Talk:Christopher Paolini

Paradise Valley or Livingston???

The initial paragraph says that he lives in Livingston which is then followed by the Biography paragraph that states his hometown is Paradise Valley. Can someone who has verifiable source correct this inconsistency? 144.15.115.165 20:48, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Looks like vandalism to me. Paolini's biography as linked in the references has no references to Livingston. I'll remove it. UnaLaguna 06:19, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Paradise Valley is just outside of Livingston, which is probably where the misconception came from, as very small towns are often associated with the larger towns that they are by. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.162.202.21 (talk • contribs)

It's not vandalism, just a mistake. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.88.58.254 (talk) 13:41, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

The book says he lives in Paradise Valley. Pumanike (talk) 19:34, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm unclear on this point too. I thought that it was Paradise Valley... But However, I could be wrong. -Some random person

Picture

Since this quote is frequently used "a medieval costume of red shirt, billowy black pants, lace-up boots, and a jaunty black cap" - is it possible to get a picture of him in this get up?? 144.15.115.165 20:52, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Shur'tugal had a copy of that picture floating around somewhere. I'll see if I can find it.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.162.202.21 (talk • contribs)

Here it is:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/Ghostofthe0pera/m35880909.jpg —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.162.215.222 (talk • contribs)

Haha, brilliant! If we can find out what sort of copyright covers this, and get rid of the black border, then we're in business! UnaLaguna 08:26, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

It's in a private album. If GhostoftheOpera took it, copyright would rest with them. --Mark H Wilkinson ^{(t, c)} 09:15, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Damnit. Here, I've found it on Shurtugal, along with like four others: http://galleries.shurtugal.com/thumbnails.php?album=42 I think it's either promotional or public domain.

Notice the template I added at the top?

Yep, it means many of these discussions on the books and Paolini shouldn't be here. I'm getting fed up with it, and it's making the talk page needlessly long. From now on, I'll delete anything unrelated to the article which people write on this page ("when is book 3 coming out?" "paolini sucks im right your wrong" "eragon is awesome shut up" and so on). You have been warned. UnaLaguna 05:58, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Plagiarism allegations are unsourced and inflammatory

I am removing the plagiarism nonsense from the article. Its unsourced and libelous. Below is the news.google.com search for him regarding plagiarism (none, and their records are very good and go way back) Your search - Christopher Paolini plagiarism - did not match any documents.

Suggestions: Make sure all words are spelled correctly. Try different keywords. Try more general keywords. Try fewer keywords. Try Google Blog Search. Also, you can browse today's headlines on the Google News homepage. Michaelh2001 18:26, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

You do know that sources don't have to come from the news, right? That's why if you actually browsed wikipedia, you can see that pages are able to be sourced from actual books. It's called a bibliography. If anyone wants, I can add up a 'comparison' page between things like Eragon and The Dragonbone Chair/The Belgariad/The Ruby Knight/etc, citing pages. But it'll be torn down by some pissed-off fan in a few seconds. - Krim —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.191.52.26 (talk • contribs)

No, it would likely be removed due to one of Wikipedia's core policies on article content: No original research. Editors should only include material from reliable sources without adding further analysis. If you wish to write an essay along the lines you've mentioned, I'm sure there's a fansite out there which would be interested. --Mark H Wilkinson ^{(t, c)} 20:02, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

It's not nice to say that an author ripped off some other work. We shouldn't be doing that. But in the light of the fact that, for example, I count 384 web pages that use the words "eragon" and "star wars" in the page *title* (google 'allintitle: eragon "star wars"'), don't you think it's at least fair to discuss here the similarities between the Inheritance Cycle and other works? 78.144.122.59 (talk) 19:13, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

• • Youve got to be kidding me. Read the first chapter of Robert Jordan's Wheel of time... unsourced you say? HE DOESNT EVEN CHANGE THE NAMES!. Brom-Thom = both traveling entertainers. 13 forsaken-13 forsworn = both introduced in a story told by the entertainer Brom-Thom. I could keep going the first Chapter of Eragon and the begining of Wheel of Time are the same thing. If this is not conclusive evidence of plagiarism than theres no such thing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.221.246.198 (talk) 07:59, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

• • • Not to mention that in [13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo] there were 13 evil ghosts introduced to the main characters by an old wizard. In fact, in seems like the number 13 pops up everywhere. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.233.104.185 (talk) 21:59, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

