#fäolin

“…We were. We grew up together.”

‘Careful, Little One.’

“Sorry if that’s overstepping.”

“It’s fine.”

“…So, if you grew up together–”

‘You are rapidly approaching Carrion Tent levels of stupid.’

“How do you talk about the sun when it’s gone out, Eragon?”

“…I’m sorry, I don’t–”

Hey! I was so excited when I got this ask! I did a little happy dance. I am going to be splitting this up into two parts, because I am still doing an in depth read of the Cycle, and I am in the middle of Brisingr. Eragon’s spell weavers are not really studied in depth where I am at, and I have read Inheritance the least out of all the books. The Characters I can do are the ones who stuck in the memory or that I have already read about. 

Kailandi: 

How I feel about the character: I am intrigued. If I remember correctly, Kailandi is the elf that cast the spell on Oromis that separated him from his magic. That leads me to wonder, why did he want to know that. It is my personal opinion that Elven Society has a very unhealthy view on magic and physical abilities, leading to many societal problems. I wonder if Kailandi was or knew someone who had physical or magical problems, leading him to study the way it was done. It would explain his defection as well as his choice in combat.

All the people I ship romantically: I headcanon him as aromantic, but hugely invested in platonic relationships. 

Non Romantic OTP for his character: I imagine him surrounded by a bunch of little mini-rider apprentices. I imagine he was the one who would heal injuries and help with accidents that the babies did not want the masters to know about. I also headcanon he was an empathetic listener and someone who would help human riders figure ways around elven strength and skill. 

Unpopular Opinion about the Character: IDK what the current fandom thinks about him, but as far as in-universe opinion, I believe Kailandi was unrelentingly, apologetically about life being completely fair, to the point he would be willing to make it so. I think he was committed to an ideal that didn’t really exist, not that he was power hungry. 

I wish would/had happened: Honestly, that we were given an idea of who and how he was trained. I assume he was not an elder Rider, seeing as Oromis was considered more powerful. So he would have been a rider during the rise of humans and outside of Elven authority. 

Formora:

How I feel about this character: This is the character that I relate to the most, as far as making dumbass and panicky decisions. From the little we know she is a bit more straightforward than her brother and a little less likely to take a roundabout approach. 

People I ship romantically: I headcanon she was involved with a female human rider. 

My non romantic OTP: I think she was probably very martially skilled and headcanon she trained with and around the dwarves. I think she had good friends in several different militaries. Weird headcanon: I think since she had Kailandi remove some of her memories of other militaries and locations for the sake of giving her friends a fighting chance. 

My unpopular opinion about this character: Same as Kailandi IDK what popular opinion is, let alone unpopular. I do think that she was one of the people who went mad with their dragon, but I think she sought Brom out in the end for him to kill her. 

One thing I wish would/had happened: Similiar to Kailandi, I wonder how she was trained, but I also wonder if she was trained with Kailandi or separately and how that impacted their relationship. 

Fäolin

How I feel about this character: He was too young to die. 

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Arya, a long life, and adventure.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Idk about OTP, but I think Ajihad got a headache whenever he saw him coming.  Fäolin could talk anyone into anything and a lot of young warriors would suddenly find themselves with interesting jobs after  Fäolin “discovered” them. 

My unpopular opinion about this character: IDK on popularity, but  Fäolin  was a pain in the ass to everyone but Arya and sometimes Glenwing. He was full of ideas about how people could do things better. Half of Arya’s problems with diplomacy come from  Fäolin. 

What I wish would/had happened: I wish we got to see the impact his death had on Du Weldenvarden. Did he have friends, family? Did Arya have to bring news of his fate? 

Glenwing:

How I feel about this character: He needs a fucking nap, y’all. He is too old for all this nonsense. 

All the people I ship romantically with this character: a nap. 

Non romantic OTP: I can not state this enough: a nap. He was the permanent third wheel to two very young and obnoxious elves. He has been on duty since Arya chased the last four elves off. He has no one to commiserate with, just the birds, the horses and occasionally Ajihad. He is the person who is smoothing over diplomatic problems and he needs a nap. 

Unpopular opinion: He was not a patient elf. He didn’t volunteer, he was chosen because he was stubborn and diplomatic. He was, in essence, a baby sitter for Arya since she was the equivalent of thirty. He wants to retire. 

Consider: once the egg is in elven territory (an impenetrable and highly trapped forest), in elven hands, behind elvish wards, what guarantee does the Varden actually have that the Elves (who want an elven Rider) will actually return the egg? The answer might be that Arya and her guards swore a detailed oath about which route to take, how long time they would take, how many elves would be allowed to be tested, where the testing-ground would be, to keep the egg safe from any would-be interlopers, contingencies for the above, etc. I’m thinking the oath would have been negotiated and translated/shaped in large by Brom, who was a respected and neutral party, and probably overseen and confirmed by the Dwarves.

This thing I'm working on will indeed be put up on AO3 and will be linked here, but not for a while. Hopefully I'll upload it before I go back to work in a week, but no promises. There's definitely some similarities between the way Eragon and Fäolin um...perform. But looking at it now after skimming 'First' again...

So, Eragon does feel a little jealous of Fäolin after Arya reveals he was the one she was in love with and had a relationship with, very much akin to his reaction in canon.

However! Over time, as Arya, and Glen and Brom by extension, talk about Fäolin more, Eragon comes to realize that Fäolin loved Arya for much the same reasons that he does. He recognizes a lot of what Arya saw in Fäolin in himself!

And, most importantly, Eragon matures and sees that Fäolin and the relationship he had with Arya made her happy. That Arya had someone like that for her, in her corner in ways no one else could be, was so, so important. And he is so happy for that. He's happy that she had someone that made her happy! He understands that Fäolin was special, was a very important person in Arya's life, and damn it, if he were still alive then Eragon is pretty sure he and Fäolin would be pretty damn good friends!

Just like Paolini, I don't think the relationship between Fäolin and Arya would have survived post-Gil'ead. I think they both would have changed enough to still love each other, but not be in love with each other. It would have exposed some cracks that never would have come to light had they not been separated so violently without confirmation of the other's status. And I think Eragon, after a year or two, would have realized that as well. Arya confides in him that she sometimes finds herself 'getting angry at a dead man for questions he can't answer,' and he realizes that while a part of her will always love Fäolin...she is no longer in love with him, and is, in some ways, recognizing Eragon's feelings for her and that they may indeed be mutual. But because he has sworn to never pursue her without explicit consent on her part, he just continues on supporting her and loving her in the ways that he can.

Iunno. What stands out to me the most is that Eragon understands Fäolin is and always will be a big part of Arya's life, both pre-relationship and during the relationship. They can freely talk about him and Arya can make comparisons or quips about past interactions with Fäolin and have Eragon laugh at them without feeling jealous or angry or set aside. He knows what they have is in the now, and he has nothing to fear, and neither does she.

(Also, I don't know if anyone has picked it up, but to be perfectly blunt here lol: Fäolin is always compared to the sun, very bright, warm, never stopping that cheery, playful side. Eragon, increasingly so as we move along the timeline and Arya realizes {and both does not realize, being our dumb as rocks demi lmao} her feelings, is similarly compared to the sun, but in a slightly different way. Yes, he's got that sunny warmth, but his warmth is deeper and warmer toned. At least, that's what I've tried to do. I don't know if i've gone too subtle or if it's popped up in only like one or two stories that have made it to post but it's a running thing I've done, especially when in Arya's pov.)