Eldest opens in the aftermath of this battle. Eragon realizes that he needs to learn more and decides to take the advice of The Cripple Who Is Whole and go to the land of the elves in order to study magic and fighting. Stability among the Varden is threatened when the leader of the group is killed in a follow-up Urgal-tracking operation; Eragon’s friend Murtagh and a pair of sorcerers named the Twins disappear in the same operation. The Varden choose their fallen leader’s daughter, Nasuada, to lead them; Eragon and Saphira, as important public figures, are asked to endorse this choice, which they do. Before they leave the land of the dwarves, the dwarf king asks to adopt Eragon as an honorary member of his family. Nasuada decides to move the Varden to the free land of Surda to organize another strike against Galbatorix.
