Chapters Du Sundavar Freohr, Fighting Shadows I have no idea what the first one means
Summary[]
So, I'm trying to figure out why Eragon keeps on fainting all the time. Or getting hit in the head, and I think it's because Paolini doesn't want to deal with Eragon failing at something. Instead of having to deal with the consequences of his actions, he faints or is hit in the head and it's no longer his fault. He wasn't awake to deal with the problems. How do you avoid Eragon losing a battle with a bunch of Urgals and thus being shown to be a shitty swordsman, have him get hit upside the head.
Speaking of getting hit upside the head Eragon wakes up in a cell and discovers that he's been drugged. Can't use his magic any more. His brain is sluggish and he can't think. Not that he did much before. He complains about the prison food, wishing he got something better than cabbage soup and stale bread. Yes. He's captured by the enemy, in prison and his biggest complaint is the food. Well that could be because of the drugs.
In any case, he hangs around in a stupor and then sees that there's action going on outside. What happens is that he sees the mysterious woman from his dreams. This woman, despite having been chained up and presumably tortured is still perfect. He even describes her as perfect. And I quote,
"Her sculpted face was as perfect as a painting. Her round chin, high cheekbones, and long eyelashes gave her an exotic look. The only mar to her beauty was a scrape along her jaw; nevertheless, she was the fairest woman he had ever seen." (295)
This woman has been locked up. She's been tortured. She was bleeding at one point. And yet she still looks good? Did they stop to give her a bath before they showed up? And the only thing wrong with her is a scrape? On the jaw. Which still doesn't disfigure her. Isn't that a classic Sue trait?
Eragon goes all creepy stalker obsessed about her. "Something awoke in him -something he had never felt before. It was like an obsession except stronger, almost a fevered madness." (295) That's either a very painful erection or something like how my creepy stalker villain would feel about my main character. My friend Jeremy says that it is, "a raging erection for a prepubescent boy?" Thank you Paolini for the mental imagery. I'm sure we're all going to be mentally scared from that one.
Eragon sees our Shade from all the way in the prologue and somehow knows that this man is a Shade. He's never seen a Shade before. He just knows. No explanation, like he knew what they looked like or heard them described. He just knows. He also wonders why no one has arrested the Shade. Or killed him. Could it be that they're in league? Gee.
The jail that he's in seems to be rather nice, he gets three meals a day. Though they are drugged, so he starts feeding them to the homeless people outside his cell. The Shade comes and visits Eragon in his cell. The Shade is a nitwit. He thinks that Eragon knows his true name. Why would Eragon know his true name when only the elves know their own for sure and Eragon is not an elf but a human? The Shade seems to think otherwise and isn't very subtle about it. He makes one up, "Du Sundavar Freohr" which means "death of the shadows." Death of Shades. Obviously he's going to end up killing this Shade. Why didn't the Shade just look into Eragon's head? He seems to be a powerful enough magic user. Can he not do this? One would assume that he must be able to do this if he ever wants to fight against another magic user. But instead he just asks. And then swallows Eragon's lie.
By night time he's able to use magic again, and is only weak because of his enforced fast, but that doesn't seem to stop him from doing magic. In fact he's even stronger now than he had been when he first used magic. He escapes his cell with no plan except for find the elf. He's rescued in the nick of time by Murtagh, but apparently he's doesn't need it because he's able to kill the guards using magic. They kill all the guards, but one.
This one remaining guard Eragon proceeds to threaten and then threatens to torture him. Remember now, Eragon is the good guy. And how does he threaten to torture the guy? By putting a grain of sand in his stomach that's burning hot. Now, if the sand is really that hot, it would eventually cause an ulcer, I think, or it would burn through the stomach's lining and create a hole for the stomach's acidic juices to seep out into the body cavity and cause lots of damage. You'd be dead pretty quickly and not last the twenty years that Eragon threatens it would take for the piece of sand to get out of you. Yay Paolini biology.
They rescue the elf who really likes standing in moonbeams. And she faints. Eragon catches her. She still smells pretty, of crushed pine needles. They must have given her a bath.
They run up the stairs. They get Eragon and the sue's elf's weapons back. And then the Shade shows up again. The Shade starts to beat Eragon handily. Apparently Eragon isn't such a great swordsman. But he gets saved when Murtagh hits him with some arrows and the Shade turns to mist. We then learn that only two heroes have ever survived slaying a Shade. Kind of reminds me of a Balrog. And then they're rescued by Saphira who takes them off into the night.
Now Eragon has his mystery woman. Who he's obsessed with. I wonder if they'll share some meat together?
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