Inheritance Cycle/WMG

The Inheritance Cycle takes place in the Warhammer40000 'verse

A planet-load of potential psykers, chaos-immune psykers, no less, that can shoot death beams, feed an entire platoon off ambient energy, with the right spells could be immortal, and can augment their own, and their comrades' bodies, for super speed, strength, and perception, and they have a whole array of useful spells, like goddamn invisibility, at their disposal. The inquisition will have a major hard-on with this one.

To the East of Alagaesia is...

Narnia. This popped into my head after an image of Murtagh and the imperial soldiers curbstomping the shit out of a varden/Narnian alliance.

George Lucas stole everything from Christopher Paolini.

There was time travel involved.

• Wait... does this mean George Lucas is a Time Lord?
  • Guys, guys... They are both ripping off The Man Who Saves the World

Everything written by Christopher Paolini is lifted from Star Wars; therefore, The Reveal that Brom is Eragon's father has implications about the real relationship between Luke and Obi-Wan

C'mon, it's obvious. Search your feelings, you know it to be true. And Anakin suspected as much in Revenge of the Sith.

• No
  • I think you mean NOOOOOOOOOOO!
    • I think you mean DO NOT WAAAAAAANT! It's an interesting idea, a possibility this one was wondering about after being introduced to the idea of Vader metaphorically killing Luke's father.

Eragon is everybody's Unwitting Pawn.

It's not hard to imagine the kid as an Idiot Hero who happened to have a massive amount of power fall into his hands. The elves mainly are manipulating him by making him admire them. Brom was making him overconfident and, together with Saphira, lied through his teeth about how dragons work. His entire journey was deliberately engineered for unknown reasons; his adoptive family is caught in the middle and probably still a high priority to wipe out or sufficiently deceive. The dwarves are not in on it. As for the goal... Darned if I know -- I just make these theories.

• No, the dwarves are definitely in on it! They're the ones who kept Eragon in their city and fed him all that phony information about him being The Chosen One (or whatever insipid variation of the term Chris Paolini used) and the structure of Alaga ësian government.

Christopher Paolini is humanity's greatest literary mind.

The truth is, he's just so good that us regular folk can't understand the sheer magnitude of his genius. The reason his stuff seems so trite and purple prose-y when we read it is that his vision is so vast, our tiny minds can only pick up on little bits and pieces of it at a time, and, of course, individually they won't seem very good. Such is the width of the man's vision. In fact, only three people can grasp the godliness of words that is The Inheritance Cycle: Paolini himself, and two gods of cinematography whose greatness is equally lost on us laymen.

• Don't forget zee only genius in zee entire fucking business!
  • Oddly, Uwe Boll's films ARE awful. It's just he's the world's greatest critic when he can be objective on a subject.
• Also, don't forget God Stephenie Meyer, THE BEST WRITER IN THE WORLD!!!

Christopher Paolini isn't a hack writer...

He's an incredibly intelligent real life troll, who is purposely writing an epicly awful piece of god-moding Gary Stu fiction in order to appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator. Look at Twilight fans, look at the fans of this. Shit sells, and he knows it.

• Except Twilight's nothing short of disturbing and boring dreck while Inheritance, at least, has decent prose and is entertaining.
  • Which is just evidence of his actual skill leaking through...

Eragon is actually an attempt to save literature as we know it.

THINK ABOUT IT. Not even the Twilight books generate the amount of sheer 'I could write better crap than this hack!' as the Inheritance Cycle. Paolini didn't write the stuff; he's a figurehead paid to take the heat by the secret society of Quality Writers who dread the end of all good books as a result of mass-marketed tripe. The idea was that all the people offended by the Eragon series would take pen to paper (or keys to keyboard) and start turning in manuscripts, increasing the chances of finding awesome novels among the chaff. Unfortunately, that seems to have backfired...

• Not so fast. Christopher Paolini is the pseudonym of an unknown author who wrote a terrible series of books that sold well and contained nearly everything wrong with fantasy in preparation for the unveiling of his magnum opus, a truly original series of books that will both be critically acclaimed and rejuvenate the fantasy genre for another thirty years. Even if it doesn't sell well, he already had boatloads of money from his crappy first series.
• Also, I think we're overestimating the hatedom of Eragon a little. Yeah, it's not a great series, but I'm pretty confident that majority of the people who dislike the series have more the "I have an intense, burning indifference!" sort of attitude to the series than an actual hatred.

