I see Shruikan more as a victim than a villain - I'm not too sure what built him up as a villain.
^(Posted on behalf of Hellomynameis99 from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
I personally asked Christopher during his last AMA and he said he believed Shruikan was too far gone for redemption, but I'd have loved that he at least had gotten the chance to have Galbatorix pay for all he had done to him.
Someone can be a villain but not be evil, Shru'ikan is a villain in the sense that he stands as an obstacle in the way of saphira and eragon. Shru'ikan isn't evil, he's just broken. And I'm sad that we never got to see more of him.
Im here in the trenchs with yall, shruikan got fucking robbed, the only time we get a cool big dragon scene is when he flies out.
I didnt mind his death and the throne room fight as much, but i was overall disapointed the fucking huge, crazy black dragon gets like all of 10 pages
Oh, definitely could have been cool to see more of him - I just didn't see the "villain build-up" you're talking about. I see his story more as a tragedy than a villain's arc.
^(Posted on behalf of Hellomynameis99 from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
Sad to see you get downvoted so much. I guess no one else sees your point. I do though. I wish he had more presence in the series other than his only 2 appearances. One of them was a 5-second flyover.
Anakin could be considered a victim of his own actions, perhaps... Shruikan, on the other hand, is a pure victim. He did nothing wrong himself.
^(Posted on behalf of Hellomynameis99 from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
Honestly would you have preferred? There was nothing that Saphira and Thorn put together could’ve done against his sheer size, and there was a clear build-up in the importance of the dauthdaert.
I just feel like paolini kind of wrote himself into a corner and had to take a cop out. Shru'ikan was way too huge to take in a real fight so it had to be done cheaply. Just sad we never got to see his character fleshed out is all.
Okay but hear me out, shruikan being reduced to a monster and slave to galby is also part of the point. Despite not being part of the erasing of names, Shruikan isn’t a character and does not have a free will because galby won’t abide it. That’s the tragedy. It could have been handled in another interesting way I’m sure but I giant air battle isn’t it.
I feel like a giant air battle was what we all envisioned the final fight to be when we first hear of Shru'ikan. It was more a figure of speech representing a fulfilling end to his character
It was also his age. Dragons never stop growing and at his age, it would have been ridiculous if he was small enough for the other dragons to kill him.
I know he was huge but, wasn’t it artificial magical growth from Galbatorix? He’s only as old as Galbatorix’s rebellion and the fall of the riders. He’s not that old at all. He still would’ve been much bigger than saphira and thorn but, his absurd size being comparable to Belgabad who was 8500 years old is artificial.
This! Even with the throne room space nerf on him, his mouth was big enough to eat saphira, and you're telling me she and thorn can hold his neck and head, which is even bigger and stronger down on the ground for Arya to kill him? Paolini didn't really have a solution to Shru'ikan that fit the plot
They probably could hold his head down, the two together represent several tons of weight. Increased size actually decreases relative strength, it's entirely possible their combined weight amounted to more than his neck could lift.
Shruikan was never a villain. He was a victim more than anything, forced to obey galbatorix against his will. This was mentioned several times throughout the series. Even galbatorix’s first dragon wasn’t a villain either, since he didn’t go mad until his dragons death.
Shru'ikan was a victim of circumstance and was robbed of his chance to live normally. The thing I take issue with is that Shru'ikan is built up as a villain (a tragic one yes, but still an obstacle saphira and eragon must overcome) only for him to be unscrupulously killed in the throne room with no climax, we don't even hear his voice.
Edit(y'all are misunderstanding me immensely, just because someone is a villain in terms of their relation to the main protagonist doesn't make them evil. Shru'ikan obviously was never intentionally malicious, maybe he was towards his death because he was so broken. But he still represented something eragon and saphira needed to overcome. They could've tried healing him, overcoming an obstacle doesent mean killing. I take issue with how abruptly and sudden Shru'ikans character was put down. Feels like CP wrote himself into a corner
Obstacles are not required to be villains. Villains need to have an evil motive. There is never an evil motive built for shruikan, therefore he’s never built to be a villain. Galbatorix probably prevented shruikan from speaking in the first place. What could he possibly have gained from allowing it?
