There are many differences between the book and the film, which have received much fan backlash. Some of these are summarized in the following table:
Appearance and background of characters[]
Eragon[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Eragon is described having brown hair and brown eyes. | Eragon had blond hair and blue eyes. |
| Eragon was fifteen at the start of the story. | Eragon was seventeen at the start of the story. |
| The gedwëy ignasia mark that Eragon receives on the palm of his hand is a silvery oval. | The gedwëy ignasia is in the shape of an 'e' and is placed on the proximal of the thumb. |
| When he arrives in Farthen Dur, he is put in a room with Murtagh | He is not put into any room |
Saphira[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
|
Saphira's egg hatched before Roran's departure. Saphira has been lying in her egg for about a hundred years. |
Saphira's egg hatches after Roran leaves. Saphira tells Eragon she has "waited a thousand years to hear his thoughts". |
| Saphira's scales are intense blue, she has bat-like wings with membranes and scales and she has white bone neck-back-and-tail spikes along with two white fangs that protrude from her mouth. | Saphira is a rather dull grayish blue, and has feathers. And she has no spikes and her fangs do not show out of her mouth. |
|
Saphira breathes fire near the climax of the final battle, and uses it to distract Durza so Eragon can kill him. Her fire is blue to match her scales. |
Saphira starts to breath fire right before the battle begins, and uses it to kill many enemies during the battle. Her fire is orange. |
| Saphira grows to full size at a quick rate, but her growth is not instantaneous. She learns to fly due to her own natural instincts, and her ancestral knowledge. She started speaking to Eragon a few days after she was born. Eragon names Saphira after learning a number of dragon names from Brom. | Saphira flies with the help of Eragon, who throws her up in the air. After a transitional shot to a short time later she is fully grown and then speaks to Eragon. |
Arya[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Arya is described having raven dark black hair, green eyes, and pointed ears. She is taller than most men. An elven tattoo (yawë) is on her right shoulder. | Arya has reddish-gold hair, blue eyes, and human ears. She is slightly shorter than Eragon. It is never shown or mentioned that she has a tattoo, or may not have one. |
| Arya wears dark-colored clothing, particularly black leather. | Arya wears light colored clothing. Even her armor is lightly colored. |
| Arya has a cold, stiff, no-nonsense personality, especially towards Eragon. She treats him respectfully, and shows no romantic affection. | Arya acts warmly towards Eragon. She even appears to be attracted to him romantically, as she tells him they "might meet each other again soon." |
| Arya is in a self-induced coma to slow the effects of poison | Arya is poisoned by Durza after they escape and collapses |
|
Arya's body is covered all over with slashes, cuts, and bruises, received from being imprisoned & tortured in Gil'ead. Arya is in self-induced coma all the time before reaching the Varden |
Arya doesn't show any signs of such torture.
Arya is awake and speaks to Eragon with words |
Brom[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
|
Brom has a long white beard, silver hair, a carved staff, an elven ring, and a pipe. |
Brom has a short gray beard, gray hair, and no carved staff or pipe or elven ring. |
| Brom is killed by the Ra'zac | Brom is killed by Durza |
Murtagh[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Murtagh's hair is brown. (although his hair is described as being black in later books) | Murtagh's hair is black. |
| Murtagh's scar is on his back, and goes from his right shoulder to his left hip. It is white and silvery, like scar tissue. | Murtagh's scar is on his side, and horizontal. It is red and rough, like a scab. |
| Murtagh has a horse, sword, bow, dagger, and horn. | Murtagh has only a bow. |
Durza[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Durza the Shade is tall and slim, with very pale skin, crimson hair, maroon eyes, sharp teeth, and ordinary fingernails. | Durza is not particularly slim or pale. He has crimson hair, white eyes, ordinary teeth, and sharp fingernails. |
| Durza's primary weapon is a sword that carries a long thin scratch on its blade from his duel with Ajihad. | Durza's primary weapon is magic. He carries a sword, but does not use it. |
Galbatorix[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Galbatorix is only ever mentioned; no one knows what his identifying characteristics are like (except for his "black eyes" as testified by Murtagh). He knows that the 'stone' is a dragon egg. | Galbatorix makes several appearances (with a movie-director-chosen appearance). He refers to Saphira's egg as just a 'stone'. |
