Wrong Done Write

Although power does not corrupt the individual, it does provide fertiliser for their failings.

The kingdom of old was nice as long as the dragons were well fed, but now they're hungry.

All the good dragon knights were killed in the infighting, but people still tell idealised stories about them - it's nice to believe that there were once heroes (and by extension, might be again). The psychopathic sadists are working on ruining their group's good PR. Give them time, and the group's approval ratings will tank.

This is Eragon, isn't it? xP

Let's say...

The dragonriders were glorified. They were influenced by sharing the dragons' mind all the time, and became more sadistic and less human. They turned vegetarian to try and control the dragon's bloodlust, but this didn't really work that well.

There was peace because everyone was terrified of the dragonriders, and no one dared to say anything against them (those who did were quickly executed), and so only the heroic legend was passed on. Also, people wanted heroes.

The younger generations did only hear the glorious tales, and so they thought dragonriders were glorious too.

Might be full of holes, but, yeah, that's my five cents.

The dragon mind control bit is good, but what if the dragons themselves are changing in ways that subtly corrupt the riders? The problem can be traced back to the early days - and it was because of a huge mistake/magical misfire on the Emperor's part that cause the dragons to go mad/wild. Perhaps he was trying to dominate dragons more fully (instead of a partnership of knight and intelligent mount), or quell and uprising for "dragons rights" and it backfired on him. Dragons have since become untameable, no new riders can be trained up, therefore the power of the 2 remaining riders become that much more potent.

Meanwhile, the Emperor has been rewriting history to cover his tracks, but also to mystify the powers of the dragon riders even more.

The dragons themselves have become more feral, but some older ones remember the past, though they live in an almost drugged state because of the ancient mishap. They want to be free again.

I'm with Faide about the glorifying.

Everything that happened 'generations ago' is either unspeakably bad or ridiculously awesome. And your average psychopathic sadist, if he actually wants to go and play power-grab, needs to come over as an awesome type, at least at the beginning. What better way than to hark back to these old, awesome stories about how awesome the dragon-riders were?

We tend to whitewash our histories, because we want to feel we're more moral than we actually are; the stories of the dragon-riders which would be remembered (assuming that they ultimately did some good, or else they would fall to the other end of the spectrum), would be the good, happy, awesome ones.

Chalk me up as another one who votes for glorification. Although i don't think there's too much of a contradiction actually. Villains appearing as heroes in the public eye is a pretty standard trope, so as long as the psychopaths don't advertise it, there's no problem. Not too unlikely, psychopaths can function well in society. The whole "no empathy" trait actually helps.

The dragonriders were the sheriff's, marshal's, judge, jury, and executioners in their day. They kept the peace mainly by force of arms and being able to apply said force in sudden and drastic manner anytime they chose. No one questioned their authority or right to enforce "the law" as they saw it. That enforcement was often brutal and sometimes even sadistic, but on average, the dragonriders attempted to administer the law and keep the peace in a just manner.

However, over time, it came to be well known that it was not the kings, the emperors, the other systems of government that ruled the lands, it was the dragonriders - and they ruled with a velvet-gloved iron fist. Not even kings and emperors were immune from their judgements.

So, as time wore on, the kings and emperors and civil governments began to band together and eventually formed a second secret society which was aimed at eliminating the dragonriders and ending their reign of tyranny. Gradually, this secret society ground down the dragonriders by assassination and attrition until only a few, hunted and harried across the land, forced to hide their identities and abilities, were left.

Time passes. People forget. The dragonriders find their old ways elevated to veneration and adoration that approaches religion. People find themselves longing for the old days when the dragonriders brought peace to the gala..., er, land. They find war is upon them once again as various factions and rulers rise up and challenge one another for supremacy.

Then, suddenly and without warning, one old dragonrider appears from the past bent upon a quest to find and train a new, younger apprentice who must must find it within himself to rise to the challenges that lie ahead and withstand the temptations of power that corrupted the old order.

