Ged was the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, but once
he was called Sparrowhawk, a reckless youth, hungry for power and knowledge,
who tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the
world. This is the tale of his testing,
how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed
death’s threshold to restore the balance.
(Book cover)
This is exactly the
kind of book that I love to read, and dream I could write – intelligent, deep,
thought-provoking, and with magic and dragons in it! I have loved Ursula K. Le Guin for a long
time, but it had been especially difficult for me to find a complete set of her
Earthsea books. At last, on a
serendipitous foray into an obscure corner of my small world (Cubao J), I came upon a second-hand-books store that had
it! Joyous day it was indeed! I tried not to get too excited, so I let the
books settle for a while in my bookshelf, let them get used to the atmosphere
of my room, but constantly I knew they were there, waiting for me. The
Earthsea series has spawned a radio dramatization, a television series, and
even an anime film from the famed Studio Ghibli.
So Ged learns from a
very young age that unlike the other kids, he’s special, gifted – he can do
magic! His beginnings weren’t so bad, he
was a naturally curious child who liked to explore and learn more and more about
his world and about what he can do in it.
He even ends up helping to save his village from savage invaders,
risking his life in the process. Good
thing someone comes along to take him in hand, his teacher, Ogion. The benevolent and quiet old man believed the
boy to be incredibly powerful and sees in him unlimited potential, but Ged is
impatient and impulsive. He thinks the
teacher isn’t actually teaching him anything.
So he does something that will have terrible consequences later – in
secret he reads a dangerous book and summons up an unexplained darkness that no
one will be powerful enough to confront, except Ged himself. Ogion then does the only thing he could do at
that point – he sends the rough-hewn Ged to wizard school, that he may learn
what he needs to become a powerful wizard.
Everyone at school
acknowledges Ged’s undeniable giftedness.
But there he meets Jasper, older, more learned and just as confident in
his skills as Ged was in his; they quickly rub each other the wrong way. And though Ged makes good friends in Vetch
and in the other aspiring wizards, he carries a constant grudge toward Jasper. Then comes the fateful day when, issuing a
challenge against Jasper, he ends up releasing the Shadow into the world. In a desperate attempt to save Ged’s life,
the Archmage sacrifices his, and Ged is left to hover at the border of life and
death. Thus begins his true development
into the wizard he was destined to be, and his journey all over Earthsea in a quest
to defeat the unnamed evil no one else but he could possibly face.
I loved every single
word of this book. Reading it, you can
clearly see that the author has a profound understanding of what it means to be
human – imperfect. I love the fact that
Ged started off just like any other kid who knows that he’s got something that
other kids don’t. He was cocky,
boastful, arrogant, and with a little mean streak that helped him dominate all
the other kids. But of course, the world
knows exactly how to teach kids like this the lesson that they need. Ged learns humility the hard way. In many ways he reminds me strongly of
Beowulf (Yes, hero of the earliest known epic in the English language. Read that, too!). The point is that Ged learns from his
terrible experiences, acknowledges his faults, and works hard to try to remedy
the situation himself. He doesn’t just
give up and hide in a corner somewhere, asking other people to protect
him. In the process, he discovers just
who his real friends are, and what it means to be only a small part of the
great balance of the world, and that having power doesn’t mean having control
and dominion over what or who seems powerless.
I can’t wait to read
the rest of the series! I sincerely hope
that whoever you are, wherever you are in the world, you may also find
something that gives you such pleasure and joy as well-told stories like the
Earthsea Saga does for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment