Brisingr Spork: Man and Wife
Righty-o, let's talk Alagaesian weddings! Or perhaps more specifically - rushed Carvahall/Varden human weddings right after a big battle against the Evul Empire. Although Roran said the ceremony was to be in one hour a chapter ago, it's now four hours later before everyone is gathered and ready in the meadow bordered by the Jiet River.
The air was cool and calm and smelled fresh, as if it had just rained.
Had it just rained? No? Then why does it smell that way? Anyhoo, Eragon is - for some reason - the main man overseeing the ceremony. Because Dragon Riders totally have the same authority to wed people as priests and ministers do. Oh wait - there are no ministers in Alagaesia. The only priests mentioned are in a cult which cut off their own limbs to feed the Ra'zac. And then there's just one monk, Heslant, and he was burned for it. Herein lies the first issue of the ongoing thread of weirdness surrounding this whole worldbuilding idea. The ceremony coming up seems to take the majority of its structure from weddings here on Earth; like some sort of cultural convergent evolution. But does that also mean that their wedding will be legally binding? Or not, since they're part of the rebel faction warring against the King? The word 'marriage' is bandied about many a time, not 'handfasting' or anything similar. Who normally adjudicates weddings in peacetime, back at Carvahall?
Under normal circumstances, Eragon would have been nervous about speaking in front of so many people and performing such a solemn and important ceremony, but after the earlier fighting, everything had assumed an air of unreality, as if it were no more than a particularly vivid dream.
Whilst Eragon depersonalises away (battle will do that to people, I guess, but how on earth is he to get through a ceremony like that?), Paolini namedrops a few VIPs attending: everyone that has a character name, basically (King Orrin is still being healed, however) and mentions that the only two urgals are the ones in Nasuada's guard party.
Eragon had been there when Nasuada had invited Nar Garzhvog to the event, and he had been relieved when Garzhvog had had the good sense to decline. The villagers would never have tolerated a large group of Urgals at the wedding. As it was, Nasuada had difficulty convincing them to allow her guards to remain.
I am definitely writing this paragraph out into a one-shot fic.
Then, joining their voices, the villagers began to sing the ancient wedding songs of Palancar Valley. The well-worn verses spoke of the cycle of the seasons, of the warm earth that gave birth to a new crop each year, of the spring calving, of nesting robins and spawning fish, and of how it was the destiny of the young to replace the old. One of Blödhgarm’s spellcasters, a female elf with silver hair, withdrew a small gold harp from a velvet case and accompanied the villagers with notes of her own, embellishing upon the simple themes of their melodies, lending the familiar music a wistful mood.
Am quoting a fair bit here, but...
1) Ancient wedding songs. Soooo... are they just learned by heart over the generations like our monks did back in the day, or are there already bound and printed copies of medieval-styled music? Are they normally sung/grumbled a capella by the villagers whenever anyone gets married? How many weddings does this village see, really? Is it the most Sueiest of Musical Suey things to be able to pick up an instrument and play along with a (most likely) rough and ready, potentially out-of-tune, potentially faltering at times band of farmers and other villagers and - oh wait of course the entire village knows how to sing those 'well-worn' verses like the Cambridge Singers...
2) No deities mentioned in these 'wedding songs' (read: hymns). Very deliberately, I'd say, that there aren't any deities mentioned. Besides the Ra'zac being worshipped as gods by the 'mad priests' of Helgrind, and Nasuada's praying-mantis goddess Gokukara which gets referenced a little in Brisingr and Inheritance, I'd say there aren't any human gods mentioned. At least not from Eragon's village. May be proven wrong in the comments...? The whole theme of the hymns seem to be very pagan-based when they mention seasons turning and nature-based things.
Roran and Katrina walk up the 'aisle' (a path created by the crowd) together, which is a little different from your regular 'groom waits at the altar' schtick we're more used to.
All in all, [Roran] seemed very handsome and distinguished to Eragon, and, [Katrina] was proud, serene, and beautiful.
All in all, Eragon seemed very robotic and unemotional to me. He's noting all this stuff, he's described as taking things in once again after his symptom of stress was mentioned, but he never does anything like react to it. Even inwardly. He must just be staring blankly the whole time. Also... telling, not showing - the rule which doesn't apply everywhere, but I'd rather hear how Katrina was being those three attributes rather than just being told that she was.
