BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
BORN
September 17, 7982 AC (Three years older than Eragon)
AGE
20 years (at the end of the series)
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
SPECIES
Human
GENDER
Male
HEIGHT
Tall (An inch or so taller than Eragon)
HAIR COLOR
Dark Brown
EYE COLOR
Gray
DESCRIPTION
Strikingly handsome, tall, has a large scar across his back.
CHRONOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL INFORMATION
DRAGON
Thorn
AFFILIATION
Broddring Empire (formerly), Galbatorix (formerly), Galbatorix's Dragon Riders (formerly), Dragon Riders
FAMILY
Morzan (Father)
Selena (Mother)
Eragon (Maternal Half-Brother)
Garrow (Maternal Uncle)
Marian (Maternal Aunt)
Roran (Maternal Cousin)
Katrina (Maternal Cousin-in-law)
Ismira (Maternal Cousin once-removed)
Cadoc (Maternal Grandfather)
Brom (DeFacto Step-Father, Selena's Lover)
KNOWN TEACHERS
Tornac, Galbatorix
OTHER
FILM PORTRAYER
Garrett Hedlund
Murtagh Morzansson is a male human who was at one point Eragon's ally, but was enslaved by Magic and forced to fight for the Broddring Empire. He was the son of Morzan, the man who betrayed the Dragon Riders to Galbatorix and helped destroy them; and Selena, Morzan's Black Hand and the most feared of all the Broddring Empire's spies and assassins. He was the eldest of Selena's two children, the other of which is Eragon Shadeslayer: consequently being Eragon's half-brother and Roran Stronghammer's first cousin. He was a fiercely loyal companion and an accomplished swordsman. He wielded a hand-and-a-half sword and later, Zar'roc, which he stole from Eragon, a yew bow, a dagger and a white horn with silver fittings. He rode a warhorse named Tornac, which was named after his old swordsmanship tutor. During Eldest, one of King Galbatorix's Dragon eggs hatched for Murtagh and he named the red Dragon Thorn. He was the main antagonist in Eldest.
In addition to being a Dragon Rider he was also the Broddring Empire's strongest magician after Galbatorix, the Broddring Empire's general and champion (involuntarily), the only known child of a member of The Forsworn and one of the three principal characters in the Inheritance cycle. After killing Hrothgar, Murtagh became a Kingkiller.
Selena, a young woman from the village Carvahall, fell in love with Morzan. After almost three years of traveling with him, she became pregnant with his child. Morzan spirited her off to his castle and hid the pregnancy from everyone but Galbatorix. Murtagh was born in his father's castle nine months later.
Murtagh explained parts of his past to Eragon and Saphira in Eragon, and he explained more to Nasuada in Inheritance, but little was known about his early years. He was taken from his mother Selena at birth and given to a wet nurse. Selena was only allowed to see him for brief visits every few months. As the son of the violent and twisted Dragon Rider Morzan, Murtagh experienced an unpleasant childhood. At the age of three, Murtagh's back was laid open from shoulder to hip when Morzan threw his sword, Zar'roc, at the boy in a drunken rage. Selena disappeared around this time, to secure a better life for her second, unborn child. Selena's illegitimate second son, Murtagh's younger brother, was revealed later to be Eragon. Upon her return to Morzan's castle in the Spine, Selena fell grievously ill and died. Even after his father died at the hands of Brom, Murtagh continued to avoid the courts and its intrigues as much as was possible while living in King Galbatorix's castle at Urû'baen. In Inheritance, an intoxicated Murtagh comes to see Nasuada in the Hall of the Soothsayer. He drunkenly tells her of his upbringing in the palace:
