JD’s Comments (group member since Jul 09, 2008)

JD’s comments from the Christopher Paolini (INHERITANCE CYCLE series) group.

Brittany wrote: "However...the whole Riders/Dragons dying thing is not correct. I believe CP has said on multiple occasions that if a Rider dies, their dragon "dies" (ie. inhabits it's eldunari)."

It would be interesting to hear CPs take on it for sure. I'll have to look around. The books lead me to believe, however, that dragons can live on. Here is a quote from Brisngr, pg. 637.

"Some dragons were able to overcome their loss--as were some riders, such as Brom--and continued to server our order for many years afterward, either through their flesh or through their heart of hearts."

To me it sounds like he is saying some dragons lived on, but I could be wrong.

Sarah wrote: "If riders die, so do their dragons, as we learnt in the first book and witnessed in the third."

That is actually a common misconception that most people got from watching the Movie. The book explains that the dragon and the rider are so close that when another dies it causes so much grief that often the other doesn't want to go on and would commit suicide(see Brisngr pg. 637, top of the page).

I'm assuming you are talking about Oromis and Glaedr when referencing book 3. Oromis gets killed by Murtagh and then Glaedr gets killed by Thorn. He doesn't die because Oromis died.

Also, there are several instances of riders not dying when their dragon dies, specifically Brom and Galbatorix. Oromis actually says the reason Galbatorix is probably insane is because of his dragon being killed.

Hope that cleared up what the movie made very unclear.

Here is a crazy green egg/dragon theory I thought of during my reread (kind of long sorry, but it needed references from the book so it didn't sound TOO crazy):
In Brisingr when Oromis is telling Eragon about Saphira's egg being stolen (chapter is called "Geneology") he explains that the Varden sent in some guy who for some unknown reason was only able to grab one of the three eggs. After he stole the egg he ran away with it. Morzan eventually caught up with him and got back Saphira's egg which Brom ultimately got back from Morzan after he killed him. Ok, so I think that this guy who took Saphira's egg in the first place stole the Green egg as well and got rid of it before Morzan found him.
So some elf found it and it hatched for him on the Stone of the Broken Eggs. If you remember in Eldest when Eragon and Saphira go there Eragon steps on a GREEN egg shell. Eventually the dragon and rider are found out by Galbatorix and he finds their true names and enslaves them. He wants to keep them hidden so he doesn't send the dragon out.
During Eldest when the people of Carvahall are sailing to Surda Galbatorix sends several ships after them, one of which has the green dragons rider on it. After the Roran and everyone makes it through the boar's eye you'll remember Galbatorix's ships get sucked in. Right before they disappear in the big whirlpool an arrow gets shot from one of the ships and goes much farther than a normal arrow. Its covered in GREEN flames and hits Roran's boat and they have to put it out.
At that point the green rider dies. The dragon is so upset that his true name changes and he escapes from Galbatorix. He hides and eventually comes to the Varden seeking revenge on Galbatorix. He selects someone (Arya, Roran, etc...) to ride him only for the sake of overthrowing Galbatorix.

So basically this is based on a few facts from the books I thought were strange. One of CP's greatest traits is he is very detailed though, so its hard to tell when a little fact like a arrow in green flames is important or just another detail he is adding in. Anyway, thats it.