Five years after the events of Inheritance, a young girl named Vanora mourns the loss of her family during the Rider War and its bloody aftermath. Though she longs to bring the new regime to justice, she has entirely lost hope that she can make any difference beyond quietly refusing to accept their version of reality. But when she is chosen by the dragon Verja to be her bonded Rider, she decides to use her newfound power to set things right.
Consequence is a Deconstruction Fic hosted on the new Anti-Shur'tugal Dreamwidth community. The author, a former fan of the Cycle, describes it as her attempt to inject some sense into its world, give the canon characters the calling out they deserve, and beat the original books at their own game. Its Table of Contents can be found here
.
Consequence provides examples of:
- Accidental Murder: In Chapter 9, it is revealed that Oromis once accidentally killed a human student during sparring. It's heavily implied in the text, and basically stated in
Word of God, that this event led the student's two classmates, Kialandí and Formora, to join the Forsworn and later target Oromis. - And I Must Scream: The fate of the Forsworn's dragons is explored in more detail than in canon. For other people, it's simply Name Amnesia. For the dragons, several of whom are still alive in their Eldunarya, it is total erasure of identity. They cannot name themselves, describe themselves, refer to themselves with pronouns, or process the concept of their selves in any meaningful way. What's left of their minds is a jumble of disjointed memories, the clearest of which are those that can be filtered through the minds of their bonded Riders.
- Arc Words: "Nothing worth doing is easy."
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Vanora. On the surface, she's quiet (if a bit intense) and avoids open conflict; on the inside, she's a careful planner who can and will get dangerous if need be.
- Jolanus is introduced as quiet nearly to the point of selective mutism, but turns out to be trained in mind-reading and telepathy.
- Big Sister Instinct: The prologue and flashbacks show Vanora behaving this way toward Meriel, and later towards Serrill. She's also intensely protective towards Verja.
- Blinded by the Light: Vanora uses garjzla as a flash grenade while escaping from Ellesmera.
- Bond Creatures: Dragons. It is an Inheritance fic, after all.
- Broken Bird: Vanora and Murtagh both easily qualify.
- Can't Take Criticism: Arya.
- Character Tic: Vanora has a habit of snapping her knuckles.
- Chekhov's Armory: The author loves to bring back dangling plot threads from canon, usually in a way that is decidedly unfavorable to the canon characters. The dwarven politics section of Brisingr comes back in the form of a Civil War, and Eragon and Saphira's poor treatment of the Menoa Tree has still not been forgiven.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Judging by how quickly she resolves to use her newfound powers for good and her promise to help Sloan reunite with his daughter, Vanora seems to be in the early stages.
- Continuity Nod: Nasuada's Requisite Royal Regalia is described as being absolutely covered in lace.
- Create Your Own Hero: The canon characters invade Uru'baen, causing countless deaths including those of Vanora's family, and then give the children of the renamed Ilirea a chance to be tested as potential Riders. Arya's terrible treatment of Vanora during her brief time as her teacher certainly didn't help matters either.
- Creepy Good: Flárath, an elf who, despite her disturbing smile and the fact that she read Vanora's mind without permission, still seems to be on Vanora and Verja's side.
- Cuddle Bug: Verja, especially as a hatchling.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Vanora's sparring matches against Arya are extremely one-sided, and not in Vanora's favor.
- Cycle of Revenge: Playing out in the story, and discussed heavily in the author's comments. Vanora and Verja are explicitly set up as a Foil for both Eragon and Saphira and Galbatorix and Shruikan. The working title for the story was "Cyclical," both as a reference to the canon Cycle and the in-universe cycles of revenge and rebellion.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Verja is a black dragon who is rather decidedly non-evil.
- Deadpan Snarker: Verja, though Vanora gets in on it as well.
- Death by Origin Story: Vanora's family.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Melmidoc and Orella seem to have been good parents, and Vanora remembers them fondly.
- Deconstruction Fic
- Possibly also counts as Fix Fic and Pseudo Canonical Fic
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Her sister Meriel died in Vanora's arms (also Death of a Child).
- Dirty Mind-Reading: Downplayed for laughs when Verja turns out to have picked up a number of naughty words from Vanora's mind.
- Doomed Hometown: the Stone of Broken Eggs is this for Verja.
- Dragon Rider: Though Verja thinks that name makes dragons sound like glorified horses.
- Dumb Struck: Jolanus appears to be this, though it turns out he can and does talk in rare circumstances. He only speaks out loud when he feels it's safe, and mostly communicates via telepathy.
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Fanon Discontinuity: The author has stated that nothing published after Inheritance is canon in Consequence. - Fantastic Nuke: The prologue overlaps with the battle of Uru'baen in Inheritance, so we get to see the effects of Galbatorix going nuclear.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Somewhat Downplayed in the case of Nasuada, who is more out of touch than actively malevolent, but played straight with Arya.
