I have not been able to post as much as I like. I am sorry but Real Life gets the better of me.
Now returning to the critique. The first new crtique I have to add is an extention of an old one. It is commented in the book that the flood of the Urgals is too great and too constant and threatens to flood the Varden and dwarves. Why don't they just shut it off, massacre the Urgals of the field and then turn it on again? For those wondering how that is possilbe since the Urgals are not water to be controlled by faucets I have one answer: tunnelling. The dwarves could have several redundant ways leading to the opening, they could just collapse one of the tunnels during the battle and create a gap while the Urgals use a secondary bypass to re-reach the surface, gaining a breather. Talking of tunnel preparations, even though the dwarves decided to abandod the tunnels to the Urgals (a major mistake IMO) there is no reason why they have not set up foot traps and the like inside the tunnels. The Viet Cong had hidden traps of bamboo pikes covered with feces inside their tunnels so as to wound and infect American soldiers trying to hunt them inside their tunnels.
Another issue is that of the tactic used during the battle. Ajihad and Hrothgar have at their disposition human archers, lightly armed human pikement and swormen and heavily armed dwarves. Light and heavy troops have their own advantages and disadvantages. Heavily armed troops are harder to kill but lack mobility. Lightly armed troops have mobility and endurance but are seriously disadvantaged against heavier troops in one to one combat. Traditionally light troops do not really stand still in the field, they harass heavier troops by attacking them and retreating when they counterattack. This is how Iphicrates' peltasts defeated an entire mora of Spartan soldiers in the Isthmus during the Corinthian War (390 BC). If this is what Ajihad meant when he said that his troops need manoevering space he is justified in having them in the field. Yet under Farthen Dur the humans and dwarves fight on the first line indiscriminantly of their armor. This is a simple bloody battle of infantry versus infantry (with minor exceptions), no brilliant tactical move is to be seen anywhere, except in Durza's tunneling whose main purpose is to capture Eragon, not win the battle!
We learn that all troops fight under the Varden symbol. Why the dwarves do so we are not told.
The burning tar is a great note. The fortifications as earthen armor for pikemen are also a good force multiplier. It would strengthen the Varden more if they had archers on the fortifications wearing down the Urgals. After the fortifications are broken the dwarves and Varden meet the Urgals in a mixed formation. Why in the two columns having humans are they mixed with dwarves? Why arent the Varden on the side flanking and retreating the Urgals? We will not know.
Some of my critique I admit may be unfair. Paolini published his book at the age of 18. Unlike the Battle of the Burning Plains this one is not as central to the book as Eragon's travels. Some mistakes are always to expected even in real battles with all general. The was no perfect general in history (with the possilbe exception of Alexander the Great) so we should not try to find a perfect general in fiction although it seems Ajihad and Hrothgar belong to the bad ones. I cannot think much more to write now. If I am finished I will format this for publication in the website. If not I will add more thing here before publishing a more final edition.
vendredi 16 mars 2007
vendredi 9 mars 2007
Battle Under Farthen Dur IV
The Varden and the dwarves
The Varden and the dwarves have the benefit of have little warning when trying to explain their mistakes. These however does not make them less grave.
They choose not to pursue battle in the tunnels. Why? According to Jormundur (but it could be Ajihad, I am not sure of my memory) it is because their armies need manoeuvering space. What for? It is the largest army that needs the benefit of space and, in our case, the Urgals are the largest army. When the Greeks chose to face the Persians during Xerxes' invasion they did not do so in the Plain of the four river (in the region late named Macedonia) or the Thessalian plain where the Persian army could be fully deployed and crush them. They chose the vale of Tempe and Thermopylae. Leonidas chose to sacrifice himself and his soldiers(and the 700 Thespians chose of their free will in order to delay the Persian army's advance on the plain of Boeotia while the rest of the army escaped.
It is in constricted or problematic in general space that one chooses to face a superior enemy and in this case it was inside the tunnels where most constriction was to take place. Channeling the enemy at the plain was usefull as a second step, if the defence at the tunnels was no longer viable. In my opinion the best strategic plan would be to channel the Urgals in the three tunnels but fight inside them. A relay system to rotate dwarves and Varden fighting the Urgals so as to keep fresh troops at the front line, like the one set up in Thermopylae by Leonidas, would be most usefull. If the dwarves are waiting for reinforcements to arrive from other dwarven cities or Orrin, fighting inside the tunnels they gain valuable time. However we are not told if they expect reinforcement to arrive sometime, only that they are unlikely to arrive.
