Some backstory: I haven't read a book in a few years and I kept being told to read this book series. I found it for crazy cheap on thrift books so I got the first three books in the series along with some other books. Finding myself with some free time I sat down and read the first book in one sitting. Y'all. What a fucking rollercoaster. It was impossible to put down. This might be my new favorite book depending how the next ones go. The overarching themes that coalesce in a beautiful satisfying ending is just so well done. I'm not even mad about the unanswered questions it was just so damn good and pleasant to read. I can't wait to read the next one. No spoilers for the upcoming books please

I finally got around to reading this classic. Honestly was expecting to find it dated and cheesy given its age and the fact that I’ve seen people say it’s YA…but what I actually found is one of the most incredible fantasy stories I’ve read in a while. Maybe ever.

In fact, the book feels the opposite of dated - it’s written in such a way that it actually feels kind of timeless. There’s a mythical, fairy tale quality to the narrative that makes it seem like it could’ve written yesterday or a 100 years ago. Le Guin’s prose is a thing of beauty - so simple but so elegant at the same time. She can convey do much in one simple line.

The book really filled me with a sense of melancholy, longing and nostalgia. Ged’s story of finding and fighting his own shadow feels both epic and intimate and could be interpreted in so many ways. I understood it to be a tale of a man accepting his own vulnerabilities and insecurities but I’m sure others will have their own understanding of it.

I really can’t recommend this book enough - it truly deserves its place in the fantasy canon

I know the Alchemist gets a lot of hate on this sub, and I fully share that hate, ha. For me, it's one of those books that believes it's profound without meriting its own confidence. Well I just finished A Wizard of Earthsea after somehow going my whole life without reading Le Guin. And i was struck how this simple story, beautifully told through absolutely quiveringly flawless prose, was so much more than it seemed. Every page with a throwaway line of incredible depth, all building to a genuinely insightful whole. Everything the Alchemist pretended to be.

Gonna overshare because why not. Spoilers from the book.

My therapist and i have been working on conceptualizing a part of myself that deals in self-hate, shame, etc. The therapist wants me to see my depression, negative self-talk, defeatism as coming from this part of myself. Name it, understand it, appreciate it, move on from it.

So how strange to open up Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea and find that this is basically the plot of the book: In summoning the dead, Ged looses a shadow. It seems like an evil spirit, but is more like his darkest qualities embodied, and it changes as he does.

When he is proud, it tries to kill him. When he is afraid, it pursues him. When he is brave, it flees. When he accepts it, it ceases to be anything other than a part of himself.

I'm glad I read this story when I did. I've never read her fantasy, and I think it helped me understand my own situation/therapy a little better.

Also, if you're into progy pop punk, here's a song based on the book: by Gatsbys American Dream

holy crap, it was incredible. I can't believe such a simple concept, the most "basic" good vs. evil, could be executed this well! Everything in this story was done so well it really elevated the storyline. The philosophy, the quest, the characters and setting!

Now, I fully understand why le Guin is so renowned. I can't wait to dig more into her bibliography. I've already ordered the 2nd book in the Earthsea series.

Also, I have to mention, before reading A wizard of Earthsea, I finished The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett and the difference in quality between these two books... damn.

To everyone who's been meaning to read le Guin books, go, do it now! I promise you won't regret it.

Hello! I'm sorry I'm so late with this post. I hope you've enjoyed the first few days of reading as much as I have.

I'm going to summarize the 5 Chapters as a whole, simply because it's late and I don't want anyone to have to wait any longer. Feel free to add in any summaries, quotes, or scenes you would like to talk about!

So, these chapters were all about meeting Duny, turned Ged, called Sparrowhawk. We see his difficult childhood, losing his mother while still a baby, working for his violent father, relying on an aunt who was more interested in using him than carrying for him...

Then he saves the town and suddenly, his whole life changes. He's still wild, unpredictable at heart, but Ogion is trying to teach him patience and caution, along other things. What other things do you think Ogion wanted Ged to learn before moving on to Roke?

When he is sent to Roke, he excels at his studies and is a favored pupil. Batting a rivalry with Jasper, it seems he is happy here, spending his time learning everything he'd always wanted to... That is, until the "duel"with Jasper. Nothing goes as planned, Ged again summons a dark spirit, and this time is attacked. Saved by Nemmerle, he struggles to heal, despite the care of the Masters. Nemmerle, dealt, spent all of his energy, his life, saving Ged.

