GEEK
VS GEEK:
I
know I’m probably reading too much into it, but I quite love
Christopher Paolini’s runaway hit YA series, The Inheritance
Cycle, for the very reason that my learned opponent in this
debate most hates it. She takes issue with the fact that the
so-called hero of the piece, Eragon, seems to be equally --
if not more -- villainous than our supposed villain, the
dastardly Galbatorix. That’s exactly what I like about it. I like that Paolini has taken a whole lot of very familiar Fantasy tropes, along with more than a dash of Star Wars (which itself borrowed liberally from assorted mythologies, along with more than a little Flash Gordon) and then has presented us with something we’ve not often seen: a Bad Guy who thinks he’s a Good Guy, who is being treated as a Hero but could also be considered a Villain by many.
I
liken it in my head to Greek Heroes of old, your Achilles
and Hercules and such. According to history, those guys
sucked. They murdered indiscriminately, raped,
pillaged, what have you. But according to popular culture --
indeed, even according to the culture of their time -- they
were true Heroes, because they kicked major ass. History, as
we are so often told, is written by the victors, and Eragon
is clearly bound for Varden glory; from their perspective,
he is a liberator, a warrior, their version of the King
Under the Mountain, their Knight on a White Horse (or in
this case, blue dragon). 
Galbatorix
has all the trappings of an archvillain; most of his minions
are hideous and they all speak ugly languages, and he’s shut
himself away in a fortress. Eragon’s allies would seem to be
of the Light, all elves and dwarves and noble savages and
such. And yet they’re the ones making war; one man’s
terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. The road to Hell is
paved with good intentions. You can’t make an omelet without
breaking some eggs. All of these proverbs and more apply to
the Varden’s actions in this ongoing struggle for control of
Alagaësia. Taking out the in depth analysis of perspective and motivation from these books, The Cycle breaks down like this: Eragon’s your pretty standard Coming of Age Hero tale, and hey, that orphan kid is special!; Eldest starts off slow and yet somehow frantic and confusing but comes about with a rousing battle and a whole “Eragon, I am your brother” thing by the end; and Brisingr… well, hey, flaming sword!
I’ll
not deny there are definite signs of immaturity in Paolini’s
writing style, and much of his plot elements are glaringly
familiar. His prose is simple and his word choices even more
so, and it certainly isn’t an uncommon occurrence to
encounter an ill-used word or misplaced punctuation mark.
Despite these flaws, these books have proven to be
tremendously popular amongst the young people, and have
spawned their own cottage industry. There’s even a book
called What Will Happen in Eragon IV: Who Lives, Who
Dies, Who Becomes the Third Dragon Rider and How Will the
Inheritance Cycle Finally End?, by Richard Marcus,
released in 2009 and purporting to discuss such burning
questions as “Are Eragon and Arya destined to be together?”
and “Who are the Grey Folk, and what role will they play in
the battle between good and evil?” And speaking of evil:
“Will Eragon and Saphira triumph over evil to free all of
Alagaësia?”(Um… yeah. I would hope so. Otherwise, I will totally be on the other side of this debate. I mean, I’m all for subverting convention, but come on!)
What
Harry Potter did for modern wizardry and
Twilight did for vampires, Eragon and its
successors have done for dragons. For any kid who missed out
on Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain series, or Robert
Asprin’s Myth Adventures of Skeeve and Aahz, these
Inheritance books -- for good or ill -- are many a
neophyte’s entrée into the magical realm. Elves, mythical
creatures, dark sorcery, royalty, Rightful Heir -- these may
all be very familiar elements to those of us steeped in this
tradition, who have lived and died at the hands of such
masters as Tolkien, McCaffrey, Feist, Jordan and Eddings,
but to these new readers, Paolini’s world works as a kind of
My First High Fantasy.Wherein lies much of its appeal -- for me, at least. Paolini, whether he knows it or not, is working on several levels here. On one, he’s created an imitative, but exciting withal, adventure that is accessible to even the most mundane-minded youngster, and on another, he’s subverted an entire genre and created a so-called hero who is almost the epitome of an anti-hero.
I
keep coming back to the brilliant (and sadly out of print)
novel Villains by Necessity, by Eve Forward. In
this clever twist on Fantasy convention, a troupe of out and
out Bad Guys -- a thief, an assassin, a sorceress, a
centaur, a pagan worshiper, etc. -- must save the world;
good has triumphed, and all of existence is about to
disappear unless balance is restored.In the minds of those agents of Good out to defeat them, our little cadre of scoundrels must be stopped at all costs because they are the black hats, inherently evil, and so any purpose for which they unite must be dread and deplored. But unless they perform a small act of evil, a greater evil -- the end of the world -- will come to pass.
What we have in The Inheritance Cycle is just such another flash of inspiration; and for all that I concede the series labors under many, many weaknesses, I also claim that its biggest strength comes out of them, if only you can squint your eyes a little in order to see it.
--
Rachel Hyland
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