Perceval archetype heroes connect with the audience. They don’t have the luxury of understanding everything around them and, like us, make mistakes and cause problems, though with the best of intentions. But they also connect with us because, like us, when the book starts they have no clue what’s going on. Each turn of the page finds the character facing larger-than-life obstacles in a world he or she barely understands. And those obstacles intensify as the story progresses. The hero’s journey to some extent reflects our own journey through life, often fraught as it is with mystery, wonder, and terror. Christopher Paolini has recreated this kind of hero for the young adult audience and made it his own. But more than that, Paolini has made Eragon’s story into a modern-day Perceval tale. The parallels between the two characters are striking.
Ignorance, Innocence, and Purity of Heart
Perceval is one of the legendary Knights of the Round Table who first appears in Chrétien de Troyes’s unfinished Arthurian romance, Le Conte du Graal, and also appears in other stories, including Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. His story begins with his mother doing her best to keep Perceval as ignorant of the rest of the world as possible. Her motive is to prevent Perceval from becoming a knight and sharing the same fate as his father and younger siblings, but her intentions are upset when Perceval is impressed by some knights he comes across in the forest and sets out to become a knight himself.
Eragon is the central character in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, currently consisting of the books Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr. Eragon’s mother brings him to the town of Carvahall to be raised by his uncle, in ignorance of who he is and where he came from. This begins to change when he finds a “mysterious stone” in the Spine while hunting that turns out to be a dragon egg. Once the dragon hatches, Eragon finds himself caring for the hatchling and becoming her friend and guardian. He has no clue where the egg came from, but desires to learn as much as he can about dragons and, in time, Dragon Riders.
The biggest parallel between the two characters is that both of them are sheltered. Neither is aware of the customs and rules of the world outside their home. This limits both characters as they are then also unaware of the consequences of their actions. They have the best of intentions, which cause great disasters without their knowing it. However, this sheltering has also allowed both characters to remain innocent and develop a rare purity of heart. Where a lot of us would second-guess ourselves, Eragon or Perceval do not. Whatever actions or choices each character makes, he puts his whole heart into it. They possess no doubt or hesitation. Their innocence of the world gives them freedom few of us enjoy.
The biggest example of Perceval causing harm through good intentions is his meeting with the Holy Grail’s injured guardian, the Fisher King. During his quest to become a knight, Perceval meets the Fisher King in his castle. Sheer accident coupled with his pureness of heart allows Perceval to see the Grail when he meets the King. With the Grail present, the right question would have cured the king of his wound. The question is right on the tip of Perceval’s tongue, but he doesn’t ask it because he is told by another knight that it’s impolite to ask too many questions. Because Perceval doesn’t want to appear rude, the king remains afflicted.
To his credit, once Perceval becomes aware of his folly he vows to set things right. You could say this mistake shapes the whole course of Perceval’s life. Instead of seeking out glories and engaging in crusades once he succeeds in becoming a knight, Perceval seeks the Holy Grail to make amends for what he has done. Many stories, including Le Morte D’Arthur, deal with Perceval’s quest to do just that.
Eragon’s biggest blunder to date involves his “brother” Roran. Eragon chose to keep knowledge of his newly hatched dragon to himself, not telling anyone what had happened or what he was doing. Had Eragon told his uncle about the egg, he might have prevented his uncle’s death at the hands of the Shade Durza and King Galbatorix’s minions.
Galbatorix’s men don’t stop with the death of Eragon’s uncle, of course. They also target Roran. For the rest of the series Roran is pursued by these forces for the simple reason that he is related to Eragon. Eventually Roran loses home, fortune, and love due to Eragon’s choice. To survive, Roran is forced to take matters into his own hands. He leads the whole town out of the village and takes them on a journey across some of the world’s most dangerous terrain to make it to safety. The townspeople and Roran are forced to do things they would have previously considered unthinkable, robbing and killing just so they can move undetected. Roran questions who and what he’s becoming, and he blames Eragon for making him have to live like this.
Like Perceval before him, Eragon means no ill, but his actions do more harm than good. In spite of the damage the two men do, I find this fault of theirs endearing. Eragon and Perceval make mistakes in their pursuit of doing the right thing, and I don’t know of a single person who hasn’t done the same at one point or another. It’s very easy to relate to them both.
This flaw is also the source of both characters’ most redeeming quality. Perceval and Eragon accept the consequences of their actions and try to make amends. Once he learns what he did to the Fisher King through his inaction, Perceval dedicates himself to correcting his error; Eragon makes a similar pledge to aid Roran in saving Katrina (and does so in Brisingr). Even though it will not change what each has done, Eragon and Perceval do their best to rectify their mistakes from that point on.
