1 st Body Paragraph – this should describe the quest itself!

1. 1st Body Paragraph – this should describe the quest itself! Quests are an important part of a hero’s story. If there’s no quest, there’s no hero. If there’s no hero, it’s not a hero story. Both of the heroes leave home to go on quests. Eragon needs to leave home to get revenge. The narrator says, “…he shrank from the idea of leaving Palancar Valley; it was his home. Yet the thought of enacting vengeance on the strangers was fiercely comforting” (Paolini 135). Victor leaves home to support his family. His mother says, “Victor is leaving in the morning for El Norte…To find work, for the sake of the family, like your father used to do” (Hobbs 29). They both also travel a long ways through dangerous lands and deal with many enemies. These enemies are part of a government, but Victor is just trying to get by the government and make money while Eragon is trying to overthrow the government. That is how the quests are similar but different.

2. Does this describe the quest? Both stories feature heroes embarking on dangerous quests. Eragon and Victor both travel vast distances through hostile terrain. When Eragon travels across the Hadarac Desert, the narrator says, “The imposing desolation was barren of any animals except for a bird gliding on the zephyrs” (Paolini 484). Similarly, Victor must cross a burning desert with a pack of drug mules, “The sun…was beating on us like a hammer. The earth was on fire, and so was I” (Hobbs 164). Both heroes endure harsh conditions, but Victor travels mostly on foot, while Eragon can soar through the air on his horse and his dragon. He can even cross the Beor Mountains with his friends, as we can see when the narrator says, “…Saphira took off with both Eragon and Arya” (Paolini 517). Additionally, Eragon’s quest features a lot of fighting as he tries to topple the evil empire of Galbatorix, as when the narrator describes Eragon’s battle with the Urgals under FarthenDur, “Harsh Urgal shouts shattered the air as dark shapes boiled out of the tunnel’s opening” (Paolini 703). Meanwhile, Victor must escape Mexican drug runners and American Border Patrolmen, but he’s not trying to bring down any governments. In fact, he describes saving a patrolman’s life from criminals after the man begs for help, “They’ve cut me off from my vehicale and they’re tracking me right now” (Hobbs 176). Both heroes must fight to survive and save others, but they do it in very different ways.