Me? The Belt, The Vault of Souls, the involvement of the third rider and how they didn't do ANYTHING to defeat Galb, Angela, Murtaugh, Arya, Saphira's mating and Eragon's lack of courtmenship.

and above all: Chris's nerve to say that he'll revisit the land he spent 12 years dragging out.

in Arya's defence she did not become rider until after galbatorix's death and it was also proffosised that eragon alone would be the fall of galbatorix

agreed

I absolutely loath the fact that Eragon and Arya are not together. When i finished the book i was like "what the heck is this???" At the end that was all i was waiting for and it would have been PERFECT. Arya clearly digs him, she cries when she finds out he is leaving. that is a given. so why not finish it off.

OR add a section on the end that is like 10-20-50 years later showing them together?

Damn you Chris!


My favorite part is definitely how Galby died. He kills himself because of the Realization of the grief hes caused! CLASSIC!!! Not to mention i think this keeps the hands of the riders "pure". Galby killed them but in the end, they did not bloody their hands. Which in a way i can see being the moral and Rider thing to do.

the reason arya and eragon are not together is because they needed some one to train the new riders when they came and eragon was leaving so he could help the eldanure.

very good points and i agree that would have made a horrible ending

When the defeation of Galbatorix was not very epic, a light exploded which killed him.

The ending was so weak. He leaves and can't come to visit... why? If others will become riders, then they have to come to him. Where is Arya going to get her training as a rider? There were clearly a lot of nuances to fighting as a rider rather than fighting on your own that only a rider could teach. Beyond that, why can't he visit once there are others to take care of the dragons? And what was so wrong with the dragons being in Du Weldenvarden again, perhaps north of the map? And seriously, why is it like to the right of the map of Alagaesia is the edge of the earth? There's seriously never been any explorers who've gone down that river?

It's implied that the map is what is considered "Alagaesia" and anything off of the map is considered another continent. That's why Eragon going east is considered leaving Alagaesia (I totally thought that he was going to go west across the sea, like in LOTR).

There's still no good reason why he can't visit. I still don't understand the whole thing about him being too powerful. Does he not trust himself to not abuse his power? I understand that he can't take any role in politics, but that doesn't mean he has to effectively not exist.

Which is exactly why he should refuse all manipulation. He isn't stupid. He's proved that much. He holds the power, but he doesn't have to use it as a dictator does, or at all. That's the difference between him and Galbatorix... other than the obvious not-evil/evil thing.

He's immortal. I'm sure he can find time to visit. Also, places for dragons to live? All they have to do is find a mountain or canyon and start digging. It's not rocket science.

"Eventually" is right. Saphira isn't anywhere near mountain sized, and she won't be for centuries.

I think you're thinking too hard. I don't recall him using that reasoning himself, so I hardly see how it holds. If it were an issue, it would be a good issue to bring up. Also, you do not mess with a dragon rider's family, especially if the dragon rider happens to be all-powerful. That could happen, but he could always scry Roran and cast wards from there, if not AOE spells. He has enough magic with the eldunari that it wouldn't kill him to cast over distance.

By far the most annoying thing was the ending. It sucked. Eragon is the most powerful person ever. He could've easily protected the dragons. He has so much energy, he CHANGED THE SPELL BINDING ELVES, HUMANS, AND DRAGONS! How is it possible that he can't even clean up Vroengard from the poison? He did for Urubaen. Horrible ending to an amazing book

The story lacks closure. Chris does not need to leave plot elements hanging to get people to want to read the next novel like a TV soap opera. He should have closed most major plot threads. Even if he did this there would be plenty of scope for future series / book.

To be more specific:
Arya should have gone with Eragon. The closing scene was contrived to in an attempt to ensure prophecy are fulfilled yet it is blatantly twisted.

Eragon never grows up enough to lead the Riders. He ends up carrying around some Enduri advisers and they agree to lend him some power for awhile. But he still knows less than all but the youngest elven children and has a superficial appreciation of other living creatures in Alagaesia.

Chris admits he changed the ending because he could get Eragon to grow up enough on the return trip from Vroengard. http://shurtugal.com/2011/12/10/first-p ... -and-more/
It would have been far better if he used magic to stretch time as Galbatorix did when trying to convert Nasuada. Eragon with the Eldunari knowledge and power could have slowed time using so the return trip took 10 years. Enough time for him and his tutors/Masters to train his mind with their expert guidance. He would then learn a deep understanding of all the creatures, and their history so could full empathise with them. He would be in relative sensory deprivation so would come out hyper sensitive to his environment. He would age in a similar manner to Elva as he would feel the suffering of war for 10yrs longer than anyone else.

