Dragon Riders

     Dragon Riders were a coalition of elves and dragons formed at the end of Du Fyrn Skulnlaka to forge peace and order between elves and dragons. Riders were created because treaties didn’t work between the two races to stop their constant fighting. Dragons thought nothing of a piece of paper. So, an irrevocable bond was wrought by the elves and the dragons; the elves provided the structure of the spell and the dragons provided the strength, and out came the Dragon Rider.

            When a fleet of humans sailed across the sea thousands of years later they were also added to the elite order of Dragon Riders. The role of Riders became more than uniting races: Riders because keepers of peace throughout the land of Alagaesia. They were respected and honored by the people they served. There are both male and female Riders. All were able to use magic. The Riders kept peace, but they were also healers, scholars, and the strongest magicians throughout the land besides Shades. All this a Rider would not agree to.

            Dragons used to give Elves one egg a year; but because of how useful Riders proved to be the dragons began giving the elves two or three eggs a year. Then, the baby dragons would chose to hatch for the elf or human most suited to that dragon. It is not specified in the books, but many speculated that the Riders’ position of power eventually led to their downfall. The Riders themselves were above the laws of all the lands. They kept peace between all races, even if their methods were sometimes “meddling” and by the dwarves and “unethical” to certain races. But they were not just soldiers between the races; they were also the foremost of scholars.

            A Rider by the name of Galbatoric sought help from the Dragon Rider council in Vroengard. He was driven mad by the loss of his dragon due to a surprise attack of Urgals. He demanded the council to give him another dragon, but the council refused and realized that his mind was unstable. Galbatorix blamed the Riders for the death of his dragon and planned to destroy them all.

 He fled to the wild, biding his time. After waiting years he met a young Rider named Morzan. He convinced Morzan to join his cause, teaching him dark techniques that “should never be revealed”. Later Morzan helped Galbatorix sneak in and steal a dragon hatchling and killed it Rider. Utilizing his dark arts, Galbatorix was able to twist the dragon’s mind into making the dragon believe that he was its Rider.

He and Morzan, along with twelve other corrupt Riders (The Forsworn) caught the Dragon Riders unaware and destroyed the,. This brought an end to the peace the had established in Alagaesia. Galbatorix personally killed the head of the Riders: Vrael. He also killed the rightful king of the Broddring Kingdom and took the title for himself, establishing the Empire.

The records show that only fifteen Dragon Riders escaped the downfall. King Galbatorix was the first, twelve of the thirteen Forsworn; Brom, who helped found the Varden (a rebel organization). And Oromis, who stayed with the elves in Du Weldenvarden waiting until a new Rider would emerge. Brom and his friend Heod eventually formed a plan to steal the last three dragon eggs that Galbatorix had taken. The mission was foiled and their thief stole only a single blue dragon egg. Eventually Brom recovered the egg from him, after slaying Morzan, first and last of the Forsworn.

After this, Brom went into hiding living in disguise as a storyteller in a small village named Carvahall. The egg that had been recovered was varied by the Varden and an elf named Arya. They moved hoping that the dragon would choose either and elf or a human to hatch. Arya was captured by a Shade, Durza. Before she was taken she cast a transportation spell and teleported the egg to the forest in Carvahall, hoping it would reach Brom.

   But, the egg did not reach Brom, it found a fifteen year old boy named Eragon. Eragon mistook the egg for a precious stone and took it back to the village hoping that he could get it examined by one of the passing through traders. Because it was an egg and dragon eggs were not familiar sights the “stone” could not be identified nor its value determined. Later the egg hatched for Eragon, claiming him as its rider. The gedwey ignasia was placed on his palm and this began the rebirth of the Riders.