Another mistakes come next on the organisation of the battlefield. We are never really given a topographic plan of the battlefield (nor, like in real world battlefield can we go and do one ourselves) so we have to rely on the description given by Paolini. The three different battles take place in sites that while visible to each other but cannot communicate with ease. When Eragon asks who leads each column he is told that the one in front is led by Ajihad and the one on his right by Hrothgar, implying thus that they are on the same side of the crater. We are never told however if they are near the crater's walls. However the crater walls play no importance in the battle. Is it because they are far from the battlefield? We are not told.
Not using the difference in height given by the presence of the crater is very bad generalship. We are never told how slanted the crater walls are but even if they were verticals a platform could have been built so that archers placed on it could use it to pick on targets with impunity. At least the Urgal archers are also not using the crater walls for their purposes. Furthermore the difference in height can be exploited in very innovative ways. When Alexander the Great was fighting his Balkan campaign he was facing a band of Thracians who were fortified in a montain pass. They had lifted heavy carts in higher ground and would roll them down the slopes against Alexander's soldiers. Why couldn't the dwarves do something like that? Even if the opennings of the tunnels were too far away from the walls, they could simply have chosen opennings nearer the walls. Rolling carts is even unecessary, they could have rolled boulders.
Finally no war machines are present in the battle. Why? Obviously war machines are known to Alagaesians, they are used in the battle of the Burning Plains. Could it be that they dwarves do not have any available at Tronjheim? That is a strong possibility. We are not told if Tronjheim is the main base of the dwarven army the way that Gilead is the main base of Galbatorix's army, but if it is not and Hrothgar does not keep some around him for show it is very possible they were unavailable. I will continue with my critique later...
The Varden and the dwarves have the benefit of have little warning when trying to explain their mistakes. These however does not make them less grave.
They choose not to pursue battle in the tunnels. Why? According to Jormundur (but it could be Ajihad, I am not sure of my memory) it is because their armies need manoeuvering space. What for? It is the largest army that needs the benefit of space and, in our case, the Urgals are the largest army. When the Greeks chose to face the Persians during Xerxes' invasion they did not do so in the Plain of the four river (in the region late named Macedonia) or the Thessalian plain where the Persian army could be fully deployed and crush them. They chose the vale of Tempe and Thermopylae. Leonidas chose to sacrifice himself and his soldiers(and the 700 Thespians chose of their free will in order to delay the Persian army's advance on the plain of Boeotia while the rest of the army escaped.
It is in constricted or problematic in general space that one chooses to face a superior enemy and in this case it was inside the tunnels where most constriction was to take place. Channeling the enemy at the plain was usefull as a second step, if the defence at the tunnels was no longer viable. In my opinion the best strategic plan would be to channel the Urgals in the three tunnels but fight inside them. A relay system to rotate dwarves and Varden fighting the Urgals so as to keep fresh troops at the front line, like the one set up in Thermopylae by Leonidas, would be most usefull. If the dwarves are waiting for reinforcements to arrive from other dwarven cities or Orrin, fighting inside the tunnels they gain valuable time. However we are not told if they expect reinforcement to arrive sometime, only that they are unlikely to arrive.
Another mistakes come next on the organisation of the battlefield. We are never really given a topographic plan of the battlefield (nor, like in real world battlefield can we go and do one ourselves) so we have to rely on the description given by Paolini. The three different battles take place in sites that while visible to each other but cannot communicate with ease. When Eragon asks who leads each column he is told that the one in front is led by Ajihad and the one on his right by Hrothgar, implying thus that they are on the same side of the crater. We are never told however if they are near the crater's walls. However the crater walls play no importance in the battle. Is it because they are far from the battlefield? We are not told.
Not using the difference in height given by the presence of the crater is very bad generalship. We are never told how slanted the crater walls are but even if they were verticals a platform could have been built so that archers placed on it could use it to pick on targets with impunity. At least the Urgal archers are also not using the crater walls for their purposes. Furthermore the difference in height can be exploited in very innovative ways. When Alexander the Great was fighting his Balkan campaign he was facing a band of Thracians who were fortified in a montain pass. They had lifted heavy carts in higher ground and would roll them down the slopes against Alexander's soldiers. Why couldn't the dwarves do something like that? Even if the opennings of the tunnels were too far away from the walls, they could simply have chosen opennings nearer the walls. Rolling carts is even unecessary, they could have rolled boulders.
