Elva

This article is about the character. You may be looking for Elva (chapter).

Elva Farseer
Biographical information
Age	4 (appears 10)
Physical description
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Hair Color	Black
Eye Color	Violet / Purple
Description	piercing violet eyes, dark or black hair, pale "bone white" skin, and "sharp-angled" facial features, with a star-shaped gedwëy ignasia on her forehead
Chronological and political information
Affiliation	Varden (formerly)
Family	Greta
Known teachers	Angela (Mentor)

Thank for you for staying with me. I know what it must have cost you, and I'm grateful."
"Grateful? There's an empty word for me, Lady Nightstalker. Have you anything to eat? I'm famished.— Nasuada and Elva

Elva Farseer is a human girl whose guardian, Greta, asked Eragon and Saphira to bless her as a baby.

Biography

Early life

In Eragon, Elva is first introduced as an orphaned baby who was being cared for by an old woman, Greta , The two had fled the Broddring Kingdom, ruled by Galbatorix, to the dwarven city of Tronjheim to seek refuge with the dwarves and the Varden. When Eragon and Saphira arrived in Tronjheim to join the Varden, Greta begged the Dragon Rider and dragon to bless Elva with their magic.

Saphira touched her brow, leaving a silver star upon her forehead in the form of the Gedwëy ignasia, and Eragon used the Ancient Language to bless Elva. However, in Eldest, Eragon learned that he mistakenly cursed Elva instead of blessing her, by messing up his verb conjugation and using the word for "shield", as opposed to "shielded" by in the Ancient Language replacing the "-rö" suffix with an "-r". The complete spell Eragon used was, "Atra guliä un ilian tauthr ono un atra ono waíse skölir fra rauthr", which translates to, "May luck and happiness follow you and may you be a shield from misfortune". What Eragon really meant, was "May luck and happiness follow you and may you be shielded from misfortune".

As a consequence, Elva aged rapidly, having the appearance of a 4-year-old in a matter of weeks, and she spoke in the voice of a grown woman. She grew up with feeling the pain of everyone around her, and was doomed to "shield" others within a certain physical range of proximity from any pain or suffering. Elva could also foresee when a person was about to be damaged, and was compelled to do anything in her power to prevent. If she resisted, there were "consequences", including vomiting and her taking on the other person's suffering.

Elva was assigned to be Nasuada's bodyguard after saving her from an assassination attempt by the Black Hand. Nasuada also had the herbalist-witch Angela watch over Elva for her. Angela extracts a promise from Eragon that he will do all in his power to take his blessing-turned-curse off of Elva.

Elva's parents are unknown; it is presumed that they died not long after her birth, assuming her father was even still alive at that time.

Brisingr

Eragon tried to remove his curse from her: he failed, but still cast a spell that changed her need to help others in pain or danger, thus she could decide of her own free-will if she wanted to ignore it.

Following Eragon's failure, Elva dismissed her caretaker, Greta, as well as stated that she would be "beholden to no one." She displayed an alarming tendency to indulge her darker and more malicious side once freed from the forceful compulsion to shield others from impending misfortune:

Elva’s eyes glowed with unsavory glee. “I will never be like ordinary people. If I must be different, then let me keep that which sets me apart. As long as I can control this power, as it seems I now can, I have no objection to carrying this burden, for it shall be by my choice and not forced upon me by your magic, Eragon. Ha! From now on, I shall answer to no one and no thing. If I help anyone, it will be because I want to. If I serve the Varden, it will be because my conscience tells me I should and not because you ask me to, Nasuada, or because I’ll throw up if I don’t. I will do as I please, and woe unto those who oppose me, for I know all their fears and shall not hesitate to play upon them in order to fulfill my wishes.”

It is important to note that Elva's eagerness to use her curse to play upon others' secret fears most likely stems from the fact that she had been forced to experience the suffering of the entire world from infanthood.

Angela stated that she would have to "spend the next ten years teaching the girl how to behave". She had cast a spell that prevented Elva's ability from having any effect on her the moment she first met her, but she refused to teach it to anyone else. Elva stated that she was now ambivalent toward Eragon, but regarding Saphira, she stated "I am and shall always remain your faithful servant," no small thing, seeing as Eragon and Saphira are directly bonded.

During the battle with the Laughing Dead, Angela stated that Elva was "not very coherent" and that she was going to put her to sleep until the violence was at an end, showing that Elva still had much work to do if she wished to master her ability. In Ellesméra, when Eragon spoke of Elva, Oromis stated that even though Eragon had not succeeded in removing the whole of the spell, he had fulfilled his obligation.

