A Closer Look at Christopher Paolini's Eragon

Alright, let me start out by telling you that I happen to be a great fan of fantasy books like The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Prydain Chronicles, and The Chronicles of Narnia (though I must say that I do not agree with everything in those books). I love such tales of imaginary lands, battles, and characters, and like creating my own lands and stories out of my imagination; therefore you can see that I am not reviewing this book based on some bias against fantasy. I am going to present my review based upon the principles, commands, and rules laid out for us in God's Word. So stay with me, as I'm going to cover a big amount of material here in the following paragraphs.

To begin with, I watched the film Eragon about a year and a half ago, and as the movie turned out better than I had expected, I was intrested in reading the actual book, which is the first installment of three books called The Inheritance Cycle. About a month ago, my mom, rather reluctantly, let me borrow and begin the book, with the understanding that if there was objectionable material, we would not continue with the series (you must know that my mom and dad carefully screen books or movies that make it into our home).
As you can imagine I eagerly delved into the story, and in less than twenty four hours, had finished it. But by the time I was done, I had formed an entirely different opinion of the book than I had had before...

My first and greatest objection is that magic is probably the most prevelent theme throughout the entire story; but let me clarify something: I have no problem with the evil side using sorcery, as most of the time, like in the case of the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia, the wicked ones are a picture of Satan and his followers (there is an interesting topic about this concerning The Lord of the Rings, which I will address some other time). Satan and his followers are evil, and therefore since God is good and so are his commands, Satan and those with him hate God, his goodness, and his commands. No having the bad guys use magic does not bother me. I have an issue with the belief that magic and those who use it can be good. Now what scripture in the Bible does that contradict? "There shall not be found among you...one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer (a fortune-teller), or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritists, or one who calls up the dead (necromancy). For all these things are an aboination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out before you." Duet. 18:9-12.

Do you need any clearer proof that God hates such practices? And that scripture is only one of many that denounces magic and the use of it (see Lev.19:31, Isa. 8:19, Mal. 3:5, Jer. 10:2, Mic. 3:7, 1 Sam. 15:23 for a few more refrences). Search the Bible and see for yourself, if you don't believe me. You might say that magic and sorcery are not the same, but that such thinking is faulty and unbiblical. Magic, sorcery, witchcraft, astrology - they all point to one thing: the devil and his wickedness.

In the book Eragon, I often came across paragraphs which tried to separate wizards, fortune-tellers, witches, and the like into diferent categories of good and evil, but this too is wrong - the Bible condemns anyone who connects with spirits, tries to decipher the future or whatever "signs" they think they see in the stars (like astrology), or casts spells, or any of that stuff! There is no such thing as a "good witch" or a "good wizard". Sure, there are different ways to practice magic, like calling up the dead, conversing with sprits, or conjuring spells, but all of these are still evil. There's no gettin' around it! The main character in the book, and in fact several key people, cast spells and use magic in the cause of good, and it doesn't take a rocket-scientist to figure out that what we just read from Duet. clashes with this. In my opinion, you might as well read the Harry Potter books! (Remember, I'll address The Lord of the Rings later.)

Okay, I've addressed that issue, so lets move on. I also came across passages where profane language is used. The Bible tells us to "let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good and profitable..." Thus the use of profanity is not excusable. It's right there in front of you.

Thirdly, the charcters worship false gods. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Those are the words of the first of the Ten Commandments. Now what I'm talking about here is different from the use of characters that represent God, like Aslan (The Chronicles of Narnia), or Iluvitar (The Silmarillion). These characters represent the one true God, who created all things. In Eragon, there are many gods, and thus it cannot be said that they represent the Lord God.

Fourthly, the author obviously does not hold the same views of courtship and marriage as my family. In one scene, one of the characters kisses the girl he loves before they are man and wife. We believe the kiss is a sacred thing, something to be given only to the person you are married to and not to someone other than your spouse. When you protect yourself in this area, you're protecting the purity of your heart, saving it for that one and only spouse God may have for you.
Lastly, there is a crude refrence to adultery in one scene. Like profanity, I see not what it adds to the story, but for some reason the author seemed to think it was necessary. The Bible tells us to think on things that are pure. So unless you're going to say that adultery is pure, lovely, and admirable (in which case I suggest that you look more closely at God's Word) I think you'll agree its quite clear that we should not dwell on such things.

Well, there you have it: my review on the book Eragon. I hope it has been helpful, and I would appreciate any comments you might have, whether you agree or disagree with my view on the subjects just discussed. May all I've written be to the glory of God

Taking Every Word Captive to the Obedience of Christ,

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