Knox Daniel - Murtagh

 This semester, I read Murtagh by Christopher Paolini, a sequel to one of my favorite fantasy series - Eragon. While the other books in the series are more focused on adventure and heroism, this one featured a spiritual, shamanist presence in the form of Bachel, a witch and soothsayer. She has a dedicated, cultist following and is unusually powerful. It reminded me of the film clips we watched in class with the Native American shaman and the supernatural abilities he possessed. I can’t recall the main character’s name, but he was tormented by the shaman and couldn’t believe the voodoo-like torture he was being subjected to. Similarly, Murtagh was astonished and caught off guard by Bachel’s superhuman strength, prophetic abilities, and seemingly limitless power that she drew from her master. Murtagh himself is incredibly powerful, as he is a dragon Rider. There’s an interesting parallel between the main character being European (he and his crew were trying to colonize part of America, if I remember correctly) and Murtagh being a Rider - they were both accustomed to being “better” or stronger than the people they encountered, but the savage spiritual leaders were able to surprise them. 


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