Christopher Paolini adalah penulis buku Eragon. Cinta Christopher Paolini pada fantasi dan fiksi ilmiah menginspirasi dirinya untuk memulai menulis novel pertamanya, Eragon, sewaktu lulus SMU pada usia lima belas tahun sesudah bersekolah dirumah seumur hidupnya. Ia menjadi penulis terlaris New York Times pada usia sembilan belas tahun.


Christopher Paolini dibesarkan di Paradise Valley, wilayah Montana. Anggota keluarganya meliputi orang tuanya, Kenneth Paolini dan Talita Hodgkinson dan saudara perempuannya, Angela Paolini.

Home schooling sepanjang masa pendidikannya, Paolini lulus dari sekolah menengah atas pada usia 15 tahun melalui pengakuan kursus korespondensi dari American School of Correspondence di Lansing, Illinois. Seusai lulus, dia memulai pekerjaannya yang kemudian akan menjadi seri pertama novel Eragon, berlatar alam mistis Alagaesia.

Pada 2002, Eragon di terbitkan oleh Paolini Internasional LLC, perusahaan orang tua Paolini. Untuk mempromosikan bukunya, Paolini mengadakan tur ke lebih dari 135 sekolah dan perpustakaan, mendiskusikan membaca dan menulis, semua saat itu mengenakan kostum abad petengahan berupa kaus merah, celana hitam berombak, sepatu berenda dan topi hitam bergaya. Paolini menciptakan desain gambar cover buku edisi pertama Eragon, dimana menampilkan mata Saphira. Dia juga menggambar peta di dalam bukunya.

Pada musim panas 2002, saudara tiri dari pengarang Carl Hiassen menemukan Eragon di toko buku dan menyukainya, dan Hiason membelinya untuk diperlihatkan pada penerbitnya, Alfred A Knopf. Knopf selanjutnya membuat penawaran untuk menerbitkan Eragon dan lanjutan . Edisi kedua Eragon diterbitkan Knopf pada Agustus 2003. Pada usia 19 tahun, Paolini menjadi pengarang terlaris versi Newyorktimes. Semenjak saat itu Eragon diadopsi menjadi film dengan nama sama. Essai Paolini “Itu semua dimulai dari buku” termasuk dalam antologi April 2005 Pria Menulis Untuk Dibaca Pria.

Eldest, lanjutan dari Eragon, dirilis 23 Agustus 2005. Buku ketiga dalam siklus, Brisingr dirilis pada 20 September 2005. Meskipun Siklus warisan direncanakan sebagai trilogy, detail dari Brisingr telah menjelaskan keberadaan buku keempat yang belum diberi judul.

Eragon

While hunting, Eragon, a 15-year-old farm boy, finds a polished stone in a dangerous mountain range known only as "The Spine." He takes the "stone" to his native village Carvahall, but fails to trade it for food to the village butcher, Sloan. Eragon then elects to bring the stone back to his uncle Garrow's farm and leave it aside as a curiosity. Soon afterward, Eragon realizes that the "stone" is actually a dragon egg, as it hatches. Two mysterious strangers soon appear in Carvahall, inquiring about the egg. His already-hatched dragon, Saphira, is afraid because the strangers mean harm, and flees Eragon's hometown with him for a night, only to return to find his uncle Garrow killed and his farm destroyed. The town's storyteller, Brom, offers to flee with Eragon, and over some weeks of travelling teaches him all he knows of magic and dragons, in order to defeat Alagaesia's evil king, Galbatorix, and help him in pursuing his uncle's killers, the Ra'zac. As they painstakingly track down the strangers, revealed as the Ra'zac, Brom is killed in an ambush by them. Then Eragon with the help of Murtagh rescues an elven woman, Arya who is being tortured by a shade, Durza. They flee to the Varden to treat Arya, who is poisoned. In the tunnels of Farthen Dûr the base of the varden , Durza leads an army of Urgals. Eragon kills Durza when Arya and Saphira distract him, but gets a horrible scar down his back in the process which later leads to frequent debilitating seizures for Eragon.

