Saphira
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| Inheritance Trilogy character | |
 Saphira as painted by John Jude Palencar on the cover of Eragon |
|
| Saphira | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Hair colour | none |
| Eye colour | Blue |
| House | Unknown |
| Allegiance | Eragon |
| Film portrayer | Rachel Weisz (voice) |
| First appearance | Eragon |
Saphira Bjartskular (which means Saphira Brightscales) is a female sapphire-blue dragon from Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Trilogy. Her scales and eyes are the color of sapphires and glitter like them. Her eyes see blues in more vibrant and exotic tones, while reds and greens are more faded. Her talons, and her neck, back, and tail spikes, are all bone-white. On the cover of the book she has two serrated teeth, as well as normal teeth and her head is triangular. Later in Inheritance, she gains the ability to breathe flame. At first, the flame is bright yellow tinged with blue, but later it is fully blue. Of the last five dragons in existence (one has not hatched yet, but is known to be male) she is the only known female, and is thus the hope of reviving the dragon race.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Egg
Saphira was born to Iormúngr, a male dragon bound to a Dragon Rider, and Vervada, a formidable and wild female dragon. When introducing herself formally, Saphira refers to herself as "Saphira, daughter of Vervada" (In a similar manner, most beings - dragons, elves, dwarves and humans - refer to themselves as "son/daughter of father/mother"). Unfortunately, both of Saphira's parents perished during the The Fall. As Vervada only allowed one egg to go to the Riders, this means the others were probably destroyed, or hatched and were killed.
Saphira's sapphire colored egg was found and taken by Galbatorix during The Fall, along with a ruby egg and an emerald egg (the third dragon is confirmed to be green). Galbatorix tried desperately to get her egg, as well as the others, to hatch, but he was unsuccessful. None of the dragon eggs responded to the touch of anyone he had selected as possible riders.
Sometime during Galbatorix's rule, a scholar named Jeod discovered a secret entrance into Galbatorix's palace. The Varden, a group of rebels opposed to Galbatorix, decided to send one of their best men in to steal all three eggs from Galbatorix. Unfortunately, something went wrong and only Saphira's egg was rescued from the King's grasp. Something happened to the spy, and the egg disappeared. This led to the greatest hunt in centuries. Brom and Morzan, two old friends before Morzan betrayed the Riders during The Fall, were now racing to retrieve the egg. The search finally came to a head in Gil'ead, where Brom and Morzan battled for possession of the egg. In the end, Brom slew Morzan, reclaimed Saphira's egg, and took it to the Varden.
Both the Elves (who were allies of the Varden) and the Varden each wanted the Rider for themselves, for historically most Dragon Riders were Elves and the Elves feared that a human Rider could be corrupted like Galbatorix. They also considered themselves racially superior to humans, a sentiment the Varden did not appreciate. Heated arguments arose over where the egg should be kept and which group should guard it. The dwarves complicated matters by saying they weren't sure they even wanted a Rider, for they had suffered greatly at the hands of the Thirteen Forsworn; an unspoken reason was that there had never been a Dwarf Rider. Before the arguements came to blows, Brom devised a solution - Saphira's egg would travel between the Elves and the Varden, staying a year with each, to see who it would hatch for, and if for a human or an Elf. When it hatched, the Rider would train with Brom for a year or so and then the Elves would finish the Dragon Rider's education. It was decided that the egg would be sent back and forth by the daughter of the Elven Queen, The Princess Arya of Ellesméra; a powerful magic user and expert swordswoman, she was the ideal candidate to protect the egg. She was accompanied by armed Elven guards on journeys.
The egg however, did not hatch for any of the Varden or Elves for fifteen years, and they let it pass from their minds almost completely, only mentioning its stubbornness. The Elves did not like the arrangement and did not think humans to be worthy of the position of Rider, but the arrangement provided a desperately needed semblance of equality. However, after fifteen years of this agreement, Galbatorix discovered the path of the egg through the treachery of The Twins. Galbatorix sent the Shade known as Durza and a group of Urgals to retrieve the egg and capture at least one Elf alive. They would take the Elf and interrogate it in order discover the location of Ellesméra, the Elven capital of their forest kingdom. Although her guards were killed in the ambush, Arya's steed sensed the danger and bore her away from the Urgals, only to be shot down. Desperate to ensure the safety of the dragon egg, Arya magically teleported the egg to the village of Carvahall, which was where Brom was living at that time. It was the closest place besides the Elven cities, which were protected by magic so that nothing could enter their boundaries by magical means. Unfortunately, Arya's magic was imprecise and the egg missed its target, landing in the The Spine, a deadly mountain range bordering the Palancar Valley, where Carvahall was situated.
It was here that Saphira chose her Rider.
[edit] Birth
She is blue and gave Eragon his magic along with choosing him to be her rider.
[edit] Brom's Dragon
Saphira is the name of Brom's dragon, who died during the fall of the Riders. Although never mentioned in the series, Brom's dragon is confirmed by the author to have been blue, but in the book Eragon when he is blocking his sword his magic is red.[1].
[edit] Portrayal in film
In the film adaptation of the novel, Saphira's wings have large feather-like scales (referred to as "sceathers" by some of the visual effects crew) which match her scales in hue, despite the earlier posters seeming to show her with scaled or membranous wings, and the books' descriptions of her wings as membranes. On the poster she is such a dark blue that she is nearly black; in the film itself, she is a dull, dusty blue, rather than the glittering sapphire blue she has in the book. In the film Eragon found her when he was 17, instead of 15. Also, her fire is orange, almost red in color, while in the book it was bright yellow with a hint of blue, later completely blue. She is voiced by Rachel Weisz. Oddly enough, in the film it is Saphira who names herself instead of Eragon. She grows in a great speed as she is flying through the clouds in the movie. In the book, it takes time for her to grow and become more intelligent, but in the movie, she grows to nearly full size and learns to talk properly in less than 5 minutes.
[edit] Romantic attachments
Saphira is wiser in almost everything compared to Eragon ('I may be younger in years, but I am ancient in my thoughts'), but romance is one of the few things Eragon is more knowledgeable in. Saphira showed a great interest in her mentor, the wise golden dragon Glaedr. But Glaedr rejected her affection, knowing that he was too old, his life was almost over and that Saphira was meant for one of the dragons in Galbatorix's other eggs. A red dragon named Thorn hatched from one of these eggs for a rider called Murtagh. It is possible that a romantic interest will brew between the two dragons, but nothing has happened as of now. There is one dragon left to hatch in the king's last egg (a green dragon), but its Rider is unknown.
[edit] Trivia
- Saphira is Christopher Paolini's favorite character. [2]
| Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Trilogy | |
|---|---|
| Books | Eragon | Eldest | Book 3 |
| Films | Eragon |
| Games | Eragon |
| Main Characters | Eragon | Brom | Arya | Galbatorix | Murtagh | Roran | Durza | Ajihad | Nasuada | Angela | Saphira | Oromis | more... |
| Places | Alagaësia | Beor Mountains | Ellesméra | Farthen Dûr | Teirm | Inheritance Trilogy locations | more... |
| Events | Blood-Oath Celebration | Battle of the Burning Plains | Battle for Carvahall | Battle under Farthen Dûr | Dagshelgr Invocation | The Fall |
