I've been wondering of late about how much of the pretty pervasive (as far as I can see) fandom interpretation of Oromis as being emotionally deaf or lacking empathy comes from the text itself and how much is the limitations of Paolini's writing.
Because from where I stand, Oromis lacking for compassion or kindness was definitely not what the author was trying to convey:
Again and again we are reminded that he feels so much compassion for Eragon that it's straight up overwhelming. That he knows full well what he's asking and would take on the burden himself if he could.
Oromis' flaw isn't that he doesn't see or care about the pain of others. We know that he knows what Eragon is going through, and we know that if there was literally any other way, one that would spare his student the pain, he would take it. His flaw is his complete and utter unflinching sense of duty. His duty is to see to it that Galbatorix dies and Eragon survives, and as much as it might pain him personally to make Eragon go through hardship, he won't let that stop him, he can't.
As for why he objectively isn't great at communicating that to Eragon, well, as he tells us himself:
He says "we have little time", but what he means is "I have little time". He is a dead man walking and he desperately wants to die knowing he gave Eragon at least a fighting chance.
This is why I don't much agree with how he often gets characterized in fanworks when it comes to his relationship with Brom and Morzan - that he was too emotionally blind to see what Morzan was doing, or that he pushed Morzan too far. So much of what we see of Oromis' character in Eldest and Brisingr is informed by his illness and trauma. If his sternness and impatience in the books comes down to him only having a few months left to live, is it not reasonable to assume that prior to the Fall, he was a different man? That perhaps him not separating Morzan from Brom was brought on by a sense of fatherly love so deep it blinded him to what Morzan was becoming.
