Inheritance

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of war, violence, and torture.

“The dragon Saphira roared, and the soldiers before her quailed. ‘With me!’ shouted Eragon. He lifted Brisingr over his head, holding it aloft for all to see. The blue sword flashed bright and iridescent, stark against the wall of black clouds building in the west. ‘For the Varden!’”

The novel opens with the protagonists, Eragon and Saphira, in the middle of a battle. By beginning the novel in medias res, Paolini creates an immediate connection with the previous installments of the series, framing Inheritance as the direct continuation of the events of Brisingr. In addition, this passage reiterates Eragon and Saphira’s position as the heroes and leaders of the uprising against the novel’s antagonist, Galbatorix.

“Galbatorix is mad and therefore unpredictable, but he also has gaps in his reasoning that an ordinary person would not. If you can find those, Eragon, then perhaps you and Saphira can defeat him.”

This passage exhibits Brom’s words, which are part of a message that was first introduced in Brisingr. Not only does this quote create continuity between the books, but it also serves as foreshadowing for the critical events to come. Specifically, Brom’s reference to a “[gap] in [Galbatorix’s] reasoning” sets up the idea that the tyrant is unaware of the moral consequences of his actions, and Eragon eventually uses this idea to defeat him.

“From what Roran understood, such attacks were common throughout the city. No doubt, Galbatorix’s agents were behind many of them, but the inhabitants of Belatona were also responsible—men and women who could not bear to stand by idly while an invading army seized control of their home, no matter how honorable the Varden’s intentions might be. Roran could sympathize with the people who felt they had to defend their families, but at the same time, he cursed them for being so thick-skulled that they could not recognize the Varden were trying to help them, not hurt them.”

This passage exemplifies the theme of Empathy as a Moral Compass. Roran points out the ambiguous morality of war and its impact on individual lives on any side of the conflict.