Eldest
Main article: Eldest

Following the battle of Farthen Dûr, Ajihad, leader of the Varden, is killed in a sudden surprise attack by Urgals. Murtagh and the Twins (the Varden's chief magicians before the arrival of Eragon) are thought to disappear during the attack, but later in the book, Eragon realizes that the Twins were traitors who had planned the ambush to capture Murtagh and kill Ajihad. After swearing fealty to Nasuada, Ajihad's daughter and the new leader of the Varden, Eragon travels to Ellesméra, accompanied by the dwarf Orik, nephew and heir of the dwarf king Hrothgar and Eragon's friend, along with Arya. Before leaving, dwarf king Hrothgar offers Eragon a place in his clan, Durmgrist Ingeitum, giving him full citizenship rights in dwarvish society. In their stop at a dwarf city, a hostile clan declares a feud against Eragon because he became a member of Ingeitum.

Much of the book's remainder is devoted to Eragon's training with the ancient Dragon Rider Oromis, also known as Togira Ikonoka (The Cripple Who Is Whole) or Osthato Chetowa (The Mourning Sage), and his unsuccessful attempts at wooing Arya, newly discovered to be of elvish royalty, who is dedicated to her mission, and believes that their age difference is too great. She is also suspected to still be mourning her love Faolin, who was killed at the start of Eragon (the book). It is later revealed that, as a result of a misworded blessing Eragon placed on an orphaned baby before the Battle of Farthen Dur, the child Elva, is cursed to become a martyr of others' pain, and is forced to put herself in the place of others who are about to be hurt.

The spirits of the dragons heal Eragon's scar in a centennial ceremony called the Agaetí Blödhren. Eragon wakes up the next day with elven qualities that make him much stronger and more agile, able to defeat his elven sparring partner who had humiliated him with ease. It is after the transformations that Eragon pursues Arya once more, but is again refused, and she returns to Surda, a country that has seceded from Galbatorix' Empire centuries ago, the next day, leaving Eragon heartbroken.

Meanwhile, Roran (Eragon's cousin and son of Garrow) returns to Carvahall after learning of his father's death, and discovers that he is wanted by Galbatorix. His presence is endangering the entire village, which has come under attack by the Ra'zac causing the death of many villagers. After a major siege, Sloan (father of Katrina, Roran's fiancee) betrays the village to the Ra'zac, resulting in the kidnapping of Katrina (Sloan's daughter) and the near death of Roran. The next day, Roran convinces most of the villagers to follow him in an attempt to reach sanctuary in Surda. Roran and company cross the treacherous Spine Mountains, sail commandeered barges down Alagaseia's western coast and join up with Jeod (an old friend of Brom's) in the city of Teirm. They set sail in a pirated ship for the southern coast, evading the Ra'zac and Empire.

Eragon returns to the Varden to help them in the approaching battle against Galbatorix's army. Arya forgives him, and their friendship is renewed. Soon after, the Battle of the Burning Plains commences. During the battle, a new Rider, revealed to be Murtagh, appears riding a red dragon named Thorn. After Murtagh kills Hrothgar, he reveals that he has now become Galbatorix's slave and is oath-bound to capture Eragon and bring him and Saphira back to Galbatorix. He also reveals that Saphira is the last female dragon in existence and that this is the reason Eragon and Saphira are still alive. Murtagh and Eragon begin to fight and Eragon is surprised by how much strength a relatively young dragon and inexperienced Rider possess; Eragon is defeated, but he convinces Murtagh to twist the meaning of his oath and allow their freedom. Murtagh does so, but first steals his Elvish sword and says that they are brothers and that Eragon's father is Morzan (the first of the Thirteen forsworn) - a revelation that deeply shocks and sickens Eragon.

Also in the battle, the Twins' treachery is revealed when they appear on the Empire's side and massacre many of their former comrades amongst the Varden. The villagers of Carvahall arrive, and Roran bravely kills the twins.

After reporting to his superiors, Eragon explains in full the story of Saphira to Roran, attempting to apologize for the death of their father and uncle. The book ends with Eragon promising to accompany Roran and free Katrina in Helgrind, the place where the Ra'zac and their Lethrblaka parents stay.