He then makes the decision to continue his studies, and eventually chooses to care for Low Torning, despite the lack of opportunity for much glory. He knows he can help there. Still, he knows the shadow is staying with him.

Yet, he is recruited to deal with the Dragon of Pendor, and also knows the spirit that scarred him has followed him to Low Torning. The Dragon attempts to manipulate Ged, but Ged has the power of knowing the Dragon's true name, and the will to resist his temptation.

Quickest summary I could do! So, what did you think? What did you like, what did you hate? Anything I skimmed or missed entirely?

Looking forward to this conversation!

After 30 years of not for some strange reason. I’d read other works by Ursula Le Guin and picked it up on a lark from the used book store.

I’m ashamed at this point, it’s so good, it’s the fundamental prototype to so much fantasy that comes after it and pales in comparison.

I don’t want to name names or books here (that i also enjoy)but it does what other authors have tried to do in a fraction of the pages and without getting lost on the way.

Hey folx! This is the schedule for A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. I'm excited to be delving into this world with you!

This book is the first in a trilogy (it may be bigger than a trilogy, but we can worry about that later), so we are actually going to knock out the first two books, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan.

Schedule:

Wizard of Earthsea:

• December 10:

The Tombs of Atuan:

• December 17:

• December 26:

• December 31:

I have pushed the December 24 discussion due to the holidays. Other than that, I'll be posting every Sunday, before 11:59 pm Pacific time. (I will try to get it up way earlier in the day, but I just want to prepare you all, I'm a night owl).

Alrighty! Looking forward to diving in soon!

Hello! This is the final discussion for A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. The next check-in will be for the second book in this series, The Tombs of Autuan.

When last we left our hero, Ged/Sparrowhawk, he had defeated the dragon of Pendor.

After accomplishing what he had come to Low Torning to do, he decided to flee, attempting to run from his Shadow, the entity he had summoned in Roke. The townspeople were thrilled and praised him for his success. He allowed one evening of enjoyment before preparing for, and eventually leaving Low Torning.

He caught a ride with a ship heading to Roke, but the shadow hunting him activated the spells that kept harm from Roke, and forced him to alter his plans. He ended up working for his passage to Oskill. It was there he met the man, Skiorh, that was possessed by Ged's shadow, a man he had trusted too quickly.

After escaping Skiorh, Ged wakes up in a tower where a beautiful woman, married to a silent Lord Benderesk, start by trying to put Ged at ease. Eventually, she earns his trust, only to have her attempt to use his power to her advantage. She and her husband wanted to enslave him using an evil stone, but he did not fall for their trap. We learn Serret is actually the young girl Ged had met when he lived with Ogion. She was being kept prisoner as well. They alter their shapes to birds to fly away, but she is murdered on the way. His pet, the Otak, died here as well.

Ged chose to go home after this ordeal, and maintained his hawk form until he reached Ogion. There, he transformed back and Ogion nursed him back to health. When he was well again, Ogion offered him a keen bit of advice, turn the hunter into the hunted. He begins his journey by hunting the Shadow on the sea, and first gets to see the shadow is afraid of him as well. He begins his hunt, following it further and further from the common cities and ports.

Ged ends up staying with a brother and sister, likely former royals of Kargad, for three nights on a reef. They are afraid of him, most likely from living here since they were children and not knowing any other humans. All the same, they do not hurt him and allow him to sleep in their hut. He then gets a passable sea craft together using their limited supplies and his magic, and sails off again, heading southeast.

Finally, Ged comes to Vetch's island, and quickly learns the people here are quite content with their wizard. Still, Vetch insists on joining Ged on his journey. They set sail, going beyond every known landmass, even Lastland, a place so far removed they never get visitors and consider wood a valuable commodity. Still, Ged and Vetch continue, to a land of darkness and without form. Ged disembarks the boat and meets his shadow, naming it Ged.

Finally whole, having accepted the part of himself he had been running from for so long, Ged is ready to return to society.

Alrighty, what did you think? Forgive any errors, it's late, but if you let me know they exist, I'll do what I can to fix them in the morning. I look forward to reading your opinions!

