Eragon (2006) Book to Screen Adaptations and the Role of Mentors and Trusted Relationships | Failure Isn't Final

Summary
Aaron and Brasher delve into the 2006 film 'Eragon', exploring themes of inner potential, mentorship, and the challenges of adapting beloved books into films. They discuss the film's shortcomings, particularly in character development and pacing, while drawing parallels to classic narratives like Star Wars. The conversation emphasizes the importance of trust and relationships in personal growth, and how even disappointing adaptations can offer valuable lessons. The hosts focus on the mentorship between Eragon and Brom, and the bond between Eragon and his dragon, Sephirah. They discuss the importance of trust, emotional vulnerability, and the potential future of the Inheritance series, particularly in light of the upcoming Disney Plus adaptation.

Theme Arc: Failure Isn't Final

Takeaways
Discovering your inner potential isn't a solitary act.
Trust and mentorship are crucial in personal growth.
The adaptation of Eragon failed to capture the book's depth.
Character relationships were poorly developed in the film.
The film's pacing and dialogue were major flaws.
The magic system in the movie lacked consistency.
The film's budget did not translate to quality.
Eragon's journey mirrors classic hero's journeys.
Brom serves as a crucial mentor, bridging Eragon's doubts and destiny.
Mentorship is about mutual growth and potential realization.
Brom's grumpy demeanor hides a deeper care for Eragon.
The film lacks depth in the bonding moments between characters.
Sephirah acts as Eragon's psychological mirror, reflecting his growth.
Trust and emotional vulnerability are key to their relationship.
The future of the Inheritance series looks promising with a Disney Plus adaptation.
Adaptations should honor the source material for authenticity.

Chapters
00:00 Discovering Inner Potential
06:26 The Disappointment of Adaptation
12:41 Character Relationships and Development
20:20 The Flaws of the Film
26:13 Comparing to Star Wars
33:34 The Hero's Journey
42:09 Lessons from Aragon's Journey
42:58 Character Development and Transformation
45:11 Mentorship Dynamics: Aragon and Brom
51:49 The Bond Between Aragon and Sephirah
56:15 The Importance of Trust and Emotional Vulnerability
01:08:10 Future of the Inheritance Series and Adaptations

Keywords
Eragon, inner potential, film adaptation, character development, hero's journey, fantasy, mentorship, trust, courage, disappointment, Brom, Sephirah, mentorship, character development, emotional vulnerability, Inheritance series, adaptations, Disney Plus, fantasy

Contact Us:
Website: https://www.fandomportalspodcast.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FandomPortals

Instagram: instagram.com/fandomportals/?locale=en
Threads: threads.net/@fandomportals
Email: fandomportals@gmail.com
Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/fandomportals

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage: Failure Isn’t Final
• 1:40 Plot Recap And The Roast Begins
• 6:40 Community Reactions And The Lesson Challenge
• 8:30 Saphira’s Voice And What Worked
• 11:30 Dragon–Rider Bond Lost In Translation
• 18:20 The Adaptation Problem: Pacing And Magic Rules
• 24:20 Murtagh, Nasuada, And Missing Arcs
• 31:00 Star Wars Parallels And Hero’s Journey
• 39:20 Mentorship Done Thin: Brom’s Role
• 47:30 Saphira As Equal, Not A Mount
• 55:40 What The Film Still Teaches About Potential
• 1:03:20 Box Office, Critical Miss, And Why
• 1:08:40 Hopes For The Disney+ Series

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

What if the strength you're searching for has been inside you all along? Do we sometimes ignore our potential because we don't trust ourselves or the people trying to help us? In this episode, you'll learn how Eragon from 2006 shows us that discovering your inner potential starts with trust, courage, and the bonds that help you grow. I'm Aaron, a teacher and lifelong film fan, and each week on the podcast, we explore the stories we love to learn more about ourselves and the worlds that shape us today. I'm joined as always by my co-host Brash. How are you today, mate? Yeah, let's just do this. Perturbed. The reason Brash is a little bit dejected is because this movie, Eragon, that we are doing from 2006, is not his favorite, but it is because he is a big fan of the book. But before we get into that, which I'm sure we'll get into very soon, we are exploring the theme arc over the next few episodes that failure isn't final. And we're looking at the movies that aimed high, stumbled, but then still have something to teach us from the misguided epics, the misunderstood visions, this series will ask. What did the stories that failed to find their audience teach us about finding ourselves? Brash, you want to fire away with your synopsis on this one, buddy? Go for it, mate. Go for it. With as much enthusiasm as possible.

SPEAKER_03: 1:40

In the fantastical land of Allegazia, a young farm boy named Aragon discovers a mysterious blue stone while hunting. The stone soon hatches into a dragon, Sapphira, revealing that Aragon has become a dragon rider, a part of a legendary order long thought extinct. His rare bond draws the attention of tyrannical ruler King Galbatorix, who sends his Dark Sorcerer Dozer and the Razak to capture or kill the newly bonded rider. To survive, Aragon is guided by Brom, a former rider in hiding who understands the dangers Aragon now faces. Brom teaches him swordsmanship, dragon riding, basic magic, and the responsibilities that come with being a rider. After the Razak kill Aragon's uncles, he and Brom flee the village of Carverhall. On their journey, they learn that Arya, an elf warrior, has secretly sent who secretly sent the egg to Aragon at great personal risk to herself, and has since been captured by the Empire. Aragon and Brom attempt to rescue her, but Brom is fatally wounded in a confrontation with Dirza. Aragon, eventually aided by the mysterious young man named Murtag, who helps him escape with Arya together, they travel to the stronghold of the Vard, the rebel faction resisting Galvatorix. At the Varden's mountain city, Farthendor, Aragon, and Sephira prepare for an impending attack by Durza and the Empire's forces. During the climactic battle, Aragon confronts Dirza, defeating him with a well-placed strike after Sephira engages him in aerial combat. Through Saphira, though Sephira is gravely wounded, she survives and the Varden claims victory. It ends with Gelp Torx revealing his dragon and vowing revenge.

SPEAKER_02: 3:20

And then a sequel was never made. Now that was a very lovely synopsis, but I believe you have more to say.

SPEAKER_03: 3:29

I do. Because here is my real synopsis of this movie. And I like to title the synopsis Aragon A Cinematic Experience Nobody Asked For. So the story technically begins the same as where in the book. Aragon, a humble farm boy, finds a mysterious blue stone. Except in the movie he picks up like it's a little shiny rocky finds. Like a discount Easter egg from Kmart. No awe, no mystery, just cool, shiny. It then hatches into Sevira, who immediately goes from being a baby dragon to a full-size sky blue, questionably rendered adult in four seconds. Because I guess character development wasn't in the budget. Then we meet Brom in the novel, A Deep, Tragic Past, Secret History, Former Rider, Emotional Depth. In the movie, hi, I'm Brom. I do exposition. Sometimes I also swing stick. Of course, the villains show up, the Razak, terrifying insectoid monsters in the books. In the movie, they look like two blokes cosplaying to mentors after losing a bet. And to Durza. The Shade. In the book, an ancient evil sorcerer possessing possessed by a spirit, terrifyingly powerful and dripping with menace. In the movie, he looks like he's just auditioning for a slip-top side project and keeps yelling for no reason. Oh man. Aragon trains, kind of, mostly by montage because who needs world building and emotional growth or learning magic properly when you can just fast forward the plot. Arya shows up, except movie Arya is written like someone read the Wikipedia summary of her book character and set close enough. We then race to the final battle at Fathlandor, which in the book is an epic struggle filled with strategy, heart, and massive stakes. The movie gives us some guy in brown cloaks running around while Sophia and Dirza do Aerial Dragon Ball Z light shows. Eragon kills Dirza with a move that looks like it tripped and accidentally stabbed him. Sapphira faceplants and everyone cheers like this was the greatest victory in fantasy cinema. And not the visual equivalent of a microwave lasagna. And then the movie ends clearly setting up sequels that the universe blessedly prevented. The Aragon movie is someone there's like someone skimmed the book on a bus ride, forgot half of it, rewrote the rest from memory, and filmed it using a coupon for 50% off CGI. It's not that it's bad, it's that it could have been amazing, and instead we got Diet Lord of the Rings with extra cheese.

