Sadler's Lectures

Ursula K Leguin, Tehanu - Ged No Longer A Mage - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses the science fiction and fantasy author, Ursula K. Leguin's novel, Tehanu, the fourth of six Earthsea books

It focuses specifically on the dragon Kalessin dropping off the archmage Ged, now drained of all his power, on the island of Gont, with Tenar. Ged will struggle to make sense of his identity and his life lacking the magical power that has defined him for nearly his entire life, and will be lost for a good portion of the novel

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Duration:: 19m
Broadcast on:: 09 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

(upbeat music) Welcome to the Sadler Lectures Podcast. Responding to popular demand, I'm converting my philosophy videos into sound files you can listen to anywhere you can take an MP3. If you like what you hear and want to support my work, go to patreon.com/sadler. I hope you enjoy this lecture. Ursula K. Leguin's fourth Earthsea novel to Hanoo is taking place roughly around the same time as her third novel, The Far The Shore, in which the Archmage Ged, also known as Sparrowhawk, was one of the main characters and the young king to be Arin Labanen by his true name, had accompanied Ged and then Ged and Arin had confronted this mage Cobb who had opened a gateway between life and death, one that he couldn't control. And Ged had to use all of his power to pour it out in order to solve the crisis and avert the catastrophe that was going on. At the same time, the events in Tahanu are unfolding and there's about a year lead time from chapter one to chapter two. And then Ged is going to arrive on the back of a dragon as we saw him leaving at the end of The Far The Shore, the great dragon, Colesin, the oldest of all the dragons. And we find that Tenar is reunited with Ged and what we see then is a Ged who no longer is a mage, let alone the Archmage. And this presents a number of problems as we can see later on the book, but especially for Ged and secondarily for Tenar. Ged is saved by Arin or Labanen who carries him over the mountains of pain and back into life. Colesin takes both Arin and Ged to rock and then takes Ged further on to Gaunt and that is where we actually pick up in the chapter after Ojean's death where Tenar is still there and she sees a great thing flying. Straight to Gaunt, it flew straight to the overfell, straight to her. She saw the glitter of rust-black scales and the gleam of the long eye. She saw the red tongue that was a tongue of flame, the stink of burning filled the wind as with a hissing roar of the dragon turning to land on the shelf of rock breathed out a sigh of fire. The dragon looked at the woman who stood there within reach of its sith-blade talons. The woman looked at the dragon. She felt the heat of its body. She'd been told that men must not look into a dragon's eyes but that was nothing to her. It gazed at her straight from yellow eyes under armored cara paces wide set above the narrow nose and flaring, fuming nostrils. And her small saw face and dark eyes gazed straight at it. Neither of them spoke. The dragon turned its head aside a little so she was not destroyed when it did speak or perhaps it laughed a great ha of orange flame. Then it lowered its body into a crouch and spoke but not to her. A vaira ged, it said mildly enough. Tenor saw for the first time, then the man stried its back. In the notch between two of the high sword thorns that rose in a row down its spine, he sat just behind the neck and above the shoulders where the wings had root. His hands were clenched on the rust-dark male of the dragon's neck and his head leaned against the base of the sword thorn as if he were asleep. "Ahi rai rai ged," said the dragon a little louder. The man did not stir. The dragon turned its long head and looked at tenor. Sobriost, it said in a whisper of steel sliding over steel. That word of the language of the making, she knew. Ojian had taught her all she would learn of that tongue. "Go up the dragon," said Mount. When she saw the steps to the Mount, the talon foot, the crooked elbow, the shoulder joint, the first musculature of the wing four steps. She said two, ha, but not in a laugh, only trying to get her breath, which kept sticking in her throat. She climbed, she went forward past the talons in the long, lipless mouth in the long yellow eye and mounted the shoulder. She took the man's arm, he did not move, but surely he was not dead for the dragon and brought him here and spoken to him. "Come on," she said, and then seeing his face as she loosened the clenched grip of his left hand, "Come on, Ged, come on." He raised his head a little, his eyes were open, but unseeing, she had to climb around him, scratching her legs on the hot-mailed hide of the dragon and unclunches right hand from a horny knob at the base of the sword thorn. She got him to take hold of her arms and so could carry, drag him down those four strange stairs to earth. He roused enough to try to hold on to her, but there was no strength in him. So we have a description here of her getting Ged back from the dragon, a Ged who is completely drained and anti-Moss, the witch will come and help her with this as will Heather and Tharu, four women essentially tending as much as Heather can to the returned arc mage. And anti-Moss says something very interesting because anti-Moss is a witch. So she can recognize power in others and she says, "What was he doing on the Overfell Moss?" They ask, "You know him Moss." He was Ojian's I-Halls Prentice once, the witch shook her head. That was the lad from 10 Alder's Dery, the one that's arc mage in Roknow, 10 or not. No Dery, this looks like him, but it isn't him. This man's no mage, not even a sorcerer. But I know him Moss at Sparrowhawk, saying the name Ged's use name released a tenderness in her. So for the first time she thought and felt that this was he indeed in all the years since she had first seen him with her bond, she saw a light like a star in darkness underground long ago in his face in the light. I know him Moss. She