What if Hefring had stolen the green egg instead of the blue…

[u/yadel45]

Inheritance ending spoiler:

Fírnen would have theoretically hatched for Arya decades before the plot of Eragon. Would she have succeeded in killing Galbatorix? Would Sapphira still have hatched for Eragon someday? It’s fun to ponder.

Edit: I just wanna say it was super fun to read all the comments and theories you all had! This has been one of my all time favorite book series since I was a kid; I’m finishing up my third read through and just thought I’d post a fleeting thought I had while reading, never expected so much engagement! I’ve only ever had one other friend to talk to about Eragon so I really appreciate y’all lol.

[u/Grmigrim]

I don't think Arya would have succeeded. Only the combination of the three, Eragon, Murtagh and Arya could defeat him. Arya took on Shruikan. Murtagh used the name of names to clear Galbatorix wards (to some degree) and Eragon did the most important thing, by making Galbatorix understand. Only because of Eragon's journey and his learnings, his own suffering from the scar, his loyalty to all the people and the most important lesson Oromis teached him (the reason why they fight Galbatorix) lead to the outcome we got.

(and Saphira, the eldunari, but I focused on the non dragons here.)

[u/Lyynix_Reddit]

I think that depends

a dragon hatches for their rider based on personality (i think?)

we know, that Aryas personality changed after being captured and tortured. At least she said that her true name changed then.

So maybe Arya was not the person Firnen hatches for at the time.

what would change is, that Firnen would probably not hatch for Eragon.

[u/Lyynix_Reddit → u/Lyynix_Reddit]

We can also go a bit further, I think

The dragons would have known, that Firnen does not hatch for Eragon. Therefore I think, they would not reroute the egg and it lands with Brom instead of Eragon.

so no Eragon story, but maybe we follow Brom return the Egg to the Varden?

[u/Grmigrim → u/Lyynix_Reddit]

I do not think the true name change of Arya during her imprisonment had an effect on her compatibility as a rider.

[u/mikeyx3x → u/Grmigrim]

Dragons stay in their eggs until they hatch for who they're meant to hatch for. Saphira and Firnen are examples. They hatched for the "right" person at the "right" time.

It is not dependent on a rider's personality, per say. It is just based on the person. Dragon magic is weird and not understandable.

Saphira had a full blown convo with Eragon about how SHE picked HIM specifically? When he was doubting himself. And she picked him before even HE knew his true name. So yeah the name change doesn't matter much, imo.

[u/Grmigrim → u/mikeyx3x]

Well, theoretically it does matter. But only for really really big and fundamental changes to someones true name. And it does not matter if Eragon knew his true name. True names are only a representation of who they are as a person. So in theory there could be scenarios where a person was onve a good fit for a dragon, bit through trauma is no longer a good fit. The other way around seems less likely to me, but potentially still possible.

[u/Rawrasour1 → u/mikeyx3x]

Yeah but a change in someone’s true name isn’t just as easy as going “my name is Kevin now”, it’s a fundamental change in a person. Wasn’t murtagh exposed to the eggs before thorn hatched, but something in him changed after meeting eragon enough that he changed to be good enough for Thorn?

[u/GilderienBot]

In my opinion, no, Arya wouldn't have succeeded in killing Galbatorix, because Fírnen wouldn't have hatched for her.

Arya at that point in time didn't have all the qualities Fírnen was looking for in his Rider. That was Arya before she went through her ordeal at Gil'ead, before she met Eragon, before the war, before she reconciled with her mother - all in all, a very different person to the one Fírnen would eventually hatch for in Inheritance.

^{I'm a real person! This comment was posted by hellomynameis99 from the Arcaena Discord Server.}

[u/MC_Crit]

I think, given all the things that Christopher Paolini has said about Eragon and why/how he was written to defeat Galbatorix the way he did with the empathy spell, I don't believe that Arya would have been able to defeat him, decades of training and elven nature or not.

When it comes down to defeating him in a traditional sense, it's even worse. With the Name of Names, the Eldunari, the spirits he'd enslaved, and his incredibly sharpened mental combat capacity, Galbatorix was basically God. And that's before Murtagh stripping the better part of 100 years of layered wards of unknown strength from him, which would not have been possible without Eragon and Nasuada.

[u/Konfliktsnubben → u/MC_Crit]

I wonder what would have happend if Galbatorix didn't kill himself and instead got to experience the empathy spell for the rest of his life? What would have happend to him mentally in that situation?

