Christopher Paolini - An Infamous Name in Fantasy Literature

It has been said before, and nearly anyone familiar with Paolini and his writing will be aware of the fierce accusations surrounding him. One of these accusations is that he stole the 'words of power' system from Ursula K LeGuin, which LeGuin used in her Earthsea books. If you look at the intricacies of the magic systems between Earthsea and the Inheritance Trilogy, you will find, probably much to your dislike, that, indeed, Paolini stole (or, at least, 'was inspired by') the magic system the LeGuin used in Earthsea. They both focus around an Ancient Language, and the idea that everything has a name, and that, if you know something's True Name, the name of that thing in the Ancient Language, you will have power over it. While not directly related to LeGuin or Paolini, it is interesting to note the Jonathan Stroud, in his Bartimaeus Trilogy, makes reference to the 'True Names' of magicians, though in a different context.

Researching the magic systems being used by these two authors, I found that the 'words of power' and 'true names' type of systems are present in the native religions of indigenous peoples across the world.

While not an accusation, something that I noticed during my studies of old Celtic mythos, is Paolini's use of the name King Galbatorix. Galbatorix, in Inheritance, is the evil emperor which Eragon, the protagonist, is fighting against. Galbatorix seems to be Paolini's bastardization of the name Galbiorix, a name in Celtic mythology, which means 'king of the world' or something to that effect. Knowing that Paolini acknowledges in interviews that he likes 'good Norse dwarves' and basing the made-up languages he uses in Inheritance in old Germanic tongues, I can nearly guarantee you that Paolini, at least, once, came across the name Galbiorix and tweaked it to the purpose of Inheritance.

What also irks readers (myself included) is Paolini's writing style: excessive adverbs, the distinct lack of intelligence present in Eragon's character (almost everything he says is a question. Other than that, he doesn't seem like much of a protagonist, and more like a plot device to progress struggling story's arch of events.), the strange, sometimes seemingly silly twists that take place, and that Paolini rarely, if ever, simply says 'said'. 'Said' is always replaced by a non-transparent verb like, 'spoke' or 'bellowed', and various other things. Some speculate that Paolini must write with a thesaurus next to him.