u/ClemHFandango990

Posting to farm ideas for future playthroughs.

Not necessarily looking for the mundane data-driven stuff like the best DPS or the best for perk synergy or crit builds or whatever.

What weapons do you like using because they're just plain satisfying to use?

For me, it's the 25mm APW.

Handles like a rifle, hits like dynamite.

Weapon and mods are all available fairly early once you reach Vegas.

Ammo is more plentiful to buy, compared to 40mm or thrown explosives.

Ammo types including HE, plasma, and Pulse so it's effective against almost anything.

Mag capacity is generous enough for sustained rapid fire to clear out groups.

AoE is tight enough that I don't feel wasteful shooting it at single targets.

Also I like the phwish phwish sound it makes when firing.

Well, I mean... It is incorrect. I don't doubt Eragon's grammar (after his training in Ellesmera) and so I accept the point that this is not a correct translation of "The Wandering Path".

But Eragon assumes that it's an indication of ignorance... What if this name isn't a mistake, and Eragon simply made an assumption about what the name of the group is actually supposed to mean?

If it doesn't mean "The Wandering Path", then what does it mean?

Here's what we know:

1. The Varden magicians call their group "The Wandering Path".

2. Du Vrangr Gata technically translates to "The Path Wandering". The correct translation should be Du Gata Vrangr instead. It's the right words, in the wrong order.

3. Eragon concludes that this error indicates poor literacy. Because it's a really obvious mistake.

4. This group was named by the Twins, who were spies and traitors working for Galbatorix. Their actual goal was to limit the Varden's magical knowledge and gather intel to help co-ordinate Galbatorix's strikes again the Varden.

5. The rest of the group are loyal and try their best to operate with tiny scraps of magical knowledge and training. It was just specifically the Twins who were traitors and spies.

6. We (and Eragon) learn everything above during (or before) Eldest... It's not until Inheritance that Eragon (and the audience) learns a final piece of the puzzle:

Galbatorix named his sword Vrangr.

So the word vrangr has at least three meanings:

Used as an adjective, vrangr means wandering. As in, The Wandering Path.

Used as an adverb, vrangr means awry. The name Galbatorix chose for his sword.

Used as a proper noun, Vrangr (with a capital V) means the sword itself.

So:

If you read the vrangr in Du Vrangr Gata as an adjective to describe the path, then Eragon is right. Their name is The Wandering Path but the translation is simply wrong. An embarrassing mistake.

But if you read the vrangr in Du Vrangr Gata as a proper noun, referring to Vrangr the sword... Then Eragon is mistaken and (I think) this is the correct grammatical syntax for, "The Path of Vrangr", or: The Path of Galbatorix's Sword.

The latter would be an apt name for the Twins to use... Because it exploits careful wordplay to avoid lying in the ancient language, while still committing deceit by omission. This form of indirect dishonesty is a recurring theme especially in Eldest - the book where the Twins treachery is revealed.

This name hides a sneering taunt about the Twins' true loyalties: they are literally using this group to collect information they can use to guide Galbatorix's strikes against the Varden. Figuratively guiding the path of his sword.

To anyone who doesn't know the name of Galbatorix's sword, Eragon's interpretation is the only rational assessment. And it's very unlikely that the name of Galbatorix's sword is known to anyone other than those who have sworn oaths of loyalty to Galbatorix, or those who are imminently about to die on that sword.

The grammatically incorrect interpretation of the name is a facade. A cunning switcheroo, and a smug insult mocking the intelligence of the group who were so easily manipulated into helping their enemy - despite thinking themselves so clever.

It may also serve as a canary system for the Twins, to check there are no other advanced magicians (like Angela or Arya) separately training magicians for the Varden, which could be a threat to their control.

Because surely this amusing blunder of a name would be corrected very quickly if someone else started actually teaching the group some basic vocabulary and grammar.

Thoughts?

Maybe I'm reaching. But IMO this feels like a more rational explanation than the Twins literally not knowing enough about the AL to string a short sentence together. Since I think (although admittedly I'm far from a skilled linguist myself) this interpretation actually fits with the grammar structure of the language.

I know Galbatorix shares power sparingly, but he gave Murtagh an eldunari and the Name of Names. So I think it would be exceedingly restrictive even by Galbatorix's standards to not give his only operatives inside the Varden enough knowledge to reliably maintain a useful position as Ajihad's best mages.

It'd also be quite the coincidence that Galbatorix's top spies just happened to pick a three-word name for their group of rebel magicians that included the one word he used for the name of his personal weapon.