Saphira

Saphira's egg was in the hands of the elf Arya, who sent it away before the Shade Durza caught her. It turns up in the woods, where Eragon finds it. Saphira hatches, grows fast and is soon big enough to fly with him on her back. She picks her own name and talks to Eragon telepathically.

From the start, the bond runs both ways. The silver mark on Eragon's hand shows she chose him, and Saphira has little patience for his doubts: she knows the two of them will have to grow up together, and fast, because the king is already after the egg.

The Ra'zac come looking for the egg and kill Eragon's uncle Garrow. In his anger, Eragon blames Saphira and sends her off. He later calls her back, and she forgives him. From then on, the two travel with Brom toward the Varden. Brom teaches Eragon to bond with the dragon, and the trio hunts down and kills the Ra'zac.

When Durza uses Arya as bait, Eragon walks into the trap, and Brom is mortally wounded coming to his aid. Saphira carries him on the escape flight, and he dies on her back. Afterward, the archer Murtagh guides Eragon and Saphira to the Varden's rebel base.

Durza attacks the Varden's base. Saphira and Eragon go up to fight him in the air and win, but the dragon is badly hurt. Eragon pours all his magic into healing her and passes out. By the next morning Saphira is well again, and she says goodbye to Arya alongside Eragon and Murtagh.

Throughout the movie, Saphira is treated as the last hope: the only free dragon, bonded to the only Rider who doesn't serve the king. For the Varden, led by Ajihad, having the two of them on the rebels' side changes the scale of the war. For Galbatorix, she is exactly what he lost when Arya made the egg vanish.

The final scene shows the king isn't alone. Furious over Durza's defeat, Galbatorix slashes his map of Alagaësia and reveals his own dragon, the black Shruikan. Saphira may be the Varden's hope, but she isn't the only dragon in Alagaësia.

Rachel Weisz voices Saphira. Her wings started out bat-like and got feathers late in production, a texture ILM artist Jean Bolte called "skethers" (half feather, half scale), inspired by pangolins. Her colors were also toned down to look more real. In the books, Saphira grows over months and has a dry sense of humor that comes through more than in the movie.