There is no Galbatorix.

We had previously assumed that the main villain's absence for three (presumably) of the four books in the series was due to the author's utter incompetence as a writer or, in fact, to his utter incompetence as an imaginer-of-things. This is not so. Since we've already discovered that he is either a misunderstood über-genius, a real-life troll or a whipping boy for Quality Writers, we can safely assume that there will turn out to be no Galbatorix at all, being just a figurehead for people's subservience, a la Big Brother.

• That, or there was a Galbatorix, but he was killed during the final battle for the throne, which his troops ended up winning, and since then his supporters have kept up the facade that he is still alive and ruling.
• No, Galbatorix could not come because he has to stay in Mordor, so to speak, so the Hero can Get strong enough to defeat him, so he has to stay in his Fortress until Eragon is ready to kill him. This might involve finding the rock of Kuthian.

Paolini intentionally wrote Eragon as a Jerkass.

He painted out the old generation of riders as pretty corrupt people, maybe Eragon's general displays of evil and jerkassery are supposed to represent the failings of the riders as a whole. Hopefully people will eventually decide they don't need the Riders and all the dragons will be slaughtered... and made into bacon, with that unhatched egg on the side... and maybe orange juice could be involved...

The Inheritance Cycle is part of a plan to fade out Star Wars from existence.

Whether you are a fan or hater, you probably the these books do have simalarities to Star Wars. Paolini is being manipulated by anti Star Wars people into writing these books. Once the books are done, they will slowly begin destroying copies of Star Wars movies and books, hijack servers with info about it on them, and so on. Their descendents will then represent these books to the public so that they can make massive profits.

• Will it happen before or after the world finishes turning into Tlön?

The new name of the series is a hint to the ending.

In order to defeat Galbatorix, Eragon will stoop to his level and and force the Eldunari of Dragons he obtain (from the Vault of Souls or some other odd place). He will defeat Galbatorix, and then either he or Nasuada will become king/queen. They will abuse their power, and the cycle will continue. Eragon will not die, however. It was fortold by Angela  in the first book that Eragon would leave and never return, and obviously he will leave... you know the rest. 

• • Partly Jossed. Galbatorix is defeated, Nasuada becomes queen, and Eragon does leave. He also takes the Eldunari with him, just so they won't be abused.

The fourth book will actually be a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

All the plot threads will be wrapped up for real this time in a totally epic manner. Paolini, in an attempt to make it Darker and Edgier, will put the heroes through all sorts of crap that was totally foreshadowed in the first three books. Everyone will get what's coming to them, including the elves. The Proud Warrior Race Guys will suffer massively because of The Worf Effect, and realize that they really had it good that whole time and had nothing to complain about, inducing a Heel Face Turn. The plot thickens and the idealized Riders are revealed to be corrupt old bastards who turned Alagaesia into a military junta/oligarchy. This devastating revelation, along with Arya's death, forces Eragon into Heroic BSOD. At the final battle, the Varden and the dwarves are wiped out, leaving Murtagh to emerge as the true hero. In order to snap Eragon out of his BSOD, Saphira develops a personality. Eragon realizes what a Jerkass he was and spends the rest of his days humbly wandering the world atoning for his sins. Alagaesia becomes a commune-based, libertarian utopia where taxes are just an old bedtime story to scare children.

• I assume you're working off the "CP is a secret literary genius" theory?
  • CP unintentionally making a CMOA would be funny.

The dragons are the Man Behind the Man and are mindcontrolling Galby through the Eldunari.

The ancestral dragons contained in the Eldunari were disgusted with their descendants for subjugating themselves to the lesser species, 'cuz dragons are supposed to be majestic beasts and all, not glorified packhorses. They resented the Riders' dominance over them, so they engineered a Plan to overthrow the riders. They gained control of Galbatorix and the 13 Forsworn, as their collective consciousness proved too powerful for the 14 human riders to resist. This way, they slaughtered the rest of the domesticated dragons since they had become more packhorse than dragon anyway. And it wasn't really killing off their entire species and driving the dragons into extinction, because the wild dragons are just hiding.

