Writing Fantasy Novels!! ........ A really intriguing and enticing prospect and a very good way to forget the problems that the real world presents us with. But when you want to do it commercially, then so much changes and you find yourself increasingly frustrated by the criticisms that you receive. It is true that you look forward to reviews so that you can improve yourself but when people point out something that you really enjoyed writing as a weak point in your script then you get annoyed. Readers don't really see what the writer would have gone through-and they are not obliged to-while writing the book. But there is one novel that I have seen to come under lots of negative feelings even though it isn't bad: The Inheritance Cycle.
People complain a lot about the series:
- They call Arya, the lead female character, a mary-sue
- They complain about Eragon, the lead main character to be too much 'naive'
- They insist the author copies completely from Star wars & Lord of the rings.
- They term Eragon to be too young
- They detest Arya for being unnaturally cold.
- They berate Arya to be too perfect to be true.
- They tend to compare this series with Tolkien's works.
I don't accept any of these allegations although there is some truth in certain things like Star wars, LOTR copying. I won't accept it as a complete copy as some people call it but rather 'extensive inspirations'. Let me explain why I came to the conclusion that none of the above accusations are valid by analysing each of them.
They call Arya, the lead female character, a mary-sue
First of all, this allegation doesn't even root from the book but rather from the movie which by no means is anywhere near the book. A 'mary-sue' is a character that people can't connect to real life. But Arya's is a powerful character: lives forever; now aged 100; lived among completely different races for 70 years; lost the only (living-forever) companions and tortured for no less than 5 months in the most gruelling manner fearing to have failed in the most important mission of your life..... think of such a thing happening to you. How will you react for the next 2 years?.... I daresay cold & uncaring about everything. This is what Arya goes through in the series and hence the cold facade that she wears. But she also is tough, strong and resilient putting all the misery away to do her duty. Hers is one of my all time favourite characters.
They complain about Eragon, the lead main character to be too much 'naive'
This accusation stems from his inability to kill Sloan, a traitor, his disliking of necessary killings, his 'blessing' of a child that turned into curse, his lenience toward the 12 urgals when travelling with Brom, his disliking of Murtagh killing Torkenbrand, a slaver among others. Of all these things only the mercy shown to Sloan and diske for killing are not from the first book, Eragon. Every other thing is from the first book and they happen because Eragon is intended to be 'naive' in the first book: imagine a young man thrust into things beyond imagination like magic, dragons, huge cities under mountains and gruel killings. That is what Eragon is in the first book. Now let us come to the mercy shown to Sloan: consider that you have been given power and you meet a man whom you have known for the whole of your lifetime who has recently turned into a traitor and you are basically a merciful person and don't like to kill even people you don't know at all. Will you kill the traitor? Can you bring yourself to do it? Especially when your real & ultimate enemy is one who killed people whom he had known most of his life and whom he 'considered' to be traitors?.... It certainly is a huge 'moral quandary'. You know the traitor has to be punished but not killed!!.. So what Eragon did in Brisingr was the appropriate course of action although a risky and unpleasant one. The disliking for the necessary killings is actually an obvious reaction for every person who is good at heart. But his dislike does not make him shirk away from killing as seen in Mercy, Dragon Rider chapter in Brisingr.
They insist the author copies completely from Star wars & Lord of the rings
As I said this accusation is not entirely devoid of truth. The concept of Elves, Humans, Dwarves as separate races is taken from LOTR and certain plot elements of the first & second books (Eragon & Eldest) have similarities with Star wars. But remember Christopher Paolini, the author was a 14 year old boy when he started writing the series. His basic idea was original: a boy with a friendly dragon achieving great feats. But he needed a start to the story: a 14 year old who is fascinated by LOTR and Star wars will surely have those stories nagging at the back of his mind always ; so by coincidence he started with Elves, Dwarves & Humans from the LOTR and also keep in mind that modern fantasy derives vastly from LOTR. The plot might have been influenced by star wars to start with, but it soon grew out of it and is now headed toward a wholly original terrain. But as Christopher has said himself, it was a 'classical fantasy' storyline where a young boy guided by wise old mentors takes on a mighty antagonist. [Question: I have noticed several similarities between the plot of the series and the original starwars films e.g: Large oppressive empire, evil, powerful emperor, who sends his aprentice out into the world, Being opposed by a rag-tag group of rebels. Red and Blue swords etc. Is this intentional, or just a coincidence? Christopher's answer: When I started Eragon, I was trying to write an archetypal hero story -- the sort of story that I enjoyed reading growing up. Those sorts of stories (whether you're looking at Star Wars, Harry Potter, or Wagner's Ring Cycle) all use similar elements: a young hero on a quest, a wise old mentor, an evil villain, magical swords, dragons, battles, romance, etc. I wanted to play with those elements and see if I could put my own stamp on them.]
