Eragon (2006) Book to Screen Adaptations and the Role of Mentors and Trusted Relationships | Failure Isn't Final - The Fandom Portals Podcast

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
What if the strength you're searching for has been
inside you all along?
Do we sometimes ignore ourpotential because we don't trust
ourselves or the people tryingto help us?
In this episode, you'll learnhow Eragon from 2006 shows us
that discovering your innerpotential starts with trust,
courage, and the bonds that helpyou grow.

(00:40):
I'm Aaron, a teacher andlifelong film fan, and each week
on the podcast, we explore thestories we love to learn more
about ourselves and the worldsthat shape us today.
I'm joined as always by myco-host Brash.
How are you today, mate?
Yeah, let's just do this.
Perturbed.
The reason Brash is a little bitdejected is because this movie,
Eragon, that we are doing from2006, is not his favorite, but

(01:04):
it is because he is a big fan ofthe book.
But before we get into that,which I'm sure we'll get into
very soon, we are exploring thetheme arc over the next few
episodes that failure isn'tfinal.
And we're looking at the moviesthat aimed high, stumbled, but
then still have something toteach us from the misguided
epics, the misunderstoodvisions, this series will ask.
What did the stories that failedto find their audience teach us

(01:27):
about finding ourselves?
Brash, you want to fire awaywith your synopsis on this one,
buddy?
Go for it, mate.
Go for it.
With as much enthusiasm aspossible.

SPEAKER_03 (01:40):
In the fantastical land of Allegazia, a young farm
boy named Aragon discovers amysterious blue stone while
hunting.
The stone soon hatches into adragon, Sapphira, revealing that
Aragon has become a dragonrider, a part of a legendary
order long thought extinct.
His rare bond draws theattention of tyrannical ruler
King Galbatorix, who sends hisDark Sorcerer Dozer and the

(02:03):
Razak to capture or kill thenewly bonded rider.
To survive, Aragon is guided byBrom, a former rider in hiding
who understands the dangersAragon now faces.
Brom teaches him swordsmanship,dragon riding, basic magic, and
the responsibilities that comewith being a rider.
After the Razak kill Aragon'suncles, he and Brom flee the

(02:23):
village of Carverhall.
On their journey, they learnthat Arya, an elf warrior, has
secretly sent who secretly sentthe egg to Aragon at great
personal risk to herself, andhas since been captured by the
Empire.
Aragon and Brom attempt torescue her, but Brom is fatally
wounded in a confrontation withDirza.
Aragon, eventually aided by themysterious young man named

(02:44):
Murtag, who helps him escapewith Arya together, they travel
to the stronghold of the Vard,the rebel faction resisting
Galvatorix.
At the Varden's mountain city,Farthendor, Aragon, and Sephira
prepare for an impending attackby Durza and the Empire's
forces.
During the climactic battle,Aragon confronts Dirza,
defeating him with a well-placedstrike after Sephira engages him

(03:06):
in aerial combat.
Through Saphira, though Sephirais gravely wounded, she survives
and the Varden claims victory.
It ends with Gelp Torx revealinghis dragon and vowing revenge.

SPEAKER_02 (03:20):
And then a sequel was never made.
Now that was a very lovelysynopsis, but I believe you have
more to say.

SPEAKER_03 (03:29):
I do.
Because here is my real synopsisof this movie.
And I like to title the synopsisAragon A Cinematic Experience
Nobody Asked For.
So the story technically beginsthe same as where in the book.
Aragon, a humble farm boy, findsa mysterious blue stone.
Except in the movie he picks uplike it's a little shiny rocky

(03:53):
finds.
Like a discount Easter egg fromKmart.
No awe, no mystery, just cool,shiny.
It then hatches into Sevira, whoimmediately goes from being a
baby dragon to a full-size skyblue, questionably rendered
adult in four seconds.
Because I guess characterdevelopment wasn't in the

(04:13):
budget.
Then we meet Brom in the novel,A Deep, Tragic Past, Secret
History, Former Rider, EmotionalDepth.
In the movie, hi, I'm Brom.
I do exposition.
Sometimes I also swing stick.
Of course, the villains show up,the Razak, terrifying insectoid
monsters in the books.
In the movie, they look like twoblokes cosplaying to mentors
after losing a bet.

(04:35):
And to Durza.
The Shade.
In the book, an ancient evilsorcerer possessing possessed by
a spirit, terrifyingly powerfuland dripping with menace.
In the movie, he looks like he'sjust auditioning for a slip-top
side project and keeps yellingfor no reason.
Oh man.
Aragon trains, kind of, mostlyby montage because who needs

(04:57):
world building and emotionalgrowth or learning magic
properly when you can just fastforward the plot.
Arya shows up, except movie Aryais written like someone read the
Wikipedia summary of her bookcharacter and set close enough.
We then race to the final battleat Fathlandor, which in the book
is an epic struggle filled withstrategy, heart, and massive

(05:18):
stakes.
The movie gives us some guy inbrown cloaks running around
while Sophia and Dirza do AerialDragon Ball Z light shows.
Eragon kills Dirza with a movethat looks like it tripped and
accidentally stabbed him.
Sapphira faceplants and everyonecheers like this was the
greatest victory in fantasycinema.
And not the visual equivalent ofa microwave lasagna.

(05:39):
And then the movie ends clearlysetting up sequels that the
universe blessedly prevented.
The Aragon movie is someonethere's like someone skimmed the
book on a bus ride, forgot halfof it, rewrote the rest from
memory, and filmed it using acoupon for 50% off CGI.

(05:59):
It's not that it's bad, it'sthat it could have been amazing,
and instead we got Diet Lord ofthe Rings with extra cheese.

SPEAKER_02 (06:06):
That was a really great synopsis, man.
I love that.
Thank you.
And I think it really revealshow much you have a distaste for
this movie.
And you know what?
Our community kind of agreedwith you because we have Kat
McAlpine, who's at one of ourthreads people, it basically
said the childhooddisappointment taught me to fear
book adaptations in future.
So I think they mirror yourdisgust when we're talking about

(06:26):
Aragon here.
But I gave you the challengelast week.
I was just like, you have tofind a lesson, you have to find
something good from the movie,and maybe even like from the
book as well, that you could putinto our episode because that's
what we're all about.
That's our shtick here at uh thePhantom Porters Podcast.
We look at the lessons you canlearn, even from a horrible
movie, as is our theme arc, thatfailure isn't final.

(06:47):
So I think for me, the biggestthing that I discovered from
this was that like discoveringyour inner potential isn't
really a solitary act.
Sometimes it's born from trust,mentorship, and a connection
with others as well, especiallyif we're looking at Aragon's
connection through Brom andSephira, especially.
So that's kind of the angle thatI looked at this when I watched
the movie here, Brash.
What about what about you?

(07:08):
What did you find, mate?
Was there a diamond in thisrough?

SPEAKER_03 (07:10):
I mean, short answer no, but I like I like though the
one thing that probably bookreaders will hate that I
actually really liked in thismovie was what's her name?
Rachel We Wise?
Yeah, Wise.

SPEAKER_02 (07:25):
Rachel Weiss, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (07:26):
Weiss.
Her voice voicing Sephira, Ithink, was the best decision
made in this movie.

SPEAKER_00 (07:33):
Yep.

SPEAKER_03 (07:33):
And in the books, in that Sophia's meant to have a
really gravelly, like deep,rough, roary sort of voice,
which I mean for a dragon,probably would suit.
But Sephra never like it's notlike Sephora's an actual talking
dragon who talks.
Everything is like whenever shetalks through telepathy.

(07:54):
So the fact that even hertelepath in telepathic her voice
is like a crabbly rumbly dragon.
I was like, you know what?
I don't mind her having likethis because like Rachel
otherwise voice is like veryit's like regal and like almost
yeah, matronly too.

SPEAKER_02 (08:13):
It's almost caring and nurturing, is how it's like.

SPEAKER_03 (08:16):
But also, but also like but also like you know,
like which it does alsocontradict a bit of uh Sephira's
actual nature, but when she likegets up Aragon and anything like
that, it's a real like like youdone something naughty and your
mum like tells you off, like andyeah, sort of she still has that
sort of presence authoritative,not scornful kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 (08:40):
I think Rachel Weiss really walks that boundary line
pretty well in this becausethere are times when she does
like have to chastise Aragon,you might say, especially the
scene where he is taken awayfrom the village when it's under
attack.
Like that's obviously a turningpoint moment for the character
that we might talk about alittle bit later.
But I feel like you're right.
I feel like the Rachel Weissdecision was was pretty good.

(09:02):
There were some people in ourthreads community that thought
that that was a misstep as well.