- Godzilla Threshold: upon learning that Arya intends to send her to Eragon, Vanora abandons her commitment to careful planning and throws together an Indy Ploy.
- Grave-Marking Scene: The first chapter opens with Vanora at the grave of her little sister.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Deconstructed heavily in Chapter Two, where Vanora realizes that the elves can't experience the satisfaction of having truly worked for something like she can, and pities them for it.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Eragon has gone from the young man fighting against an oppressive regime to the oppressor seeking to hunt down the young woman who rebelled against him. Nasuada has gone from trying to overthrow a tyrant to being the tyrant herself, even down to implementing some of the old tyrant's plans.
- Huge Schoolgirl: Vanora is about a head taller than her male best friend, Serrill, and a later flashback demonstrates that it's not just because they're 13. She's also able to meet Arya's gaze without having to look up at her.
- Indy Ploy: In Chapter 4, Vanora improvises an escape from Ellesmera. It works.
- In Chapter Six, Jolanus manages to get himself and Serrill out of the clutches of Nasuada's magicians by exposing one to something like poison ivy, convincing him that he has melting sickness.
- The Joy of First Flight: The first time Vanora and Verja fly together.
- Letter Motif: The story is centered on the dragon/rider pair of Vanora and Verja.
- Meanwhile Scene: At the end of Chapter 5, we get a scene at Eragon's fortress, where Arya calls him through the mirror to summon him to fight Vanora and Verja.
- Military Brat: Vanora's father was a soldier in the Uru'baen garrison.
- Mind Rape: Serrill suffers an extremely painful mental attack in Chapter 7, the trauma of which gives him recurring nightmares.
- Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork: Downplayed for drama with Vanora, who enjoys studying for the sense of personal accomplishment and because it takes her mind off her other worries.
- Non-Action Guy: Serrill
- Our Mages Are Different: The fic irons out some of the terminology used in the canon series for magic-users, establishing mage as meaning someone who was born with magic, wizard as meaning someone who gains magic through intense study and mental exercises, and witch as meaning someone who unlocks magic by using mind-altering potions, while magician is a catch-all term for any magic-user. Sorcerer remains someone who uses spirits, but is established as being a way to increase one's power rather than gain magic in the first place.
- Not That Kind of Mage: After learning that he has magic, Serrill initially starts calling himself a wizard, but Jolanus corrects him.
Jolanus: You're not a wizard. I'm a wizard. You're a mage.
- Poke in the Third Eye: Vanora gives one to Arya in Chapter 4, and gets a face full of elf memories as a result.
- Plucky Girl: Verja skirts the border between this and Determinator.
- Really 700 Years Old: Verja hatched rather recently, but the fact that she has faint memories of Du Fyrn Skulblaka indicates that she was in her egg for just over 2700 years.
- Red-Headed Hero: Vanora.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Vanora (blue) and Verja (red).
- Screw You, Elves!: Played With. Vanora's initial attitude towards elves is rather hostile, but she also comes to pity them after some thought on what their lives must be like.
- Shrinking Violet: Serrill is a Rare Male Example; in Chapter 6 he borders on Extreme Doormat.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Somewhat downplayed; the author's sketches◊ show that Vanora's eyes are hazel-green.
- Street Smart: Vanora can disappear into a crowd, has a fairly good sense of when people are trying to trap her, and is capable of coming up with a good Indy Ploy under pressure. Unlike many examples of this trope, she's also book smart.
- Street Urchin: The prequel aside The Thief shows that Morzan started out as one.
- Switching P.O.V.: Most of the fic so far has been from Vanora's point of view, but Verja and Serrill have also had POV chapters, and Eragon even gets a little segment at the end of Chapter 5. Whoever the viewpoint character happens to be at the time, though, the narrative largely remains in close third person.
- Trauma Conga Line: The prologue is this for Vanora. It's worse when you remember that she was eight years old when all of that happened.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Vanora's first use of magic, triggered by seeing Arya use magic against Verja.
- Troubled Fetal Position: Seems to be Vanora's default way of sitting down.
- When Trees Attack: The Menoa Tree helps Vanora and Verja escape from Du Weldenvarden by making the trees subdue Arya and Firnen.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Vanora, likely as a result of her difficult life circumstances.
- Wowing Cthulhu: The Menoa Tree finds Vanora's plea for help both amusing and heartening.
- You Are Not Ready: Arya uses lines like this on Vanora during her initial training, much to her annoyance.
- Younger Than They Look: Elva, who was one year old and looked about five at the end of Inheritance, is now six years old and looks the same age as Vanora.
