Murtagh the Dad

Aww, bebbys!

Remember how I made up some more fan-babies for Eragon and Ashitaka and decided that two of them should be Murtagh's?



Well, I really like the idea of Murtagh from the Erataka-verse being a single dad. I already do a lot of stuff with his son Kiyoshi (lately I've been using him and Katana as human-sonas in video games and such), and we already know how he ends up:



Anyway, I think I should explain a little about how Murtagh ended up having two kids with his brother-in-law. In the Erataka-verse, Eragon and Ashitaka had Katana when they were about 25-26, and Murtagh was 28-29. Since being Dragon Riders means that Eragon and Murtagh won't age much beyond young adulthood (and I've decided that in order to keep time from ruining my ship, the Forest Spirit blessed Ashitaka and San with longevity as well), that's actually relatively young to have children.

However, by the time Katana is seven, Murtagh starts to pine for a child of his own, but having no romantic partner makes it a bit difficult for him to do that. Although he and Nasuada have their own special bond, they've pretty much always agreed that it can't go further than just good friends, since being a queen means that Nasuada probably shouldn't marry or even have illegitimate children with a Dragon Rider. Besides, even if they did have a child, Murtagh lives too far away, and he feels it would be selfish to bring a baby into that situation.

Anyway, word gets to Eragon that Murtagh wants a kid (a.k.a. Thorn told Saphira. Gossipy dragons...), and after a discussion with Ashitaka, the three of them come to an agreement. Eragon writes a spell so that Murtagh can artificially concieve a child using Ashitaka as the other parent. The catch, of course, being that Murtagh's going to have to give birth to and raise it as a single father, but so what? It's a small price to pay to finally become a father.

And then he finds out he's having twins. Whoops.

And not long after they make "the deal," Eragon realizes he's expecting his second child, too. Double whoops.

So, in the end, Ashitaka ended up having Katana and Aren with Eragon, and Adrian (in purple) and Kiyoshi (in green) with Murtagh. Although they agreed that Adrian and Kiyoshi should live with and be raised mostly by Murtagh, since Ashitaka is basically just a sperm donor, in the end, they manage to make it work.

...

That's a lot of justification for a few character designs.