List of characters in Earthsea

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This is a list of the names of characters in the stories about the fantasy world of Earthsea, created by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Contents

Nomenclature

In Earthsea, each individual among the Hardic peoples has several names over the course of their life: a child-name, a use-name and a true name. Up to puberty, a person is known by their child-name; at their rite of Passage, at about the age of thirteen, that name is taken from them and they are given their true name in the Old Speech by a witch, sorcerer or wizard. One's true name is a closely guarded secret shared only with those whom they trust completely because it grants the knower control over the person. A use-name is adopted for everyday dealings. It may be an animal (Dragonfly, Hare, Otter, Sparrowhawk), a plant (Alder, Heather, Moss, Rowan), a substance (Diamond, Flint, Ivory, Jasper, Onyx) or something else (Golden, Kurremkarmerruk, the latter having no meaning). Use-names are not unique; there are, for instance, three different characters called Rose.

Kargs, who hate magic, do not use this system of naming. They have single names (Azver, Seserakh, Tenar).

Dragons also have true names. As a young, inexperienced wizard, Ged (use-name Sparrowhawk) is able to bargain with an ancient, powerful dragon on equal terms because he has guessed the latter's true name.

In the list below, true names are used where known, otherwise use-names and nicknames. A secondary list below gives the use-names and child-names of those whose true names are known.

Names

True names are shown in red, use names in blue. Child names, names of unknown status and nicknames are in green. Kargish names are in orange. Titles in parentheses are the novels or stories in which the character appears.

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Use-names and child-names

Erreth-Akbe

Introduced in A Wizard of Earthsea , Erreth-Akbe is one of the – and possibly the most important – characters in the historical back-story of the Earthsea novels.

Erreth-Akbe lived many centuries before the primary events that take place in the Earthsea novels. Erreth-Akbe was a famous hero and a great sorcerer, as well as counselor and good friend to King Maharion. Erreth-Akbe was a ‘dragonlord’, i.e. esteemed well enough by some dragons that they were willing to speak with him. [2]

Erreth-Akbe gained undying fame when he fought and defeated the Firelord, a being of immense power who sought to conquer the lands of the inner sea and stop the sun at midday so there would be light unending. [9]

In 440, he carried the Ring of Morred (known also as Elfarran's ring, later to be called the Ring of Erreth-Akbe) to King Thoreg of the Kargs, as a sign of peace between the Archipelago and the Kargad Lands. However, he found himself in the midst of a coup, organised by a Kargish High Priest, who broke the ring in half. Half of the ring was passed along the descendants of the Kargish royalty and eventually lost generations later when the last descendants were exiled to a remote unnamed and uncharted isle, while the other half was kept in the Tombs of Atuan.

In 448, Erreth-Akbe fought the ancient dragon Orm on Selidor, the remotest island in the West Reach. The battle resulted in the death of both Orm and Erreth-Akbe. [10]

Later, after Ged found half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, he met the dragon Orm Embar, descendant of Orm, on Selidor. Orm Embar told Ged the history of the ring half he carried. When Ged was an archmage, he met the ghost of Erreth-Akbe summoned by Cob, in the place where the hero died.

The dragons on Selidor and in the West Reach remember Erreth-Akbe and respect him. Ged later said of his meeting with Orm Embar:

"He thought it very funny that I hadn't known. Dragons think we are amusing. But they remember Erreth-Akbe; him they speak of as if he were a dragon, not a man." [11] [12]

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References

  1. ↑ "Ursula K. Le Guin — Ursula on Ursula". Ursula K. Le Guin.
  2. 1 2 Manguel & Guadalupi 2000 , p. 180
  3. ↑ Le Guin, Ursula K. (October 10, 2010). Ursula K. Le Guin reads from "The Wizard of Earthsea" (Reading). Washington Center for the Performing Arts: Timberland Regional Library. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  4. ↑ Curry, Arwen (2019). Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin (Documentary). Java Films. Event occurs at 8:30. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  5. 1 2 Le Guin, Ursula K. (October 10, 2010). Ursula K. Le Guin reads from "The Wizard of Earthsea" (Reading). Washington Center for the Performing Arts: Timberland Regional Library. Event occurs at 28:40. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  6. ↑ As pronounced by Le Guin: Curry, Arwen (2019). Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin (Documentary). Java Films. Event occurs at 9:30. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  7. ↑ Le Guin, Ursula K. (October 10, 2010). Ursula K. Le Guin reads from "The Wizard of Earthsea" (Reading). Washington Center for the Performing Arts: Timberland Regional Library. Event occurs at 1:05:45. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  8. ↑ As pronounced by Le Guin: Curry, Arwen (2019). Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin (Documentary). Java Films. Event occurs at 14:15. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  9. ↑ Manguel & Guadalupi 2000
  10. ↑ Le Guin, Ursula K. (1971). The Tombs of Atuan (1st ed.). New York: Atheneum.
  11. ↑ Le Guin, Ursula K. (1968). A Wizard of Earthsea (1st ed.). Berkeley: Parnassus.
  12. ↑ Le Guin, Ursula K. (1972). The Farthest Shore (1st ed.). New York: Atheneum.

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