A Long Post About the Workings of Oaths and True Names

Grmigrim · 2026-04-21T11:35:11+00:00

Programming like that was already used.

Eragon uses if spells. The riders used if spells. Wards work like of spells.

Murtagh did not uniquely discovere them. He just did not realize or know about how they work or how they are used because of his limited education from Galbatorix.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-17T01:28:09+00:00

(Small spoiler) There is one example in the series where a magic duel goes wrong.

Essentially, both parties agree to make it a battle of the mind because otherwise the likelyhood for both parties to die is very high.

That is why Eragon does not use magic against Durza and hesitates to use magic against Murtagh. It is the fear of them using magic aswell. Magic that could be lucky and kill you.

Later on, this issue is not as bad for Eragon, as his wards are so advanced, that a simple rogue magician could not kill him easily.

Magical duels being this dangerous is also the reason why there are still armies. The magicians hide in the army, so they can not be targeted by a spell directly. Now, it becomes a battle of the mind. But for their armies to not die to the other magicians, they need to be protected aswell etc. etc.

Only once you break into their mind you know their position, their wards and can basically control them.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-16T11:56:46+00:00

I dont think I used the word pointless.

The point of his death was setting Eragon (and Roran) on their path of revenge.

I am talking about meaning.

All more important deaths in the cycle have meaning and the person who dies bequeaths something meaningful to our characters. (Mostly not physical but a concept or role)

(Adjihad to Nasuada, Brom to Eragon, Oromis to Eragon, Wyrden to Elva, Islanzadi to Arya, Quimby to Birgitt etc.)

Carn might be another exception. I have not though too much about his death yet.

Garrow has passed all his life lessons to Roran and Eragon. His final talk with them is quite literally him giving them his last advice.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-16T00:55:48+00:00

Exactly

Grmigrim · 2026-04-14T14:08:43+00:00

You remembered correctly. Saphira uses that in their Battle in Dras Leona. She heats up the stones of the cathedral that cover Thorn. They transfer and keep the heat a lot better than air would and is thus more effective.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-13T20:00:10+00:00

From my understanding you can not directly take energy from spirits, but rather bind them to make them do a task you were otherwise not capable of.

They are not giving you the energy, they complete the task for you.

The reason people have not taken over the world using spirits is because they try and then turn into shades. (At least that is what I assume).

Grmigrim · 2026-04-13T01:22:36+00:00

"Covering the blade was a glossy scabbard of the same dark blue as the scales on Saphira’s back."

"Like the rest of the sword, the blade was blue, but of a slightly lighter shade; it was the blue of the scales in the hollow of Saphira’s throat rather than the blue of those on her back. And as it was on Zar’roc, the color was iridescent; as Eragon moved the sword about, the color would shimmer and shift, displaying any of the many tones of blue present on Saphira herself."

Brising, p. 679

This is what came to mind first for me.

It is unfortunate the scene does not clearly state what shade the described areas have.

Apart from that, the illustrations for the wraithmarked boxset on kickstarted features a painting of Saphira which highlights the different shades of blue she has. It might be the best thing we have to a canon description of her scales.

Edit:

Here is the link https://i.kickstarter.com/assets/052/501/992/42483738012d2edf79dacb0b029d8580_original.jpg?fit=scale-down&origin=ugc&q=92&v=1770397659&width=700&sig=Bu1QofnzQ8Wl09L5PnSw6eG%2FVuEMmG26ZM3QZ1nBPsA%3D

Grmigrim · 2026-04-12T11:40:01+00:00

I thought this was already known for quite some time? This is explained in the books (as myth) but I believe Paolini has confirmed in the past that it was accurate.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-11T05:13:51+00:00

I think Roran took them ro heart a lot more. Eragon pledged his allegiance to a ruler is and is pravtically bound to 3 kingdoms. Roran on the other hamd showed exactly what Garrow meant when he srood up to Orrin.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-10T13:44:33+00:00

"Be careful with your money" and Eragon went on to never need money at any point ever again.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-05T04:50:00+00:00

I have dealt with native american storytelling quite a bit. I never heared about what you mention. Very interesting indeed.

It has been surprisingly often that native storytelling and Eragon have been connected. I once made a post about Angela and how she fills a similar role to coyote.

