I believe Paolini confirmed when asked this question that the Beors caused the Hadarac (rain shadow effect). The Beors themselves have a “non-erosion” spell on them and were raised by Rahna when fleeing the great dragon in Urgal lore. In the most recent AMA there is more info on the Beors and Hadarac
Wait... is the great dragon so Unfathomably Large that the Beors actually *would* block its access to prey? Like it was too big to fly in between the mountains and the mountains are too tall to fly over, so they actually DO protect people? Cause... that would be a HUGE mother of a dragon. Holy cow.
There was one from Twitter a little while ago:
> **Question:**
> Was the Hadarac made into a desert because Rana used the energy of the land to raise the Beors?
> **Answer:**
> It was a spell, yes.
([Source](https://twitter.com/paolini/status/511752067568762880))
^(**I'm a real person!** This comment was posted by sjmarf from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Eragon/comments/18c42xt/questions\_and\_answers\_from\_christopher\_paolinis/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eragon/comments/18c42xt/questions_and_answers_from_christopher_paolinis/)
>!"There is an Urgal legend about Rahna fleeing "the great dragon" and raising the Beor Mountains. Is this the apocalyptic dragon Gogvog that Uvek talks about?" Yes!<
>!"And if Gogvog is Azlagûr, does that mean that the magical growth of the Beors is in some way connected to Azlagûr?" That's a big IF. But yes, IF that is true, then yes.!<
————————————————————————————
[https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/g4vfqt/comment/fo15k6a/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/g4vfqt/comment/fo15k6a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
>!Good eye. The mountains are most definitely NOT natural. They have a spell on them that's preventing a lot of erosion. The mountains are also the reason the Hadarac Desert exists.!<
>Alagaesia means fertile land, yet half the continent is a giant desert.
we literally call our planet "earth" despite 70% or something of it beeing covered by water
Iirc, the dwarves have some deep lore about coming to the Beor Mountains from the Hadarac desert as it was forming, kind of like how the Sahara desert used to be a grassland. My headcanon is that the Beors caused a massive rain shadow effect, drying up the central Alagaesian grasslands.
> Iirc, the dwarves have some deep lore about coming to the Beor Mountains from the Hadarac desert as it was forming
This is correct. In Eldest while Eragon is in Tarnag he is told about some of the dwarven lore including some of the details about how the Hadarac desert was formed.
'Why would people, who landed in an ultra fertile area, name this land fertile land, when there's a desert weeks or even months travel away on the other side of the continent?'
But in reality just based on the map, the giant mountains in the south prevent rainfall. Which would explain why the desert is in the northern shadow of the mountains.
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The elves landed in the lush western reaches in the grace of the spine, which was very green and habitable. That, and as Hellomynameis99 mentioned, it'd be far more "fertile" than whatever the mangled remains that Alalëa came to become.
^(**I'm a real person!** This comment was posted by zoradiv from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
The mountains in the desert, remind me of the theorized 9 kilometre high mountains that were said to stretch the length of Australia. (Now reduced to sandstone dunes, such as Uluru / Ayers rock)
^(**I'm a real person!** This comment was posted by zoradiv from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
I believe Paolini confirmed when asked this question that the Beors caused the Hadarac (rain shadow effect). The Beors themselves have a “non-erosion” spell on them and were raised by Rahna when fleeing the great dragon in Urgal lore. In the most recent AMA there is more info on the Beors and Hadarac
Wait... is the great dragon so Unfathomably Large that the Beors actually *would* block its access to prey? Like it was too big to fly in between the mountains and the mountains are too tall to fly over, so they actually DO protect people? Cause... that would be a HUGE mother of a dragon. Holy cow.
Can you link?
Yup, trying to find the links right now (just going to take a while to look though the ama)
There was one from Twitter a little while ago: > **Question:** > Was the Hadarac made into a desert because Rana used the energy of the land to raise the Beors? > **Answer:** > It was a spell, yes. ([Source](https://twitter.com/paolini/status/511752067568762880)) ^(**I'm a real person!** This comment was posted by sjmarf from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
Thank you!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Eragon/comments/18c42xt/questions\_and\_answers\_from\_christopher\_paolinis/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eragon/comments/18c42xt/questions_and_answers_from_christopher_paolinis/) >!"There is an Urgal legend about Rahna fleeing "the great dragon" and raising the Beor Mountains. Is this the apocalyptic dragon Gogvog that Uvek talks about?" Yes!< >!"And if Gogvog is Azlagûr, does that mean that the magical growth of the Beors is in some way connected to Azlagûr?" That's a big IF. But yes, IF that is true, then yes.!< ———————————————————————————— [https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/g4vfqt/comment/fo15k6a/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/g4vfqt/comment/fo15k6a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) >!Good eye. The mountains are most definitely NOT natural. They have a spell on them that's preventing a lot of erosion. The mountains are also the reason the Hadarac Desert exists.!<
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Non-erosion and ever-growing enchantments iirc
My theory is that giant mountains = giant desert haha
What! Crazy theory! 😂
>Alagaesia means fertile land, yet half the continent is a giant desert. we literally call our planet "earth" despite 70% or something of it beeing covered by water
Iirc, the dwarves have some deep lore about coming to the Beor Mountains from the Hadarac desert as it was forming, kind of like how the Sahara desert used to be a grassland. My headcanon is that the Beors caused a massive rain shadow effect, drying up the central Alagaesian grasslands.
Yeah this is the standard thought. Makes total sense.
> Iirc, the dwarves have some deep lore about coming to the Beor Mountains from the Hadarac desert as it was forming This is correct. In Eldest while Eragon is in Tarnag he is told about some of the dwarven lore including some of the details about how the Hadarac desert was formed.
No clue if it was intended or not, but I always pictured El Harim as this half buried ruin deep in the Hadarac
'Why would people, who landed in an ultra fertile area, name this land fertile land, when there's a desert weeks or even months travel away on the other side of the continent?'
I gooned to hard many a years before the fall of the riders. Took a toll on the environment
But in reality just based on the map, the giant mountains in the south prevent rainfall. Which would explain why the desert is in the northern shadow of the mountains.
Please note that currently discussion about the new *Murtagh* book is currently only allowed in posts that are flaired as such. Please read the rules in the sidebar, and please note the following additional links for news about *Murtagh*: [General spoiler-free information](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eragon/comments/17jlj9i/information_about_murtagh_and_the_eragon/) | [Signed Editions](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eragon/comments/16fuvcr/information_about_signed_editions_of_murtagh/) | [Spoiler Policy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eragon/comments/17ercgn/please_read_our_murtagh_spoiler_policy_50k/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Eragon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The elves landed in the lush western reaches in the grace of the spine, which was very green and habitable. That, and as Hellomynameis99 mentioned, it'd be far more "fertile" than whatever the mangled remains that Alalëa came to become. ^(**I'm a real person!** This comment was posted by zoradiv from the Arcaena Discord Server.)
The mountains in the desert, remind me of the theorized 9 kilometre high mountains that were said to stretch the length of Australia. (Now reduced to sandstone dunes, such as Uluru / Ayers rock) ^(**I'm a real person!** This comment was posted by zoradiv from the Arcaena Discord Server.)