Was anyone else mad at Nasuada?, Her actions in Brisingr Options

[Kryptikk]

Nasuada has always had quite a bit of power being the leader of the Varden and Eragon's liegelord, but never really "abused" that power.

In Brisingr, however, she kind of took it a little too far in my opinion. For example, even though she is Eragon's liegelord, she has never really relied on ordering him around, but rather would request things from him on the basis that they were the right things to do(which Eragon mostly agreed with in books 1 and 2). In Brisingr though, she orders him to seperate from Saphira to visit the dwarves, and generally makes more use of her command than on previous occasions. I was alright with her actions up to that point as I agreed that although it was questionable, her orders were probably the best way to go.

After that though, when it came to dealing with Roran's insubordination, I was very upset with Nasuada. Not only did she make the mistake of putting Roran under the command of an inept captain, she had to also have been the one to promote that captain in the first place. Then she sends this company of 250 out to fight against one of 700 (another mistake, no matter how shorthanded the Varden are) a battle that they should have by no means won. Then Roran saves her hide by ignoring orders that would have got their company killed, and instead leads them to an extremely improbable victory, slaying nearly 200 men by himself.

Think of the situation Roran saved the Varden from. If he had followed orders, they would have most likely been killed. 250 soldiers, including a good magician (Carn) as well as a warrior of Roran's caliber dead. The company they fought would have suffered casualties, but still would have been able to go about wreaking havoc throughout Surda in the time it would've taken Nasuada to send yet another group of soldiers out to take care of them.

So how does Nasuada go about rewarding Roran for covering her multiple mistakes? She has him whipped fifty times in front of the entire Varden. I get that there were certain precedents that are normally followed in cases of insubordination, but you would think those could be overlooked in this type of case. Not to mention it had to be bad for the morale of the troops seeing Eragon's cousin whipped (and even worse for the morale of those in the company who had their lives saved by Roran and witnessed his epic battle).

This post has been edited by Kryptikk: Oct 24 2008, 06:57 AM

[Angela42]

I must say that I agree for the most part. On the other hand, leading the Varden is no simple task, and despite her seemingly ridiculous requests and commands, she bears a huge weight. She must think not only for the good of one or two of her most powerful allies within the Varden, but for the general good of the Varden.

[LordRand]

Thanks for posting this topic, I thought the exact same thing. What was up with her wanting to create her own "zombie" like army to fight the Empire? Wasn't the whole point of the Varden to be the "good" guys? The Varden shouldn't resort to Galbatorix's methods at the turn of a hat. In addition, Nasuada continually attempted to control Eragon against his will and to force him to break oaths which (in my opinion) supersede his own to Nasuada. If I was Eragon, I would think about asking Nasuada to rescind his oath. However, seeing as she's a power hungry b----, she would probably laugh in his face. She needs to mellow out.

[Saphira2007]

Thanks for posting this topic, I thought the exact same thing. What was up with her wanting to create her own "zombie" like army to fight the Empire? Wasn't the whole point of the Varden to be the "good" guys? The Varden shouldn't resort to Galbatorix's methods at the turn of a hat. In addition, Nasuada continually attempted to control Eragon against his will and to force him to break oaths which (in my opinion) supersede his own to Nasuada. If I was Eragon, I would think about asking Nasuada to rescind his oath. However, seeing as she's a power hungry b----, she would probably laugh in his face. She needs to mellow out.

Agreed. I have to say that while I liked Nasuada in Eldest and Eragon, in Brisingr, she takes it too far (the whipping). She needs to find a way to relax.

[Kryptikk]

I must say that I agree for the most part. On the other hand, leading the Varden is no simple task, and despite her seemingly ridiculous requests and commands, she bears a huge weight. She must think not only for the good of one or two of her most powerful allies within the Varden, but for the general good of the Varden.

I agree but just because she has to think for the good of the entire Varden doesn't lessen her mistakes concerning her powerful allies. Well, ally* (Roran) I should say, like I said before I don't really agree with her forcing Eragon to take certain actions, but I think it was one of the best options at the time. So although she could have done it differently, I don't really consider that part to be a mistake.

This post has been edited by Kryptikk: Sep 23 2008, 07:17 PM

[kingorrinsfan]

I disliked her quite a bit in this one. On top of punishing Roran for saving everyone's lives, she was quite unpleasant to Orrin several times. He's not even "playing with quicksilver" in this one. However, she still treats him rather like a child. I think I'd be quite disgruntled in his place

[InheritanceFan19...]