Finally no war machines are present in the battle. Why? Obviously war machines are known to Alagaesians, they are used in the battle of the Burning Plains. Could it be that they dwarves do not have any available at Tronjheim? That is a strong possibility. We are not told if Tronjheim is the main base of the dwarven army the way that Gilead is the main base of Galbatorix's army, but if it is not and Hrothgar does not keep some around him for show it is very possible they were unavailable. I will continue with my critique later...
lundi 5 mars 2007
Battle under Farthen Dur III
I am a bit late than promised, not due to factors I control. I was a little sick last week... I will begin by analusing the mistakes done by each side in the battle
Urgals
The Urgal's intention was to overrun Tronjheim, conquer the dwarf nation and, if the Silarilion was Paolini's inspiration, turn the Beor mountains into an Urgal kingdom that was to be allied with the Empire. In exchange for doing the Empire's dirty job it gave them a general (Durza), free passage through its territory (the Urgals were after all based on the Spine) and supplies until the battle. The only way the Urgals had access to Tronjheim was through the tunnels under Farthen Dur. We are told that there is a dense network of tunnels under the mountain leading everywhere. The dwarves (and Arya with Eragon, but they are under the command of the dwarves) have collapsed earlier all the tunnels except those through which they intend to channel the Urgals. Yet despite the fact that it soon becomes obvious that this is a trap the Urgals keep on attacking, buldozer style like in the great battles of the Western and Italian Front in World War I. Durza is a horrible general for his army but then again among his orders is to exterminate the Urgals. The Urgals should have tried to dig the blocked tunnels and appear at other places instead of just stubbornly attacking.
Furthermore after the death of Durza the Urgal army turns on itself. With the Urgals having surrounded their enemies (the 12 companions of Durza could have been followed by many more) they could have by now easily defeated the Varden and dwarves. Yet it appears the Urgals are so deeply split among themselves that they cannot stay together except by force. After the death of Durza it was a great opportunity not only to defeat the Varden but also to claim victory for themsleves and gain some advantage over the Empire in the following balance of power.
Last but not least it is defeating the enemies arrayed against them that appears to be the main Urgal objective rather than reunifying their formation and and crushing each enemy column one by one. We are never really aware of the topography of the battlefield, it could be impossible to unite all three Urgal columns because some mountain may lie between them, but if instead of attacking those against them at once they tried to reunite with their other formations they could have been far more effective.
At least though the Urgals had a good strategic plan and the element of surprise. The Varden and the dwarves make even greater mistakes. Wait until next time for them.
Urgals
The Urgal's intention was to overrun Tronjheim, conquer the dwarf nation and, if the Silarilion was Paolini's inspiration, turn the Beor mountains into an Urgal kingdom that was to be allied with the Empire. In exchange for doing the Empire's dirty job it gave them a general (Durza), free passage through its territory (the Urgals were after all based on the Spine) and supplies until the battle. The only way the Urgals had access to Tronjheim was through the tunnels under Farthen Dur. We are told that there is a dense network of tunnels under the mountain leading everywhere. The dwarves (and Arya with Eragon, but they are under the command of the dwarves) have collapsed earlier all the tunnels except those through which they intend to channel the Urgals. Yet despite the fact that it soon becomes obvious that this is a trap the Urgals keep on attacking, buldozer style like in the great battles of the Western and Italian Front in World War I. Durza is a horrible general for his army but then again among his orders is to exterminate the Urgals. The Urgals should have tried to dig the blocked tunnels and appear at other places instead of just stubbornly attacking.
Furthermore after the death of Durza the Urgal army turns on itself. With the Urgals having surrounded their enemies (the 12 companions of Durza could have been followed by many more) they could have by now easily defeated the Varden and dwarves. Yet it appears the Urgals are so deeply split among themselves that they cannot stay together except by force. After the death of Durza it was a great opportunity not only to defeat the Varden but also to claim victory for themsleves and gain some advantage over the Empire in the following balance of power.
Last but not least it is defeating the enemies arrayed against them that appears to be the main Urgal objective rather than reunifying their formation and and crushing each enemy column one by one. We are never really aware of the topography of the battlefield, it could be impossible to unite all three Urgal columns because some mountain may lie between them, but if instead of attacking those against them at once they tried to reunite with their other formations they could have been far more effective.
At least though the Urgals had a good strategic plan and the element of surprise. The Varden and the dwarves make even greater mistakes. Wait until next time for them.
Inscription à :
Commentaires (Atom)