Eragon
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50 free Eragon trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
A home-schooled fifteen-year-old in Montana wrote a dragon story, his parents self-published it, and a thriller novelist's stepson picked it up on holiday. Two years later Eragon was a Knopf bestseller that spent 121 weeks on the New York Times list, and a four-book cycle that has sold more than 33 million copies was under way. These 50 questions cover the writing and publication of Eragon, Paolini's influences and his colour-blindness, the plot of the first book from the blue stone in the Spine to the Battle of Farthen Dûr, Brom, Zar'roc, the Ra'zac, Angela and Solembum, Murtagh's parentage, Ajihad and Nasuada, the Shade Durza and how to kill one, plus the sequels Eldest, Brisingr and Inheritance, the Eldunarí, the Vault of Souls and the ending, the 2006 film with Ed Speleers and Jeremy Irons, the Murtagh follow-up and the Disney+ adaptation. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and each explanation adds one more detail. Play it solo or print it for a fantasy book club.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which kind of schooling did Christopher Paolini have before writing Eragon at fifteen?
Homeschooling
Homeschooling let him finish high school at fifteen. He began Eragon as a hobby with no thought of publishing it, spending a year on the first draft and a second year rewriting it.
Q 02Who first published Eragon?
Paolini's parents, through their own company
Paolini's parents, through their own company, spent a year turning the manuscript into a book: editing, typesetting and printing it, with a dragon's eye drawn by their son on the cover.
Q 03Which Florida novelist recommended Eragon to his publisher, Knopf, after his stepson read it on holiday?
Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen passed the book to his own editor. Knopf's Michelle Frey then wrote to the Paolini family offering to publish it, and her edition became a bestseller as soon as it appeared.
Q 04Eragon's home valley is named after which fantasy artist?
John Jude Palencar
John Jude Palencar got the tribute from a teenage fan: Paolini named Palancar Valley after the painter, and only afterwards did the publisher happen to pick him to paint the book's cover.
Q 05What did the teenage Paolini wear for many of his 135-plus Eragon talks?
Medieval costume
Medieval costume was no shortcut: standing at a bookshop table and talking to every customer for eight hours, he might sell forty books on a good day.
Q 06Which US state's wild landscape inspired the setting of Eragon?
Montana
Montana's Paradise Valley, where Paolini grew up, was one of his main models. He hiked and camped in the mountains nearby so that small details of forest and peak would ring true.
Q 07On which fictional continent is Eragon set?
Alagaësia
Alagaësia was mapped by its own author: the teenage Paolini drew the map printed inside the book himself.
Q 08Paolini built the elves' ancient language in Eragon mainly from which real tongue?
Old Norse
Old Norse words, dug out of dictionaries and respelled under rules of his own, saved Paolini from inventing a whole language from scratch, a task he said took Tolkien decades.
Q 09What is the name of Eragon's mother, who left him as a baby to be raised by her brother?
Selena
Selena came home in secret to give birth and begged her brother's family to raise the boy as their own. She then left again and died soon afterwards.
Q 10Saphira's blue-tinted vision was inspired by what about Paolini?
His colour-blindness
His colour-blindness washes the world in a blue tint in which strong blues stand out, so he gave his dragons the same eyes: they see purples as blue, and reds look muted.
Q 11Which epic poem does Paolini name among his biggest influences?
Beowulf
Beowulf, one of Paolini's favourite stories, lent the dwarf king his name: in the poem Hrothgar is the Danish king whose hall the monster Grendel raids.
Q 12Which Shade ambushes three elves at the start of Eragon, trying to seize a dragon egg?
Durza
Durza kills two of the elves, but the third hurls the egg away by magic before he can take it, which is how it comes to land in front of a startled farm boy.
Q 13Eragon finds Saphira's egg in the mountains while doing what?
Hunting
Hunting at fifteen for his family's winter meat, he sees an explosion and finds a polished blue stone in the rubble. At first he hopes only that it will buy them food.
Q 21In which coastal city does Eragon meet the merchant Jeod, his mentor's old friend?
