- She's a (new) Time Lord
- Consider this: over the course of the series she displays an incredible foreknowledge of just about everything. How'd she find out about everything? Easy, time travel, though she can't be open about it, so she wraps it in mysticism. Solembum is her companion. She has an incredible knowledge of chemistry, more than any other character (scientific proficiency is par for the course for time lords) and is constantly referred to as "The Herbalist". What the author doesn't mention is that "The Herbalist" is her time Lord name (see The Doctor, The Master, etc.)
- She is a former/future companion of the Doctor
- Possibly the ever popular Immortal!Time-Lord-via-Bad-Wolf!Rose
- Or River Song.
- Or the Doctor's Opposite-Sex Clone Jenny.
- She's the Rani, fob-watched into a Grey One/human hybrid with more morals.
This connects further on in the first Eragon book, where she may have actually known who Eragon is and what he is. To dispell doubt, she used the knucklebones. (This also gives further credence to her age, the elves and dragons fought long ago. This would be the only time they would do this, because they have such a respect for dragons later on it's not funny). Also, as we saw, Tenga began asking questions that old dragons would. While they had nothing to do with most present things, he was asking about things that are almost impossible to answer and potentially answering them.
To further illustrate her power, her prediction from the first book is true. All this makes me believe that Angela, is in fact, The Soothsayer.
- Additionally, Angela could be a rider that somehow survived, with Tenga as her shapeshifted dragon, and Tinkledeath is her rider sword.
- Eragon (about the runes on Angela's hat): What does it say?Angela: Raxacori-
- The vault of Souls is a huge store of Eldunari, which galbatorix has never found, which Eragon will use to vanquish Galbatorix. See my Reply to The "True Name of Ancient Language" guess.
- And Oromis and Arya reply to Eragon's question with: "Oh, it strikes a familiar chord in my memory, but I can't think of it right now." Yeah right. Expect big OH YEAH!!!s from them in book Four. And Glaedr, who by all rights ought to know, is never asked, despite his mental linkup with Oromis, who does not choose to consult him as to aforementioned question.
- Search your feelings. You know it to be true, and it would all fit together in a crowning moment of Awesome. (Or a related Fantasy-equivalent Surprisingly Realistic Outcome moment.) The Evil Ninja hath spoken. For the record.
- If this turns out to be true, he could be the returning Big Bad for the independent fifth book. By blowing himself up, he could leave everyone in a Hope Spot, only to return and crush their spirits. Defeating him may require the Rock of Kuthian.
- The last Ra'zac also mentions Galbatorix being close to finding the name of something, presumably the true name of the Ancient Language.
- Duh. I mean, its more likely than guessing Eragon's Name, since that would be a story breaker. Galbatorix will find the Name of the Ancient Language, Eragon will no longer be able to use magic, and will use the Power of the Dragon Magic (which does not need the Ancient Language) to overpower Galbatorix. See my Entry on the Rock of Kuthian below.
- As intriguing as this theory is, it's probably not true, simply based on the fact that this troper doubts that Paolini understands the concept of a Chekhov's Gun.
- Confirmed in book 4 where Galbatorix reveals this is his plan.
- Alternatively, Eragon is Inuart and Murtagh is Caim... which explains why Eragon is so whiny and why Murtagh defected: he was getting sick and tired of having to lug around Inuart. Also, Arya is Arioch minus the propensity for baby-eating (notice the similarity of the names?) and Elva is a budding Manah, being a Creepy Child and all. Drakengard!
Think about it. As well as all the obvious about elves, dwaves etc. there's the geography. We know from Tolkein that Arda was orignally symetrical until Morgoth ruined it, we know also that even the extended maps of Middle-Earth only show the West coastline to the Equator. From the Silmarillion we are told that the Ered Luin were originally an unbroken range. Unlike Beleriland and Eriador further north Alagasia was never afflicted by Morgoth and so wasn't attacked, hence the coastal mountains remain intact (they follow the line of the Misty Mountains), and the Beor Mountains retain the orignal height of all of Middle-Earth's mountains. In order to preserve climatic descriptions, we just assume that the translation of North and South from the elvish got mixed up and that theSouth is actually the North, hence closer to the equator.
