Brisingr

Saphira follows Eragon to the edge of the Crags of Tel’Naeir to absorb what he has just learned. Saphira asks if Eragon is ready to accept the memory she’s been keeping for him, and he says delays will only make it worse. In the recording, Brom is looking her in the eyes but speaking to Eragon. He has two pieces of advice: protect those you care for and know that Galbatorix is the number one enemy and neither Saphira nor Eragon will be able to rest until he’s dead. Brom suggests this will happen not through brute strength as a spellcaster or man; it will be better to use intelligence, which Brom believes Eragon has more of, to sneak in and use Galbatorix’s belief system against him. This won’t be achieved by creating a new spell, but by using the ones Eragon knows in creative and unexpected ways. Brom reckons that Galbatorix’s madness makes him unpredictable but leaves him with gaps in his understanding that the average spellcaster would not have. After the message is over, Eragon says he is proud to carry Brom’s name and to know he was his father. When the soup is ready, the pair rejoins Oromis.

Oromis gives Eragon a stone likeness (called a fairth) of his mother, Serena; she is wearing leather armor and standing in a rose garden. Eragon asks Oromis to keep it safe for him but he says he cannot. Eragon questions Murtagh and Thorn’s strength, which was underestimated on the Burning Plains; Eragon would have been killed if he had not been shown mercy. Glaedr tells Eragon that “the source of Galbatorix’s power lies in the hearts of dragons” (627). He means this literally; a dragon’s consciousness is divided between their mind and their Eldunarí—a clear, gemlike object in their chest that often stays there for the dragon’s whole life. Alternatively, the Eldunarí can be filled with the dragon’s spirit, changing its color to match its scales, and then can be disgorged willingly while the dragon is alive; this allows the dragon’s consciousness to be preserved in the Eldunarí after its body dies. This process relies on magic, when magic is defined as the power of energy. A dragon may elect to disgorge their Eldunarí in order for their rider to hold onto it; in this case, the two are then able to speak to one another telepathically at any distance.

Galbatorix has stolen hundreds of Eldunarí to gain power, both by capturing the oldest gems that had been stored away and by torturing them from Riders and dragons. They speculate that his weakness may come from separating him from these gems, breaking them, or diminishing their value; the older the dragon, the larger the storage capacity in the Eldunarí. Saphira has known of her own Eldunarí since their last visit to Oromis, but it had not occurred to her to tell Eragon. Riders and dragons are not told about it initially because there may be pressure put on the dragon to disgorge their gem prematurely, and it is important for them to bond naturally without relying on the gem and any bonds it might provide. There are many dragons still tethered to this world by their Eldunarí, but there are only four living dragons and one egg, and no more gems to collect.

Eragon feels optimistic that if they can release the Eldunarí from under Galbatorix’s control, he would be vulnerable, and no longer any more difficult to defeat than the average Rider. Saphira agrees that freeing them would give her purpose beyond saving the last dragon egg—even if her race is still doomed. Galbatorix must have given several Eldunarí to Murtagh before the last battle; this is reinforced by Murtagh’s reference to his “hearts.” This does not help the group get any closer to figuring out where he keeps them.