They also cut out a baby girl he "blessed"... which leads to fucking huge consequences in the later books.

I remember reading a review of Eragon which was two sentences (paraphrasing) "My son is a huge fan of the Eragon books so I brought him with me to the critics screening of this film. I cannot recommend this movie because it made my son cry."

I recently realized how to put into words what I liked about the magical system: because you cannot lie in the ancient language, using magic is basically forcing reality to adhere to what you just said. Eragon says that the stone is rising and because that must be the truth, the magic drains his energy to maintain the truth of his statement.

What pissed me off most about the movie was actually watching in the special features section of the DVD the director says, and I quote, "I didn't want my elves to have pointed ears because then they'd be just like everyone else's elves." Like... what kind of utter bullcrap is that?!?! That's like saying I don't want my humans to have arms because then they'd be like everyone else's humans! The director had NO business directing a fantasy movie.

Basically: This movie single-handedly stopped any possibility of the other books being made into movies. Also, lying in the ancient language doesn't kill you. It's just NOT POSSIBLE. Eragon attempts to do so at one point to Arya about his feelings towards her, the words stick in his throat, and he has to skirt the truth.

The best part of book-Eragon's character was that he was an angsty teenager in the best possible way. He understands that people have high expectations of him, but he struggles to understand the scope and nature of those expectations. Furthermore, he constantly doubts himself and his ability to do what is expected of him, especially as he becomes increasingly surrounded by people who are probably better suited to the task. He had all the hallmarks of a moody teenager, but it was all done in a way that enhanced his character and made him more sympathetic. Also, book-Saphira was one of my favorite characters. Despite coming across as wise and patient, she was still immature and inexperienced. She and Eragon made for a wonderful dynamic as each one awkwardly tried to act as the other's surrogate family. Film-Eragon is told to do a thing. He mopes about it for a while and then just does the thing. Film-Saphira has the personality of a cinder block. Quality writing!

2:58 Christopher Paolini is partially color-blind, so he sees the color blue almost exclusively. That's why Saphira is blue.

You don't die when you lie in the ancient language, its simply imposible, you literally couldnt lie even if you wanted to

Killing the Razac was also just dumb from a storytelling perspective because they return later and have significant impact on his cousin's story

I'm sorry, but the Fortune-Teller was possibly the best character in the book. "Oh, we're in the same battle? What a coincidence!" "Yes, my best friend IS a shapeshifting werecat. Why do you ask?" "Oh, you lost your sword? Here have this sword made from some weird crystal that can cut through ANYTHING. Just don't prop it up against anything that you want in one piece, because it WILL find a way to cut it."

One of my favorite things about this series is the whole plot is to try and kill the Mad King Galbatorix and rebuild the Riders. A four book series but you don't see Galbatorix until halfway through the final book. All that build up and mystery surrounding him for 3 and 1/2 books. Its like how the Emperor isnt introduced until RotJ. ....The movies show him right away in his "lair" yelling and loosing his temper. Galbatorix in the books speaks slow, gently with a booming voice. He's reserved with an air of command to him, he doesn't need to scream and throw stuff for his men to follow orders he only has to look at them and they KNOW. They did him dirty in that movie 😰.

I have to confess, I adore Eragon. The later books especially-Brisingr and Inheritance are my comfort books, and I love them to death. You see, they aren't perfect, and they are basically Lord of the Rings/Star Wars mashup fanfic, but if you're a teenager looking for a long, detailed ya fantasy with some fun characters, Eragon is almost perfect. Unlike a lot of the books I liked as a kid, these ones have stood the test of time because of their intricacy and characters. And also, the audiobooks are wonderful.

If you ask me the only thing the Eragon movie did right was casting Jeremy Irons as Brom.

I actually met Mr. Paolini and got my copy of inheritance signed by him. I asked him his thoughts of the film and he said "It was their version of the story and I was quite happy that they made the version they wanted" Quite a humble guy....

I will forever find it endlessly hilarious how much more loyal to the books the fucking licensed GBA game for the movie was than the movie itself.