Angela is the real Big Bad.

C'mon, how else would she know stuff that she shouldn't and just happen to show up at the right place at the right time? And she's not being mysterious for the sake of being mysterious, she's obviously hiding something important. Plus she's shown that she's capable of doing evil in the Battle of the Burning Plains where she rather dishonorably poisoned the Empire's soldiers. They were screaming in agony, people! If she's such a great herbalist, she could have picked something that caused instant death, which would have saved both parties a lot of stress.

• So the entire series is a way for CP to get back at his sister?
• About the whole "instant death" thing, if people died as soon as they touched some of the food then the soldiers would have immediately concluded that they shouldn't eat aforementioned food. Other than that the theory holds some water, Angela has been shown to have secrets that would "get everyone excited over a trifle of a spell, then King Oren would want to behead me and I would have to take out half your spellcasters in my escape." Also, I assume that the spell she has been using to extend her lifespan had some psychological effects. (These may include becoming completely insane and trying to kill our half-elf heartthrob.

Christopher Paolini is a Daydream Believer

It's no secret that the character of Eragon is based on himself. He's said it many times, including in that interview where he admitted that his character has brown hair because he himself has brown hair. To this, add the fact that he says he "daydreamed" about riding dragons and saving beautiful elven maidens. Then there's the biggest piece of evidence of all: he actually includes his characters in the "acknowledgements" pages from his books. I rest my case.

• I like to give my DND or other roleplaying characters my hair and eye color. Am I a Daydream Believer?
  • Not unless you've publicly stated that you have visions about majestic flying dragons.
    • Is'nt every author a Daydream Believer by your deffintion?

The whole series is an elaborate scheme to highlight Moral Dissonance in fantasy.

Related to the "real life troll," "intentional Jerkassitude," and "Surprisingly Improved Sequel" theories above. Within a book or two, Paolini will abruptly switch the POV, providing a brutally clear proof of the fact that Eragon is the most evil character in the series. The fact that his relationship with Safiria is clearly abusive will be shown, and the obnoxious elves will finally be shown from outside as The Fair Folk. This is likely to upset anyone who actually thinks they series is remotely good, so the terrible writing and plotting are part of a Batman Gambit to make sure that the hatedom is larger than the real fans.

Christopher Paolini actually has the potential for great writing talent.

He may still be in the Marty Stu phase, but let's face it, not many young adults could write a book of Doorstopper length that's at least readable. Unfortunately, thanks to Protection From Editors and the unexpected success of the series, Paolini's probably not going to learn to write better and become an even more Small Name, Big Ego.

Related to the above, the series is a 'History is written by the victors' tale of a sociopathic war criminal.

Suggested to this troper after she (finally) finished reading Brisingr and celebrated. It certainly makes sense of why Eragon's treatment of Sloan and his murder of the young soldier, as well as any number of other plot holes.

This comes in two flavors: the Deliberate and the Accidental.

Deliberate: Related to the 'Genius', 'Troll', and 'Eragon's a Jerkass' theories above, Paolini is laughing up his sleeve at us and deliberately making the series have all these plot holes that only make sense if you look at Eragon as a sociopathic asshat. A reveal at the end of the fourth book is optional, and if it does happen is likely to catapult this theory into the 'Fourth Book is gonna be AWESOME' theory's territory. In this case, Paolini is almost definitely a Lying Creator.

Accidental: Paolini really doesn't realize that what he's writing has gaping plot holes you could drive the Millennium Falcon through that only make sense if you look at them this way. The way the series is written just got this way entirely accidentally, and he just doesn't get it. Paolini is honest, but incredibly blind because frankly, this kind of thing would be a, different, and b, AWESOME.

Dragons make themselves seem more impressive with Psychic Powers

This developed as a defence mechanism for hatchlings, and is why Eragon could not even bring himself to consider killing the newly-hatched Saphira. Elves and Riders inherit a slightly weaker version of this ability - this is why you Can't Argue with Elves. Ironically, their mental link to a dragon also makes Riders more susceptible to this - this is why Eragon keeps going on about how wondrous and beautiful dragons are, and may have contributed to his infatuation with Arya. Supporting this are the dragons' "cousins" living in the Beor mountains, which use Psychic Powers to paralyse their prey with fear. Oh, and that furry elf who does not seem to realise that his body is exuding pheremones.