- Following that train of thought, the elves of Alagasia are followers of Fëanor, the ultimate jerkass of elves who really did believe they were superior. This is also why they don't worship gods: because Fëanor had told the Valar to piss off.
- while Fëanor was arrogant, he had reason to be. He really was that awesome. He made the Silmarills after all! The elves of Alagasia just think they're so great because...because...they just think they are that awesome. They're probably just some of the Avari, who after all, refused to come because they only saw the Valar fighting Morgoth and were afraid. They wandered and explored a bit, came to Alagasia and all the old stories became just that, stories.
- A real world example for the mix up of North and South would be ancient Egypt. The Northern Kingdom (or was it North Kingdom?) was to the south of the its southern counterpart.
- Following that train of thought, the elves of Alagasia are followers of Fëanor, the ultimate jerkass of elves who really did believe they were superior. This is also why they don't worship gods: because Fëanor had told the Valar to piss off.
In order to defeat Galbatorix, Eragon will stoop to his level and and force the Eldunari of Dragons he obtain (from the Vault of Souls or some other odd place). He will defeat Galbatorix, and then either he or Nasuada will become king/queen. They will abuse their power, and the cycle will continue. Eragon will not die, however. It was foretold by Angela in the first book that Eragon would leave and never return, and obviously he will leave... you know the rest.
- Partly Jossed. Galbatorix is defeated, Nasuada becomes queen, and Eragon does leave. He also takes the Eldunari with him, just so they won't be abused.
- That, or there was a Galbatorix, but he was killed during the final battle for the throne, which his troops ended up winning, and since then his supporters have kept up the facade that he is still alive and ruling.
- No, Galbatorix could not come because he has to stay in Mordor, so to speak, so the Hero can Get strong enough to defeat him, so he has to stay in his Fortress until Eragon is ready to kill him. This might involve finding the rock of Kuthian.
C'mon, how else would she know stuff that she shouldn't and just happen to show up at the right place at the right time? And she's not being mysterious for the sake of being mysterious, she's obviously hiding something important. Plus she's shown that she's capable of doing evil in the Battle of the Burning Plains where she rather dishonorably poisoned the Empire's soldiers. They were screaming in agony, people! If she's such a great herbalist, she could have picked something that caused instant death, which would have saved both parties a lot of stress.
- So the entire series is a way for CP to get back at his sister?
- About the whole "instant death" thing, if people died as soon as they touched some of the food then the soldiers would have immediately concluded that they shouldn't eat aforementioned food. Other than that the theory holds some water, Angela has been shown to have secrets that would "get everyone excited over a trifle of a spell, then King Oren would want to behead me and I would have to take out half your spellcasters in my escape." Also, I assume that the spell she has been using to extend her lifespan had some psychological effects. (These may include becoming completely insane and trying to kill our half-elf heartthrob.
- Though you gotta admit, anyone seeing a Real Life dragon would probably either think they're pretty awesome too, if they don't run away screaming. I mean, dragons man.
- To add to this, the elves are to the Inheritance Cycle what the Orcs are to The Lord of the Rings, but without the mistake of not having been made supernaturally pretty. The Urgals are just a barbarian species that got hit with a lot of slander and mind control in the past few generations.
Yes, Alagaesia is, in fact, the Mushroom Kingdom. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
- There's a long list of secondary possibilities, but Roran isn't on it, primarily because Katrina gave us a speech at some point which was all about how Roran was truly a greater warrior than Eragon and the elves because he faced the enemy with no advantage, just cold steel and courage, or something to that effect. Anyway, it would sort of undermine that message if the character who is a hero because he doesn't use magic got the spiffy Dragon Rider powers.
- CP said that Angela was in for several Crowning Moments of Awesome, and in-universe nothing is more awesome than becoming a Dragon Rider
- King Orik. Yes, he is a dwarf, but he has pointed out in the past that it was shameful that the dwarves did not include themselves when the humans where added to the pact with the dragons, and he has said that he almost likes flying.