smiled and then smiled more broadly. He's the first man I ever saw. Moss smiled and shifted. She did not like to contradict Mistress Goha, but she was perfectly unconvinced. There's tricks, disguises, transformations, changes, better be careful Dery. How did he get where you found him, a way out here? Did any of them see him come through the village? None of you saw? They stared after her, she tried to say the dragon and could not. Moss says, "Tricks, now that our mage is gone, "there'll be all sorts of tricksters coming around." Tenar says, "I came from Atuan to Hovnor, "from Hovnor to Gaunt with Sparrowhawk in an open boat. "You saw him when he brought me here Moss. "He was an archmage then, but he was the same, "the same man. "Are there other scars like those?" And Moss says, "No." But you didn't think I'd know him? Moss said, "There's evil things in the world, Mistress, "a thing that takes a man form and body, "but his soul's gone eating the Geboth." They do say, "Once the mage Sparrowhawk came here long "before you came in, a thing of darkness, "came with him following him, maybe it still does." Tenar says, "The dragon who brought him here "called him by his true name, and I know that name." So there's already a discussion going on about, "Who is this guy? "Is he really dead?" Moss is picked something out, that's essential. He doesn't have power, he's not a mage, he's not a sorcerer. So can he still be the man that Tenar knows him to be? It takes some time, and eventually get his nurse to health. There's actually kind of a funny discussion there. Moss is kind of hoping he's gonna die, perhaps out of drama, perhaps because that means he doesn't have to deal with him. But Tenar nurses him to health. Moss plays a role, and a Theru plays a small role as well, as she gets to know who this person is, and they nurse him in Ogion's house. Then get awakes, and he recognizes that he's in his teacher's house, and he asks about Ogion, and he finds out that Ogion had died shortly before he actually got there. Now the key question is, well, what will Ged do? What is he, what can he make of himself? Moss at one point says something very insightful. She says, he's sort of like a boy of 15 years old, when he entered Roke. And he's been committed to this study of the high arts, and doing all of these great deeds. But he's essentially like a boy. He doesn't know vast parts of the world. For example, he's still a virgin, because the sorcerers and wizards give up that part of their life in order to have their magic. And in this case, all of Ged's power is now gone. Moss says, you can tell that he doesn't have anything left to that. Tenar and Ged have a conversation, where they're asking about what should be done with Ogion's books, the runes and the two lore books. And he says, would you be taking them with you? And she says, with me. He says, well, you were his last student. And she said, I learned to write the runes of Hardik, but I've forgotten most of that, no doubt. He taught me some of the language, the dragon speaks, some of that I remember, but nothing else. I didn't become an adept a wizard. I got married, you know. Would Ogion have left his books of wisdom to a farmer's wife? After a pause, he said with that expression, did he not leave them to somebody then? To you, Shirley. Sparrow Hawk said nothing. You were his last apprentice and his pride and friend. He never said it. But of course they go to you. What am I to do with them? Ged says, you the archmage asked me, why do you make a worse fool of me than I am Ged? He got up then, his voice shook. But don't you, can't you see? All that is over is gone. This is where we have a wonderful explanation. First, however, Tenar is going to say something. How could he not actually know all of these things? Ged says, I have no power. I gave it. I spent it all I had to close so that's it's done with. She tried to deny what he said, but could not. And here we get an explanation. Like pouring out a little water. A cup of water onto the sand. In the dry land, I had to do that. But now I have nothing to drink. And what difference, what difference did it make? Does it make one cup of water in the desert? Is the desert gone? Ah, listen, it used to whisper that to me from behind the door there, listen, listen. And I went into the dry land when I was young and I met it there, I became it. I married my death, it gave me life. Water the water of life. I was a fountain, a spring flowing giving. But the springs don't run there. All I had in the end was one cup of water and I had to pour it out on the sand in the bed of the dry river on the rocks and the dark. So it's gone. It's over, done. She tells him, you don't give yourself time, Ged, coming back from death must be a long journey, even on the dragon's back. It will take time. Time and quiet, silence stillness. You've been hurt, you will be healed. And what we find out, so there's two options here, right? Perhaps he can regain his powers or perhaps he's right and it's all gone. Which is it going to be? We don't know at this point. A little later on, we find out that Tenar says she doesn't believe him, that it's all gone. She wanted to rebel to deny, to say to him, how can it be? How can you say that? As if you'd forgotten, all you know, all you learned from OG&A at Roke and in your traveling. You can't have forgotten the words, the names, the acts of your art. You learned, you earned your power. She kept herself from saying that, but she murmured. I don't understand, how can it all? A cup of water, he said, tipping his glass a little as if to pour it out. And then he says another thing. And this reveals the depth of his confusion. What I don't understand is why he brought me back. The kindness of the young is cruelty. So I'm here, I have to get on with it till I can go back. He's referring to Laban and the young king having taken him out of the realm of death into that of life. And he also could be talking about not understanding why the dragon brought him there. Ged is bewildered. He doesn't know how to make his way in life no longer being a man of power, having poured out all