• Though you gotta admit, anyone seeing a Real Life dragon would probably either think they're pretty awesome too, if they don't run away screaming. I mean, dragons man.

The Elves used to be human

A human who is linked to a dragon is shown to become more and more elven as time passes, apparently just as a side effect. The entire elven race made a link between themselves and the dragons, and gained their strength and magic as a result.By this reasoning, the elves are really just a bunch of transformed humans.

• To add to this, the elves are to the Inheritance Trilogy what the Orcs are to Lord of the Rings, but without the mistake of not having been made supernaturally pretty. The Urgals are just a barbarian species that got hit with a lot of slander and mind control in the past few generations.

Durza became a shade after accidentally tapping into Morzan's soul

It could be plausible. Ish. Maybe. Sort of.

He's making it up as he goes

Eldunari seem like a big enough deal that there should have been a refernece to it earlier on. That he came up with a weapon to stick beneath that tree was just because he remembered the prophecy he'd written and slapped something together for it really fast.

• Further supported by the four-book "trilogy." If he had the series as it was published planned out in detail before he started writing, he would have know there would be four books. Instead, he had no idea how it would end, and realized he couldn't end it in three books while writing the third book.

The Inheritance Cycle is the story of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign where the players are Munchkins

Brisingr is when the DM realises that their Game Breaker abilities keep sending things Off the Rails and tries to fight back by making NPCs arbitrarily immune to them.

Alternatively: the Inheritance Cycle is the story of Christopher Paolini's Dungeon and Dragons campaign.

His character was given all these powers because he was dating the DM at the time (or he was the DM, and had a GMPC). When his parents forbade him from taking part it in anymore, he decided it would make a good story. His parents decided that was a better use of his creative energies and encouraged him just because it wasn't those silly dice . Well, can't say it hasn't turned out well for him...

The Inheritance Cycle is a Lighter and Softer retelling of Drakengard.

It just goes to show that even a lighter and softer Caim is a sociopath.

• Alternatively, Eragon is Inuart and Murtagh is Caim... which explains why Eragon is so whiny and why Murtagh defected: he was getting sick and tired of having to lug around Inuart. Also, Arya is Arioch minus the propensity for baby-eating (notice the similarity of the names?) and Elva is a budding Manah, being a Creepy Child and all. Drakengard!

Alagasia in the Southern Hemisphere of Middle Earth

Think about it. As well as all the obvious about elves, dwaves etc. there's the geography. We know from Tolkein that Arda was orignally symetrical until Morgoth ruined it, we know also that even the extended maps of Middle Earth only show the West coastline to the Equator. From the Silmarillion we are told that the Ered Luin were originally an unbroken range. Unlike Beleriland and Eriador further north Alagasia was never afflicted by Morgoth and so wasn't attacked, hence the coastal mountains remain intact (they follow the line of the Misty Mountains), and the Beor Mountains retain the orignal height of all of Middle Earth's mountains. In order to preserve climatic descriptions, we just assume that the translation of North and South from the elvish got mixed up and that the South is actually the North, hence closer to the equator.

• • Following that train of thought, the elves of Alagasia are followers of Feanor, the ultimate jerkass of elves who really did believe they were superior. This is also why they don't worship gods: because Feanor had told the Valar to piss off.
    • Feanor? Nah! You see, while Feanor was arrogant, he had reason to be. He really was that awesome. He made the silmarills after all! The elves of Alagasia just think they're so great because...because...they just think they are that awesome. They're probably just some of the Avari, who after all, refused to come because they only saw the Valar frighting Morgoth and were afraid. They wandered and explored a bit, came to Alagasia and all the old stories became just that, stories.
  • Morgoth? Did you just say MORGOTH? There was a goddamn god (dwarven) named Morgothal in Eragon!!

The reason the fourth book is taking so long to come out is because Christopher Paolini has gone into hiding.

It has finally hit him that he isn't much more than an amateur thrown in the ring a bit too early and he is so ashamed that he has gone into hiding. His editors are desperately maintaining the illusion he is still here by extracting DNA from shed skin and creating a clone.

