Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Eragon - Book Vs. Movie

Eragon by Christopher Paolini is a story about a young farm boy who becomes a Dragon Rider and fights the tyrannical rule of the Empire. A movie with the same name was later made with the same basic story, but had many disturbances that altered the original story greatly. Many characters lost some characteristics, or entirely disappeared, events were altered carelessly and the overall impact was lost. Though still similar in guidelines, the movie had no impact, and the important events were put together with little thought.

The main difference between the movie and the book was the impact that each of them had. The book was a fascinating read, full of development, plot and character. The movie however, had little of these aspects. The growing up of Saphira the dragon under the care of Eragon was completely taken away, so the strong bond that was made between them growing up was not shown. As well, the journey with Brom was cut to a very short time, therefore lessening the impact of Brom’s death as there was little build up of a relation between Eragon and Brom. Moreover, the time Eragon had with his village in the beginning of the story was removed, therefore totally destroying the heartbreaking effect of Eragon leaving his village.

Another disturbing change was the altering or disappearance of main characters. The characters from Eragon’s village were totally removed, and little was shown about Garrow and Roran, his family. As well, Murtagh, Eragon’s companion after Brom’s death and fellow hunter of the Raz’zac was changed to little more than a bowman that did very little in the journey. In the original story, it was him that saves Eragon from the Raz’zac, but that did not happen; him that shot the Shade in the head, but it was Eragon who did it in the movie and it was he who bested Eragon in swords and pushed him to develop more skills than he learned from Brom. Moreover, many characters in the Varden that befriends Eragon for life simply vanished from the movie.

Along with the loss of impact and change in characters, comes change in the main story line. Many events were removed or misplaced in the changing of book to movie, the main one being Brom’s death. In the story, he was killed in when he took the Raz’zac’s knife for Eragon when they were ambushed and captured by them. In the movie however, he was killed during the rescue of Arya, taking a spear thrown by Durza the Shade for Eragon, when he should have been dead weeks ago in the book. As well, during the rescue of the elf, Arya, she was perfectly fine after the Shade’s disappearance when in the book, she was in a coma state, covered in marks of torture and had to be carried out on Saphira and all the way to the Varden.

Though the process of changing a book in to a movie is difficult and requires alteration of the original story, many changes that were made were unjustified. Though things like the final fight with the Shade Durza and the death of Brom remained, its overall impact was lost with the disappearance of many influencing characters. As well, much of the plot was chopped up and either removed or distorted. Thus the movie does not come close to the greatness of the original story.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Eragon Complete Essay

In the story Eragon by Christopher Paolini, many different aspects are put together to make it a wonderful experience for readers. The setting is well established before the plot effectively advances and the main character is described fully to emphasis the change that he goes through. The plot weaves a fascinating story about how a young boy becomes something of legend and the theme leaves a hidden message for readers to think about. Setting and protagonist is the most important in the story, followed by the lesser aspects of plot and theme.

The setting is extremely important as it plays a major role in introducing and telling the story of Alagaesia. The events of the book take place in a mystical, medieval time of magic, dragons, elves, dwarves, kingdoms and evil creatures, creating a shroud of fantasy around the world. The tale begins in the Springtime of Carvahall, a quiet, peaceful village in the mountains, with a cheery and happy mood as Eragon lives a normal life until he finds a dragon egg in the Spine. The mood then changes and becomes darker as Eragon’s home is destroyed and his uncle killed when people who seek the dragon come by his village. Vowing revenge, Eragon leaves on a journey with Brom around Alagaesia to track down the murderers and fulfill his destiny as a Dragon Rider, which eventually leads him to the mountain regions of Surda where he finds and assists the Varden against the tyranny of the Emperor Galbatorix, giving an impression of the duty and how it can bind people’s lives on the one road. By the end of the novel, a few years have passed since Eragon left his village. Without this setting, the story would have never took place as there would be no such thing as Dragon Riders and no elves and dwarves to help Eragon in his battle against the Tyrant of Alagaesia and his followers.

Eragon, who is an ordinary 15 year old farm boy is the protagonist of the story and plays an effective role in advancing the plot. Living in the village of Carvahall, Eragon was left in the care of his uncle Garrow by his mother who left soon after she gave birth. Growing up without knowing anything about his mother and father, he calls his uncle father and Roran, Garrow’s son, brother. Friendly and cheerful, he gets along with everyone in the village, except for Sloan the butcher who seems to hate everyone except his daughter. Also, Eragon is the only one brave enough to travel in to the Spine to hunt, as it is considered cursed by the village since many accidents happen in the mountainous region. Little is known about Eragon’s appearance except that he has brown eyes, dark brown hair, and thick eyebrows. He probably has a well built bother as he works in a farm and through Brom’s training and his journey across Alagaesia develops more muscle and a more masculine form. Mentally, he starts off as a naïve boy, unaware of anything outside his village and felt betrayed at Roran’s departure to work outside his village. Eragon is also very impatient, curious and sometimes over confident, as during Brom’s training, he hastens to learn difficult skills before mastering the basics, asks many questions and underestimates Brom during their first training session due to his old age. He learns quickly however, and soon bests Brom at sword fights and develops patience, though he never stops his questioning about everything he does not know.After the destruction of his home and the death of uncle Garrow at the hands of the Raz’zac, Eragon’s main motivation was to avenge Garrow out of pure anger and hatred towards the Raz’zac. Later, he realizes that as a Dragon Rider, it is his destiny to take down the Emperor Galbatorix who betrayed the old order of Dragon Riders and destroyed them to become the tyrant of Alagaesia. This doubly motivates Eragon as Emperor Galbatorix was the one who sent the Raz’zac to capture him and his dragon to ensure that he does not impose him, which resulted in the Raz’zac killing his uncle. Beginning as a care free and naïve farm boy, Eragon grows mature by Brom’s training and the harsh consequences of his actions. Strengthening his body and mind, he acquires many skills during his journey to fight the Empire and fulfill his destiny as a Rider and his revenge on the Raz’zac. Without Eragon, the plot would be dull and unable to advance.