Arya does something #magical with getting some doves to do something they wouldn't have done otherwise like this is a flipping Disney musical number all of a sudden:
The doves carried a circlet of yellow daffodils clutched in their feet. [...] The birds circled [Katrina] three times, north to east, and then dipped down and laid the circlet upon the crown of her head before returning to the river.
They also left a few squirts of warm white good luck on her shoulder but let's not go there.
As the final refrain faded into oblivion, Eragon raised his hands[...]
How very dramatic, Mr Conflagration-In-The-Sky. You mean to insinuate that this is the last time anyone's going to sing those 'well-worn' verses? That Super Thesaurus is really not your best friend after all:
So it's finally time for the ceremony to start proper! And it's really, really silly how unrealistic this is. You see, I've been to more than my fair share of weddings from a number of denominations for a variety of reasons. Paolini is trying to tell us that Eragon's either coming up with words on the fly (without any hesitation with them, mind you) or memorised the ceremonial words from the previous weddings he's been to? Where's the book of service? Right, right - they're not a culture that specifically writes things down to document them, I get it. But you can't tell me that Eragon isn't going off some script or other when he waxes lyrical right out of the Christian wedding book of service amended by Paolini:
“They are both of good reputation, and to the best of my knowledge, no one else has a claim upon their hands. If that not be the case, however, or if any other reason exists that they should not become man and wife, then make your objections known before these witnesses, that we may judge the merit of your arguments.”
"Let them speak now, or forever hold their peace," and all that. Perhaps it was different for fans of the series that could take joy in this out-of-nowhere-fluff, but weddings and vows and whatnot are generally more fun and interesting if one knows and cares for the couple and are happy to sit through the necessary script. Seeing as I don't exactly care for these two, and can't really know cardboard, this chapter gets really boring really fast. Even when Katrina gets to show off her pretty dowry. Piece by piece. Each personally described to the audience by Birgit, who is giving her away. (Since, y'know; Katrina thinks Sloan is dead.)
“Thus your families become one, in accordance with the law of the land.”
What law is that, Eragon? Eragon goes through the vows, then. Everyone manages to repeat them all the way through without forgetting anything - even Paolini who writes the whole darn thing out again to pad out that lovely ol' word count. Sorry, more unrealistic-ness. Humans sometimes have a hard time with rattling back things exactly, and weddings are no different. Which is probably why all we have to do is say "I will," when the adjudicant asks a bunch of stuff in one big paragraph in our universe. Not so here, where Roran and Katrina both have ample Alagaesian-Sue memory.
Smiling, Eragon drew a red ribbon from his sleeve and said, “Cross your wrists.” Roran and Katrina extended their left and right arms, respectively [...] Eragon wound the strip of satin three times around and then tied the ends together with a bowknot. “As is my right as a Dragon Rider, I now declare you man and wife!”
"As is my right as a Dragon Rider." I rest my case.
So yeah, we've now all been unwilling wedding crashers to the most awkward, boring, strange wedding ever. Time to get to the reception and drown those sorrows!
Oh yeah, Eragon gives them both psychic wedding rings and gifts Snowfire to Roran.
Roran ran his eyes over Snowfire. “He’s a magnificent beast.”
That sounds painful.
Two of the elves, a man and a woman, demonstrated their skill with swordplay-awing the onlookers with the speed and grace of their dancing blades-and even Arya consented to perform a song, which sent shivers down Eragon’s spine.
That's 'sing' a song, Paolini.
Eragon goes with Nasuada to visit the wounded men with the Varden, some injured that morning. Because we aren't already wholeheartedly sick of this chapter already...
Nasuada had warned Eragon not to tire himself further by attempting to heal everyone he met, but he could not help muttering a spell here and there to ease pain or to drain an abscess or to reshape a broken bone or to remove an unsightly scar.
I would say ugly scars are not altogether that important when compared with actual injuries. In any case, Eragon meets a man there who prophesises to him. It's not as silly as Angela, but comes a close second at how obvious it is that he's talking about the belt of Beloth the Wise and Murtagh's Eldunarya. The nurse calls him 'mad' and apologises but it's clear from the dialogue that he isn't rambling or disorientated when describing his second sight visions to Eragon.
Eragon tells Nasuada later, and Nas recommends talking to Arya.
They parted at her pavilion, Nasuada going inside to finish reading a report, while Eragon and Saphira continued on to Eragon’s tent. There Saphira curled up on the ground and prepared to sleep as Eragon sat next to her and gazed at the stars, a parade of wounded men marching before his eyes.
