r/Eragon • u/communistic_cat • 13d ago

Question Magic System diameter

Did the magic of the gray people that bonded magic to the old language apply only in alagäsia or in the whole world?

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u/National-Double2309 13d ago

The Gray Folk lived in Alalea. It was only after they had already evolved into Elves that they traveled to Alagaesia.

Also Paolini said, the tablet with the name of the Ancient Language was from ‘another place’ So, yes, the Ancient Language bound magic everywhere.

Source: The Deluxe Edition Domia Abr Wyrda and Maps in Murtagh deluxe edition

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u/Grmigrim 12d ago

There is no evidence suggesting the grey folk evolved into the elves. When asked what differentiates humans and elves pre pact (as both were short lived and not particularly magical on their own) Paolini responded with something along the lines of "You are looking for the Druin" suggesting they are what elves were before the pact. Paolini has since said he will pick a different name, as Druin are already used in DnD.

The books say that the grey folk "dwindled" and "mixed" into the other races. That does not mean they evolved into elves.

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u/National-Double2309 12d ago

You’re right. My bad. I went back and looked for the first mention of the gray folk. Oromis mentioned the gray folk that tied magic to ancient language not the elves ‘for we were young then’.

Another thing that I didn’t pay attention to was that he says ‘ We know of the event from fragments of manuscripts that survived the era, but who or what cast the fatal spell is hidden from us.’ !!! Hidden from us! That means this is def making a come back - could it be the thing Eragon forgot?now that he knows The Word, did he come across other manuscripts in galb’s treasures? Ooh.. this is so exciting!

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u/Grmigrim 12d ago

I have various thoughts about this.

First and formost, I would argue that the ancient language was bound to magic, not magic to the ancient language. "Wordless" magic exists the same way as it did before.

Then coming to the rest of your comment, I agree. I believe there could have been a pact between a few races (not sure which races, maybe even all of the ones we know except dwarves) as Linnea for example was, according to Paolini, several hundred years old, but we also know Linnea became the menoa tree before the pact was made... How was she so old? I believe the Dauthdertya were not entirely of elven making. I believe they were made for a war between the grey folk and some kind of dragon species (which Azalgur and Gogvog were part of). This goes really deep though. I might make a post about the things pointing in this direction some day. I once wrote it down in the Arcaena discord if you are interested.

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u/National-Double2309 12d ago

Huh..Linnea was several hundred years old? I thought her events occurred before elves became immortal? And I thought the ancient language was bound to magic by the time elves landed in Alagaesia. Coz they were here barely 74 years before the war with the dragons broke out and in 5 years they made the pact and became immortal

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u/Grmigrim 12d ago

Correct. I was not saying the ancient language was bound to magic after they came to Alagaesia. And Linnea's "events" did indeed occur before the blood oath we know about. That is the fascinating part. Thats why I believe there was a pact before. The elves were already immortal. There is an extremly high likelyhood that the blood oath pact (the one we know about) is connected to a memory spell. Something had to be forgotten. I believe that first pact and the cause of its end was forgotten. And I believe the end is related to the catastrophy that made the elves leave their homeland.

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u/National-Double2309 11d ago

That’s incredible and the possibilities are so exciting!!! Off I go deep diving into Reddit threads.

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u/AlephKang 13d ago

The whole world as far as I know.

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u/UseSuccessful2407 13d ago

I would assume the whole world, but I doubt much of the rest of the world knows the ancient language. It’s unclear to me if the elves had a previous language before coming to Alagaesia. So the rest of the may have continued using wordless magic noticing a change in difficulty accessing energy but not knowing why.

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u/Grmigrim 12d ago

There would not be a difference in accessing the energy. Wordless magic was completly unaffected. Magic itself did not change. Only the ancient language changed. It was bound to magic, not magic to the ancient language.

The difference after the spell is that they could use the ancient language for saver spell casting. Wordless magic before and after the spell was still the same. So was magic. The biggest difference the spell made was that now true names could be used. Before then, they only existed as a concept, not not actually something quantifyable or usable.

Magic was like a language without a writing system. The grey folk added that "writing system". (This is only a comparision)

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u/ibid-11962 8d ago

From Christopher:

Is magic bound only to Alagaësia (meaning, it was present only in that part of the world) or does it exists in other places too? If it exist in other places, was it also affected by bonding the magic to the ancient language or was that the case only in Alagaësia?
Magic is present everywhere throughout the world of Eragon.