SPEAKER_03 (09:07):
But I do I do understand that.
I do understand that because inthe books, like she doesn't have
that sweet sounding voice.
And it wouldn't pay off withsome like some of the things in
the books, that kind of voiceprobably wouldn't pay off with
her her nature and what she'sactually like in the books.

SPEAKER_00 (09:26):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (09:26):
Because she is still, even though like she has
the wisdom of centuries, so evenbeing in that egg, she uh has
absorbed things around her andshe knows more than what her
chronology or her time limit onthe planet.
She knows she knows more likeabout she's had she has more

(09:46):
wisdom than you would think arelatively newborn dragon would
or newborn anything would have.

SPEAKER_00 (09:53):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (09:54):
But she's still she's still a child.
Like realistically, in this wellat the start, she's meant to be
six months of her growing up toa point where she's a couple
like maybe a couple horses longinstead of her big self, and
like she struggles to like shecan carry an erragon, but even

(10:15):
for her, it's a bit more of astruggle, even like six, eight
months into them being togetherand not four seconds after they
meet.

SPEAKER_02 (10:22):
Yeah.
And I think that kind of waslost in the movie as well,
because the most fundamentalthing to this story that I think
would make or break it if andwhen they remake this in the
future, is the relationshipbetween the dragon and the
rider.
Because even through thecharacters in the exposition of
this movie, as as you know,horrible as it was, you still
sort of got the underlying tonethat that's supposed to be

(10:43):
important.
I don't think it was representedwell in this movie, and I think
we lost a lot when we lost thegrowing up phase in that
four-second sort of flashmontage of her bursting through
the cloud, being struck bylightning, and then coming down
as a fully grown dragon.
But I mean, to that point aswell, I don't think it was
really fully explained that thislike dragon, now that it's an
older dragon, contains thewisdom and knowledge of lots of

(11:05):
things that came before it,almost like genetic or ancestral
kind of knowledge.
You just kind of assumed likethe audience kind of knew, oh,
the dragon's big now, so itknows a lot, but really it was
probably like I don't know, amonth or two old as it was
flying through the air.
So that was a little bitconfusing for me as well.
But when I when I first watchedthis one, I watched it a few

(11:25):
years back.
I think I watched it when itfirst came out actually in 2006,
because I remember having areally big Lord of the Rings
hangover.
Like I was looking for my nextfantasy thing to sink my teeth
into because obviously theReturn of the King came out and
just blew everybody's mind away.
And then everybody was kind oflooking for the new the new
fantasy.
And I'd always loved dragons,and my brother Derek read these

(11:48):
books, and I was uh I think it'swell known if you're a social
media follower of the PhantomPortals podcast.
I'm a very slow reader, but Ilove stories.
So he would sort of tell me whathappened in tidbits about what
happened in this this book, andI always was interested in it as
an IP, you could say.
And I really, really lovedragons, which is also no
secret.
So I was always intrigued bythis, and I do like Jeremy Irons

(12:10):
as well, so there was a lot ofreasons for me to dive into
this.
But even at my young age, myyoung cinephile self thought
that something was off with thismovie, like whether it was the
pacing or just the way that itwas acted, especially the
dialogue.
Cringe, mate.

SPEAKER_03 (12:26):
It was just Oh, so and the dialogue that makes
Sephira say, holy crap.
Yeah, yeah, it just ruins hercharacter completely.

SPEAKER_02 (12:36):
Hmm.
Um like don't get me wrong, Ithink that Ed Spielers is a
decent enough actor for theleading role in this.

SPEAKER_03 (12:42):
And um I don't know, he he definitely pulled off
Eragon for me.
Like when when I saw when I sawlike the poster when it was
coming out, and I'm like, hellyes, I saw who was on it, I'm
like, you know what, this mightbe pretty good.
And then like I saw that thelike the fact that they had John
Markovich's Gablet Talks onthere, I'm like strange, you
never see him in the first book.

(13:03):
I'm not sure why he's on theposter, but okay, we'll see how
it goes.
Maybe he's revealed at the end.
Probably shouldn't be on theposter because it could be some
big reveal at the end.
And but then you like you prettymuch see him straight off the
bat.

SPEAKER_02 (13:17):
I'm like, I think he's in the first scene,
literally, in the first scene.

SPEAKER_03 (13:21):
Yeah, telling Doza to go get the egg.

SPEAKER_02 (13:23):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (13:24):
I am I am sad without my egg.

SPEAKER_02 (13:27):
What we're talking about in terms of the dialogue,
it's just really bad, but alsothat really steals away the
looming villain aspect of KingGalbatorix.
He's supposed to be this dragonrider that basically got it
seems like to me through themovies, he got fed up with being
the best at everything.
So he then went and destroyedeverything and became the king

(13:49):
of it.

SPEAKER_03 (13:50):
Backstory is both very sad and tragic and then
very dark.
So his dragon get gets killed.

SPEAKER_00 (13:57):
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, everybody.
Spoiler alert for the books, bythe way.

SPEAKER_03 (14:02):
Sorry, spoiler, spoiler alert if you haven't
read the books.
I doubt there's gonna be anymore movies.
Yeah, so it might be a TVseries.
Maybe hopefully in the way.
I'd love a TV series.

SPEAKER_02 (14:11):
I've read some things, I'll reveal it at the
end of this as well.
So there's some news, news inthe pipeline.
So yeah, just from just foreverybody to know, spoilers
ahead.

SPEAKER_03 (14:21):
Um but yeah, so he loses his dragon dies in a
conflict because he wanted tosort of prove himself to be one
of the best.
So he goes off to kill a bunchof Urgles by himself.
They get the better of him andthey kill his dragon who
protects him.
He manages to escape, iscompletely gutted because when
the dragon and rider, if one ofthe two die, usually the other

(14:45):
one dies as well because of thegreat loss they take, unless
they're able to like pretty muchclose off their emotions.
So he manages to do that andthen goes back to the riders
begging for another dragon so hecan go back there and avenge his
fallen dragon.
The rest of the riderorganization, of course, goes,
No, you did something stupid,you lost your dragon.
You're like, you don't deserveanother one.

(15:08):
And then that sort of makes himgo a little bit cray cray.
And he then decides, you knowwhat?
Screw you guys.
He goes, kills a per killsanother rider, steals his
dragon, or warps its mind toobey him, and artificially forms
a pack with it, and then goeson, recruits other riders who

(15:28):
are weak of worlds and sort ofcontrols them, and him and his
force worn go out and prettymuch annihilate all of the
dragon riders until it's onlyhim and his force won.
And that's his sort of so hisbackstory it starts to as trying
to he was just trying to I meanprobably like show off but show
that he was one of the bestriders that have come out of

(15:52):
recent years and ended up losingeverything because of Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (15:57):
So so I guess it's it sort of sounds like he like
he had the potential and themeaty backstory to be quite a
formidable villain in the story.
For me, there isn't many rolesthat John Malkovich plays that I
actually enjoy, just likenothing against him as a
professional, but his hiscadence when he speaks always
seems either theatrical, like itbelongs on the stage, or just

(16:19):
like it's stilted in a way thatjust doesn't it pulls me out of
a movie.
And uh like who I would haveactually liked to play King
Galber Torix is Javier Bardem.
If you've seen Salazar's Revengefrom Pirates of the Caribbean,
he plays Salazar, I think hewould have been pretty good.
Just because he has that thatability to really invoke a sense

(16:41):
of menace.
I know that there are lots ofpeople in our threads community
that said that they strayed toofar from the source material.
So badge nine, badge underscorenine, said that they strayed too
far from the source material andmade some changes that would
have made future events reallyimpossible.
They thought that Sephora lookedgreat.
They're one of the people thatalso said that she sounded

(17:01):
wrong, and Aragon was just toomuch of a gromless twit is the
words that they used.

SPEAKER_03 (17:07):
He was a little bit like that again is just due to
the writing and how fast theyhad to how fast they just
streamlined through everything.
But yeah, no, a hundred percentthey missed like they've like so
many things that they screwed upthat ruins everything for what
they could have done in thesecond movie.
So the whole point of the secondbook, which would have been the
second movie, was to do with theRazak who I killed in the first

(17:31):
movie.
So the whole cause they go andterrorize Carvajal trying to
find Roran.
So cause in the second book itsplits up into three stories
Aragon's story, Roran's story,and Naswada's story, Ajahad's
daughter.

SPEAKER_02 (17:48):
Okay, so that that third character you said, who is
that one?
A Jahad's daughter?
Uh Naswada.
Yeah, I don't think she's inthis movie at all for one.
She is.
She is.

SPEAKER_03 (17:59):
She doesn't talk, or she doesn't really talk that
much, but you do see her, Ibelieve, I think she does talk
to Aragon at some point veryquickly, and then you see her
standing next to Ajahad in thebattle attire.

unknown (18:12):
Yep.