SPEAKER_02: 6:06

That was a really great synopsis, man. I love that. Thank you. And I think it really reveals how much you have a distaste for this movie. And you know what? Our community kind of agreed with you because we have Kat McAlpine, who's at one of our threads people, it basically said the childhood disappointment taught me to fear book adaptations in future. So I think they mirror your disgust when we're talking about Aragon here. But I gave you the challenge last week. I was just like, you have to find a lesson, you have to find something good from the movie, and maybe even like from the book as well, that you could put into our episode because that's what we're all about. That's our shtick here at uh the Phantom Porters Podcast. We look at the lessons you can learn, even from a horrible movie, as is our theme arc, that failure isn't final. So I think for me, the biggest thing that I discovered from this was that like discovering your inner potential isn't really a solitary act. Sometimes it's born from trust, mentorship, and a connection with others as well, especially if we're looking at Aragon's connection through Brom and Sephira, especially. So that's kind of the angle that I looked at this when I watched the movie here, Brash. What about what about you? What did you find, mate? Was there a diamond in this rough?

SPEAKER_03: 7:10

I mean, short answer no, but I like I like though the one thing that probably book readers will hate that I actually really liked in this movie was what's her name? Rachel We Wise? Yeah, Wise.

SPEAKER_02: 7:25

Rachel Weiss, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 7:26

Weiss. Her voice voicing Sephira, I think, was the best decision made in this movie.

SPEAKER_00: 7:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 7:33

And in the books, in that Sophia's meant to have a really gravelly, like deep, rough, roary sort of voice, which I mean for a dragon, probably would suit. But Sephra never like it's not like Sephora's an actual talking dragon who talks. Everything is like whenever she talks through telepathy. So the fact that even her telepath in telepathic her voice is like a crabbly rumbly dragon. I was like, you know what? I don't mind her having like this because like Rachel otherwise voice is like very it's like regal and like almost yeah, matronly too.

SPEAKER_02: 8:13

It's almost caring and nurturing, is how it's like.

SPEAKER_03: 8:16

But also, but also like but also like you know, like which it does also contradict a bit of uh Sephira's actual nature, but when she like gets up Aragon and anything like that, it's a real like like you done something naughty and your mum like tells you off, like and yeah, sort of she still has that sort of presence authoritative, not scornful kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02: 8:40

I think Rachel Weiss really walks that boundary line pretty well in this because there are times when she does like have to chastise Aragon, you might say, especially the scene where he is taken away from the village when it's under attack. Like that's obviously a turning point moment for the character that we might talk about a little bit later. But I feel like you're right. I feel like the Rachel Weiss decision was was pretty good. There were some people in our threads community that thought that that was a misstep as well.

SPEAKER_03: 9:07

But I do I do understand that. I do understand that because in the books, like she doesn't have that sweet sounding voice. And it wouldn't pay off with some like some of the things in the books, that kind of voice probably wouldn't pay off with her her nature and what she's actually like in the books.

SPEAKER_00: 9:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 9:26

Because she is still, even though like she has the wisdom of centuries, so even being in that egg, she uh has absorbed things around her and she knows more than what her chronology or her time limit on the planet. She knows she knows more like about she's had she has more wisdom than you would think a relatively newborn dragon would or newborn anything would have.

SPEAKER_00: 9:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 9:54

But she's still she's still a child. Like realistically, in this well at the start, she's meant to be six months of her growing up to a point where she's a couple like maybe a couple horses long instead of her big self, and like she struggles to like she can carry an erragon, but even for her, it's a bit more of a struggle, even like six, eight months into them being together and not four seconds after they meet.

SPEAKER_02: 10:22

Yeah. And I think that kind of was lost in the movie as well, because the most fundamental thing to this story that I think would make or break it if and when they remake this in the future, is the relationship between the dragon and the rider. Because even through the characters in the exposition of this movie, as as you know, horrible as it was, you still sort of got the underlying tone that that's supposed to be important. I don't think it was represented well in this movie, and I think we lost a lot when we lost the growing up phase in that four-second sort of flash montage of her bursting through the cloud, being struck by lightning, and then coming down as a fully grown dragon. But I mean, to that point as well, I don't think it was really fully explained that this like dragon, now that it's an older dragon, contains the wisdom and knowledge of lots of things that came before it, almost like genetic or ancestral kind of knowledge. You just kind of assumed like the audience kind of knew, oh, the dragon's big now, so it knows a lot, but really it was probably like I don't know, a month or two old as it was flying through the air. So that was a little bit confusing for me as well. But when I when I first watched this one, I watched it a few years back. I think I watched it when it first came out actually in 2006, because I remember having a really big Lord of the Rings hangover. Like I was looking for my next fantasy thing to sink my teeth into because obviously the Return of the King came out and just blew everybody's mind away. And then everybody was kind of looking for the new the new fantasy. And I'd always loved dragons, and my brother Derek read these books, and I was uh I think it's well known if you're a social media follower of the Phantom Portals podcast. I'm a very slow reader, but I love stories. So he would sort of tell me what happened in tidbits about what happened in this this book, and I always was interested in it as an IP, you could say. And I really, really love dragons, which is also no secret. So I was always intrigued by this, and I do like Jeremy Irons as well, so there was a lot of reasons for me to dive into this. But even at my young age, my young cinephile self thought that something was off with this movie, like whether it was the pacing or just the way that it was acted, especially the dialogue. Cringe, mate.

SPEAKER_03: 12:26

It was just Oh, so and the dialogue that makes Sephira say, holy crap. Yeah, yeah, it just ruins her character completely.

SPEAKER_02: 12:36

Hmm. Um like don't get me wrong, I think that Ed Spielers is a decent enough actor for the leading role in this.

SPEAKER_03: 12:42

And um I don't know, he he definitely pulled off Eragon for me. Like when when I saw when I saw like the poster when it was coming out, and I'm like, hell yes, I saw who was on it, I'm like, you know what, this might be pretty good. And then like I saw that the like the fact that they had John Markovich's Gablet Talks on there, I'm like strange, you never see him in the first book. I'm not sure why he's on the poster, but okay, we'll see how it goes. Maybe he's revealed at the end. Probably shouldn't be on the poster because it could be some big reveal at the end. And but then you like you pretty much see him straight off the bat.

SPEAKER_02: 13:17

I'm like, I think he's in the first scene, literally, in the first scene.

SPEAKER_03: 13:21

Yeah, telling Doza to go get the egg.

SPEAKER_02: 13:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 13:24

I am I am sad without my egg.

SPEAKER_02: 13:27

What we're talking about in terms of the dialogue, it's just really bad, but also that really steals away the looming villain aspect of King Galbatorix. He's supposed to be this dragon rider that basically got it seems like to me through the movies, he got fed up with being the best at everything. So he then went and destroyed everything and became the king of it.

SPEAKER_03: 13:50

Backstory is both very sad and tragic and then very dark. So his dragon get gets killed.

SPEAKER_00: 13:57

Yeah. Oh, yeah, everybody. Spoiler alert for the books, by the way.

SPEAKER_03: 14:02

Sorry, spoiler, spoiler alert if you haven't read the books. I doubt there's gonna be any more movies. Yeah, so it might be a TV series. Maybe hopefully in the way. I'd love a TV series.

SPEAKER_02: 14:11

I've read some things, I'll reveal it at the end of this as well. So there's some news, news in the pipeline. So yeah, just from just for everybody to know, spoilers ahead.

