Finishing Eragon! Chapters 57-59
The action starts pretty quickly in these final chapters. Apparently Urgals had been just chilling in an ancient abandoned dwarf city and an attack on Farthen Dur was imminent. Crazy how an entire dwarf city could be occupied by Urgals and nobody noticed. The Urgals even renamed the city to Ithrö Zhâda for crying out loud! I also found it interesting that there are dwarves sort of just living out on their own isolated in the Beor Mountains. I mean it makes sense but just interesting I guess. It is crazy just how much I forget.
The battle begins and the brutality of the battle does surprise me a bit. Urgals literally being lit on fire right off the bat. Pretty gnarly!
All in all it is a pretty intense battle, for whatever stupid reason as a kid I thought that the battle took place more in the day time? It's said pretty obviously that it is dark and I mean they're literally IN a dormant volcano. So glad I re-read this.
Decent depiction of the battle, but I feel like Saphira should be much smaller. The battle seemed more intense and serious this time as I read it. Maybe I'm biased since I just read it, but still.
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When Eragon is directed to Tronjheim, Durza's entrance and the battle that ensues is WAY better than I remembered. Isidar Mithrim and really much of the layout kinda confused me as a youngster. This time around, this scene felt way more epic.
Durza feels way more wild and wicked. Eragon watching his memories as they battled was seriously cool.
Arya destroying Isidar Mithrim and the shards falling as a result, then Arya and Saphira crashing through it was fantastic action. Arya's green magic, Saphira finally breathing fire with a tint of blue, Eragon wielding his red sword Zar'roc. Just a magnificent scene. Knowing what is to come in their future, and the legacy of the past all came together to defeat a great evil. It just hits different knowing how the series unfolds going forward.
The ending is interesting too, I believe Oromis talks to Eragon as he recovers from his wound. But I am not one hundred percent on that. I will find out soon!
As the ending of Eragon came about, I felt a serious sense of bittersweetness. There's only so many times I will be able to read these books in my life. I need to read some of these more often I think. But still, mathematically there's only so many times I can read these books. Finishing Eragon this time, reminds me of my own mortality and reminds me the magic of books. In many ways these characters are more immortal than us humans huh?
My copy of Eragon is old enough that the book includes a short chapter in Murtagh's perspective from when Eragon was captured in Gil'ead. Nothing special but a nerd like myself cherishes it. Interesting to see Murtagh and Saphira interact one on one.
Re-reading Eragon I can say it was a lot better than I remembered it being. It's actually very diverse and just simply magical. I'm glad these books ended up in my life somehow. I'm lucky.
