Arya Dröttningu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
-
This article is about the Inheritance Trilogy character. For other uses see Aryan (disambiguation).
| Inheritance Trilogy character | |
|
|
| Arya | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Hair colour | Black |
| Eye colour | Green |
| House | Dröttning |
| Allegiance | Varden, Elves |
| Film portrayer | Sienna Guillory |
| First appearance | Eragon |
In Christopher Paolini's Inheritance trilogy, Arya Dröttningu, Princess of Ellesméra is a beautiful, hundred-year-old elf princess with raven black hair, and is considered young as elves are immortal. Arya is a skilled swordswoman and powerful magic user, and is first in line to the Elvish throne. The color of her magic is green.
Contents |
[edit] Role in the Books
Arya is first introduced as the egg courier charged with the task of delivering a Dragon's egg from the Varden—an organization fighting against the Empire—to the Elves. This is in order to allow people to touch the egg in the hopes of getting it to hatch for them. Arya is ambushed, however, by the Shade Durza on one of her journeys and desperately tries to send the egg to Brom in Carvahall. The egg ends up in the Spine, a mountain range, where it is found by Eragon.
Eragon sees visions of Arya in his sleep and is eventually imprisoned with her in Gil'ead. With the help of his ally Murtagh, Eragon rescues Arya from the prison. However, she is in a deep sleep; Eragon and Murtagh have no idea what is wrong with her. After they cross the Hadarac desert, Eragon tries to enter Arya's mind. In her mind, she tells him her name and the route to the Varden. She also tells Eragon that she has been afflicted with a rare poison, the Skilna Bragh. While in her self-induced coma, the poison acts more slowly, but if they do not reach the Varden quickly she will die. When they reach the Varden, Arya's condition is serious. Fortunately, the antidote (Tunivor's Nectar) is administered in time, and Arya recovers. Once she has recovered, Arya plays a key part in helping the Varden and Eragon to defeat Durza.
[edit] Family
In Eldest, Arya is revealed to be the daughter of the Queen of the Elves, Islanzadí, making Arya a princess. She makes up with her mother, since they had argued over Arya becoming the egg courier and ambassador to the Varden. Arya is a romantic interest of Eragon's, but she advises him to forget his infatuation with her, as she cannot reciprocate his feelings and they would not make a suitable match. Elves are prejudiced against other races, and marriage between an Elf and a Human would be frowned upon—especially if the elf concerned was a princess. Furthermore, at one hundred years old, Arya is too old for Eragon. She seems to be fond of Eragon but only as a friend, and urges him focus on his duties and save Alagaësia. Arya fights in the Farthen Dûr and Burning Plains battles, and she is present when Eragon reveals the identity of his father and brother.
Arya's family is one of the several royal houses, all living in Ellesméra, such as The House of Miolandra. The Dröttningu dynasty, however, has been in power for many centuries. One of the earliest Elfish royals mentioned, Tarmunora, the Elfish Queen who presided over the bonding of the Elves and Dragons, may have been of a different house. Her predecessor, King Ceranthor, led the Elves into battle against the Dragons. Tarmunora was succeeded by Dellanir, Arya's grandmother, implying that Tarmunora was a Dröttningu—however, she could have handed the throne to another royal house, as Elves sometimes do. Dellanir ruled for centuries before voluntarily abdicating in favor of her son, Evandar. Evandar then became King and married an Elf princess, Islanzadi, who gave birth to Arya. Evandar died at the hands of either Galbatorix or one of the Forsworn about 100 years ago or less on account that his daughter Arya is only 100, and his queen has ruled since. It is unclear how many family members Arya has apart from her mother, however Arya has stated thar she has no brothers or sisters and there is another Dröttningu royal— of lower rank—named Niduen, who is only mentioned in passing. Niduen sends a gift to Eragon when he arrives in Ellesméra but it is unclear how she is related to Arya.
[edit] Criticism
Arya has been called a Mary Sue—a breathtakingly beautiful, perfect princess who is a master of warfare and the arts alike, and the love interest of the main protagonist. Critics complain that her character is flat [1], as Paolini focuses more on her beauty and skill than her personality.
In Eldest, Arya insults a dwarf priest by implying that he is foolish and misguided in his religious beliefs, then later ends the conversation she initiated by saying they'll agree to disagree; readers have remarked that the scene was written in such a way that it was obvious Paolini expected his readers to agree with Arya. [2]
She has also been compared to Princess Leia from George Lucas' Star Wars films, as has been Nasuada, another female character from Inheritance.[3]
[edit] Adaptations
In the upcoming film adaptation of Eragon, Arya is played by Sienna Guillory. Unlike in the books, Arya does not have pointed ears or black hair.
[edit] Trivia
- "Arya" is a Sanskrit and Avestan word relating to "aristocracy."
- On one critique site, Arya's Eyebrows, Arya was voted the second least favorite character.[4]
| Preceded by: Islanzadí Dröttning |
Line of Succession to the Elvish Throne | Succeeded by: ' |
| Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Trilogy | |
|---|---|
| Books | Eragon | Eldest | Book 3 |
| Films | Eragon |
| Main Characters | Eragon | Brom | Arya | Galbatorix | Murtagh | Roran | Ajihad | Nasuada | Angela | Saphira | Oromis | more... |
| Places | Alagaësia | Beor Mountains | Carvahall | Dras-Leona | Ellesméra | Farthen Dûr | Hadarac Desert | Helgrind | Surda | Teirm | Urû'baen | more... |
| Events | Blood-Oath Celebration | Battle of the Burning Plains | Battle for Carvahall | Dagshelgr Invocation | The Fall |
