How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
It is your wyrd that shapes you, said Saphira. Every age needs an icon—perhaps that lot has fallen to you. (53.90)
In Eragon, "wyrd" is used to mean fate, or destiny. It's an interesting choice of… word, don't you think. A word names something, the way someone's fate names what will happen to them. Saphira says "perhaps" it's Eragon's wyrd to be a hero, but elsewhere she seems pretty sure of this fact. How convinced do you think she is?
Quote #8
"Brom was cursed in a way. It was his wyrd to fail at all of his tasks except one, although it was no fault of his own." (54.22)
Angela reveals a bit about Brom's fate here that makes us feel kind of sorry for the old guy. What about you? Is he nobler or somewhat pathetic, given this fate? Do you think that, if he knew it was his fate to fail in almost everything he did, he'd give up trying? Is character, like Brom's, in part formed by our refusal to give up, even if we may never succeed?
Quote #9
Zar'roc may have a bloody history, but that should not shape your actions. Forge a new history for it, and carry it with pride. (55.4)
More advice from Saphira here. Eragon's sword, since it belonged to Morzan, last of the Forsworn, has a pretty checkered past to say the least. Saphira, though, encourages Eragon to write a new fate and future for the sword. Do you think objects can have fates, the way people are said to have them? Can Eragon's will change his sword's fate?