Eragon

Eragon finds the stone on a hunt and brings it home. It's an egg, and a blue dragon hatches from it. When he touches her, a silver mark appears on his palm. He raises her in secret, and she picks her own name, Saphira, speaking straight into his mind.

The secret doesn't last. The Ra'zac, the king's servants, come to the farm looking for the egg and kill Garrow. Eragon blames Saphira and sends her away, but soon calls her back, and she forgives him.

Old Brom, the village storyteller, decides to take Eragon to the Varden, the rebels fighting Galbatorix. Along the way he explains who the Dragon Riders were, who the Shade Durza is and what the Ra'zac are, and teaches the boy to fight with a sword.

In a village, the witch Angela reads Eragon's fortune and tells him about Arya and the dangers ahead. Soon after, Urgals attack. Eragon tries to copy Brom's magic and lets loose a blast of blue fire that kills the whole group, then passes out from the strain.

Brom teaches Eragon to control his magic and trust Saphira. Together, the three of them kill the Ra'zac. Then Eragon tries to rescue Arya, whom Durza is holding as bait, and walks into the trap. Brom arrives to help and is mortally wounded. He dies in flight, on Saphira's back.

Eragon keeps Brom's sword, Zar'roc, which once belonged to Morzan, the traitor Rider. A hooded archer who had been tailing the group, Murtagh, offers to guide them to the Varden.

With the Varden, Eragon learns that Murtagh is Morzan's son, and his new friend ends up in a cell. Soon after, Durza's army attacks the rebel base. In the chaos, Murtagh breaks out of his cell and saves the dwarf king Hrothgar. Eragon and Saphira take on the Shade in the sky and kill him, but Saphira is badly hurt. Eragon heals her with magic and passes out.

The next morning, he, Murtagh and Saphira say goodbye to Arya, who leaves for Ellesméra to ready the elves for war. They promise to meet again.

Ed Speleers landed the role after a worldwide search, while he was learning lines for a school production of Hamlet. Alex Pettyfer was considered and turned it down, since he's afraid of flying and the shoot was in central Europe. In the books, Eragon is 15 when he finds the egg, and his story runs across all four volumes of the Inheritance Cycle.