Murtagh Is Phenomenal

The Inheritance Cycle came to an end over a decade ago. So much time had has passed, that I had begun to think we would never get any more stories from the world of Eragon. However, to my delighted surprise, Christopher Paolini has released his new novel set in Alagaesia, and it was worth the wait.
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[@Lueibarkall]

Murtagh was a good read after years of being always from Eragon. I kind of like how he does several sort of side quests before perusing the main one including but not limited to catching fish and killing boars, lol just like a IRL video game.

[@OfficialDarkSoulMusic]

You can tell Paolini is setting something up pretty huge with this book. But on its own I thought it was great. I've seen some pushback on it from some fans, but I'm not sure they understand what he was going for - this is supposed to be a stripped back character study of guilt and redemption, not an archetypical hero adventure story. Also, got I got goosebumps when Murtagh and Thorn fly over Palancar Valley/Carvahall and see the burned-down farm where Eragon lived. That passage made me feel like I was 12 years old again. Wasn't expecting that but I'm glad Paolini included it

[@HeadCannon1624]

I liked that part too, I didn’t even know I wanted a Murtagh/Roran interaction until he teased it there

[@OfficialDarkSoulMusic]

@@HeadCannon1624 Yeah part of me wanted Murtagh to land and go talk to him. But I respect Paolini for having the discipline to stay focused on the story and make us wait for that another time

[@glockmaster9516]

@@HeadCannon1624 two of the biggest badassess in the series haha

[@quickquranrecitations3091]

@@OfficialDarkSoulMusic I only wish that Paolini didnt make Murtagh change into a guy that complained so much about his lot in life and live on his own for no reason, Ik that he was gonna be rejected but he couldve proved himself again or smh.

[@matityaloran9157]

Agreed

[@BahamutZero09]

Glad to find more Inheritance Cycle fans here. I grew up with the books for most of my teen years. Murtagh is not my favorite character but still an great character.

[@cmhoax6951]

I would rather wait years for a good sequel that does justice to the time that I spent reading the first book in a series than get a book that is rushed out that does not feel even close to the original. I think that is what attracted most of us the cycle in the first place. While the first book was by no means perfect it was good and as the sequels came out over the years they got better and better adding more and more detail to the world without destroying what the previous books had built.

[@932ForeverLove]

That idea that you had about Nasuada being an antagonist, I’m completely on board for that! Murtagh seems to be falling into the same trap his mother did. He’s fallen for a pretty woman, but hasn’t gotten to fully know her yet. He has unofficially pledged his loyalty to her by caring for her well-being and her kingdom. It would be a great moment for his character journey to not continue the cycle and repeat the same mistakes his mother made.

[@lucasemery5146]

Fantastic video. Do more on the inheritance cycle 👉🏻👈🏻

[@blazeproxima5558]

Best series ever

[@knutemotorsport]

Absolutely loved the book. The new villain(s) felt believable without feeling contrived. Murtagh's feelings towards Eragon/Saphira are very relatable: he knows it's not Eragon's fault for having a less torturous upbringing, but it's cathartic nonetheless to redirect his frustrations towards Eragon. My only criticism of the book was how Murtagh accepted random sidequests without question. Like I just don't accept that a werecat said to Murtagh "steal a scale to kill a fish to befriend a soldier to sneak into a dungeon to save a child," and Murtagh was just like "Oh, that makes perfect sense, have a nice day." It would have been much more believable for the werecat to give Murtagh an open-ended task and we watch Murtagh try to get hired as a soldier (and fail), try to sneak into the castle (and fail), etc until he stumbles upon the solution in a natural manner.

[@HeadCannon1624]

Yeah the way that situation was set up was kind of video game-y, I think when he’s in the bar and trying to protect the girl was a much more organic scenario of him having something like a side objective

[@JGWalrus]

Simple trade would have been best. "You find my kid, ill tell you what you need to know" Murtagh scopes out the barracks, over hears the fishermen talking about the fish while resting for the night, decided thats the fastest way to get in and just skip the dragon scale all together. That was just dumb. Removes murtagh being an errand boy and that stupid stupid scale scene

[@jeevanuppal1503]

I enjoyed the book but I disagree that the villains weren't contrived. The idea that this witch was here along and responsible for Galby's turn to madness felt very much like a retcon. Also, if this old, wingless dragon is such a huge threat why didn't Umaroth or any of the other Eldunari mention it to Eragon?

[@cameronreed1411]

10:54 - Christopher Paolini said in a Reddit AMA recently that Galbatorix was trying to find the Name of Names and get all the Riders under his control during the course of the inheritance cycle so that he could then try to destroy Azlagur and the Dreamers once and for all.