I liked Roran better than Eragon......... He was badass...... N he didn't even use magic...... STRONG HAMMER

Oh they did way more than that. -Arya was clearly described as a black haired elf who wore armor and was surprising in the fact she wore slacks, in the movie, she's a redhead with round ears (making her unrecognizable as an elf), and wore dresses most of the time since the one time she wore a dress in the book, Brisingr, was a big deal and surprised Eragon -Angela was a crazy redhead that helped the Varden a lot -They combined two towns into one -The ending of the movie was the opening of Eldest -Ajihad actually survived the battle, he was just killed in a staged attack from the Twins in Eldest -The same attack allowed the Twins to capture Murtagh -Arya and Sapphira shattered the most important thing to the dwarves, the Star Sapphire, in order to help distract Durza during the last fight with him -The fight was in a corridor -The Star Sapphire never appeared -Roran freaking disappears when he was a huge character -Also no mention of Sloan It's a horrid adaptation.

Have you thought of a category called "I read the back cover and I'm pretty sure I know how it goes". That's what I have always felt this movie was like.

Me: *ready to watch someone appropriately bash the Eragon movie!* The Dom: "...my feelings on the book are mixed at best..." Me: "oh no." The Dom: "to me...it's not like they are ruining a good story." "Underwhelming book". "Forget about the book and the film". Me: "It's okay childhood-me, everyone has their own opinions. This doesn't change how we feel about the Inheritance Cycle." To be fair, I got my somewhat movie bashing. I still watched the whole video and thoroughly enjoyed it even though The Dom is not a fan of the series. Do not worry for I am still subscribed!

I encourage anyone who’s only read the first book, to read the rest of the series. As it’s been said, the first book was written by a 15 year old, a fantasy-loving 15 year old, and it shows. But the rest of the books were written a few years later, and you can actually sense that the author has done some analysis on his own writing and influences, straying away from them and fleshing out his own universe. The books start focusing on secondary characters (and there’s a bunch of very interesting ones), alternating point of view from chapter to chapter, and, even though he’s a cliché hero, continue to make Eragon relatable. The most interesting thing about Eragon is the fact that he consistently screws up, learns from his mistakes, only to be confronted to a bigger threat. Eragon has very few real individual victories in the series : he is constantly helped by others, but never refuses help, he is, sometimes painfully, conscious of his own limitations. This underlines the biggest theme of the book : Eragon is NOT supposed to win alone, to be the sole hero, because the most important thing is his relationship, his fusion, with Saphira. We just spend more time with him because he is human, and Saphira being a dragon, she doesn’t think the same way, making him more relatable. This is addressed multiple times, especially when humans see him as basically the chosen one, and considering Saphira as a stylish mode of transportation.

the book may not have been very original, but at least a) the sequels did get better and b) Chris Paolini went out of his way to make the world he created feel as big and detailed as he could manage. yes there is a lot of padding because of this, but I didn't mind it as much as I normally would because it made Alagaesia so alive. love the book or hate, I think people should at least respect that much effort

I just realized... Eragon is Dragon spelled with an E! Mind! Blown!!

Fun fact: Eragon was the last film to be released on VHS in the United States.

Most of what you said about the razac was incorrect. They were confirmed to be a seperate species, and they could speak, they spoke their own language, and in brisingr or inheritance they spoke to eragon.

My dear dom... You must be mistaken. As a lifelong Eragon fan I can tell you that this movie never happened. It simply just does not exist, so there is nothing worth making a video about. *goes to sit and cry in a corner while muttering "Eyddr eyreyra onr" repeatedly

The Eragon franchise I think would be better serialized rather than made into a movie franchise. I think it would have been impossible to show Eragon's full character development in any movie. Just the scenes of him training and learning how to read take for ever. In the book it goes in to tremendous detail how he, toward the end of his training, did not recognize himself.

"Gosh, is this actually a loyal adaptation?" *cue laughter*

I’m disappointed Dom thought the books were so lackluster... Eragon has always been my favorite series!! Watching Eragon and Saphira develop their powers and struggle with everything was honestly a powerful lesson to learn as a child. Many main characters in children’s stories are just given these awesome powers that they hardly struggle with at all. I will also admit that I read this book series before I ever read Lord of the Rings and other older fantasy novels. As a result, this book series kind of stands as the OG massive world building fantasy in my mind even though I technically know it’s not 😅

Well, thats a bit unpopular, but I do like the book series. I like it's consistency, I like the characters, I like their development, and specialy how the second book diverges from multiple protagonists, and again, consistency keeps their stories towards the last books, specialy how the story arcs in the second book actualy converged without hinting it. Only when you realized both characters said they were going to the same place, it hits you with a nice build up and pay off. Yea, the clichés are everywhere, but not all clichés are bad, and they are not major plot points. Now, this movie, it belongs on "Last Airbender" category of "worst adaptation". The cast of some characters worked out well, but boy.....there is no salvation.