SPEAKER_03 (18:12):
But in the in the book, in the book, she's was
meant to have gone to Cerda,then sneaks back and joins in
the battle without her father'sknowledge.

SPEAKER_02 (18:20):
Yeah.
And then Roren looks verysimilar to to Aragon, played by
Chris Egan, who was anAustralian actor very famous for
playing on Home and Away.
I I feel like their interactionsat the start and pretty much all
of his interactions when he's inhis home farm village, it was it
was kind of rushed to the pointwhere I didn't really care when
it was destroyed.
Like, not that I'm acold-hearted person, but like

(18:42):
there wasn't enough for me to tobuy into it.
And then their relationship,when you were talking about
Rorin and Aragon being reallyclose, like cousins as close as
brothers, you'd say.
And then when one he was goingoff to the to join the military
and the army and become awarrior, like they had this
playful fight at the start withsome absolutely cringeworthy

(19:02):
dialogue.
That was the worst dialogue thatI've seen in the movie, was
between those two.

SPEAKER_03 (19:06):
And I don't think it's a detriment to the actors,
I definitely think it's awriting, but well, they do they
do play fight in the book, butin like theirs is more like in
here, they're like it's almostlike rolling in the hay.
Yeah, but it misses so much,like because it misses so much
at the start, it almost sort ofjust writes Roaring out of the

(19:26):
movie and out of futurepotential movies, because it's
Roaring, we're very close.
I have to go away now and go tothe millers and go and be a
miller so I can make some moneyso I can buy a farm.
And then he fucks off.

SPEAKER_00 (19:40):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (19:40):
And then but you miss the fact that he's doing it
because he needs to make quickmoney, so when he gets back, he
can buy and sell up a farm so hecan ask the love of his life,
Katrina, to marry him, who's thebutcher's daughter.
Um, because at the moment hedoesn't have anything to his
name, so in their custom in thatvillage, when you ask them to

(20:03):
marry him, you have to put downlike a dowry and you have to
have something to for the topresent to the family or the the
parents of the whoever you'reproposing to to prove that you
you are you can support and takecare of their daughter.
So that that's a whole reasonwhy he had to go.

(20:25):
He didn't want to go, he had togo because and because another
thing that pissed me off so somuch was that there were
soldiers at Carver Hall.

SPEAKER_02 (20:34):
They're not supposed to be, or there's not supposed
to be a presence there.
Because you were telling mebefore that like Galbatorix only
really cared about the placesthat would be advantageous to
him to show that he cared.

SPEAKER_03 (20:45):
Yeah.
And also Carvajal's right in hisspine, and he tried marching his
army through the spine and endedup pretty much losing his all
time.
So he doesn't go he doesn't fuckwith the spine.

SPEAKER_00 (20:56):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (20:57):
But you don't even know about the sp like really
the spine, because that's whereAragon's meant to find found
Siphria's egg, was in the spine,which is a big mountain range
that runs along the side of thevalley where Carvalhole is.
Because Cava Hole's actuallytechnically in the middle of the
spine, the big mountain range,and a huge forest that ends up
if you keep traveling east intothe forest and keep going and
keep going, you'll eventually goto get to the Elven Kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 (21:21):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (21:22):
And Galvatorix can't get into there, and you can't go
through the spine either.
So carver hole is usually like apretty safe space.

SPEAKER_02 (21:30):
But yeah, there's soldiers just running around,
and it's like so I think we'vewe've kind of mainly been
talking about how the bookadaptation is very different to
the movie.
And when we're looking at that,we've obviously got some really
good film adaptations of books,and we've got some ones that are
forgettable as well.
And I think this falls into theformer category.
So some of the the differencesthat I've noted as well, and

(21:52):
some of our community have notedis that some people had a had a
problem with the fact that themagic in the book had really
sort of strict rules, it wasbased on an ancient language and
an energy cost as well.
But then in the movie it almostseemed like it was vague, it was
inconsistent, and then itsometimes it was used without an
ancient language.
I think what they said was themoment that Aragon had to use

(22:15):
his magic in order to sort ofrescue or save Brom was book
accurate, but some otherinstances were a little bit too
far removed from the sourcematerial, which kind of made the
world seem a little bit sort offlippant.
And that lore and that backstoryfor some of the characters,
because they had to rush throughthem, they didn't get the depth

(22:35):
or the care that they wereallowed.
For example, we talk aboutMurtug, like he doesn't appear
until 40 to 50 minutes throughthis hour and a half, hour and
forty minute movie, and thenhe's almost like forgotten.
And I know that theirrelationship plays a very
significant part in Aragon'sjourney, but also Murtug is a

(22:57):
very central character goingforward as well, to the point
where Christopher Paolini, theoriginal author of the Aragon
books, actually wrote a bookabout Murtug at the end of it to
finish off his story arc.
So he's like played by GarrettHoodland as well, who's one of
my favourite young actors.
Yeah, he's he's a reallytalented young man, but in this

(23:17):
one it was like they didn't givehim enough screen time, not
enough effort, not enough timefor his character.

SPEAKER_03 (23:23):
And that that's the thing, like it just seemed like
not enough effort.
Everything just seemed like notenough effort.
When when, like as you said,with the magic, I think one of
the ones they're probablytalking about is when he's
writing Secure and gets into herlike has her vision.
Yes.
So in the book, it's not aspell, it's just the fact that

(23:46):
it's part of their bonding.
The fact that they're they canthey make can basically meld
their minds together because ofhow like because they are they
are bonded together to see asone.
And it's not just a spell thatyou can just do and just be able
to see like a dragon.
Like, yeah, and it's yeah, it'sall a bit it's kind of like a

(24:07):
generic fantasy, just overall,isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 (24:09):
Like nothing's nothing's been given enough
depth to really shine, andnothing is really done in a very
memorable way for you to saythis is not just a movie that's
full of fantasy tropes, forexample.
So yeah, there's there's justit's a movie that's really full
of just bland fantasy tropes andalmost like very bland dialogue.

(24:31):
But I also noted that this wasthe director's Stefan Fangmir's,
it was his first directorialproject.
He's usually on the visualeffects team and he's done
things like Wanted, he's doneSigns, he's done Masters of the
Air, which came from Apple,which is a beautifully shot
piece.
So I think like for that reason,he was fresh and green, and then

(24:53):
some of the actors that theycast in leading roles were fresh
and green as well.
So, and then also adaptingsomething that has that sort of
deep and rich backstory and loreis tricky at the best of times,
even for the most experienceddirectors and and screenwriters.
And then when you get a team ofnew people in, it then just

(25:14):
becomes a little bit more so.
Not to mention the fact thatlike this was a lot of people's,
I'll say, gateway drug intofantasy, because it came out, I
think, I don't know when thebooks came out, but this movie
came out when you and I wereabout 16 years old.
The books were earlier thanthat.
So it was almost like when wewere we were teenagers coming
into like reading full stories,and this was sort of coming out

(25:36):
as something that we couldaccess and read because the
story goes that ChristopherPaolini was a young man when he
wrote this, self-published byhis parents, and he actually
went around the country sort ofgoing to bookstores and doing
book signings and things likethat and marketing it himself
and republishing it himselfeventually as well.
But it got very popular veryquickly.

(25:57):
So I think that there'sdefinitely like source material
and an audience behind it, butthe the opinions on it are very
sort of mixed, and it goes frompeople that really grew up with
it and have that nostalgia, andthen people that kind of revisit
it or get it later on in theirlife, and they read this thing
that uh 16, 17-year-oldChristopher Paelini wrote.

(26:17):
And it's just like this isn'twritten very well in terms of
the first book.

SPEAKER_03 (26:21):
Yeah, and like you can even tell, like, in even in
the book, like the first book,uh, because I only I I'm
currently up to the third bookagain because I've started
rereading it more.
And uh, I'll have to go throughthe first book, like each book I
think gets better and better.

SPEAKER_02 (26:34):
Yeah, that's a common opinion too.

SPEAKER_03 (26:36):
The first book, it's okay, but you can see like where
he's written some things whereyou're like okay, it's weird you
wrote it like that, but okay,yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_02 (26:47):
I get what you're putting down here.

SPEAKER_03 (26:49):
Yeah, yeah, but like read back in some pits are a bit
corny like reading it, and likewhen I was rereading it.
But like when I read it, when Iread it, I was what 14 14, 15,
14, 15.
Because I I read the first bookand I finished it pretty much
just before the movie came out.
It's because I was like, I readthe book and then like the

(27:11):
movies coming out.
I'm like, hell yeah.
I'm like, I've got to finishthis book because I think I was
like towards the end anyway,because I'm I'm also a pretty
slow reader at times, and so Iwas getting through the book,
and then when I heard the moviescoming out, I was like, oh, I've
got to get through this, andthen yeah, and then I watched it
and I was so so deeplydisappointed.