Inheritance

Elva stayed with the Varden in their war against the Broddring Empire. When Eragon went to capture Dras-Leona, he asked her to come with him as protection, but she refused. Afterwards, Eragon scolded her for her decision as she could have prevented Wyrden's death. Regretting her mistake, Elva helped to the fight Imperial soldiers who were attempting to capture Nasuada. At Urû'baen, Elva, along with Eragon, Saphira, Arya and the other elves, confronted Galbatorix, but her gift was rendered useless by a spell preventing her from speaking. Galbatorix offered her a deal to join him that Eragon claimed "tempted" her, but Elva could not respond.

After being rendered unconscious after Galbatorix killed himself with his "be not" spell, Elva was saved by Eragon, who spirited her away with two other children that Galbatorix had kidnapped on Saphira's back.

Upon waking, Elva noted the injuries and pain of many human civilians in Ilirea who had been injured in either the Battle of Urû'baen, or by Galbatorix's explosion. The girl also alerted Eragon to Arya, Blödhgarm, and the other elves escaping Galbatorix's citadel alive, with the group having successfully recovered the green dragon egg that would later hatch into Fírnen, as well as Galbatorix's Eldunarí.

When Lord Däthedr of the elves suggested that Eragon become new king of the Broddring Empire, when considering the proposal, Eragon noted that "only Elva, and maybe Murtagh, would be [powerful enough to be] able to stop him".

At Nasuada's coronation as the new queen of the Broddring Empire, Elva was instructed by Eragon to carry Nasuada's train of mink; Eragon insisted to the Varden that the girl stay as close to Nasuada as possible to protect her. Elva continued to protect Nasuada on Eragon's orders for several months, including saving Nasuada's life in at least one assassination attempt against the new ruler.

After the fall of Galbatorix, Eragon learned the Name of Names from Murtagh, and offered to remove the curse he had put upon Elva. The girl refused Eragon's offer, but thanked him anyways.

[Elva] did not react with delight, as he [Eragon] expected, but sat staring at the floor, a frown upon her pale face. She remained silent for the better part of an hour - he sitting across from her, waiting without complaint.

Then she looked at him and said, "No. I would rather stay as I am...I am grateful that you thought to ask, but this is too large a part of me, and I cannot give it up. Without my ability to sense others' pain, I would only be an oddity - a misbegotten aberration, good for nothing but satisfying the low-minded curiosity of those who consented to have me around, of those who tolerated me. With it [my ability], I am still an oddity, but I can be useful as well, and I have a power that others fear and a control over my own destiny, which many of my [female] sex do not."

She gestured at one of the ornate rooms where she was staying. "Here, I can live in comfort - I can live in peace - and yet I can continue to do some good my helping Nasuada. If you take away my ability, then what would I have? What would I do? What would I be? To remove your spell would be no blessing, Eragon. No, I will stay as I am, and I will bear the trials of my gift of my own free will. But I do thank you."

When he later returned to Ilirea to meet with Queen Nasuada, Eragon felt somewhat uneasy when Nasuada informed him that Elva had putr her in a high spirits. While Eragon still felt like he could not fully trust Elva, and feared that the girl may "was manipulating Nasuada for her own ends", Nasuada informed Eragon that Elva had saved her from years of pain, depression, and sadness from her time spent as Galbatorix's prisoner: "She [Elva] told me what I needed to hear, I suppose. It was the fulfillment of a promise she made me, long ago, in the castle of Aberon."

Nasuada also told Eragon that he didn't need to worry about her, because "she knew herself too well for Elva to unbalance her, even if she tried". In spite of this, Eragon was concerned that Elva might still "break" Nasuada at some point in the future.

In the meantime, Elva would still serve as Nasuada's protector, as the new Queen and her handmaids taught the girl how to do embroidery. Elva, alongside Nasuada, later bid a tearful goodbye to Eragon and Saphira when the dragon and Rider left Alagaësia for good.

The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm

After the events of Inheritance, Elva was given a lavish chamber in Ilirea. She quickly became a nuisance to the people of the city by abusing her power for amusement. She was, reportedly, responsible for fights and caused trade negotiations to be set back by several weeks. In addition, she caused the most important food supplier in the army to be found dishonouring the dwarven chapel, and make the elven ambassador cry. Because of this, Nasuada was forced to prevent her from entering the city.

Angela visited Elva's room while she was being kept from entering the city, offering her an apprenticeship. Elva accepted the offer. She revealed Angela's darkest secret to her, as a demonstration of her power and to test if Angela was capable of handling it. Angela did not react in the way that Elva expected. After saying (a rather hurtful) farewell to Greta, Angela and Elva left the room in Ilirea by a magic portal that Angela opened in the wall. After stepping through this portal, they were transported to a location by the sea.