SPEAKER_03: 14:21

Um but yeah, so he loses his dragon dies in a conflict because he wanted to sort of prove himself to be one of the best. So he goes off to kill a bunch of Urgles by himself. They get the better of him and they kill his dragon who protects him. He manages to escape, is completely gutted because when the dragon and rider, if one of the two die, usually the other one dies as well because of the great loss they take, unless they're able to like pretty much close off their emotions. So he manages to do that and then goes back to the riders begging for another dragon so he can go back there and avenge his fallen dragon. The rest of the rider organization, of course, goes, No, you did something stupid, you lost your dragon. You're like, you don't deserve another one. And then that sort of makes him go a little bit cray cray. And he then decides, you know what? Screw you guys. He goes, kills a per kills another rider, steals his dragon, or warps its mind to obey him, and artificially forms a pack with it, and then goes on, recruits other riders who are weak of worlds and sort of controls them, and him and his force worn go out and pretty much annihilate all of the dragon riders until it's only him and his force won. And that's his sort of so his backstory it starts to as trying to he was just trying to I mean probably like show off but show that he was one of the best riders that have come out of recent years and ended up losing everything because of Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 15:57

So so I guess it's it sort of sounds like he like he had the potential and the meaty backstory to be quite a formidable villain in the story. For me, there isn't many roles that John Malkovich plays that I actually enjoy, just like nothing against him as a professional, but his his cadence when he speaks always seems either theatrical, like it belongs on the stage, or just like it's stilted in a way that just doesn't it pulls me out of a movie. And uh like who I would have actually liked to play King Galber Torix is Javier Bardem. If you've seen Salazar's Revenge from Pirates of the Caribbean, he plays Salazar, I think he would have been pretty good. Just because he has that that ability to really invoke a sense of menace. I know that there are lots of people in our threads community that said that they strayed too far from the source material. So badge nine, badge underscore nine, said that they strayed too far from the source material and made some changes that would have made future events really impossible. They thought that Sephora looked great. They're one of the people that also said that she sounded wrong, and Aragon was just too much of a gromless twit is the words that they used.

SPEAKER_03: 17:07

He was a little bit like that again is just due to the writing and how fast they had to how fast they just streamlined through everything. But yeah, no, a hundred percent they missed like they've like so many things that they screwed up that ruins everything for what they could have done in the second movie. So the whole point of the second book, which would have been the second movie, was to do with the Razak who I killed in the first movie. So the whole cause they go and terrorize Carvajal trying to find Roran. So cause in the second book it splits up into three stories Aragon's story, Roran's story, and Naswada's story, Ajahad's daughter.

SPEAKER_02: 17:48

Okay, so that that third character you said, who is that one? A Jahad's daughter? Uh Naswada. Yeah, I don't think she's in this movie at all for one. She is. She is.

SPEAKER_03: 17:59

She doesn't talk, or she doesn't really talk that much, but you do see her, I believe, I think she does talk to Aragon at some point very quickly, and then you see her standing next to Ajahad in the battle attire.

unknown: 18:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 18:12

But in the in the book, in the book, she's was meant to have gone to Cerda, then sneaks back and joins in the battle without her father's knowledge.

SPEAKER_02: 18:20

Yeah. And then Roren looks very similar to to Aragon, played by Chris Egan, who was an Australian actor very famous for playing on Home and Away. I I feel like their interactions at the start and pretty much all of his interactions when he's in his home farm village, it was it was kind of rushed to the point where I didn't really care when it was destroyed. Like, not that I'm a cold-hearted person, but like there wasn't enough for me to to buy into it. And then their relationship, when you were talking about Rorin and Aragon being really close, like cousins as close as brothers, you'd say. And then when one he was going off to the to join the military and the army and become a warrior, like they had this playful fight at the start with some absolutely cringeworthy dialogue. That was the worst dialogue that I've seen in the movie, was between those two.

SPEAKER_03: 19:06

And I don't think it's a detriment to the actors, I definitely think it's a writing, but well, they do they do play fight in the book, but in like theirs is more like in here, they're like it's almost like rolling in the hay. Yeah, but it misses so much, like because it misses so much at the start, it almost sort of just writes Roaring out of the movie and out of future potential movies, because it's Roaring, we're very close. I have to go away now and go to the millers and go and be a miller so I can make some money so I can buy a farm. And then he fucks off.

SPEAKER_00: 19:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 19:40

And then but you miss the fact that he's doing it because he needs to make quick money, so when he gets back, he can buy and sell up a farm so he can ask the love of his life, Katrina, to marry him, who's the butcher's daughter. Um, because at the moment he doesn't have anything to his name, so in their custom in that village, when you ask them to marry him, you have to put down like a dowry and you have to have something to for the to present to the family or the the parents of the whoever you're proposing to to prove that you you are you can support and take care of their daughter. So that that's a whole reason why he had to go. He didn't want to go, he had to go because and because another thing that pissed me off so so much was that there were soldiers at Carver Hall.

SPEAKER_02: 20:34

They're not supposed to be, or there's not supposed to be a presence there. Because you were telling me before that like Galbatorix only really cared about the places that would be advantageous to him to show that he cared.

SPEAKER_03: 20:45

Yeah. And also Carvajal's right in his spine, and he tried marching his army through the spine and ended up pretty much losing his all time. So he doesn't go he doesn't fuck with the spine.

SPEAKER_00: 20:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 20:57

But you don't even know about the sp like really the spine, because that's where Aragon's meant to find found Siphria's egg, was in the spine, which is a big mountain range that runs along the side of the valley where Carvalhole is. Because Cava Hole's actually technically in the middle of the spine, the big mountain range, and a huge forest that ends up if you keep traveling east into the forest and keep going and keep going, you'll eventually go to get to the Elven Kingdom.

SPEAKER_00: 21:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 21:22

And Galvatorix can't get into there, and you can't go through the spine either. So carver hole is usually like a pretty safe space.

SPEAKER_02: 21:30

But yeah, there's soldiers just running around, and it's like so I think we've we've kind of mainly been talking about how the book adaptation is very different to the movie. And when we're looking at that, we've obviously got some really good film adaptations of books, and we've got some ones that are forgettable as well. And I think this falls into the former category. So some of the the differences that I've noted as well, and some of our community have noted is that some people had a had a problem with the fact that the magic in the book had really sort of strict rules, it was based on an ancient language and an energy cost as well. But then in the movie it almost seemed like it was vague, it was inconsistent, and then it sometimes it was used without an ancient language. I think what they said was the moment that Aragon had to use his magic in order to sort of rescue or save Brom was book accurate, but some other instances were a little bit too far removed from the source material, which kind of made the world seem a little bit sort of flippant. And that lore and that backstory for some of the characters, because they had to rush through them, they didn't get the depth or the care that they were allowed. For example, we talk about Murtug, like he doesn't appear until 40 to 50 minutes through this hour and a half, hour and forty minute movie, and then he's almost like forgotten. And I know that their relationship plays a very significant part in Aragon's journey, but also Murtug is a very central character going forward as well, to the point where Christopher Paolini, the original author of the Aragon books, actually wrote a book about Murtug at the end of it to finish off his story arc. So he's like played by Garrett Hoodland as well, who's one of my favourite young actors. Yeah, he's he's a really talented young man, but in this one it was like they didn't give him enough screen time, not enough effort, not enough time for his character.