The Scottish accent guy was supposed to be King Hrothgar. He was supposed to be THE FREAKING DWARF KING, considered ancient even by his own people. I had to look it up because I was SURE he was left out of the movie. Also, a nitpick I know, but you did not mention Roran very much. He was one of my favorite characters in the series. The movie screwed up his motivation. They screwed up his relationship to Katrina, and all of Sloan's relationships for that matter. Such a disappointment for me. This is one of those movies where there is just enough to seriously tick me off. I practically foamed at the mouth over this movie.

Eragon - the book - is sadly underrated, honestly... It has a pace of its own, and certainly needs improvement, which comes in the sequel books, as the author matured and developed into an adult with more set ideas on his own mind. I do think book 1 is weak in comparison to the others, but definitely not worth such contempt or forgetting it. It is rather an amazing story, and - dare I say it - has a more thought out look on magic and how its world works than my beloved Harry Potter series. I cannot recommmend Eragon enough!

This is one of my favorite book series of all time, and I have extremely high standards for books. The series gets better with each book. The world is huge and intricately crafted, it's consistent and the characters are wonderful; there's little details that make the world feel really lived in and read, like how even though Arya could have used magic to help Elaine give birth within half an hour, there are stigmas against elves to the point where they won't let her do anything but the most basic spells, or how Roran finds it strange that a woman (Nasuada) is able to command such respect, even though he says that he shares that respect, as she is a phenomenal leader and soldier. Also, Eragon's respect for Nasuada and Angela is wonderful, as is the grave mistake he made with Elva that she makes him atone for. I adore this series.

As someone who read the book, I can say this movie at best only captures a rough outline of the basics of the book itself Major plot elements, characters and other material are left out, leaving you with a generic fantasy movie that would feel more at home a straight to dvd movie.

I actually really like the Inheritance Cycle, albeit I prefer the sequels to the first book, where Paolini grows a bit more into his own as a writer (although the Morzan reveal in Book 2 admittedly did little to help ease the Star Wars comparisons…), but I think Eregon had its moments. It’s slightly better than “forgettable” for me, at least, which is probably why this movie pisses me off a lot more. What I’m somewhat annoyed Dom didn’t mention is that they took out the revelation Eregon has at the end of his duel with Durza that reveals Durza’s history and tragedy to him. It’s the one moment that elevates Durza from nothing but a B-list (if that) stereotypical villain, and also makes Eregon seriously reevaluate his relationship with the enemy and magic, so removing it in favor of a giant bat/balrog monster seems like a bad trade-off (although I can understand the need to make the last fight more cinematic). What annoys me, personally, about this movie (other than its generally cheap appearance, half-hearted acting, its forever tarnishing the series’s appeal in the eyes of the general public, its decision to reinforce the Star Wars comparison by following that formula even more closely than the book… let’s just say these two things that annoy me about this movie that are less frequently brought up and leave it at that) is, one, that it seems so self-assured of its own inevitable box office failure that it completely fails to set up anything that’s supposed to happen in Eldest (Book 2) and promises a speedy confrontation with Galbatorix, which, had they ever adapted Book 2, they wouldn’t have been able to deliver. It pisses me off to watch a movie that clearly not even the filmmakers had any interest in making halfway decent or frachiseable (Is that a word? Because it should be.). Two, while Eregon has often been accused of being a Gary/Mary Sue, and not without reason, I’ll admit (although those calling him a monstrous sociopath may be taking things a bit far…), this movie only compounds that by making Eregon’s transformation into a hero even more effortless and simple. For instance, in the book it takes a long time before he can even match Bromm in combat; by not even granting him a decent montage, the film makes this look effortless. An adaptation is supposed to smooth over the elements that translate and/or have been received poorly; for this film to instead exacerbate them like this is really insulting. Anyway, sorry if this comes off as a fanboy rant; I’m actually pretty lukewarm on the series, but frequently heckling of my taste has made be defensive. The tl;dr is: I didn’t much care for the movie, and I feel it’s substantially worse than the generally okay book its based on.

the books: brilliant, deep plot, great storyline, awesome characters - especially Angela the herbalist film: don't even get me started on everything wrong with the film

It's been a long time since I read the books, (I was actually around the same age that the author was when he wrote them.), and looking back on the general story arc, I can totally see how the narrative was a touch clunky and slow; but I feel like the universe was so unique that the film had a massive amount of potential that it just ignored. The book took plenty of generic fantasy races and tropes, but mixed in unique concepts and a very detailed style of storytelling which made the overall story feel both immersive and original. The film had dozens of unique sequences that could have been both visually and thematically intriguing, but instead chose to just be the generic fantasy story everyone assumes the books are.

