Murtagh (book)

Murtagh (book)
Information
Author	Christopher Paolini
Pages	559 pages (Hardcover)
Publisher	Alfred A. Knopf

Murtagh is a novel by Christopher Paolini. The title is a direct sequel to Inheritance, the original conclusion of the Inheritance Cycle, and The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm. It is set approximately one year after the events of Inheritance.

Publisher's summary

"Murtagh" transports readers into an electrifying adventure, with danger and intrigue around every corner. The world is no longer safe for Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn. An evil king has been toppled, and they are left to face the consequences of the reluctant role they played in his reign of terror. Now they are hated and alone, exiled to the outskirts of society. But when Murtagh discovers something wicked lurking in the shadows of Alagaësia, so begins an epic journey into lands both familiar and untraveled, where he and Thorn must use every weapon in their arsenal, from brains to brawn, to find and outwit a mysterious witch. A witch who is much more than she seems . . .”

Synopsis

A year After Galbatorix's death, Murtagh is living in anonymity. As Murtagh and Thorn decided to go into a self-imposed exile, Umaroth advised them to avoid certain perilous places in Alagaësia. With no objective in life left, Murtagh decides to investigate Umaroth's warning.

He travels to Ceunon to meet with his hired mercenary Sarros. When the deal goes sour, Murtagh finds out that Sarros is using an amulet made by someone named Bachel. The amulet uses wordless magic so Murtagh is unable to disarm it with Name of all names. After Defeating Sarros and acquiring a black rock from him, Murtagh travels to Gil'ead to meet Ilenna and gather more information about the black rock. However, in Gil'ead, Murtagh is approached by a werecat Carabel, who promises to answer Murtagh's questions if he helps her rescue a werecat child from the city guard.

Murtagh agrees, but to his dismay he finds out that the only way to enter the dungeons where werecat child, Silna, is being held - is to join city guard. And to join the city guard is only possible by impressing the Captain of city guard with head of a monstrous fish Muckmaw. Muckmaw has been tormenting fishers in Gil'ead for almost a century and the monstrous fish had claimed more fisherman than any other calamity. Murtagh lures the fish with a scale of Glaedr, extracted from the dragon's grave, and after a long and difficult fight, manages to kill the fish. He takes the head of the fish to the Captain and after initial trials and test of strength, he manages to join the company of guards. During the night, he sneaks into the dungeons and finds silna locked next to a magician's room. he steals an ancient language dictionary and a giant diamond full of energy from the room before escaping with silna with Thorn's help. Murtagh also leanrs that his True Name has changed slightly after his fight with Muckmaw and after seeing the dead bodies of all the victims of Battle of Gil'ead under the Isenstar lake which Muckmaw was feeding on.

Carabel then tell Murtagh about a group of people called The Dreamers, who have walked among men from an ancient time and then worship someone called The Dreamer of dreams. They are led by a witch named Bachel. Carabels tells eragon the location of the dreamers is Nal Gorgoth, which is north east of Carvahall, deep in the valley.

Murtagh reaches Nal gorgoth, only to find that he expected by Bachel. He learns that Bachel is a speaker of Nal gorgoth and is treated as a Queen, leader and supreme authority of the dreamers. He finds out that the dreamers worship a deity named Azlagur and the noxious fumes rising in the region give everyone dreams or prophetic and premonitory nature.

When Murtagh refuses to join Bachel, she captures him and drugs him so he is unable to use magic. She captures thorn by drugging the dragon and using something called 'The Breath' which has fumes that fog the mind and make both Murtagh and thorn to think clearly. While captured, Murtagh meets an urgal Uvek, who is a Shaman and has been drugged likewise. Uvek gives Murtagh a charm, a black rock, to shield him from attacks as Murtagh is too weak to defend against Bachel's torture. Uvek makes Murtagh swear that he will not betray him and to ensure this, he performs a ritual that makes him and Murtagh Blood Brothers. However, Murtagh is unable to use the charm as he has no access to magic. He tries to use the diamond he stole in Gil'ead but fails. He manages to win confidence of an acolyte Alin, who helps Murtagh by bringing him clean food and water so he can purge the drug from his system.

