Christopher Paolini's Eragon

The novel Eragon by, Christopher Paolini, tells the story of a farm boy named Eragon Bromsson, the protagonist, who finds a mysterious stone in The spine, a large forest where peculiar events take place, soon after he realises it is an egg, a dragon, Saphira, hatches for him; Eragon becomes the only Dragon Rider in existence for over one hundred years. A Dragon Rider holds the ability to talk to animals through thoughts and can use magical powers. This novel closely adheres to the narrative conventions of Fantasy. The characters develop include a male hero, as well as many mythological creatures. With one medieval, fantasy set realm, the novel’s setting is similarly highly fantastical. Having a male lead follows this narrative convention.

As expected in a fantasy novel the protagonist, Eragon,
is ideologically traditional and has the ability to perform magical powers through his mind. Eragon is a farm boy who strives to protect those around him. Fantasy as a genre typically, tends to follow stereotypes. The addition of magical powers, is also an expectation of the fantasy genre. In the development of Eragon and his magical powers Paolini (2011) wrote, “I should be able to use magic then I can rescue the elf.” The Elf is a common mythical creature used in the fantasy genre.

Fantasy novels are conventionally inspired by mythology; this novel has a number of creatures that are either influenced or directly taken from Norse as well as Greek mythology.
The Elf in the novel Eragon is introduced to the readers when Eragon is placed in imprisonment and sees the Elf unconscious in the halls of the building. Elves are commonly derived from Norse mythology, which, is similar to the more common Greek mythology, but not exactly identical. The development of these creatures is closely derived from mythological descriptions of Dwarfs. The dragon, Saphira, is introduced to the readers when the stone, which is found to be an egg, hatches. Greek and Norse mythology both also speak of a creature known as a Dragon. Dragons are giant reptiles, in the fantasy genre the Dragon is typically fire-breathing dragons also tend to symbolise chaos or evil. During the development of the Dragon, Saphira Paolini (2011) wrote, “After all, how can a mere dragon expect to tell a man like yourself what to do? In fact, everyone should stand in awe of your brilliance of finding the only dead end. -Saphira” Dragons are commonly referred to as being alive in the Medieval time
period.

Traditionally the fantasy genre takes place in a world similar to reality yet not identical; the novel Eragon takes setting in the medieval time period where fantasy/reality realms mix. Eragon lives with his Uncle on a farm on the outskirts of a small village called Carvahall. Alagaësia is a highly fantastical land in which elves, dragons and humans live in. Alagaësia consists of several fantastical major regions. It is conventional to have elements of the setting of a Fantasy novel influenced by dragons and kingdoms along with land that is ruled by an unusual mythical creature, in which no one dare visits. Alagaësia is described as land were the hierarchy live in a large kingdom, where dragons are known but not common anymore there are also many mountains in which no person goes because of their unusually high peaks, in the novel Paolini (2011) wrote, “He crosses the mighty Hadarac Desert and makes his way through the formidable Boer Mountains.”

This highly fantastical setting, paired with both magical and mythological creatures establishes the novel Eragon by Christopher Paolini as high fantasy. There are a small amount of narrative conventions within this novel that do not adhere to the expectations of this genre. The inheritance series by Christopher Paolini, the first novel in this set being Eragon, are all perfect examples of the conventions of fantasy.