The thing I loved the most about the book was its worldbuilding. It's true, Paolini takes A LOT of time worldbuilding, there are way too many chapters (if not, story archs) that explain how a city works, or how some characters act, but that is exactly what I liked. I liked being ale to see the changes Roran goes through to the point of becoming a Hero on his own, I liked how Paolini described some cities or took his time describing how the city was related to the main plot or what effects Eragon's passage through the city were. In my opinion, that was what made the world feel alive... In hindsight though, I feel the book feels a little too much as a D&D campaign, but I still like it.

I think my overall attitude toward the books, while not as happy as it used to be, is still generally positive in a flawed gems type of way. While they have their problems and are certainly iterative in many areas, the actual execution of those story elements and the overall structure of the series is handled very well. The author clearly understands a lot of core story rules, and he showcases that understanding very well. Especially as the series goes on and it branches further off in its own direction with a lot of really clever ideas added in the later books. It's a shame the film only seemed to change things in explicitly worse ways.

Some things that I'll give this movie are that Saphira's design and voice are just perfect and that Jeremy Irons was CLEARY having a lot of fun.

I loved the books, the series actually jump started my love of reading. I did nothing but read, eat and sleep for three days when I got Brisingr. I was thrilled to find the movie while browsing channels one day. I thought it was okay at the beginning, Saphira's feathered wings were pretty cool, young me was optimistic. But by the middle of the film poor 13 year old me was crying tears of pure frustration. Elves dont look like elves. Plot points are all jumbled around. They added bits from Eldest. Characters look nothing like described as in the books. It really sucked and I was really reluctant to see any movie adaptions of other books I read after. (The elf thing really ticked me off. I grew up watching lotr with my dad and had a massive crush on Legolas. Elves should look like elves! I know they had more feline-like features than in Tolkien's world but still! WHERE ARE THE POINTY EARS AT LEAST!?!?)

Sounds like the book should have been a TV show

A book can be good or bad but the worst thing it can be is forgettable.

How did you neglect to mention the fact that the adaptation was so bad, it actually made it impossible to continue on to the next book in the series, which was already out before the movie?

I remember watching this when I was younger and being so upset, just so overwhelmingly disappointed for the first time ever by a movie.The books were flawed, but I was new to the fantasy genre and I LOVED stories about dragons. They were my favorite. It's been years since I've touched any of the books but I still remember being ultra pissed about the 1v1 fight with Durza that didn't give Eragon a scar - the elves not looking like elves, the dwarves (if they were even there?) not looking like dwarves, the little girl that he scars for life trying to give a blessing but accidentally being shit at Elvish - not even in it, I think, the charming Luna Lovegood-esque fortune teller (my favorite character) with her werecat friend were not at all like the book... man. I remember looking at my grandma and bursting into tears as the credits rolled because I made her see that movie with me instead of going to see Happy Feet with my cousins and aunt. Only one movie has devastated me as much as Eragon, and that's The Last Airbender.

The book series is awesome, if slightly flawed. But the film is shit, it misses everything good.

Lets be fair, yeah this book was a typical fantasy story but with all the clichés but its still impressive having been written by a teenager

It's sad how I watched the movie, then years later read the book, and didn't even make the connection. I then watched the movie AGAIN after hearing how bad it was and realised "Oh... I'VE ALREADY WATCHED THIS!?"

Best part of the books was when they used Magic to make Embroidery to pay for the Army

it kind of hurts when you trash the book so much, because the series was such a huge part of my childhood. almost as much as Harry Potter. I know it has it's flaws and I may not like it as much if I reread it, but it still hurts.

I loved the movie until I read the book. Then I became a huge fan of the book series.

