbatorix were.
    • Which makes no sense because that was well over a century ago...by the way, remember the 70s?
    • Kinda justified with Brom (who really doesn't like Galbatorix) spreading tales around the town, and many of the poeple of Palancar Valley being descended from a royal court which existed before ol' Galby.
  • Your Mileage May Vary: For most readers of the books, there is no in-between, you're a fan or an anti-fan
  • Zero Percent Approval Rating: Galbatorix again.
    • That's according to what Paolini wants us to believe. Consider what Oromis says in Eldest about people living relatively peacefully...
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Now that I think about it, how about I kick Murtagh in the groin again?
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