Blog Post #10: Eragon

     Eragon is different from the traditional character because usually, a choice is made, and the character is reluctant to make that choice. However the essence of Eragon is his childlike obliviousness during the acceptance of his quest, and how he grows into the person the quest entailed.
     The herald is also slightly unusual, because she is a human, but makes no contact with Eragon. The story begins with a chase between beasts called Urgal's, and a shade. They are chasing a group of Elves, one of which is named Aria, and is carrying a stolen dragons egg, intended to give to the next person capable of being a dragon rider, who would then be the only hope in their land.
      She is surrounded and sends the dragons egg as far away as she can think of, into a field, where, ironically Eragon is hunting.
       He is fascinated by the mysterious blue rock, but only the money that could be made off of it. He takes it home, and outs it on its shelf, where it later hatches into a baby dragon, (Eragon was pretty freaked out when that happened.) When the baby hatches, he reaches out to touch it, and is blacked out for a few hours and wakes up to a spirally scar on the palm of his hand. This is important because it is the moment where he 'Accepts the quest'.
      A dragon is not born often, and when it is, it is born with one human mate, and it will never hatch until it makes contact with this mate. When Eragon took the rock from the field he made it possible for the egg to hatch, but the moment where he first touched the newborn baby he became tethered to it until either of them died. It isn't until Eragon finds a mentor that he discovers all of these things and realizes that he has accepted a quest that means being the last living dragon rider besides his opponent and single handedly save the people in his country.

   "Tentatively, he reached out with his right hand and touched its flank. A blast of icy energy surged into his hand and raced up his arm, burning in his veins like liquid fire." ..... "His hand was numb, his fingers paralyzed. Alarmed, he watched as the middle of his palm shivered and formed a diffused white oval. The skin itched and burned like a spider bite."

This is the moment when Eragon gets the Gedwey igaesia, the symbol of a dragon rider.