The book has over 500 pages the movie has a little over 2 hours. And the 2-3 months where he then raises the dragon. Many of the things the film adaptation does can be attributed to this problem, such as skipping the month in which Eragon lives his usual life until the egg hatches. The movie can never do what the book does in terms of providing Eragon an appropriate introduction. It is due to the differences in media types that these differences exist. This is merely the opening to both adaptations, and it is already clear that they are going to differ considerably. It is only when the dragon egg appears when we get anything, and it is a far cry from what the book gives us. We don’t know he doesn’t fear magic, nor whether he is a good survivalist-we don’t know anything at all. Because it is a movie we do not have his internal monologue, so we know nothing about him. All of this, in the first ten pages.īy contrast, the film shows Eragon hunting in an ordinary forest. In fact, when a dragon egg literally explodes into existence right in front of him, and he is annoyed that the explosion scares away the deer he is hunting. Finally, we learn Eragon is so unbothered by so-called cursed Spine that very little truly phases him. We learn he is adept at tracking, and surviving out in the wilderness. We learn he is somewhat proficient with a bow. We learn that our protagonist is not afraid of The Spine, unlike everyone else in his village. Because this is a book, we have the privilege of Eragon’s thoughts as he hunts in this landscape.
A dangerous, supposedly cursed wilderness full of all manner of wild beasts and potential catastrophes. But what if I told you they were never on the same track to begin with, due wholly to the differences in the two types of media?Įragon, the book, introduces us to our protagonist by placing him in a place called “The Spine”. It is when the egg hatches to reveal an infant dragon that his destiny is forever changed, and he is thrust into an adventure that will transform him into one of the fabled Dragon Riders: nigh-immortal beings with the strength to turn the tides of war.īoth the book and the movie follow this same premise, yet obviously end up in completely different places by the end.
One day, he finds a dragon egg when he is out hunting. I don’t condone, but I understand.Įragon’s story follows the titular character: an ordinary youth of 16. Because after all these years, and re-reading the book for fresh perspective, I’m going to say something I never thought I’d say: movie studio, whoever who are, I understand. But this article will not solely consist of me bashing the Eragon film. It also, unfortunately, spawned one of the worst book-to-movie adaptations of all time. A fantasy book from the early 2000s that blazed its own trail, raised an entire generation of fantasy readers, and just so happened to be the very first fantasy novel I ever read. First of all, I would like to express disbelief that I am actually doing this.