…in a galaxy far, far away, a young man lives in a simple life, working on the family farm, blissfully unaware of the heroic role he will play in the future of his world. As he watches the sun set over his idyllic surroundings, he dreams of duels and damsels and faraway places.
Nearby, a princess in white is pursued by elite troops of the evil empire. She has a secret she’s protecting from harm. At the last moment, she sends it away and into the path of our unsupecting farmboy hero. He has shimmering visions of the princess and her fate.
The boy has been chosen, called by a higher power to be the last of a long-slain warrior clan. He has special gifts. He begins to discover these gifts with the assistance of a bearded pauper who turns out to be a shamed warrior from a bygone era. It seems the warrior’s compatriots were betrayed and slain by one of their own, who would eventually rise to become a powerful and fascist leader.
This aging mentor reveals our hero’s true destiny.
Did I mention there’s a mysterious sibling, too?
Watch Out, Spoilers Follow
That sounds like the first act of Star Wars, but in fact it’s the first ten minutes of Eragon, a film that’s possibly the most derivative film I’ve ever seen–it’s 85% Star Wars and 15% Lord of the Rings.
I haven’t read the novel, but it’s like the author Christopher Paolini watched the Star Wars trilogy, then read The Hero With a Thousand Faces and set off to duplicate it, replacing lightsabers with swords and X-Wing fighters with dragons. It’s even more plagiaristic than Willow, and that’s saying something.
Now, of course, Star Wars borrows heavily from Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. All art is part theft–I just thought Eragon was a particularly egregious example.
It’s a pretty bad movie. Malkovich, Carlyle and Irons chew the scenery into sawdust. Edward Speleers plays Luke Skywalker Eragon, and while he’s a step up from Mark Hamill, he’s no great actor yet. On the upside, Sienna Guillory is sure nice to look at.
But Back To Our Story
Elsewhere, a dark, disfigured malefactor accepts orders from his robed lord to find the boy, and destroy him. He tortures the princess.
He rejects his fate at first, but imperial troops arrive to force him into action. He returns to the farmstead to find his uncle slaughtered, and leaves the burning fields behind him, accompanied by his mentor.
They travel to join the rebel forces, who are sequestered far away in a secret base. With the aid of his mentor, our hero practices his skills, honing his swordsmanship and mystical abilities.
Their journey is perilous. At one point they stop at a port, and encounter a shady and unlikely ally. They encounter more government troops, and narrowly escape death.
Emboldened by his new skills, our young hero rashly decides to rescue the princess from the dark lord’s evil lair. He manages to do so, but is confronted by the dark lord and his minions. The mentor sacrifices his own life so that the hero and his new friends can escape.
Our story concludes with a climatic battle, in which the forces of good triumph over the evildoers.
After writing this piece, I discovered several other comparisons around the web. This one (from a Google cache) seems to be the most exhaustive.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
The book was written by a teenager. It’s a best seller. Haven’t read it myself, because various people have told me that it actually sucks.
Yes that is very very right.
I’ve read both Eragon and Saphyre(think that’s it) and now awaiting the 3rd book.
I liked the series actually, I have yet to watch the movie but I am told that it doesn’t really do a good job following the story. This miss out things here and there but *shrug*.
But your perspective of the story is crazy! Not in a bad way, I mean how closely it follows StarWars and I never picked up on it till now.
Speaking of Star Wars, I recently had my eyes opened to who the /real/ heroes of that story were….
http://www.morningstar.nildram.co.uk/A_New_Sith.html
Hi, thank you very much…
u suck i hate you
The book was written by a teenager. It’s a best seller. Haven’t read it myself, because various people have told me that it actually sucks.
I’ve read both Eragon and Saphyre(think that’s it) and now awaiting the 3rd book.
I liked the series actually, I have yet to watch the movie but I am told that it doesn’t really do a good job following the story. This miss out things here and there but *shrug*.
But your perspective of the story is crazy! Not in a bad way, I mean how closely it follows StarWars and I never picked up on it till now.
This miss out things here and there but ??
It’s a pretty bad movie. Malkovich, Carlyle and Irons chew the scenery into sawdust
I didn’t like the movie it was bad i think
The book was written by a teenager. It’s a best seller.
It’s a pretty movie. Malkovich, Carlyle and Irons chew the scenery into sawdust
very nice 🙂 i luv it.everyday i read this website.life goes on
Loved it !
Thanks
Thank you too…
tenks
Excellent work!
ceartenly true.
very gods perfect page editors
very gods…
The book was written by a teenager. It’s a best seller.
It’s a pretty movie. Malkovich, Carlyle and Irons chew the scenery into sawdust
The book was written by a teenager. It’s a best seller. Haven’t read it myself, because various people have told me that it actually sucks.
But your perspective of the story is crazy! Not in a bad way, I mean how closely it follows StarWars and I never picked up on it till now.
The book was written by a teenager. It’s a best seller. Haven’t read it myself, because various people have told me that it actually sucks.
ooh thanks
A really nice sharing