Archive

Just a note to let those interested in editing that I've archived the older threads (accessible via our shiny new archive box at the top of the page). It seems they're still prone to attracting discussion which isn't aimed at building the article. --Mark H Wilkinson ^{(t, c)} 19:55, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Paoloni's influence

Insert non-formatted text hereSince when did Paolini say he was influenced by George Lucus, just because the plot to inheritance is criticised to being similar to Star Wars does not mean he was influenced by it, it sounds like putting a direct critic in there. Try and make sure that this is true.

at Shurtugal.com's Chistopher Paolini Q&A's page: http://www.shurtugal.com/?id=series/christopher/qanda

He said the main inspiration of eragon was from Bruce Colville's Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. and mentioned that in many other interviews too.

Paolini enjoyed Tolkien's world of hobbits, elves, and dwarves, and the epic quest of the ring. Like Tolkien, I also drew inspiration from Nordic, Old English, and Icelandic sagas.

Paolini also grew up reading Anne McCaffrey, for his inspiration for Eragon and Saphira.

a few things are right in this. 10:18AM 21/1/2008 UTC —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lebe.alan (talk • contribs)

I've expanded the influences section using three sources. Gimmetrow 00:18, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Vegetarianism or Veganism

There is either a misconception or a misquote in the present article. In it there is a reference to Paolini's elves being vegans, and this is not correct. The elves are vegatarians, and pretty much avoid animal products, however that is not entirely the case. In Eldest, Eragon is served eggs, and Arya wears leather. Also her mother, the Queen, wears feathers. Vegans do not use any food, clothing, or utilies based on animals whatsoever. I think it is more correct to say that Paolini's elves are athiests and vegetarians, not athiests and vegans. I would appreciate it if this problem were rectified. Thank you. 69.238.198.100 (talk) 17:58, 30 January 2008 (UTC)Theodore from California

It's a misnomer of a comment, really. 'I'm not vegetarian but I lean that way.' You're vegetarian or you're not. There's no in between. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.132.141.138 (talk) 09:39, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Anything accusing Paolini of plagiarism will be REMOVED

Please read WP:BLP and WP:NPOV.

Anything posted on this page along the line of "Paolini is a plagiarist", "Eragon was inspired by...", etc. will be removed UNLESS you can provide a reliable resource!

Thank you!

Spinach Dip 20:03, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

No, thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.88.58.254 (talk) 14:40, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Dude, will you STOP deleting the messages put here! I'm not technically apt as it is, and I'm struggling enough with trying to provide links to said sources without you going all obsessive. This is only the duscussion page, after all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.132.137.209 (talk) 20:44, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually, WP:NPOV only applies to articles, not to talk pages. Naturally, on talk pages you can't avoid expressing personal opinions. The rules for talk pages are to be found in Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines. WP:BLP applies to all pages, including talk pages. --Catgut (talk) 23:35, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

There's a lot of hard sources deriding Paolini as a shallow, self-important art thief (here's one from 2006). If Denis Leary's wikipedia article can contain a section on how he stole entire bits from Bill Hicks, then we can throw in a well sourced section on how Paolini mashed together Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Earthsea, and a poor knowledge of Norse Mythology together to create his book series. When I have some time, I'll post something. Does this sound agreeable to everybody? Brash (talk) 20:18, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Your source doesn't count as a reliable source (it's a blog entry which one person wrote - it hasn't been peer-reviewed for accuracy in any way so we cannot assume it's accurate or reliable - that's Wikipedia policy). This has always been the problem with criticism of Paolini: there's been plenty of it, but relatively little has been from reliable sources. There was at one point an entire article, first dedicated to the derivative nature of the Inheritance Cycle, then to criticism of it in general. It was deleted because there wasn't enough criticism from reliable sources for an entire article (see its AfD).

