Brisingr (sword)

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Brisingr is Eragon Bromsson's new Rider's sword. It was his fourth sword after Zar'roc, his falchion, and his dwarf sword. It was forged for Eragon by Rhunön, using Eragon's body to circumvent the oath of never making another Rider's sword.

Fanart of Zar'roc to look like Brisingr with the Chinese symbol for "fire" (note that it is not hand-a-half and the handle is still black leather instead of hard wood)

[edit] Description

Brisingr was a hand-and-a-half sword with a curved cross-guard, designed to be used for every situation Eragon might come across. It could fight equally well in a large battlefield as it could in a tight hallway. Eragon requested this from Rhunön because he needed "a sword for all occasions". Eragon would prefer to fight with one hand on his sword and the other on a shield, but circumstance did not always allow him to carry a shield, so the sword was made so that he could fight with one hand as usual, but when needed he could grip with both hands for powerful blows. The glyph for "fire" in the Ancient Language "Brisingr" was engraved on both the blade and the scabbard. It had a dark blue scabbard, like the color of Saphira's back, with leaf shaped steel capped on the end of the scabbard. The blade itself was a lighter iridescent blue, like the color of Saphira's neck. The brightsteel contained cable-like patterns within it, and a flame-like pattern marked the transition between the soft spine of the blade and it's hard edges. The guard was made of blued brightsteel. The blade was thinner near the end to pierce the upgraded armor during Eragon's time. The grip was made of hard blackwood. Lastly, there was a large blue sapphire in the pommel, held in place by four claws like ribs made of blued brightsteel.

[edit] "Brisingr!"

Whenever Eragon said the sword's name "Brisingr", it burst into a blue flame. This could either be because Eragon discovered that "Brisingr" was its True name, or because he imbued it with some of his personality when Rhunön used his body to forge it, or both. This unique property of his blade has been foreshadowed by Christopher Paolini in what the Urgalgra call Eragon. His title was Firesword, originally referring to the red blade Zar'roc.

When Eragon later showed his new sword to Oromis, Oromis started a sentence; "I wonder...", which was left incomplete. It may be that this will have significance in the final book.

Paolini hinted that the name of Book 3, Brisingr, has more meaning than people guess. "Brisingr" was the first ancient word Eragon used, in Eragon when fighting the Urgals with Brom. At the time, he said he did not know the word or its meaning. Also, while Eragon was fighting Durza, he shouted "Brisingr". When he was fighting the Ra'zac, he also shouted out "Brisingr".

[edit] History

Brisingr was forged by the elf Rhunön, by taking over Eragon's mind and using his body (because of a previous oath she could not use her own hands to make the blade). She used brightsteel, a type of extremely rare metal from ore found in some meteorites and fragments of shooting stars that had landed in Du Weldenvarden. The brightsteel was used to make swords for Riders. Eragon and Saphira found a nugget of the metal ore under one of the roots of the Menoa tree, as predicted in Solembum's prophecy. Rhunön forged it by controlling Eragon's body with her mind, in order to avoid breaking her oath. Rhunön (and Oromis) noted that it was the finest sword she had ever made.

[edit] Trivia

• The insignia on the above picture of Brisingr is the Chinese character for "fire". This is not the actual symbol on the sword and scabbard as the appearances of the letters of the Ancient Language are unknown to us.
• Oromis says that, in theory, it is possible to absorb energy from other sources than life, when Eragon suggests the idea, but it is currently impossible.  Tenga, the hermit whom Eragon met while returning to the Varden, may be searching for this very power.  If Eragon were to set his sword on fire and absorb the energy, it would provide him with an infinite loop of energy.

[edit] Other Images

Note that none of these matches perfectly the descriptions in the book. Of the swords pictured, the lower-left and lower-right shows most of the features described in the book. The uppermost and lower-middle swords are images of Zar'roc used in the film, colored blue.

[edit] Gallery

			Brisingr on fire
The symbol on Brisingr, redrawn from Eragon's Guide to Alagaesia