I just think he can raise the dead, there's not much proof behind it and that your probably right but there's a chance that Eragon can raise the dead... a very small chance that he can raise the dead.

It would also add a bit of a twist into the book.

If Eragon could raise the dead, what would stop him from putting a ward on a piece of jewelry like Aren, that has energy in it, to automatically bring himself back? That would destroy the story, practically making him fully immortal, not the vulnerable immortal he is right now. He would just fight Galby until he was killed, wait a second for the ward to activate, and go at him again until Galby died or ran out of any significant amounts of energy.

I don't know but something tells me he can raise the dead, even if everything tells me he can't.

But what is this something? It goes against every thing that has been said in the books. And it goes against all sense of logic as well.

Eragon might be the only free rider right now, but he is not special! He is just one out of many riders that has lived. Why would he of all people be granted the power of a God? Why would he be granted the gift of life and death?

Again, there's nothing to say that it would be just him. It has nothing to do with how special or not special he is or isn't, it's just whether he of many people would ever be able to. It's also not a question of whether he should be able to raise the dead. Or how long it would take him to learn how. Just, could he.

Although actually with the way it's written, it's can he...as in...right now...which would probably be a "No"...don't really know, as he hasn't really tried it yet...but still

In the books Eragon probably will not raise the dead, but I want to see him raise the dead.

Eragon probably will not raise the dead - because he probably can't - but I reall want to see him do it!

Personally I think it's far more likely that a dragon (Saphira, Thorn) might succeed at bringing someone back from the dead, after all they're the ones who sometimes defy the laws of magic and around whom unusual things tend to occur. Though this has the problem that almost any event a dragon could experience in book 4, a dragon in the past probably would have experienced a similar event. This raises the question what would make the "new" dragons so special.

Yeah. I think raising the dead might come up in book four, which'll be cool

Magic don't hold the power of the dead. Simply because the dead don't exist any more. If you die, you are gone. Magic is for the living and lives it self on energy. You can't bring something back that doesn't exist.

Sorry about the fact that the logic in the post relies upon A-level physics.

Technically all a "soul" physically is, is a specific arrangement of particles (ie: in the form of a human body, brain and so forth) and force carriers (ie: photons) all of which have their own specific position and momentum (speed, direction and energy (energy is related to mass (famous equation e=mc^2))). However it defies the laws of physics to accurately duplicate such a 'system'. This is because to duplicate such a system you would need to accurately know the location the position and momentum of every force carrier (iffy, i know) and particle. This is currently believed to be impossible due to the heisenberg uncertainty principle, which states that it is impossible to know exactly both an objects position and it's momentum at the same time, the more accurately you know one the more uncertain you are about the other. Hence you can't copy or re-create such a system or indeed a 'soul'. Having established that re-creating a soul (ie: bringing a person back to life) 'breaks' the laws of physics as we know them I can finally get to the point of this post.

In the books so far paolini has tried to ensure that magic obey's the laws of physics ie: conservation of energy. I faintly remember Paolini making reference to this fact in an old interview. (I would be grateful if anyone could find a quote for me) Having kept magic within the laws of physics in the books so far I don't think that he is going to violate them in the last book by allowing eragon to raise the dead.

I am sorry in anything in this post offends anyone, the reference to souls earlier strictly applies on only a physical level I make no reference anywhere to what souls are spiritually.

First lengthy post since I came back, man am I out of practice.

So does this mean the fact if Eragon went raise the dead, he'll still get his energy drained out of him as a lot of people said earlier.

it means for anything to have enough information to raise the dead it 'would ' have to defy the laws of physics

I agree, He could probably make Brom's body have some sort of life, but not ever like Brom's old self.

I read kind of in a hurry and for all I'm worth I cannot recall if the seven words Brom told Eragon came up. That's what happens when you skim instead of reading. Then I had to hand the book over to Marie...God knows when I'll have it back in my hands.
Can anyone verify or help me out?

Raising the dead might kill Eragon but if CP does decide to make him do it, it'll certainly be an interesting turn.

maybe cp'll make eragon raise the and kill him.

I personally think he could for two reasons.
1. In the book when he knew the name of names and returned to brom's tomb he was talking with the eldunari or saphira or one of the dragon's about this idea he had and they told him it might be a bad idea because the brain could be messed up and he wouldnt to have to live with him being like that.
2. While it might take all of his energy to bring someone back to life he has the ability to draw from his surrondings. And theorecticly he could drain the area around him of life to bring some one back to life.

Well Book 4 is released now - so all our questions will be answered .

no not really :p

CP is planning on writing new books set in Alagaesia, so, maybe then...

not if Valdr is there
"leave the dead to the earth, they are not for us."

If he could with his knowledge, then Galbatorix could have as well, and he didn't. If he could, he would have resurrected the Riders and bound them under his control, but, obviously, that wasn't the case.