Let’s get this over with.
Eldunari: Heart of Hearts
See, even the “expert” super-fan uses ‘eldunari’ as a plural form rather than the official ‘eldunarya’.
“[Eldunari are] one of the possible explanations for Galbatorix’s extraordinary power”
Power that he has yet to actually display in any real way. How do we even know, by the end of Brisingr, that Galby is in any way significantly more powerful than, say, Eragon? We are told, but never shown. Sure, he took down Oromis. In other words, he won a magic fight against someone who cannot use more than the smallest amount of magic.
There follows a block quote from Brisingr about what eldunari are, and more than a page of yet more explanation, just in case readers didn’t understand the quote.
Aaaand then this happens. I’m quoting the entire paragraph so you can appreciate the context and the sheer scale of fail.
However, there were also dragons who had lived so long that they no longer cared about the physical world and decided to devote themselves to the search for enlightenment by abandoning the distractions of the physical world. (Brisingr p.633)
Let’s just take a moment to check that reference. As expected, Paolini never once mentions “enlightenment”. That is Richard’s interpretation, which will be an important distinction later. From Brisingr, page 633:
But mostly, the dragons who chose to live on in their Eldunari were those who were old beyond measure […] old enough that the concerns of the flesh had ceased to matter to them and wished to spend the rest of eternity pondering questions younger beings could not comprehend.
Okay, so Paolini states that very old dragons may wish to withdraw from the distractions of life to contemplate philosophy, a kind of unceasing omphaloskepsis. Very much NOT the same thing as “enlightenment” as Marcus will now awkwardly attempt to whitesplain.
(If you are at all familiar with any of the Eastern religions – Hinduism or Buddhism, for instance – you have probably heard of humans who have spent their lives in a similar manner. The usual purpose for this is for the person to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of life and existence, in order to help them live a life that is as close as possible to the ideal state, nirvana. Religions, such as Hinduism, that believe in reincarnation see the achievement of nirvana as the ultimate goal. Once it’s attained, you are freed from returning to Earth as a physical being and become one with the universe. Supposedly, it takes humans many lifetimes to reach the state of purity required to achieve nirvana, and only those willing to surrender all physical attachments are able to do so. As yet another example of their superiority to humans, dragons appear to be able to accomplish this feat at will.)
Yes, he went there.
As yet another example of their superiority to humans, dragons appear to be able to accomplish this feat at will.
I’m… having difficulty articulating how very problematic this is.
First, it is utterly irrelevant to anything. The quote from Brisingr had more in common with Platonian contemplation than with Hindu or Buddhist meditation. At NO point in the series does Paolini even hint at such a connection. And you know what Paolini is like with references and symbolism.
Second, I think it’s more than a little insulting to practitioners of the Hindu faiths (because there are many religious traditions loosely grouped under a geographic exonym, not one monolithic religion named Hinduism). "Hey, you know that thing that you spend your entire lives struggling to do? Yeah, dragons can do that with basically no effort."
It’s similar to the problem of Eragon having his scar healed with a magic dance, it’s insulting to people who have to live with physical disabilities because of how it’s presented.
There was absolutely no reason for Richard Marcus to bring Hinduism into this at all, other than to make Paolini’s dragons seem even MORE special, even if it is in a non-canonical way.
Perhaps thankfully, Marcus leaves this thought behind and moves on to the implications of giving one’s eldunari to someone else for safekeeping.
Any Rider who possessed his or her dragon’s Eldunari would not only be able to communicate with their dragon, regardless of distance, they would also be able to draw upon their dragon’s strength through it in order to bolster their spells. You can see why a dragon might share their heart of hearts with their Rider. Think of the advantages a Rider who possessed a dragon’s heart of hearts would have over one who didn’t.
While you’re there, try to think of any advantages – any at all – that a dragon gains by surrendering their eldunari to be used like a portable battery .
Marcus goes on to explain in detail the very real downsides of existence as an eldunari, which makes me wonder exactly why any dragon would ever contemplate that kind of existence. There’s literally nothing in it for them except to become a helpless tool to be used by whoever can control them.
Galbatorix is powerful because he controls lots of eldunari, Eragon will have to find a way to match or otherwise subvert or counter that power, blah blah blah.
Marcus speculates that Eragon will have to deal with Galby’s eldunari at some point in book 4, either to destroy them or to remove them from Galby’s influence. Marcu thinks there must have been a reason for Jeod and Angela to live next door to each other in Teirm, and that Jeod is probably best placed to help him find the Rock of Kuthian (which, remember, at the end of Brisingr is still a mystery).
And then, predictably, Marcus hits the nail on the head in precisely the same way that evety single fan did, despite Paolini bald-facedly lying about it many times.
For all we know, [The Vault of Souls] might be a repository of eldunari that predates the alliance between the elves and the dragons.
Remember, according to Paolini in interviews and Q&As shortly after Brisingr, there are NO wild dragon eggs in the world, and NO eldunari not in Galby’s control (other than Glaedr’s and Saphiras). PERIOD. End of discussion.
And then Marcus brings up a surprisingly good point that I don’t now if anybody here has brought up before: What if Eragon uses the extra power and wisdom given to him by Glaedrball to release Murtagh and Thorn from Galby’s control? That would actually have been an interesting turn, and a great character moment where we are shown (rather than told) that Eragon actually cares about his family, to the point that his first action using his latest power-up is to help his friend and half-brother, not just to wipe out yet more nameless mooks.
The chapter ends on a note of (unnecessary) urgency, even though Galby has only had one voice-acting cameo so far in the whole series, and does not seem inclined to actually interfere with the Varden's plans in any real way, aside from sending more of his inexhaustible supply of procedurally-generated mooks.
That’s it for this chapter. Next: Chapter 11: Matters of the Heart. Just what we need, awkward speculation about the love-lives of characters we don’t care about and who probably aren’t good romantic matches. Just lovely.