Lots of crying! I don't know if it's just me, but this book just makes me cry so much. I just looked through some posts about the book on here and now I'm very excited. I've only read the first book of the Earthsea series, and I was reading A Wizard again for enjoyment but also just to get back into things. After looking through some posts I've seen so many people say that Tombs of Atuan is their favorite, and that is SO exciting to me right now.

I have the 2012 version with the afterword and even that makes me cry.

"To be the man he can be, Ged has to find out who and what his real enemy is. He has to find out what it means to be himself. That requires not a war but a search and a discovery. The search takes him through mortal danger, loss, and suffering. The discovery brings him victory, and the kind of victory that isn't the end of a battle but the beginning of a life."

Man. That last sentence just kicks my ass. Yes, that is the best way I can put that. I read this for the first time a couple years ago when finally starting trauma recovery with a therapist who actually pays attention and I cried so much through it. Now that I've come even farther with my recovery it's possibly more amazing to me.

So I just read A Wizard of Earthsea per my dad's recommendation (and hearing about it constantly on the internet) and WOW I didn't know how much I needed a fantasy story like that! What a beautiful and unique world!

A suspenseful and spiritual fantasy classic (4 stars)

Published in 1968, 1971 and 1972, Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea Trilogy is widely regarded as a fantasy classic on a level not far from epics like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles. The story begins with a young man named Ged, commonly called Sparrowhawk, who receives training to become a wizard. His training in wizardry at the wizard school on the island of Roke begins with the power of illusion. Most magic merely involves the apparent change from one thing to another.

Ged is a brilliant student, and soon progresses to the true magic of changing. “Magic consists in this, the true naming of a thing” (p59) – when one knows the true name of an object, one can begin changing things. “Illusion fools the beholder’s senses; it makes him see and hear and feel that the thing is changed. But it does not change the thing. To change this rock into a jewel, you must change its true name. And to do that, my son, even to so small a scrap of the world is to change the world.” (p56) This also applies in the world of men: “Who knows a man’s name, holds that man’s life in his keeping.” (p83).

But true magic is perilous: it affects the broader world, and can upset the balance of the world “Rain on Roke may be drouth in Osskil” (p67). Tempted by pride, hate and revenge over against another student wizard named Jasper, Ged tries calling forth a spirit of the dead and succeeds only in bringing a shadow of evil into the world. LeGuin does not justify Ged’s actions, but clearly portrays his actions as the result of pride and hate, and resulting in ruin (p79). Like ourselves, Ged is a hero with flaws and must now live with their consequences. In a manner not unlike a dark horror novel, this evil shadow now hunts Ged, and his quest is to hunt it in order to remove it from his world.

It’s a gripping story, almost too dark at times, at least for young children. Unlike some other popular fantasy novels, the magic here bears a close connection to the occult, and that may make some readers uncomfortable. In Le Guin’s world, a wizard is a respected adviser who plays a spiritual role similar to a religious leader in our world today, and this includes aspects that are being popularized under the name of Wicca and similar pagan religions. It’s obvious that Le Guin’s magic is pure fantasy, but in contrast to popular fantasy series such as Harry Potter, her world is much more serious and her sense of magic never becomes trivial.

There are also influences of Taoism, which happens in other fantasy series as well, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series being another case in point. Like the Taoist yin-yang, Ged is driven by both evil and good desires. Even the concept of the shadow has overtones of Jungian philosophy, and modern readers have seen the book as model of Jungian psychology.

But all this aside, there’s no question about how gripping Le Guin’s plot is, and how vivid her world. It’s no wonder this book won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in 1969, and Le Guin has proven herself by winning several Hugo and Nebula awards with other titles.

I just finished reading this book by le Guin.

I found it very beautifully written, innocent, and charming. The narrative descriptions of setting and plot were absolutely gorgeous and I think this would be a lovely story to read as a child.

That said, I actually found it personally a bit confusing/difficult to follow at some parts. I think this is due to my poor concentration/lack of astuteness as a reader. The language was almost a little too rich for my language ability, if that makes sense, and I think I personally prefer magical realism to the style of high fantasy.

However, that is a critique based on my own personal taste, and this book is really beyond critique in terms of the writing quality (in my opinion). Truly a lovely read, and probably very suitable for those who love high fantasy, beautiful vocabulary and descriptions, yet would like to avoid extremely explicit sexual/violent scenes (this book really has none to speak of.).