The greatest compensation for their ignorance is the innocence that comes along with it, which allows both of them to glimpse things that others far wiser and better equipped fail to find. The Holy Grail, something many others spent their whole lives searching for without success, appeared right before Perceval while he was still very young. In the Inheritance Cycle, dragon eggs only hatch for the Rider the dragon chooses. Many others crave to be chosen, yet none of them are because they lack the pureness of heart Eragon possesses. Perceval and Eragon succeed because of, not in spite of, their innocence. While neither of them has the tools and knowledge that others before them had, what they do have is an innate desire to do the right thing. Without this trait, Perceval never would have found the Grail, and Eragon never would have been chosen by Saphira, and it is the catalyst for both characters to rise above the obstacles that have prevented others from achieving their goals.
Family Issues
Another major connection between these characters is the theme of family. Family issues are the heart and soul of both characters’ stories. Eragon and Perceval’s biggest questions and challenges come from family, both known and unknown. Both characters struggle to know who they are and where they come from, and cause unintentional consequences to their families as a result.
Perceval causes great harm to his family in several instances. When he expresses his desire to become a knight to his mother, she becomes very sick almost on the spot. Perceval is so caught up in becoming a knight that he misses his mother’s plight completely, oblivious to the fact that he is the cause of her illness. Even though he vows to come back, he never sees his mother again after he leaves the farm. And it is only after he leaves the castle of the Fisher King that he learns the Fisher King is his uncle. Perceval’s biggest wrongdoings are committed against his family.
Eragon also brings harm to his family. Keeping Saphira a secret costs Eragon’s uncle his life and changes Roran’s, but unlike Perceval, Eragon’s most serious challenge comes directly from his family. Murtagh first aids Eragon right after Eragon’s teacher Brom dies. Companions through circumstances, their relationship grows into a mutual respect and friendship. Murtagh is eventually revealed as the son of the Dragon Rider Morzan, but in spite of where he comes from, Murtagh is one of Eragon’s staunchest allies and friends. However, through King Galbatorix’s machinations, Murtagh becomes a Dragon Rider in the king’s thrall. It is during their first encounter as enemies that Eragon learns that he is Murtaugh’s younger brother.
Paolini is taking De Troyes’s theme of
family and pushing it one step further, complicating the issue of lineage in Perceval’s story by presenting Eragon’s family as villains instead of heroes. This is the biggest difference between the characters—yet there can be no doubt that this difference is merely a variation on the same theme.
The shared theme of family does not end there: Eragon and Perceval’s fathers play major roles in the characters’ lives, but without being a true parental influence. No matter what story of Perceval you read, he is always the son of a noble knight. Though Perceval never knows him personally, his father’s reputation as a brave and courageous knight shapes Perceval’s whole world and not only through his desire to become a knight as well. His mother never would have isolated Perceval if it weren’t for his father, and this isolation plays a key role in Perceval’s development.
Eragon’s father was Brom the Storyteller, who was really Brom the Dragon Rider. After killing Morzan and stealing Saphira’s egg from Galbatorix, Brom faked his death and moved to Carvahall to be close to Eragon. Brom never revealed himself as Eragon’s father for fear that Galbatorix would discover who he was and what his connection was to Eragon. Instead, he chose to interact with Eragon as a teacher and later a friend. If Brom hadn’t decided to come to Carvahall, Eragon never would have found Saphira’s egg, confronted the Ra’zac, and become the dragon rider he is today.
If it weren’t for either character’s father being who he is, neither of them would have been raised in isolation. Who knows who these characters would have become had circumstances been a little different?
The Hero Within
One result of Perceval and Eragon’s lack of knowledge about their world, their families, or their histories is that they have no clue about their identities. The biggest example of this is that neither of them knows their true name. In Medieval culture, nobility was often raised with two names, one given to them as a child and another they received when they came of age. In Le Conte Du Graal, Perceval has no real idea what his true name is; for almost half the story he doesn’t have any name, and only gets his true name when he names himself “Perceval” later on. (Continuances of Le Conte Du Graal after De Troyes’ death reference Perceval having the name of Parlufeit when he was younger.)
It has been strongly hinted that Eragon has more than one name, yet at this point “Eragon” is the only name he knows. In the Inheritance series everything and everyone has a true name in the Ancient Language. Once learned, this true name can give you great power over yourself, or in Murtagh’s case allow someone else to enslave you. One of the things I’m most anxiously awaiting from the next book in the series is whether or not Eragon discovers his true name. Will the power unleashed by knowing his true name allow him to master himself, or will he be consumed by it?
A large part of both Perceval and Eragon’s stories involves not only who they are but also who they want to become. Once he sees the knights in the forest, Perceval wants nothing more than to be one himself. Armed with nothing but this strong desire, he storms into King Arthur’s castle and demands to be knighted. It isn’t until Perceval meets Gornemant that he even begins to understand what that entails. Trying to follow the example Gornemant teaches forces Perceval’s perspective to change. He starts to question his actions and make decisions based on what a knight is supposed to do, and we see Perceval change and grow as a person with each adventure he goes on and each choice he makes.
