Saphira

Template:Spoiler Saphira Bjartskular is a female sapphire-blue dragon from Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Trilogy. Her scales and eyes are the color of sapphires and glitter like them. Her eyes see blues in more vibrant and exotic tones, while reds and greens are more faded. Her talons, and her neck, back, and tail spikes, are all bone-white. She has two serrated teeth, as well as normal teeth. Her head is triangular. Later in Inheritance, she gains the ability to breathe flame. At first, the flame is blue tinged with orange, but later it is fully blue. Of the last five dragons in existence (one has not hatched yet, but is known to be male) she is the only female.

File:Saphira.jpg

Saphira as painted by John Jude Palencar on the cover ofEragon

The Dragon Egg

Saphira was born to Iormungr, a male dragon bound to a Dragon Rider, and Vervada, a formidable wild female dragon. When introducing herself formally Saphira refers to herself as "Saphira, daughter of Vervada" (In a similar manner, males - dragons, elves, dwarves and humans - refer to themselves as "son of So-and-so".) Unfortunately, both of Saphira's parents perished during the The Fall.

Saphira's sapphire-like egg was found and taken by Galbatorix during the Fall along with ruby one and an unknown egg. Galbatorix tried desperately to get her egg and the others to hatch, but was unsuccessful. None of the dragon infants responded to the touch of anyone in his kingdom.

Sometime during the King Galbatorix's rule, an ex-Rider known as Brom (his dragon - also named Saphira and the inspiration for the sapphire dragon - was killed) and a scholar discovered a secret entrance into Galbatorix's palace, and since they were part of the Varden, a group of rebels opposed to Galbatorix, they decided to send one of their best men in to steal all three eggs from Galbatorix. Unfortunately, something went wrong and only Saphira's egg was rescued from the King's grasp. Something happened to the spy however, and the egg disappeared. This led to the greatest hunt in centuries. Brom and Morzan, two old friends before Morzan betrayed the Riders during the Fall, were now racing to retrieve the egg. The search finally came to a head in Gil'ead, where Brom and Morzan battled for possession of the egg. In then end, Brom slew Morzan and reclaimed Saphira's egg and returned it to the Varden.

The Elves, who were part of the Varden and the Varden did not know how to fairly give both the Varden and the Elves a fair amount of time to see if the egg would hatch for them, and so many arguments were argued until Brom found a settlement. The egg would travel to the Varden for a year and see if it hatched, and if not, it would go to the Elves for one year and so on until the egg hatched. When it hatched, the Rider would train with Brom for a year or so and then the Elves would finish the education. The egg would be sent back and forth by the daughter of the Elven Queen, The Princess Arya of Ellesméra. She possessed powerful magical skills and was well trained in combat, and so was chosen to guard and protect the dragon egg. She was accompanied by armed elf guards on her journeys.

The egg however, did not hatch for any of the Varden or Elves for decades, and they let it pass from their minds almost completely, only mentioning its stubbornness.

Unfortunately, after many decades, an ambush was planned for Arya and her guards. This ambush happened because of a traitor or traitors in the Varden who knew where they would be and how to intercept and take the egg. These traitors were in Galbatorix's employ and therefore Galbatorix sent a Shade known as Durza and a group of Urgals to retrieve the egg and capture at least one Elf and therefore discover the location of Ellesméra. Although her guards were killed in the ambush, Arya's steed sensed the danger and bore her away from the Urgals, only to be shot down. Desperate to ensure the safety of the dragon egg, Arya used an imprecise piece of magic to magically teleport the egg to the village of Carvahall, which was where Brom was living at that time. It was the closest place besides the Elven cities, which are protected by magic so that nothing can enter their boundaries by magical means. Unfortunately, the magic is imprecise and it missed its target, landing in the Spine, a remote and deadly mountain range bordering the Palancar Valley, where Carvahall is situated.

Birth

A fifteen-year old boy, Eragon, saw the egg appear while trying to track game in those very mountains at that very time the egg appeared in a blast. Eragon picked it up, thinking it something he could sell for food as the explosion that accompanied its arrival scared away all the animals. After a week or so, Saphira apparently decided that Eragon was the one most suited to help the people of Alagaesia and the one most suited to be her companion - and hatched for him. At first, Eragon thought of killing the bright blue baby dragon, as it presented danger to his family, but could not find it in his heart to kill it.

Saphira then touched his right palm and gave him the Gedway Ignasia; symbol of the Riders and in the process gave him the gift of magic, although he was unaware of it for a time. This also linked their minds telepathically, and at first Saphira could only communicate with urges and emotions to display what it was she wanted. The bond between them developed rapidly, and Saphira was kept hidden from the rest of Eragon's family for a while, as Eragon feared that his uncle Garrow and his cousin Roran might decide to kill the dragon. Eragon lived with them as his mother Selena had died and he didn't know who his father was. Eragon went to whom the villagers considered a storyteller, Brom, and asked about dragons, arousing the man's curiosity and suspicion. He also inquired about some names, so that he could choose from then to name his dragon. When Eragon returned and listed off names, he found that she disliked all the male names, and therefore discovered she was female - a fact she very smugly revealed when he asked her. She rejected most female names until the very last one. She finally chose the name Saphira, although at the time neither she nor Eragon understood the significance of the name.

Christopher Paolini said her name is derived from the word 'sapphire'.