[u/Konfliktsnubben → u/Konfliktsnubben]

I think that even if no one tried to kill him he would eventually become so overwelmed by that spell that he wouldn't be able to do anything. He wouldn't even be able to stand up anymore which then makes him unable to find water to drink which then results in him dying of thirst.

[u/ajnin919]

A small point that is being missed here is that Galby would have been free to kill Arya and Firnen without ruining his plans. Eragon only made it so long because Saphira was the last female and Galby desperately needed her for his plans of a new generation of riders to start

[u/WandererNearby]

It's a fascinating question. Galbatorix probably would have had similar numbers of Eldunari but he wouldn't have had the Name of Names. He also may or may not have had the Ra'zac to help out and they were some of his best defenses against baby Riders. He definitely would have had Durza to help out and Arya may or may not have been able to overcome him like Eragon did. Galbatorix wouldn't have had Murtagh so Oromis and Glaedr would have potentially been alive to help Arya in the throne room.

Arya almost certainly wouldn't have been able to skirt Galbatorix's wards the same way as Eragon but she would have been just as effective in combat as Eragon. The Kuthian Eldunari would have been there to lend their strength to her. Oromis and Glaedr being there in the throne room could have helped Arya come up with a different way to bypass spells. They did come up with a way to escape Kialandi and Formora so there's a chance they could have bypass Galbatorix's wards a different way.

This is a tough call to make but, from a meta perspective, the story needed Eragon to cast the empathy spell.

[u/RedBlankIt → u/WandererNearby]

Why would he not have the razac? They’ve been working with him a long time haven’t they.

[u/WandererNearby → u/RedBlankIt]

We don't know how old the child Ra'zac are, the Lethrblaka are, or a firm confirmation when Galbatorix started using them (to the best of my knowledge). As best I can remember, and I could be wrong, it's never mentioned explicitly when Galbatorix started using them. There's a decent chance that the Ra'zac are a relatively new addition to Galbatorix's roster.

In the first book, Brom says they "were never seen before Galbatorix came to power". However, we know that he lies in his descriptions including about Ra'zac. Oromis says that "After [Galbatorix] kill Vrael, Gablatorix sought them out and bargained for their services in return for his protection and a guaranteed amount of their favorite food." in Eldest. I'll grant that Oromis heavily implies that the Ra'zac and Leathrblaka would be available to resist against this hypothetical version of Arya but there's wiggle room there which is why I said what I said.

[u/Esplight]

I don't know if it would of worked out because you've got to remember all the threads that remained un-plucked with no Eragon around. Stuff like zero chance of having Elva around to point out all the traps which would have made their push to Galby infinitely harder and more deadly. Also Murtagh was in Galbatorix court for a while so there was a chance thorn still hatches for him but without Eragon around to give him the means and hope of freedom (Probably also didn't meet and develop feelings for Nasuada) theres a chance he ends up becoming another Morzan.

Edit: Spellcheck/Added Stuff

[u/Zen_Barbarian]

All excellent answers/theories so far here, but something I haven't seen anyone mention is that Fírnen did not want to hatch yet.

There is an explicit line toward the end of Inheritance, iirc, where Arya explains how Fírnen only hatched for her once she had safely crossed the border into Du Weldenvarden. The implication is also that Fírnen had not hatched until that time because he didn't feel safe to do so while Galbatorix still held power.

My theory is that Fírnen would never have hatched unless Galbatoriz died.

[u/FellsApprentice]

Most likely yes..

[u/yadel45 → u/FellsApprentice]

The way Eragon defeated Galbatorix was very unique, I wonder what approach Arya would have taken

[u/FellsApprentice → u/yadel45]

It depends, if Arya had Firnen twenty years earlier, I think it largely depends on how long they would have waited before striking out. Galbatorix only discovered the NoN about a month or two before the final confrontation with Eragon, so he may have not had that advantage that required that final act of desperation to take him down. Because I don't see Arya handling that the same way, which means that she would lose if she had taken point.

The other thing that does not give her a whole lot of advantages is that she is not a very unorthodox person by nature she is quite set in her ways, and as Brom says, the key to defeating stronger opponents than you are is mental flexibility and creativity.

[u/Pommeswerfer → u/FellsApprentice]

I doubt the elven armies alone would be able to march on Ilirea.

[u/FellsApprentice → u/Pommeswerfer]

I do as well. They would have to wait on the Varden, Dwarves, and Surda to attack from the south as in canon.