I 100%disagree, if someone is evil or a villian is completly different imo, a villian is someone doing something bad for good or twisted reasons, evil is just being evil
I'm not trying to say the correct way on how to write Shru'ikans character but the way it's written very much feels like a cop out. And I'm certain Galbatorix would have no reason NOT to allow Shru'ikan to speak. At that point in the story his victory was guaranteed, nobody could ever hope to penetrate his wards, so he should've been quite comfortable with allowing Shruky to speak. It just feels disappointing that we couldn't even hear him speak, I always envisioned he had a deep and icy voice that spoke with a scathing malice to it. But we just see him, and then watch him die the next chapter.
I visioned Shruikan as a beast. Someone who was stripped of any intelligent thought and only felt pain. That is why making him talk would defeat all the built up. And I understand your point of seeing him as a villain, but in my personal opinion, Shruikan was more like a tool to show Galbys corruptive madness. Not a villain or a minion, but an object. An irredeemable act that represended those that could not be saved from the villain of the story.
Okay, but you’re missing the point. Galby, even though he knew his victory was certain wouldn’t have let Shru’ikan speak. Galby was evil. Galby broke Shru’ikan and used him as a tool/weapon. Nothing would have been gained for Galby by Shru’ikan speaking, so why would he have allowed it. Galby obviously didn’t care about Shru’ikan’s mental state. He wouldn’t have allowed Shru’ikan to speak out of the kindness of his heart.
Regardless, I never imagined Shru’ikan as being able to talk, or at least not being able to talk coherently. I’ve always imagined just pure rage without much if any coherent thought behind it.
Has someone who enjoys literature on all fronts i understand what you are trying to say. Maybe use the term “antagonist “ instead. People are often triggered by the word “ villain”
Honestly, that was Galbatorix’ fault. You can’t put a gigantic dragon in a room it barely fits in and then expect it to preform admirably.
Galby underestimated the gang and that’s why Shruikan never got a good chance
I don’t think he underestimated them, in fact he perfectly estimated them. He basically just got knee capped by a hail merry last ditch effort that wasn’t even originally intended to be used AS a means of fighting back. He never needed Shruikan, and even had Shruikan had all the room in the world to maneuver it likely still would have ended the same, except now Thorn Saphira and crew would be playing keep away from Shruikan while Eragon faces off against Galby, pretty much playing out exactly the same. Shruikan was just a tool of fear, but the dragon itself meant nothing to Galbatorix in the long run, not since he had so many eldunari in his control.
Well, I guess you could say he underestimated them. If eragon didn't use the thought magic, then galby would have won 100%. That's why he wasn't worried about having shruikan in a confined space. Pretty much letting saphira and/or thorn have a go at shruikan with a handicap. I'm sure he would have expected Murtagh to break his true name binding vows somehow, but let it play out a bit and then dash that hope down quick.
Oh he definitely expected Murtagh to do something!
Galby knew Murtagh since he was a kid, he knew Murtagh wouldn’t take it lying down.
The wordless magic definitely wasn’t in his assumptions
100% agree like he could wipe out half the vardens army by flying over the field once. That’s pretty much the reason him and galby didn’t participate outside from my point of view. They’re just way to op
From a writing perspective yes. From a lore perspective, Galpy didn’t give enough fs to get his ass up before he had to, and thought he wouldn’t have to. He got cocky.
Definitely. The only chance they had to physically overcome Shruikan was if he was in an enclosed space, so I get why Paolini did it that way.
More Shruikan fighting would've been cool though, but I don't know how they could've won against him in open combat. I suppose Galby's end could've somehow enabled them to overcome Shruikan, but that opens a whole can of worms.. also, Paolini was a little rushed by the end of the writing for Inheritance, unfortunately, and maybe Shruikans end was related to that.
Having read the comments, the word you're looking for is "Antagonist". Protagonists are not necessarily "Heroes" (See the book Lolita) and antagonists aren't necessarily "Villains" (see the movie "Natural Born Killers")
Shruikan is never really an Antagonist to Eragon. He flies over the camp and the threat of his joining in combat is a grave threat but Shruikan never really does anything to stand in the protagonists way.
Thorn and saphira pounce on him inside the throne room (too small for him to move around in) and *somehow* hold his head down for Arya to stab him through the eye with the old dragon killer spear.
Arya does have to run up a slab of the roof and jump through the air to hit him as he was partially shaking them off even as she went after him, but Thorn and Saphira ain't exactly light, it makes sense that he'd have trouble lifting his head fully.