SPEAKER_03: 23:23

And that that's the thing, like it just seemed like not enough effort. Everything just seemed like not enough effort. When when, like as you said, with the magic, I think one of the ones they're probably talking about is when he's writing Secure and gets into her like has her vision. Yes. So in the book, it's not a spell, it's just the fact that it's part of their bonding. The fact that they're they can they make can basically meld their minds together because of how like because they are they are bonded together to see as one. And it's not just a spell that you can just do and just be able to see like a dragon. Like, yeah, and it's yeah, it's all a bit it's kind of like a generic fantasy, just overall, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02: 24:09

Like nothing's nothing's been given enough depth to really shine, and nothing is really done in a very memorable way for you to say this is not just a movie that's full of fantasy tropes, for example. So yeah, there's there's just it's a movie that's really full of just bland fantasy tropes and almost like very bland dialogue. But I also noted that this was the director's Stefan Fangmir's, it was his first directorial project. He's usually on the visual effects team and he's done things like Wanted, he's done Signs, he's done Masters of the Air, which came from Apple, which is a beautifully shot piece. So I think like for that reason, he was fresh and green, and then some of the actors that they cast in leading roles were fresh and green as well. So, and then also adapting something that has that sort of deep and rich backstory and lore is tricky at the best of times, even for the most experienced directors and and screenwriters. And then when you get a team of new people in, it then just becomes a little bit more so. Not to mention the fact that like this was a lot of people's, I'll say, gateway drug into fantasy, because it came out, I think, I don't know when the books came out, but this movie came out when you and I were about 16 years old. The books were earlier than that. So it was almost like when we were we were teenagers coming into like reading full stories, and this was sort of coming out as something that we could access and read because the story goes that Christopher Paolini was a young man when he wrote this, self-published by his parents, and he actually went around the country sort of going to bookstores and doing book signings and things like that and marketing it himself and republishing it himself eventually as well. But it got very popular very quickly. So I think that there's definitely like source material and an audience behind it, but the the opinions on it are very sort of mixed, and it goes from people that really grew up with it and have that nostalgia, and then people that kind of revisit it or get it later on in their life, and they read this thing that uh 16, 17-year-old Christopher Paelini wrote. And it's just like this isn't written very well in terms of the first book.

SPEAKER_03: 26:21

Yeah, and like you can even tell, like, in even in the book, like the first book, uh, because I only I I'm currently up to the third book again because I've started rereading it more. And uh, I'll have to go through the first book, like each book I think gets better and better.

SPEAKER_02: 26:34

Yeah, that's a common opinion too.

SPEAKER_03: 26:36

The first book, it's okay, but you can see like where he's written some things where you're like okay, it's weird you wrote it like that, but okay, yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_02: 26:47

I get what you're putting down here.

SPEAKER_03: 26:49

Yeah, yeah, but like read back in some pits are a bit corny like reading it, and like when I was rereading it. But like when I read it, when I read it, I was what 14 14, 15, 14, 15. Because I I read the first book and I finished it pretty much just before the movie came out. It's because I was like, I read the book and then like the movies coming out. I'm like, hell yeah. I'm like, I've got to finish this book because I think I was like towards the end anyway, because I'm I'm also a pretty slow reader at times, and so I was getting through the book, and then when I heard the movies coming out, I was like, oh, I've got to get through this, and then yeah, and then I watched it and I was so so deeply disappointed.

SPEAKER_02: 27:29

Yeah, I think um like your your opinion mirrors a lot of the fans that that sort of come out of the cinema there, and I think there was someone on our threads as well that said the the only good thing to come out of the movie was that Avril Levine song. That was um Ara Wego who said that from Threads, and like, yeah, great song, but very very misplaced. Yeah. It was a weird song to put at the end, and I think it was trying to bank on that teenage nostalgia because obviously that's Twilight. Yeah, the that Twilight sort of music when Muse was playing on there, that fit pretty well because it was a story about those teenagers in the modern world. But that's the music we were listening to, and obviously it's a movie we'd go and see, so it was hitting its target audience, but it just didn't really fit the fantasy vibe. So what could have been what could have been there are some online debates as well, but before we get into that, we might just talk about the like its flop status because this this movie had a budget of$100 million, and it actually made in worldwide money$250 million, which looks like a success until you factor in like the marketing campaigns and things that went towards this. So they produced a video game that was accelerated to the PlayStation to get it out quickly before the movie, which was janky at best, and then the marketing for it was also pretty full-on, to the point where Fox was branding this as their next big franchise, and it had to make a certain amount for them to obviously green light sequels as they do. So it was a financial underperformer, and it kind of barely broke even because, in order to make even, you kind of need to make 2.5 to three times what you spent on the movie. So it's not like a financial flop, but it's definitely a critical failure. It also received horrible reviews from fans and critics, and it was just yeah, the fans felt like it removed too much from the source material, which we kind of discussed here already. But there is some some theories going around or some people that have discussed the fact that this movie is like Star Wars in a fantasy setting, like Aragon as Star Wars, but with dragons. Have you heard this before, Brash?

SPEAKER_03: 29:38

Sort of, and I can sort of see where they're coming from, but yeah. Yeah, like like the Aragon Bron D Bron and Eri Brom and Aragon aspect of it. I can see as like uh old uh Luke Skywalker Obi-Wan Kenobi, sort of just it.

SPEAKER_02: 29:56

But really, the farm boy being the chosen one, that's Luke Skywalker. You've got the princess who sends a secret object, the disc file in R2 D2, and the secret egg as well. You've got the wise mentor who guides the hero in Obi-Wan Kenobi and also Brom. You've got the Empire that's ruled by a Dark Sorcerer in terms of Emperor Palpatine and then Galbatorix as well. And a powerful magical enforcer who is governed by that person in terms of Durzer and Darth Vader. And then you've got this hero that ends up joining the rebellion, or in this case, the Varden. And then at the end of the movie, they go through their first big battle to defend the Varden's base. And there's a celebratory ending with a sequel inside. So beat for beat in that way. People have said that Aragon in the movie looks a lot like Star Wars.

SPEAKER_03: 30:47

Yeah. I can say good because I'm like thinking back to books, I'm like, I'm like, yeah, I can sort of see it, but it's I like I like it's it's very base, basically structural outline.

SPEAKER_02: 31:02

Yeah, and I can agree with that because I think that what the book does is it obviously has heaps of this in-depth world building. It's got really big character arcs, it's also got like a political structure and a cultural system that we don't see in the movie. And you know, Hollywood made all these shortcuts to make the film 140 minutes or whatever it was, like an hour and 40 minutes. And you know, in doing so, it cut away all the meat that made it look different to Star Wars. So what was left was the skeleton of what they call the hero's journey, which we talked about when we did our episode on Dragonheart. It's a very popular storytelling device, but people have said that because they stripped so much away from the book material, all that was left were those skeleton beats, which are very similar to Star Wars. So, for example, one of the steps in the hero's journey is the refusal of the call. So it's a very pretty much the first or in the middle, the the middle of the orientation sort of step in the hero's journey where the the hero basically is presented with never asked to be I'm never asked to get Safira's egg. Yeah, exactly. So they'll they'll they'll have the the outline of basically their destiny laid before them, and they're just like stuff this, I don't want to do that. So the refusal of the call, and then there is an inciting action or a catalyst that makes them do it. So in both cases, in Aragon and Star Wars, it's the death of the uncle or the aunt. So Luke loses his uncle and aunt, and Aragon loses his uncle and his village. So and they're both burnt in a fire, coincidentally.

SPEAKER_03: 32:37

Well, see that that's the thing. Like, see, Aragon in the book, like he never really like was like, I don't want to, I never asked for you, I didn't want to be a Dragon Knight or blah blah blah. I suppose he sort of like he sort of was a bit like that, like at the very, very start, when like as soon as his uncle dies, but not hard.

SPEAKER_02: 32:55

He always seemed like he wanted to be more, though.

SPEAKER_03: 32:57

He always had that aspect of like, I want to be more, I just don't know what that is, and also yeah, in in the start of the book, he he was sort of like, Oh, I didn't really ask for this, blah blah. But he gets over that quite quickly because he's like, ooh, because his whole thing is it's not motivated by I'm going to defeat Gulbatorx and be a hero. His whole thing was I am going to track Trax down to the ends of the Earth these Razak, and I'm going to murder them. That revenge. Revenge is his whole thing in the first book. And then it's not taught not until even when he gets to the Varden, he's sort of like, We're only here because if you didn't get here, Arya would die.

SPEAKER_02: 33:36

Well, that was that was pretty thin as well. Like his motivations for joining them and finding them were pretty pretty thin to me. Like the movie didn't do a good job of foregrounding why he was doing that, except just to follow the beats of adventure. And obviously, Brom has told him that the Varden is where all the Dragonriders go, so it's like he's he's just following it because other people have told him to, as opposed to something that he intrinsically wants to do. Another thing that is pretty similar in terms of Star Wars is obviously, as you said, the mentor's death. Now, that is a common trope in the hero's journey as well. It is where the protagonist is supposed to like supersede the mentor's teachings and then go and learn stuff on their own. Like this happens in an amazing story in a piece of fantasy like Lord of the Rings. Like Gandal falls down the bridge of Kazaturum as a result of the Balrog, and then the fellowship have to venture on and move beyond him. Like it's something that happens everywhere, but it's to the point where like Obi-Wan sacrifices himself so that Luke and his friends can escape, and Brom does the same thing so they can get away from Durza while they're rescuing a princess too.

