ERAGON CHARACTER PROFILES
ERAGON
Eragon discovers his true path as one of the fabled Dragon Riders. With his own dragon, Saphira, and Brom as his mentor, Eragon is determined to bring back the golden age of justice once known throughout the land - if he can survive the evil machinations of Galbatorix. Eragon becomes a true hero - and the last hope for the people of Alagëisia.
BROM
One of the last of the Dragon Riders, Brom has been a disconsolate, broken man since the death of his own dragon. He has become a storyteller resigned to the rule of the evil king, but he has new hope as the mentor and father-figure to Eragon.
GALBATORIX
Galbatorix is the ruler of an enormous empire that occupies the western part of Alagaësia. The former Dragon Rider brought about the demise of the storied order, and he now rules the land with an iron fist, stopping at nothing to capture or destroy Eragon and his dragon. Galbatorix's forces include the loathsome and brutish Urgals, whose faces are grotesquely patterned with scars.
DURZA
Durza is a Shade, a sorcerer possessed by demonic spirits. Considered one of the most powerful beings in Alagëisia, he can only be killed through the heart. As one of Galbatorix's deadliest minions, the sorcerer is privy to palace intrigues (and possibly has dreams of power of his own).
AJIHAD
Ajihad is the leader and general of the rebel Varden. In the secret stronghold of Farthen Dûr, located in a volcanic crater in the Beor Mountains, Ajihad and the Varden plot to overthrow Galbatorix.
ARYA
As the guardian of the dragon egg, the beautiful warrior Arya is willing to die to protect the line of dragons. She joins Eragon, Saphira, and the rebellious Varden in a desperate stand against the forces of Galbatorix.
MURTAGH
Murtagh is the son of Morzan, who betrayed the Dragon Riders to Galbatorix. Desperate to expunge the guilt of his father's sin, Murtagh seeks refuge in battle, fighting for the forces of good.
SAPHIRA
The story's most fantastical character is the flying dragon Saphira, who connects telepathically with her Rider, Eragon. As Saphira soars majestically through the sky - or conducts "strafing runs" on enemy forces - audiences will experience the most dynamic, fierce dragon ever, in the ultimate dragon movie.

ERAGON: GLOSSARY
Alagaësia: a kingdom stretching from the western coastal wilderness of the Spine into the inland Hadarac desert, which spreads to the southern summits of the Beor Mountains. It is a world of humans, sorcerers, monsters - and mighty dragons.
The Ancient Language: a form of communication that enables certain people to use magic.
Beor Mountains: a huge mountain range in the southeast of Alagaësia, where the Varden make their home.
Carvahall: Eragon's hometown; a small town near the Spine.
Dragon Riders: those who help maintain peace in Alagaësia with the help of their dragons.
Gil'ead: a heavily guarded city where Arya is imprisoned by Durza.
Ra'zac: demonic mercenaries that serve Durza.
Shade: a sorcerer possessed by evil spirits.
Spine, The: Vast mountain range covering almost all of Alagaësia's west coast.
Urgals: loathsome and brutish troops who serve Galbatorix. Their faces are grotesquely patterned with scars.
Varden: a group of rebels based in Farthen Dûr.
Zar'roc: Eragon's sword, given to him by Brom.