I would love to hear anyone else's thoughts about this beautifully written book!

I may have mentioned this in an earlier review: Every once in a while you come across an author you wish you had encountered earlier in life. This is about one of them.

I loved The Hobbit, and when I heard there was a sequel—not just a sequel, but an EPIC sequel—I jumped at the chance to track it down and read it. Problem was, I was very young and not quite ready for The Lord of the Rings. I barely made it past The Fellowship of the Ring, and even while I was going through it I knew I was having problems. The language was too far over my head at points. I hadn’t worked my mental muscles up to it yet. So my interest in fantasy waned for a time.

This would have been a perfect time for someone to have introduced me to A Wizard of Earthsea, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

The first thing that struck me reading this was how it felt like something on the reading level of The Hobbit, yet with more maturity. There was something more introspective about it. It wasn’t about having a grand adventure, not exactly. To me, this would have been a perfect next step up the ladder for my younger self.

A Wizard of Earthsea deals with the early adventures of a boy named Ged as he becomes a wizard and eventually faces trials against a great darkness that might destroy him. It’s set in the realm of Earthsea, an archipelago surrounded by a vast ocean (imagine something like the Philippines, with the largest island being about the size of England).

Earthsea has the advantage of having familiar fantasy tropes in terms of magic and swords and kings and wizards and whatnot, yet its locations and peoples are completely set apart from any European setting. Most of the people here have skin that ranges from red-brown to dark brown in tone. In fact, the only European-esque people in the story are Viking-like barbarians from the North, who enter this story during a raiding party, eventually targeting Ged’s home village.

Ged defends his village with magic his aunt, a witch, had taught him, but it drains him so much he almost dies. A wizard, hearing of his power, takes him under his wing for a time, and eventually he enters into a school to learn wizardcraft. Later, showing off his power in a fit of pride, he unwittingly unleashes a darkness onto the world, one that wants to consume Ged and use his body to commit great evils.

Le Guin has criticized the assumption that fantasy characters should be white and that its societies should resemble European-style middle ages settings. While she does upend that trope, she doesn’t do it in a way that alienates at all. And that’s important, since for a kid it’s easy to have a “broccoli effect” with stories that are too different from what they are expecting. Despite all their differences, there is something about this story that feels perfectly at home with Tolkien-style fantasy.

One of the things I loved about A Wizard of Earthsea was the way magic works, as well as how it is explained. Everything has a name, and knowing its true name gives you power over it. All magic works around knowing the true name of things, and the study of wizardry involves learning those names, and uncovering new ones. In fact, there is no end to the names that can be learned, in part because of how a true name reflects who and where they are. Casting a spell for a “Fish” might be too general, so what about salmon? Atlantic or Pacific? King or Sockeye? From which spawning river? Upper or lower? And so on…

This even extends to people. When a child comes of age they are given their true name in secret, and once given a person shares it with no one except those they trust their lives with. This becomes a focal point of the story, as the creature that pursues Ged seemingly has no true name at all. How do you defeat something with no name?

The idea of “true names” as a means to control and manipulate objects has been used elsewhere, of course, but her simple yet comprehensive explanations makes it feel real. As a kid, I would have appreciated that level of logic and verisimilitude.

As I mentioned earlier, this felt a bit more mature than The Hobbit, though I’d put the technical reading level of it as roughly on par. This is because The Hobbit is a great adventure about a sedentary fellow being pushed out of their comfort zone and finding unknown resilience. But at the same time it always feels like an adventure.

A Wizard of Earthsea, on the other hand, is more about the journey from childhood to adulthood. And the way it is handled is surprisingly introspective. While there are many adventures within it, in the end, it is not so much an adventure as a solemn and ultimately personal journey.

This is one of my favorite books. I remember reading it in 8th grade and my teacher impressed it upon us as many times as she could that the shadow was Ged’s ego. No question. And as an 8th grader I just accepted that. I just got finished rereading it (25 years later) and it’s clear that there’s much more to it. While ego and pride are a small part of it, it only makes sense in the beginning. Interpreting the shadow as fear, chaos, the unknown, evil, and most importantly the duality of man, seems to be the author’s intention. Maybe these themes were deemed too heavy for 8th graders or maybe my teacher was just wrong. Nobody’s perfect. Regardless, I’m curious who else has had this experience, being taught something in school which you learned later was not really true, and with which other books?