• • We can safely Joss this one, the fourth book's out.

Eragon is just that- a soldier fighting for a cause.

Besides Fan Wank, there is no indication that the old dragon riders were anything but peacekeepers. As such, there is every canon indication that Galbatorix is an evil bastard, and he has performed no actions to make it seem otherwise. As such, the Varden are actually freedom fighters, who are willing to do what is necessary in order to ensure that Galbatorix is deposed- and guess what, Paolini was showing what needed to be done in order for freedom to be gained. He is actually subverting What Measure Is a Mook?. The only difference between Luke Skywalker cutting down Stormtroopers and Eragon killing Imperial soldiers is that Paolini makes it clear that the Imperial soldiers had wives and children and that they do not want to die. Eragon realizes this, but continues on, because he believes in his cause- that's what all the angsting is for. The main reason why everybody is taking the Alternate Character Interpretation that Eragon is evil and Galbatorix is good is because a. Paolini, admittedly, could have done a much better job in informing us that Galbatorix is evil, and b. He didn't spend enough time, apparently, hammering into everybody's heads that Eragon would rather not kill. I mean, what's a couple nightmares and almost entire chapters devoted to the subject worth?

A startling revelation about the nature of Alagaesia

Looking at the map one day, it finally dawned on me. Rivers twist, turn, and double back on themselves, implying that water in this universe is unaffected by gravity. There are radically different biomes that could never exist side-by-side in our world not only neighboring one another, but having a pencil-thin divide between them (generic plains next to desert next to mountains next to forest). The Big Bad sends out more troops than the country could logically support, all of whom are cruelly slaughtered without a second thought by the heroes...

Yes, Alagaesia is, in fact, the Mushroom Kingdom. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

• And here I thought it was Hyrule. Go figure.

Galbatorix turned himself into a shade

Think about it! Why would they mention a dragon rider/shade being the most terrifyingly evil and most powerful thing ever if it isn't going to be used. This would explain how galbatorix was able to defeat the riders and why he really went mad.

Galbatorix is trying to get ultimate power using the true name of the old language

It is obvious that this is what he his trying to do! Eragon asked about this in the first book it is an obvious Chekhov's Gun and it has been stated that Galbatorix was soon going to be unstoppable. There was also that hermit that said that he was looking for the answer to THE question, and that means that it is important

• The last Ra'zac also mentions Galbatorix being close to finding the name of something, presumably the true name of the Ancient Language.
• Duh. I mean, its more likely than guessing Eragon's Name, since that would be a story breaker. Galbatorix will find the Name of the Ancient Language, Eragon will no longer be able to use magic, and will use the Power of the Dragon Magic (which does not need the Ancient Language) to overpower Galbatorix. See my Entry on the Rock of Kuthian below.
• As intriguing as this theory is, it's probably not true, simply based on the fact that this troper doubts that Paolini understands the concept of a Chekhov's Gun.
• Confirmed in book 4 where Galbatorix reveals this is his plan.

The Inheritance Cycle is an allegory for Paolini's struggle with his repressed homosexuality.

• Witness the long, lingering passages in Eldest and Brisingr where Eragon, Paolini's Canon Sue Author Avatar, admires Oromis's lithe body & hairless groin, and compares scars while nude with his musclebound cousin Roran. But of course Eragon doesn't act on his obvious homosexual tendencies, and throws himself at Arya instead... who is always a little standoffish, because she knows that somehow they're really not suited for each other. Meanwhile, Eragon has dedicated his life to overthrowing and destroying the main Big Bad of the story, the evil King GaLBaTorix...
  • So hes also a recoving alcohalic because AryA, and has bad body oder because BrOm, shall igo on?

It's all self-indulgant fan-wank.

• Because that was the idea from the start

• • how is it fan wank when your the author?

The Rock of Kuthian, gate to the Vault of Souls, is exactly what it says on the tin.

• The vault of Souls is a huge store of Eldunari, which galbatorix has never found, which Eragon will use to vanquish Galbatorix. See my Reply to The "True Name of Ancient Language" guess.

• And Oromis and Arya reply to Eragon's question with: "Oh, it strikes a familiar chord in my memory, but I can't think of it right now." Yeah right. Expect big OH YEAH!!!s from them in book Four. And Glaedr, who by all rights ought to know, is never asked, despite his mental linkup with Oromis, who does not choose to consult him as to aforementioned question.