I completely agree. She REALLY irritated me when she started bossing Eragon around. Then she just plain pissed me off when she had Roran whipped liked that. The captain he was under was an idiot. He deserved to be disobeyed.

[InheritanceFan19...]

I disliked her quite a bit in this one. On top of punishing Roran for saving everyone's lives, she was quite unpleasant to Orrin several times. He's not even "playing with quicksilver" in this one. However, she still treats him rather like a child. I think I'd be quite disgruntled in his place

He did get disgruntled remember. He gave her a little rant, I think it was right after Eragon got back from Helgrind. And then she was like, that wasn't my intent, and I'm sorry Orrin. I admit, I was a little disappointed with Orrin in Eldest, but he turned out to be alright in this one.

[pg22aw]

I disliked her quite a bit in this one. On top of punishing Roran for saving everyone's lives, she was quite unpleasant to Orrin several times. He's not even "playing with quicksilver" in this one. However, she still treats him rather like a child. I think I'd be quite disgruntled in his place

Ya...pretty soon the Varden will stop trusting her...just like CP said that they would

[kingorrinsfan]

I disliked her quite a bit in this one. On top of punishing Roran for saving everyone's lives, she was quite unpleasant to Orrin several times. He's not even "playing with quicksilver" in this one. However, she still treats him rather like a child. I think I'd be quite disgruntled in his place

He did get disgruntled remember. He gave her a little rant, I think it was right after Eragon got back from Helgrind. And then she was like, that wasn't my intent, and I'm sorry Orrin. I admit, I was a little disappointed with Orrin in Eldest, but he turned out to be alright in this one.

I know, I was agreeing with his being disgruntled. My opinion of her did improve after she apologized

I somewhat agree about Orrin. In Eldest, I thought he was funny anyway, but it was really nice to see him actually doing something related to being King in this one

[texasman]

Whipping I can understand, as he did break the law and he was serving as an example of loyalty to the men. At the same time, his own example showed that the courageous do what is best for all, even if they take pain upon themselves.

My point of being pissed at her was having Roran go on a mission immediately after his back being opened up with more holes than swiss cheese.

[ParselTongue]

I realy respected Nasuada in Eragon and Eldest but in Brisingr she was unreasonable. Anyone would be lucky to survive 50 lashes but then to send him immediatly out on another raid was beyond me. He defied orders and only because of that anyone lived. I hope Eragon gives her a telling off in book IV. And like mentioned she never "ordered" Eragon before but was willing to even against there wishes to get her way. She also knows the pain Elva feels but for her own safety wanted her to continue in her state to protect her from harm. When did CP say the varden would stop trusting Nasuada? I guess I missed that interview? Anyone have a link?

[Freeml]

Did anyone else find it weird/random how she was thinking all that stuff about wanting to get married and have kids? It just didn't seem to fit with her character at all (well, maybe from her personality in Eldest it would fit), but she's supposed to be all tough and unwavering and all of that, and then she's longing over what she sees between Katrina and Roran. And then to think that she considered a marriage with Orrin!?! I know she called it a marriage of "convenience" but STILL, I don't know what Orrin would have said to that!

I didn't like her at all in Brisingr, she seemed like she lost all of the kindness that she used to have.

[wakemaster17]

If people saw Roran not get whipped for not following commands, then they would do it too, thinking they wouldn't be punished. She did the lawfully right thing by whipping him, and Roran didn't complain about it because he knew he broke the chain of command.

If Eragon flew with Saphira to the dwarves, then the Black Hand would tell Galbatorix, and he would send Thorn. Even if it is a hard thing for Eragon to do, it was the right thing. If he had just stayed with Saphira, then Orik probably wouldn't be the Dwarf king.

[BartimaeusTrilog...]

So how does Nasuada go about rewarding Roran for covering her multiple mistakes? She has him whipped fifty times in front of the entire Varden. I get that there were certain precedents that are normally followed in cases of insubordination, but you would think those could be overlooked in this type of case. Not to mention it had to be bad for the morale of the troops seeing Eragon's cousin whipped (and even worse for the morale of those in the company who had their lives saved by Roran and witnessed his epic battle).

She had to. It was the law.