Unlike Perceval’s, Eragon’s story is unfinished, and while Eragon knows who he wants to be, and has been taught the basics he needs to get there thanks to Brom, Murtagh, and Oromis, he hasn’t become that person yet. Brisingr forces Eragon to confront some challenging moral dilemmas, in particular how to deal with Sloan when he finds him alone and helpless while rescuing Katrina. Eragon makes a very difficult decision in allowing Sloan to live. How Eragon deals with Sloan—condemning him to live the rest of his days with the elves, yet also giving Sloan a chance to change who he is—is in my eyes a very mature, just, and very heroic decision. Perceval himself would have approved. And book four of Inheritance will hopefully allow Eragon to continue changing into who he wants to become. I, for one, can’t wait to see how it happens.
Identity is, after all, the heart of the story of the hero, whose journey is about discovering who he or she wishes to become and getting there one step at a time. Perceval, through his adventures, becomes one of the best Knights of the Round Table. Even though Perceval never succeeds in finding the Grail again on his own, I can’t help but think of him as a hero. He becomes someone who does the right thing, or he tries to. He has courage, is willing to fight for the oppressed, and never quits seeking the Grail his whole life. He started out just like us, but becomes someone we can look up to.
As for Eragon, it remains to be seen if he’ll survive to become the kind of Dragon Rider he wants to be. The odds are against him and seem to grow more daunting with each page. We, as readers, want him to succeed. Eragon stands his ground and fights for what he believes in, and he perseveres in the face of overwhelming odds, even if he doesn’t yet understand everything about himself or his situation. To me the heart of a hero is just that, persevering no matter what. By that definition Eragon already has the heart of a hero. Whether he will endure to the end like Perceval is what remains to be seen.
Joshua Pantalleresco discovered his love of writing at the age of thirteen and has never stopped. He has published the book I Am . . ., a collection of poetry, and has written, designed, and edited the student magazine Northern Flight. He currently writes about comics for Septagon Studios and is hard at work on his first novel. He lives in Calgary, Alberta.
It’s in His Character
JEREMY OWEN
How much of an author can be found inside his or her books? Are the characters and settings in a story merely metaphors for events in an author’s life? And is that even possible with an author as young as Paolini? These are some of the questions posed by Jeremy Owen as he compares the differing ways that people interpret books. Some look for a deeper understanding of the author. But as Owen notes, it may be more beneficial-and practical-to realize that the questions we ask as we read may reveal less about the author and more about ourselves.
“How long have you been looking for your father?”
Harlan Ellison asked the question. He’d just read my brother’s graphic novel Starchild: Awakenings. He didn’t ask about a particular part of the story. There were no questions about plot or direction. There were no questions about interpretation or comparison with similar stories done by other writers. There were no inferences about influences or James’s line of study. In the place of all these possible questions, the type of questions that are usually asked, there was just one: “How long have you been looking for your father?”
The question changed the way I think about everything I read.
Our mother divorced our father when James was about six years old. James hadn’t been actively looking for our father—our life was a good one despite or because of his absence—but there was a sense of something missing that showed up in the way my brother structured his story even if he wasn’t aware of it. When a word is laid down on the page by a writer, any writer, that word gives us a clue to what that writer thinks is important.
It’s always interesting to see the interpretation of human interaction, emotion, and conflict through the writer’s eyes. Whatever the author finds important invariably works its way into the personalities of the characters, giving us a broader view of the writer’s perceptions than is laid down explicitly on the page. Older writers learn to mask some of this, allowing the plot and characters to drive the story. It is far easier to see what I am talking about when you look at the work of a young writer.
By young, I mean young in the craft. New writers don’t often have the skill to round out a character and mask the traits the writer subconsciously portrays. Balanced characters are hard to form. It takes time to create a complex personality that is neither black nor white but constantly s
hifting shades of gray. If a piece of work lacks complexity and the writer also has a prejudice toward a certain character, the words written about that character can be very revealing about the writer. The more quirks and traits you add, the harder it is to come to any solid conclusion about the views of the man behind the pen.
Christopher Paolini is a bestselling author, but he is not an old writer. Inheritance is Paolini’s first major work, so you’d expect it to be easy to look at one of his characters and say, “That’s him. This personality is definitely Paolini.” I have two points to make about this line of reasoning. First, Christopher may be a young author, but his characters are not simple or one-dimensional. I doubt looking at any one character would reveal more than Paolini’s general attitude. Second, you’re not Harlan Ellison. Harlan is probably smarter than all of us put together. So if you plan to interpret the actions and emotions of the characters in Inheritance for anything other than mental exercise, you’re probably wasting your time. If you actually are Harlan Ellison, feel free to interpret away.
Secrets of the Dragon Riders: Your Favorite Authors on Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle: Completely Unauthorized Page 11