• Search your feelings. You know it to be true, and it would all fit together in a crowning moment of Awesome. (Or a related Fantasy-equivalent Reality Ensues moment.) The Evil Ninja hath spoken. For the record.

• Oh, please! This shouldn't count as a WMG, it's just very badly hidden foreshadowing!

Elva will be a badass politician

She'll use her skills as The Empath to become the greatest democratically elected leader who ever lived, by knowing how to appeal to the greatest number of people and what strings to pull for everything else.

Roran will be the Next Dragon Rider

It seems so obvious it's almost painful. I kinda hope it turns out to be Catrina or Elva, now, just 'cos it would be surprisinging and possibly awesome.

• • So seconding Rider Elva.
• I disagree. If it isn't Arya, I will be extremely surprised. There's a long list of secondary possibilities, but Roran isn't on it, primarily because Katrina gave us a speech at some point which was all about how Roran was truly a greater warrior than Eragon and the elves because he faced the enemy with no advantage, just cold steel and courage, or something to that effect. Anyway, it would sort of undermine that message if the character who is a hero because he doesn't use magic got the spiffy Dragon Rider powers.
• I vote Angela, actually. CP said that Angela was in for several Crowning Moments of Awesome, and in-universe nothing is more awesome than becoming a Dragon Rider
• King Orik. Yes, he is a dwarf, but he has pointed out in the past that it was shameful that the dwarves did not include themselves when the humans where added to the pact with the dragons, and he has said that he almost likes flying.
• Wasn't it mentioned somewhere that the final dragon would be green? And one of the swords that Eragon tries out when he needs to replace his was from a green Rider, and he comments on how it feels more suited to a chopping/slamming brute force strategy than refined swordsmanship. When you look at that it would seem that Orik and Roran are more likely, as their preferred weapons are brute force based, such as axes and hammers.
• Almost all Jossed, as it's indeed Arya with the green.

Elva will be exceptionally talented at guessing True Names

Just an idea I'm throwing out there. I expect she'd make a fabulous evil overlord, and every little helps...

Galbatorix will use the true name of the Ancient Language to create Instrumentality.

He wants to unite all living beings in one consciousness, eliminating all conflict, and he will be reunited with his dragon.

• Jossed. See above.

{{[WMG| Saphira is the reason for Eragons behavior AND Instant exspert.}} the bond between the dragon and the Rider is stronger than exspected and given time a rider will become more draconic in personalety this is the real reason why the riders of old were forced to train their mental disipline so much. Also the dragon works like a second head giving a rider the ablilety to atain memories twice as fast as a normal human. It also exsplains why Eragorn used so little time to learn to use his left hand, Saphira is evenhanded (even winged?).

• It's been stated that the Eldunari in the Vault of Souls directly meddled to heal/strengthen Eragon, why not this too?
• Saphira is a descendant of a rider's dragon and dragons have both ancestral memories to guide them and a connect to the loand that allows them to survive. Ayna tracked Eragon by his connection to the land and Eragon may have been benefiting from the shared memories of another rider that was pasted on to Saphira.

The reason Saphira acts so snarkish to Eragon is because she loves him

They act like an old couple that bickers, but come through in their "Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other" moments.

Eragon will 'heal' uncle Galby just like his mother did with the assassins in Jeod's history.

Think about it, who would think to create a protection to a simple healing spell?

• Is a spell to make him understand everything he's done the same thing?
• I don't think so, I suppose Eragon would have to remember the tale, he did the 'healing' by himself.

The cover will feature the last dragon.

Not really much of a WMG, but it's pretty probable. The fifth book, if it comes out, will feature either Shruiken or an older Saphira, like this kind of matching cover thing usually does. I say "or older Saphira" because we've already had a black book. Dude, Brisingr really should have been yellow.

The "Vault of Souls" is the Alagasian name for the Stargate

The Rock of Kuthian being a gate dialing device. "Eragon" can be translated into gate chevrons giving the coordinates to Earth. The Iris won't work when Eragon goes through because...MAGIC! Galbatorix is a Goa'uld. The Elves are Ancients who've descended, and the Gray Folk are the Asguard. In the end it won't be Eragon's destiny to stop Galbatorix, only to act as the Message Carrier for Alagasia to Stargate Command so that Alagasia can finnaly be freed from the Tyranny of the Goa'uld.