So I'm pretty sure A Wizard of Earthsea isn't short on fans, or on videos, articles and posts about it. Nonetheless, I'm adding mine to the bunch. It's one of my favourite books and I had a lot of fun reading between the lines of it and researching the history of what might have inspired it. You can see a video I made on it at the link below, where I borrow a lot of fantasy footage to try make my own little Earthsea movie:

Title.
I absolutely adore Harlan Ellison's reading of this book. I've only just started and I'm absolutely captivated with not only the story but his performance.
I just got through the part where Ged runs from The Shadow in the snow to avoid becoming a Gebbeth and Harlan reads it with so much energy that he runs out of breath at the same time the character does and it's just.
Wow

Just wanted to sing a little praise for a book I should've read a long time ago.

E: This essay . I updated it with footnotes regarding counter-argumenst from the comments here, and did some touching-up to make the essay a bit more cogent. Check it out if you want a better overview of this dialogue!

E2: made giving an overview of some of the darker thematic elements of the Deathly Hallows and Dumbledore.

So, recently I got into a comment chain on about how . I am inclined to agree, but I notice when these discussions come up, focus tends to be on peripheral elements of Harry Potter, like Snapes' creepy arc. This is unfitting, in my opinion. I can say Earthsea had a much more profound effect on me as a teenager than Harry Potter, and I think it specifically had to do a lot with the central narrative of both stories. So, I'm going to make the case to you today: A Wizard of Earthsea is a better coming-of-age story than the Harry Potter series ¹

First, some housekeeping:

• I am writing this essay from the perspective of a young man for , but that doesn't mean you should avoid reading these stories to your daughter! Or just reading them yourself! There are lots of lessons from both series that an adult can learn from. Plus, the worldbuilding is spectacular.

• I will be using just the first book of the Earthsea series, A Wizard of Earthsea, for this comparison. This is because A Wizard of Earthsea roughly follows the same arc for Ged (the protagonist) as Harry Potter goes through for the entire HP series. This will become more clear throughout the essay.

• There will obviously be heavy spoilers for the Harry Potter series and A Wizard of Earthsea [E: Only the first Earthsea book is spoiled]

• Because this is specifically a comparison of coming-of-age narratives, I will be focusing only on Harry Potter himself and writing in the series that is directly relevant to his coming-of-age. Yes, I know Snape is a creep and Ron's treatment by the narrative is problematic, but those are not going to be a focus here.

• Ursula K. Le Guin and JK Rowling are obviously very different writers with different intentions regarding the message of their stories. Le Guin has a history of writing , whereas Rowling . I am not criticizing these decisions at face value, but am examining how they play out in the coming-of-age story they tell.

• I am writing this essay with the assumption that most are more familiar with the conventions of Harry Potter than Earthsea, so I will be spending a bit more time explaining aspects of Earthsea's narrative and worldbuilding

• I don't think the Harry Potter series is bad. In fact, I've reread the series multiple times. According to Pottermore, I'm a Hufflepuff!

With that out of the way, let's dive into things!

Power and the Person

In both Harry Potter and Earthsea, magic is the ultimate form of power. A person who masters wizardry is more-or-less an unstoppable force except when facing another master wizard. There are different disciplines of magic with their own specialists, and each has their own kind of power with differing levels of usage and prestige. Our protagonists are set up to be relatively gifted individuals who already have a talent for channeling this power, and over the course of the story we see them learn more and more until they reach a certain level of competence.

The point I'm going to make here is that the way Harry Potter and Earthsea treat magic, and thus power, is fundamentally different, and this plays into the thematics of both Ged's and Harry's coming-of-age arcs.

In Harry Potter, magic is something that a person has. Once they get a wand, they can cast magic spells. Once they learn a spell, they can cast it. Once they know a recipe, they can make a potion, and use it at their discretion. Once they have the Philosopher's Stone, they can live forever.

In Earthsea, magic is something that comes from understanding. Anyone can learn a things' true name, but it is meaningless without being properly refined. We are given the example of a sorcerer who wants to turn the ocean into diamonds. He could say, in the Old Tongue, "turn the ocean to diamonds". But would that turn the ocean to diamonds? Wouldn't he have to also say "turn the seafoam into diamonds" and "turn so-and-so bay into diamonds" and so on ad nauseum? In essence, magic is limited not by the spells one knows or the wand one has, but the fundamental understanding a wizard has of the world around them, including themselves.

