So in a work that gets accused of being badly written, a lot of people usually say it's full of plot holes. And I find that this is actually rarely the case. Characters being stupid or poorly motivated don't really mean they're plot holes. However, I can think of twinned instance in the Inheritance cycle where a character acts so outrageously stupid in a way that makes absolutely no sense given his knowledge that I just have to call plot hole, and that's the case of Brom's Ring in Book 1.
Originally it makes sense. Brom needs to get a message to the Vardan and prove it's him. So he sends the pretty valuable ring the elf queen gave him with the messenger. This works well and good but then two retcons, something that's generally used more to cover up plot holes than create them, makes this the single stupidest act in the series that I can think of.
1. Scurrying Skype calls are a thing. Mirror Phones I believe people call them. Point is, it's possible to talk to someone over long distances using magic. This is something Brom should know. He trained with Ormis and has been around for 100 years. Maybe there's some kind of enchantment around the Dwarf City that makes it impossible? Not likely given Ormis was able to contact Eragon there at the end of the first book using...some kind of method that is never depicted again. So Brom gives away his really valuable/sentimental ring and endangers the life of a messenger for no reason. Okay, fair enough, maybe Brom somehow doesn't know about this apparently simple spell that Eragon learned very easily. Perhaps he's just a shit student and plum forgot despite how amazingly convenient it is (the receiver doesn't even have to be a mage! He could talk to that Longshanks friend of his whenever he wants). Despite the fact that scurrying is on his mind as Eragon asked about it right before they entered the city (and Brom made Eragon swear not to try it until they leave for...some reason?). However there's an even more blatant contradiction that Paolini definitely should have caught on to.
2. The ring isn't just precious, it's filled to the brim with energy! Brom's been putting everything he can spare into it for decades. By the time of the series starts there's enough power in there to blow up a city wall! Why on earth would he give away his most potent weapon? To someone he doesn't even know? Aria managed to teleport Saphira's egg halfway across the map. With that kind of power I'm sure he could have teleported a message right into Ajihad's bedchamber if he wanted to (lousy aim not withstanding). I'm sure if he happened to have the ring on him at the time he would have been able to heal himself and bisect the Raz'Acs with no bother. No message should be considered so important that it's worth parting with the ring.
So why did Paolini do this? Well obviously he forgot what role the ring actually played when it first showed up in the series. But that just leads to the question, why did Paolini even make the ring such a powerful weapon in the first place? And I think the answer is that he hadn't planned ahead. Eragon eventually does use the power in it about a quarter of the way into the first book. At a point that logically in universe it's necessary but from a narrative stand point there's absolutely no reason it's required there. It doesn't add to the story in any meaningful way. It just makes it so there was some sacrifice in capturing Gil'Ead. It's there purely so there are more items in play on the field so to speak but those items and potentials are only useful if they mean something. Sacrificing the power of the ring to heal someone (a choice between a weapon and a life) or to turn the tide of a battle when the reader isn't expecting it would both be useful uses of the ring. Theoretically the ring's use is the latter but in practise it's not. Eragon just thinks about using it, and then uses it. There's no personal conflict. He's just in a tight spot and uses it.
Overall the ring is a non vital part of the narrative. Remove it and the only thing that changes is that another way of getting the Vardan into the city is necessary in the last book (also do I need to even mention that Eragon could have walked up an blown the wall open without that risky infiltration mission? Could probably kill Murtagh and Thorn in the process if they were standing in front of it). I would be very surprised if, when revealing that the ring had a vast store of energy, Paolini had already decided when to use it (hell, I doubt the siege of Gil'Ead was even planned before the last book was split in two). The reason it was added was to have fans speculate and anticipate the moment its used which is like denying information from the audience that a character has for no reason other than to build suspense. It's a good way of gaining attention in the short term but in the long term with anyone who analyses the situation, it's clear that it's cheap and trite. If you put something like that into your story, it needs to be there for a reason and you have to know in advance what purpose it will serve and ensure that purpose is a good one. Likewise when introducing a new spell like the mirror phones (or wards), you need to look back on your story and see how they could have been utilised before. In this case, not only is the ring a useless narrative device but it actively decreases the quality of the story retroactively.