ORIGINS OF THE BOOK
CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI (Author) was born on November 17, 1983 in Southern California. Aside from a few years in Anchorage, Alaska, he spent his entire life in Paradise Valley, Montana, where he still lives with his parents and younger sister, Angela. They have two pets, Otis, a black and white cat, and Annie, a frisky cocker/Australian shepherd mix.
Tall, jagged Beartooth Mountains rise on one side of the Paradise Valley. Snowcapped most of the year, they inspired the fantastic scenery in Eragon. A few years ago, Paolini hiked to the top of one peak and could see the Grand Teton mountain range, 100 miles to the south.
Paolini was homeschooled by his parents. He often wrote short stories and poems in an attempt to put his thoughts into words. He made frequent trips to the library and read widely. Some of his favorite books were Bruce Coville's Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, Frank Herbert's Dune, Raymond E. Feist's Magician, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, as well as books by Anne McCaffrey, Jane Yolen, Brian Jacques, E. R. Eddison, David Eddings, and Ursula Le Guin.
Paolini grew up listening to a variety of music, but classical music fired his imagination and helped him write. He often listened to Mahler, Beethoven, and Wagner while writing Eragon. The final battle of Eragon was written while listening to "Carmina Burana," by Carl Orff.
The story of Eragon began as the daydreams of a teen. Paolini's love for the magic of stories led him to craft a novel that he would enjoy reading. The project began as a hobby; he never intended to be published. He took a month to plot out the entire trilogy, then sat on the sofa and began writing in a notebook. When he reached sixty pages, he gained enough confidence to transfer his work to his Macintosh computer, where most of Eragon was written, although he sometimes found that the story flowed better when he wrote by hand. All the characters in Eragon are from Paolini's imagination except Angela the herbalist, who is loosely based on his sister.
It took him a year to write the first draft of Eragon. He took a second year to revise the book and then gave it to his parents to read. The family decided to self-publish the book and so a third year was spent with another round of edits, designing a cover, typesetting the manuscript, and creating marketing materials. During this time Paolini drew the map for Eragon, as well as the dragon eye that appears inside the hardcover edition. Finally, the manuscript was sent to press, and the first books arrived.
The Paolini family spent the next year promoting the book themselves. Beginning with presentations at the local library and high school, they then traveled across the U.S. In all, Paolini gave over 135 presentations at libraries, bookstores, and schools in 2002 and early 2003. He did most of the presentations dressed in a medieval costume of red shirt, billowy black pants, lace-up boots, and a jaunty black cap.
In summer 2002, author Carl Hiaasen, whose stepson had bought and devoured a copy of the self-published book while on vacation in Montana, brought Eragon to the attention of his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, who subsequently acquired the rights to publish Eragon and the rest of the Inheritance trilogy. Knopf published Eragon in August 2003 and Eldest, Book Two in Inheritance, in August 2005. Eragon, which has been published in 41 countries, has been a #1 bestseller in both its Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers hardcover and paperback editions and has spent 164 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
Eldest hit the marketplace in August 2005 as one of the most anticipated books of the fall season, and its first week on sale achieved the biggest single-week sale in Random House Children's Books history. Currently in its 15th printing, Eldest, also a #1 bestseller, has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for 60 weeks, and has been published in 41 countries. Most recently, Eldest won a 2006 Quill Award. Together, Eragon and Eldest have sold more than 8 million copies worldwide.
Paolini is currently writing Book Three in Inheritance, the title of which has not yet been announced. Once the trilogy is completed, Paolini plans to take a long vacation, when he will ponder which of his many story ideas he will write next.

THE SCREENWRITER
PETER BUCHMAN (Screenwriter) recently wrote two screenplays on the life of Che Guevara for Steven Soderbergh to direct and Benicio del Toro to star. Those movies will begin production in April, 2007. Buchman also recently adapted The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason, into a screenplay for Focus. Currently, he is working on a remake of "Capricorn One," with director David Dobkin.
Since he began earning his living as a screenwriter, Buchman has worked with such directors as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack, and David O. Russell. He is a credited writer on "Jurassic Park III."

THE DIRECTOR
STEFEN FANGMEIER (Director) received a degree in Computer Science from the California State University of Dominguez Hills in 1983. He worked as a systems programmer and image processing analyst at Aerospace Corporation and scientific visualization project manager at the famed National Center for Supercomputing Application (NCSA) at the University of Illinois.
His first foray into the entertainment industry was when he joined Digital Production (co-founded by Gary Demos and John Whitney Jr. and most famous for their pioneering work on "The Last Starfighter") in the mid 1980s where he worked in a division that provided computing services for businesses and the scientific community (to help during film and commercials down time).
When Digital Productions closed in 1987 after the Omnibus hostile takeover in 1986, he joined Mental Images, creators of the mental ray rendering engine, where he became Director of Production. At that time mental images had a production division that served and demonstrated the features of mental ray. During his tenure there he met future VFX Supervisors John Nelson (who would work at Imageworks and won the Oscar for "Gladiator") and John Berton (who would also join him at ILM and last worked on "I, Robot").
Fangmeier joined ILM in 1990 where his first major project was "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" as a CG shot supervisor. Other credits include such notable projects as "Hook," "Casper" and "Jurassic Park." His first project as VFX Supervisor was "Twister" for which he received an Oscar nomination and won the BAFTA. Other projects include "Small Soldiers," "Saving Private Ryan," "The Perfect Storm," "Galaxy Quest," "The Bourne Identity," "Signs," "Dreamcatcher" and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World."
His last project at ILM was "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." He won a BAFTA for "Saving Private Ryan," was nominated for an Oscar and won a BAFTA for "The Perfect Storm" and was nominated for an Oscar, BAFTA and VES Award for "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World." He has also served as Second Unit Director on "Galaxy Quest" and "Dreamcatcher."

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