They term Eragon to be too young
Possibly true. Because Eragon is just 16 years old. Consider yourself to be a 15 year old person: you are in the 'teens'. I am sure you will have considered yourself to be a fully grown man/woman. So will have each and every human may it be MK Gandhi or Adolf hitler or a local farmer. So come on: This was how Christopher must have felt-while he started Eragon-being a 15 year old boy. Thus Eragon's age of 16 is intended to be of an young man's. A boy who has just become an man. May be 21 or 18 would have been the right choice for Eragon's age. But how is Paolini to have known it when he was 15: not even the greatest psychologists know that they aren't fully grown men when they are 15. Even Paolini may now consider Eragon's age to be a little too young (he won't accept it-for fear of creating a bad impression with the readers), but always keep in mind that the number attached to the age-16-isn't important; what is important is that Eragon is a completely grown man (Eldest-chapter:Image of Perfection; Oromis speaks to Eragon-"While you are old enough to be considered a man among your people") according to the story. You may interpret it as 18 or 21 or even 25 if you consider that as the age when a person gets fully grown up. But I do have a problem with the timeline that Paolini attaches with the Series: According to him not even a year has passed (but close to it; may be about 10 or 11 months) since the beginning of the series (Arya's capture by Durza) to the events in Brisingr (Arya killing Varaug). But I tend to consider that about 18-20 months would be a better amount of time passed between Eragon's discovery of Saphira's Egg to Oromis's death.
They detest Arya for being unnaturally cold
I really don't see anything unnatural in Arya's behaviour. You have lost your closest friends and were captured and tortured beyond imagination. But you must not allow the misery these things bring to overwhelm you. You have to be strong. And you don't have many friends to share your misery with. It is perfectly natural to be stoic under these conditions. You will need a true friend to cry out your emotions; but until then you will keep them bottled up inside you. (See Brisingr-chapter: Shadows of Past where Arya opens up to Eragon). This is why Arya seems to be cold and you have a adorer on whom so much depends and you don't want to be a distraction to him; neither do you want to lose his friendship. How are you supposed to act? (Eldest-chapter:Image of Perfection; Oromis speaks to Eragon about Eragon's feelings for Arya)
They berate Arya to be too perfect to be true
Arya is portrayed to do things almost to perfection always in the books. This seems unnatural and unreal to people and they start saying that they 'hate' Arya's character for being 'too perfect'. It is true that she is shown to be perfect, but there are reasons for it and I am more than happy to explain them to people who don't see them. First of all she is an elf and elves are famous for being perfect. So what would their Princess be like? Next whenever Arya makes an appearance she is seen through Eragon's eyes and Eragon is in love with her. Do you know a person who thinks that his 'lady love' isn't perfect? Arya has her own shortcomings and those will be clear to her but not Eragon (Eldest-chapter: Drifting; Arya speaks to Eragon about his scar from Durza: "I am neither the wisest nor the strongest elf."). In Eragon's adoring eyes she would always be perfect. Further, she has had 70 years to hone her skills: didn't anybody see that Brom was perfect and Oromis?.... Only because Eragon adores Arya does her perfection take on a more visible stance.
They tend to compare this series with Tolkien's works
This is the biggest folly that is done by many people. How can you in your good conscience put a youngster like Christopher Paolini to such a test? Tolkien was a master. To compare Paolini's works with Tolkien's is really laughable-nothing more. Let it be known that Tolkien devoted his entire life to build middle earth. Whereas Paolini has got just 10 years till now to build Alagaesia. You see? They are just incomparable. Tolkien was a Linguist. A professor of Anglo-saxon at Oxford!! Whereas Paolini; He had just finished high school when he started writing the book. Obviously, he will commit lots of mistakes. But even with these odds stacked against him, he has done wonderfully well. I mean his writing has been developing over the years very well and if he can keep increasing his skills, he could very well become a pretty good writer. Let it be known that his three books to this day (Eragon, Eldest & Brisingr) have not been stupid by any means. They have been really good books even if they are not anywhere near creations like The Hobbit, LOTR or Silmarillion.