| Galbatorix, after the death of his first dragon, used dark magic to forcefully create a bond with a young Shruikan. Furthermore, in his quest to topple the power, he convinced Morzan and 12 others to turn against their order. | Galbatorix still did topple the riders, but Jarnunvösk is never is never mentioned and there is no indication that Shruikan is not Galbatorix's original dragon. While Brom mentions Galbatorix lured Morzan over to his side, there is no mentioning that any others joined him. Instead, Galbatorix used the Riders' growing internal conflict to destroy them. |
| Galbatorix does not know the location of the elven or dwarven cities. | Galbatorix possesses a map that shows the exact location of every city of the elves and dwarves. |
| Galbatorix wants Eragon and Saphira alive (so they can join him in order to rebuild the Dragon Riders.) | Galbatorix desperately wants Eragon killed so Saphira will die. |
Other characters[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Uncle Garrow's name is mentioned repeatedly. | Uncle Garrow's name is never mentioned. |
| Roran first tells Eragon the news about his departure and he leaves because someone had offered him a job. | Uncle Garrow gets to know the news about Roran's departure first and Roran has no idea what he is going to do. |
| Angela is a cheerful mature woman with dark curls of brown hair. She talks like everybody else, meets with Eragon twice, and tries to prove that toads are really frogs. She lives in Teirm and has the werecat Solembum as her companion. She later fights in the Battle under Farthen Dûr. | Angela is young, blond, and ornately-garbed. She talks in the third-person, meets with Eragon once, and has no interest in frogs or toads. She is not a witch, but a mere fortune-teller. She lives in Daret, and has no pets or companions. She makes no appearance in Farthen Dûr. |
| Angela is not blind | Angela is blind |
| While traveling, Brom and Eragon get some help from Brom's merchant friend, Jeod. | Jeod does not appear in the movie. |
| The Ra'zac are tall, hunched, twisted, insect-like creatures with beaks and black eyes as large as fists. They talk, carry swords and Seithr Oil, and wear hoods and cloaks to cover their "twisted hideous bodies". They are organic creatures hatched from eggs, who joined Galbatorix after they were born. | The Ra'zac are artificial creatures summoned from insects and dirt, apparently created under Durza's command. They are covered in rags and resembled a mummy. They carry daggers and no Seithr Oil, nor talk, only hiss/snarl. |
| Ajihad's head is bald. | Ajihad has long black hair. |
| Nasuada and Hrothgar are referred to by name. | Nasuada and Hrothgar are not referred to by name. |
| The twins test Eragon after he arrives | The twins do not appear in the movie |
| Hrothgar, King of the dwarves, is four feet tall with white hair and a long white beard. | Hrothgar is the size of an ordinary human, with light brown hair and beard. |
| Urgals are tall, yellow-eyed, gray-skinned, and horned. | Urgals are shorter, stocky, have red-eyes, and red skin. They do not have horns, and resemble savage cave-men. |
| All non-human races have key characteristics. The elves have pointed ears, the dwarves are short, and the Urgals have horns. These characters are always labeled appropriately. | None of the non-human races has any key characteristics, and are never referred to as elves or dwarves. |
| Horst is described as a big, hulking, bulky blacksmith with brisky black hair, and a rumbling voice - he harbors the characteristics of being confident, brave, whole-hearted, and optimistic. His wife Elain is blonde. | Horst is portrayed as somewhat a rather smaller man with a balding head (and it is never mentioned that he is a blacksmith). His voice is not husky. He turns out to be vulnerable, pessimistic, worrying, and broken-hearted. His wife, Elain, is a brunette. |
| Orik is an important dwarf character who appears several times late in the story. | Orik makes no appearance whatsoever. |
Objects and places[]
Zar'roc[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Zar'roc has a gold pommel with a ruby, and the handle is wrapped in silver wire. The sheath is of a wine-red color. Morzan's insignia is on the blade and sheath. | Zar'roc has a silver pommel with a sapphire, and the handle is wrapped in leather. The sheath is black. Morzan's insignia is not on the blade or sheath. |
Miscellaneous[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| The story takes place at the beginning of winter. | The story takes place in the middle of spring. |
Plot[]
Eragon raising Saphira[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| In the beginning, the egg has already been stolen by Brom and Jeod and in the Varden's possession for fifteen years. Arya is riding peacefully before she is attacked. | The egg has only recently been stolen (it doesn't say by whom). Arya is riding frantically before she is attacked. |
| Eragon presented Saphira a list of names and allowed her to choose. | Saphira tells Eragon her name. |
| Saphira grows to full size over a period of months and is kept in the woods, grows up in a tree with a shelter made by Eragon. | Saphira grows to full size instantaneously the moment she enters the air, never kept in the woods, has no shelter outside, kept in Eragon's loft. |