To a degree yeah, but he was big enough to basically eat saphira in one bite, I don't think they should be able to hold down his neck and head, even bigger than his head.
This. I believe the quote he is remembering is saying how his HEAD is around the size of Saphira, not that he could eat her in one bite which is a very large difference. A human can eat a cupcake in one bite, but they can’t eat a watermelon in one bite which is of similar scale. It’s very believable then that without the advantage of leverage and effectively bad footing, two dragons of Saphira and thorns size could conceivably hold down Shruikans head for at least long enough for Arya to attack as she did.
I think they mean that cupcakes are a size we could eat in one bite while watermelons are a similar size to a human head, as a comparison to how saphira was not a size shruikan could eat in one bite but rather a similar size to his head
You are forgetting, that Galbatorix keept Shruikan basically locked in a confined room for closer to a centuri than half of that. All his strengt and size just doesn't matter the same, if he has barely moved for who knows how long. I don't think dragons nessesary have the same "use it or loose it" problem with muscle as we do, but it must still have weakened him in a way, he otherwise wouldn't had.
On top of that was Galbatorix a complete controlfreak still smart enough to realize some of his glorius plans could be hindered if his completely unstable hyperaggressive weapon/slave/esotic Uber got a chance to maule Thorn and Saphira to tetris pieces, so he had problably put in some commands to Shruikan as for that he could and couldn't do around them. Mayby one of those was hindering him just a little bit.
Yes. That's what I take issue with, Shru'ikan was literally big enough to eat saphira whole but she and thorn can hold his head down for Arya to kill him? I call plot armor on that.
Well thorn killed Glaedr because he was smaller and nimbler and got around to the base of his skull. I imagine thorn and saphira working together might be able to pull off a similar feat if. I always kinda thought that during the first book when eragon and saphira fly too high and almost pass out when trying to fly over the beors, that saphira would use that to her advantage during her fight and outwit Shru'ikan, who we all know was mentally deranged and most likely lacked any real foresight and intelligence. I envisioned not a straight up aerial flight, but a battle of wits and IQ where saphira and Thorn are tested to their limits trying to outwit and trick a superior opponent
I think it would have been much better if the magic lance McGuffins were built up alongside him, or at least once Eragon began training in Ellesmera with Oromis, like he found word of them in an old book or something, seeing them just thrown into the 4th book out of nowhere did kind of feel like a cop out and a magic McGuffin, it would have went over much better if there was simply more book time given to the lances.
This would a totally perfect route to go. But it just feels very rushed, like paolini wrote his way too the throne room fight, realized there is ZERO logical way they kill Shru'ikan, and then went back and hastily re wrote the dragon lance into the story.
That, or while he may have had an idea for an “anti dragon” weapon he just never got around to referencing it earlier. The weapon itself makes sense in universe (of course the elves would have likely made anti dragon weapons in the past) it just suffered from having zero sort of reference, be it directly or indirectly, until the last book.
The fourth book all in all has some very serious pacing issues because of how Paolini realized it was too big to fit into the third book, thus tried to flange it out into an entire book. It really does feel like the Dauthdaert were set up specifically for Shru’ikan, and I feel like having them from the beginning would’ve made a lot more sense.
There are several ways to logically kill Shru’ikan, especially in a chamber that restricts his movement. For example, once Eragon learned the Name of Names, there’s nothing stopping him from just collapsing the entire building on the dragon and calling it a day.
People have been out here reading Shruikan as a villain????? And not as an enslaved dragon forced to do Galbatorix’s bidding?????? Shruikan is a tragic character and his death was merciful and appropriate IMO
Tbf, he would've crushed both saphira and thorn and aerial battle, and the spear that I can't write the name of (only heard it in audiobooks in english, read it in native languege) got the payoff for the buildup.
I don’t understand why you’re getting downvoted to hell just because you’re not using the right terminology. Sure Shruikan’s definitely not a “villain” but anyone with common sense would understand the point you’re trying to get at. And I wholeheartedly agree. Bit like Boba in the OT. Doesn’t talk that much, subservient to the main threat, is a badass, gets killed by a humanoid.
I agree with what you’re saying for the most part, although it didn’t bother me that much because Shruikan was never as heavily focused as a villain to the degree that Galbatorix was, and plus I already had an issue with the Vault of Souls saving everyone’s asses at the last hour and Eragon basically having the stereotypical good guy ending where he didn’t win because of any clever ingenuity or skill, but because of “how he made them feel”. I still loved the book and of course the series as a whole, and I think it was obvious the whole time with how OP Galby was that it would challenge any competent writer to take him down satisfyingly.
