Eragon
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"Throw Stars Wars movies 4,5 and 6 in a blender along with the Lord of the Rings books, then water them down, and this is what you get." An anon's summary of the Inheritance Novels
Eragon is the titular character in the Inheritance Novels. He is also a Mary Sue.
The Setting
While the books are alright, the setting is a blatant copy of Middle-Earth (right down to having similar names for people and places). A few examples include the Princess Leia/ Arwen figure Arya (her name; Arwen + Leia = Arya. Or he read some of the Song of Ice and Fire series and took the name from Arya Stark). Her mother is the elf queen Galadriel... I mean Islanzadil (the latter being an obvious rip-off of the former) who lives in Lothlorien, I mean Du Weldenvarden. There's also Dwarves, orc rip-offs called Urgals (they even have Uruk-hai rip-offs called Kull) in the story along with language guides at the end of each book. Eragon also meets two Yoda figures in the form of the elf Dragon Rider Oromis and his dragon Glaedr living in a remote reigon. They're both admittedly badass as they eventually fight despite being handicapped. Glaedr's missing a leg while Oromis suffers from something similar to epileptic fits; SPOILER they both die, while Glaedr even has a form of existence after death to advise them.
Of course, many have pointed out the name "Eragon" is very similar to "Aragorn".
Compare and Contrast
Eragon himself is a whiny, sociopathic, medieval rip off of Luke Skywalker, copying his story in damn near every way.
Eragon: He was raised on a farm by his uncle with his cousin Roran because his parents both died. He lives like this until he comes by a dragon egg which hatches and marks him as one of the legendary Dragon Riders. His home is destroyed and his uncle is killed by Ringwraith rip-offs working for the empire, who had been searching for the egg. Eragons meets an old hermit storyteller by the name Brom (revealed to be a Dragon Rider who lost his dragon). He takes him on a journey to become a Dragon Rider and join the Varden. Along the way they meet and get help from a rogue on the run called Murtagh, who proves invaluable after Brom's death. Responsible for winning the first major battle in the books by killing the Shade, Durza.
Luke Skywalker: He was raised on a farm by his aunt and uncle because his parents both died. He lives like this until his uncle and him come by someone droids carrying information vital to the rebellion. His home is destroyed and his aunt and uncle are killed by the empire who had been tracking the droids. Luke meets an old hermit by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi (revealed to be a Jedi). He takes him on a journey to become a Jedi and join the Rebellion. Along the way they meet and get help from a smuggler on the run called Han Solo and his right hand Wookie (big, hairy alien) Chewbacca, who prove invaluable after Obi-Wan's death. Responsible for winning the first major battle in the movies by blowing up the Death Star.
The Story
Eragon joins the Varden in their fight against the empire, ruled by the evil King Galbatorix, while learning what it means to be a Rider and their past.
He learns how to read and write, becomes an unstoppable swordsman and even begins to learn magic. All the while growing closer to his Dragon Saphira (which is pretty much the only original thing about the story). Saphira often acts like a dumb teenage girl, which given her age she is, but is also suppose to be wise.
Describing the main events of the first two books is basically retelling Star Wars episodes 4 and 5.
There was also an exceedingly shitty movie and video game based off of the series made in 2006. Fortunately for all concerned, a sequel is impossible due to how badly 20th century fox fucked up the progression.
In book two he lives among the elves for awhile, meeting the rider Oromis and his dragon Glaedr training under them. He struggles to overcome the crippling injury dealt to him at the end of the first book, which doubles as a curse, causing him random bouts of extreme pain. He is transformed into a half-elf near the end of the book, ridding him of the injury/curse, while giving him elf abilities. He leaves his training in elf land prematurely to aid the rebels, only to be met by Murtagh with his own dragon whose been magically enslaved by Galbatroix. Eragon is defeated and learns that his father is (supposedly) Murtagh's father, who was evil, making them brothers(this is later proven false as Brom was his father, who fell in love with Murtagh's mom). He then steals Eragon's sword which was Muratgh's dad's(though that was known since the first book).
He also has a cousin, Roran, who cannot use magic, has a manly beard, fights with a hammer.
Third book is a massive improvement (which isn't hard to do) and had a drunk aging elf blacksmith who bitches about how her fellow elves have become huge dicks, that's cool. Also has Eragon strangle an unarmed solder to death as he tries to run away and beg for his life. Continuing with the trend of ripping off Star Wars he gets a lightsaber. Ok not really just a blue sword, that can ignite in blue flames, big difference.
The forth book has the most originality while also cranking up the Mary Sue meter for Eragon. He discovers the true name of the magical language, giving him the ability to rewrite the laws of magic and physics.
While the series itself can easily be criticized for its blatant plagiarism of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, the biggest flaw is Eragon himself. He's a whiny sociopath, and blatantly abuses his power more then a few times, making him arguably no better then the people he's fighting. In fact, he technically commits genocide on the Ra'zac (a race of man eating humanoids that mature into copies of Fell Beasts when they grow up. The problem is, while predatory and frightening, they're not portayed as completely evil or unnatural, raising disturbing implications).
Despite this, nearly everyone in-universe loves him despite his flaws and these abuses of power. Anyone who does hate him or calls him out is portrayed negatively with bad stuff usually happening to them.