The Tombs of Atuan, first published in book form in 1971, is the second book in the Earthsea series by Ursula K. LeGuin. It is set in the Kargad Lands, and tells of a girl raised to be the priestess of a cult of the Old Powers, who is liberated by the wizard Ged.
Summary[]
Northeast in the Archipelago of Earthsea lie the lands of the Kargs, the white-skinned barbarian raiders who attacked Ged’s village in A Wizard of Earthsea. Ruled by the God-King, these are distinct from the Inner Lands of the Archipelago. The Inner Lands, where wizards, sorcerers and witches work magic, have no central authority, only an uneasy confederacy of local rulers.
On the island of Atuan, a little girl named Tenar has been born on the same day that the One Priestess of the Tombs of Atuan died. Believed to be the Priestess’ reincarnation, Tenar is taken from her family at five years of age and taken to the Tombs. These are a group of standing stones, part of a temple complex in a shallow valley surrounded by desert.
Tenar’s name is “taken” from her in a ceremony, and she is given instead the title “Arha, the Eaten One”. Now nameless herself, she is consecrated to the service of the “Nameless Ones”, the entities to which the Tombs are sacred. She moves into the Priestess’ house, and is given a eunuch servant, Manan, who becomes a mother to her. Her only friend, or whipping-girl for Arha’s own misdemeanours, is Penthe, a girl being trained to be a far subordinate priestess.
Arha is trained in her duties by Thar, High Priestess of the Twin Gods, and Kossil, High Priestess of the Godking, who represent newer cults which have taken away much of the authority of the Tombs. Thar, the more respectful and tolerant of the two, teaches Arha about the Undertomb and the Labyrinth, subterranean structures sacred to the Nameless Ones. The One Priestess must learn to navigate the Undertomb by touch and memory alone, for no light is ever allowed there, but the Labyrinth has many concealed peepholes throughout the complex.
The labyrinth is the repository of many treasures, the greatest of which is a fragment of the Ring of Ereth-Akbe. A king and wizard of the Inner Lands, Ereth-Akbe had fought the High Priest of the Twin Gods, and the Ring, an “amulet of power”, had been broken in two. Since then, many wizards had tried to steal the half-ring, and all had died in the attempt.
When Arha turns fourteen, she becomes the senior priestess of the Tombs and so the enclave. At fifteen, she assumes a grim responsibility of the One Priestess, to order the death of prisoners sent to the Tombs by the God-King. Supervised by Kossil, Arha orders three killed by starvation. Arha collapses and is unwell for some time after this, and the decision will haunt her.
Thar dies of old age. Soon after, Arha discovers a strange intruder in the Undertomb, searching the sacred place by the light of a glowing staff. Arha stands astonished by the crystal-walled beauty of the place she had never seen, and disturbed by the inaction of the Powers that should have struck down the intruder. Moving quickly, she easily traps the intruder in the Labyrinth. Realising the man to be a wizard, Arha spies on him as he tries, unsuccessfully, to use magic to open the Labyrinth door.
Arha tells Kossil, who recommends that the man be allowed to die of thirst. Arha however is more curious, or crueller, and taunts the man, calling directions through the peepholes until he exhausts himself. She then has Manan chain him in the Painted Room, whose walls are decorated with strange drawings of sad, winged people. There she confiscates a talisman, a half-ring, that the man wears on a silver chain about his neck.
In the days that follow, she learns that the scar-faced Wizard calls himself Sparrowhawk. It is, of course, Ged. He tells her about the Inner Lands and its capital at Havnor, that the Nameless Ones are of the Old Powers of the Earth, and that he seeks a great treasure. Taunting him to demonstrate his magic, he admits that the Old Powers of the Tombs supress his powers, but he does conjure an astonishing illusion, changing her simple black dress to an extravagant princess’ dress of turquoise silk. Realising that Kossil is observing them both, Arha feigns enmity and leaves.
Arha has Manan openly announce to Ged that Ged is to be buried alive in the Undertomb, while in fact leading him to the Treasury, the one room known to Arha but not Kossil, and accessed only along a narrow ledge skirting a pit. The eunuch then digs a false grave in the Undertomb for Kossil’s inspection. Arha informs Ged solemnly that he can never leave the treasury, and that the attempt would surely bring down the wrath of the Old Powers. She leaves, and Ged says, “Take care, Tenar.”
