i suppose brom could have hoped that eragon could be the next rider, and the thief dosn't have to be any one special which is what ive always thot, but he could be, becasue CP does do a good job giving hints about things, but i think that some things are just part of the story.

mabie murtagh and Ajihads daughter (can't think of her name for some reason) had a fling
their a couple on myspace

well angela knows everything . also brom probably knows of murtagh and therefore told ajihad. and i dont know why selena named eragon eragon.

i dont have any idea who the thief is though

I think the thief would have defiantly been very powerful due to the fact that he actually got to the eggs. If he was a normal human, the eggs would have been stolen a long time ago...

brom is the one who stole the egg isn't he???

brom took the egg after the thief didnt return

I'm 90% sure it was Jeod who was the "thief" but I'm pretty sure the one who actually got the egg was Brom.

no jeod went with brom to retrieve teh egg from the theif

oh....ok, i think i might know who it is. I need to check to be sure but...caterpillar

who is it?

I'm going to check and make sure...it probably isnt who i think it is but...

well can u tell us who you think it is?

i think...Nasuadas mom...

it could be her sinse we know nothing about her

THE THIEF IS MORZAN ISN'T IT BECAUSE DIDN'T HE STEAL THE EGGS!! I THINK SELENA KNEW ERAGON WAS GOING TO BE THE NEXT RIDER!!

Actually, it's neither. Here's the exceprt:

“So many questions,” laughed Brom bitterly. “There is another chapter to all this, one that took place long before you were born. Back then I was a bit younger though perhaps not as wise. I hated the Empire─for reasons I’ll keep to myself─and wanted to damage it in any way I could. My fervor led me to a scholar, Joed, who claimed to have discovered a book that showed a secret passageway into Galbatorix’s castle. I eagerly bought Joed to the Varden─who are my ‘friends’─and they arranged to have the eggs stolen.”
The Varden!
“However, something went amiss, and our thief got only one egg. For some reason he fled with it and didn’t return to the Varden. When he wasn’t found, Joed and I were sent to bring him and the egg back.” Brom’s eye grew distant, and he spoke in a curious voice. Eragon, 225-6


My guess is that Selena was the thief, and even though CP is using the third person male proniun, it may have been Brom trying to cover Selena's involvement. After all, Eragon allways has tons of question, so Brom may have used the male pronoun to avoid having to go into deeper details with Eragon. Just my humble theory.

why would selena risk her life to steal a dragon egg. unless she was doing it for brom