| Eragon receives large bloody gashes between his legs, being ripped away by Saphira's hard scales, while flying into the Spine. They stay there for a night after Saphira hears about the Ra'zac. | Eragon receives no such wounds, and Saphira flies him in the air for a few short minutes before dropping him off at his dead uncle's house. |
Carvahall[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Brom tells everyone the full story of the Riders' downfall and Galbatorix. No soldiers are present there. | Brom briefly alludes to the events of the Riders' downfall. A soldier overhears him and almost arrests him. |
| Eragon asks Brom questions in order to learn more about dragons. Brom answers willingly. | Eragon breaks into Brom's house and begins reading his books in order to learn more about dragons, then questions Brom. Brom refuses to answer. |
| Eragon is unable to read until after Brom teaches him. | Eragon reads Brom's books after he broke into Brom's house. |
| Brom gives Zar'roc to Eragon immediately before their journey begins, and uses his own shortsword. | Brom continues to use Zar'roc until he is about to die, whereupon he gives it to Eragon. Throughout most of the movie, Eragon uses a shortsword instead. |
| The Traders come to Carvahall at one point. | The Traders never come to Carvahall at any time. |
| The Ra'zac completely destroyed Eragon's house and mortally injured Garrow. Eragon takes Uncle Garrow back to Carvahall and stays at Horst's house for a while before leaving. Garrow is buried afterwards. | The Ra'zac do not completely destroy the house, and kill Garrow before Eragon returns home to find him, when he is already dead. Eragon leaves immediately, and Garrow is cremated by Brom. |
| Sloan tells the Ra'zac about Eragon willingly, and is allowed to leave their presence. | The Ra'zac torture Sloan into telling them about Eragon, and seem to kill him. |
| Sloan is lean and scrawny, with a sallow complexion and black eyes. He refuses to take the 'stone' because he hates the Spine and will have nothing to do with it. He insists Eragon leave his shop, but cannot convince him to go. Horst and Katrina intervene, they criticize Sloan for his bad temper, and Horst pays Sloan money to give Eragon meat. | Sloan is large, without sallow skin or black eyes. He refuses to take the 'stone' because, "it belongs to the King." (There is no way possible he could know that, unless he was both present at its thievery & it's magical appearance in the Spine) He easily convinces Eragon to leave the shop (though Eragon steals some meat with Katrina's help in a deleted scene). |
| No soldiers of the Empire are present in Carvahall. | Carvahall is swarming with soldiers. |
| Horst, his wife Elain, and their sons, Albriech and Baldor, remain in Carvahall up to the end of the book and are seen or mentioned several times. There are many other villagers named in Carvahall, including Fisk and Morn. | Horst is seen briefly in two short scenes, Elain and her sons are seen briefly in one, and they do not play the parts they did in the book. Both sons are recruited into the Imperial Army and leave Carvahall early in the story. No villagers besides Horst, Eragon, and Roran are named. |
| Roran leaves Carvahall to work at Dempton's mill in Therinsford. His motivation is to raise enough money to marry Katrina. | Roran leaves Carvahall for an uncertain destination. His motivation is to avoid being drafted into the army. |
Eragon and Brom traveling[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
|
It isn't revealed that Brom was a Dragon Rider until minutes before his death. Brom first sees Saphira around Eragon's destroyed farm. |
Eragon guesses Brom's identity long before Brom dies, by ripping a cloth off of his hand. Brom first sees Saphira somewhere in the woods in the middle of nowhere. |
|
Eragon slips in a small stream, and breaks his right wrist, which gives him immense pain through much of the journey and he is forced to learn how to wield a sword with his left hand. |
Eragon doesn't break his wrist. |
|
Eragon forms the ideal plan to leave with Brom and Saphira from Carvahall in order to pursue and kill the Ra'zac. Brom and Eragon travel to Therinsford, Yazuac, Daret, Teirm, and Dras-Leona. |
Eragon is taken against his will, forced to leave and travel with Brom for no apparent reason. They only travel to Daret; all the other events that happen in other towns are aggregated together here. |
| Brom buys the horses Snowfire and Cadoc in Therinsford. Snowfire is white. | Brom has the horses Snowfire and Cadoc, who are not mentioned by name, before leaving Carvahall. Snowfire is black. |
| Daret is on land. Around 60 archers are situated on the roofs to defend themselves from intruding Urgals and/or the Empire. Brom and Eragon come hither to buy a bunch of supplies (especially some gloves to help Eragon hide the mark on his hand.) | Daret rests on stilts over a gloomy body of water. No such "archers" are present; Brom and Eragon come to only "buy some bread." |
| Eragon first uses magic in Yazuac. He and Brom notice something is wrong (especially when they see the pile of dead villagers) and encounter two Urgals. | Eragon first uses magic in Daret. No "pile of dead villagers" is ever present; he and Brom are attacked by multiple Urgals. |