Netflix should do this as a series series like A series of unfortunate events

I am a huge Brandon Sanderson fanboy so that may explain why my favorite part of the books is the way the magic system works. I love that there are essentially 2 ways to use the magic system, traditional casting, and mental battles to attack or defend somebodies mind. I remember throughout the books seeing people who could do more with magic than others, and then sometimes seeing people who were really good at the mental domination part but weak at the regular casting and I just found that to be really intriguing.

Personally, I love the books. I feel like the movie didn't do it justice. If they gave it the same running time as LotR, I'm pretty sure it would of been better. That, and they should of changed the movie rating. Instead of PG, make it PG-13.

The LOTR elves were only that stoic in the films.

2:01, it was raining in that shot. You can see the rain in the Blu-Ray version.

Eragon, much like certain popular heroes in fiction, initially appears to be a conventional protagonist, or cardboard cutout. However, what distinguishes him is his significant growth even within the first book of the series. It's not as much as in later books, but he still goes through changes. I hold a deep appreciation for Eragon's narrative, and what truly captures my imagination is its world-building. The story transcends its central characters, providing a comprehensive view of a nicely developed universe. Eragon's character development is both engaging and unique, as it plays with the typical romantic interest and then ultimately swerved it. Instead, he embraces the responsibility of safeguarding the dragon eggs and training future riders. One of the most captivating aspects of this series is its magic system. In the world of Eragon, magic is intricately tied to a language where words represent the true names of objects. It differs from the conventional idea of memorizing spells; instead, mastery of the language's essence is essential for wielding magic effectively. This system is further enriched by the fact that magic utilizes the caster's physical energy, making it a quantifiable and controlled force and because the language uses the true names of things, it's physically impossible to lie outright in it, forcing you to learn wordplay to say one thing while meaning another. Furthermore, the story's perspective shifts to other characters, offering insight into how the unfolding events impact them and their unique struggles. While the narrative may incorporate familiar storytelling elements, he's not a Gary Stu either. Eragon's journey is far from perfect, as he grapples with distinct flaws and embarks on a journey of self-discovery and change, defeats that leave him crippled, and heartbreak.

I never read the book, but I watched the movie and hated it. I didn't notice the Star Wars parallels a the time, but most of it felt terribly rushed. The final battle seemed like it was setting up some kind of Lord of the Rings-esk epic fight, but then faceplanted from the moment it started when someone shouts "Summon the archers!" and two guys jump out.

I hatebit when they half arse or alter a character death scene in an adaptation. Brom was supposed to die in a different setting in a different part of the story. And I hate that they made it so the death of the rider would cause the death of the dragon, making the bravery of Saphira in rescuing Eragon look like convoluted self preservation...

Tip to fantasy-writers: when creating an epic amazing city, don't get lazy on the name! Don't just google-search your way to an 'exotic' sounding place and then change one letter. To people familiar with the location in question it's just gonna be really weird! Sincerely, native and resident of Trondheim, Norway

Funny enough, this recap made me want to read the book again. Thanks Dom

Seriously though none of this was original when Star Wars did it either. If anything it sounds like these books are more inventive than the original SW trilogy, it's just that SW is more well known than the stuff it stole from.

I remember loving those books, and dragging my best friend to see the movie with me. I remember as soon as it ended, she and I looking at each other and saying "... Is that it?" Like the whole movie just felt like set up with no plot. By the time it ended it just felt like it was getting started. I have a lot of nostalgia for the series but also hated the ending (it literally went "well we could go on forever about this, but instead of telling you.. bye") but I remember regretting they made it into a movie.

I’ll concede that the first book may be a bit slow and dull at points but i’ll firmly say that this series is honestly one of the best fantasy series. Sure it took inspirations from other stories in the genre and it isn’t 100% original but not a lot of stories are original. What makes a story good though is being able to make it into your own concept. And Paolini, in my humble opinion, did a damn fine job making his own unique story and built a mystical world that captured my heart when I first read it in sixth grade and still does when I read them today. The movie is hot garbage and ruined the chance of the series gaining mass popularity. And look, I very rarely comment on videos, I just wanted to try to convince at least one person to give the books a shot. I promise you that Paolini isn’t some hack that just copies other people. To each their own though.