Plot, though important to the story, is not as important. The story starts off with Eragon finding a blue sapphire-colored rock in the Spine, a mountain region near his village. When he brings it home, he realizes that the stone is a dragon egg, and a bond is formed between Eragon and the little dragon. After asking Brom, the storyteller of Carvahall, about dragons, Eragon names the dragon Saphira. Soon after Saphira matures and learns the language used by Eragon, Raz’zac sent by the Empire come to the village to kill or capture Saphira, but Saphira drags Eragon to safety, whilst his home is destroyed and his uncle murdered. This starts his journey of revenge against the Raz’zac accompanied by Brom, who teaches him many things about being a Dragon Rider. Throughout the course of the journey, Brom tragically dies from a poisoned knife thrown by the Raz’zac and Murtagh, a man after the Raz’zac as well, saves Eragon from a similar fate. Joining together, they rescue a female elf named Arya of which Eragon dreamt of and through her instructions reach the Varden, a band of rebels against the Emperor Galbatorix. During his stay, the Empire sends Kulls to assault the Boer Mountains which the Varden are stationed in lead by Durza, the Shade that imprisoned Arya and prosecuted Eragon across the lands of Alagaesia. A furious battle takes place and ends with the death of the Shade Durza by the hands of Eragon, but not before Durza gives a crushing blow to Eragon’s back. As Eragon begins to slip out of consciousness, he hears a message from the “Cripple that is Whole” asking him to seek him after he awakes, Eragon agrees and shortly after, blacks out. Ending on an odd note, the plot is still interesting and productive.

Theme plays a lesser part in the story, but is evident throughout the story. The main theme is where good exists; evil will exist as well to balance its effects. This theme is shown through the battle between the tyrannical Empire and the Varden which was created by people who have had enough of Galbatorix. Galbatorix, along with a few other riders he had convinced, had betrayed and killed every one of the Dragon Riders in the old order who had kept the peace in Alagaesia and then proceeded to enslave all the humans and killed any who had opposed them. Dragon Riders themselves, they had a lengthened life and super human strength and speed, as well as a Dragon which followed their every command. Abusing these powers, Galbatorix became Emperor due to fear, and no one had the strength to defeat him. Even when everything was peaceful and no one was treated unfairly, evil arose to oppose the good. After evil took over, the Varden was created and fought back against the evil, recruiting everyone they could for their cause of ridding Alagaesia of the tyrant and sheltering all who wanted to get away from the Empire. Since they could not pose a threat to the emperor Galbatorix himself however, he did nothing to root them out. That is however, until a dragon egg was stolen from Galbatorix by the Varden, and another dragon beside the one that the emperor had was born. The rider Eragon, believed in good and even though tempted and baited, did not go to the side of evil and joined the Varden to fight for the freedom of Alagaesia. Even though good always opposes evil, evil never ceases to exist no matter how perfect the world is.
Setting, character, plot and theme all play a part in making a good story. Eragon effectively balances all these aspects and puts it together to create a unique reading experience. Though balanced, setting is still the most important part of the story, followed closely by character with theme and plot playing a more minor position. Paolini nicely puts together Eragon to be a enjoyable read for all.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Note 10

-Eragon was about to be tested for weapon proficiency when dwarf twins came and told him that under Ajihad's permission to go test him on his magic
-test easy, but the two dwarves fight against Eragon's magic, so even the simplest task strains him
-still, with Saphira's help he passes all tasks given by the Twins, until the last one: to summon the essence of silver from a ring
-
Arya, the elf Eragon rescued stops him just in time however, and scolds the dwarves for their ways, as calling the essence of silver takes a large amount of strenght, even with the proper words
-Afterwards, Arya draws her sword and asks for a dual with Eragon, to test him
-He accepts, but knows that even the weakest elf can easily overpower any human.
-After a long fight, she ends the dual, saying that he passed
-The next day, news reaches them that a huge Urgal invasion force is raiding them using their own tunnels
-Preparations for war are made.
-Huge fight happens, Varden has upper hand in strength, but sheer amount of Urgals start to overpower them
-The Shade shows up, and fights Eragon, asking where Saphira is so he can destroy him
-Furious fight, but the Shade's power is too superior
-Suddenly Saphira comes with Arya on her back, and Saphira breathes fire as Arya breaks the star sapphire
-With Shade distracted, Eragon suddenly lunges and stabs the Shade in the heart
-Battle suddenly stops, and all of a sudden, the Urgals start attacking each other, the spell controlling them broken.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Note 9

