Being the second of the increasingly misnamed Earthsea Trilogy.
I can’t recall if I’ve ever read The Tombs of Atuan or The Farthest Shore. I’ve owned the books for ages, and I loved A Wizard of Earthsea. So it would be odd if I hadn’t read the sequels, but on re-reading it I didn’t get the sense of déjà vu that I normally do when I accidentally re-read a book I’ve previously read. Too bad. It’s a wonderful book and I should have picked it up again long ago.
The story returns to Ged, the young wizard from book one, but this time he is not the main character nor is the story even told from his point of view. Instead, the book introduces us to Tenar, a young girl on the island of Atuan in the Kargish Empire. Unlike most of Earthsea, the Kargs do not use magic and instead worship gods and ancient spirits through rituals, if they believe at all. The Kargs believe the High Priestess who serves the unnamed gods is reincarnated on the day she dies, and search throughout Kargish lands for a girl who fits the criteria. Tenar is that girl. Whisked off at the age of five to be cloistered in a remote place of worship to eventually become the High Priestess, she is raised mostly in isolation. She becomes Arha, the Eaten One. She grows up knowing she will be high priestess in the remote temple complex where few bother to worship anymore. Her interactions with others are limited and twisted. Hence, she develops somewhat of a youthful ego, sense of entitlement, and tendency to want to do things without help.
Beneath the temples lies a vast network of underground caverns where only she and eunuchs may travel. There are two entrances and only one exit. The two priestesses who serve the named gods may enter into the first portion of the caves, but no further. She learns her way around her underground domain by touch, as the gods do not like the light. One day she finds a man in the cavern, searching the ground by a light glowing from the top of his staff. It is Ged, the wizard from book one. He has come following a legend that half of the ring of Erreth-Akbe may be found here. Stolen by the Kargs after vanquishing an invader, the whole ring might unite Earthsea.
Initially angry at Ged for trespassing on her domain, Arha traps him in the deepest part of the caverns intending to let him die a slow death without food or water. But she cannot bring herself to let him die. And she cannot reverse her training as High Priestess either and free him. So she keeps him somewhat in limbo for a time until one of the other subordinate priestesses (Kossil) discovers Arha has let Ged live. Though subordinate, she’s older and and longer serving and, most importantly, does not believe in the gods she serves. It’s a useful fiction for her, a means to religious power. And Kossil sees in Arha’s failure a way to achieve ascendancy.
So the lesson that Arha/Tenar must learn is that of trust. Can she learn to trust Ged, who looks, acts, and believes differently than she. In fact, his belief in the ancient gods is stronger than hers, though he knows them to be not gods but malevolent ancient spirits. To survive against Kossil and the spirits angry at the light that has disturbed their domain (not hers after all), she must put her life in Ged’s hands.
And yet, the moral here doesn’t overwhelm the story like a bad ABC After School Special. It’s obvious and not subtle, but comes out naturally in the flow of the story. There’s no long pause for a speech about trust. Ged does have to exhort Arha to trust him a couple of times, and in the hands of a bad director, a long speech will be inserted, or a suitable pause as Ged reaches for her hand while the camera focuses on their faces after each other to show Arha coming to a decision of trust. But in reading it, is all part of the action.
Title: The tombs of Atuan
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Illustrator: Gail Garraty
Imprint/Publisher: Bantam Books
Publication date: 1971
Format: Mass market paperback
Length: 146 p.
ISBN-10: 0-553-14946-6
LC Classification: PZ7.L5215 To
