Eragon

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"Throw Stars Wars movies 4,5 and 6 in a blender along with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, then water them down thoroughly, and this is what you get." An anon's summary of the Inheritance Novels

Eragon is the titular character in the Inheritance Novels, written by Chirstopher Paolini. He is also a Mary Sue.

The Setting

While the books are alright, the setting is OC Do Not Steal a blatant copy of Middle-Earth (right down to having similar names for people and places). A few examples include the Princess Leia/Arwen figure, Arya (her name; Arwen + Leia = Arya. Or he read some of the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' book series and took the name from Arya Stark). Her mother is the elf queen Galadriel... I mean Islanzadil the latter being an obvious rip-off of the former (except Islanzadi is a vengeful incompetent bitch who only got her job because her hubby died and she dies like a bitch in single combat with a puny human. The only similarity with Galadriel is being an elf queen) who lives in Lothlorien, I mean Du Weldenvarden. There's also Dwarves, orc rip-offs called Urgals (they even have Uruk-hai rip-offs called Kull) in the story along with language guides at the end of each book. Eragon also meets two Yoda figures in the form of the elf Dragon Rider Oromis and his dragon Glaedr living in a remote reigon. They're both admittedly badass as they eventually fight despite being handicapped. Glaedr's missing a leg while Oromis suffers from something similar to epileptic fits; SPOILER they both die, while Glaedr even has a form of existence after death to advise them. And then Murtagh is basically a Darth Vader substitute; he has a red sword, works for the big bad, and tries to turn Eragon 'evil'. And - GASP - he's actually related to the Eragon. which he tells him, after he defeats him in a big 'oh no, it's not possible!' moment. and the whole while he's a character striving for redemption.

Of course, many have pointed out the name "Eragon" is very similar to "Aragorn". Though the name itself comes from the word "dragon", but using an "E" since it's the letter immediately after "D", the idea being "dragon +1" and...look, the reasoning is just as stupid as it sounds.

Compare and Contrast

Eragon himself is a whiny, sociopathic (seriously, he matches the big bad evil villain of the setting almost deed for deed when it comes to evil), medieval rip-off of Luke Skywalker, copying his story in damn near every way. See below for the evidence:

• Luke Skywalker: He was raised on a farm by his aunt and uncle because his parents both died. He lives like this until he and his uncle come across some droids which were carrying information vital to the rebellion. He learns that he is force-sensitive, making him a candidate for the legendary Jedi. His home is destroyed and his aunt and uncle are killed by troops of the empire, who had been tracking the droids. Luke meets an old hermit storytelling wizard by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi (revealed to be a former member of the Jedi). Obi-Wan takes him on a journey to become a Jedi and join the Rebellion. Along the way they meet and get help from a smuggler on the run called Han Solo and his right-hand Wookie, Chewbacca, who prove invaluable after Obi-Wan's death. Luke is responsible for winning the first major battle in the movies by blowing up the Death Star, thanks to a distraction from Han Solo.

• Eragon: He was raised on a farm by his uncle along with his cousin because his parents both died (at least his mother). He lives like this until he comes across a dragon egg which was vital to the elven rebellion. He sees the egg hatch for him, making him a candidate for the legendary Dragon Riders. His home is destroyed and his uncle is killed by agents of the empire (Ringwraith rip-offs), who had been tracking the egg. Eragon meets an old hermit storytelling wizard by the name Brom (revealed to be a former member of the Dragon Riders). Brom takes him on a journey to become a Dragon Rider and join the Varden. Along the way they meet and get help from a rogue on the run called Murtagh, who proves invaluable after Brom's death. Eragon is responsible for winning the first major battle in the books by killing the Shade, Durza, thanks to a distraction from Arya and Saphira.

The Story

Eragon joins the Varden in their fight against the empire, ruled by the evil King Galbatorix, while learning what it means to be a Rider and their past.

He learns how to read and write, becomes an unstoppable swordsman and even begins to learn magic. All the while growing closer to his Dragon Saphira (which is pretty much the only original thing about the story). Saphira often acts like a dumb teenage girl, which given her age she is, but is also suppose to be wise.

Describing the main events of the first two books is basically retelling Star Wars episodes 4 and 5.

There was also an exceedingly shitty movie and video game based off of the series made in 2006. Fortunately for all concerned, a sequel is impossible due to how badly 20th Century Fox fucked up the progression.

In book two he lives among the elves for awhile, meeting the rider Oromis and his dragon Glaedr, training under them. He struggles to overcome the crippling injury dealt to him at the end of the first book, which doubles as a curse, causing him random bouts of extreme pain. He is transformed into a half-elf near the end of the book, ridding him of the injury/curse, while giving him elf abilities. He leaves his training in elf land prematurely to aid the rebels, only to be met by Murtagh with his own dragon who's been magically enslaved by Galbatorix. Eragon is defeated and learns that his father is (supposedly) Murtagh's father, who was evil, making them brothers (this is later proven false as Brom was his father, who fell in love with Murtagh's mom). He then steals Eragon's sword which used to belong to Murtagh's dad (though that was known since the first book).

He also has a cousin, Roran, who cannot use magic, has a manly beard, and fights with a hammer.

Third book is a massive improvement (which isn't hard to do) and had a drunk aging elf blacksmith who bitches about how her fellow elves have become huge dicks, that's cool. Also has Eragon strangle an unarmed solder to death as he tries to run away and beg for his life. Continuing with the trend of ripping off Star Wars he gets a lightsaber. Okay, not really, just a blue sword, that can ignite in blue flames, big difference.

The fourth book has the most originality while also cranking up the Mary Sue meter for Eragon. He discovers the true name of the magical language, giving him the ability to rewrite the laws of magic and physics.

While the series itself can easily be criticized for its blatant plagiarism of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, the biggest flaw is Eragon himself. He's a whiny sociopath, and blatantly abuses his power more than a few times, making him arguably no better than the people he's fighting. In fact, he even technically commits genocide on the Ra'zac in Alagaësia (a race of man eating humanoids that mature into copies of Fell Beasts at adulthood. The problem is, while predatory and frightening, they're not portrayed as completely evil or unnatural, raising disturbing implications).

Despite this, nearly everyone in-universe loves him despite his flaws and these abuses of power. Anyone who does hate him or calls him out is portrayed negatively with bad stuff usually happening to them.