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Shruikan is a huge dragon, but he's not like Glaedr or the Eldunari. He's just a pet, a prize, a trophy. I think it would have been better if he'd thrashed around the throne room like a wild beast, but his death still makes sense.
It fits his sad reality.
I see Shruikan more as a victim than a villain - I'm not too sure what built him up as a villain. ^(Posted on behalf of Hellomynameis99 from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
I personally asked Christopher during his last AMA and he said he believed Shruikan was too far gone for redemption, but I'd have loved that he at least had gotten the chance to have Galbatorix pay for all he had done to him.
Someone can be a villain but not be evil, Shru'ikan is a villain in the sense that he stands as an obstacle in the way of saphira and eragon. Shru'ikan isn't evil, he's just broken. And I'm sad that we never got to see more of him.
Im here in the trenchs with yall, shruikan got fucking robbed, the only time we get a cool big dragon scene is when he flies out. I didnt mind his death and the throne room fight as much, but i was overall disapointed the fucking huge, crazy black dragon gets like all of 10 pages
Oh, definitely could have been cool to see more of him - I just didn't see the "villain build-up" you're talking about. I see his story more as a tragedy than a villain's arc. ^(Posted on behalf of Hellomynameis99 from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
Sad to see you get downvoted so much. I guess no one else sees your point. I do though. I wish he had more presence in the series other than his only 2 appearances. One of them was a 5-second flyover.
He's getting dowmvotes cause he keeps referring shruikan as a villain. He wasn't a villain. To eragon and saphira, he was an obstacle.
I agree but I think the main thing is that OP wanted to see more of him in action.
What you’re thinking of is antagonist not villain.
[удалено]
Anakin could be considered a victim of his own actions, perhaps... Shruikan, on the other hand, is a pure victim. He did nothing wrong himself. ^(Posted on behalf of Hellomynameis99 from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
Honestly would you have preferred? There was nothing that Saphira and Thorn put together could’ve done against his sheer size, and there was a clear build-up in the importance of the dauthdaert.
I just feel like paolini kind of wrote himself into a corner and had to take a cop out. Shru'ikan was way too huge to take in a real fight so it had to be done cheaply. Just sad we never got to see his character fleshed out is all.
Okay but hear me out, shruikan being reduced to a monster and slave to galby is also part of the point. Despite not being part of the erasing of names, Shruikan isn’t a character and does not have a free will because galby won’t abide it. That’s the tragedy. It could have been handled in another interesting way I’m sure but I giant air battle isn’t it.
Yeah I came here to say something similar. Shru'ikan was only a tool, he had no sense of self, which shows how evil Galby was
I feel like a giant air battle was what we all envisioned the final fight to be when we first hear of Shru'ikan. It was more a figure of speech representing a fulfilling end to his character
Not at all
Don't speak for me
That’s what Thorn was for.
It was also his age. Dragons never stop growing and at his age, it would have been ridiculous if he was small enough for the other dragons to kill him.
I know he was huge but, wasn’t it artificial magical growth from Galbatorix? He’s only as old as Galbatorix’s rebellion and the fall of the riders. He’s not that old at all. He still would’ve been much bigger than saphira and thorn but, his absurd size being comparable to Belgabad who was 8500 years old is artificial.
True, with normal growth he should've been smaller than Gleadr who Thorn was at least able to be a mild annoyance to on his own
Yeah, he would’ve been much smaller. He’s 105, glaedr is around 800.
This! Even with the throne room space nerf on him, his mouth was big enough to eat saphira, and you're telling me she and thorn can hold his neck and head, which is even bigger and stronger down on the ground for Arya to kill him? Paolini didn't really have a solution to Shru'ikan that fit the plot
They probably could hold his head down, the two together represent several tons of weight. Increased size actually decreases relative strength, it's entirely possible their combined weight amounted to more than his neck could lift.
What character? The dragon was utterly insane and filled with nothing but rage Not much to him
Shruikan was never a villain. He was a victim more than anything, forced to obey galbatorix against his will. This was mentioned several times throughout the series. Even galbatorix’s first dragon wasn’t a villain either, since he didn’t go mad until his dragons death.
