Genre
A novel with fairy tale elements
Setting and Context
The action takes place in Alagaësia, which is ruled by the wicked King Galbatorix.
Narrator and Point of View
The point of view in the novel is the third person with the narrator holding an omniscient knowledge and recording in order to share Eragon and Saphira’s interesting adventure.
Tone and Mood
This novel has shifting tones, changing in order to construct an atmosphere for the characters and their actions, with its intensity playing on the theme of good vs evil. The mood can also shift through large differentiations based on these actions and also on the setting, with usually more tranquil scenes in forested areas and hurried, desperate, and tense scenes occurring when a danger is closing in on the characters.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The main protagonist is Eragon. The main antagonist is Galbatorix.
Major Conflict
The main conflict happens between Galbatorix and the Riders. Urgals kill Galbatorix’s dragon. He asks the Riders to give him a new dragon, but they reject his wish which causes Galbatorix to become angry. This sparks his plan to destroy the Riders and creates this novel's mainframe setting.
Climax
The climax is the increasingly tense battle between Galbatorix’s army and Eragon’s allies, the Varden, with the peak climax in being the battle inside the castle between Eragon, Murtagh, and Galbatorix. Thankfully, Eragon wins this battle.
Foreshadowing
Angela, who is a fortuneteller, predicts that Eragon’s family has a traitor, but he does not believe in it. At first, it seems like the traitor is Eragon’s father, whose name is Morzan. When Morzan was a Rider, he decided to obey Galbatorix and betrayed the good side. Yet, later, when he is revealed to not be his true father, the traitor in his family is shown to be solely his half-brother, Murtagh, who, because of some twisted spells and threats held over him and his dragon, fights on Galbatorix's side in the war.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
View imagery section
Paradox
The main paradox of the novel is existence of elves, dragons, urgals, and especially magic.
Parallelism
There is a parallelism between good and evil. Eragon is on the side of good. Galbatorix is on the side of evil. They resist each other.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
When Eragon begins to talk about his plans with Saphira, Brom advises him first to make sure that no one nearby “keep his weather eye open”. Brom means that somebody can overhear Eragon and Brom’s conversation about the great plans.
Personification
The dragon personifies power and courage.
The nature of Alagaësia personifies beauty and life.