SPEAKER_03: 34:41

Well, exactly. In that in that in that point, so when Brom dies in the book, it's to the Razak. And it's because of when the Razak's escape, and one of them just goes, turns around and goes, yeah, and throws a dagger at Aragon, and because Aragon used some magic, he's really weak. So he can't he can't dodge. So Brom has to jump in front of him and take the dagger from the Razak because uh Murtar comes in and help chases off help um chases off the Razak.

SPEAKER_00: 35:05

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 35:06

And then that's where Brom gets a dagger, and then they try and they take him for a bit and try and patch it up and heal him, but eventually he does succumb to it, he's saying he's wound, and then they do put him in, or they do bury him in rock, and then Sapphira Breeze on the grave and it turns into like crystal and everything like that, and it's very sad and emotional. And that's sort of that's sort of when Aragon like he doesn't decide to kill Gabatorix, but it's another motivation to uh get revenge on the Razak. It sort of reignites and reinvigorates his fact that he's like, I need to do whatever I can to make sure these things are dead. And with Murtag, and I hate how they introduce Murtag because he comes in and helps during the the getting Aria out. So he's meant to help them when they're fighting the Razak and scare the Razak off, and the Razak is off and you don't see them again for the rest of the book. They go and Aragon learns how to scry, basically like scrying magic in DD. Or it's sort of like yeah, it's like scrying DD where you can only see the person and you can't see things around him.

SPEAKER_02: 36:13

Yep, yeah. Magic magically through like for those that don't know what scrying is, it's like a magical look in at a person who might be far away or at a distance from where you're at where you actually are.

SPEAKER_03: 36:23

He he does have dreams about Aya, but it's never like the one where she's on the table. She's like Eric or something says his name or some shit. It's like no. She he looks at her and she's like all ragged up and in her cell, and then sort of just looks up at where like he is sort of like looking down on her. He sort of she sort of looks up and he's like commenting in the book, and he's like, It's almost like she could see me. Yeah, and then he wakes up from his dream and he's like, I think that's an actual person. It can't be a mistake. And probably everyone's sort of like, I don't know, it's just you're right. And then he actually Don't be silly, boy. Don't be silly, and he actually scribes her and then sees that she's an actual person, yeah, and then is like, we have to rescue her. I don't know why, but we have to rescue her.

SPEAKER_02: 37:14

So he he scries the existence of the princess, and Luke Skywalker sees a digital reflection through R2D2 of the princess saying that she needs rescuing and help.

SPEAKER_03: 37:25

So well she doesn't say she needs rescue, and he doesn't know why he has to rescue her, but he's like, I just have a feeling that I need to rescue her. But and really I'll really see like rescuing her is like does great things for him later on in the books.

SPEAKER_02: 37:37

But really, physical attraction has nothing to do with it.

SPEAKER_03: 37:41

Yeah, he wishes. Um but yeah, it's just it's just a lot of missteps and another big one which I don't think a lot of people have maybe uh I haven't read all the comments, but I don't know if a lot of people talk about it is Angela as well. Angela, and you don't even meet Solomon.

SPEAKER_02: 38:01

This is the fortune teller, correct?

SPEAKER_03: 38:03

Yes. So fortune teller tells him three things that someone is going to die, someone's going to betray him, and that he will leave this land and never return. Three things he's told. And then you meet a werecat a really rare and special race, that when they tell you something you must listen. And he tells him uh three things as well that if he needs weapon to look under the roots of the minol tree, when he needs help to go to something rocks and I can't remember the third one, but apparently what I'm up to in the books and the third books is he just found a weapon underneath the minor tree, the underneath the minor tree. But yeah, you don't even meet Solomon and he's like a major part of it, and another and you don't meet his name, he's a friend of Brom's, and him and Brum were actually the the two who stole the egg in the first place. And he's a like merchant in one of the cities that ferri supplies and that to the Varden secretly, but someone has sort of wrapped it on them and he's now losing his shipments and slowly he's being bled dry. Yeah. And that he helps them find the text to help find where the Razak live, but they never really end up making it to where the Razak live because Razak attack him.

SPEAKER_02: 39:29

Yeah. So when we've been looking at this as well, we've kind of been talking about book-to-screen adaptations, but and maybe you can talk to the book aspect of this because when I was watching and looking for a like a most valuable takeaway, I kind of looked at Aragon's character and how he had some inner potential in him that he kind of didn't realize. And he made these relationships with people that helped him to bring out what he already kind of had inside him that he kind of knew was there but didn't really act on or disbelieved it. And those aspects of him came out due to trust, mentorship, and obviously connection through others. So as we're as we're kind of looking at that and looking at that inner potential of of Aragon, we start off with him being the undervalued farm boy, which is a very common fantasy trope, but he seems like he's like completely invisible, and he's and you can see that when they shoot it as well, because he's he's in a place of smallness in contrast with this giant legend and basically massive fantasy world, and he's like this little farm boy in the middle of the spine in a forgotten place, and it's the point where they're talking about it's it's like the legend that he kind of has to grow into, or he's small at the start, but the legend that's coming is something that he'll need to sort of grow into, and he does have a lot of good qualities at the start as well, because you can see him obviously trying to provide for his family, and then like through hunting and things like that as well, and then bargaining with Sloane the butcher, but then it's almost like he had to start in this ordinary world to show his transformation and his his naivety at the start. So then there was obviously the catalyzing action that showed that he was almost awakening, and one of the visual effects supervisors, John Bruno, actually said that they wanted the scene where he sees the egg to be like a flash of light that symbolized like an awakening, a like a bright blue energy and light. And it was intentional because they wanted to show his shift from ordinary to to extraordinary with that big flash of blue when the egg was transported to him. That was the moment that changed his his pot like his future. So, with that, you can see him obviously moving through and making that relationship with Brom where he finds him being a like we find Brom as a broken guardian to start off with, but you could see Brom also has inner potential because he was once a big protector and guardian of the land, a dragon rider, so to speak. And he's he's lost this ability to see it within himself almost like Aragon has as well. And a lot of people have said that Brom was written as the bridge between Aragon's doubt and his later destiny, which is what mentors are supposed to do anyway. But I feel like both of them together bring out that inner potential in each other, which is what good mentoring and mentee relationships are supposed to do. And um maybe you can talk about the book a little bit more as to how their relationship develops. But as we saw in the movie, a lot of it is exposition, like Brahma's teaching him about the world by just telling us about it.

SPEAKER_00: 42:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 42:38

And then to the point where they also see some people being attacked by I think it's the Razak. Are they attacked by the Razak? And then they're just like, okay, sweet, now let's go over by this riverbed and smack sticks against each other for a while instead of you know answering the hero's call and doing something about that. Yeah. But I think what what I sort of focused in on was the fact that they they had this inner potential in them, Aragon and Brom. And it wasn't until they met each other and they started to do this mentorship with one another, go through those common struggles, but then also come out at the end of it as owning their their potential. So it's like a boy stepping into the skin of a man and then the the broken man stepping into having the confidence to be that unbreakable guardian that he once was again.

SPEAKER_03: 43:26

Yeah, and I think that's another misstep they did. So Brom, even though yes, he was a sort of a mentor to Aragon, in the books he's I wouldn't call it like he basically gives him enough that he's gonna survive. He because in the books, Aragon can't read. So he teaches he teaches him how to read because he's got to read to learn how to use magic to learn how to use ancient language, like he has to learn to read the ancient language, he's just got to learn to read in general. Erigon does teach a fight with a sticks, and they do move on to be out fighting with actual swords, and he teaches him a magic to coat his sword so it has like a thin film over it, so it doesn't like it still hurts to get smacked with it, but it won't cut. Yep. And they end up sparring with real swords, but the whole time he is grumpy, he always gets up Aragon, calls him an idiot and a fool like constantly, and like he just has this like grumpy dad energy, like constantly, always.