I'd like to hear your thoughts about the ring as a plot device and the potentials/draw backs of giving the characters one-use items that build suspense.
Originally it makes sense. Brom needs to get a message to the Vardan and prove it's him. So he sends the pretty valuable ring the elf queen gave him with the messenger. This works well and good but then two retcons, something that's generally used more to cover up plot holes than create them, makes this the single stupidest act in the series that I can think of.
1. Scurrying Skype calls are a thing. Mirror Phones I believe people call them. Point is, it's possible to talk to someone over long distances using magic. This is something Brom should know. He trained with Ormis and has been around for 100 years. Maybe there's some kind of enchantment around the Dwarf City that makes it impossible? Not likely given Ormis was able to contact Eragon there at the end of the first book using...some kind of method that is never depicted again. So Brom gives away his really valuable/sentimental ring and endangers the life of a messenger for no reason. Okay, fair enough, maybe Brom somehow doesn't know about this apparently simple spell that Eragon learned very easily. Perhaps he's just a shit student and plum forgot despite how amazingly convenient it is (the receiver doesn't even have to be a mage! He could talk to that Longshanks friend of his whenever he wants). Despite the fact that scurrying is on his mind as Eragon asked about it right before they entered the city (and Brom made Eragon swear not to try it until they leave for...some reason?). However there's an even more blatant contradiction that Paolini definitely should have caught on to.
2. The ring isn't just precious, it's filled to the brim with energy! Brom's been putting everything he can spare into it for decades. By the time of the series starts there's enough power in there to blow up a city wall! Why on earth would he give away his most potent weapon? To someone he doesn't even know? Aria managed to teleport Saphira's egg halfway across the map. With that kind of power I'm sure he could have teleported a message right into Ajihad's bedchamber if he wanted to (lousy aim not withstanding). I'm sure if he happened to have the ring on him at the time he would have been able to heal himself and bisect the Raz'Acs with no bother. No message should be considered so important that it's worth parting with the ring.
So why did Paolini do this? Well obviously he forgot what role the ring actually played when it first showed up in the series. But that just leads to the question, why did Paolini even make the ring such a powerful weapon in the first place? And I think the answer is that he hadn't planned ahead. Eragon eventually does use the power in it about a quarter of the way into the first book. At a point that logically in universe it's necessary but from a narrative stand point there's absolutely no reason it's required there. It doesn't add to the story in any meaningful way. It just makes it so there was some sacrifice in capturing Gil'Ead. It's there purely so there are more items in play on the field so to speak but those items and potentials are only useful if they mean something. Sacrificing the power of the ring to heal someone (a choice between a weapon and a life) or to turn the tide of a battle when the reader isn't expecting it would both be useful uses of the ring. Theoretically the ring's use is the latter but in practise it's not. Eragon just thinks about using it, and then uses it. There's no personal conflict. He's just in a tight spot and uses it.
Overall the ring is a non vital part of the narrative. Remove it and the only thing that changes is that another way of getting the Vardan into the city is necessary in the last book (also do I need to even mention that Eragon could have walked up an blown the wall open without that risky infiltration mission? Could probably kill Murtagh and Thorn in the process if they were standing in front of it). I would be very surprised if, when revealing that the ring had a vast store of energy, Paolini had already decided when to use it (hell, I doubt the siege of Gil'Ead was even planned before the last book was split in two). The reason it was added was to have fans speculate and anticipate the moment its used which is like denying information from the audience that a character has for no reason other than to build suspense. It's a good way of gaining attention in the short term but in the long term with anyone who analyses the situation, it's clear that it's cheap and trite. If you put something like that into your story, it needs to be there for a reason and you have to know in advance what purpose it will serve and ensure that purpose is a good one. Likewise when introducing a new spell like the mirror phones (or wards), you need to look back on your story and see how they could have been utilised before. In this case, not only is the ring a useless narrative device but it actively decreases the quality of the story retroactively.
I'd like to hear your thoughts about the ring as a plot device and the potentials/draw backs of giving the characters one-use items that build suspense.