That's not to say Harry Potter is lacking in nuance or skill in its magic. We know there are certain spells like the unforgivable curses that can't be cast without a lot of practice and "power", and there are techniques, like silent casting and oclumency, that require intensive training.

But the point I'm trying to make here is that in Harry Potter, magic, and thus power, is essentially a technology. It may take practice and knowledge to use, but it is an external thing that people have, and (with the exception of horcruxes) doesn't really influence how you act as a person.

In Earthsea, magic (power) is inherently based in the essence of all things. Its usage should be carefully weighed, because each spell you cast has an affect on something else. We are given the example of wizards who cast spells that send rainclouds away, and how it's not unusual to see clouds jumping around the Archipelago as wizards play a game of hot potato. We are constantly shown the negativity behind the arrogance of wizards who cast spells for personal gain.

The thematics of power in the two stories are thus distinguished: in Harry Potter, magic is a tool, and is used casually all the time. It is only certain kinds of magic (power) that cause distress. In Earthsea, magic always has consequences to its usage, and each spell cast affects the world around the caster, and the caster themselves. This can be for better or worse, but a decent wizard will always weigh the options before casting any spell.

Consequence and Culpability

So let's dive into what exactly these consequences are. In A Wizard of Earthsea, one of the central themes of the book is Ged making rash or self-sacrificing decisions, and this resulting in pain for himself and others. When he first begins to learn magic, he overextends his fog magic while protecting his village and becomes comatose. It is only because of the intervention of the master wizard Ogion that he is revived. Ogion takes Ged on to become his apprentice, and Ged quickly becomes impatient with Ogion's slow teaching method.

Ogion thus sends him to the island of Roke to satiate his hunger for knowledge. As time goes by, however, Ged becomes even more impatient, and causes what is essentially the inciting incident for the rest of the story: He tries to show off by summoning a legendary princess from the dead, and instead releases a Shadow that almost kills him. The rest of the novel follows Ged's various misadventures as he runs from this Shadow.

Essentially, the entire story unfolds as a conflict between Ged and the consequences of his misuse of magic. Throughout the story, innocent lives are lost to the Shadow and his other errors in judgement². The story makes it abundantly clear that these things would not have happened if Ged had not been rash, if he had not been impatient, if he had been more considerate of others and his own power. In other words, . This quote near the end of the book is quite telling:

You thought, as a boy, that a mage is one who can do anything. So I thought, once. So did we all. And the truth is that as a man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do.

Let's compare this with Harry Potter. In Harry Potter... Harry doesn't really make many rash decisions. There are a few times he uses his magic irresponsibly. For instance, when he casts Sectumsepra without knowing what it does and hurts Malfoy. But the only real consequence he faces is Snape, the man who invented the curse, knowing about Harry having the Half-Blood Prince's book. Harry isn't constantly running away from the consequences of casting Sectumsepra on Malfoy. Just like when he uses the flying car to come to Hogwarts - the consequences are thematically resolved within the first few chapters after he does it, and in the forest scene of Chamber of Secrets the car ends up saving him.

Perhaps most telling is in The Deathly Hallows, when Harry and gang visit Gringotts. We are told multiple times throughout the series that the Unforgivable Curses are unstable, evil spells that only the most despicable of wizards use. We even have the central motif of Harry using expeliarmus against Voldemort's avada kedavra. And yet, in Gringotts, Harry, shrouded in invisibility cloak, uses imperio on a goblin to absolutely no consequence. Sure, maybe their venture into the vaults goes awry, but we never see Harry become corrupted in any way from using the imperius curse so judiciously, it never directly leads to further harm for anyone in the novel.

And I think this plays into the theme we already discussed with power. In Harry Potter, power is only bad if it is used for bad, and it is good if it is used for good. In A Wizard of Earthsea, rashly using power always has consequences, even if the intent is good.

Good vs. Evil vs. The Self

So with all this theming of power and consequence established, let's look at how A Wizard of Earthsea and Harry Potter use their endings as a commentary on how a person comes of age.