- Wasn't it mentioned somewhere that the final dragon would be green? And one of the swords that Eragon tries out when he needs to replace his was from a green Rider, and he comments on how it feels more suited to a chopping/slamming brute force strategy than refined swordsmanship. When you look at that it would seem that Orik and Roran are more likely, as their preferred weapons are brute force based, such as axes and hammers.
- Almost all Jossed, as it's indeed Arya with the green.
- Jossed. See above.
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- It's been stated that the Eldunari in the Vault of Souls directly meddled to heal/strengthen Eragon, why not this too?
- Saphira is a descendant of a rider's dragon and dragons have both ancestral memories to guide them and a connect to the loand that allows them to survive. Ayna tracked Eragon by his connection to the land and Eragon may have been benefiting from the shared memories of another rider that was pasted on to Saphira.
- Is a spell to make him understand everything he's done the same thing?
- I don't think so, I suppose Eragon would have to remember the tale, he did the 'healing' by himself.
- Partially Confirmed Eragon uses the Eldurai's energy to do a nameless spell to make Galbatorix understand. AKA empathy.
- Right on Arya, wrong on Elva.
- It's going to open with the Varden and the Elves marching on Uru'baen and Galbatorix massacring the vast majority of their forces, which will be an effort by Paolini to further subvert the cliches involved the Inheritance cycle as well as give a reasonable amount of time for Eragon to find the other egg, hatch it, and train the new Rider(probably Arya).
- He has already been shown to be someone people will follow. And, as Saphira mentions in the third book, everyone from Carvahall is a descendant of King Palancar (who happened to be insane). This would explain Roran's berserker tendencies in battle.
- Jossed. He was in the running when Eragon declined, but it went to Nasuada.
Come Book 2, while elves were given more "good" traits, they were also shown to be a bit petty, and when Eragon's elven sparring partner accepts him, he's never seen in the book again, as if he lost the characterization that made him important. Eragon starts quietly disagreeing with the elves - many people seem to overlook that Eragon disagrees with the elves' atheism. He also calls them out for hiding in their forest, albeit politely. Meanwhile, the dwarves are more fleshed out and realistic, and we learn more about their history, economy, and religion. During the final battle, they come to the aid of the Varden despite not being part of it. Orik insults Oromis to his face, and Oromis accepts his accusations.
In Book 3, elves are given almost no more virtues, while being shown as being disconnected from the outside world, placing more value on trees than the lives of the people they're allied with. They donate a meager twelve elves to aid Eragon, who mostly only act as a backup power supply. During the final battle, a human soldier accuses Eragon of betraying his race due to his elvish appearance, while Oromis - a powerful elf and a Dragon Rider to boot - gets killed. The most important elf in the book, Rhunön, all but hates her species, and identifies much more with the dwarves. The elves as a whole are out of the picture almost entirely, while a good chunk of the book is devoted to more dwarven customs. At least one of their gods is all but confirmed to exist - trashing the elves' atheism - and when Eragon prays to him, his prayer is answered.
Overall, the view of elves presented to the reader has seemingly gone down, while Paolini's favorite has been given more importance. Given the Elves vs. Dwarves relationship in the series, it's probable that the dwarves are going to screw the elves over, and no one will mind (especially not the reader).
- No, the dwarves are definitely in on it! They're the ones who kept Eragon in their city and fed him all that phony information about him being The Chosen One (or whatever insipid variation of the term Chris Paolini used) and the structure of Alagaësian government.
Of rural-urban relationships in Paolini's home state of Montana. The Elves represent the "new Montanans", folk who moved to Montana from lands further west (i.e. the west coast) to "get a taste of the Real West" and settle in the high, forested northwest. However the ideals and morals: Considering themselves more 'civilized' and Just a biiit too far left and grass-coloured for comfort of the newer neighbors don't sit well AT ALL with the older denizens of Montana, who are more rural, conservative, industry-loving, and religious. Eragon, whose is by Word of God an Author Expy, sits somewhere in the middle.
- As said above, in the Elves vs. Dwarves conflict, Paolini prefers the dwarves.