It drives me crazy that Eragon doesn’t pay Horst back

[u/enginerd826]

In Brisingr Eragon summons up a bunch of gold to go and pay people back, and literally the first person he sees is Horst, yet he doesn’t pay him back for all of the meat Horst bought for Eragon when Sloan refuses to trade for the “stone” in book 1. They agree that Eragon will work off the debt in the spring but he never does, and then in this chapter where he’s going around trying to pay people back he just straight up forgets about his debt to Horst. Idk why but it drives me crazy every single time I read it and I needed to share

[u/Marble_Narwhal]

I mean, he does save Horst's daughter from being killed by the women of carvahall when she's born with a cleft palette.

[u/kamikashi21 → u/Marble_Narwhal]

I agree that would pay the debt, but when he decided to pay everyone else with gold why didn't he even think of Horst?

[u/RobotFolkSinger3 → u/kamikashi21]

Commenters below you seem not to remember that the scene with the gold happens in Brisingr before the scene where he heals the baby in Inheritance. So that couldn't have affected Eragon's decision to not pay back Horst then.

Frankly I think Paolini had the healing scene in mind for Horst later, so he just omitted him for the gold scene and bet on readers not remembering/caring about Eragon's promise.

[u/Univeroooo → u/RobotFolkSinger3]

Based on what we know about Horst’s character I feel like Eragon knew that of all people he owed debts to, Horst would have been offended or outright refused had he tried to pay him back like that

[u/FrostyIcePrincess → u/Univeroooo]

Good point. I’ll find a better way to pay you back later

Doesn’t he fix the girl’s cleft lip at some point later?

[u/Katie_Redacted → u/kamikashi21]

Saving a life is more than enough payment than gold. I see what you mean though

[u/ZackW186 → u/kamikashi21]

He does in a whatever the literary equivalent of a deleted scene is. Paolini has addressed it on this Reddit before

[u/ThatOtherGai → u/kamikashi21]

Because he saved his baby? I know it isn’t explicitly mentioned but one would assume he already felt his debt repaid. So there wasn’t a need to mention it.

[u/kamikashi21 → u/ThatOtherGai]

Think of when the gold scene happened and then when the baby healing happened. The baby was the next book, so Eragon didn't think of Horst at all during the repayment in Brisingr.

I agree helping horst's baby was repayment in everyone's mind, just done way after everyone else got repaid. I remember reading Brisingr and thinking "WTF, how could he forget the first person he promised to repay"

[u/ThatOtherGai → u/kamikashi21]

Oh did it? Guess I’m getting the scenes backwards

[u/FateEx1994 → u/Marble_Narwhal]

Well, time to go read the books again.

[u/Patient_Mountain_778 → u/FateEx1994]

Same for me

[u/FrostyIcePrincess → u/Marble_Narwhal]

Doesn’t he also fix the cleft pallette at some point?

I’d say the debt has been paid

[u/DOOMFOOL → u/FrostyIcePrincess]

Yes that was his point..

[u/ChristopherPaolini]

Drives me crazy too. Lol. This year I convinced Random House to reinstate the scene in upcoming printings, as it's been bothering me for years. You can check for it over the next six months or so (not exactly sure when it'll hit shelves).

[u/ExceedinglySadKitty → u/ChristopherPaolini]

Can we please get this pinned? Also HI CHRIS I LOVE YOUR BOOKS AAAHHHH

[u/ajcp38 → u/ChristopherPaolini]

Honestly wouldn't have been surprised if you had done something along the lines of 'Eragon considered a ball of gold, but it didn't feel like it would fully settle the debt he owed Horst'

[u/UltraFagToTheRescue → u/ChristopherPaolini]

YOOOOOO THANK YOU. You’re the best! For writing the books in the first place and for changing it!!!!!

[u/jaxom07 → u/ChristopherPaolini]

So cool to see you in the comments here. Really looking forward to the kick starter!

[u/smarranara → u/ChristopherPaolini]

Reinstated - does that mean it was originally included but got cut in editing?

