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JoeMerl β Inhertheism
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Published: 2010-07-09 07:13:48 +0000 UTC; Views: 1661; Favourites: 15; Downloads: 32
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A scene out of "Celbedeil," the fourteenth chapter of Christopher Paolini's Eldest. I may have paraphrased a little.
I honestly don't know---are we supposed to like Arya here? Because to me she always came off as a total jerk---she just waltzes into the dwarves' sacred temple, provokes the high priest guy Gannel for no reason (even though he is clearly trying to be polite, despite apparently having dealt with Arya's Dawkins-style atheism before), then has to gall to be all "oh, let's agree to disagree" when he gets insulted. Well, hey, Princess, if you don't want to debate theology, don't effin' start the argument!
And all Eragon does is think about how calm and cool she is compared to Gannel (who is acting insulted, for some reason), so if Paolini thought she was the bad guy here he didn't show it very well.And keep in mind---this chick is the elves' chief diplomat.
No wonder IslanzadΓ didn't want her to have the job.Edit: Dang, for some reason it didn't turn out the right size...I've got it at least big enough to be semi-readable now, if you download it I think it's a bit bigger. Sorry.
Edit 2 (12 November 2010): I changed this to a vertical comic...hopefully it'll look better that way.
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Comments: 26
And she's one of the "good guys" because...? Oh right, because Pao Pao says so.
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This is pretty spot on. The Elves are all fairly hypocritical in the Inheritance Cycle though, so maybe he was just foreshadowing exactly how dickish they are...
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Even though I consider myself an atheist, my only thought about AryaΒ΄s behaviour was "What a bitch!".
Not believing in other peoples religion is one thing. But starting a conflict deliberately and then refusing to discuss the matter because "You canΒ΄t argue with that dumb believers"? Β ThatΒ΄s what I call arrogant and small-minded.Β
Really, I canΒ΄t believe that smug harpy is supposed to be a skilled diplomat, a sympathetic main character and generally in the right.Β
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All the scenes with religion in that book (...which was pretty much just two, now that I think of it) were kind of awkward in general. Paolini kind of comes off like a teenager who thinks his arguments are more original and mind-blowing than they really are, and thus doesn't realize he's presenting them in a way that makes him look bad.Β
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True, I`ve read that passage again. There Paolini tells us, how Arya "disproves the priests claims with calm and logical reasoning".
But he never shows us any of these arguments, expect for "you exploit you believers" and "itΒ΄s just superstition". Like I said, IΒ΄m not a fan of organized religion, but that kind of criticism was just petty and pretentious.Β
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ahahaha! eragon's face!!! arya really did act like a huge jerk in that chapter didn't she!! i recently finished the book and am working on brisingr for the second time. great job!!
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Glad you liked it, thanks!
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I'm glad you like it, thanks!
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totally agree! i mean eragon just get part of a dwarf clan and wanted to be accepted by his new "family" and she just walks in and starts insulting their most important priest for no reason? wtf, is she jealous or something? is she thinking elfes will lose their control about him?
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Yeah, probably.
Thanks for the 
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She was indeed so rude there
Yes, go work for Tolkien, though you won't see any dwarf-women there ~
I think he just reconsidered it
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No, he had dwarf women. They just had beards is all...
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Oh, I so agree with you, I hate the Eragon series. Mostly because of how preachy it gets in the second book. And seriously, starting a fight in a temple? Is nothing sacred?!
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Well, no, that's sort of the point.
I'm currently reading the third one...it's less preachy (so far), though it still suffers from the fact that Paolini tries so hard to make Eragon and Arya "perfect" that they come off very wooden. Some of the side characters can actually get interesting, though. (Nasuada is my personal favorite.)
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Funny how the side characters usually become more interesting than the wooden mains. Like a show we both know...
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Yeah, in just about any fandom, I always like the side characters better. 
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True, but there's a couple stories I know of that the main character is just as entertaining. One Piece comes to mind, because Luffy is always fun.
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I have to get around to read that one day, I've got you and one of my brothers talking about it and it sounds pretty interesting.
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*drone voice* Join us... do not be afraid...
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Yeah, I know, I'm trying to fix it now.
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Okay, it looks better now, at least...
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