Christopher Paolini – An Infamous Name in Fantasy Literature
During one of Paolini’s tours, he gave a speech at the school of Carl Hiaasen’s stepson. Carl Hiaasen, himself a journalist and writer, heard about the book, and told Knopf, his publisher, about Paolini and his book. Knopf made an offer on Eragon and the rest of the Inheritance Trilogy (though only Eragon was completed at the time of the offer). Eragon was published by Knopf after more editing in August of 2003. A movie adaptation of Eragon is to be in theatres on December 15th this year.
Paolini, regarding his books, has said, “In my writing, I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf”.This quotation has inspired the fury of thousands; Paolini even suggesting that he compares himself to ‘Tolkien at his best’ incites the users on writing forums all across the internet to scorn Paolini, often starting long discussions, threads of a dozen pages or more, in some cases I’ve seen. Personally, I think that that quote is a bit much.
It has been said before, and nearly anyone familiar with Paolini and his writing will be aware of the fierce accusations surrounding him. One of these accusations is that he stole the ‘words of power’ system from Ursula K LeGuin, which LeGuin used in her Earthsea books. If you look at the intricacies of the magic systems between Earthsea and the Inheritance Trilogy, you will find, probably much to your dislike, that, indeed, Paolini stole (or, at least, ‘was inspired by’) the magic system the LeGuin used in Earthsea. They both focus around an Ancient Language, and the idea that everything has a name, and that, if you know something’s True Name, the name of that thing in the Ancient Language, you will have power over it. While not directly related to LeGuin or Paolini, it is interesting to note the Jonathan Stroud, in his Bartimaeus Trilogy, makes reference to the ‘True Names’ of magicians, though in a different context.
Researching the magic systems being used by these two authors, I found that the ‘words of power’ and ‘true names’ type of systems are present in the native religions of indigenous peoples across the world.
While not an accusation, something that I noticed during my studies of old Celtic mythos, is Paolini’s use of the name King Galbatorix. Galbatorix, in Inheritance, is the evil emperor which Eragon, the protagonist, is fighting against. Galbatorix seems to be Paolini’s bastardization of the name Galbiorix, a name in Celtic mythology, which means ‘king of the world’ or something to that effect. Knowing that Paolini acknowledges in interviews that he likes ‘good Norse dwarves’ and basing the made-up languages he uses in Inheritance in old Germanic tongues, I can nearly guarantee you that Paolini, at least, once, came across the name Galbiorix and tweaked it to the purpose of Inheritance.
What also irks readers (myself included) is Paolini’s writing style: excessive adverbs, the distinct lack of intelligence present in Eragon’s character (almost everything he says is a question. Other than that, he doesn’t seem like much of a protagonist, and more like a plot device to progress struggling story’s arch of events.), the strange, sometimes seemingly silly twists that take place, and that Paolini rarely, if ever, simply says ‘said’. ‘Said’ is always replaced by a non-transparent verb like, ‘spoke’ or ‘bellowed’, and various other things. Some speculate that Paolini must write with a thesaurus next to him.
Eragon is generally considered to be a sort of one-hit-wonder. It sold a lot of copies by advertising Paolini as a child prodigy. Now that Paolini is older, expectations are higher. Or, at least, they should be.Eldest, the second book of the Inheritance Trilogy, only recently released, was a disappointment to many. Eragon’s writing was notably similar to that in the first of the Inheritance Trilogy – not that great. The plot is seemingly faltering, and some people think that Paolini will end up cracking under pressure and become unable to complete the third book. I don’t see this happening, but I definitely see Paolini setting up some obstacles for himself.
I attribute Paolini’s lack of improvement between then and now to be caused by the mass amounts of praise he received as a young writer, both by his parents, by the media, and by himself. What’s the point of trying to improve if you’re already the best? This is a crippling idea. Vanity slays the writer’s word.
With luck, perhaps, he will come to realize that many, many people don’t like him, his writing, or his attitude. Perhaps he will eventually re-write the Inheritance trilogy, after the third book comes out, and give the world the great story he intended to show all along.