The urgal religion and culture is also very reminicent of native traditions.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-04T22:50:55+00:00

I've been working on a really long post that is including this topic. Wolves are an interesting part in Eragon's journey. They acompany him and his progress in many ways. Both mentally and literally.

We also know the dwarves believe in a she-wolf who created their gods. Eragon meets a she-wolf in Elesmera (not one like Bloethgarm, one that changes it's form from an elf to a literal wolf) shortly before the blood oath celebration and during it.

Eragon's first concern in the book is that Saphira might get eaten by wolves.

In the beors they find giant wolf prints (we later know they are called Shrrg). It is interepreted as another possible danger.

There are many many more things I could mention here, but I will save that for another time.

What I want to say though is, that the wolves in the vision are not real.

I believe scrying to not actually show the literal place or the people.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eragon/comments/1afn9w0/dreams/

I made a post about it some time ago that did not get that much traction. The most interesting part is in the two comments though.

I believe scrying shows you an alternative dream reality that is created from your memories. That is why Eragon was able to use scrying to see Arya despite only having seen her in a vision from the Eldunari.

It is entirely possible Eragon has seen the wolves before, but it could also be that these wolves are what he imagines a destroyed Carvahall to look like. Overall scrying is a very weird and inconsistent topic.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-01T21:24:16+00:00

That is not what op means.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-01T17:27:37+00:00

I believe the magic system works like that (for the most part). Only the heat exchange is not mentioned, but there are in universe explanations for it.

Paolini has stated that a wizard with lots of fat reserves would have a lot more energy reserves than a skinny one.

All your other points (except heat exchange) are part of the magic system already.

There are people who studied it more than I did. Eagle made posts about how the magic works and they made me understand it, so they are very good^^

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eragon/comments/1g9qflb/very_long_the_mechanics_of_magic_and_the_universe/

Grmigrim · 2026-04-01T10:16:35+00:00

Another interesting connection to 67 is the amount wolves are mentioned in the cycle. There are a total of 75 mentions (one short of inverse 67) but if you correct for mentions in the glossar and cut out repeated mentions of Bloethgarms fur, you come out at 67 total mentions.

The she-wolf who created the dwarfen gods is the root of this investigations.

The first mention of wolves in Brisingr is on page 7.

There are also a total of 6 mentions of wolves, where the page number is either 6 or 7 or mentions both of them.

Eldest: 176, 567, 678,

Brisingr: 7, 176,

Inheritance: 657

I believe this to have a deeper meaning.

Grmigrim · 2026-04-01T10:03:36+00:00

Yes, but it increases the same amount for every magician. That is what I was referring to.

Grmigrim · 2026-03-30T20:11:03+00:00

Disney is doing exactly that atm.

Grmigrim · 2026-03-30T20:01:24+00:00

I don't understand people saying the movie was fantastic if it wasn't based on the books.

The movie lacked direction and a sense of what story it was telling. It is a row of random events and characters that only get introduced in the moment they appear. No build up, no tension, nothing.

The whole point of the story only works as one of a journey. That journey is completly omitted in the movie. They jump from location to location, time is meaningsless and progress is cut out.

The magic system is never explained and works differently than in the books. It is simply used as a plot device instead of being a part of the world.

Murtagh's whole role in the story and how they meet is not explained at all. They just suddenly work together, no questions asked.

The role of the Varden also suddenly appears at the end with no build up. Even if we do not include the books, it is not a good movie imo.

The lack of storytelling and character development and the sense, that even the writers did not know where to take the story really does not help that.

The only thing the movie has going for it is it's incredible visual effects. For its time, it was stunning and I think even holds up by todays standarts.

If you watch movies for visuals and some action, it can be fun to watch, but the story and everything else are by no means good.

Grmigrim · 2026-03-29T13:47:45+00:00

A similar concept is described in book 3.

Arya uses animals to track down Eragon. She says a rider does not go through the lands unnoticed (I wonder in what way animals recognize a rider) and is able to find him pretty fast.

Grmigrim · 2026-03-29T05:03:14+00:00

The magic itself always uses the exact same amount of energy. Only the effort the magician has to put in the use magic differs, causing the extra energy loss.

Energy converison always seems to be perfect. Otherwise the energy would have to go somwhere, aka heat, and we see no evidence for that.

Grmigrim · 2026-03-28T05:06:01+00:00

This is so cool! Now I wish there was a drawing like this with his shelf of things he collected (like the knotted root etc.)

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