This just makes me think about how great an Earthsea episode would be

I love the books the author managed to make every thing feel grand and epic yes I'll admit the colored swords is silly but he managed to create a world and cast of characters the I care about and the ending of the fourth book was down right tear jerkingly sad

The first Eragon book should serve as a cautionary tale on nepotism in the publishing industry and how it can be harmful to aspiring authors. His parents have not done him a favor by publishing the book. Had Paolini sent in the book to a publishing house, got rejected, reworked the book, set it to another one and failed again until he he had significantly improved the book, Eragon could have been decent to amazing. Paolini obviously has some pretty creative ideas once he gets over relying on trite clichees and the second book clearly shows that, by expanding on old characters and introducing new one that are much deeper nd likeable than Eragon or Brom were i the first and by both playing with tropes he played straight earlier and daring tointroduce plot twists that are not standard for fantasy. The third book is even better in my opinion and clearly shows his growth as an author. Unfortunately the 4rth book is the worst one of the series. Obviously he was counting on it to sell and be celerated like the otherthree and therefore half-assed it (a pitfall many authors fall into)

most of the questions brought up about the books are answered later, theyre worth the read!

I feel the need to also point out that they killed the Ra'zac within the first third of the movie, despite them being (what I personally consider to be) the secondary antagonists of the entire series. If this movie had turned into a series, their death would have made many of the events going forward make no sense.

(SPOILER warning for the ending of the fourth book) I did like the book series. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot that was cliche and derivative and I realized that as I got older, but I still enjoyed the stuff that actually was creative and well done. I think the magic system being connected with the ancient language was kind of cool and the depth of the special bond between the dragons and their riders was well described, and other stuff like that, so I guess I just focused on enjoying the positives as I read the books. One thing where I just couldn't go along with it, though, was the ending to the fourth book. The hero, after going through his journey, feels that he can no longer stay in the world he calls home and so he decides to leave. He gets on a ship and goes sailing off with the elves for other lands. It's pretty much EXACTLY THE SAME as the end of Lord of the Rings! Like not just very similar, like with the parallels to Star Wars, but almost exact! Also, I didn't quite understand why Eragon couldn't have raised the dragons on that island (Vroengard I think?) where they dragons used to live. It's an isolated island that was somewhat difficult for Eragon to reach even by dragon, so they would probably be undisturbed there, and if the dragons used to live there then I would think that it could be made to be suitable for them again (unless I missed some detail that explains why he couldn't go there lol). So yeah, I still enjoyed the book series overall, but it is definitely flawed (the second and third book were better than the first) and I didn't care for that ending.

I've always loved this book and just about everything in it, especially the 'padding' (as you say) that they left out of the movie. I mean sure, most of it wasn't exactly required to forward the plot of this book, and serves more toward foreshadowing the future installments in the series, but I think it serves another, much more important purpose: character development and worldbuilding. I hated this film because most of the things they left out are the things that made the story and characters feel real to me. I love reading about Eragon's adventures with Brom and Saphira and Murtagh, and all the shit they go through and how their relationships change and grow over the many months that take place in the book, and if you take all of that out you're just left with three days of Star Wars in Middle Earth, and it's just really boring. Now granted, I do think the overall plot is one of the weaker points of this book, and the later entries in the series are much stronger for having actually original plots, but I do still really like this one regardless.

I have a soft spot for the movie because I saw it first. It made me want to read all the books. After finishing the cycle and rewatching, I could only wonder if they even planned to finish the story. So many major plot points or character setups were glossed over it would make the sequels NOTHING like the books and DEFINITELY give them the title, “in name only.”

Am I the only person who couldn't get into the books as a kid? I was a huge reader and really, really wanted to love it. But, I drew the line when I had to translate entire pages from the dictionary in the back. It got to a point I felt like he might as well have created a whole companion book to teach you the language first, then reading Eragon would have been enjoyable. As it stood it felt more like the author was so proud of creating a language he forgot that only he (at that point) understood any of it. Plus, a number of words were left out of the books dictionary entirely, making entire paragraphs unreadable without completely guessing at the actual intent.

Eragon and Percy Jackson, two series where i watched the movie first, loved it, read the books and now absolutely hate the movies

I first read Eragon when I was 14 and loved it! I reread it and the other books until I started college. I reread them again at 24 and was definitely underwhelmed. I still had the nostalgia for the series and still like it to some extent but it wasn’t as good as I thought. Personally I think the world, lore, and side characters are more interesting than Eragons story is. I’d like to see what else could be written within the world itself.

Im currently rereading the books (the first time I read them I was 13) and I love them still very much now being 20. I absolutely LOVE the magic system and the characters and even though it is very obvious that paolini drew inspiration from star wars and lotr, i think that is still very much it's own story.

