Eragorn The Movie

[Keltest]

I think Eragon makes a good intro to fantasy for kids and teenagers. While its hardly creative, its not especially offensive with its use of tropes either, the setting is kind of cool, and the plot is at least mostly coherent. If you already enjoy the genre it doesn't do a lot for you, but if you don't have a lot of experience, it gives you a good look at what is involved with the genre.

[Wardog]

Well I imagine most of the changes from the screen were in order to avoid lawsuits from, let's see...

Plot - Star Wars

/grump

It's not as if Star Wars didn't lift concepts or scenes from other movies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OZq-tlJTrU

[Anonymouswizard]

It's not as if Star Wars didn't lift concepts or scenes from other movies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OZq-tlJTrU

True, and every writer steals from somewhere. The problem with Eragon is how easily many of the characters and scenes fit beyond the standard hero's journey. The big ones you're missing are R2-D2 and C-3P0

That's not to say it isn't without it's good points, it's a very well done introductory fantasy novel. But the first book is basically a rough hacking out of the plot of A New Hope and dumping it in a (not particularly inventive) fantasy setting. The later books are better for moving away from it (not that I like them more, but I can appreciate them more).

But, well, my first attempts at novels weren't much better. Even my current attempt is derivative, I'm just trying to draw from as many sources as possible.

[Killer Angel]

I have always avoided Eragon like the plague... but i'd watch the nostalgia critic review, just for laugh.

[Strigon]

I think Eragon makes a good intro to fantasy for kids and teenagers. While its hardly creative, its not especially offensive with its use of tropes either, the setting is kind of cool, and the plot is at least mostly coherent. If you already enjoy the genre it doesn't do a lot for you, but if you don't have a lot of experience, it gives you a good look at what is involved with the genre.

That's exactly how I feel about it. You have a standard Tolkien-Lite world (I hate to use Tolkien's name in association with that series, especially regarding world-building, but it's the only appropriate term), complete with definitely-not-orcs, and a few minor changes.
You overhaul the magic system, add moar dragons, and make sure all the characters are stereotypes of their races.

However, it's a familiar world, it's a familiar story, with familiar characters. For the most part, the world and the lore are cool, even if uninspired; I quite liked the system of magic in particular. Plus, they're all tropes for a reason. Heck, I'll go right out and say I enjoy the books overall, albeit much less than when I was younger. They're definitely starting to show their faults - in the first book or two, just clumsy writing, but the further you go the more the whole world seems contrived.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; I liken the books to a modern one-hit-wonder pop song. It's a rehash of old material, not even a particularly good one, but it's catchy and those cliches caught on for a reason. If you spend a lot of time listening to inventive, well-written music, the flaws will stick out like a sore thumb, but if you don't it's a perfectly fun thing to listen to.

[Knaight]

That's exactly how I feel about it. You have a standard Tolkien-Lite world (I hate to use Tolkien's name in association with that series, especially regarding world-building, but it's the only appropriate term), complete with definitely-not-orcs, and a few minor changes.
You overhaul the magic system, add moar dragons, and make sure all the characters are stereotypes of their races.

The problem is that this works less as an introduction to fantasy and more as an introduction to crappy Tolkien knockoffs and D&D novels. Meanwhile there's plenty of excellent fantasy novels which this serves no introduction for at all, and to which you could be better introduced by a wikipedia article on the historical period they're totally not set in.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I watched the movie. I found it somehow isn't able to link all the usual steps up in such a way that they make sense. This guys story is not very different than that from say Neo from The Matrix, yet when Neo discovers a new power it's cool, maybe it even feels earned, while Eragon feels like scene 17 is telling you magic is very rare and superhard to master and in scene 18 the hero masters it. Because of course he does. Scene 19 is about how long it will take a rider to be able to steer his dragon from the tail, because that's apparently a thing, and how good his bond to the dragon need to be for that. O boy, I wonder what scene 20 will be about.

Still kind of cool though. If I had kids I would absolutely not be surprised if this was one of those movies they'd want to see again and again, because the fuzzy dragon and the sword and then he sees through his eyes and wah, just wah!

[Pit of Shades]

Do you mean Eragon the movie?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Yeah by itself the book series was a fairly good starting point for anyone who wants to get into this style of story. It covers all the general bases of this genre and it does it fairly well. But to someone who has read this type of story for years, its kinda lame. I mean I thought the Belgariad series was generic, (I still like that series btw) but even that wasnt as formulaic feeling as this one.

The Belgariad was deliberately generic. Eddings knew he was just reusing existing "hammer and nails" of heroic literature, and therefore knew how to use them to build a competent story that dragged you in (he actually referred to what he was doing as "the literary equivalent of peddling drugs"). He also is a master of snark, so if you enjoy people being clever at each other (like in, say, West Wing), then you tend to enjoy Eddings' characters bouncing words off each other.

In many way, Tolkien did the same thing (indeed, Eddings was deliberately aping Tolkien when he wrote the Belgariad): he took the conventions of the heroic poems of Nordic culture, and just wrote one of his own (kinda; I'm aware that is simplifying massively).