What many of them had told him continued to reverberate through his mind: We fought for you, Shadeslayer.
Now if only that thread of consciousness would echo onwards as the chapters did...
The air was cool and calm and smelled fresh, as if it had just rained.
Had it just rained? No? Then why does it smell that way? Anyhoo, Eragon is - for some reason - the main man overseeing the ceremony. Because Dragon Riders totally have the same authority to wed people as priests and ministers do. Oh wait - there are no ministers in Alagaesia. The only priests mentioned are in a cult which cut off their own limbs to feed the Ra'zac. And then there's just one monk, Heslant, and he was burned for it. Herein lies the first issue of the ongoing thread of weirdness surrounding this whole worldbuilding idea. The ceremony coming up seems to take the majority of its structure from weddings here on Earth; like some sort of cultural convergent evolution. But does that also mean that their wedding will be legally binding? Or not, since they're part of the rebel faction warring against the King? The word 'marriage' is bandied about many a time, not 'handfasting' or anything similar. Who normally adjudicates weddings in peacetime, back at Carvahall?
Under normal circumstances, Eragon would have been nervous about speaking in front of so many people and performing such a solemn and important ceremony, but after the earlier fighting, everything had assumed an air of unreality, as if it were no more than a particularly vivid dream.
Whilst Eragon depersonalises away (battle will do that to people, I guess, but how on earth is he to get through a ceremony like that?), Paolini namedrops a few VIPs attending: everyone that has a character name, basically (King Orrin is still being healed, however) and mentions that the only two urgals are the ones in Nasuada's guard party.
Eragon had been there when Nasuada had invited Nar Garzhvog to the event, and he had been relieved when Garzhvog had had the good sense to decline. The villagers would never have tolerated a large group of Urgals at the wedding. As it was, Nasuada had difficulty convincing them to allow her guards to remain.
I am definitely writing this paragraph out into a one-shot fic.
Then, joining their voices, the villagers began to sing the ancient wedding songs of Palancar Valley. The well-worn verses spoke of the cycle of the seasons, of the warm earth that gave birth to a new crop each year, of the spring calving, of nesting robins and spawning fish, and of how it was the destiny of the young to replace the old. One of Blödhgarm’s spellcasters, a female elf with silver hair, withdrew a small gold harp from a velvet case and accompanied the villagers with notes of her own, embellishing upon the simple themes of their melodies, lending the familiar music a wistful mood.
Am quoting a fair bit here, but...
1) Ancient wedding songs. Soooo... are they just learned by heart over the generations like our monks did back in the day, or are there already bound and printed copies of medieval-styled music? Are they normally sung/grumbled a capella by the villagers whenever anyone gets married? How many weddings does this village see, really? Is it the most Sueiest of Musical Suey things to be able to pick up an instrument and play along with a (most likely) rough and ready, potentially out-of-tune, potentially faltering at times band of farmers and other villagers and - oh wait of course the entire village knows how to sing those 'well-worn' verses like the Cambridge Singers...
Click to view2) No deities mentioned in these 'wedding songs' (read: hymns). Very deliberately, I'd say, that there aren't any deities mentioned. Besides the Ra'zac being worshipped as gods by the 'mad priests' of Helgrind, and Nasuada's praying-mantis goddess Gokukara which gets referenced a little in Brisingr and Inheritance, I'd say there aren't any human gods mentioned. At least not from Eragon's village. May be proven wrong in the comments...? The whole theme of the hymns seem to be very pagan-based when they mention seasons turning and nature-based things.
Roran and Katrina walk up the 'aisle' (a path created by the crowd) together, which is a little different from your regular 'groom waits at the altar' schtick we're more used to.
All in all, [Roran] seemed very handsome and distinguished to Eragon, and, [Katrina] was proud, serene, and beautiful.
All in all, Eragon seemed very robotic and unemotional to me. He's noting all this stuff, he's described as taking things in once again after his symptom of stress was mentioned, but he never does anything like react to it. Even inwardly. He must just be staring blankly the whole time. Also... telling, not showing - the rule which doesn't apply everywhere, but I'd rather hear how Katrina was being those three attributes rather than just being told that she was.
Arya does something #magical with getting some doves to do something they wouldn't have done otherwise like this is a flipping Disney musical number all of a sudden:
The doves carried a circlet of yellow daffodils clutched in their feet. [...] The birds circled [Katrina] three times, north to east, and then dipped down and laid the circlet upon the crown of her head before returning to the river.