SPEAKER_02 (27:29):
Yeah, I think um like your your opinion mirrors a
lot of the fans that that sortof come out of the cinema there,
and I think there was someone onour threads as well that said
the the only good thing to comeout of the movie was that Avril
Levine song.
That was um Ara Wego who saidthat from Threads, and like,
yeah, great song, but very verymisplaced.

(27:52):
Yeah.
It was a weird song to put atthe end, and I think it was
trying to bank on that teenagenostalgia because obviously
that's Twilight.
Yeah, the that Twilight sort ofmusic when Muse was playing on
there, that fit pretty wellbecause it was a story about
those teenagers in the modernworld.
But that's the music we werelistening to, and obviously it's
a movie we'd go and see, so itwas hitting its target audience,
but it just didn't really fitthe fantasy vibe.

(28:14):
So what could have been whatcould have been there are some
online debates as well, butbefore we get into that, we
might just talk about the likeits flop status because this
this movie had a budget of$100million, and it actually made in
worldwide money$250 million,which looks like a success until
you factor in like the marketingcampaigns and things that went

(28:36):
towards this.
So they produced a video gamethat was accelerated to the
PlayStation to get it outquickly before the movie, which
was janky at best, and then themarketing for it was also pretty
full-on, to the point where Foxwas branding this as their next
big franchise, and it had tomake a certain amount for them
to obviously green light sequelsas they do.

(28:56):
So it was a financialunderperformer, and it kind of
barely broke even because, inorder to make even, you kind of
need to make 2.5 to three timeswhat you spent on the movie.
So it's not like a financialflop, but it's definitely a
critical failure.
It also received horriblereviews from fans and critics,

(29:16):
and it was just yeah, the fansfelt like it removed too much
from the source material, whichwe kind of discussed here
already.
But there is some some theoriesgoing around or some people that
have discussed the fact thatthis movie is like Star Wars in
a fantasy setting, like Aragonas Star Wars, but with dragons.
Have you heard this before,Brash?

SPEAKER_03 (29:38):
Sort of, and I can sort of see where they're coming
from, but yeah.
Yeah, like like the Aragon BronD Bron and Eri Brom and Aragon
aspect of it.
I can see as like uh old uh LukeSkywalker Obi-Wan Kenobi, sort
of just it.

SPEAKER_02 (29:56):
But really, the farm boy being the chosen one, that's
Luke Skywalker.
You've got the princess whosends a secret object, the disc
file in R2 D2, and the secretegg as well.
You've got the wise mentor whoguides the hero in Obi-Wan
Kenobi and also Brom.
You've got the Empire that'sruled by a Dark Sorcerer in
terms of Emperor Palpatine andthen Galbatorix as well.

(30:17):
And a powerful magical enforcerwho is governed by that person
in terms of Durzer and DarthVader.
And then you've got this herothat ends up joining the
rebellion, or in this case, theVarden.
And then at the end of themovie, they go through their
first big battle to defend theVarden's base.
And there's a celebratory endingwith a sequel inside.

(30:40):
So beat for beat in that way.
People have said that Aragon inthe movie looks a lot like Star
Wars.

SPEAKER_03 (30:47):
Yeah.
I can say good because I'm likethinking back to books, I'm
like, I'm like, yeah, I can sortof see it, but it's I like I
like it's it's very base,basically structural outline.

SPEAKER_02 (31:02):
Yeah, and I can agree with that because I think
that what the book does is itobviously has heaps of this
in-depth world building.
It's got really big characterarcs, it's also got like a
political structure and acultural system that we don't
see in the movie.
And you know, Hollywood made allthese shortcuts to make the film
140 minutes or whatever it was,like an hour and 40 minutes.

(31:23):
And you know, in doing so, itcut away all the meat that made
it look different to Star Wars.
So what was left was theskeleton of what they call the
hero's journey, which we talkedabout when we did our episode on
Dragonheart.
It's a very popular storytellingdevice, but people have said
that because they stripped somuch away from the book

(31:43):
material, all that was left werethose skeleton beats, which are
very similar to Star Wars.
So, for example, one of thesteps in the hero's journey is
the refusal of the call.
So it's a very pretty much thefirst or in the middle, the the
middle of the orientation sortof step in the hero's journey
where the the hero basically ispresented with never asked to be

(32:07):
I'm never asked to get Safira'segg.
Yeah, exactly.
So they'll they'll they'll havethe the outline of basically
their destiny laid before them,and they're just like stuff
this, I don't want to do that.
So the refusal of the call, andthen there is an inciting action
or a catalyst that makes them doit.
So in both cases, in Aragon andStar Wars, it's the death of the
uncle or the aunt.

(32:28):
So Luke loses his uncle andaunt, and Aragon loses his uncle
and his village.
So and they're both burnt in afire, coincidentally.

SPEAKER_03 (32:37):
Well, see that that's the thing.
Like, see, Aragon in the book,like he never really like was
like, I don't want to, I neverasked for you, I didn't want to
be a Dragon Knight or blah blahblah.
I suppose he sort of like hesort of was a bit like that,
like at the very, very start,when like as soon as his uncle
dies, but not hard.

SPEAKER_02 (32:55):
He always seemed like he wanted to be more,
though.

SPEAKER_03 (32:57):
He always had that aspect of like, I want to be
more, I just don't know whatthat is, and also yeah, in in
the start of the book, he he wassort of like, Oh, I didn't
really ask for this, blah blah.
But he gets over that quitequickly because he's like, ooh,
because his whole thing is it'snot motivated by I'm going to
defeat Gulbatorx and be a hero.
His whole thing was I am goingto track Trax down to the ends

(33:18):
of the Earth these Razak, andI'm going to murder them.
That revenge.
Revenge is his whole thing inthe first book.
And then it's not taught notuntil even when he gets to the
Varden, he's sort of like, We'reonly here because if you didn't
get here, Arya would die.

SPEAKER_02 (33:36):
Well, that was that was pretty thin as well.
Like his motivations for joiningthem and finding them were
pretty pretty thin to me.
Like the movie didn't do a goodjob of foregrounding why he was
doing that, except just tofollow the beats of adventure.
And obviously, Brom has told himthat the Varden is where all the
Dragonriders go, so it's likehe's he's just following it
because other people have toldhim to, as opposed to something

(33:57):
that he intrinsically wants todo.
Another thing that is prettysimilar in terms of Star Wars is
obviously, as you said, thementor's death.
Now, that is a common trope inthe hero's journey as well.
It is where the protagonist issupposed to like supersede the
mentor's teachings and then goand learn stuff on their own.
Like this happens in an amazingstory in a piece of fantasy like

(34:19):
Lord of the Rings.
Like Gandal falls down thebridge of Kazaturum as a result
of the Balrog, and then thefellowship have to venture on
and move beyond him.
Like it's something that happenseverywhere, but it's to the
point where like Obi-Wansacrifices himself so that Luke
and his friends can escape, andBrom does the same thing so they
can get away from Durza whilethey're rescuing a princess too.

SPEAKER_03 (34:41):
Well, exactly.
In that in that in that point,so when Brom dies in the book,
it's to the Razak.
And it's because of when theRazak's escape, and one of them
just goes, turns around andgoes, yeah, and throws a dagger
at Aragon, and because Aragonused some magic, he's really
weak.
So he can't he can't dodge.
So Brom has to jump in front ofhim and take the dagger from the
Razak because uh Murtar comes inand help chases off help um

(35:04):
chases off the Razak.

SPEAKER_00 (35:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (35:06):
And then that's where Brom gets a dagger, and
then they try and they take himfor a bit and try and patch it
up and heal him, but eventuallyhe does succumb to it, he's
saying he's wound, and then theydo put him in, or they do bury
him in rock, and then SapphiraBreeze on the grave and it turns
into like crystal and everythinglike that, and it's very sad and
emotional.
And that's sort of that's sortof when Aragon like he doesn't

(35:28):
decide to kill Gabatorix, butit's another motivation to uh
get revenge on the Razak.
It sort of reignites andreinvigorates his fact that he's
like, I need to do whatever Ican to make sure these things
are dead.
And with Murtag, and I hate howthey introduce Murtag because he

(35:50):
comes in and helps during thethe getting Aria out.
So he's meant to help them whenthey're fighting the Razak and
scare the Razak off, and theRazak is off and you don't see
them again for the rest of thebook.
They go and Aragon learns how toscry, basically like scrying
magic in DD.
Or it's sort of like yeah, it'slike scrying DD where you can
only see the person and youcan't see things around him.