At the completion of the trip his energy would be drained (having consumed 10yrs worth of it), uncoordinated (having not been connected to a real time environment for 10yrs). He would have sacrificed his youth for the greater good. He would have then been in a much better position to cast an Empathy spell. He would then have had the maturity to lead the new rider order and rehabilitate the broken dragon Eldunari. He could have show Arya empathy not lust. The roles could even have been reversed as Eragon would understand Arya was an Elf so could be his mate for 10 or 100 yrs but would eventually leave which would destroy him. Out of Eragon's desire to save Arya this fate he would try to stop their relationship from growing. Arya then gets her green dragon, becomes more dragon than elf ensuring they are finally suited to each other so can depart together.

Similarly his relationship with Elva would mature. She would feel his pains (10yrs war, lost love) and realise he has suffered far more than her. He would also be in a position to treat Elva as his daughter and help numb her pain after Galbatorix downfall.

The Menoa tree wish could also feed into this if the tree gave Eragon empathy for plants, a feeling which would grow with time so on return from Vroengard he would feel plants like Linnea (making him more Elf than and Elf) similarly in his hypersensitive state may feel rock like a Dwarf (he already feel life in all places during his final training with Oromis). Thus positioning him to eventually take on his final role of watching the watcher and avoiding a repeat of the earlier riders downfall.

I agree with gomenesigh. There were many valid reasons that Eragon and Arya could not be together it would not be good if he had had them get together and as for leaving (because people are mad about that for some reason), it was the only solution there was no alternative.

Indeed that is how Christopher Paolini actually finished writing the series, but not as it was initially planned. We differ on which we prefer.

With the initially planned ending yes but not as it was modified so Murtagh lives and Arya stays behind. With this ending his argument that he has become too powerful and will eventually miss use his power makes no sense. Murtagh knows the word. Arya is almost certainly a more powerful rider than him.

Eragon could experience about a day for each flap Saphira’s wings. Spending time with each of his tutors and getting to know them as individuals, learning from their experiences. Learning about the creatures of Alagaësia as the Eldunarí have for the past 100 years in the vault of souls. A process I assume would be similar to opening his mind on the stump in the glade he started to learn with Oromis. (Doing so in a war ravaged country for 10 years is going to take his innocence of youth. He would experiencing a fair amount of the pain he later gives to Galbatorix with his empathy spell). He would learn to fluently speak all the major languages used in Alagaësia including the dragon’s native tongue. Enabling him to truly learn from Valdr and later to be instrumental in rehabilitating the Eldunarí broken by Galbatorix.

You are correct the book would need only 10 pages or so with each of his teacher to introduce their personalities and major lessons. Illustrating Eragons changing views and mental abilities (mentally fend off/attacking one/multiple Eldunarí, empathy for more peoples and creatures, elf nature and ultimate doom of a riders love for one, that his love for Arya has continued to grow over the 10 year journey and in fact he needs it to maintain his sanity and fight against Galbatorix).

The essence of this approach is Eragon actively learning for as long as any normal rider should rather than the passive learning Christopher Paolini used. After which the reader would feel Eragon was a changed person, enabling Eragon to be more mature at the conclusion of the series.

There would be many ways to illustrate the change on Eragon's return. One possibility is to have Arya bring his needed sustenance on return and find him apparently singing to the life by a creek as the elves would, but then to realise he is singing with not to the creatures and so surpassing the eves ways. Once restored Eragon could attempt the Rimgar, initially failing the lower levels then displaying grace in the later levels as his mind reconnects with his body. As a twist Eragon could maintain 6 independent spells controlling 6 tiny drops of water as he trains himself, a fact Arya notices late in the exercise. It would be good to see Islanzadí greet Eragon on return with Eragon initiating it but after their meeting Islanzadí realising her mistake and take the submissive role. Eragon would always take the submissive role with Arya as she holds his heart, a fact which would confuse Arya as she would now feel in he far surpasses her. Orik would think him mad for feeling the emotions of and individual plant but would change his mind when Eragon demonstrated his feeling for rocks when addressing him. Perhaps by describing the dwarf sleeping location and battle plan in terms of rock formations and feel not normal geographic location in the native dwarf language.

Fírnen has already hatched. Eragon is nowhere near ready to teach Arya anything.
Galbatorix had 100 Eldunarí all of which need rehabilitation. He is nowhere near ready to lead this which he should be as leader or the riders.
New rides were initially trained by more experienced riders not their own race because only the older riders understood the real responsibility of being a rider and could guard against abuse of power and the danger unique to being a rider. Eragon needs to be ready to train a new rider the moment any new link forms.

Elva would know the moment she encounters him that he had suffered far more than her just by feeling the depth of his pain. Eragon would in turn would truly be able to empathise with her and accept her for what she is. He would realise she is his creation and in a sense his child. He could then care for her as his child, reducing her pain as any parent would wish to do.