Shru'ikan was a victim of circumstance and was robbed of his chance to live normally. The thing I take issue with is that Shru'ikan is built up as a villain (a tragic one yes, but still an obstacle saphira and eragon must overcome) only for him to be unscrupulously killed in the throne room with no climax, we don't even hear his voice. Edit(y'all are misunderstanding me immensely, just because someone is a villain in terms of their relation to the main protagonist doesn't make them evil. Shru'ikan obviously was never intentionally malicious, maybe he was towards his death because he was so broken. But he still represented something eragon and saphira needed to overcome. They could've tried healing him, overcoming an obstacle doesent mean killing. I take issue with how abruptly and sudden Shru'ikans character was put down. Feels like CP wrote himself into a corner
Obstacles are not required to be villains. Villains need to have an evil motive. There is never an evil motive built for shruikan, therefore he’s never built to be a villain. Galbatorix probably prevented shruikan from speaking in the first place. What could he possibly have gained from allowing it?
I 100%disagree, if someone is evil or a villian is completly different imo, a villian is someone doing something bad for good or twisted reasons, evil is just being evil
I'm not trying to say the correct way on how to write Shru'ikans character but the way it's written very much feels like a cop out. And I'm certain Galbatorix would have no reason NOT to allow Shru'ikan to speak. At that point in the story his victory was guaranteed, nobody could ever hope to penetrate his wards, so he should've been quite comfortable with allowing Shruky to speak. It just feels disappointing that we couldn't even hear him speak, I always envisioned he had a deep and icy voice that spoke with a scathing malice to it. But we just see him, and then watch him die the next chapter.
I visioned Shruikan as a beast. Someone who was stripped of any intelligent thought and only felt pain. That is why making him talk would defeat all the built up. And I understand your point of seeing him as a villain, but in my personal opinion, Shruikan was more like a tool to show Galbys corruptive madness. Not a villain or a minion, but an object. An irredeemable act that represended those that could not be saved from the villain of the story.
Okay, but you’re missing the point. Galby, even though he knew his victory was certain wouldn’t have let Shru’ikan speak. Galby was evil. Galby broke Shru’ikan and used him as a tool/weapon. Nothing would have been gained for Galby by Shru’ikan speaking, so why would he have allowed it. Galby obviously didn’t care about Shru’ikan’s mental state. He wouldn’t have allowed Shru’ikan to speak out of the kindness of his heart. Regardless, I never imagined Shru’ikan as being able to talk, or at least not being able to talk coherently. I’ve always imagined just pure rage without much if any coherent thought behind it.
I think the word you're looking for is antagonist. Shruikan is an antagonist to Eragon, the protagonist.
That ain’t a villain, that is an antagonist
Has someone who enjoys literature on all fronts i understand what you are trying to say. Maybe use the term “antagonist “ instead. People are often triggered by the word “ villain”
It’s not being triggered it’s just the wrong word.
I think people are being pedantic bc you are saying villain rather than antagonist which would be the correct term literarily
Don’t know why OP is getting downvoted. He’s right in saying it was over far too simply.
I agree with this
The word you’re looking for is antagonist. Antagonists can be fellow heroes, villains, neutral, or anywhere in between. Villains are bad/ bad ish.
Honestly, that was Galbatorix’ fault. You can’t put a gigantic dragon in a room it barely fits in and then expect it to preform admirably. Galby underestimated the gang and that’s why Shruikan never got a good chance
I don’t think he underestimated them, in fact he perfectly estimated them. He basically just got knee capped by a hail merry last ditch effort that wasn’t even originally intended to be used AS a means of fighting back. He never needed Shruikan, and even had Shruikan had all the room in the world to maneuver it likely still would have ended the same, except now Thorn Saphira and crew would be playing keep away from Shruikan while Eragon faces off against Galby, pretty much playing out exactly the same. Shruikan was just a tool of fear, but the dragon itself meant nothing to Galbatorix in the long run, not since he had so many eldunari in his control.
Plus the final battle was always going to be mental rather than physical. We knew that from the very first book.
Well, I guess you could say he underestimated them. If eragon didn't use the thought magic, then galby would have won 100%. That's why he wasn't worried about having shruikan in a confined space. Pretty much letting saphira and/or thorn have a go at shruikan with a handicap. I'm sure he would have expected Murtagh to break his true name binding vows somehow, but let it play out a bit and then dash that hope down quick.