SPEAKER_02: 44:24

Is there an undertone of care though?

SPEAKER_03: 44:26

Is there an undertone of like there is, but it's not something you really pick up on until like the third book where more of the backstory is revealed. But throughout the first, like if you just read the first book, you'd be like, damn, this guy's this guy's guys.

SPEAKER_00: 44:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 44:44

But like he he does like care for Aragon at all, but yeah, it's a lot of you're an idiot, you're a fool, it's some curse that came to you.

SPEAKER_00: 44:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 44:54

But like I know on either there is a there is a massive underlying sort of how to do it without doing huge spoilers.

SPEAKER_02: 45:04

Reason.

SPEAKER_03: 45:06

Yeah, there's a a big emotional reason why Brom is like that towards him, and you find out that from that later on, and I won't spoil it, but one thing is he finds out later on is that he sees a memory of Brom talking with Sapphira, and he's like, it must be some sort of sick joke or some cruel fate that Aragon found the egg found its way to Aragon. And Aragon straight away is just like it just cuts him deep, and he's like he's like, even Brom thinks that I'm just absolutely horrible, and and then he goes on and you find out what he actually meant by that later on. Yeah through like a pretty big backstory. But yeah, throughout the whole thing, he he like in this, like he barely gets four words for himself. Everything he says is this long script of just world building. Yeah, take that. He doesn't he doesn't have any he doesn't have any like his own personal thoughts. It's just expose and the next time he has a has to talk, it's expose.

SPEAKER_00: 46:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 46:23

And yeah, and I think that's something that they really missed out on because the whole grumpy dad, foolish child sort of dynamic between them, like I think the books is absolutely hilarious. Like Aragon will be a smart ass, and then Brom will snap back at him, and like it's just like this dynamic, and then Sophia is sometimes like in there trying to keep peace, and but I feel like Brom knows the weight of the responsibility Aragon carries and is trying to load that onto him in slow portions.

SPEAKER_02: 46:58

So I think I think he said it pretty perfectly there, where where Brom is obviously the mentor, but he's also a man who's carrying like a lifetime of failure. He's like so broken that he doesn't trust himself to protect anyone in the future or even guide or mentor anyone. But he actually does take up that charge and he chooses to to do that with Aragon, obviously for an emotional reason that you were talking about that you will not reveal on this podcast and maybe tell me later.

SPEAKER_03: 47:23

Yeah, but well, but uh another little bit of a spoiler, but not big a big spoiler. But the reason why Brom I don't see I think that this doesn't really portray, like it's sort of they chose to try and portray it a little bit in a movie, but because there's no sort of no depth in the character of Brom, it's it's hard to pick up. But it's 'cause it's not like Brom has sort of given up the fight or anything like that. It's that he's now at a stage where he doesn't have to do the he's not doing the fighting or he's doing the watching and waiting, and he's he's he's had his revenge. Well, sort of Morzan on the force warm was the one who killed his dragon.

SPEAKER_02: 48:10

Yeah, which is revealed in the movie as well, Morzan being Murtag's father.

SPEAKER_03: 48:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 48:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 48:16

Uh and and Morzan killed Brom's dragon, and Brom killed Morzan.

SPEAKER_02: 48:22

Yeah, but I think what what Brom wants to imprint on Aragon is that his relationship with his dragon is more important than he is giving credit to. So it's not a like an ownership or a com or a companion. It's more like a it's a symbiotic relationship between the both of you, and it means more than what you think it does, because he's talking from a a space of past pain, which is you know something that mentors also do as well. They teach from experience to the point where mentors actually imprint behavioral patterns on on their mentees, which is kind of you can see that subtly through this movie as as I think they try to do it through a little piece of dialogue that Aragon says at the end of the movie where they've got to do this for Brom now or something along those lines. But it was very cliche and and just a throwaway, really, and there was no there was no weight to it, I guess. And I think Safira actually said it as well when they were burying him in his crystal sarcophagus that they were going to carry on what he sort of taught them and be there for one another now.

SPEAKER_03: 49:26

Yeah, yeah. And which like which realistically though, he taught him to read and he taught him some like words in the ancient language, he taught him like he taught him like everyone's sort of half knew how to fight, because in the in the movie he it is really portrayed as like level one.

SPEAKER_00: 49:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 49:43

But realistically, but realistically, he actually like yeah, he does not he's not very good with the sword, but he's not terrible. And because he used to like even though it's stick fighting, but he him and his cousin used to have all the time like fights. So his fighting style, like as it didn't really show it showed a little bit, but not too much. But his fighting style is just really scrappy, yeah. And it's just Brom him Brom actually showing him how like techniques and ways to sort of turn that scrappy fighting into like proper fighting.

SPEAKER_02: 50:17

Yeah, I think you're right, it did sort of show that during the river fight scene because Brom was very technical with the way that he was sort of sparring, and then when Aragon would come towards him, he'd sort of like bat him off to the side and push him over. So showing that Aragon really had that sort of brute strength that needed to be harnessed, and Brom had all the technique and talent. So that was the dance they were doing there. But again, yeah, it was very sort of set into that point, too.

SPEAKER_03: 50:40

But then also like Aragon's like Aragon's an extremely skilled hunter, he's he's excellent with a bow. Like his cousin is good with a bow, because then in book two, we're gonna have to use a bow, and he like hits his mark from like ages away, and they're like, Wow, you're really good at your bow. He's like, compared to Aragon, I'm trash. Yeah, like yeah, um, but and but it's really understated on how much like Aragon uses his bow a lot in the book uh in the first book at least, anyway, and uh I saw it out, I suppose, a little bit after he's sort of learnt from Brom a bit more, but at the start he uses his arrows a lot more like his bow. But yeah, which is why he like used his bow, I guess, the Urgles and said press and go and made the Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 51:23

I think I think Brom Brom, or at least from the movie's perspective, Brom played by Jeremy Irons, knew that Aragon had some sort of potential in him because he knows that the the magic of the dragons and the way that they choose their people is a very important process. And he obviously adheres to and and admires these dragons and he trusts Sephira's choice, but he also always tells Aragon, you know, trust your instincts. And you wouldn't say that to somebody who you thought was a fool, like he does say that he is in the book, because you feel like their instincts are correct, or you've got the correct thing in you already that we just need to bring out and allow you to trust in yourself more. So I think in that space, he he's portrayed as a pretty decent mentor because that's what that's what they're there to do. Bromwus is there to allow Aragon to look at the things that he knows is inside him and bring them out and use them in spaces of challenge so he can then grow as a result of that challenge. It's that zone of proximal development that we were talking about in past episodes as well, where if a challenge is too hard, people don't want to do it, but if it's too easy, you don't learn anything from it. So it has to be in that sweet spot and mentors' jobs to get people to move toward that sweet spot by scaffolding learning from the things that they already know how to do to the new things that they need to learn. So, for example, he's really good erragon at hunting, tracking, using a bow. You can use that natural knowledge and tapping into that natural world to then possibly have an idea of using natural forms of magic, like summoning a fire, using the word brissinger. So scaffolding that knowledge is important for mentors too. And again, I feel like it's very thin in the movie, but those lines that he says, like trust your instincts, allude to that kind of relationship that he has there. Yeah. I I think the most important relationship in the book and in the movie is the one between Aragon and Sephira. And I think in the movie, it develops in a couple of different ways. At the very start, you see him being the primary caregiver of this little dragon hatchling, and then within four seconds they're obviously companions. Equal or equal Yep, equal footing. But I think the key is that they develop this supportive kind of relationship, and that support and trust increases as they move along in their journey because emotional vulnerability is the key to becoming like becoming a genuinely connected pair. So having that emotional vulnerability is a requirement. But these two feel everything that each other is feeling. So if Aragon feels fear, then Sephira obviously is tracking that, and vice versa. So there is no space for them to hold any kind of secrets there. But there is a moment in the movie that we see where Sephira kind of takes charge almost, which is and takes him away from the village to keep him safe, and that's the choice that she obviously made. And they're sharing that efficacy within the group space, but she obviously says, you know, I needed to do that to keep you safe, and it it does fracture them a little bit, but then Aragon eventually understands. So I feel like the movie shows them having a pretty secure bond that's resilient, but again, I think it we lose a lot of that developing bond at the start when they skip over Sapphira's growth.

