440:– a Ged who did not turn back from the dangerous road of summoning the dead, which tempted Ged in his youth, but continued to its ultimate conclusion. Thus, Ged's final confrontation with Cob and the closing of the hole between the worlds reprises his confrontation with the Shadow in the first book, who was Ged's alter ego in a more explicit way. Ged's closing of that evil hole, at the cost of completely losing his power (and very nearly his life), can also be considered as fulfilling his wish "to undo the evil" of his own necromantic spell, which as a youth he had expressed to then-Archmage Gensher (and which, as the Archmage told him, he was at the time not capable of achieving).
304:, desperate to escape death and live forever. In doing so, he has opened a breach between worlds which is sucking away all life. As Cob paralyzes Ged with the staff of a long-dead mage, Orm Embar impales himself on it, crushing Cob in a final effort. But the undead Cob cannot be killed, and he crawls back to the Dry Land of the dead, pursued by Ged and Arren. In the Dry Land, Ged manages to defeat Cob and closes the breach in the world, but it requires the sacrifice of all his magic power.
289:, they sail south to Hort Town, where they encounter a drug addled wizard called Hare. They realize that Hare and many others are under the dream-spell of a powerful wizard who promises them life after death at the cost of their magic, their identity, and all names, that is, all reality. Ged and Arren continue southwest to the island of Lorbanery, once famous for its dyed silk, but the magic of dyeing has been lost and the local people are listless and hostile.
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The dragon Orm Embar arrives on the wind, and begs Ged to sail to
Selidor, the westernmost of all islands, where the dark wizard is destroying the dragons, beings who embody magic. Ged and Arren voyage past the Dragons' Run south of Selidor, encountering dragons flying about and devouring each other
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Fleeing the stifling despair, Ged and Arren keep on southwest to the furthest islands of the
Reaches. Arren is drawn under the influence of the dark wizard, and when Ged is injured by hostile islanders, Arren cannot rouse himself to help. As Ged's life ebbs, and they drift into the open ocean, where
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They travel even further, crawling over the
Mountains of Pain back to the living world, where the eldest dragon Kalessin is waiting. He flies them to Roke, leaving Ged on his childhood home of Gont Island. Arren has fulfilled the centuries-old prediction of the last King of Earthsea: "He shall
428:. Not glory, but necessity alone guides his actions now. Ged will no longer wield magic for the thrill of power or fame or self-righteousness, and tells the impetuous Arren: "do nothing because it seems good to do so; do only that which you must do and which you cannot do in any other way."
413:. The story is told mostly from the point of view of Arren, who develops from the boy who stands overawed in front of the masters of Roke, to the man who addresses dragons with confidence on Selidor, and who will eventually become the first King in centuries and unify the world of Earthsea.
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they are saved by the Raft People, nomads who live on great rafts beyond any land. The spreading evil has not yet reached them, and they nurse Ged and Arren back to health. At the midwinter festival, the sickness arrives, and the singers are struck dumb, unable to remember the songs.
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in a state of madness. On
Selidor, Orm Embar is waiting for them, but he too has lost the power of speech. After a search, they find the wizard in a house of dragon bones at the western tip of Selidor – the end of the world.
452:, a philosophy Le Guin encourages in her works), and how life comes from death as much as death comes from life (death itself being a balancing force in the book), Ged is portrayed as a wiser and sager archmage.
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An ominous, inexplicable malaise is spreading throughout
Earthsea. Magic is losing its power; songs are being forgotten; people and animals are sickening or going mad. Accompanied by Arren, the young Prince of
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inherit my throne who has crossed the dark land living and come to the far shores of the day." Arren will reunite the fractious islands as the future King
Lebannen (his true name).
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reported that it was "fantasy with a logic of execution that is usually found only in science fiction ... rich in ideas, color and inventions".
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and is never heard from again. In the other, Ged returns to the forest of his home island of Gont. In 1990, seventeen years after the publication of
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Ged recognises the wizard as Cob, a dark mage whom he defeated many years before. After his defeat, Cob became expert in the dark arts of
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Ged has also matured. He is no longer the impetuous boy who had himself opened a crack between the worlds in
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With a greater understanding of the
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217:, first published by Atheneum in 1972. It is the third book in the series commonly called the
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Selves And Others: The Politics of Difference in the Writings of Ursula Kroeber Le Guin
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A Guide to Fantasy Literature: Thoughts on Stories of Wonder & Enchantment
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Young prince of Enlad. The name means "rowan tree" in the Old Speech. Called
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Earthsea collections were frequently packaged and marketed as a "trilogy".