SPEAKER_02 (36:13):
Yep, yeah.
Magic magically through like forthose that don't know what
scrying is, it's like a magicallook in at a person who might be
far away or at a distance fromwhere you're at where you
actually are.

SPEAKER_03 (36:23):
He he does have dreams about Aya, but it's never
like the one where she's on thetable.
She's like Eric or somethingsays his name or some shit.
It's like no.
She he looks at her and she'slike all ragged up and in her
cell, and then sort of justlooks up at where like he is

(36:45):
sort of like looking down onher.
He sort of she sort of looks upand he's like commenting in the
book, and he's like, It's almostlike she could see me.
Yeah, and then he wakes up fromhis dream and he's like, I think
that's an actual person.
It can't be a mistake.
And probably everyone's sort oflike, I don't know, it's just
you're right.
And then he actually Don't besilly, boy.
Don't be silly, and he actuallyscribes her and then sees that

(37:07):
she's an actual person, yeah,and then is like, we have to
rescue her.
I don't know why, but we have torescue her.

SPEAKER_02 (37:14):
So he he scries the existence of the princess, and
Luke Skywalker sees a digitalreflection through R2D2 of the
princess saying that she needsrescuing and help.

SPEAKER_03 (37:25):
So well she doesn't say she needs rescue, and he
doesn't know why he has torescue her, but he's like, I
just have a feeling that I needto rescue her.
But and really I'll really seelike rescuing her is like does
great things for him later on inthe books.

SPEAKER_02 (37:37):
But really, physical attraction has nothing to do
with it.

SPEAKER_03 (37:41):
Yeah, he wishes.
Um but yeah, it's just it's justa lot of missteps and another
big one which I don't think alot of people have maybe uh I
haven't read all the comments,but I don't know if a lot of
people talk about it is Angelaas well.
Angela, and you don't even meetSolomon.

SPEAKER_02 (38:01):
This is the fortune teller, correct?

SPEAKER_03 (38:03):
Yes.
So fortune teller tells himthree things that someone is
going to die, someone's going tobetray him, and that he will
leave this land and neverreturn.
Three things he's told.
And then you meet a werecat areally rare and special race,
that when they tell yousomething you must listen.

(38:25):
And he tells him uh three thingsas well that if he needs weapon
to look under the roots of theminol tree, when he needs help
to go to something rocks and Ican't remember the third one,
but apparently what I'm up to inthe books and the third books is
he just found a weaponunderneath the minor tree, the
underneath the minor tree.

(38:46):
But yeah, you don't even meetSolomon and he's like a major
part of it, and another and youdon't meet his name, he's a
friend of Brom's, and him andBrum were actually the the two
who stole the egg in the firstplace.
And he's a like merchant in oneof the cities that ferri

(39:08):
supplies and that to the Vardensecretly, but someone has sort
of wrapped it on them and he'snow losing his shipments and
slowly he's being bled dry.
Yeah.
And that he helps them find thetext to help find where the
Razak live, but they neverreally end up making it to where
the Razak live because Razakattack him.

SPEAKER_02 (39:29):
Yeah.
So when we've been looking atthis as well, we've kind of been
talking about book-to-screenadaptations, but and maybe you
can talk to the book aspect ofthis because when I was watching
and looking for a like a mostvaluable takeaway, I kind of
looked at Aragon's character andhow he had some inner potential
in him that he kind of didn'trealize.
And he made these relationshipswith people that helped him to

(39:53):
bring out what he already kindof had inside him that he kind
of knew was there but didn'treally act on or disbelieved it.
And those aspects of him cameout due to trust, mentorship,
and obviously connection throughothers.
So as we're as we're kind oflooking at that and looking at
that inner potential of ofAragon, we start off with him
being the undervalued farm boy,which is a very common fantasy

(40:15):
trope, but he seems like he'slike completely invisible, and
he's and you can see that whenthey shoot it as well, because
he's he's in a place ofsmallness in contrast with this
giant legend and basicallymassive fantasy world, and he's
like this little farm boy in themiddle of the spine in a
forgotten place, and it's thepoint where they're talking
about it's it's like the legendthat he kind of has to grow

(40:37):
into, or he's small at thestart, but the legend that's
coming is something that he'llneed to sort of grow into, and
he does have a lot of goodqualities at the start as well,
because you can see himobviously trying to provide for
his family, and then likethrough hunting and things like
that as well, and thenbargaining with Sloane the
butcher, but then it's almostlike he had to start in this

(40:59):
ordinary world to show histransformation and his his
naivety at the start.
So then there was obviously thecatalyzing action that showed
that he was almost awakening,and one of the visual effects
supervisors, John Bruno,actually said that they wanted
the scene where he sees the eggto be like a flash of light that

(41:20):
symbolized like an awakening, alike a bright blue energy and
light.
And it was intentional becausethey wanted to show his shift
from ordinary to toextraordinary with that big
flash of blue when the egg wastransported to him.
That was the moment that changedhis his pot like his future.

(41:40):
So, with that, you can see himobviously moving through and
making that relationship withBrom where he finds him being a
like we find Brom as a brokenguardian to start off with, but
you could see Brom also hasinner potential because he was
once a big protector andguardian of the land, a dragon
rider, so to speak.
And he's he's lost this abilityto see it within himself almost

(42:03):
like Aragon has as well.
And a lot of people have saidthat Brom was written as the
bridge between Aragon's doubtand his later destiny, which is
what mentors are supposed to doanyway.
But I feel like both of themtogether bring out that inner
potential in each other, whichis what good mentoring and

(42:24):
mentee relationships aresupposed to do.
And um maybe you can talk aboutthe book a little bit more as to
how their relationship develops.
But as we saw in the movie, alot of it is exposition, like
Brahma's teaching him about theworld by just telling us about
it.

SPEAKER_00 (42:38):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (42:38):
And then to the point where they also see some
people being attacked by I thinkit's the Razak.
Are they attacked by the Razak?
And then they're just like,okay, sweet, now let's go over
by this riverbed and smacksticks against each other for a
while instead of you knowanswering the hero's call and
doing something about that.
Yeah.
But I think what what I sort offocused in on was the fact that

(42:58):
they they had this innerpotential in them, Aragon and
Brom.
And it wasn't until they meteach other and they started to
do this mentorship with oneanother, go through those common
struggles, but then also comeout at the end of it as owning
their their potential.
So it's like a boy stepping intothe skin of a man and then the
the broken man stepping intohaving the confidence to be that

(43:22):
unbreakable guardian that heonce was again.

SPEAKER_03 (43:26):
Yeah, and I think that's another misstep they did.
So Brom, even though yes, he wasa sort of a mentor to Aragon, in
the books he's I wouldn't callit like he basically gives him
enough that he's gonna survive.
He because in the books, Aragoncan't read.
So he teaches he teaches him howto read because he's got to read
to learn how to use magic tolearn how to use ancient

(43:48):
language, like he has to learnto read the ancient language,
he's just got to learn to readin general.
Erigon does teach a fight with asticks, and they do move on to
be out fighting with actualswords, and he teaches him a
magic to coat his sword so ithas like a thin film over it, so
it doesn't like it still hurtsto get smacked with it, but it
won't cut.
Yep.
And they end up sparring withreal swords, but the whole time

(44:11):
he is grumpy, he always gets upAragon, calls him an idiot and a
fool like constantly, and likehe just has this like grumpy dad
energy, like constantly, always.

SPEAKER_02 (44:24):
Is there an undertone of care though?

SPEAKER_03 (44:26):
Is there an undertone of like there is, but
it's not something you reallypick up on until like the third
book where more of the backstoryis revealed.
But throughout the first, likeif you just read the first book,
you'd be like, damn, this guy'sthis guy's guys.

SPEAKER_00 (44:42):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (44:44):
But like he he does like care for Aragon at all, but
yeah, it's a lot of you're anidiot, you're a fool, it's some
curse that came to you.

SPEAKER_00 (44:52):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (44:54):
But like I know on either there is a there is a
massive underlying sort of howto do it without doing huge
spoilers.

SPEAKER_02 (45:04):
Reason.

SPEAKER_03 (45:06):
Yeah, there's a a big emotional reason why Brom is
like that towards him, and youfind out that from that later
on, and I won't spoil it, butone thing is he finds out later
on is that he sees a memory ofBrom talking with Sapphira, and
he's like, it must be some sortof sick joke or some cruel fate

(45:26):
that Aragon found the egg foundits way to Aragon.
And Aragon straight away is justlike it just cuts him deep, and
he's like he's like, even Bromthinks that I'm just absolutely
horrible, and and then he goeson and you find out what he
actually meant by that later on.
Yeah through like a pretty bigbackstory.