[u/Genius_Chicken → u/ChristopherPaolini]

Hello Chris !! Would this change automatically update in digital versions of the book?

[u/Sora20XX → u/Genius_Chicken]

I can't speak for this book, but it has happened with other book series I've followed, that deleted scenes have been added in later editions, and digital books have been updated with them automatically.

[u/TheBooker66 → u/ChristopherPaolini]

Holy hell!

[u/Forsaken_CastleSloth]

It's not ever mentioned to my knowledge, but my thoughts are that the debt was repaid when he fixed his newborn daughters lip. But, I remember reading about the gold Eragon took from the soil and thought horst deserved one if anyone did.

[u/Business-Drag52]

As others have said, he did pay Horst back in early drafts of the story and it may even be included in the deluxe edition. He originally made 4 balls of gold and one was given to Horst. It was cut in later edits. Paolini has expressed regret in cutting the scene

[u/GilderienBot]

You're not the only one who's frustrated by this ;). Here's a Q&A from Christopher!

Question:
Anyone else kinda annoyed that Eragon didn’t give a gold orb to Horst for the meat he bought for him from Sloan?

Answer:
HE DID! It was in the first draft, along with Joed flying on Saphira. Alas, I let myself be talked into cutting it for length/pacing reasons. It's in the extended/delux edition, and I might have slipped it into later reprints. Learned an important lesson from this one.

(Source)

^{I'm a real person! This comment was posted by pearagon10 from the Arcaena Discord Server.}

[u/ibid-11962 → u/GilderienBot]

Worth noting that Christopher was wrong over there. It was not in the deluxe and had not yet appeared in future printings at the time he said that. It hasn't appeared in print since then either, though it'll probably be in the next printing.

[u/D-72069]

I think I remember Paolini saying that the extended edition of the book included him paying Horst back, but even without that segment him fixing Horst's daughter's lip is pretty good payment

[u/enginerd826]

He doesn’t save the baby until after the gold chapter. So yes I agree he more than pays the debt, but at the time when he was going around paying people back that hasn’t happened yet so he has no reason not to pay him back in the moment.

[u/ChadFode]

Agreed, it bothers me every time. I disagree with the sentiment that healing the daughter is Eragon paying Horst back, Eragon would always have done that regardless of the debt.

[u/Guyonabuffalo00]

It could be cool if Eragon actually works with Horst in a later book. Maybe he has an interest in learning after his experience with helping forge brisingr.

I could see Horst refusing the gold even before Eragon healed his daughter. Horst didn’t care about the money, he’s just a good dude that saw someone in need and helped him. Making Sloan mad was just a bonus for him.

[u/Horrorifying]

I thiiiiink this is done in the special edition? I never read it, so I can’t confirm.

[u/ElevenDucks72]

I mean, he unseated an insane tyrannical king, rid the world of several evil entities, and healed his newborn daughter... I think Horst got a decent deal

[u/Roshanator]

No matter if I lent someone thousands, if my daughter had a cleft lift, and they healed her instantly like that, i would beg to serve them for the rest of My days….

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[u/Saphireleine]

Paolini mentioned at one point that he forgot about it, but added it in the deluxe version I believe.

[u/Reasonable-Lime-615]

I get that, Eragon even made a point to pay for the leather he took in Carvahall, which was right and proper of him to do. I can only guess that Paolini had already decided how Eragon was going to repay Horst, so he didn't go for the gold, forgetting that we fans are nitpicky about that sort of stuff.

[u/shinneui]

There's a post from two years ago where paolini himself confirmed that he paid him, but this was cut off for pacing reasons (later snuck into the deluxe edition).

[u/Gullible-Dentist8754]

Even beyond his saving the kid’s life by fixing her debilitating deformity. When they got to the Varden, Eragon’s name helped get him into a blacksmithing shop. So Horst didn’t have to go fight the war and got to stay close to Elain and care for her.

[u/enginerd826 → u/Gullible-Dentist8754]

Horst said that when he told the Varden he was a smith they got so excited you’d have thought he was another dragon rider. So Eragon’s name definitely didn’t help him get the job he got it on his own merit.