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Of Sorcerers and Men: Tolkien and the Roots of Modern Fantasy Literature
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National Book Award for Young People's Literature winning works
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Ursula K. Le Guin Beyond Genre: Fiction for Children and Adults
573:. University of South Africa (Ph. D. thesis). pp. 303–304.
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The Politics and Ethics of Identity: In Search of Ourselves
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554:. Published August 2, 2007. Accessed November 18, 2014.
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Due to the length of time between the publications of
387:A powerful dragon of the West Reach descended from
725:(1st ed.). Milwaukee, WI: Crickhollow Books.
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285:leaves Roke Island to find the cause. On his boat
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256:National Book Award in category Children's Books
661:(1st ed.). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
248:follows the wizard Ged in his final adventure.
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657:Bernardo, Susan M.; Murphy, Graham J. (2006).
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702:(1st ed.). China: Barnes & Noble.
616:. Cambridge University Press. p. 264.
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564:Byrne, Deirdre Cassandra (November 1995).
460:Reviewing the novel for a genre audience,
680:(1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
405:Like both previous books in the trilogy,
1424:Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences
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659:Ursula K. Le Guin: A Critical Companion
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744:(1st ed.). New York: Routledge.
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227:, would not be released until 1990,
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268:was based primarily on this novel.
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221:. As the next Earthsea novel,
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537:. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
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134:223 pp (first edition)
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896:The Word of Unbinding
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676:Cadden, Mike (2005).
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978:(miniseries)
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50:Gail Garraty
1497:Non-fiction
1392:Collections
1114:The Telling
968:Adaptations
941:Collections
357:Sparrowhawk
1546:Categories
1483:Cat Dreams
1009:Characters
496:References
333:See also:
302:necromancy
1318:Malafrena
931:Firelight
910:Dragonfly
808:Works by
456:Reception
438:alter ego
383:Orm Embar
124:paperback
120:hardcover
87:Publisher
1475:Catwings
1384:" (2002)
1377:" (1982)
1370:" (1976)
1363:" (1973)
1199:" (1999)
1192:" (1996)
1185:" (1995)
1171:" (1994)
1156:" (1974)
1149:" (1971)
1142:" (1969)
1135:" (1964)
1039:Hainish
1004:Universe
976:Earthsea
933:" (2018)
926:" (2014)
919:" (1999)
912:" (1997)
905:" (1964)
898:" (1964)
828:Earthsea
698:(2006).
371:Lebannen
363:Kalessin
67:Earthsea
55:Language
1342:Lavinia
1279:fiction
1214:Ansible
1207:Related
997:Related
486:Tehanu,
444:Balance
287:Lookfar
211:fantasy
118:Print (
77:Fantasy
58:English
1532:(1998)
1524:(1997)
1516:(1982)
1508:(1979)
1459:(2003)
1451:(2002)
1443:(1996)
1435:(1994)
1427:(1987)
1419:(1982)
1411:(1976)
1403:(1975)
1345:(2008)
1337:(1985)
1329:(1980)
1321:(1979)
1313:(1978)
1305:(1976)
1297:(1971)
1286:Novels
1277:Other
1265:(2007)
1262:Powers
1257:(2006)
1254:Voices
1249:(2004)
1238:Novels
1164:(1990)
1117:(2000)
1109:(1995)
1101:(1976)
1093:(1974)
1085:(1969)
1077:(1967)
1069:(1966)
1061:(1966)
1050:Novels
1025:(1993)
989:(2006)
987:(film)
980:(2004)
960:(2018)
952:(2001)
880:(2001)
872:(1990)
869:Tehanu
864:(1972)
856:(1971)
848:(1968)
837:Novels
748:
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450:Taoism
396:Themes
322:Tehanu
224:Tehanu
197:
195:Tehanu
184:
159:481359
122:&
63:Series
37:Author
1246:Gifts
1041:Cycle
596:(1).
571:(PDF)
468:Notes
409:is a
377:Arren
313:ocean
279:Enlad
209:is a
131:Pages
73:Genre
746:ISBN
727:ISBN
704:ISBN
682:ISBN
663:ISBN
618:ISBN
484:and
272:Plot
237:and
153:OCLC
140:ISBN
102:1972
1014:Ged
389:Orm
350:Ged
341:Cob
283:Ged
1548::
639:If
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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