Tenar, as we must now call her, after a night of confusion and nightmares, awakes elated to have her name back. She tells Kossil that the intruder is dead; but she, Tenar, has eaten hungrily at breakfast, and Kossil observes that the Priestess must fast three days after a sacrifice.
The cult of the God-King is in the ascendancy. It becomes clear that Kossil despises Arha, and disdains the Nameless Ones as a spent force. When the two argue, Arha’s curses are impressive, but ineffective, and as Kossil points out, “You are the First Priestess; does that not mean also that you are the last?” On her next visit to Ged, Tenar discovers Kossil digging at the false grave. The Priestess of the God-King has herself brought a light into the Undertomb, careless of retribution from the Nameless Ones. Evading her, Tenar goes to the treasury and tells all to Ged.
Ged has now found the other half of Erreth-Akbe's ring in the treasury. He explains to her how he was given the missing half by an old woman, whose name he never knew, who had lived on an unnamed islet with her brother, and how one day a dragon had told him of its significance. The ring is engraved on its interior with nine runes, symbols of power that invoke good fortune wherever they are written. But, the ninth rune was broken through and forgotten when the ring was broken. This was the Bond-Rune, the sign of peace, without which no king has since been able to rule over and bring peace to the Archipelago. Ged assures Tenar that the Nameless Ones are real and alive, and that he is spending considerable power to elude their awareness. He tells her that she must now either kill him or escape with him. Tenar agrees to escape.
Ged repairs the Ring of Ereth-Akbe, using a “Patterning” that returns it to its unbroken state, “as if it had never been broken”. It is revealed to be an arm-ring for a woman. Tenar puts it on, and the two leave the room together. Manan attacks them at the pit, but frightened by Ged’s burning staff, he tumbles from the ledge to his death.
All around Ged and Tenar, the tombs begin to collapse in on themselves, but Ged holds them up until they leave. Climbing one side of the valley, they look back and down to see the complex being struck by an earthquake, and Tenar realises that Ged had been holding back the terrible power of the Nameless Ones.
Ged casts an illusion charm so they appear as “brother and sister, come from Tenacbah.” The Kargish people prove kind and hospitable to the strangers, and the two strike west to where Ged has secreted his boat, the Lookfar. While awaiting the turn of the tide, as Ged sleeps, Tenar, or perhaps Arha, has the sudden conviction that she must kill Ged, using the small sharp knife that she had once used in the ceremonies at the Tombs. But Ged addresses her as Tenar.
“You’ll leave them behind, Tenar. You’re going free now…”
Ged and Tenar sail to Havnor. On the way, Tenar identifies the old people who had given Ged his half of the Ring; they were Ensar and Anthil, brother and sister of a noble house, exiled by the father of the current God-King. Repentant of the evils she committed as One Priestess, Tenar begs Ged to exile her the same way. Ged refuses. Without her, the Ring could never have been made whole again. He will present her at Havnor, but then take her to Gont, where she can stay with Ged’s old master, the mage Ogion.
Tenar agrees, and they sail into Havnor Great Port, where they are received in triumph.
Themes[]
- Names and naming: The importance of names was established in the first book. Even though the Kargs do not practice magic, the “taking” of Arha’s name and her renaming can be seen to be very cruel acts. The powers in the Tombs are “Nameless”, which makes them inhuman and alien.
- Magic: Just like in the first book, the use of magic depends on knowledge of the Old Tongue, the language of the dragons, in which all things bear their true names. But the ability to use the tongue is a “gift, or a mystery”, never explained.
- The Old Powers: We met creatures like this in A Wizard of Earthsea; the Terennon Stone in Osskil, and in the Shadow that haunted Ged. For now, they seem to always be evil. It is not confirmed until Tales From Earthsea that the Imminent Grove and Roke Knoll are also Old Powers, but not at all evil.
Recommendations[]
There are five other complete books in the Earthsea series:
- A Wizard of Earthsea, 1971
- The Farthest Shore, 1972
- Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea, 1990
- Tales From Earthsea: Short Stories, 2001
- The Other Wind, 2001
- All of these books have been collected into the one volume The Books of Earthsea, which contains four additional short stories and is illustrated by Charles Vess.
Awards[]
A Newbery Honor Book in 1972.