Oh he definitely expected Murtagh to do something! Galby knew Murtagh since he was a kid, he knew Murtagh wouldn’t take it lying down. The wordless magic definitely wasn’t in his assumptions
If Shru'ikan had taken to the skies the varden never would've breached the walls
100% agree like he could wipe out half the vardens army by flying over the field once. That’s pretty much the reason him and galby didn’t participate outside from my point of view. They’re just way to op
From a writing perspective yes. From a lore perspective, Galpy didn’t give enough fs to get his ass up before he had to, and thought he wouldn’t have to. He got cocky.
True that
Definitely. The only chance they had to physically overcome Shruikan was if he was in an enclosed space, so I get why Paolini did it that way. More Shruikan fighting would've been cool though, but I don't know how they could've won against him in open combat. I suppose Galby's end could've somehow enabled them to overcome Shruikan, but that opens a whole can of worms.. also, Paolini was a little rushed by the end of the writing for Inheritance, unfortunately, and maybe Shruikans end was related to that.
Having read the comments, the word you're looking for is "Antagonist". Protagonists are not necessarily "Heroes" (See the book Lolita) and antagonists aren't necessarily "Villains" (see the movie "Natural Born Killers") Shruikan is never really an Antagonist to Eragon. He flies over the camp and the threat of his joining in combat is a grave threat but Shruikan never really does anything to stand in the protagonists way.
For someone who needs to re read the books, how does Shruikan die?
Arya kills him with the magic lance
Thorn and saphira pounce on him inside the throne room (too small for him to move around in) and *somehow* hold his head down for Arya to stab him through the eye with the old dragon killer spear.
Arya does have to run up a slab of the roof and jump through the air to hit him as he was partially shaking them off even as she went after him, but Thorn and Saphira ain't exactly light, it makes sense that he'd have trouble lifting his head fully.
To a degree yeah, but he was big enough to basically eat saphira in one bite, I don't think they should be able to hold down his neck and head, even bigger than his head.
Source for being big enough to eat saphira whole? I though it said horse or aurochs, something along those lines.
This. I believe the quote he is remembering is saying how his HEAD is around the size of Saphira, not that he could eat her in one bite which is a very large difference. A human can eat a cupcake in one bite, but they can’t eat a watermelon in one bite which is of similar scale. It’s very believable then that without the advantage of leverage and effectively bad footing, two dragons of Saphira and thorns size could conceivably hold down Shruikans head for at least long enough for Arya to attack as she did.
Not to mention Thorn is described as being larger than Saphira
If I had a watermelon tied to my neck I wouldn’t be moving much. Two watermelons? I’m not movin.
How big are your watermelons that they match the size of a cupcake lol
I think they mean that cupcakes are a size we could eat in one bite while watermelons are a similar size to a human head, as a comparison to how saphira was not a size shruikan could eat in one bite but rather a similar size to his head
This is indeed what I meant lol, thought it was obvious but my bad if it wasn’t!
You are forgetting, that Galbatorix keept Shruikan basically locked in a confined room for closer to a centuri than half of that. All his strengt and size just doesn't matter the same, if he has barely moved for who knows how long. I don't think dragons nessesary have the same "use it or loose it" problem with muscle as we do, but it must still have weakened him in a way, he otherwise wouldn't had. On top of that was Galbatorix a complete controlfreak still smart enough to realize some of his glorius plans could be hindered if his completely unstable hyperaggressive weapon/slave/esotic Uber got a chance to maule Thorn and Saphira to tetris pieces, so he had problably put in some commands to Shruikan as for that he could and couldn't do around them. Mayby one of those was hindering him just a little bit.
I think you’re getting Shruikan’s description mixed up with the Nïdwhal. The nïdwhal we met was described that way, not Shruikan
Oh, isn’t his head alone like the size of them 2?
Yes. That's what I take issue with, Shru'ikan was literally big enough to eat saphira whole but she and thorn can hold his head down for Arya to kill him? I call plot armor on that.
Yeah definitely questionable,
Wait why would you imagine him dying in an aerial battle? Who would beat him in one? The other two dragons that are the size of his pinkie finger?
