Karg

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The Kargs are a fictional people in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea canon.

Ursula K. Le Guin American author

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was an American author. She was best known for her works of speculative fiction, including the science fiction works set in the Hainish Universe and the fantasy series of Earthsea. First published in 1959, she had a literary career spanning nearly sixty years, during which she released more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories, in addition to many volumes of poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books. Frequently described as author of science fiction, Le Guin said she would prefer to be known as an "American novelist", and has been called a "major voice in American Letters".

Earthsea fantasy fiction series by Ursula K. Le Guin, including 5 novels 1968 to 2001 among other publications

Earthsea, also known as The Earthsea Cycle, is a series of fantasy books written by the American writer Ursula K. Le Guin and the name of their setting, a world of islands surrounded by an uncharted ocean. There are six Earthsea books written between 1968 and 2001, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, and The Other Wind. Unusually for a series, Tales from Earthsea is a short story collection; the rest are novels. There are also four additional short stories not in Tales from Earthsea.

Contents

Appearance

Kargs have fair skin and many have blond hair, unlike the majority of the inhabitants of Earthsea, who have dark skin and hair. Tenar, perhaps the best-known Kargish individual, happens to have dark hair. [1] The Kargs' Nordic appearance and their raider culture resembles the Scandinavian Viking civilisation.[ citation needed ]

Culture and religion

Within the context of the nonindustrial civilization of Earthsea, the technological level of Karg society is high, having a strongly militaristic and urbanized culture. The Kargs were greatly feared by the people of Earthsea for their piratical raids on the East Reach, but subsequently a peace was reached, giving rise to some trade and commerce between the peoples. The Kargs are skilled sailors, fishers and farmers.

Their literacy level is very low: Tenar remarks that reading is "one of the black arts". Magic was once anathema to the Kargs, and the use of magic among the people of the Archipelago was taken as proof of their wickedness - anyone in the Kargad lands suspected of being a "sorcerer" was put to death. Nevertheless, a few Kargs make their way to Roke to study magic, including Azver, a young warrior who later became the Master Patterner during Ged's tenure as Archmage.

Magician (fantasy) magicians appering in fantasy fiction

A magician also known as a mage, warlock, witch, wizard, enchanter/enchantress, or sorcerer/sorceress, is someone who uses or practices magic derived from supernatural, occult, or arcane sources. Magicians are common figures in works of fantasy, such as fantasy literature and role-playing games, and enjoy a rich history in mythology, legends, fiction, and folklore.

The Kargs have their own religion which is different from the rest of Earthsea. Their principal deities are The Nameless Ones, sentient manifestations of Earth's more malevolent aspects; they are symbolized by darkness and hunger. In many respects, they are similar to Kami. However, their influence declined over the years as successive Karg rulers, the self-styled Godkings, gradually usurped their position at the pinnacle of Karg religion. Although immensely powerful magically, The Nameless Ones are for the most part tied to specific locations. By the time of The Tombs of Atuan , they are seriously worshipped only in a few places, notably an isolated temple complex over an underground labyrinth in which some of them reside on the island of Atuan.

Religion is a cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements. However, there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion.

Sentience is the capacity to feel, perceive or experience subjectively. Eighteenth-century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think (reason) from the ability to feel (sentience). In modern Western philosophy, sentience is the ability to experience sensations. In Eastern philosophy, sentience is a metaphysical quality of all things that require respect and care. The concept is central to the philosophy of animal rights because sentience is necessary for the ability to suffer, and thus is held to confer certain rights.

<i>Kami</i> divine being in Shinto

Kami are the spirits or phenomena that are worshipped in the religion of Shinto. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, as well as beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the spirits of venerated dead persons. Many kami are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans. Traditionally, great or sensational leaders like the Emperor could be or became kami.

Notable Kargs

In The Tombs of Atuan, Ged ventures into this labyrinth while searching for half of a long-lost magical artifact. He is trapped by the Karg priestess Tenar, who had been trained from childhood to serve The Nameless Ones. Ged shows her that although The Nameless Ones are real, they are malevolent. Ged persuades Tenar to escape with him to Earthsea.

Tenar plays a major role in later novels. She adopts a badly injured abandoned child in Tehanu , and advises King Lebannen in The Other Wind .

<i>Tehanu</i> fantasy novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, 1990

Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, published by Atheneum in 1990. It is the fourth novel set in the fictional archipelago Earthsea, following almost twenty years after the Earthsea trilogy (1968–1972), and not the last, despite its subtitle. It won the annual Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.

<i>The Other Wind</i> fantasy novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, 2001

The Other Wind is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, published by Harcourt in 2001. It is the fifth and final novel set in the fictional archipelago Earthsea. It won the annual World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and was runner up for the Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, among other nominations.

Aside from the Master Patterner mentioned above, the only other Karg of note is Seserakh in The Other Wind, a princess sent without consultation to marry the initially unwilling Lebannen.

The Kargad Lands - geography

The Kargad Lands consist of four large islands in north-eastern Earthsea, to the northeast of Havnor. Though they lie outside of the Archipelago itself, they do not belong to either the East nor the North Reach.

Footnotes

  1. Bernardo, Susan M. and Graham, Murphy J. Ursula K. Le Guin: A Critical Conmapnion, (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006), page 97.

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