[@AlexLawngtv]

The Author and i are near the same age and i got to hear him read from his world in my school library. It made a lasting impact on me.

[@Strength4BodyandMind]

I almost didn't make it through this one. I needed a break from the Red Rising series, and remembered Murtagh had dropped, so I started back over with The Inheritance Cycle. I hated how Murtagh and Thorn were treated in The Inheritance Cycle though, and I seriously almost stopped when he got captured by Veschell. Can a man catch a break... 🤷😭

[@VraelFreorhe]

Agreed, Murtagh was amazing. It's sad we'll have to wait years for a sequel

[@romegypt5675]

I always read his name as Mur-TAH-G, kind of like you but with the g at the end.

[@linh-the-localizer]

Me too!!

[@joshuacoons9517]

I loved this video. You hit the nail on the head. This book was about Murtagh and Thorn dealing with there trauma and changing there names (there identity) to be a hero instead of an oath breaker and not a true dragon. They needed this so much to push the next series through. The new main villain will be the entity under the mountain. I think the dreamer under the mountain is an entity like the Mona Tree (the forest), Dwarf god (god of earth), the dragon at the elf ceremony (god of air), that appears through out the series. All these beings don’t use the ancient language to cast magic. As we know. Magic without words is stronger and more potent then with words (it is just unpredictable and could kill you if a thought goes astray). The dreamer entity will require the assistance from the gods and the riders to defeat. Murtagh and Eragon will both need to master magic without words. I think the gods are going to train them and or assist them to achieve that. I also believe that in the next series Murtagh will be the main character. He has a lot more room to grow than Eragon. By the end of the next series. Murtagh and Eragon will be at or close to the same level. Also, now Murtagh is a brother of a urgal. Eragon is a brother of a dwarf, next step is to make Roan a brother of an elf. I think it would ether be through Eragon marrying Ayra and or another process. Remember the story is always will be about the three brothers.

[@HeadCannon1624]

Glad you liked the video! Great points about the gods, it’s been a bit since I read the original series and wasn’t really sure what to make of the entity under the mountain. I also think Murtagh will be the lead going forward, maybe with Eragon as a secondary protagonist like Rowan was in the Inheritance Cycle

[@joshuacoons9517]

@@HeadCannon1624 so I am just here thinking after re-reading Murtagh. The dreamer god (aka the entity under the mountain) can make you see livid dream awake or sleeping. Eragon first time getting the dream while awake was in about the same area as the colony. If you look at the map he would have been only a league if that from where Christopher put it. The second time he got the day dream was in the burning planes. Hence the burning planes covered in brim stone. Sounds familiar???. What if (and I am just speculating) that the dreamer god is the one who gave Eragon those dreams of leaving. Cause of those visions, pushes Eragon to leave therefore due to the dreamer god. I know what you are going to say. What about Anglia fortune telling. Well cause of the dreamer god influence. Rather or not Anglia made the fortune telling or not, still pushes Eragon to leave. Therefore a self fulfilling prophecy. So, I was thinking. How do you bring Eragon back when he was supposed to never return. Well by a false prophecy pushed by the entity under the mountain. Once Eragon realizes this, he is going to be pissed. It also allows him to return. Another thing this book set up. I only realized this after doing my first read through of Murtagh, then going back and re-reading Eragon, Eldest, Brisinger, Inheritance, The Fork the Witch and the Worm. After that and I looked at the map once I got to Murtagh (2nd read through) getting his first vision during the hunt and they was about a Leauge (close to where Eragon was when he had his) from the cult town. 🤔 I do not think that is a coincidence. Like I said this is a theory. A pretty obvious one now. Surprised no one caught it. But, then again maybe not. I didn’t catch it until I did all of that. Makes room for thought.

[@HeadCannon1624]

I like the theory, that would be a really clever way to bring Eragon back into things without having it feel kind of cheap. Plus he's always left fortune telling rather vague in the books which would let him bend the rules of it a bit. I think it's definitely too many signs throughout the books for them to just be coincidences, and Christopher put hints and things like that throughout the inheritance cycle that only made sense once you finished the series, so I wouldn't be surprised if even back then he was already laying down hints for this new story. @@joshuacoons9517

[@Aktzin]

I remember reading the Inheritance Cycle when I was in middle school! Genuinely surprised there is still things happening with the series, definitely going to revisit!

[@NextChapterYT]

Great take!! We had a super different reaction to the book (weren't huge fans), but loved seeing your thoughts and why you loved it! Looking forward to seeing what Paolini comes out with next! Definitely agree that the plot is very much lacking for the entire first half of the book ;)

[@paulbreakable3302]

great video, thanks for talking about my favorite series!

