Hey guys. Christopher finally had his first post-release interview with Shurtugal.com’s Mike McCauley, and, while there is more to come, the first installment was pretty enlightening.
As most of you have read, I was a little less critical about the book as a whole than many on the site, but even I was very irked with a lot of loose ends in the book (and the series as a whole), especially with the ending scene and the romance (or lack-there-of) between Eragon and Arya. Well, as I’ve said, I believed that the ending was originally intended to be much different then what was released. It turns out I was right.
Christopher Paolini: The ending evolved as I wrote the story. Originally, Eragon and Arya were to leave together, Roran was going to become king, and Queen Islanzadí — well, at first I was going to kill her, then I decided to let her live, and then I decided that if Arya was to stay, Islanzadí had to die after all.
Mike Macauley: What caused the major shift in thinking?
Christopher Paolini: Basically, I realized that the characters weren’t the people I thought they were back when I was fifteen, and that if I forced Eragon and Arya together (and it would be forcing them) I would end up breaking Arya’s character. I wrote a big chunk of Inheritance thinking that she and Eragon would be together. However the scenes between them, scenes where they were rather openly flirting, just did not work. Essentially, I was writing Arya the way that Eragon *wanted* her to be, not the way that she actually was. So, I cut back on the flirting. When I did that, I realized that it made no sense for Arya to suddenly turn on a dime at the end and leap into Eragon’s arms. If she did, it would seem as if she was only doing it for the sake of the dragons, not for Eragon, and Eragon himself would have noticed this. It would have left a very bitter taste in peoples’ mouths, I think.
This was exactly what I thought had happened, though I’m not exactly thrilled about it. I kind of hoped that maybe Chris had some other good reason for ending the story how he did that would make me less annoyed, but that could not be the case.
So, Chris changed the fates of Eragon, Arya, Islanzadi and Roran. Roran’s change is fine with me. All of the hinting/foreshadowing of the future king being from Palancar Valley doesn’t make sense anymore, but I think the new ending works well with Roran. And Islanzadi could have gone either way, though I leaned toward her dying anyway based on foreshadowing. What does NOT sit well with me is Eragon and Arya’s ending.
First of all, Chris admits to writing a “big chunk” of the book with the intention of Eragon and Arya being together only to change his mind toward the end, apparently because he couldn’t write Arya “flirting.” Before I say anything else, I just wanted to add that his intentions for them clearly showed in the book and the fact that they didn’t get together seemed all the more cheap because those scenes were clearly hinting toward their future together. Since Chris decided that wasn’t going to happen– whatever arguments one can present for or against that– I think we can all agree that he clearly needed to go back to those early pages and rewrite them from a clean slate. They were not “cut back” on nearly enough. And maybe omitting them entirely would have set a better mood for their relationship in the end. But that is on him and his editor.
Now, as for the “flirting” thing, if he means that how it sounds, that is the most immature thing I’ve ever heard from his mouth. Can any of you picture Arya “openly flirting” with anybody? I can’t either. But the reason for that isn’t because it’s unimaginable for Arya to show romantic affection towards someone. It’s because Arya is an experienced, wise, and, most importantly, introverted character. Is it going to feel right for ANY introverted character to flirt openly with someone? Of course not! But that doesn’t mean those people cannot openly show affection in other ways!
Then there is the quote, “suddenly turn on a dime at the end and leap into Eragon’s arms.” Okay. She wouldn’t be suddenly turning on a dime whether she was openly flirting with him before or not. It has been clear since AT LEAST early in Brisingr that she has feelings for him. Accepting him finally is not a sharp turn at all. Also… “leap into Eragon’s arms?” Is he serious? Was that really how Chris saw their relationship starting? Does Chris think he’s writing Twilight or something? Of course the thought of Arya leaping into his arms– or some other public, cliché, romantic display– is absurd. I fear the problem the whole time was Christopher’s apparent antiquated idea of what romance is. Flirting and leaping into the man’s arms are definitely not what anyone expected of Arya, but there are more mature ways to show love and be with another person.
Also, whether there was justification for Arya to become Queen in Chris’s mind or not, there was NOT sufficient justification in the book for the readers. That is a fact. But I was hoping to get some insight from Chris on the subject, to which he said:
Christopher Paolini: Arya is/was so devoted to the service of her people, she had the yawë glyph tattooed on her shoulder. Remember, the yawë symbolizes selfless service. She left Du Weldenvarden in the first place because of her differences with her mother and her need to serve. Well, now Galbatorix is dead, as is her mother, and it seems entirely reasonable to me that Arya would have no trouble returning to Ellesméra now.
I don’t know about all of you, but that did not look to me to be justification for her to become Queen. I have no problem with her returning to Ellesmera, but becoming Queen is a considerably larger decision. Again, if you ask me, Chris soured on the idea of the ending he had in his head and decided she needed to stay, so he needed some reason to make her stay, no matter how weak that reason. I feel a little bit let down that he still cannot justify it to me. The same goes for Eragon’s reasoning for leaving Alagaesia.
All that being said, there were a few things from the interview that were interesting and positive. We got a bit of answer about Brom’s final words (basically he never could fit them in — better than being forgotten, I guess), a “No Comment,” in regards to Murtagh and Thorn’s ambiguous future, and assurance that the mysterious women were indeed intended to be the protagonists of a future installment. The news of plans for the future (including promise of revisiting old characters and loose-ends) did give me some happiness, though I would have been more excited with a good ending to Inheritance. Still. I am looking somewhat forward to the future of the series. Hopefully Chris matures his writing and doesn’t over-think his plot too much in his next one.
Well, anyway, that’s my take on it. What do you all think?
Link to full interview: click here
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