|
The title of this article is conjectural. |
In the Kingdom by the Sea was a poem Eragon wrote for the Blood-Oath Celebration. It has always been hard to write fiction in the Ancient Language, for one can not tell untruths in that tongue, but Eragon was able to do so because of the allegorical meanings. The poem tells in the metamorphic way of Eragon's experience. Interestingly he uses Durza as not the evil character, but as the place where the "foe" lives. It says the man was born to "kill the foe in Durza, the land of the shadows". The poem received great applause from many of the elves and it was even put in the hall of the elven capital. It was recorded as 14 pages long. The poem is as follows:
In the kingdom by the sea,
In the mountains mantled blue, On frigid winter's final day Was born a man with but one task:
To kill the foe in Durza, In the land of shadows.
Nurtured by the kind and wise
Under oaks as old as time,
He ran with deer and wrestled bears,
And from his elders learned the skills,
To kill the foe in Durza, In the land of shadows.
Taught to spy the thief in black When he grabs the weak and strong; To block his blows and fight the fiend With rag and rock and plant and bone;
And kill the foe in Durza, In the land of shadows.
Quick as thought, the years did turn,
'Til the man had come of age,
His body burned with fevered rage,
While youth's impatience seared his veins.
Then he met a maiden fair, Who was tall and strong and wise, Her brow adorned with Gёda's Light, Which shown upon her trailing gown.
In her eyes of midnight blue, In those enigmatic pools, Appeared to him a future bright, Together, where they would not have
To fear the foe in Durza,
In the land of shadows.
It was then stated that the man in the poem went to the land of Durza where he fought his foe, despite his fear. Then, at last, he defeated his foe. However, he did not kill his foe, for he "did not fear the doom of mortals". The man then went and married the maiden. He spent time with her until he was extremely old and when "his beard was long and white". It continues:
In the dark before the dawn,
In the room where slept the man, The foe, he crept and loomed above His mighty rival now so weak.
From his pillow did the man Raise his head an gaze upon The cold and empty face of Death,
The king of everlasting night.
Calm acceptance filled the man's Aged heart;
For long ago, he'd lost all fear of Death's embrace, The last embrace a man will know.
Gentle as a morning breeze, Bent the foe and from the man His glowing, pulsing spirit took, And thence in peace they went to dwell,
Forevermore in Durza, In the land of shadows.
Real-world connections[]
In the Kingdom by the Sea is also reminiscent of the second line of Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe.
Queen Islanzadí interpreted the poem as allegorical, explaining the ability to speak fiction in the ancient language. The trance like state in which the poem was composed raises the possibllity it may also be a prophecy. The foe in Durza was captured spirits, a sequence repeated with Varaug.
Strangely, although the poem mentions a maiden, perhaps representing Arya, it doesn't mention Saphira. However, the 'maiden' could be interpreted to be Saphira instead of Arya, as she has blue eyes, not green. If this was true, it would be ill-fitting, for the Eragon-like character marries the 'maiden' at the end. However, were the 'maiden' a representation for Saphira, the marriage could imply their bond as rider and dragon.