| Brom scolds Eragon for prematurely using magic that could have killed himself. | Brom tells Eragon that using magic should be a last resort, because it has limitations and he is willing to teach Eragon the elvish language but warns him that he needs to learn his strength limitations. |
| The Ra'zac were not killed until Brisingr, by Roran and Eragon. | The Ra'zac were killed before the movie ended, by Brom and Eragon. |
| Brom, Eragon, and Saphira are temporarily captured by the Ra'zac, but manage to escape. Saphira and Eragon are not harmed permanently, but Brom is mortally injured. | Brom, Eragon, and Saphira successfully fight off the Ra'zac's attempt to capture them, and kill them in the process. Brom is not harmed permanently, but Saphira is injured, and the Ra'zac are killed. |
| Brom is killed by the Ra'zac throwing a dagger at him between the ribs. | Brom is killed by Durza with a spear in his chest |
| Brom is put into a sandstone tomb with his belongings where Eragon shapes it with magic and Saphira transmutes it into diamond through semi-passive magic the following morning so that Eragon and she can see through it. | Brom is put in his grave (with no belongings) on grass at the edge of a cliff with stones piled together. Saphira "freezes" it but Eragon does not use magic to shape it. |
Rescuing Arya[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Eragon dreams of Arya several times, but never communicates with her. In the dream, she is always in a prison cell. | Eragon dreams of Arya once, and talks to her during it. In the dream, she is in a forest. |
| Arya is poisoned with a drug and a potent poison, both of organic origins. | Arya is poisoned by a magical venom created by Durza. No drug is employed to suppress her magic. |
| Arya does not reveal that she is Dröttningu until the second book, Eldest. It is stated then that only a very few people know of her identity, and they kept it secret on her request. | Arya reveals to Eragon that she is a princess in his dream. |
| Murtagh temporarily defeats Durza by shooting him with two arrows. Durza feels immense pain when he is disembodied. | Eragon defeats Durza by shooting him with one arrow; Durza feels no pain. |
Eragon, Arya and Murtagh traveling[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Murtagh agrees to accompany Eragon to the Varden, but refuses to enter. He has little knowledge of the Beor Mountains. | Murtagh agrees to accompany Eragon to the Varden and enters optimistically. He has a thorough knowledge of the Beor Mountains. |
|
Eragon, Saphira, Murtagh, and Arya have a lengthy journey to the Varden, which is chapters long. Arya is unconscious during this journey. After Arya shows Eragon a vision of where the Varden are, Murtagh and him have an argument and fight about it. |
They travel to the Varden within a few minutes of movie time. Eragon and Murtagh have no fight. Arya is awake at the beginning, helping to bury Brom, but collapses later on. |
| Eragon, Murtagh, Arya, and Saphira travel through the Hadarac Desert, which is hot, long and has no life forms anywhere. | The desert is in the movie, but it has dead trees and is not very sandy. |
|
Eragon learns how to summon water from the ground in the Hadarac Desert. |
No such magic is performed by Eragon. |
Farthen Dûr[]
| Book | Movie |
|---|---|
| Ajihad tells Eragon about Durza's name, and Angela tells him about what Shades are. He does not know either of these things beforehand. | Brom tells Eragon about Durza's name and what Shades are. Durza is a name seemingly known to all. |
| Ajihad recognizes Murtagh as Morzan's son because they have the same voice. | Ajihad recognizes Murtagh as Morzan's son because they look the same. |
| When Eragon blacks out after killing Durza, the-Cripple-Who-Is-Whole (Oromis) appears to him in a vision and advises him about Ellesméra. Arya remains in Tronjheim at the end of the story, but travels back to Ellesméra in the next book with Eragon and Orik. | Eragon apparently has no vision of Oromis. Arya leaves for Ellesméra afterwards, without Eragon and Orik. |
| The Empire's army in Farthen Dûr is made up of Urgals and Kull, with no humans. | The Empire's army in Farthen Dûr is made up of both Urgals and humans. None of the Urgals are Kull. |
| There are scenes involving Hrothgar's throne room and Isidar Mithrim. | There are no scenes involving Hrothgar's throne room or Isidar Mithrim. |
| During the Battle under Farthen Dûr, Eragon attacks Durza with his mind and sees the Shade's past as a human named Carsaib, who lost control of his mind when evil spirits entered his body. | Eragon does not attack Durza's mind, and learns nothing of the Shade's past. |
| The battle between Durza and Eragon takes place entirely on the ground inside Tronjheim. Saphira is not mortally injured. | Durza flies into battle against Eragon and Saphira on a beast of dark smoke or vapor, presumably created by magic. Durza has no problems creating or sustaining the Beast. This really violates the laws of magic, because not even a Shade has enough strength to conjure a dragon-like monster with a large structure and enough density to support someone's weight. The beast injures Saphira to the point of almost dying, if Eragon hadn't healed her.