SPEAKER_03: 54:54

Yeah, because uh because they make they make her out pretty much to be it's like a blue helicopter with emotions, blue helicopter with opinions and emotions, and that's it. Whereas like in the book, she's a lot more in-depth, and even though like for the first six months when she's growing, like yeah, he is feeding her, but they're even their telepathy is sort of growing then as well. So he actually ends up going to Brom and saying, Hey, you know, because in in the books, instead of Brom telling the story about Dragonriders and getting harassed by the guards who are not meant to be there, he's meant to be like the old storyteller of the village, and every night he's in the bar, bub, hub, whatever, with all the kids sitting in front of him and he's telling stories from back in the old days with the Dragonriders and just back hundreds of years ago. And Aragon, knowing that he tells these stories about dragons, goes back and goes to Ozerbrom and like asks questions about about dragons and stuff, which actually gets which actually is what gets Brom curious about why he's asking so many questions about dragons. Yeah. And uh he's like, Oh, um, were there any names for dragons? And like Brom gives me a lift a list of names of dragons and then ends up giving him Sophia's one at the end, and he goes back to Sophira when he's taken because he had to move Sophira out into the sort of the forest just just near the spine, and he goes to her and he lists off a bunch of names, and he can feel because she can't talk to him yet, but she can he she can feel if he she liked or doesn't like a name, and he runs through all the names and she hates all the names, and then I guess the Sophia he's like, What was that last one Brom said? Because he noted when Brom said it he had like a bit of it's had a bit of sorrow to it when he said it, and he's like, Oh, that's right, Sephora. He says Sapphira, and then she really likes it, because then it turns out that his dragon was named Sephira, and she was also and then Sophia and his dragon was also a female and also a blue dragon.

SPEAKER_02: 56:56

Well, that that does explain why when Jeremy Ayn's Brom's character first sees Sophia, he's completely enamored by what she looks like, very respectful and very sort of wanting to make that connection, and then Sophia's got that little bit of sass about her that's just like he better watch his words, or maybe he knows what he's talking about when she starts to get compliments from him.

SPEAKER_03: 57:16

But with um Sephora, that's the closest thing to Sephira in the movie, I think. Yeah, the close things to her personality, like she is very prideful, and like she's very she's like all dragons, like in the books, all dragons are very like single-minded. So if they say they can do something, they'll do it. Like they don't change their mind. And Sephora always brings it up, like brings up and says it. She's like, I don't know how you how yours and the elves and the dwarven races get by changing your mind all the time. Dragons know what they want and they and they go for it.

SPEAKER_00: 57:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 57:52

So yeah, so at that that point there where she's like, where he's like saying like her hinds legs are too thin or some shit, and you he's like, Watch yourself.

SPEAKER_02: 58:01

Yeah, she was like brutally honest.

SPEAKER_03: 58:03

Yeah, but that that's probably the closest thing to Sephira that in this movie that we got.

SPEAKER_02: 58:09

Yeah, personality-wise. I think for me in this one, it's like in the movie specifically, I think they were trying to portray Sophia as Aragon's like psychological mirror. So at the start of the movie, he was pretty insecure in himself, or he didn't really portray any characteristics that showed him as a worthy Dragon rider. But then Sephira would be there with that sort of calm, calm certainty in her voice, and you know, asking Aragon to trust her and building that sort of bond. You can eventually see that Aragon sort of comes out of his shell and walks into this leadership space with Sephira by his side. So at the start, like when they take their first flight, the scene where they fly for the first time, he is clinging to Sephira's neck for deer life, like a squirrel on a tree in a storm. He's just holding on for deer life. There is no synergy, there is no partnership there at all. But then towards the end, you can see that he's sort of upright and in fighting spaces, the aerial combat with Dursa is then in a little bit more synergy, you could say. So I guess you can say that warrior in him.

SPEAKER_03: 59:12

That writing that and the thing about when they're writing and Bom's like, oh, I wonder you can write it from anywhere. Even the tail? Sure. What a load of bullshit. No one and I don't think at any like I'm I haven't I haven't reread the like the very last couple books, but I know for a fact in the first three books he's never ridden on her tail. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 59:33

Well, I think that because did they do that in Fanata?

SPEAKER_03: 59:36

He still he still he like in the books, he makes his saddle has leg straps who he straps his legs into.

unknown: 59:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 59:44

And he still doesn't get all cut up too. Well he does. He gets his like he gets his legs all cut up from her scales, and that's why they're like, well, 'cause you rode him rode her without a saddle and problem's like you rode without a saddle, you did your head.

SPEAKER_04: 59:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 59:57

And um, yeah, so but his Saddle as like leg straps in there to strap his legs in, and he still uses them now, even in book three.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:07

Yeah. I can definitely agree to that. But I I just think like their posture towards the end when he's he's sitting on the dragon doing fighting on the dragon, and then prior to that he was clinging on to her shows that they're they've sort of built that trust and he's gotten better at certain things because of her teaching as well. And that sort of mirrors having a more capable partner or mentor or teacher because it temporarily supports the learner until they can get that independence themselves. So that's what she was kind of doing. But I feel like she kind of does that as well with his his emotional journey because she is his his shoulder to cry on on quite a few scenes in the movie, especially when it comes to like Brom. She's like the almost emotional support dragon to the point where like her her growth comes from like she elevates Aragon. And from the episode we did last week on John Carter, we learnt that like leaders often empower others, and that I feel like that's what Sephira does with with Aragon here and also Brom to both both literally and figuratively. Yeah. Yeah. As much as this relationship is symbiotic, I think that Sephira does a lot more for Aragon than than he sort of does for her, besides the Yeah, and maybe that was going to be a good one. At some point will develop later.

SPEAKER_03: 1:01:25

Aragon and Murtag almost kill each other. Oh yeah. So they you don't see it as in the movie, but they have a fight. So they find like so Aragon finds out that Morzan is Murtag's father, which sort of puts them a bit on edge. But Murtag's, like it says, like he tells him his backstory about how his father and was too bad. The only thing my dad his dad gave him was a scar in the back, which is true. Like like in his book, he um Morzan came up the back and gave him a big scar. And uh he's like, I uh just because he's my father doesn't make me the same as him. And so they sort of like Which is a good lesson. So there's one thing that Aragon annoyed me in the first, especially in the first book, and he still does it every now and then. He has this like almost like God complex where he's like he finds out something about someone else and straight away it's like, Oh my god, you're such a horrible, terrible person. I can never forgive you, you suck so much, and then he'll do something for even worse. And he's like, Oh, I do it for good reasons. It's like shit.

SPEAKER_02: 1:02:26

It's like a strong sense of justice and failure to see others reasons for for their own.