Teirm
Teirm is home to Jeod, a merchant who secretly ships supplies to the king's enemies. With his help the travellers work out that the killers they are tracking are based in Dras-Leona.
Q 22Which herbalist and witch reads Eragon's fortune using dragon bones?
Angela
Angela the herbalist was modelled on Paolini's own younger sister, who is also called Angela and shares the character's love of knitting and unusual words.
Q 23What kind of creature is Solembum, the herbalist's companion in Eragon?
A werecat
A werecat seldom speaks to humans, so it is a surprise when Solembum offers Eragon two cryptic pieces of advice. Both riddles are solved only books later.
Q 14What is the name of Eragon's uncle, who raises him?
Garrow
Garrow took the boy in when his sister left her baby at the farm. His death, after the king's servants wreck that farm, is what sends Eragon out looking for revenge.
Q 15In which village does Eragon grow up?
Carvahall
Carvahall is later abandoned by almost everyone in it: in Eldest, Eragon's cousin Roran persuades the villagers to march and sail the length of the land to join the war against the king.
Q 16What does Saphira's hatching leave on Eragon's palm?
A silver mark
A silver mark, the gedwëy ignasia, brands the palm of every Dragon Rider. Later in the book an old man proves he was once a Rider too by showing the same mark on his own hand.
Q 17Which of Galbatorix's monstrous servants come looking for the dragon egg in Eragon's village?
The Ra'zac
The Ra'zac strike at night and shrink from light and deep water. In Eldest their winged mounts, the Lethrblaka, turn out to be their own parents.
Q 18Which sword does the old storyteller give Eragon when they set out?
Zar'roc
Zar'roc stays at Eragon's side for two books. At the end of Eldest, Murtagh defeats him in battle and takes the sword, claiming it as his own inheritance.
Q 19Where do Eragon and Saphira hide after fleeing his uncle's farm?
The Spine
The Spine, the untamed range where the egg first appeared, shelters them only briefly: they return to find the farm burned and Eragon's uncle dying.
Q 20Who were the Forsworn in the world of Eragon?
Rogue Dragon Riders who helped Galbatorix
Rogue Dragon Riders who helped Galbatorix destroy their own order, the Forsworn numbered thirteen. By the time of the story, a century later, every one of them is dead.
Q 24What does Saphira do with Brom's body after he dies?
She encases him in diamond with magic
She encases him in diamond with magic: Eragon raises a sandstone tomb over his mentor, and the dragon turns the stone to clear gem so that time cannot touch him.
Q 25What are the Varden in Eragon?
Rebels seeking to overthrow Galbatorix
Rebels seeking to overthrow Galbatorix, the Varden were founded by a former Dragon Rider whose own dragon had been killed. They shelter among the dwarves inside the hollow mountain Farthen Dûr.
Q 26Which elf does Eragon free from the prison at Gil'ead?
Arya
Arya had spent years carrying Saphira's egg between the elves and their human allies. Ambushed, she flung it away by magic towards an ally, and it reached Eragon instead.
Q 27Murtagh reveals he is the son of which former leader of the Forsworn?
Morzan
Morzan's name costs his son dearly: once Murtagh is recognised as his father's child, he is locked in a cell for refusing to let his mind be searched.
Q 28What are the Kull in Eragon?
Elite Urgals
Elite Urgals, the Kull hound Eragon through the mountains in the first book. In Eldest their kind change sides, freed from the spell of the Shade who had driven them to fight for the king.
Q 29Who leads the Varden when Eragon first arrives?
Ajihad
Ajihad does not enjoy the victory at Farthen Dûr for long: he is ambushed and killed in the opening chapter of Eldest, and his daughter is chosen to lead in his place.
Q 30Which dwarf, nephew of King Hrothgar, becomes Eragon and Saphira's guide?
Orik
Orik rises far beyond guide. After Hrothgar is killed in battle, the clans meet to choose a successor in Brisingr, and Orik wins the vote and is crowned king of the dwarves.