In The Deathly Hallows, Harry comes to learn that he, himself, is one of the last horcruxes keeping Voldemort alive. This is a shocking revelation for him, the only way he can defeat Voldemort is by ending himself. The only solution, therefore, is to kill himself by rushing the enemy and being avada kedavra'd by Voldemort.

The scene transitions to Harry at a heavenly version of King's Cross station. Dumbledore is sitting there, and explains to Harry that because he has two souls within him, Voldemort only ended up killing a piece of himself. We then see a sad, disfigured creature in the corner that Dumbledore explains is Voldemort's soul, crying in the corner. Harry mentions that he feels bad for the creature, but the essential conclusion is that this thing just has to die and then Harry can be free.

Harry is then revived, now free from Voldemort's horcrux, and the final showdown begins. Harry gives a long-winded explanation about how, according to specific rules of wand ownership, the Elder wand being used by Voldermort is actually loyal to himself, and disarms him. Harry wins, Voldemort loses, and they all live happily ever after. Except Voldemort, he dies.

In A Wizard of Earthsea, Ged has an epiphany after a fight on the open sea, and decides to turn the table and being chasing the Shadow. The hunter becomes the hunted, the Shadow flees to the end of the world, and Ged follows him until they finally meet for the last showdown. So, does Ged use the ultimate power he attained from his various ventures? Does he smite the Shadow from the world?

No, he names it. Specifically, he calls it Ged. And thusly accepts it into himself, leading to one of the greatest paragraphs of the novel:

Ged had neither lost nor won but, naming the shadow of his death with his own name, had made himself whole: a man: who, knowing his whole true self, cannot be used or possessed by any power other than himself, and whose life therefore is lived for life's sake and never in the service of ruin, or pain, or hatred, or the dark.

The Shadow was just a mirror of Ged's own soul, a piece of himself from which he can never truly run away. Indeed, throughout the story we are repeatedly reminded that when Ged runs from his shadow, he just causes pain and suffering for others. The solution isn't killing himself, or killing the darkness inside of him. It's accepting his duality, as a human being, and becoming whole.

I think these endings reveal the underlying problem with Harry Potter's coming-of-age narrative. In Harry Potter, there is good, and there is evil. Once Harry overcomes that evil, he has become an adult, and defeated the evil that was plaguing him. But this evil was always something external, something that happened to Harry, without any say in the matter. The evil isn't a consequence of some past mistake Harry has made with which he now has to live, it's an external problem that he deals with so that he can go back to being himself.

Nothing really changes with Harry. He learns a few things on his journey, like don't cast spells when you don't know what they do, and don't trust every authority figure³, but overall Harry doesn't really change as a character. Nothing about his flaws are redeemed by the end of the series, because he never faces consequences for misusing power. The story even idolizes his self-sacrifice⁴, without forcing him to face the consequence of leaving his loved ones behind.

A Wizard of Earthsea, as I am obviously setting up, does the opposite of this. Ged is constantly having to face the consequences for his actions, including his own self-sacrifice. His misuse of power is punishing because of the darkness within him, and only in accepting that darkness and limiting himself does he grow as a person. He is fundamentally changed as a character, learning the unwise nature of rash decision-making and pride.

Real Life

So, I guess my conclusion here is that A Wizard of Earthsea is a much better tool for helping boys coming-of-age to understand the world they're going to face. Real life isn't like Harry Potter, there are no obvious evil and good people⁵, you can't just give power to the good people and everything is solved. You can't just dispose of the darkness within yourself and expect everything to be hunky-dorey.

We face difficult decisions in real life every day, and most of them operate within a greyness of morality. If we can accept the Shadow that constitutes a part of us, our decisions will be less clouded by our denial.

So, if you're a boy (or an adult) looking for a better understanding of what it means to become a man, to have the power to make important decisions, consider passing over Hogwarts and picking up a copy of A Wizard of Earthsea. I guarantee, you won't regret it.

¹ Obviously reading them both would be ideal, along with the *His Dark Materials* trilogy

² Including his beloved Hoeg, the first death in a novel that made me cry as a prepubescent

³ There's a whole rant here I could put here about why Umbrage is a better villain than Voldemort because she is reflective of actual conflict that teenagers face, but that's a story for another day

⁴ Remember what I said at the beginning about Harry Potter having Christian undertones?

⁵ [Political party you hate] aside

Bonus points if it can allow solo play. Thank you!