Why Paolini may have not ripped off Star Wars.
Too close, but not quite.
His sword: It bursts into flame, but it does not glow and it is not associated with electricity. Rather, the sword is an unoriginal copy of a rip off from D & D. Yes, it has belonged to his father, but that be merely because it's the most dramatic source as oppposed to some random guy who lived somewhere.
Farmboy Eragon: Some people say that Eragon is a sociopathic Luke. Eragon is only one member of the legion of stupid farm boys. To be considered a direct rip off, Eragon would have to get in line. Also, Luke is a pretty good role model. Luke would not enjoy slaughtering people. Eragon does not take long to devolve into a serial killer while Luke sticks to his morals.
The Varden's sieges: Along the way to defeat Galbatroix, they lay seige to several cities. This is a generic siege #45654 with nothing original about it, but the rebels go straight for death star while the Varden take the time to trash the countryside.
Saphira: She is an annoying animal companion #294, but if she was a rip off of the droids, she'd have more personality. She is used even less than the droids. She is a vamped up version of a zombie horse.
Arya: If Arya was Princess Leia, she'd be a lot nicer. She has to be dragged unconscious through the countryside , not the sewer, before she can contribute.
Eragon's relations: Nowadays, who isn't related to the big bad guy? And once you're related to the big bad guy, why stop there?
Eragon's uncle: The razaac were lazy. They forgot to trash the whole village. And if the hero is to set off on his adventure, the family must die. This occurs in several different novels.
Death star: Galby's army did have Durza and his dragon thing, but that was the only flying thing. Not to mention that Durza didn't have the capacity to nuke the entire mountain all at once.
While these are very similar to Star Wars, they aren't close enough to be Paolini's style of plagarism. He plagarized entire words from Tolkien and entire scenes from Eddings. Judging from that, it's like he stole from Star Wars copycats, rather than from Star Wars directly. Paolini's not exactly subtle about this sort of thing. There are enough differences and alternate sources that Paolini did not draw on Star Wars directly.
Verdict: Paolini stole all the cliches Star Wars had. Just not neccesarily from Star Wars itself.
His sword: It bursts into flame, but it does not glow and it is not associated with electricity. Rather, the sword is an unoriginal copy of a rip off from D & D. Yes, it has belonged to his father, but that be merely because it's the most dramatic source as oppposed to some random guy who lived somewhere.
Farmboy Eragon: Some people say that Eragon is a sociopathic Luke. Eragon is only one member of the legion of stupid farm boys. To be considered a direct rip off, Eragon would have to get in line. Also, Luke is a pretty good role model. Luke would not enjoy slaughtering people. Eragon does not take long to devolve into a serial killer while Luke sticks to his morals.
The Varden's sieges: Along the way to defeat Galbatroix, they lay seige to several cities. This is a generic siege #45654 with nothing original about it, but the rebels go straight for death star while the Varden take the time to trash the countryside.
Saphira: She is an annoying animal companion #294, but if she was a rip off of the droids, she'd have more personality. She is used even less than the droids. She is a vamped up version of a zombie horse.
Arya: If Arya was Princess Leia, she'd be a lot nicer. She has to be dragged unconscious through the countryside , not the sewer, before she can contribute.
Eragon's relations: Nowadays, who isn't related to the big bad guy? And once you're related to the big bad guy, why stop there?
Eragon's uncle: The razaac were lazy. They forgot to trash the whole village. And if the hero is to set off on his adventure, the family must die. This occurs in several different novels.
Death star: Galby's army did have Durza and his dragon thing, but that was the only flying thing. Not to mention that Durza didn't have the capacity to nuke the entire mountain all at once.
While these are very similar to Star Wars, they aren't close enough to be Paolini's style of plagarism. He plagarized entire words from Tolkien and entire scenes from Eddings. Judging from that, it's like he stole from Star Wars copycats, rather than from Star Wars directly. Paolini's not exactly subtle about this sort of thing. There are enough differences and alternate sources that Paolini did not draw on Star Wars directly.
Verdict: Paolini stole all the cliches Star Wars had. Just not neccesarily from Star Wars itself.