"Murtagh" - Part III: NAL GORGOTH (III-VI) - My Thoughts
Likely SPOILERS!!!
Chapters Read:
Part III: NAL GORGOTH
- III. The Tower of Flint
- IV. Dreams and Portents
- V. Recitations of Faith
- VI. The Court of Crows
These were some mysterious chapters that were so intriguing that it almost became frustrating! But this is a positive thing I believe.
The Tower of Flint was extremely interesting, Murtagh found evidence of a Forsworn Rider named Saerlith in a pile of bird crap, which is obviously a bit gross but ultimately mind-blowing. It's fascinating to learn a bit about the Forsworn lore a bit more. Apparently Saerlith's dragon was a shade of pink which is interesting. I think it'd be maybe a bit obvious or on the nose or whatnot but it would be really cool if it turns out that a member of the Forsworn is still alive. Also I'm dying to know what Saerlith and Galbatorix were doing in Nal Gorgoth in the first place.
It seems that some of the Dreamers are not ALL 100 percent completely brainwashed fully. I mean most are and even the few that aren't, are still mostly faithful to whatever the heck this cult is. But it's clear that for some people, there's some level of doubt/and or curiosity about what life's like outside of Nal Gorgoth. They even wonder what a proper dream might be like which is nuts. It seems that most of, if not all, of the Dreamers have been in Nal Gorgoth their whole lives with Bachel in control of pretty much every phase of the citizens' lives.
There's some giant cave in the mountain that makes no sense. It seems that the fumes in the village might be keeping the citizens in a sort of trance-like obedient state of some kind. Sounds like the good old fashioned fluoride conspiracy theory we hear about in America at least.
Murtagh questions Bachel again and she seems wildly evasive about answering any type of question directly and she has this fascination with crows for whatever reason.
Bachel seems to be connected to the Soothsayer which was one minor piece of information even though it also raises a lot of questions too. The Soothsayer is essentially a powerful sort of fortune teller that Galbatorix was obviously aware of himself. Yeah, I don't know what's going on there either.
These chapters end with Bachel saying she'll be more forthcoming about Nal Gorgoth, herself, and her goals as a whole. But before she does so, she asks Murtagh to stay a day or so and to go on a boar 🐗 hunt? What the heck?
So yeah these chapters were a bit strange and even felt sort of aloof. Like this Bachel lady is seemingly intimidating and powerful but she's actually not once displayed any of her skillset or anything. She clearly has magical powers of her own style and whatnot but like, as a reader I'm beginning to wonder if she's even someone to fear for real. I just haven't seen her truly demonstrate anything rock solid enough to prove she's even a major problem beyond being a cult leader and like having influence and a level of odd charisma. And now she proposes a boar hunt? Like what are we doing?
We'll see how this plays out soon but I'm skeptical. Murtagh should soon maybe confront her way more, or leave with the intel he's gained. I was hoping he'd leave on multiple occasions already.
But there is a ton of mystery here and she doesn't seem genuinely friendly whatsoever so I get why he's still hanging around for now.
Let's see what happens, this boar hunt seems really random and irrelevant but maybe she has a trap set for Murtagh or maybe she's trying to properly gauge his and Thorn's skill level. Maybe both
I'm so confused but intrigued too. I'm maybe 55 percent through the book so soon enough I'll get some answers.
I'm curious if we'll see another dragon or rider at all, or make contact with anyone else, Murtagh and Thorn are really on their own here. I wonder what Nasuada thinks...
