Sudharman Sitaraman
asked
Christopher Paolini:
This question contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[I could not fit in my last question in the previous message, which is why I am writing this. I want to ask which languages you borrow from to create the various languages of Alagäesia? I know for a fact that Tolkien took some things from Finnish for his elven language, and seeing that you must have taken some inspiration from him, I would like to study what you drew inspiration from for your language. (hide spoiler)]
Christopher Paolini
When I was writing the first draft of Eragon, I needed to invent a word that meant fire; it was supposed to come from an ancient language that is always used with magic. To begin my research, I flipped through a dictionary of word origins and eventually found an Old Norse word, brisingr, which meant fire. I loved it so much that I decided to base the rest of my language on Old Norse, so I went online and dug up dictionaries and guides to learn more. I invented words based on what I found, and then formed a system of grammar and a pronunciation guide to fit my world. Developing this was probably the most difficult part of writing the books. The dwarf and Urgal languages I created for Eragon were worked up completely from scratch.
More Answered Questions
Jordan
asked
Christopher Paolini:
Hi Christopher, will your Sci-fi novel be YA novel or will it be more adult Orientated?
Will
asked
Christopher Paolini:
I'm in the tabletop gaming industry and am really interested about if it would be possible to do Eragon in a board/card game? I understand you've said before that 20th Century Fox owns the rights to Eragon - but typically those things include only the content related to the movie. For example, FFG does Game of Thrones games based on the books, but not the show. All contracts are different, so I figured I'd ask?
Christopher Paolini
42,183 followers
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