Paolini is setting up a Screw You, Elves of massive proportions from the dwarves.

It's not easy to see, but the virtues-to-vices ratio for the elves has been slowly decreasing. In Book 1, they were described in vague enough terms to be perfect. However, they were rather bland, while the dwarves, Paolini's favorite (this is important), were decently characterized and fairly diverse.

Come Book 2, while elves were given more "good" traits, they were also shown to be a bit petty, and when Eragon's elven sparring partner accepts him, he's never seen in the book again, as if he lost the characterization that made him important. Eragon starts quietly disagreeing with the elves - many people seem to overlook that Eragon disagrees with the elves' atheism. He also calls them out for hiding in their forest, albeit politely. Meanwhile, the dwarves are more fleshed out and realistic, and we learn more about their history, economy, and religion. During the final battle, they come to the aid of the Varden despite not being part of it. Orik insults Oromis to his face, and Oromis accepts his accusations.

In Book 3, elves are given almost no more virtues, while being shown as being disconnected from the outside world, placing more value on trees than the lives of the people they're allied with. They donate a meager twelve elves to aid Eragon, who mostly only act as a backup power supply. During the final battle, a human soldier accuses Eragon of betraying his race due to his elvish appearance, while Oromis - a powerful elf and a Dragon Rider to boot - gets killed. The most important elf in the book, Rhunön, all but hates her species, and identifies much more with the dwarves. The elves as a whole are out of the picture almost entirely, while a good chunk of the book is devoted to more dwarven customs. At least one of their gods is all but confirmed to exist - trashing the elves' atheism - and when Eragon prays to him, his prayer is answered.

Overall, the view of elves presented to the reader has seemingly gone down, while Paolini's favorite has been given more importance. Given the Elves vs. Dwarves relationship in the series, it's probable that the dwarves are going to screw the elves over, and no one will mind (especially not the reader).

Urgals are a race of minotaurs.

They're hairy to the point of fur, long-horned, and less evil and more complex than previously presented.

Arya is a Romantic False Lead, and Elva is Eragon's final love interest.

Think about it. She matures at an incredible rate both physically and mentally, is magic, and is still young enough that she will probably view Eragon as a role model, intentionally or not. The botched blessing in book 1 formed a bit more of a bond than they thought. When Elva looks 16 in a couple of years, and Eragon hasn't aged a bit, that's when it will happen. Hey, makes as much sense as Bella's daughter/Jacob... Also, Eragon/Arya is so obvious that subverting it would be worth it.

• Right on Arya, wrong on Elva.

The Fourth Book

• It's going to open with the Varden and the Elves marching on Uru'baen and Galbatorix massacring the vast majority of their forces, which will be an effort by Paolini to further subvert the cliches involved the Inheritance cycle as well as give a reasonable amount of time for Eragon to find the other egg, hatch it, and train the new Rider(probably Arya).
  • Jossed.

Roran will become the next king.

• He has already been shown to be someone people will follow. And, as Saphira mentions in the third book, everyone from Carvahall is a descendant of King Palancar (who happened to be insane). This would explain Roran's berserker tendencies in battle.
  • Jossed. He was in the running when Eragon declined, but it went to Nasuada.

Inheritance is just playing with various loved tales, such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, Doctor Who, and the song Starlight, by Muse

• Star Wars and Lord of the Rings shouldn't need explaining, but as for the Princess Bride, when Eragon is imprisoned in Gilead he asks Durza "Who are you?" to which he replies: "No one of consequence." Westley and Inigo Montoya share an identical exchange. Doctor Who has very easy to find ones, if you look hard enough. The last Ra'zac tells Eragon that Galbatorix "has more heartsss than you do" (yes, it did have that many s's) Time Lord 's have two hearts. The Lonely God poem, "Adrift upon the sea of time, the lonely god wanders from shore to distant shore, upholding the laws of the stars above." And later: "The trickster, the riddler, the keeper of balance, he of the many faces who finds life in death and who fears no evil; he who walks through doors." Not to mention Eragon's main source of power and transportation is old, new, stolen (borrowed), and blue. As for Starlight, As Eragon is about to depart for Du Weldenvarden, Nasuada informs him that "our hopes and expectations" rest on your safe return. Did anyone mention black holes and revelations???
  • Galbatorix is a time Lord? YANA indeed. Oh, the Doctor will be so happy to hear this--until, of course, he reads the books.
  • And then there are the runes on Angela's hat, see below.

