The Vault of Souls
From The Inheritance Encyclopedia
The Vault of Souls was first mentioned in Eragon shortly after Angela told Eragon's fortune in Teirm. Solembum the werecat told him, in addition to looking under the roots of the Menoa tree when he needs a weapon, that when his power seems insufficient to go to the Rock of Kuthian and speak his name to the open Vault of Souls.
Theories
| Warning: This page or section is a theory. Information following this warning has not been confirmed, or stated directly in any book. Theories are user created and modified. |
Once again, it’s time to look at what Solembum has told Eragon. "Then, when all seems lost and your power is insufficient, go to the rock of Kuthian and speak your name to open the Vault of Souls." Where is the Vault of Souls, first of all? Some say that it is on Doru Areaba, the great city of the riders. Others say that it is the Star Sapphire of Tronjheim. However, there is one location that seems much more likely: Helgrind. Now, if you examine the description of Helgrind, you’ll notice that it looks strikingly similar to a rock formation in New Mexico known as Ship Rock. If you switch the words around a bit, you get… Rock of Ship. Looks a bit like the Rock of Kuthian, doesn’t it? The other reasons for Helgrind to be the likely location of the Rock of Kuthian become clear later, in the discussion of the contents of the Vault of Souls. So, then we move onto the likely contents of the Vault of Souls. Sounds pretty basic, doesn’t it? It’s a vault… containing souls. But for what purpose, and from where? Remember when Eragon was fighting Murtagh? He discovers that Murtagh’s mind seemingly contains multitudes—multitudes of souls. So clearly, Murtagh is drawing his power from other souls along with his own, and if he was taught by Galbatorix, then it stands to reason that Galbatorix does, as well. But where do the souls come from? Well, if we’re supposing that the Vault of Souls is in Helgrind, that immediately reminds us of another sinister pair of characters: the Ra’zac. Now, the Ra’zac are the king’s personal dragon hunters, and also are creatures meant to prey on humans. So, it’s clear that these Ra’zac do a lot of killing. But instead of letting all the power of a soul go to waste, why not find a way to store it, instead? Say, to use a spell that, instead of destroying the soul of those killed by the Ra’zac, instead stores it in a handy vault: a Vault of Souls. This explains why Galbatorix is seemingly impossibly getting stronger every year: every time the Ra’zac kill a person, that soul is added to the Vault and Galbatorix (and now Murtagh, as well) become more powerful. Of course, the Vault of Souls is also a physical place, so why not throw in any dragon eggs for safekeeping? Namely, that of the green dragon. And said contents explain why opening the vault will be so important: not only will it give the Varden access to another dragon egg and soon another rider, but it will also make Galbatorix and Murtagh both substantially less powerful, and give Eragon a fair chance at beating one or both of them (with help from the green dragon’s rider, of course).
Thank you to IF/Shur’tugal member Carnoc for this page
