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THE 3RD SIBLING (?) :
I’ve gotten more than one email on this subject. The
question concerns the identity of a 3rd sibling: Eragon, Murtagh and
one more…but who? So, I started thinking about it and I didn’t like where it
was taking me, so I tried to ignore it. Sorry, but it messes with all of my
theories and hopes for Book 3 if it’s true. And that’s an uncomfortable
feeling…but then I realized that I was being a little selfish and that this
stance was contrary to my job here…so for that, I apologize to those of you who
took the time to write and ask me to explore the question.
OK…so if there is a 3rd sibling, who are our
most likely candidates? I’ll take a look at the 3 specific characters I’ve been
asked about. Keep in mind that both Brom and Morzan are/were Riders and they
have an extended life span so any child they have could be a lot older than
Eragon or Murtagh.
Roran – I don’t think it’s him simply because we know that
Selena has definitely left one child (Eragon) with Garrow and his wife and I
just can’t see that she would’ve done the exact same thing 3 years prior to that
to leave Roran with Garrow. So no, it can’t be him.
What about Katrina? I’ve tried to work this one around
every which way I can and I guess there’s a slim possibility. Katrina’s mother
committed suicide in the Spine…why? This is a question that’s been sitting in
my notepad for quite some time now and I have no answer to attach to it yet. So
until we know why…that still leaves the way open for the possibility of it being
her, but…Ok, I’ll take a wild guess…Brom is Katrina’s father, and out of grief
and a guilty conscience that made her jump? Yeah, I know…slim. Highly
improbable but still possible I guess. Either way I don’t think it’s her; it
just doesn’t feel like it’s her.
And then there’s Arya…and this is where my insides start
jumping up and down and turning in circles. It just about kills me to write
this and to go down this train of thought…the problem is, some of it does fit so
here goes.
First, let’s look at the clues:
1)
We know that Brom, as a rider went to Ellesmera from time to time and he
also hid there for awhile when the riders fell which was approximately 100 years
ago, and how old is Arya…yeah approximately 100 years old. In Eldest, Arrow to
the Heart pg 204 “Lifaen hesitated briefly, Arya is quite young. She was born a
year before the destruction of the Riders”, so because Brom was a visitor to
Ellesmera prior to the fall of the Riders, this is still possible.
2)
Arya was unaware that Islanzadi had given Brom the “Yawe” ring, (the
elf-friend ring). So there was a definite secret close relationship between
Brom and Islanzadi that noone knew about. When Eragon showed her the ring, she
said In Eragon, Arya’s Test pg 463-464, “I don’t understand it myself said
Eragon, looking at his hands. He twirled Brom’s ring around his finger. What
does the tattoo on your shoulder mean? I didn’t mean to see it, but when I was
healing your wounds…it couldn’t be helped. It’s just like the symbol on this
ring. You have a ring with the Yawe on it? She asked sharply. Yes, it was
Brom’s see? He held out the ring. Arya examined the sapphire, then said, this
is a token given only to the most valued elf-friends-so valued; in fact, it has
not been used in centuries. Or so I thought. I never knew that Queen Islanzadi
thought so highly of Brom. I shouldn’t wear it, then said Eragon, afraid that
he had been presumptuous. No keep it. It will give you protection if you meet
my people by chance, and it may help you gain favor with the queen. Tell no one
of my tattoo. It should not be revealed”.
3)
Islanzadi seemed almost stunned when she heard Saphira’s name, In Eldest,
Queen Islanzadi pg 227, “When she finished, Islanzadi asked, Dragon, what is
your name? Saphira. A flash of recognition appeared in the queen’s expression,
but she made no comment on it. Welcome to Ellesmera, Saphira. And yours,
Rider?” She recognized that Eragon’s dragon bares the same name as Brom’s
dragon…co-incidence? Maybe.
Having a sanctuary for the rider, it is reasonable to
assume that Islanzadi would know most of, if not all of the Riders names, but
would she have known and remembered all of their dragons names as well? I guess
it’s possible since the elves hold the Skulblaka in such high regard; she may
even have known and remembered their names better than their Riders.