Angela, Solembum and Elva embarked on a 'take-around' of notable locations following this, to show Elva more of Alagaësia. This included visits to Du Weldenvarden, the dream well in Mani's Caves, and Tronjheim. Following this, they visited Eragon at Mount Arngor, hoping that Elva might be able to use her power to soothe the minds of some of the Eldunarí. At the time of their arrival at Mount Arngor, Eragon described Elva as appearing to be around 10 years old. Angela mentions that Elva will have a 'bright future', and, considering Angela's fortune-telling powers, this is likely to be true.

Elva also appears to get along well with the dwarves, as she is described as being left alone by Eragon and Angela to eat meals with them.

Book 5 and Beyond

Author Christopher Paolini confirmed that Elva was originally considered for the role of "Green Rider" in Inheritance, before he chose Arya instead. He also confirmed that it was "possible" that Elva could become a Dragon Rider in the future. However, Paolini voiced his concerns that making Elva a Rider would make her "overpowered", citing her "amazing ability". He said, "being a Rider as well seems like overkill to me", but also revealed, "If she were, though, she'd be pretty scary. Even Galbatorix wouldn't have stood a chance against her".

Paolini also stated in another interview as to whether Elva will ever meet Thorn, Murtagh's dragon: "They will definitely meet at some point. No question about it."

Physical Appearance

Elva is described as having piercing violet purple eyes, dark hair, pale skin, and angular facial features: "Her sharp-angled face was bone white, for she rarely ventured outside." (Brisingr, "Winged Tidings", p. 113) She also has a star-shaped gedwëy ignasia on her brow; hence, her nickname, "Shining Brow".

Elva's unusual purple eyes, per author Christopher Paolini, are a result of Eragon and Saphira's blessing: "Elva’s eyes have been affected by Eragon’s actions. The color of her eyes is the physical manifestation of the magic that flows through her, just as Durza’s maroon eyes and crimson hair reflected the amount of energy that coursed through him."

At the end of Inheritance, Elva is a young girl, even though she is only around four years old chronologically. According to author Christopher Paolini in a Q&A, "Elva's growth/maturation leveled off once she reached the point where she was able to start interacting with her environment, and being able to protect people from their pain. Once that happened, there wasn't a reason for her spell/curse to accelerate her growth any further."

As of The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm, Eragon mentions that Elva now appears to be "around 10 years old" physically.

Role in Eragon movie

Elva was completely omitted from the film, even though she plays a very important role in Eldest. She does, however, appear in a deleted scene.

Behind the Scenes

On January 7, 2015, author Christopher Paolini posted an entry titled "Elva: the Unexpected Character" on Paolini.com. In it, he provided "behind the scenes" background on Elva, how he created her character, and her importance in Paolini's perspective and writing.

Paolini wrote, "I never intended to have Elva in the series; she wasn't in the initial outline. The scene where Eragon blesses/curses her was something I wrote on the spur of the moment, inspired by the internal logic of the story and a desire to demonstrate Eragon’s new position within the Varden (better to show they held him high regard than to just say). Even once the scene was written, I never thought that Elva would end up playing such an important role later in the series. In fact, I didn't even realize that Eragon had cursed her until a good ways into Eldest."

"Thus, it wasn’t Eragon who made a mistake when he blessed/cursed Elva. It was me. I was the one who used the wrong word (skölir instead of sköliro) and only discovered my error while compiling a language guide for the deluxe edition of Eragon. At the urging of my sister, Angela, I had made an effort to standardize the ancient language and smooth out some of the wrinkles and missteps. Only then did it become clear what I/Eragon had actually done to poor Elva...My first instinct was to correct the error in reprints and to wave off the whole thing as a slip of the finger. After all, no one likes to admit they made a mistake. However, the more I thought about the difference between the two words (shield and shielded), the more intriguing the dramatic possibilities became..."

"With regard to Elva, I asked myself, 'What if Eragon really had cursed her? What would be the consequences?' And then worked out those consequences, both for the character and for the story as a whole. At each step along the way, those kinds of questions were what allowed me to develop this line of thought—to give each possibility a chance to grow and flower in my mind."

"My experience with Elva taught me that although I could have chosen an easier solution, my search for a deeper, more interesting way to deal with the problem ultimately led me to create one of the most memorable characters in the story. Now I’m always on the lookout for other moments that may propel my fiction in an unexpected direction and breathe new life into the plot."

She was in the running to be a Dragon Rider.