They also left a few squirts of warm white good luck on her shoulder but let's not go there.
As the final refrain faded into oblivion, Eragon raised his hands[...]
How very dramatic, Mr Conflagration-In-The-Sky. You mean to insinuate that this is the last time anyone's going to sing those 'well-worn' verses? That Super Thesaurus is really not your best friend after all:
So it's finally time for the ceremony to start proper! And it's really, really silly how unrealistic this is. You see, I've been to more than my fair share of weddings from a number of denominations for a variety of reasons. Paolini is trying to tell us that Eragon's either coming up with words on the fly (without any hesitation with them, mind you) or memorised the ceremonial words from the previous weddings he's been to? Where's the book of service? Right, right - they're not a culture that specifically writes things down to document them, I get it. But you can't tell me that Eragon isn't going off some script or other when he waxes lyrical right out of the Christian wedding book of service amended by Paolini:
“They are both of good reputation, and to the best of my knowledge, no one else has a claim upon their hands. If that not be the case, however, or if any other reason exists that they should not become man and wife, then make your objections known before these witnesses, that we may judge the merit of your arguments.”
"Let them speak now, or forever hold their peace," and all that. Perhaps it was different for fans of the series that could take joy in this out-of-nowhere-fluff, but weddings and vows and whatnot are generally more fun and interesting if one knows and cares for the couple and are happy to sit through the necessary script. Seeing as I don't exactly care for these two, and can't really know cardboard, this chapter gets really boring really fast. Even when Katrina gets to show off her pretty dowry. Piece by piece. Each personally described to the audience by Birgit, who is giving her away. (Since, y'know; Katrina thinks Sloan is dead.)
“Thus your families become one, in accordance with the law of the land.”
What law is that, Eragon? Eragon goes through the vows, then. Everyone manages to repeat them all the way through without forgetting anything - even Paolini who writes the whole darn thing out again to pad out that lovely ol' word count. Sorry, more unrealistic-ness. Humans sometimes have a hard time with rattling back things exactly, and weddings are no different. Which is probably why all we have to do is say "I will," when the adjudicant asks a bunch of stuff in one big paragraph in our universe. Not so here, where Roran and Katrina both have ample Alagaesian-Sue memory.
Smiling, Eragon drew a red ribbon from his sleeve and said, “Cross your wrists.” Roran and Katrina extended their left and right arms, respectively [...] Eragon wound the strip of satin three times around and then tied the ends together with a bowknot. “As is my right as a Dragon Rider, I now declare you man and wife!”
"As is my right as a Dragon Rider." I rest my case.
So yeah, we've now all been unwilling wedding crashers to the most awkward, boring, strange wedding ever. Time to get to the reception and drown those sorrows!
Oh yeah, Eragon gives them both psychic wedding rings and gifts Snowfire to Roran.
Roran ran his eyes over Snowfire. “He’s a magnificent beast.”
That sounds painful.
Two of the elves, a man and a woman, demonstrated their skill with swordplay-awing the onlookers with the speed and grace of their dancing blades-and even Arya consented to perform a song, which sent shivers down Eragon’s spine.
That's 'sing' a song, Paolini.
Eragon goes with Nasuada to visit the wounded men with the Varden, some injured that morning. Because we aren't already wholeheartedly sick of this chapter already...
Nasuada had warned Eragon not to tire himself further by attempting to heal everyone he met, but he could not help muttering a spell here and there to ease pain or to drain an abscess or to reshape a broken bone or to remove an unsightly scar.
I would say ugly scars are not altogether that important when compared with actual injuries. In any case, Eragon meets a man there who prophesises to him. It's not as silly as Angela, but comes a close second at how obvious it is that he's talking about the belt of Beloth the Wise and Murtagh's Eldunarya. The nurse calls him 'mad' and apologises but it's clear from the dialogue that he isn't rambling or disorientated when describing his second sight visions to Eragon.
Eragon tells Nasuada later, and Nas recommends talking to Arya.
They parted at her pavilion, Nasuada going inside to finish reading a report, while Eragon and Saphira continued on to Eragon’s tent. There Saphira curled up on the ground and prepared to sleep as Eragon sat next to her and gazed at the stars, a parade of wounded men marching before his eyes.
What many of them had told him continued to reverberate through his mind: We fought for you, Shadeslayer.
Now if only that thread of consciousness would echo onwards as the chapters did...