In my previous editorial “For the love of Arya”, I talked
about the link between Arya and Eragon and I asked why she had reached Eragon’s
mind and not Master Oromis… (See below)
The other thing that I think
is really important is how Eragon was able to “SEE” Arya as a prisoner of Durza
even though he’d never seen her. That’s how we know it wasn’t scurrying, so how
was this possible? She tells him that she thinks that it was because her mind
was calling out for help and reached for anything familiar and so reached
Saphira and thus reached him since he and Saphira are linked. But I don’t think
so, at least not completely. If she was reaching out for help…why didn’t she
reach Master Oromis who had been scurrying the land to keep appraised of things
happening? Why didn’t Master Oromis feel her? I think that Eragon and Arya are
linked somehow because they are destined to be together in an “epic romance that
was strong enough to outlast empires”.
I theorized at the time about the strong link between
Eragon and Arya and had decided that because they were destined to be together,
that this had created the link of their minds. Well, for the purposes of this
argument, the brother/sister bond could also create that link. Some people say
that this kind of a link exists between twins…and YES I KNOW THAT THEY ARE NOT
TWINS…but when you factor in that they have both inherited the rider traits (see
below from my editorial “What is Inheritance?)
When Eragon touched Saphira
for the first time he described the sensation in Eragon-Chapter Awakening – pg
37, “Tentatively, he reached out with his right hand and touched its flank. A
blast of icy energy surged into his hand and raced up his arm, burning in his
veins like liquid fire. He fell back with a wild cry. An iron clang filled his
ears, and he heard a soundless scream of rage. Every part of his body seared
with pain. He struggled to move, but was unable to. After what seemed like
hours, warmth seeped back into his limbs, leaving them tingling. Shivering
uncontrollably, he pushed himself upright. His hand was numb, his fingers
paralyzed. Alarmed, he watched as the middle of this palm shimmered and formed
a diffused white oval. The skin itched and burned like a spider bite. His
heart pounded frantically.” This whole process doesn’t sound like something
really casual; this paragraph says to me that the bond that links Eragon and
Saphira was being engrained into his identity, becoming not just a casual link
but rather a permanent part of his very being. So in retrospect if you
go back in time to Eragon’s father who was also a dragon rider, this same
process would have had to happen to him as he and his dragon were “linked”, it
then only seems natural that this characteristic would have been passed on from
father to son.
Add to this that she has the added strength of mind of an
elf and anything becomes possible. When she was in dire need of help while in
Durza’s dungeons, her mind searched for something or someone comfortable and
safe…she reached Eragon. His mind was familiar to her. He wasn’t scrying her;
she was projecting herself to this safe place…his mind.
I’ve said before that I believe she is the 3rd
Rider. If she is indeed the child of Brom and Islanzadi, then this would make
the 3 siblings the new Riders, and Arya would be the strongest of the 3. They
are all children of Riders, but she has the added advantages of being an elf.
This of course would compensate for the 3rd Riders dragon being
younger than the other two because Arya already has above average capabilities
and wouldn’t have a need for extensive training or learning curve that there
will not be time for if they are to challenge Galbatorix.
Is this the secret reason why Arya keeps pushing Eragon
away? Does she know, or does she guess what is true? Is this the reason why
she and Islanzadi had a falling out big enough to push her away for 80 years?
Is this why she chose to join the Varden (The Varden that Brom created)? This
scenario creates more questions than it answers for me. I can make certain
things fit together to support the argument that she is the 3rd
sibling, but then I keep coming back to Angela’s reading of Eragon. Angela said
that he would be loved by a noble woman and that can’t be Nasuada…she likes
Murtagh! So unless CP is going to introduce another noble woman into the story
in Book 3, that phrase has got to mean Arya.
But how can that sentence fit for Eragon and Arya if
they’re brother and sister? I don’t know guys…I tried, but I’m not buying it.
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