Brisingr

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2008

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Chapters 49-51

Chapter 49 Summary: “Hands of a Warrior”

Eragon resigns himself to the fact that he and Saphira will not have time to train with their mentors, and instead reveals Solembum’s prediction in Teirm regarding the Menoa tree. Oromis has also never heard of the Vault of Souls or the Rock of Kuthian and suspects no weapons are buried there, but he encourages Eragon to try again. He also says Angela is known to him by another name, and while she is clever, she’s not omniscient. Oromis will contact two spellcasters about the tree. He gives Eragon advice about procuring a new sword; there are two options in Ellesméra. Tamerlein is owned by Lord Fiolr of the House of Valtharos. He will also be in touch with the retired weapon maker, Rhunon, for advice. Until tomorrow, Eragon and Saphira are instructed to rest and visit the tree.

Before they depart for the night, Oromis asks Eragon to pick one use of magic; in the time they have in Ellesméra together, he will teach him everything he knows about it. Eragon asks to learn how to summon spirits, but Oromis pushes against this. It is a dark art and a kind of sorcery so complicated it cannot be mastered without a minimum of three years training. No Rider has also been a Shade, and the spirits summoned are often powerful, terrible, and likely to cause more destruction than Galbatorix. Eragon is refused again when he asks to be taught his true name; Oromis says it is not his place to tell him; it is a journey he must undertake on his own. Finally, they agree on a spell to learn how to move things over vast stretches of space, like Arya did with Saphira’s egg.

Chapter 50 Summary: “The Tree of Life”

Eragon and Saphira visit the Menoa tree to search its roots again for something that might resemble a weapon. Eragon tries to contact the spirit who lives inside the tree, Linnea, but she is too ancient and her consciousness is too slow to notice his. From there, they fly to their treehouse at the center of Ellesméra. In the morning, an elf leads them to the family home of the Valtharos where Lord Fiolr waits to show them his blade, Tamerlein, a beautiful emerald sword similar to Zar’roc, but different enough for Eragon to recognize it is not the right weapon for him. Next, they visit Rhunon in her home, where she is sculpting. She listens to them, but she has sworn an oath not to forge anything. She admits she may be able to help if they found a deposit of brightsteel, which is formed by a shooting star and was used to craft seven of the world’s most well known swords, including Brom’s sword, Undbitr, and Zar’roc. Sephira and Eragon agree the brightsteel must be under the Menoa tree.

Next, the duo visits Oromir and Glaedr; while Sephira and Glaedr fly, Eragon learns the spell he was promised. The effects of the spell are astonishing, and Oromir refers to it several times as a “demanding spell” that saps energy from the caster. He asks Eragon to return once more with Saphira before they leave Ellesméra, and from there they make another trip back to the Menoa tree to try to speak to the spirit and get the brightsteel from beneath her. After being ignored by the spirit, Saphira becomes frustrated and, against Eragon’s wishes, claws at her roots, angering the tree and leaving them rooted to the spot as they are wrapped into the tree.

The spirit is ready to kill them, but Eragon manages to convey who they are and the gravity of their situation. The spirit agrees on the condition that Eragon gives her whatever she wants, which he agrees to impulsively. She pulls back some roots to reveal a two-foot-wide corroded piece of iron; Eragon feels a twinge in his abdomen and he wonders what the spirit will ask. Walking back to Rhunon’s house, Saphira acknowledges she should not have attacked the tree the way she did. She speculates that they may live to regret this. During their encounter, they had a silent audience of elves watching from the edges of the clearing. Now, they are glaring at them with dangerous looks in their eyes.

Chapter 51 Summary: “Mind over Metal”

Eragon carries the lump of brightsteel to Rhunon’s house, where she deems them either “foolish or brave” for disturbing the Menoa tree. She proves willing to make a new sword, but given the time crunch Eragon and Saphira must help craft it overnight, and she will still need to use magic. First, they need to move the supplies—ore, charcoal, and clay bricks to the forge and build a smelter for the ore without magic. After making a fire, they add the ore while pumping the bellows for durability and flexibility of the sword. While the metal cools, Rhunon quizzes Eragon on fighting styles to achieve the perfect blade for him. She forces Eragon to parry with her using hot pokers.

When it comes time to make the sword, she hands the job over to Eragon, taking his limbs over physically with magic and using his body to overcome her oath—she believes this is a loophole, and so it is. The work goes smoothly at first, but when it comes time to flatten the steel she is unsatisfied with their capabilities at handling the metal. She breaks the sword into fragments, and after heating and folding the metal she is able to hammer the steel adequately through Eragon. While she works, she sings through Eragon, and his voice rises with hers to sing magic into the sword. While they work, a trio of figures appear: Maud the werecat and two elven children (the only of their kind, Alanna and Dusan). Rhunon relies on the heat of Saphira’s breath to do much of the welding work. After the blade is roughly shaped, she begins to grind it, and with a lot of work an intricate pattern appears on the blade itself. When Rhunon finally releases Eragon’s body, he finds himself exhausted; she sends him to rest while she finishes. Saphira, Maud, and the two children stay behind to watch.

Chapters 49-51 Analysis

Eragon’s discussion with Oromis in Chapter 49 foreshadows some of the forthcoming plot of Brisingr and, the reader suspects, the plot of the fourth book in the series. Much of what Oromis says to Eragon remains a mystery in one way or another. He tells Eragon he knew Angela by a different name but does not reveal it; he references expert elven spellcasters who will know more about the Menoa tree, but after Saphira and Eragon wake the spirit these elves are never referenced again. Eragon is allowed to choose any type of spell he wants to learn from Oromis; and yet, his first two choices are refused by his mentor as either too dark, too time consuming, or not for Oromis to reveal. When asked to reveal Eragon’s true name, he hints at a future journey that will lead him to find it on his own. In fact, the spell they choose seems like it will be too basic, until he learns it and the reader sees how much energy it takes out of the caster and how flashy it is to witness.

Confronted with another kind of ancient consciousness—Linnea, who is tied to the Menoa tree—Eragon does not question her existence; in fact, he tries hard to contact her and get her attention to no avail. She operates on such a level that to her, Eragon and Saphira are like ants. Whether it is because of his half-elf nature or because of his previous experience with Linnea, he recognizes her autonomy and accepts it in a way he does not appear to treat the dwarves’ gods or the spirits who surrounded Arya and himself at their campsite. Eragon is very interested in learning and understanding, and so it is surprising to see him approach an entity like Linnea without questions.

Rhunon is under oath not to work metal herself, but she decides that using magic to take over Eragon’s body and work the metal through his hands allows her to circumvent her oath. Eragon questions the ethics of this workaround but allows her to go forward to produce his sword. A positive return from this setup is that Eragon’s magic is stored in the blade alongside Rhunon’s hard work. This will prove invaluable when Eragon later discovers the full capabilities of his sword.