Brisingr

Eragon and Saphira enter the battle, doing some damage to the soldiers on the parapets as they sweep toward the tower where Arya is trapped; they make quick work of the soldiers there and joyfully reunite with Arya and Blödhgarm, who had been attempting to sneak into the city and open the gates from within after three straight days of siege. Unfortunately, they were intercepted by a trio of spellcasters who then fled; the four return to the original plan of breaching the gate. Met with 50 soldiers outside the gate, the plan is for Arya and Blödhgarm to sneak up the towers while Eragon engages the soldiers on ground level. Before attacking, Eragon compels them to join him, promising they will come to no harm that night if they join the Varden against Galbatorix. Some turn, but most refuse to break their oath to Lady Lorana of Feinster, with the captain going as far as to curse Eragon—which only gets him immediately killed in front of his men and the Varden soldiers; at that point, there is a split between those who wish to surrender and the 20 men who remain to fight (and whom Eragon quickly kills).

Arya and Blödhgarm bring down the gates. Once in the city, Eragon finds Roran and brings him up to speed. The next thing is to reach the keep and take it from Lady Lorana while eradicating the city of its soldiers. In a rage, Eragon finds himself face to face with a 13-year-old boy holding a knife after chasing a group into a milliner’s home. He is able to stop himself from killing the boy. When he sees King Orrin’s men looting, he stops them to remind them that those people are villagers just like them and need to be treated with respect. Along the way, they see Saphira pull the roof off a meeting house and eat the soldiers she finds. Once the keep is the only thing left for them, Eragon takes the gate and Saphira the catapults. In an over-the-top display, Eragon calls on Brisingr to light the fire and cut through the gate, creating a new door for the Varden to move through. The soldiers stream into the courtyard of the keep.

Eragon, Saphira, and Arya take off on their own for the top of the keep, where they plan to capture Lady Lorana; as Eragon’s guard, Blödhgarm is upset he has not been informed. The narrative is interrupted by Eragon’s mental connection to Glaedr. He and Oromis have arrived in Gil’ead; Glaedr sees Thorn and Murtagh and regrets having to kill them in order to stop Galbatorix. At the top of the tower in Feinster, the trio find Lady Lorana on her chair with three spellcasters surrounding a man, chanting a spell. Lorana is clear-minded and tells them she hopes they can defeat the trio; she is unable to help because she swore herself to Galbatorix, but she knows they are creating a Shade to destroy the Varden—this is an act of evil. A second time, the narrative is interrupted by Glaedr’s perspective; mid-battle, Glaedr is sustaining an injury that Oromis is able to fix, while Thorn and Murtagh are losing energy. This time when Eragon returns to himself he is disoriented and in need of Arya’s assistance (and Saphira has experienced the same).

At first, each of them tries to break the concentration of a different spellcaster, but once they focus their energies on killing one at a time, Eragon is able to decapitate the tall man and Saphira defeats the corpulent one with a swipe, dashing his brains across the room. When they move to the third caster, spirits enter the room and converge on the man sitting at the center of the circle. For a third and final time, Eragon is cast into Glaedr’s perspective, where they are on their last leg against Thorn and Murtagh. Suddenly, the Rider and dragon skyrocket up into the air and Galbatorix is speaking through Murtagh, compelling Oromis to join forces with him. He claims he has lost his thirst for death and merely wants to rule his empire quietly, blaming all recent death and destruction on the Varden. When Oromis refuses, Murtagh doubles on the elderly Rider, taking advantage of his illness; it’s only a matter of time before he separates the man from his sword and deals him a deadly blow. His consciousness disappears from Glaedr’s view. Try as he might to take Thorn down on his own, he is soon confined to his Eldunarí.

Coming back into himself a third time, the female spellcaster has been killed. The man on the floor is now a Shade, with crimson hair, white skin, and maroon eyes; he calls himself Varaug. Only three people, including Eragon, have ever killed a Shade, and this one is more powerful than Durza had been. With the power of three of them (Eragon battling mentally while Arya stabs it through the heart) they are able to defeat it and free Lady Lorana. After, Saphira’s mourning reminds Eragon that Oromis and Glaedr have just perished; he tells Arya and they hold each other in grief. They strive to find Nasuada and tell her what has happened, in full.

Blödhgarm and his elves meet Arya, Saphira, Eragon, and new prisoner Lady Lorana on the stairs; they’re worried someone is hurt, and Eragon apologizes for running off without them. He admits he could have used their help against the Shade. The group expresses their need to find Nasuada, and they pass Lady Lorana to the elves for safekeeping. Despite being on opposing sides, she acknowledges appreciation for their destruction of the Shade before it could wreak havoc on all of Alagaësia. Once Nasuada has been located and they have her surrounded by spells, Eragon is able to share the details of his trip to Ellesméra. He shows them Glaedr’s Eldunarí, which has already dimmed considerably since Oromir’s death and the death of Glaedr’s body. Nasuada also believes the Eldunarí could be used against Galbatorix, as a weakness, if he could somehow be separated from them. The battle is won, but not the war.

Nasuada announces they will immediately begin marching onward to Dras-Leona and then to Urû’baen, where they will take on Galbatorix. Eragon and Saphira plan to leave Feinster for the Varden camp so they can rest undisturbed to process the knowledge that they are now the last free dragon and Rider. As they reach the gates to the city, Eragon climbs a parapet so they can watch the sunrise from the city walls. Eragon lifts Glaedr’s Eldunarí above his head, presenting it to the sun.