Books were alright, despite a complete lack of particular logic of context throughout(no, I don't have a damn clue what I just said). Movie was terrible, and I'm pretty sure they shot themselves in the
foot as far as doing a movie for the second book.
1. What the hell was the level of technology in their society? It keeps going from Dark Ages(which would be most likely since it takes place roughly a century after the violent collapse of a Roman Empire-like institution of government), to mid-1400s, back to mid-1200s, to Steampunk, back to Dark Ages, and again to the 1200s.
2. The battle at the end of the second book, Galbatorix's army supposedly numbers over 100,000. Looking at the map in the front of the books, there's not a whole lot of places to draft troops from, even if you include the places not shown(unless there's a whole helluvalot of places not shown). Carvahall, a small-moderate village, numbered 300-400 before being evacuated. I doubt there's 100,000 people in Teirm, the second- or third-largest city in the Empire. A far more likely estimate would be 30-40 thousand peasant draftees along with the 16 thousand professional soldiers that form the core of the Empire's army.
3. Prior to that, when Nasuada and Orrin are preparing for the battle, it is mentioned after the ridiculous size of the enemy army, that there are "tactics to defeat a larger, but not neccessarily superior, force". Only that the Varden doesn't have a superior force. Most of their veterans were killed at the end of the first book's battle, and most of their new force is untrained volunteers and refugees that managed to flee the Empire. It's unlikely that they've had time to equip or properly train them. Furthermore, Orrin mentions that "There are nobles who I must convince to back me, armor and weapons to be constructed, supplies to be gathered..." which means that the Varden and Surdan supply lines are already stretched to the breaking point even before their army has been mobilized. So it's more like a massive, inferior, army going against a small, inferior army. I'd put money on the big army.
4. That also insinuates that Orrin has little control over his people. This is further reinforced by him placing himself under Nasuada's command for the battle.
5. Speaking of incapable leadership, they chose Nasuada to be the main commander for the battle based on the fact that "she has more experience in war than anyone else here". Seeing as the Varden had only been involved in minor skirmishes and raid up until the end of the first book, and even then Nasuada fought only as a soldier(maybe an officer beforehand, since she wasn't even supposed to be at that battle), it looks pretty bad for the entire Surdan military command structure if an 18-year old girl is more qualified to lead an army than they are.
6. Now, I know we all hate those damned elves, but what really burns is that they did not even start their preparations for war until after they learned that there was a massive army going after their allies. Why? Probably to go for a massive land-grab campaign against the unprotected north half of the empire while everyone else was busy killing each other. Damn elves.
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Topic: Our Sci-Fi & Fantasy Club watched 'Eragon' tonight (Read 14422 times)