Jeremy Irons, among all his highly acclaimed virtues, is such a good sport.

Honestly I never got all the shaming this book got for being basically Star Wars. In my opinion this is just common operating procedure in fantasy. Most famous fantasy authors(at least recent ones) copied other famous works, at least in their earlier works, until they found their own styles in later works. Terry Brooks first Shanarra Book, for example, was basically a copy of lord of the rings(and I don't mean that in the way that every high fantasy book is basically based on his works(elves, orcs, dwarves, etc.) I mean he basically lifted entire plot threads from it. Later he found his own style. And this is true for most fantasy authors. Eragon never particularly stood out for me there.

I remember seeing this movie in theaters with a friend; I knew nothing about the series while he was a big fan of the books. What made it memorable leaning over to my friend half way through and telling him it was pretty much Star Wars taking place in Lord of the Rings. That revelation apparently ruined the whole series for him.

I wonder how Galvatorix feels about sand.

I remember really enjoying the book when I read it. I liked the relationship between Eragon and Saphira.

Revisiting this review. I have actually realized that the whole "true name" thing really remind me of one of the myths of Ra and Isis, dealing with exactly that.

Here's something else the movie got wrong. In the book, the only way to kill a shade was to stab it through the heart AND use powerful magic to kill it. In the book, Murtagh actually shoots Durza in the heart with his arrow but Durza is fine. HE is finally killed when Eragon ignites his sword with magic and then stabs him in the heart. There was also nothing inherently magical about Dragon Rider swords in the book, so I don't know what the deal with the sword glowing like that was. Aside from the fact that they were totally indestructible, they were basically the same as any other sword.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: the inheritance cycle caters to the specific audience of elementary and middle schoolers with a college reading level. I LOVED these books as a kid partly because of how "grown up" they felt.

I feel an instinctual need to hiss at this godamn movie every time Ive seen it

my mind after watching Eragon: 10 sec after "That was a complete disservice to thevbooks!" 20 min after "Well it could have been better." 3 hours after "They did their best and my hopes were just too high." year or two later watch it on cable. "Well, that was shit."

WORST. MOVIE. EVER. and I loved the books :(

I read Eragon as a child, before I was able or willing to tackle LOTR so I appreciate it for that. And the fact that a 15 year old kid wrote it is impressive.

In defense of the end credit song. It was a thing in 90s and 2000s. It rose in ferocity after Hollywood realized how much free advertising you can get when you overplay My heart will go on on the radio. But end credit song by popular music act with music video showing film footage was normal part of advertising campaign. Hiring Avril Lavigne to write a credit song was a bit "hello, fellow kids" but reasonably well targeted to the audience they wanted to attract.

I really liked the book especially the sequels

The most nitpickiest of changes is the one scene I remember from the movie: Brom tries to guess Eragon's age, and guesses correctly on his first two tries, 15-16 (as apparently, as in it's been so long since I've read it I don't remember when, his birthday passed by the end of the book) but instead Eragon "CORRECTS" him, loudly proclaiming he's 17. This pissed me off. Sure, it probably needed to be done because of the actor, but this is a detail that the movie had in its clutches only for them to announce they're getting it wrong. And that's just dumb

I loved the Eragon books as a kid and only as an adult found out that the magic system, among other things, was lifted almost wholesale from Earthsea.

I'll never really forgive the movie for basically making Saphira a pokemon who came with a name and 'evolved' into her maturity. That was the exact moment in the theatre my teenage fangirl mode disengaged from the series.

Man, I hope Dom does "Lost in Adaptation" on The Golden Compass. I would love to see his opinion on both.

Best characters in Eragon. Angela. Roran. Orik.

Where the hell did you find a shirt with "One by one the penguins stole my sanity"...

I just saw that there's now a 5th book in the Inheritance saga and Eragon has been re-released with beautiful illustrations

"Does this top make me look like a fat man in drag?" "Yes, but that's a good thing. When you're ugly and someone loves you, you know they love you for who you are. Beautiful people never know who to trust."

This is a book series where elves kill a whole village of human for cutting down a normal tree and where treated like heroes for it.

OH GOD THE JOKE ABOUT ELVES NOT BEING ABLE TO LIE IN ELVEN :D Damn that was amazing.

After reading all the books and hearing they were making a movie i was so excited, but after seeing what horrible mistake they made i got depressed....