(45:48):
But yeah, throughout the wholething, he he like in this, like
he barely gets four words forhimself.
Everything he says is this longscript of just world building.
Yeah, take that.
He doesn't he doesn't have anyhe doesn't have any like his own
personal thoughts.
It's just expose and the nexttime he has a has to talk, it's

(46:12):
expose.

SPEAKER_00 (46:23):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (46:23):
And yeah, and I think that's something that they
really missed out on because thewhole grumpy dad, foolish child
sort of dynamic between them,like I think the books is
absolutely hilarious.
Like Aragon will be a smart ass,and then Brom will snap back at
him, and like it's just likethis dynamic, and then Sophia is

(46:46):
sometimes like in there tryingto keep peace, and but I feel
like Brom knows the weight ofthe responsibility Aragon
carries and is trying to loadthat onto him in slow portions.

SPEAKER_02 (46:58):
So I think I think he said it pretty perfectly
there, where where Brom isobviously the mentor, but he's
also a man who's carrying like alifetime of failure.
He's like so broken that hedoesn't trust himself to protect
anyone in the future or evenguide or mentor anyone.
But he actually does take upthat charge and he chooses to to
do that with Aragon, obviouslyfor an emotional reason that you

(47:20):
were talking about that you willnot reveal on this podcast and
maybe tell me later.

SPEAKER_03 (47:23):
Yeah, but well, but uh another little bit of a
spoiler, but not big a bigspoiler.
But the reason why Brom I don'tsee I think that this doesn't
really portray, like it's sortof they chose to try and portray
it a little bit in a movie, butbecause there's no sort of no
depth in the character of Brom,it's it's hard to pick up.

(47:44):
But it's 'cause it's not likeBrom has sort of given up the
fight or anything like that.
It's that he's now at a stagewhere he doesn't have to do the
he's not doing the fighting orhe's doing the watching and
waiting, and he's he's he's hadhis revenge.

(48:05):
Well, sort of Morzan on theforce warm was the one who
killed his dragon.

SPEAKER_02 (48:10):
Yeah, which is revealed in the movie as well,
Morzan being Murtag's father.

SPEAKER_03 (48:15):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (48:16):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (48:16):
Uh and and Morzan killed Brom's dragon, and Brom
killed Morzan.

SPEAKER_02 (48:22):
Yeah, but I think what what Brom wants to imprint
on Aragon is that hisrelationship with his dragon is
more important than he is givingcredit to.
So it's not a like an ownershipor a com or a companion.
It's more like a it's asymbiotic relationship between
the both of you, and it meansmore than what you think it
does, because he's talking froma a space of past pain, which is

(48:46):
you know something that mentorsalso do as well.
They teach from experience tothe point where mentors actually
imprint behavioral patterns onon their mentees, which is kind
of you can see that subtlythrough this movie as as I think
they try to do it through alittle piece of dialogue that
Aragon says at the end of themovie where they've got to do
this for Brom now or somethingalong those lines.

(49:08):
But it was very cliche and andjust a throwaway, really, and
there was no there was no weightto it, I guess.
And I think Safira actually saidit as well when they were
burying him in his crystalsarcophagus that they were going
to carry on what he sort oftaught them and be there for one
another now.

SPEAKER_03 (49:26):
Yeah, yeah.
And which like whichrealistically though, he taught
him to read and he taught himsome like words in the ancient
language, he taught him like hetaught him like everyone's sort
of half knew how to fight,because in the in the movie he
it is really portrayed as likelevel one.

SPEAKER_00 (49:42):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (49:43):
But realistically, but realistically, he actually
like yeah, he does not he's notvery good with the sword, but
he's not terrible.
And because he used to like eventhough it's stick fighting, but
he him and his cousin used tohave all the time like fights.
So his fighting style, like asit didn't really show it showed

(50:04):
a little bit, but not too much.
But his fighting style is justreally scrappy, yeah.
And it's just Brom him Bromactually showing him how like
techniques and ways to sort ofturn that scrappy fighting into
like proper fighting.

SPEAKER_02 (50:17):
Yeah, I think you're right, it did sort of show that
during the river fight scenebecause Brom was very technical
with the way that he was sort ofsparring, and then when Aragon
would come towards him, he'dsort of like bat him off to the
side and push him over.
So showing that Aragon reallyhad that sort of brute strength
that needed to be harnessed, andBrom had all the technique and
talent.
So that was the dance they weredoing there.

(50:38):
But again, yeah, it was verysort of set into that point,
too.

SPEAKER_03 (50:40):
But then also like Aragon's like Aragon's an
extremely skilled hunter, he'she's excellent with a bow.
Like his cousin is good with abow, because then in book two,
we're gonna have to use a bow,and he like hits his mark from
like ages away, and they'relike, Wow, you're really good at
your bow.
He's like, compared to Aragon,I'm trash.
Yeah, like yeah, um, but and butit's really understated on how

(51:02):
much like Aragon uses his bow alot in the book uh in the first
book at least, anyway, and uh Isaw it out, I suppose, a little
bit after he's sort of learntfrom Brom a bit more, but at the
start he uses his arrows a lotmore like his bow.
But yeah, which is why he likeused his bow, I guess, the
Urgles and said press and go andmade the Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (51:23):
I think I think Brom Brom, or at least from the
movie's perspective, Brom playedby Jeremy Irons, knew that
Aragon had some sort ofpotential in him because he
knows that the the magic of thedragons and the way that they
choose their people is a veryimportant process.
And he obviously adheres to andand admires these dragons and he

(51:45):
trusts Sephira's choice, but healso always tells Aragon, you
know, trust your instincts.
And you wouldn't say that tosomebody who you thought was a
fool, like he does say that heis in the book, because you feel
like their instincts arecorrect, or you've got the
correct thing in you alreadythat we just need to bring out
and allow you to trust inyourself more.
So I think in that space, hehe's portrayed as a pretty

(52:07):
decent mentor because that'swhat that's what they're there
to do.
Bromwus is there to allow Aragonto look at the things that he
knows is inside him and bringthem out and use them in spaces
of challenge so he can then growas a result of that challenge.
It's that zone of proximaldevelopment that we were talking
about in past episodes as well,where if a challenge is too

(52:29):
hard, people don't want to doit, but if it's too easy, you
don't learn anything from it.
So it has to be in that sweetspot and mentors' jobs to get
people to move toward that sweetspot by scaffolding learning
from the things that theyalready know how to do to the
new things that they need tolearn.
So, for example, he's reallygood erragon at hunting,
tracking, using a bow.

(52:51):
You can use that naturalknowledge and tapping into that
natural world to then possiblyhave an idea of using natural
forms of magic, like summoning afire, using the word brissinger.
So scaffolding that knowledge isimportant for mentors too.
And again, I feel like it's verythin in the movie, but those
lines that he says, like trustyour instincts, allude to that

(53:14):
kind of relationship that he hasthere.
Yeah.
I I think the most importantrelationship in the book and in
the movie is the one betweenAragon and Sephira.
And I think in the movie, itdevelops in a couple of
different ways.
At the very start, you see himbeing the primary caregiver of
this little dragon hatchling,and then within four seconds

(53:36):
they're obviously companions.
Equal or equal Yep, equalfooting.
But I think the key is that theydevelop this supportive kind of
relationship, and that supportand trust increases as they move
along in their journey becauseemotional vulnerability is the
key to becoming like becoming agenuinely connected pair.

(53:58):
So having that emotionalvulnerability is a requirement.
But these two feel everythingthat each other is feeling.
So if Aragon feels fear, thenSephira obviously is tracking
that, and vice versa.
So there is no space for them tohold any kind of secrets there.
But there is a moment in themovie that we see where Sephira

(54:19):
kind of takes charge almost,which is and takes him away from
the village to keep him safe,and that's the choice that she
obviously made.
And they're sharing thatefficacy within the group space,
but she obviously says, youknow, I needed to do that to
keep you safe, and it it doesfracture them a little bit, but
then Aragon eventuallyunderstands.
So I feel like the movie showsthem having a pretty secure bond

(54:42):
that's resilient, but again, Ithink it we lose a lot of that
developing bond at the startwhen they skip over Sapphira's
growth.

SPEAKER_03 (54:54):
Yeah, because uh because they make they make her
out pretty much to be it's likea blue helicopter with emotions,
blue helicopter with opinionsand emotions, and that's it.
Whereas like in the book, she'sa lot more in-depth, and even
though like for the first sixmonths when she's growing, like
yeah, he is feeding her, butthey're even their telepathy is
sort of growing then as well.