Angela is VERY old

In Inheritance, we hear about the Hall of the Soothsayer. While Nasuada is being tortured to bring into service, Galbatorix mentions that it was built to house a soothsayer, or 'fortune teller', because of the fact it released a gas that allowed a person to see into the future. In this, the soothsayer dreamed of what happened and what will happen. Now, it also told this soothsayer and her attendants left. This doesn't sound important until you come along a little later in the book, where it's mentioned that a hermit devised a spell that allowed Eragon to carry the Eldunari. It's also mentioned this occurred hundreds of years ago. Tenga is a hermit, specifically a very smart and very powerful one. He is shown to be adept at using magic. Angela mentioned that she was his apprentice for an unfortunate number of years, and knows more about basically everything that occurs than even most of the elves. Her sword, Tinkledeath, is thought to be diamond by Eragon. She knows of a way to use energy to strike at a near-instant timing.

This connects further on in the first Eragon book, where she may have actually known who Eragon is and what he is. To dispell doubt, she used the knucklebones. (This also gives further credence to her age, the elves and dragons fought long ago. This would be the only time they would do this, because they have such a respect for dragons later on it's not funny). Also, as we saw, Tenga began asking questions that old dragons would. While they had nothing to do with most present things, he was asking about things that are almost impossible to answer and potentially answering them.

To further illustrate her power, her prediction from the first book is true. All this makes me believe that Angela, is in fact, The Soothsayer.

• Additionally, Angela could be a rider that somehow survived, with Tenga as her shapeshifted dragon, and Tinkledeath is her rider sword.

Doctor Who and the Inheritance Cycle share a universe

Why? Well, there's Arya mentioning "the Lonely God." There's also Solembum talking about the strange thing's he's seen in Alagaesia, most interestingly "rooms biggerontheinside than they are on the outside." The TARDIS, perhaps? Or just a bit of Time Lord technology? And then there's this little gem near the end of Inheritance:

Eragon (about the runes on Angela's hat): What does it say? Angela: Raxacori-

Shout-Out? Or a hint at her past misadventures with the Doctor?

Angela is someone/thing from Doctor Who.

Leading theories include:

• She's a (new) Time Lord
  • Consider this: over the course of the series she displays an incredible foreknowledge of just about everything. How'd she find out about everything? Easy, time travel, though she can't be open about it, so she wraps it in mysticism. Solembum is her companion. She has an incredible knowledge of chemistry, more than any other character (scientific proficiency is par for the course for time lords) and is constantly referred to as "The Herbalist". What the author doesn't mention is that "The Herbalist" is her time Lord name (see The Doctor, The Master, etc.)

• She is a former/future companion of the Doctor
  • Possibly the ever popular Immortal!Time-Lord-via-Bad-Wolf!Rose
  • Or River Song.

• She's the Rani, fob-watched into a Grey One/human hybrid with more morals.

Related to the ones above: Angela is actually Christophers sister Angela

By the way, does someone know if her last name is Paolini, too? Would be logical, but you never know. Well, at some point in the future, Angela will become a companion of the The Doctor. Some incident, probably with the TARDIS, will make her immortal (it happend before). The Doctor visited the old Alagaësia, became a legend there and left Angela for some reason. They met again at least once, when Solembum was already travelling with her. She has either seen or been to a future Alagaësia, maybe she even met a future Eragon, or, alternatively or additionally, she actually was The Soothsayer, maybe only having been able to become this because she was already changed by the TARDIS.

Galbatorix is a Time Lord

And not just any Time Lord, he is The Master.

Eragon will return

Then, eventually, leave again and not return.

Christopher Paolini is a troper

Explains why the last two books were so much improved - he read the criticisms and took them to heart. That's probably why Eragon gets called out by different characters for the exact same things that detractors do.