Roran and Nasuada
So, what d'you fine people think about Roran and Nasuada? See, I'm writing this fanfiction and I--
I keed, I keed.
See, back in Eragon, the only point-of-view character was, well, Eragon. In Eldest, Paolini decided to expand the narrative by adding the POVs of Roran and Nasuada. But was that really necessary?
Roran gets the second-largest chunk of the book devoted to him, with 22 chapters and about 190 pages. But what happens? Not much. The Ra'zac and a small army of Galbatorix's soliders lay siege to Carvahall, and somehow these pathetic little villagers and farmers, with Roran in charge, beat 'em back. Doesn't make much sense, especially considering how powerful the Ra'zac (and their briefly-seen parent-mounts) really are. Carvahall manages to survive on pure luck, really. And why is Carvahall even being attacked in the first place? I can't quite remember; I merely skimmed the sections. Is Galby trying to get Eragon's attention by attacking his home? That certainly didn't work; clearly Our Evil King underestimates Our Noble Hero's forgetfulness and apathy. Eragon only bothers to scry on Carvahall once, and by then the villagers are gone and the town has been razed to the ground.
Why did the Empire even bother with Carvahall?
If you ask me, those 190 pages were pretty worthless. Roran was only slightly interesting, but Perrin Aybara did the whole Defend-The-Town role much better in The Shadow Rising (#4 of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time). And the Carvahall subplot added little to the overall story--and, in the case of that "exciting" chase through the whirlpool, obviously intended for suspense (I doubt anyone read that and thought "Oh noes! They're not gonna make it!"), it only managed to slow Eldest down even more.
And don't even ask me about "Barges? We don't need no stinking barges!"
Nasuada has an even smaller role in the story: Five chapters, or about 38 pages. Small role for a 700+ page book. And a pretty worthless role, too. It seems that Nasuada's chapters were only intended to add three things to the book:
1.) Introduce Elva--who, as a concept (Eragon cursed someone? Zounds!) is slightly interesting, but as a character is, well, less so. Poor girl turns into a plot point, and, unless Eragon forgets his promise and/or fails to take back his curse, I doubt Elva will get much of a role in Empire.
(I should note that, when Oromis first told Eragon that his intended blessing was indeed a curse, I thought that Paolini was almost subtly setting up a post-Inheritance story in which Elva grows up in normal time and has to deal with her curse alone. Hmm. I was wrong, which is good, because while such a story might be interesting, it would've been written by Paolini.)
2.) Add some conflict...I think. The Varden is in trouble! They have no money! Quick, let's have Nasuada think of a solution, and we'll end the chapter, and by the time we come back to Surda, the Varden is rich again! Hooray!
3.) Set-up for the Big Battle. Nasuada learns about the frickin' huge army that Galbatorix has assembled, and so the Varden must prepare for battle. And Eragon manages to learn that anyway, when he finally--and conveniently--remembers that he can scry on people.
We needed thirty-eight pages just to introduce a pointless character, a pointless problem, and a single plot twist?
So, Nasuada and Roran, slashfic buddies--er, worthless additions to Eldest, IMHO, QED, LOL. Paolini may have lamented the loss of 12 pages (Just twelve? Puh-lease) in that book, but if you ask me, I know of 228 more that wouldn't be missed. And that's not even counting the further 89 or so from Eragon's journey to Ellesmera, but we've already talked about that.
Eh? Or, more appropriately, Aye?
I keed, I keed.
See, back in Eragon, the only point-of-view character was, well, Eragon. In Eldest, Paolini decided to expand the narrative by adding the POVs of Roran and Nasuada. But was that really necessary?
Roran gets the second-largest chunk of the book devoted to him, with 22 chapters and about 190 pages. But what happens? Not much. The Ra'zac and a small army of Galbatorix's soliders lay siege to Carvahall, and somehow these pathetic little villagers and farmers, with Roran in charge, beat 'em back. Doesn't make much sense, especially considering how powerful the Ra'zac (and their briefly-seen parent-mounts) really are. Carvahall manages to survive on pure luck, really. And why is Carvahall even being attacked in the first place? I can't quite remember; I merely skimmed the sections. Is Galby trying to get Eragon's attention by attacking his home? That certainly didn't work; clearly Our Evil King underestimates Our Noble Hero's forgetfulness and apathy. Eragon only bothers to scry on Carvahall once, and by then the villagers are gone and the town has been razed to the ground.
Why did the Empire even bother with Carvahall?
If you ask me, those 190 pages were pretty worthless. Roran was only slightly interesting, but Perrin Aybara did the whole Defend-The-Town role much better in The Shadow Rising (#4 of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time). And the Carvahall subplot added little to the overall story--and, in the case of that "exciting" chase through the whirlpool, obviously intended for suspense (I doubt anyone read that and thought "Oh noes! They're not gonna make it!"), it only managed to slow Eldest down even more.
And don't even ask me about "Barges? We don't need no stinking barges!"
Nasuada has an even smaller role in the story: Five chapters, or about 38 pages. Small role for a 700+ page book. And a pretty worthless role, too. It seems that Nasuada's chapters were only intended to add three things to the book:
1.) Introduce Elva--who, as a concept (Eragon cursed someone? Zounds!) is slightly interesting, but as a character is, well, less so. Poor girl turns into a plot point, and, unless Eragon forgets his promise and/or fails to take back his curse, I doubt Elva will get much of a role in Empire.
(I should note that, when Oromis first told Eragon that his intended blessing was indeed a curse, I thought that Paolini was almost subtly setting up a post-Inheritance story in which Elva grows up in normal time and has to deal with her curse alone. Hmm. I was wrong, which is good, because while such a story might be interesting, it would've been written by Paolini.)
2.) Add some conflict...I think. The Varden is in trouble! They have no money! Quick, let's have Nasuada think of a solution, and we'll end the chapter, and by the time we come back to Surda, the Varden is rich again! Hooray!
3.) Set-up for the Big Battle. Nasuada learns about the frickin' huge army that Galbatorix has assembled, and so the Varden must prepare for battle. And Eragon manages to learn that anyway, when he finally--and conveniently--remembers that he can scry on people.
We needed thirty-eight pages just to introduce a pointless character, a pointless problem, and a single plot twist?
So, Nasuada and Roran, slashfic buddies--er, worthless additions to Eldest, IMHO, QED, LOL. Paolini may have lamented the loss of 12 pages (Just twelve? Puh-lease) in that book, but if you ask me, I know of 228 more that wouldn't be missed. And that's not even counting the further 89 or so from Eragon's journey to Ellesmera, but we've already talked about that.
Eh? Or, more appropriately, Aye?