Eragorn (new headcanon name, FTW) on the other hand uses the same hammer and nails of heoric literature, but one gets the feeling that it does so without understanding why, or what they are for. It makes all the difference.

Grey Wolf

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Do you mean Eragon the movie?

Son of Erathon.

[Strigon]

Son of Erathon.

The Varden have no king.
The Varden need no king.

On another tangent, just saw "Eragon" in his movie depiction. And, oh boy. He looks like someone took a look at Anakin and said "that's great, but can we make him look younger, less tough and more whiny?"

[Grey_Wolf_c]

On another tangent, just saw "Eragon" in his movie depiction. And, oh boy. He looks like someone took a look at Anakin and said "that's great, but can we make him look younger, less tough and more whiny?"

Sounds like the casting department did a good job, then.

GW

[An Enemy Spy]

If anyone here has watched Downton Abbey they might recognize Eragon as the handsome footman tht Thomas jumps into bed with.

[Peelee]

If anyone here has watched Downton Abbey they might recognize Eragon as the handsome footman tht Thomas jumps into bed with.

Eh, I prefer Cougarton Abbey myself.

[lord_khaine]

I recall the initial book to be kinda medioche with a few good bits in it. But also recall people telling how it later turned into a mixture of elven fan-wank and hypocrisy.

[Durkoala]

I recall the initial book to be kinda medioche with a few good bits in it. But also recall people telling how it later turned into a mixture of elven fan-wank and hypocrisy.

The funny thing about the elves is that a close reading makes it pretty clear that Paolini was trying to create a secretive, morally ambigious race with bizarre customs that made interactions with them chancy at best, but he somehow managed to make them into the most famous Mary Sue-race in recent fantasy. How he messed up so badly boggles the mind.

[Keltest]

The funny thing about the elves is that a close reading makes it pretty clear that Paolini was trying to create a secretive, morally ambigious race with bizarre customs that made interactions with them chancy at best, but he somehow managed to make them into the most famous Mary Sue-race in recent fantasy. How he messed up so badly boggles the mind.

I dunno, I certainly came away thinking that the Elves were full of nonsense and were so convinced of their superiority that they never bothered to examine that nonsense.

[Durkoala]

I dunno, I certainly came away thinking that the Elves were full of nonsense and were so convinced of their superiority that they never bothered to examine that nonsense.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but in there's some small scenes dotted around the elven prancing that paint it in a very different light (for me, at least). For example, before Eragon enters the Elf Forest, the elf-girl specifically takes him aside to warn him about elven culture's manipulative tendencies with the many hidden plots that snare the unwary. This does get a few nods later, mostly in the behaviour of the queen, so I don't think that Paolini just threw it in to sound cool.

This then gets followed by the elf-girl shooting an injured falcon because it wouldn't heal, despite not eating meat. Eragon's dwarven companions outright say that asking elves for help might not be a good idea in case they decide you're better off dead. When the times comes to part, they tell Eragon to be on his guard as the Elves are glamourous and beautiful, but also likely to kill you for their own reasons.

Also, once Eragon leaves Elf Forest, he starts to reject things the elves taught him and later has a conversation with the Queen where he's horrified to learn that the elves slaughtered a group of woodcutters and have kept their town under mind control to use as their base in the war. Even though the elves don't seem to be bothered by this, Eragon's reaction is to remind himself that as beautiful as they are, the elves are deeply different from humans. Even if the elves in-story don't see themselves as flawed, I think it's safe to say that Paolini didn't intend for them to be the Mary-Sues they turned out as.

[Keltest]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but in there's some small scenes dotted around the elven prancing that paint it in a very different light (for me, at least). For example, before Eragon enters the Elf Forest, the elf-girl specifically takes him aside to warn him about elven culture's manipulative tendencies with the many hidden plots that snare the unwary. This does get a few nods later, mostly in the behaviour of the queen, so I don't think that Paolini just threw it in to sound cool.

This then gets followed by the elf-girl shooting an injured falcon because it wouldn't heal, despite not eating meat. Eragon's dwarven companions outright say that asking elves for help might not be a good idea in case they decide you're better off dead. When the times comes to part, they tell Eragon to be on his guard as the Elves are glamourous and beautiful, but also likely to kill you for their own reasons.

Also, once Eragon leaves Elf Forest, he starts to reject things the elves taught him and later has a conversation with the Queen where he's horrified to learn that the elves slaughtered a group of woodcutters and have kept their town under mind control to use as their base in the war. Even though the elves don't seem to be bothered by this, Eragon's reaction is to remind himself that as beautiful as they are, the elves are deeply different from humans. Even if the elves in-story don't see themselves as flawed, I think it's safe to say that Paolini didn't intend for them to be the Mary-Sues they turned out as.

I don't disagree with you. In fact, my intent was to express that I think their Mary-sureness is overstated. Eragon sort of views them as unimpeachably perfect for a while, but its also worth pointing out that he has a rather slanted view of them to begin with. Theyre superficially perfect, believe themselves to be such, but the more you think about it the more horrifically flawed they are.