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Some Forgotten Thoughts--Eragon vs. The Belgariad

I forgot to mention something I noticed about Eragon in my last post.  If any of you have read David Edding's Belgariad series, then you might have realized that many ideas about the workings of magic in Eragon follow along with the Belgariad.  For example, the "Be Not" principle is a very important one in book three of the Belgariad and has some of the same effects that it does in Inheritance (book four of the cycle).  "Magic" in Eragon can be equated to "sorcery" in The Belgariad.  Magic in both series depends upon your personal strength.  You can't bring people back from the dead (this is a common rule throughout all of the magical fantasy).  Another similarity is that there are different kinds of magic.  Shades are spirits trapped in the mortal world in Eragon.  Eddings actually portrays basically the same idea as an actual demon.  Mispronunciation or breaking of concentration will cause the Shade or demon to destroy the magician.  In essence, these two ideas are very similar, though Paolini managed to alter them slightly to make them more of his own.  Another idea from Eddings: after Eragon kills the Durza, he becomes known as "Shadeslayer."  Similarly, after Garion kills the Dragon God, Torak, he becomes known as "Godslayer."  It seems as if Paolini used the title, altering it to fit his storyline.

By the way, for anyone who was wondering...I would most definitely recommend The Belgariad to anyone looking for a good read.  It's one of my favorite series.  It's written by David Eddings and is five books long.  The books are as follows: Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, Enchanter's End Game.  It also has a sister series (more of a follow-up series) called The Malloreon.  It also contains five books and is as follows: Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda, Sorceress of Darshiva, and The Seeress of Kell.  All of these are great reads, and it's possible that I will post reviews of these in the future.


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