of his power to save the world. This provokes a sort of crisis when we find out that a ship has come from Hovnor with the king and the king's men who are seeking the archmage. Ged wants to hide. He cannot face them, he feels. And we see in this very same chapter, she says, they couldn't harm you Shirley. Ged, why would they want to? He says, no, no, do they know you're here? I don't know. What is it you're afraid of? She asked not impatiently but with some rational authority. He put his hands across his face, rubbing his temples and forehead looking down. I was, he said, I'm not. It was all he could say. She stopped him saying, all right, it's all right. And here we're gonna see some discussion of passions that we'll come back to in a moment. Ged feels he cannot face them. Why? Because he doesn't even know who he is anymore. He's not the archmage. He is the person who accompanied Labanin but he's not the same person anymore. And he decides that he needs to leave. He actually hides out in Antimos' place where nobody would think to look for him a witch hut. And then he decides, I need to go somewhere else. And they have a discussion. He says, I'll call myself something and go across the mountain to arm with and the East Forest Country where I came from. They'll be making, hey, there's always work at hang and harvest. She did not know how to answer fragile and ill-looking. He would be given such work only out of charity or brutality. And if he got it, he wouldn't be able to do it. Then she says, down in the south part of the island, there's a lot of herding sheep goats cattle. They drive them up until the hills before the long dance and pasture them there until the rains. They're always needing herders. And then she says, but why can't you just stay here? And Ged says, well, not in Ojian's house, that's the first place, they'll come. Well, what if they do come? What will they want of you? And Ged says, to be what I was. The desolation of his voice chilled her. She was silent, trying to remember what it was like to have been powerful, to be have been the eaten one, the one priestess of the tombs, Avata one, and then lose that throat away to become only Tenar, only herself. She thought about how it was to have been a woman in the prime of life with children and a man, and then to lose all that becoming old in a widow powerless. But even so, she did not feel she understood his shame, his agony of humiliation. Perhaps only a man could feel so. A man, a woman got used to shame, or perhaps anti-moss was right. And when the meat was out, the shell was empty. There's a discussion that she has with Labanin on the ship later on, when he's saying, "Well, can you find Ged for me?" And she says, "You came to find him, "the Archmage Sparrowhawk Ged." He said, "Looking at her with a faint smile, "you and he and I go by our true names. "You and I, yes, but he only to you and to me." He nodded, "He's in danger from envious men, "men of ill will, and he has no defense. "Now you know that." Labanin says, "He told me that his powers of age "was gone, spent in the act that saved me and all of us, "but it was hard to believe I wanted not to believe him. "I too," Tener says, "but it is so, "and so he wants to be alone until his hurts are healed." Labanin says, "We died together in the dry land, "together we crossed the mountains there. "You can come back across the mountain, there is a way. "He knew it, but the name of the mountains is pain. "The stones cut and the cuts are long to heal." And he says, "Why does he hide from me, "the young man cried in grief, then quietly? "I hoped indeed to see him, "but if he doesn't wish it, that's the end of it, "of course." And then she says, "Surely he'll come to you, "only give him time." He was so badly hurt, everything was taken from him, but when he spoke of you, when he said your name, then I saw him for a moment as he was, as he will be, again, all pride. Pride, Labanin repeated as if startled. Yes, of course pride, who should be proud if not he? I always thought of him as he was so patient, Labanin said, and then laughed at the inadequacy of his description. And here's what Tanner says about him. "Now he has no patience, "and is hard on himself beyond all reason. "There is nothing we can do for him, I think, "except let him go his own way, "and find himself at the end of his tether, as they say, "at God." And what we see here is that there's great insight into the character of Ged. Pride, yes, and patience. And he doesn't have either of those because he lacks the power that he came to view as a part of himself. Now he has to determine who he is. What does he feel? What drives him? I mentioned that a passion is particularly important. So, Tanner, when she's asking him, "What are you afraid of?" and says, "It's all right." She dared not touch him, lest she worsen his humiliation by any semblance of pity. She does feel pity, compassion for him, but she can't show it because that will create greater humiliation, the opposite of pride, right? She also feels anger. And it says here, she was angry at him and for him. It's none of their business. She said, "Where you are or who you are, "what you choose to do or not to do." If they come prying, they can leave, curious. And what does Ged himself feel? Fear. We see this talked about over and over again. Confusion, he's lost his sense of who he truly is. Humiliation. Ged is going to have to work out for himself what the rest of his life looks like, having spent his entire life, except when he was a young child, as a mage, as a person of power, as somebody who could do things. Now he finds himself without capacity. And so the question is, how will he learn what he is and who he is? Special thanks to all of my Patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. You can find me on Twitter at philosopher70 on YouTube at the Gregory B. Sadler channel and on Facebook on the Gregory B. Sadler page. Once again, to support my work, go to patreon.com/sadler. Above all, keep studying these great philosophical works. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] (upbeat music) (gentle music)