SPEAKER_03: 1:02:33

But it's he does he does sort of grow out of that, which is nice. Yeah, they they start fighting on it. Sophia actually grabs both Murtig and Aragon and pins them both to the ground with her talons, like like crushing them to a point when she's like, I am not going to lift, I'm not gonna let go, and I'm not gonna let you go, and I'll crush both of you unless you be nice. And it also shows I wish they they did it in the movie because they didn't really do it in the movie, but it shows that Sapphira is still her own entity, like she she does her own things, she does what she wants, she doesn't have to do everything Aragon says. Like if if Aragon's like, oh, let's do this and she doesn't want to do it, she'll be like, no.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:15

I feel like I needed more of that in the movie, honestly, because I feel like the dragon in this movie, Aragon, was pretty like like I don't want to say bland, but it was very fantasy tropey, like the boy owns the dragon, the dragon does like protects the boy, that kind of thing. Yeah. Whereas if you think of dragons in other spaces, the dragons are the ones with the power and the humans are just along for the ride. So I think that that that would have been something I would have liked to see a little bit more. But in terms of the way that these characters develop, I think that the what we can learn from them is that obviously sometimes it takes a trusted friend or a trusted mentor to to help you reach the potential that you know is inside you all along, and also moving on to like things that could be happening in the Aragon space. Christopher Paelini has got some YouTube shorts out, and I'm not sure how old they are. I think they're from 2023 or 2024. So at the time of recording, they're about a year and a half to two years old at this point. But he is like answering questions of viewers on what's happening with the Disney Plus series in terms of Aragon, because somebody asked him if it was going to be a live action show, and he said, Yeah, it's definitely live action because hopefully we can have the budget to do it. Because that somebody said you'd be able to do more if it was an animation, and he was like, No, it's gonna be a live action show. So that gives hope to me to see that Disney Plus is at least in some form of production with an Aragon TV series, which mirrors everything that we always say about book adaptations to movies, brash. We always say it should have been a show. Yep. And I think especially with something like this where the lore is so vast you could dive into it any which way, and all the characters need some development in terms of their arc. I think that the TV show is the best fit for it. So hopefully something comes out of Disney Plus.

SPEAKER_03: 1:05:05

And doing like and having like like 10 hour episodes, like 10 hour long episodes, you should be able to fit everything in.

SPEAKER_02: 1:05:14

Yeah, but I think from what I saw, the show is in it's in early development. I know that Christopher Palini is attached to co-wright, and he's like Yeah, he's the executive producer as well, so he will have some creative decision-making pull. Yeah. Because I'm not sure how he feels about this movie, but I don't think it's good.

SPEAKER_03: 1:05:35

No, no, I think he hates it. Then uh but I think I think that's the case. If you're ever going to do a book adaptation, you should always, always have the like the original uh writer, can't be a author, yeah. And it doesn't have to be it doesn't have to be like a big black producer rolling like that, but should be there to basically give the yay or no, because you're you're uh essentially taking their work and then making it into a like into the movie or a TV show, and you're either gonna ruin it and ruin what like their because people are gonna see movies and say, Oh, it was a book, and like it's anything like the movie, it's gonna be shit.

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:13

And that's why people are like fan base.

SPEAKER_03: 1:06:16

That's why people are like, No, no, no, the books are good, don't trust the movie.

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:21

Yeah. I think it says it hasn't fully been green-lit, production is progressing slowly, there's been no casting announcements. All we know is that Christopher Paelini is on and actively involved, co-writing, executive producing. They're they're intending to make the entire four-book inheritance cycle as part of the TV show. It's coming out on a Disney Plus at time of recording. This is the news we have. And yeah, I think there will be some negotiations and obviously script revisions, especially if Paelini's involved, because he will hold it close to his heart. I'm not sure if he's he's in the pipeline to r write any new book sprash, but no, I'm not aware of. Yeah, I think this is a space that is obviously close to his heart and has the potential to be like something big on Disney. Would you like obviously looking forward to it with him him involved and being an obvious fan?

SPEAKER_03: 1:07:15

Oh yeah, 100%. Like, yeah, if if he's involved and if they keep if oh I'm hop hoping he keeps them on track, because he like look at the Witcher. Like people tried to keep that on track and that never that went just down the shooter. But the first season was really good because they like they kept a lot of the things the same. And then it sort of just went off the rails a little bit as the seasons progressed.

SPEAKER_02: 1:07:39

But let's let's rate this bad boy brash. I'm gonna let you go first because I feel like it's pretty obvious what you're gonna give this one.

SPEAKER_03: 1:07:47

No, I'm I'm actually gonna give it a one. That's me being generous. Okay purely because I didn't I didn't mind a lot of the casting. I thought a lot of the casting was really good. Just the scripts and the dialogue they had was very unfortunate. And then the fact that they like they just veered completely off from the books was also very disappointing. And I like as much as it's not the same as the books, I don't mind Sephora's voice in it being all like more nicer. Because I've also got the Aragon series in audiobooks as well. And the author of that does Sephira voice, and I swear when I first heard it, I'm like it's hard, like, but like I understand it it's probably actually more accurate than than than what the movie is, but I mean I don't mind l like Sephira's meant to be like this big mystical majestic creature. Give her a nice melodic mind voice instead of making her mind voice sound like grated cheese.

SPEAKER_02: 1:08:55

Yeah, also imagine hearing that just in the middle of the night and you just wake up in a start all the time. But alright. My I will also give this one because I did like the casting of Jeremy Irons, and I think that despite the fact that he was given lots of exposition to do, he did the best with it what he could. I also liked Rachel Velis, and I just I like Dragon, so it gets one star for that. I think the story beats were were off, but an average of of one out of five, which places this 29th on our fandom portals honor board, which is obviously last sitting under Jersey Girl, which gets 1.75. So we have a new wooden spooner, as we call it in Australia. I don't know if that's an American term, but we definitely use it. Wooden spoon means you're at the bottom, stirring all the crap. But yes, from here, brash, we move onwards and upwards. Continuing our theme arc on failure isn't final. Unfortunately for Aragon, failure was final. But we were able to learn some lessons in terms of inner potential, mentorship, trust, and connection through this movie. So next week, we are looking at Treasure Planets, which is a community pick from you guys. You guys voted this one in on one of our bracket polls on Instagram. So if you want to be a part of those, definitely go and join our socials, which is at fandom portals everywhere. We do these brackets on our Instagram, but we're also on threads. A lot of our community comments that we read out on the podcast come from threads as well. So if you wanted to get your uh say read out on the podcast, make sure you go and look at our polls and posts on those. But Treasure Planet is the one that you guys picked, so that's the one we're gonna do. Watched it today, blown away. But we're going to get into that a little bit more next week. So that's what's coming up. Make sure you save the date. Right every Wednesday. Gratitudes before we leave. I am grateful for Magic the Gathering. Reconnecting me with a few new friends, and I actually won a commander game, which is great. So the Avatar of Zendikar, great card. You get plant tokens for every single piece of land that you have on the field. So I was unassuming during this commander game and just said, I was like, oh man, all I'm getting is land. I had it in my hand the whole time. All I'm getting is land. So I wasn't a threat. And then I had like 25 lands, played that. What color objective? It was a wind grace commander, which means I had done forest, swamp, and mountain. And yeah, it was basically ramp. It was ramp hard and create tokens based on land and landfall and all that kind of stuff. Because everybody who doesn't play magic that's listening right now, they're like, What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_03: 1:11:35

But green green green green black?

SPEAKER_02: 1:11:38

And red too.

SPEAKER_03: 1:11:39

Green block red. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 1:11:41

But yeah. I digress. That's my gratitude. What's yours, Brash? The inheritance series. After all the shit you pulled on it today, the books is what you're talking about, right? Yeah. Yes, the books.

SPEAKER_03: 1:11:55

I mean, because um I read all the books, and then I hadn't picked like um I had just been pretty much going through like a whole bunch of other books, and I've been reading a bunch of other books and like Name of the Wind and everything like that.

SPEAKER_02: 1:12:08

Great book.

SPEAKER_03: 1:12:09

Great book. Very good book.

SPEAKER_02: 1:12:10

Patrick Rothfuss for those of you that want a meaty, chunky fantasy.

SPEAKER_03: 1:12:14

When is his when is his third book coming out? When is his third book? He created he made a fucking little tiny book about some of the other characters, but hasn't brought his third book yet.

SPEAKER_02: 1:12:23

Patrick Rothfuss needs to write his third book. But this is me, Aaron, signing off from the Phantom Portals podcast for this episode. Make sure you tune in with us next week. We are definitely going to be looking at Treasure Planet. Share our stuff on social media, if you will, and tell a friend about our podcast. If they love movies and love talking about them in different ways with friends, that's what our podcast is all about. So definitely go and do that. Signing out, keep learning, keep growing, keep loving phantoms. Bye.