This fight heavily parallels the fight between Eragon, Saphira, Murtagh, and Thorn in Eldest, as it begins with dragons grappling at each other and Durza blocking streams of fire with his magic, much like Murtagh, and Thorn crashing into a pillar, much like the Beast. |
|
Eragon defeats Durza when the Shade is distracted by Saphira and Arya shatter the Isidar Mithrim flying overhead. Once dead, the spirits in the Shade are freed and torment Eragon. After the Battle under Farthen Dûr, Eragon has a vision of Oromis, and wakes up to find Angela the herbalist, Murtagh, Arya, and then Saphira by his side. |
Eragon defeats Durza by having Saphira throw him at Durza using her tail. Nothing, besides several wooden structures, was destroyed as a result of the fight. Durza turns to dust when he dies. Eragon has no vision while blacking out, and wakes up to find only Murtagh by his side. |
| Farthen Dûr is a tall, hollow, almost invincible mountain with a hole in the top. It is over ten miles high. Tronjheim is a marble city mountain built inside the mountain. | Tronjheim is made of wood and stone, and looks more like Tarnag, a dwarf city visited in Eldest, or a valley, rather than a mountain. The mountain itself is much less than ten miles high. |
Other differences[]
- On two movie posters, Saphira is featured with bat-like membrane wings, but the movie features her with feathers.
- The movie takes place over a much shorter time than the book. It is had been mentioned in several different sections that the film took place of about three days, while the story in the novel takes place over months. Also, a quote by Arya ("Yesterday, you were a farm boy. Today, you are a hero."), is very misleading as to the fact we could almost believe her. She says "yesterday" and "today" as figures of speech, not actual time periods.
- In the movie, Durza unmitigatedly delves into Arya's mind and somehow finds out that the dragon egg has hatched for Eragon, and seemingly knows where he lives (which hardly makes any sense in how he could do that). In the book, Durza is totally clueless as to the whereabouts of Eragon and Saphira; not until they near Gil'ead and Eragon is imprisoned there.
- In the book, Eragon is motivated to fight the Urgals because they hurt people. In the movie, he does so only to prove his strength.
- In the novel, the story ends with Eragon receiving a scar from the battle with Durza and then promising to go to Ellesméra to resume his training with Oromis the elf. But in the movie, Eragon receives a back wound from fighting Durza, but it's never mentioned after the battle, not do they ever mention the fact that he needs further training, and it all ends with Eragon and Arya going their own ways, and Galbatorix unleashes his black dragon, Shruikan.
- At the end of the film, Galbatorix unleashed Shruikan to go and attack Eragon. But that was never known to have happened in the first book; he fights Eragon and Saphira in Inheritance , the fourth book of the Inheritance cycle.
- In the movie, it is said that if a dragon dies, the Rider is unaffected; if the Rider dies, so does the dragon. In the books, this is not true, as while the living partner is sent nearly insane by the severing of that connection, it can be (and has been) overcome. This is demonstrated by Glaedr in the series, and mentioned that others who survived this loss served with distinction in the past.
- Not only has the movie included many inconsistencies to the book, but the film's own plot is something to talk about: [1]