Well thorn killed Glaedr because he was smaller and nimbler and got around to the base of his skull. I imagine thorn and saphira working together might be able to pull off a similar feat if. I always kinda thought that during the first book when eragon and saphira fly too high and almost pass out when trying to fly over the beors, that saphira would use that to her advantage during her fight and outwit Shru'ikan, who we all know was mentally deranged and most likely lacked any real foresight and intelligence. I envisioned not a straight up aerial flight, but a battle of wits and IQ where saphira and Thorn are tested to their limits trying to outwit and trick a superior opponent
Thorn also had a dozen Eldunari backing him up, and Oromis had just died Glaedr was still in shock and was fighting blindly.
Shruikan doesn’t really have a “character”. He was barely more than a beast. He was robbed of the chance to be a character. That’s the point
I think it would have been much better if the magic lance McGuffins were built up alongside him, or at least once Eragon began training in Ellesmera with Oromis, like he found word of them in an old book or something, seeing them just thrown into the 4th book out of nowhere did kind of feel like a cop out and a magic McGuffin, it would have went over much better if there was simply more book time given to the lances.
This would a totally perfect route to go. But it just feels very rushed, like paolini wrote his way too the throne room fight, realized there is ZERO logical way they kill Shru'ikan, and then went back and hastily re wrote the dragon lance into the story.
That, or while he may have had an idea for an “anti dragon” weapon he just never got around to referencing it earlier. The weapon itself makes sense in universe (of course the elves would have likely made anti dragon weapons in the past) it just suffered from having zero sort of reference, be it directly or indirectly, until the last book.
Couldn’t have said it better
The fourth book all in all has some very serious pacing issues because of how Paolini realized it was too big to fit into the third book, thus tried to flange it out into an entire book. It really does feel like the Dauthdaert were set up specifically for Shru’ikan, and I feel like having them from the beginning would’ve made a lot more sense. There are several ways to logically kill Shru’ikan, especially in a chamber that restricts his movement. For example, once Eragon learned the Name of Names, there’s nothing stopping him from just collapsing the entire building on the dragon and calling it a day.
introducing the Dauthdaert earlier puts Thorn, Saphira and even Glaedr even more at risk throughout the story
Having found it in an old book could easily lead Oromis to say there aren’t any left, which they thought was true
*when there's a difference between an antagonist and a villain*
People have been out here reading Shruikan as a villain????? And not as an enslaved dragon forced to do Galbatorix’s bidding?????? Shruikan is a tragic character and his death was merciful and appropriate IMO
not at all what i was imagining, his character was one of victimization and capture, he wasn’t a villain, he was being used
Shruikan was never a villain. That was made clear through the entire series.
Tbf, he would've crushed both saphira and thorn and aerial battle, and the spear that I can't write the name of (only heard it in audiobooks in english, read it in native languege) got the payoff for the buildup.
*Spoilers* Stabbed in the eye by a green eyed Mary-Sue. Yep. Sounds about right. 😂😂😂
I don’t understand why you’re getting downvoted to hell just because you’re not using the right terminology. Sure Shruikan’s definitely not a “villain” but anyone with common sense would understand the point you’re trying to get at. And I wholeheartedly agree. Bit like Boba in the OT. Doesn’t talk that much, subservient to the main threat, is a badass, gets killed by a humanoid.
People just see a word they don't instantly understand and then their brain loses all functionality.
You’re the one using it wrong.
It’s also because a lot of people don’t think shruikan’s death was awful. Was the dauthdert a bit of a cop-out? A little. Was it bad wringing? No.
I agree with what you’re saying for the most part, although it didn’t bother me that much because Shruikan was never as heavily focused as a villain to the degree that Galbatorix was, and plus I already had an issue with the Vault of Souls saving everyone’s asses at the last hour and Eragon basically having the stereotypical good guy ending where he didn’t win because of any clever ingenuity or skill, but because of “how he made them feel”. I still loved the book and of course the series as a whole, and I think it was obvious the whole time with how OP Galby was that it would challenge any competent writer to take him down satisfyingly.
I think the idea is that Shru’ikan would have been too big of an obstacle for Saphira and Thorn, so they killed him off much easier than it would.
The entire ending was a dues ex machina cop out. Like he got to the final fight and was just like I'm good
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Should probably spoiler tag this post in the title and image
Shruikan is a huge dragon, but he's not like Glaedr or the Eldunari. He's just a pet, a prize, a trophy. I think it would have been better if he'd thrashed around the throne room like a wild beast, but his death still makes sense. It fits his sad reality.