While Bachel is celebrating the day for the Black Smoke, Murtagh is asked to kill captured men who have refused to join the Dreamers. At the end moment Murtagh seeks help from Uvek and Thorn and is able to access the energy in the diamond and breaks Bachel's hold on him. He then frees Uvek and Thorn but Bachel manages to escape.

Development Timeline

The following is a list of the progress for writing and creating Murtagh as well as details about it revealed in tweets, comments and statements made by Christopher Paolini. Note that until its cover and title reveal, Murtagh was referred to only as "dragon book"or "book with dragons." All dates listed are in Mountain Standard Time (UTC−07:00) due to it being Christopher Paolini's own timezone.

2021

• September 18th - Writing begins.
• September 20th - 30 pages done.
• September 24th - 10 pages written in a day.
• October 4th - Book reaches 100 pages.
• October 14th - Draft reaches 50k words.
• October 21st - Draft reaches 60k words.
• October 30th - Draft reaches 200 pages.
• December 14th - Draft reaches 123k words.
• December 26th - "Racing through the end. Bloody events are afoot."
• December 31st - Word count approaches Eragon's (157k)

2022

• January 1st - Word count has surpassed The Drawing of Three (125k words) and The Return of the King (137k).
• January 18th - Draft reaches 156k words.
• January 30th - First draft finished at approximately 168k words and 520 pages.
• February 2nd - Mapmaking begins.
• February 4th - Map #1 finished.
• February 6th- Map #2 finished.
• February 8th - City map in progress.
• February 13th - Maps 3 & 4 finished. "Map" 5 done as well (although technically not a map).
• February 15th - Map #6 finished.
• March 22nd - Release date waiting on publishers.
• April 8th - Formal announcement waiting on publishers.
• June 30th - Draft sent to editors and release date announced for 2023.
• September 12th - Draft in editing. Announcement won't be until final cover, publishing date, and pre-order arrangements are ready.
• September 19th - Cover concept received by Paolini.
• December 1st - Draft in editing and has gained 50 pages.
• December 17th - Cover reveal will be after the edit of the current draft for a prospective January or February 2023.

2023

• January 9th - Cover/title reveal "nearly there" and waiting on finalized cover art. Expected for the end of February or beginning of March.
• January 15th - Paolini nearing the end of the second draft.
• January 31st - Second draft finished at 190k words.
• February 7th - New map painted.
• February 18th - Cover and title announcement "getting real close."
• February 22nd - Finalized, "awesome" cover reveal received by Paolini.
• February 24th - Closer to 700 pages than 600. Reveal "won't be too long" now that the cover is finalized
• March 1st - Countdown to reveal begun at day seven.
• March 2nd - Countdown day six.
• March 3rd - Countdown day five.
• March 4th - Countdown day four.
• March 5th - Countdown day three.
• March 6th - Countdown day two.
• March 7th - Countdown day one.
• March 8th - Full title, cover, and date reveal.
• August 7th - Final round of editing and proofreading done.
• November 7th - Published.

Characters

* Indicates new character

• Angela (mentioned only)
• Arya (mentioned only)
• Bachel *
• Barst (mentioned only)
• Bertolf *
• Brom (mentioned only)
• Carabel *
• Carth
• Durza (mentioned only)
• Eragon (mentioned only)
• Erith *
• Essie
• Farica (mentioned only)
• Fírnen (mentioned only)
• Formora (mentioned only)
• Galbatorix
• Glaedr
• Hjordis
• Hrothgar (mentioned only)
• Ilenna *
• Lyreth *
• Mallet *
• Morzan
• Murtagh
• Nasuada
• Olfa
• Orik (mentioned only)
• Oromis (in his grave)
• Orrin (mentioned only)
• Relgin
• Risthart (mentioned only)
• Roran (mentioned only)
• Sarros
• Saphira (mentioned only)
• Selena (mentioned only)
• Shruikan (mentioned only)
• Sigling
• Silna *
• Tharos (mentioned only)
• The Twins (mentioned only)
• Torkenbrand (mentioned only)
• Thorn
• Tornac (flashbacks only)
• Tornac (horse) (mentioned only)
• Umaroth (mentioned only)
• Uvek *
• Vrael (mentioned only)
• Wren
• Yngmar * (mentioned only)

References

pl:Murtagh (książka)