Take independence vs giving empathy / responsibility; there is not a lot of difference. It would be an excellent way for the tree to protect its fellows. Having one of the most powerful beings in Alagaësia truly understand and thus be responsible for the plants would have been a very smart move by Linnëa. As for it being too generous, I don't think Galbatorix felt that way after Eragon did the same thing to him.

http://shurtugal.com/2011/12/10/first-p ... -and-more/
Mike Macauley: Did you always plan to end the series the way you did, with Eragon leaving Alagaesia with Saphira and Arya staying behind?

Christopher Paolini: The ending evolved as I wrote the story. Originally, Eragon and Arya were to leave together, Roran was going to become king, and Queen Islanzadí — well, at first I was going to kill her, then I decided to let her live, and then I decided that if Arya was to stay, Islanzadí had to die after all.
....
Christopher Paolini: Originally, my idea was that Eragon’s exposure to the Eldunarí in Vroengard would mature him so quickly (sort of like what happened to him physically during the Blood-oath Celebration) that when he returned, Arya would see that he was now grown up and would be willing to have a relationship with him. However, doing that was too big a shift in Eragon’s character.

I don't like how everything went rather perfectly just for that downer ending. Sure there are "reasons" canonically, but there's no good reason why it was written like that. They seem less like "reasons" and more like "excuses" for the ending to be like that.

The loose ends were very irksome. Like Patch said, he could have brought far more closure and still had enough material to write in the coming years. That said, I thought Eragon and Arya separating (for the time being) was the right thing as long as it's only for the time being. It would make no sense if they didn't see or talk to each other again given their positions as friends, teachers and dragon riders. Becoming romantically involved is just a matter of time. I say this because sharing true names is a very rare practice and I can't see Eragon or Arya wanting to be with anyone they can't do this with. Also Arya's role as Queen and a dragon rider is at best a temporary situation. Eventually, the Riders will be able to stand on their own and they were never meant to be rulers.

Eragon leaving Alagaesia because he became too powerful made perfect sense. Yes, Murtagh and Arya know the true name of the ancient language as well however unlike Eragon, they don't have near the influence he does over the humans and dwarves. And after killing Galbatorix, even the elves and the urgals in general treat Eragon with a sense of awe. Like he said, as long as he was there everyone else's authority would always be in doubt including Arya's. And Patch, Eragon is the more powerful Rider. Paolini himself stated that even without their dragons or any other external means of power, it would be close (with Arya) but the stronger one would be Eragon. With the eldunari, Eragon according to Paolini left three with Arya but he has the rest. The Vault of Souls and Galbatorix's. He was actually even more powerful than Galbatorix at the height of his power. As for experience and knowledge? Yes, at the end of Inheritance, there's nothing Eragon can teach Arya about swordmanship and magic, she would beat him in any test about science, history, math, etc. However, in time Eragon will catch up because he will also have decades and eventually centuries to learn as well. In the end, it will balance itself out.

eragon dream in the first book two people together leaving and one person behind there one person stand and shout ı thought was eragon and arya leave together but she turn back and like eragon its hurt my hearth he is not alone some elf,eldunari and shapria go with him but ı wanted arya go with him to.I hope cp write another book about alagesia so many things is still unknown.And sorry my terrible english

we want fifth book

It has been confirmed that Paolini will write a fifth book and that things will change between Eragon and Arya in the future. In his words, they're "far from over."

What's most irksome is the fact that he left just about everything hanging and unfinished! Plus he's gonna take a break! Not cool! Who knows when next we will see eragon?!?! It could be ten years for all we know!! That's frustrating to say the least.

I didn't like that eragon and Arya didn't get their happy ending ❤️

Honestly, I was never interested in the romance enough to be disappointed by the fact that Eragon and Arya didn't end up together. I never really liked Arya that much. Or any of the other elves for that matter. Bunch of self-righteous freaks.

My biggest problems were as follows:

1: Eragon leaving at the end. He left because Angela's prophesy said so, basically. That was dumb. Oh wait, he wanted to find a suitable place to rebuild the Riders. Because apparently Alagaesia has a shortage of isolated, remote places like enchanted forests and huge mountain ranges.

2. I agree with DD that the Varden was seriously overpowered and that the werecats were a waste of time.

3. The Vault of Souls felt like a major cop-out. And also, why was it just eldunari and eggs? Why didn't the old Riders find some way to put an adult dragon in there? They could use some kind of spell to put the dragon to sleep until the vault is opened or something. I mean, assuming that no adult dragons survived outside the vault, who's gonna take care of all those hatchlings?

4. Arya killing Shruikan with the magic spear thingy. She drove it through his eye if I remember correctly. Problem is, given how massive the book describes him as being, sticking a spear in his eye would be like sticking a thumb tack in your eye. I simply don't see how that could kill a dragon Shruikan's size. It would certainly hurt but would otherwise just piss him off even more.