And remember, this is the page about Christopher Paolini. Criticism regarding his books should go on the relevant Inheritance Cycle pages (in the same way you'd expect the publication history of each book to appear in the book's article, but not the author's). Indeed, there are such sections. Criticism directly at Paolini himself is much harder to come across. By all means, if you can find a good number of reliable sources which directly criticise Paolini (not just his works - the difference between "this book steals ideas" and "Paolini steals ideas"), then write the section. Unlike Denis Leary, criticism of Paolini from reliable sources has been directed more at his works than himself, and criticism of his works should remain in the articles detailing his works. Una Laguna^Talk 09:17, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Confusing Education

In the 'Biography' section, it says that Paolini was home schooled for the duration of his education, but then it says he graduated from high school. I'm not American, so I don't know whether you have to graduate from high school or whatever, but I was thinking "How can he graduate from high school if he didn't go and instead, was home schooled?". Could someone please help me out? Adstr123 (talk) 11:47, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

If it's anything like Canada, he would have received a diploma, which one would receive upon graduation. Thus it is the equivalent to graduating from high school, but it might be more accurate to say he graduated and received his diploma or some other phrasing. Blairelser (talk) 20:04, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

In the US, "High School" is an educational level, not necessarily a geographic location. See this article for some details: http://www.hslda.org/highschool/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.233.104.185 (talk) 22:04, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

WTF!? does that site you linked to really say parents can just design a diploma for their own child? no *real* tests needed? and then can go around pretending that's a totally legit high-school diploma? without being laughed out of every college ever? seriously, WTF? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.33.252.171 (talk) 17:03, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

There is no need to ridicule the home-school, high-school diploma laws; they were written by the government, not by schools. There is also no need to cast disparagement on CP's education. This is the biography of a living person. If you insist on deleting my comment pointing out the bias against home school, maybe the comment that was biased in the first place should be deleted as well. I have a user account now, so if you like to discuss this on my talk page I would be happy to oblige. Craeburn (talk) 03:58, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Language of power

While slightly more suited to an Eragon page, since references to influences from other works is mentioned here, I feel I should bring up Nuada Airgeadlámh (son of Euchtach, son of Eadarlámh, son of Orda, son of Allaoi, son of Tat, son of Tabharn, etc). This was a Celtic/Irish hero who had a hand made of silver. His name is not pronounced like "Argetlam" but someone without knowledge of Irish pronunciation oddities (it's "ar-ig-id-lawvv", the i moves to after the r for some reason) would miss this. Of course, he might be using an older Norse/Gaul language as a source. 83.70.170.48 (talk) 15:17, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

Future Plans

In a YouTube interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-8sJxPqC4g) Paolini mentions that he is going to write some Sci-Fi. Is this noteable enough to include in the article, or should Wikipedia wait for an official (textual) announcement?

21:22, 16 July 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Paulish (talk • contribs)

Birthplace

Was he born in LA or in Montana? In the bio section, it says he was "born and raised" in Montana, in the top section LA is mentioned as place of birth. Who knows fgor sure? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chl69 (talk • contribs) 12:25, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

None of the content in the "Awards" section describes actual awards.

The "Awards" section states that "Paolini’s books have won numerous awards, including topping the charts of the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestsellers lists". Topping a bestseller list isn't an award. If you're on the New York Times bestseller list, it means you've sold a lot of books. It has no bearing on whether or not your book is any good, of if anyone likes it, or if anyone has chosen to honor it. It's the same with the following statement: "The Guinness World Records recognized Christopher Paolini as the “youngest author of a bestselling book series” on January 5, 2011". Again, this is just an acknowledgement of the fact that Paolini's books have sold well. It's not an award. The Pulitzer Prize, the Booker Prize, the Nobel Prize, these are awards. There are no actual awards in the "Awards" section. I propose we change the section title to something like "Units sold" unless someone can justify "Awards". Tigercompanion25 (talk) 04:12, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

As no one objected, I made the relevant edits, but if someone objects they are welcome to revert the edits and we can discuss it here on the talk page. Tigercompanion25 (talk) 04:34, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

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Italian descent and dual U.S.-Italian citizenship

I'm unfamiliar with how the rules work, does someone know if I can cite this semi-professional interview with Christopher Paolini? I transcribed the relevant excerpt (1:34 - 2:08) for clarity:

- I'm actually a dual U.S.-Italian citizen. So, I can live and work in the EU, at least as long as the EU is still together. Uhm... No, I enjoy Europe, I did two weeks of touring in the United Stated and then I'm doing most of March in the UK and in Europe, so it's five weeks of touring overall.

- Do you still have family in Italy?

- Excuse me?

- Do you still have family in Italy or...?

- I do, in Rome and Florence. Originally the family was from Bologna.

- Ah okay, but it spread.

- It spread, as a result of World War II.

Furthermore, there is a Goodreads comment where he talks about his paternal grandfather being "born and raised in Rome and south of Bologna". So maybe we could add something about this to the "Early life" section? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.65.134.235 (talk) 16:28, 18 June 2020 (UTC)