(55:14):
So he actually ends up going toBrom and saying, Hey, you know,
because in in the books, insteadof Brom telling the story about
Dragonriders and gettingharassed by the guards who are
not meant to be there, he'smeant to be like the old
storyteller of the village, andevery night he's in the bar,
bub, hub, whatever, with all thekids sitting in front of him and

(55:38):
he's telling stories from backin the old days with the
Dragonriders and just backhundreds of years ago.
And Aragon, knowing that hetells these stories about
dragons, goes back and goes toOzerbrom and like asks questions
about about dragons and stuff,which actually gets which
actually is what gets Bromcurious about why he's asking so

(56:01):
many questions about dragons.
Yeah.
And uh he's like, Oh, um, werethere any names for dragons?
And like Brom gives me a lift alist of names of dragons and
then ends up giving him Sophia'sone at the end, and he goes back
to Sophira when he's takenbecause he had to move Sophira
out into the sort of the forestjust just near the spine, and he

(56:21):
goes to her and he lists off abunch of names, and he can feel
because she can't talk to himyet, but she can he she can feel
if he she liked or doesn't likea name, and he runs through all
the names and she hates all thenames, and then I guess the
Sophia he's like, What was thatlast one Brom said?
Because he noted when Brom saidit he had like a bit of it's had

(56:41):
a bit of sorrow to it when hesaid it, and he's like, Oh,
that's right, Sephora.
He says Sapphira, and then shereally likes it, because then it
turns out that his dragon wasnamed Sephira, and she was also
and then Sophia and his dragonwas also a female and also a
blue dragon.

SPEAKER_02 (56:56):
Well, that that does explain why when Jeremy Ayn's
Brom's character first seesSophia, he's completely enamored
by what she looks like, veryrespectful and very sort of
wanting to make that connection,and then Sophia's got that
little bit of sass about herthat's just like he better watch
his words, or maybe he knowswhat he's talking about when she
starts to get compliments fromhim.

SPEAKER_03 (57:16):
But with um Sephora, that's the closest thing to
Sephira in the movie, I think.
Yeah, the close things to herpersonality, like she is very
prideful, and like she's veryshe's like all dragons, like in
the books, all dragons are verylike single-minded.
So if they say they can dosomething, they'll do it.

(57:36):
Like they don't change theirmind.
And Sephora always brings it up,like brings up and says it.
She's like, I don't know how youhow yours and the elves and the
dwarven races get by changingyour mind all the time.
Dragons know what they want andthey and they go for it.

SPEAKER_00 (57:51):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (57:52):
So yeah, so at that that point there where she's
like, where he's like sayinglike her hinds legs are too thin
or some shit, and you he's like,Watch yourself.

SPEAKER_02 (58:01):
Yeah, she was like brutally honest.

SPEAKER_03 (58:03):
Yeah, but that that's probably the closest
thing to Sephira that in thismovie that we got.

SPEAKER_02 (58:09):
Yeah, personality-wise.
I think for me in this one, it'slike in the movie specifically,
I think they were trying toportray Sophia as Aragon's like
psychological mirror.
So at the start of the movie, hewas pretty insecure in himself,
or he didn't really portray anycharacteristics that showed him
as a worthy Dragon rider.

(58:29):
But then Sephira would be therewith that sort of calm, calm
certainty in her voice, and youknow, asking Aragon to trust her
and building that sort of bond.
You can eventually see thatAragon sort of comes out of his
shell and walks into thisleadership space with Sephira by
his side.
So at the start, like when theytake their first flight, the
scene where they fly for thefirst time, he is clinging to

(58:50):
Sephira's neck for deer life,like a squirrel on a tree in a
storm.
He's just holding on for deerlife.
There is no synergy, there is nopartnership there at all.
But then towards the end, youcan see that he's sort of
upright and in fighting spaces,the aerial combat with Dursa is
then in a little bit moresynergy, you could say.
So I guess you can say thatwarrior in him.

SPEAKER_03 (59:12):
That writing that and the thing about when they're
writing and Bom's like, oh, Iwonder you can write it from
anywhere.
Even the tail?
Sure.
What a load of bullshit.
No one and I don't think at anylike I'm I haven't I haven't
reread the like the very lastcouple books, but I know for a
fact in the first three bookshe's never ridden on her tail.

(59:32):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (59:33):
Well, I think that because did they do that in
Fanata?

SPEAKER_03 (59:36):
He still he still he like in the books, he makes his
saddle has leg straps who hestraps his legs into.

unknown (59:43):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (59:44):
And he still doesn't get all cut up too.
Well he does.
He gets his like he gets hislegs all cut up from her scales,
and that's why they're like,well, 'cause you rode him rode
her without a saddle andproblem's like you rode without
a saddle, you did your head.

SPEAKER_04 (59:56):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (59:57):
And um, yeah, so but his Saddle as like leg straps in
there to strap his legs in, andhe still uses them now, even in
book three.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:07):
Yeah.
I can definitely agree to that.
But I I just think like theirposture towards the end when
he's he's sitting on the dragondoing fighting on the dragon,
and then prior to that he wasclinging on to her shows that
they're they've sort of builtthat trust and he's gotten
better at certain things becauseof her teaching as well.
And that sort of mirrors havinga more capable partner or mentor

(01:00:29):
or teacher because ittemporarily supports the learner
until they can get thatindependence themselves.
So that's what she was kind ofdoing.
But I feel like she kind of doesthat as well with his his
emotional journey because she ishis his shoulder to cry on on
quite a few scenes in the movie,especially when it comes to like
Brom.
She's like the almost emotionalsupport dragon to the point

(01:00:52):
where like her her growth comesfrom like she elevates Aragon.
And from the episode we did lastweek on John Carter, we learnt
that like leaders often empowerothers, and that I feel like
that's what Sephira does withwith Aragon here and also Brom
to both both literally andfiguratively.
Yeah.

(01:01:12):
Yeah.
As much as this relationship issymbiotic, I think that Sephira
does a lot more for Aragon thanthan he sort of does for her,
besides the Yeah, and maybe thatwas going to be a good one.
At some point will developlater.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:25):
Aragon and Murtag almost kill each other.
Oh yeah.
So they you don't see it as inthe movie, but they have a
fight.
So they find like so Aragonfinds out that Morzan is
Murtag's father, which sort ofputs them a bit on edge.
But Murtag's, like it says, likehe tells him his backstory about
how his father and was too bad.

(01:01:45):
The only thing my dad his dadgave him was a scar in the back,
which is true.
Like like in his book, he umMorzan came up the back and gave
him a big scar.
And uh he's like, I uh justbecause he's my father doesn't
make me the same as him.
And so they sort of like Whichis a good lesson.
So there's one thing that Aragonannoyed me in the first,
especially in the first book,and he still does it every now

(01:02:06):
and then.
He has this like almost like Godcomplex where he's like he finds
out something about someone elseand straight away it's like, Oh
my god, you're such a horrible,terrible person.
I can never forgive you, yousuck so much, and then he'll do
something for even worse.
And he's like, Oh, I do it forgood reasons.
It's like shit.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:26):
It's like a strong sense of justice and failure to
see others reasons for for theirown.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:33):
But it's he does he does sort of grow out of that,
which is nice.
Yeah, they they start fightingon it.
Sophia actually grabs bothMurtig and Aragon and pins them
both to the ground with hertalons, like like crushing them
to a point when she's like, I amnot going to lift, I'm not gonna
let go, and I'm not gonna letyou go, and I'll crush both of

(01:02:53):
you unless you be nice.
And it also shows I wish theythey did it in the movie because
they didn't really do it in themovie, but it shows that
Sapphira is still her ownentity, like she she does her
own things, she does what shewants, she doesn't have to do
everything Aragon says.
Like if if Aragon's like, oh,let's do this and she doesn't

(01:03:14):
want to do it, she'll be like,no.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:15):
I feel like I needed more of that in the movie,
honestly, because I feel likethe dragon in this movie,
Aragon, was pretty like like Idon't want to say bland, but it
was very fantasy tropey, likethe boy owns the dragon, the
dragon does like protects theboy, that kind of thing.
Yeah.
Whereas if you think of dragonsin other spaces, the dragons are

(01:03:37):
the ones with the power and thehumans are just along for the
ride.
So I think that that that wouldhave been something I would have
liked to see a little bit more.
But in terms of the way thatthese characters develop, I
think that the what we can learnfrom them is that obviously
sometimes it takes a trustedfriend or a trusted mentor to to
help you reach the potentialthat you know is inside you all

(01:03:58):
along, and also moving on tolike things that could be
happening in the Aragon space.
Christopher Paelini has got someYouTube shorts out, and I'm not
sure how old they are.
I think they're from 2023 or2024.
So at the time of recording,they're about a year and a half
to two years old at this point.
But he is like answeringquestions of viewers on what's

(01:04:20):
happening with the Disney Plusseries in terms of Aragon,
because somebody asked him if itwas going to be a live action
show, and he said, Yeah, it'sdefinitely live action because
hopefully we can have the budgetto do it.
Because that somebody said you'dbe able to do more if it was an
animation, and he was like, No,it's gonna be a live action
show.
So that gives hope to me to seethat Disney Plus is at least in

(01:04:42):
some form of production with anAragon TV series, which mirrors
everything that we always sayabout book adaptations to
movies, brash.
We always say it should havebeen a show.
Yep.
And I think especially withsomething like this where the
lore is so vast you could diveinto it any which way, and all
the characters need somedevelopment in terms of their
arc.
I think that the TV show is thebest fit for it.

