A_Wizard_of_Earthsea

{{infobox Book | 
| name = A Wizard of Earthsea
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = [[Image:AWizardOfEarthsea(1stEd).jpg|200px]]
| image_caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
| author = [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]
| illustrator = Ruth Robbins
| cover_artist =
| country = [[United States]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series = [[Earthsea|The Earthsea Cycle]]
| genre = [[Fantasy novel]]
| publisher = [[Parnassus Press]]
| release_date = 1968
| english_release_date =
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover]] & [[Paperback]])
| pages =
| isbn = NA 
| preceded_by = [[The Rule of Names]]
| followed_by = [[The Tombs of Atuan]]
}}
'''''A Wizard of Earthsea''''', first published in [[1968]], is the first of a series of books written by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] and set in the [[fantasy]] world [[archipelago]] of [[Earthsea]] depicting the adventures of a budding young [[Magician (fantasy)|wizard]] named Ged. The tale of Ged's growth and development as he travels across Earthsea continues in ''[[The Tombs of Atuan]]'' and ''[[The Farthest Shore]]'' and is supplemented in ''[[Tehanu]]'' and ''[[The Other Wind]]''. The series has won numerous literary awards, including the 1990 Nebula for ''[[Tehanu]]'', the 1972 Newbery Silver Medal Award ''[[The Tombs of Atuan]]'', 1972 National Book Award for Children's Books ''[[The Farthest Shore]]'', and 1979 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for A Wizard of Earthsea.

Two of the 10 chapters focus on events which happen to the [[protagonist]] at a [[boarding school]] for fledgling [[Magician (fantasy)|wizard]]s, a concept not unlike that of [[Hogwarts | Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]] later popularized by [[J. K. Rowling]] in the [[Harry Potter]] series of novels in 1997.

An original mini-series based very loosely on ''A Wizard of Earthsea'' and ''The Tombs of Atuan'' was broadcast on the [[Sci Fi Channel (United States)|Sci Fi Channel]]. Le Guin has stated that she was not pleased with the result.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2111107/ |title=A Whitewashed Earthsea - How the Sci Fi Channel wrecked my books. |last=Le Guin |first=Ursula |publisher=slate.com |date=[[December 16]], [[2004]] |accessdate=2007-08-16}}</ref>

==Plot summary==
Duny is a young boy from Gont, one of the larger islands which dot Earthsea. His mother being dead, his father a dour, taciturn [[bronze]]-smith, and his much older siblings having already left home, he grows up alone, headstrong and wild. The boy discovers he has a strong innate affinity for [[magic (paranormal)|magic]]. His aunt, the village [[witch]], teaches him the little she herself knows, but his power far exceeds hers.

One day, he uses his natural talent and a fog-gathering spell he learned from a passing weatherworker to save his village from a raiding party of barbaric [[Karg]]s bent on looting and killing. The tale of his remarkable feat spreads far and wide, finally reaching the ear of a wise Gontish mage, [[Aihal|Ogion]] the Silent. He recognizes that the boy is so powerful he must be trained so as not to become a danger to himself and others. In the rite of passage which leads to adulthood, he gives the boy his "[[true name]]", [[Ged (Earthsea)|Ged]], and takes him as an apprentice. (One's true name is revealed only to those who are trusted implicitly, since it can be used to control that person. Normally, someone is referred to by one's "use name"; Ged's is Sparrowhawk.)

[[Image:Wizard earthsea.JPG|thumb|left|150px|1971 Puffin edition. 201 pages]]

The undisciplined young man grows restless under the gentle, patient tutelage of his master. Ogion finally gives him a choice: stay with him or go to the renowned [[school]] for [[wizard |wizards]], on the [[island]] of [[Islands of Earthsea|Roke]]. Though he has grown to love the old man, the youngster is drawn irresistibly to a life of doing, rather than being.

At the school, Sparrowhawk masters his craft with amazing ease, but his pride and arrogance grow even faster than his skill and, in his [[hubris]], he attempts to conjure a dead spirit - a dangerous spell which goes awry. He inadvertently summons a [[spirit]] of darkness which attacks and scars him. The being is driven off by the Archmage, the head of the school, but in doing so, he exhausts all his power and dies soon afterwards.

Sparrowhawk is racked with guilt at causing the old man's death, but after a painful and slow recovery, he graduates. Normally, Roke's wizards are sought after by princes and rich merchants, but the new Archmage sends Sparrowhawk, with his willing acquiescence, to a poor island group, to protect the inhabitants from a powerful [[western dragon|dragon]]. After waiting fearfully for the spirit he released to return and try to possess him, he realizes he cannot both protect himself from the spirit and his charges from the dragon at the same time.

He takes a desperate risk; in the old histories, he has found the true name of a dragon which might be the one he must confront. His gamble succeeds and he forces the dragon to bind itself with oaths to never trouble the islanders. Freed from one responsibility, Sparrowhawk resolves to track down his other foe and destroy or banish it.

Sparrowhawk is pursued by his nemesis, being forced to flee each time it finds him. Eventually, he instinctively returns to Ogion, who advises him to overcome his fear and turn and hunt his shadow. Ultimately, he finds the means to defeat it. Though some of his teachers had thought it to be nameless, Sparrowhawk masters his enemy by speaking its true name. In doing so, he reconciles himself with his shadow.

==Inspiration==
Le Guin has said that the book was in part a response to the image of wizards as ancient and wise, and to her wondering where they come from.

==References==
<references/>

== External links ==
* [http://www.ursulakleguin.com/ Ursula K. Le Guin's official website]
* [http://www.ursulakleguin.com/TalesEarthsea_Excerpt.html An excerpt of ''Tales from Earthsea'']
* {{isfdb series | id=Earthsea_Cycle | title=Earthsea}}

<div style="font-size:90%;">
{| border=1 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 align=center
|---- bgcolor="#cccccc"
!width="40%"|Preceded by:
!width="20%"|Series:<br />
!width="40%"|Followed by:
|----- align="center"
|[[The Rule of Names]]
|[[Earthsea]]
|[[The Tombs of Atuan]]
|}
</div>

{{Ursula K. Le Guin}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wizard of Earthsea, A}}
[[Category:1968 novels]]
[[Category:Fantasy novels]]
[[Category:Earthsea novels]]

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[[cs:Čaroděj Zeměmoří]]
[[de:Erdsee]]
[[es:Un mago de Terramar]]
[[he:הקוסם מארץ ים]]
[[pl:Czarnoksiężnik z Archipelagu]]
[[ro:Un vr%C4%83jitor din Terramare]]
[[ru:Волшебник Земноморья]]
[[sv:Trollkarlen från Övärlden]]
[[zh:地海巫師]]