MattW said:

The dragon mind control bit is good, but what if the dragons themselves are changing in ways that subtly corrupt the riders?

Click to expand...

Like this!
The dragons are changing because they have become too inbred because the dragon knights don't renew their gene pool by mating them with wild dragons

That's right. And as it turns out, they are not down to their last dragon....

They are down to the last tame dragon, because the wild ones have learned how not to be caught, and how to disappear from prescient mindstreams.

dclary said:

That's right. And as it turns out, they are not down to their last dragon....

They are down to the last tame dragon, because the wild ones have learned how not to be caught, and how to disappear from prescient mindstreams.

Click to expand...

Stealth dragons.

waylander said:

Like this!
The dragons are changing because they have become too inbred because the dragon knights don't renew their gene pool by mating them with wild dragons

Click to expand...

Or the dragons are becoming too docile, weaker, smaller, less intelligent, can't fly or hunt.

The dragon rider order becomes largely ceremonial except for the last two remaining elders, lives extended through their bond with the dragons.

Essentially, the land has seen such a life of leaders worse and worse than the previous one that the only refuge they have is fanatic nostalgia. As soon as the new royal emperor arrives everyone will be saying how good and kind Galbatorix was.

MattW said:

Stealth dragons.

Click to expand...

I was actually thinking Atreides-influenced Idaho Ghola Dragons

The dragons died out a generation ago, due to a disease of some sort. There are a few left (kept alive by unsavory means, no doubt), but most have the title but no power anymore.

The Emperor and MC both live under a curse from the time when the dragon knights came into existence. The curse to which they agreed was in conjunction with the spirits of the otherworld. This agreement ensured possession by a demon of destruction if they proved incapable of upholding the knights' honour. For many centuries, this agreement kept the knights in line. When the Emperor and MC get involved in sinister dealings unfit for a dragon knight, they are possessed of these demons whose mission it is to destroy their soul. However, the strength of the dragon knight turns this into a struggle, their minds and bodies are strong and over the years the demon has not managed to kill them.

The demons who possess them are sadistic and turn to others around the Emperor and MC and inflict pain upon them.

As this seems to have happened a while ago, would not the MC and the Emperor be somewhat old?

Senility and craziness cover a lot of ground

Sounds like Twilight meets Flowers for Algernon...


The question is - what stops the young vampires from taking over the world? If an ambitious vampire creates hundreds of followers, and they create thousands, and then its millions in a short time.

What if the degrading mental faculties comes from the simple act of ingesting human blood? Could be likened to Stephen King's The End of the Whole Mess. That which makes them immortal, also makes them idiots.

If there are millions of these things out there, getting dumber over time but exponentially growing, it's either an unstoppable plague for humanity, or a desperate fight for survival for both species. the predator/prey balance will be off and something will have to give in to restore balance.

Why they didn't take over the world in medieval times when they still had a chance?
With modern technology, those vampires aren't too scary, which means humans will wipe them out. We exterminated or drove close to extinction every large animal which is a threat to us, and even some that were only believed to be a threat.
A bunch of oversized mosquitoes? They'll go the way of the Dodo.
So, the only survival chance for vampires would be to stay very hidden.

Why would the vampires want to take over the world? The family's veganism suggests they may be trying to cling to their humanity, or they're fond of humanity for some reason. They wouldn't want to take over because of some sort of sentimentality, however misguided.

The human-eating vampires have no good reason to take over either. It's the opposite of poor planning. Poor planning would compel them to make a power grab. But if they did, what then? They have to keep humans under control in some way, which can prove difficult. So they'd end up having to build some sort of supernatural army to do it, then they're all competing for their favourite food. If they stay hidden, they have no real need to build their numbers to unmanageable levels, and they can pick off the odd person here and there with a cynical population disbelieving their existence, therefore not hunting and trying to kill them.

It's all about keeping your food supply nice and complacent.