[@Cap_B-radical]

On page 65 of Murtagh. I'm gushing so hard I had to find some content on it!

[@cmhoax6951]

I didnt know this was a thing and now i have to spend my monthly audio token on this to know after having read the cycle so many times all those years ago

[@cmhoax6951]

To anyone who still looks at this video, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, listen to the audiobooks if you read the books as a child like I did. I decided when I made this comment to listen to all the books before listening to the new one. I am sure that Gerard Doyle was given instruction by Paolini himself or someone else in charge and none of the fault falls on him so dont think i am trashing someone who probably worked very hard. That said, there are a lot of things in the reading that just do not make sense. Why, oh why does Murtagh have the thickest of thick Irish Brogues. Why does Saphira sound like Smog from the terrible Hobbit movies, with no hint of femininity to the voice whatso ever? And then there are a lot of time when the emotion on the page do not match the voice that is being used to narrate the speech. You have been warned.

[@apluscast]

I completely agree, I absolutely loved it as well! And if we ever get a mini tv series adaptation of Murtagh from Disney+, Elizabeth Debicki would be perfect to play Bachel.

[@joshmangipano2929]

This book was fantastic! I really hope they don’t mess up the tv series. If they mess up eragon a second time I will just be so devastated 😂

[@palemoonlight96]

Amazing video!! I agree with everything, it's incredibly hard to create an exciting continuation of the story after you've basically concluded everything and do that naturally and with real new stakes and Paolini managed exactly that! Fantastic book and character

[@CamSampson]

Just finished the book and finally watched, def subbing good stuff

[@Strength4BodyandMind]

Love the review by the way.

[@k1988smith]

Yes, I subscribed because of the Shark Tale clip! The fact that you were talking about a book I just read, and loved, was just an added bonus! I hope that Nasuada stays good, although because of decree with the Du Vrangr Gata, some might already feel she is an antagonistic force in the land. I can go through the motions of a Queen making mistakes, having to regroup, apologize but not becoming an actual bad guy - no. I would give this book an 8 out of 10 and the only thing bringing it down are a couple of the decision made while we were with the Dreamers. I've been typing that the book gives Zuko Alone vibes and I was here for every bit of it!

[@babyoda_054]

“In Chris we trust”

[@kurtmueller7972]

Great video and thoughts.

[@alex626ification]

i also pronounce Murtagh like Murta.

[@NadwornyBlazen]

Great vid. Haven't finished Inheritance cycle, stopped reading it midway through the thisrd book, but I'm happy to see this frenchise still lives. I really like your videos, man, you always say what you think here, you are conveying your thougts clearly and you always have many interesting things to say.

[@HeadCannon1624]

Thanks, appreciate the kind words!

[@tyrellturner5602]

I totally agree with the idea of a Eragon Open world video game Tbh the plot of "Murtagh' felt very much like a video game The final fight with Bachel feels like a Boss Battle. And its stated that there are other villages like Nal gorgath, each with there own leader like Bachel, so it would be very easy to make a video game with this cult as the villains

[@mildlydazed9608]

Growing up reading the Inheritance books as they came out then going back for the first time since Inheritance came out with Murtagh was really something special. The movie got me into the books so I'm happy it came out despite how AWFUL it was. I can't even look at it now without wanting to rant about how they managed to omit everything not human. The dwarven city with no dwarves smh

[@thesilentambience2833]

I loved this book. But I can’t see how newcomers would understand much of what is happening if they start here instead of at the beginning.

[@ryansmith4540]

Did you slip in a shot from the Wolverine movie & think we wouldn't notice?

[@harryc1567]

I always pronounce Murtagh as Murtle, like moaning murtle lol.

[@mark65mc]

Team "Mur-taw"

[@mimovres9300]

i think movie is fine by itself (for fans of books it must be pure agony) But I am quite fond of it since it was shot in my homeland of Slovakia, so there is a lot of personnal attachement to that landscape. However what i despise from the movie the most is goddamn John Malkovich as Galbatorix. His face, voice and acting are just so specific, that i cannot take his character seriously, or even tolerate him.

[@HeadCannon1624]

In the books you don’t even see Galbatorix until the last book and I think it builds him up so much better as mysterious and foreboding. Terrible casting for sure too.

[@darthraiden8740]

Ah yes, “Bushel” lol. It’s pronounced Baa-chel

[@MasonSheffield]

The plot was badly paced, and I'm really tired of seeing Inheritance characters captured and drugged and subjugated. It's become schtick. Other than that, I really loved it.

[@KirkWaiblinger]

... this is sarcasm, right?

[@Ancientneutrality]

Honestly, I read a better sequel on Wattpad