(01:05:03):
So hopefully something comes outof Disney Plus.

SPEAKER_03 (01:05:05):
And doing like and having like like 10 hour
episodes, like 10 hour longepisodes, you should be able to
fit everything in.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:14):
Yeah, but I think from what I saw, the show is in
it's in early development.
I know that Christopher Paliniis attached to co-wright, and
he's like Yeah, he's theexecutive producer as well, so
he will have some creativedecision-making pull.
Yeah.
Because I'm not sure how hefeels about this movie, but I

(01:05:34):
don't think it's good.

SPEAKER_03 (01:05:35):
No, no, I think he hates it.
Then uh but I think I thinkthat's the case.
If you're ever going to do abook adaptation, you should
always, always have the like theoriginal uh writer, can't be a
author, yeah.
And it doesn't have to be itdoesn't have to be like a big
black producer rolling likethat, but should be there to
basically give the yay or no,because you're you're uh

(01:05:57):
essentially taking their workand then making it into a like
into the movie or a TV show, andyou're either gonna ruin it and
ruin what like their becausepeople are gonna see movies and
say, Oh, it was a book, and likeit's anything like the movie,
it's gonna be shit.

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:13):
And that's why people are like fan base.

SPEAKER_03 (01:06:16):
That's why people are like, No, no, no, the books
are good, don't trust the movie.

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:21):
Yeah.
I think it says it hasn't fullybeen green-lit, production is
progressing slowly, there's beenno casting announcements.
All we know is that ChristopherPaelini is on and actively
involved, co-writing, executiveproducing.
They're they're intending tomake the entire four-book
inheritance cycle as part of theTV show.

(01:06:42):
It's coming out on a Disney Plusat time of recording.
This is the news we have.
And yeah, I think there will besome negotiations and obviously
script revisions, especially ifPaelini's involved, because he
will hold it close to his heart.
I'm not sure if he's he's in thepipeline to r write any new book
sprash, but no, I'm not awareof.
Yeah, I think this is a spacethat is obviously close to his

(01:07:06):
heart and has the potential tobe like something big on Disney.
Would you like obviously lookingforward to it with him him
involved and being an obviousfan?

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:15):
Oh yeah, 100%.
Like, yeah, if if he's involvedand if they keep if oh I'm hop
hoping he keeps them on track,because he like look at the
Witcher.
Like people tried to keep thaton track and that never that
went just down the shooter.
But the first season was reallygood because they like they kept
a lot of the things the same.
And then it sort of just wentoff the rails a little bit as

(01:07:38):
the seasons progressed.

SPEAKER_02 (01:07:39):
But let's let's rate this bad boy brash.
I'm gonna let you go firstbecause I feel like it's pretty
obvious what you're gonna givethis one.

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:47):
No, I'm I'm actually gonna give it a one.
That's me being generous.
Okay purely because I didn't Ididn't mind a lot of the
casting.
I thought a lot of the castingwas really good.
Just the scripts and thedialogue they had was very
unfortunate.
And then the fact that they likethey just veered completely off

(01:08:09):
from the books was also verydisappointing.
And I like as much as it's notthe same as the books, I don't
mind Sephora's voice in it beingall like more nicer.
Because I've also got the Aragonseries in audiobooks as well.
And the author of that doesSephira voice, and I swear when

(01:08:30):
I first heard it, I'm like it'shard, like, but like I
understand it it's probablyactually more accurate than than
than what the movie is, but Imean I don't mind l like
Sephira's meant to be like thisbig mystical majestic creature.
Give her a nice melodic mindvoice instead of making her mind

(01:08:53):
voice sound like grated cheese.

SPEAKER_02 (01:08:55):
Yeah, also imagine hearing that just in the middle
of the night and you just wakeup in a start all the time.
But alright.
My I will also give this onebecause I did like the casting
of Jeremy Irons, and I thinkthat despite the fact that he
was given lots of exposition todo, he did the best with it what
he could.

(01:09:16):
I also liked Rachel Velis, and Ijust I like Dragon, so it gets
one star for that.
I think the story beats werewere off, but an average of of
one out of five, which placesthis 29th on our fandom portals
honor board, which is obviouslylast sitting under Jersey Girl,
which gets 1.75.
So we have a new wooden spooner,as we call it in Australia.

(01:09:39):
I don't know if that's anAmerican term, but we definitely
use it.
Wooden spoon means you're at thebottom, stirring all the crap.
But yes, from here, brash, wemove onwards and upwards.
Continuing our theme arc onfailure isn't final.
Unfortunately for Aragon,failure was final.
But we were able to learn somelessons in terms of inner

(01:10:01):
potential, mentorship, trust,and connection through this
movie.
So next week, we are looking atTreasure Planets, which is a
community pick from you guys.
You guys voted this one in onone of our bracket polls on
Instagram.
So if you want to be a part ofthose, definitely go and join
our socials, which is at fandomportals everywhere.
We do these brackets on ourInstagram, but we're also on
threads.

(01:10:21):
A lot of our community commentsthat we read out on the podcast
come from threads as well.
So if you wanted to get your uhsay read out on the podcast,
make sure you go and look at ourpolls and posts on those.
But Treasure Planet is the onethat you guys picked, so that's
the one we're gonna do.
Watched it today, blown away.
But we're going to get into thata little bit more next week.

(01:10:42):
So that's what's coming up.
Make sure you save the date.
Right every Wednesday.
Gratitudes before we leave.
I am grateful for Magic theGathering.
Reconnecting me with a few newfriends, and I actually won a
commander game, which is great.
So the Avatar of Zendikar, greatcard.
You get plant tokens for everysingle piece of land that you

(01:11:03):
have on the field.
So I was unassuming during thiscommander game and just said, I
was like, oh man, all I'mgetting is land.
I had it in my hand the wholetime.
All I'm getting is land.
So I wasn't a threat.
And then I had like 25 lands,played that.
What color objective?
It was a wind grace commander,which means I had done forest,

(01:11:23):
swamp, and mountain.
And yeah, it was basically ramp.
It was ramp hard and createtokens based on land and
landfall and all that kind ofstuff.
Because everybody who doesn'tplay magic that's listening
right now, they're like, Whatare you talking about?

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:35):
But green green green green black?

SPEAKER_02 (01:11:38):
And red too.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:39):
Green block red.
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (01:11:41):
But yeah.
I digress.
That's my gratitude.
What's yours, Brash?
The inheritance series.
After all the shit you pulled onit today, the books is what
you're talking about, right?
Yeah.
Yes, the books.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:55):
I mean, because um I read all the books, and then I
hadn't picked like um I had justbeen pretty much going through
like a whole bunch of otherbooks, and I've been reading a
bunch of other books and likeName of the Wind and everything
like that.

SPEAKER_02 (01:12:08):
Great book.

SPEAKER_03 (01:12:09):
Great book.
Very good book.

SPEAKER_02 (01:12:10):
Patrick Rothfuss for those of you that want a meaty,
chunky fantasy.

SPEAKER_03 (01:12:14):
When is his when is his third book coming out?
When is his third book?
He created he made a fuckinglittle tiny book about some of
the other characters, but hasn'tbrought his third book yet.

SPEAKER_02 (01:12:23):
Patrick Rothfuss needs to write his third book.
But this is me, Aaron, signingoff from the Phantom Portals
podcast for this episode.
Make sure you tune in with usnext week.
We are definitely going to belooking at Treasure Planet.
Share our stuff on social media,if you will, and tell a friend
about our podcast.
If they love movies and lovetalking about them in different

(01:12:44):
ways with friends, that's whatour podcast is all about.
So definitely go and do that.
Signing out, keep learning, keepgrowing, keep loving phantoms.
Bye.

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Eragon (2006) Book to Screen Adaptations and the Role of Mentors and Trusted Relationships | Failure Isn't Final

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Eragon (2006) Book to Screen Adaptations and the Role of Mentors and Trusted Relationships | Failure Isn't Final