-Ajihad recognizes Murtagh as Morzan's son, but does not order for his death. He wishes to probe his mind to see if he really is harmless, but Murtagh refuses, as his mind is the only thing that is truly his and does not want anyone defiling his mind.
-Ajihad has no choice to imprison him, as he does not want to kill him.
-Eragon and Ajihad have a very long talk about various things, his stay with the Varden, his journey here, Brom's death, and the future
-After that, Eragon and Saphira are shown where they will live

New character: Ajihad, charismatic leader of the Varden. Wise, intelligent and patient as well as kind and passionate, he looks every bit the leader.

Note 8

-run in with slavers, but easily scared off with magic
-they make it to what seems to be the varden (according to the elf's instructions) and yells the words to grant them entrance, but it does not work, after several minutes of trying, the Urgals catch up to them and attack
-Saphira tries to fight them off, and has moderate success but there are too many
-suddenly, Eragon reazlies that they are on the wrong side of the mountain and run through the waterfall to get to the otherside, but falls in to an extremely fast current
-fished out by a dwarf, which leads the others to kill the urgals, and beats them all back.
-meanwhile Saphira flies in as well, and the mountain is shut
-Orik, the dwarf who saved Eragon trusts them, but one of the dwarves doesn't, and is angered at Orik's disobeying his orders, which would have probably gotten Eragon, Saphira and Murtagh killed, along with the elf.
-After sending in the elf for emergency care, the dwarf probes Eragon's mind to see if he is really a Dragon Rider on their side or not.
-Minutes past, and Saphira with Eragon blocks out some memories that might have been misleading, and they past the probation
-the dwarf is however, still unsatisfied, and wants to probe Murtagh as well, but Orik stops him
-this angers him, and orders them all to be thrown in to a room before they meet Ajihad, the leader of the Varden.
-In the room, Murtagh finally tells Eragon why he had not wanted to come to the Varden, because he is Morzan's son, and Morzan was one of the generals that betrayed the old Dragon Riders and along with others killed all the other Dragon Riders.
-He says that he ran away from home, as he was constantly abused, and has marks to show for it. As well, Zar'roc, the sword that Brom gave Eragon, was Morzan's sword, and Brom had taken it when he killed Morzan.
-Secrets revealed, the next day comes and they set off to meet Ajihad.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Note 7

-Next day, Eragon sees the woman from his dreams carried in by guards
-Finds out its an elf
-Drug wears off as the food is poisoned, and he does not eat it.
-Be breaks out, just as Murtagh comes in to rescue him
-They both beat the jailers, and goes rescues the elf
-Shade however knows of his plans and is waiting for him up the stairs
-The two dual, but because of the Shade's superior power and Eragon's fasting he quickly looses ground
-Saphira flies in and saves them, ripping the roof off the building and flying them clear of the city
-They plan to escape to the desert and the mountains after them, where even the emperor can not reach
-Elf does not wake up, although Eragon heals her physical wounds with his powers
-Apparently tortured for information, forced herself in to a coma state
-They travel hard, and cover ground fast, and on the way, Eragon tries to mentally contact the elf
-Succeeds, and they talk, she is poisoned and will die in a couple days, must take her to the Varden, the rebel group for antidote, gives directions
-Murtagh speaks against going to them, but can not say why (personal reasons)
-They head to the Varden anyway, but a couple days later, a huge legion of Urgals are behind them, and the two rush on

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Note 6

Brom goes off, and Eragon explores city
-While in church, the Ra'zac appear, and Eragon is forced to flee
-Finds Brom by magic, warns him and together they escape the city
-They are however, still captured later by the Ra'zac
-Drugged and unable to use magic
-The Ra'zac get ambushed, one gets hit in the shoulder with an arrow
-Before they flee however, one Ra'zac throws his dagger at Eragon to kill him, but Brom jumps in the way and is fatally wounded. Beyond healing magic as well, poison on the dagger
-Murtagh, their rescuer comes in, but is secretive
-Tell him that he was hunting Ra'zac for his own reason
-Not surprised at Saphira, which is shocking to Eragon, and together they take Brom to a cave to see if he will recover
-Days pass, and Brom finally wakes up, but the poison is doing its job and Brom hurriedly tells him his secrets, that he is a Dragon Rider as well and that was why he knew so much, and it was his job to train him to become a Dragon Rider to beat the evil emperor
-He passes away, and Eragon lays him to rest, but Saphira made the tomb beautiful, and they left with Murtagh to hunt down the Ra'zac
-After a couples day journey, they arrive at a small town that Murtagh has a friend in, and goes in to find him, sadly during that time, Eragon is ambushed by Urgals led by the Shade. imprisoned and drugged, the Shade asks for his name (in the ancient tongue, holds great power) and he scares him away with a ancient and powerful one.