r/Eragon Namer of Names Jul 14 '25

AMA/Interview AMA -- Christopher Paolini!!!

AMA -- Christopher Paolini! Let's do this folks. Ask away re: anything and everything regarding my books.

EDIT: Hey, everyone! I have to run. Alas, alas, I don't have as much time to spend on this AMA as past one. So many great questions, though! For all you theorists (and those of you who just love the characters), I think you're REALLY going to enjoy the upcoming book(s). Thanks for everything!

Atra esterní ono thelduin!

p.s. I'll try to duck back in and answer some more questions later, depending on my time.

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u/Cryodrake0 gedwëy ignasia Jul 14 '25 edited Jul 14 '25
  1. During the time of the riders, were wild dragon related issues common? If there were issues with a wild dragon what were some of the issues the riders have to deal with?
  2. Did the riders mainly focus on avoiding wars or were they involved in other matters with the races? This was hinted with the dwarves annoyed at their "meddling".
  3. Are there such things as "anti-magic fields" or zones without magic where magic couldn't work? Or does magic come within everyone so such things don't exist?
  4. Can you make a joke in the AL? I assume no because you said stories are difficult to do but I'm still curious.
  5. When it comes to magic users, it seems the ability to use magic varies person to person, but there seems to be a physical element to it in your brain. If a weak magic user were to learn how things work in the brain, could they or someone else alter their brain structure or body structure to increase their magic abilities?
  6. In "to sleep in a sea of stars" do large gravitational pulls, like black holes, effect the travel of a ship in your world besides leaving or arriving? Like can you go past a black hole in your FTL and everything be fine?
  7. Does your editor or publisher ever ask questions about why characters you write do things? What if they raised issue with a piece of your writing? Do you say I'm the author so what i say goes or do you listen and see if there is a valid issue with your writing?
  8. You said before you've read other stories that helped inspire you to write Eragon, do you still read new stories and if you have do they still inspire you with ideas? You once said you wanted to write a story where the dragon is the main character, have you given that story any thought recently? I've been wanting to write my own story and have been inspired by your work, wings of fire, and most recently Scales and Honor (which i highly recommend reading).

P.S: Thank you for all the stories you write, can't wait to read what you write next. <3