Further there are lots of bright spots that I would like to point out about the Inheritance Cycle:
They term Eragon to be too young
Possibly true. Because Eragon is just 16 years old. Consider yourself to be a 15 year old person: you are in the 'teens'. I am sure you will have considered yourself to be a fully grown man/woman. So will have each and every human may it be MK Gandhi or Adolf hitler or a local farmer. So come on: This was how Christopher must have felt-while he started Eragon-being a 15 year old boy. Thus Eragon's age of 16 is intended to be of an young man's. A boy who has just become an man. May be 21 or 18 would have been the right choice for Eragon's age. But how is Paolini to have known it when he was 15: not even the greatest psychologists know that they aren't fully grown men when they are 15. Even Paolini may now consider Eragon's age to be a little too young (he won't accept it-for fear of creating a bad impression with the readers), but always keep in mind that the number attached to the age-16-isn't important; what is important is that Eragon is a completely grown man (Eldest-chapter:Image of Perfection; Oromis speaks to Eragon-"While you are old enough to be considered a man among your people") according to the story. You may interpret it as 18 or 21 or even 25 if you consider that as the age when a person gets fully grown up. But I do have a problem with the timeline that Paolini attaches with the Series: According to him not even a year has passed (but close to it; may be about 10 or 11 months) since the beginning of the series (Arya's capture by Durza) to the events in Brisingr (Arya killing Varaug). But I tend to consider that about 18-20 months would be a better amount of time passed between Eragon's discovery of Saphira's Egg to Oromis's death.
They detest Arya for being unnaturally cold
I really don't see anything unnatural in Arya's behaviour. You have lost your closest friends and were captured and tortured beyond imagination. But you must not allow the misery these things bring to overwhelm you. You have to be strong. And you don't have many friends to share your misery with. It is perfectly natural to be stoic under these conditions. You will need a true friend to cry out your emotions; but until then you will keep them bottled up inside you. (See Brisingr-chapter: Shadows of Past where Arya opens up to Eragon). This is why Arya seems to be cold and you have a adorer on whom so much depends and you don't want to be a distraction to him; neither do you want to lose his friendship. How are you supposed to act? (Eldest-chapter:Image of Perfection; Oromis speaks to Eragon about Eragon's feelings for Arya)
They berate Arya to be too perfect to be true
Arya is portrayed to do things almost to perfection always in the books. This seems unnatural and unreal to people and they start saying that they 'hate' Arya's character for being 'too perfect'. It is true that she is shown to be perfect, but there are reasons for it and I am more than happy to explain them to people who don't see them. First of all she is an elf and elves are famous for being perfect. So what would their Princess be like? Next whenever Arya makes an appearance she is seen through Eragon's eyes and Eragon is in love with her. Do you know a person who thinks that his 'lady love' isn't perfect? Arya has her own shortcomings and those will be clear to her but not Eragon (Eldest-chapter: Drifting; Arya speaks to Eragon about his scar from Durza: "I am neither the wisest nor the strongest elf."). In Eragon's adoring eyes she would always be perfect. Further, she has had 70 years to hone her skills: didn't anybody see that Brom was perfect and Oromis?.... Only because Eragon adores Arya does her perfection take on a more visible stance.
They tend to compare this series with Tolkien's works
This is the biggest folly that is done by many people. How can you in your good conscience put a youngster like Christopher Paolini to such a test? Tolkien was a master. To compare Paolini's works with Tolkien's is really laughable-nothing more. Let it be known that Tolkien devoted his entire life to build middle earth. Whereas Paolini has got just 10 years till now to build Alagaesia. You see? They are just incomparable. Tolkien was a Linguist. A professor of Anglo-saxon at Oxford!! Whereas Paolini; He had just finished high school when he started writing the book. Obviously, he will commit lots of mistakes. But even with these odds stacked against him, he has done wonderfully well. I mean his writing has been developing over the years very well and if he can keep increasing his skills, he could very well become a pretty good writer. Let it be known that his three books to this day (Eragon, Eldest & Brisingr) have not been stupid by any means. They have been really good books even if they are not anywhere near creations like The Hobbit, LOTR or Silmarillion.
Further there are lots of bright spots that I would like to point out about the Inheritance Cycle:
- Christopher wanted to use magic in his books; but didn't want to make the whole story unrealistic by making people use magic without any restrictions. So he brought about the concept of changing energy into magic. It effectively reduced the whole unnaturalness of the situation and even took up a scientific outlook.
- The settings of the scenes are explained elaborately helping the readers form a very good picture of the places described in their mind's eye.
- As Paolini himself states the emotional problems that his characters face in his stories are a way to develop the originality of the characters that become larger than life due to the extraordinary powers given to them. These scenes may increase the length of the book but they really help in establishing the characters. And I don't mind reading large books; In fact I love to read large books because they take us into the world described in such books.
- The chapters written in Saphira's point of view in the third book Brisingr are really master class. They established so much about her personality. And they signified the development of Paolini as a writer.
That is amazing. I love these books. I do believe Paolini could have done a little better with Eldest-it wasn't up to the standard set by Eragon- but the other two that have been released are some of the best books I've read.
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