Tehanu
Encyclopedia
Tehanu is the fourth of Ursula K. Le Guin
's Earthsea
books. It won the Nebula Award
for Best Novel
in 1990, and the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
in 1991.
, and Ged
, the hero of the first book, A Wizard of Earthsea
.
Tehanu is set almost immediately after the conclusion of the series' third book, The Farthest Shore
. Tenar, who arrived on Gont some years ago, became known to the locals as Goha, and married a farmer called Flint with whom she had two children, Apple and Spark. Her husband now dead and her children grown up, Tenar lives on her own at Flint's farm Oak Farm, and is lonely and uncertain of her own identity - is she the simple farm woman Goha, or the ex Kargish priestess Tenar. She adopts the child of wandering vagabonds after the child is maimed and abused by her natural father by being pushed into a fire and left for dead. Tenar helps to save the child's life, but the child is left with one side of her face permanently scarred and one hand merely a webbed claw. Tenar gives the child the name Therru (later to become the Tehanu of the title) which means 'flame' in Tenar's native Kargish language.
After some time Tenar learns that the old mage Ogion the Silent is dying and has asked to see her. She sets out to visit Ogion at his house outside the town of Re Albi, taking Therru with her. After helping Ogion in his last weeks, and learning his true name Aihal, she stays on at his cottage, tending to his orchard and goats and pondering her future. She befriends a local witch called Moss and a simple village girl called Heather. Her tranquil existence is dramatically broken by the arrival of Ged (or Sparrowhawk) on the back of the dragon Kalessin. Ged - once the Archmage - has now lost his powers of wizardry after the supreme effort of closing the hole between the worlds of the living and the dead caused by the actions of the evil wizard Cob. Ged is worn out and broken by his efforts, which involved a harrowing journey through the Dry Land of the dead, over the Mountains of Pain to the land of the living. He is certain that he has lost his powers for good, and can no longer be the Archmage. When the new king Lebannen sends envoys to see him and take him back to Roke to resume his duties as Archmage, he does not even have the strength to face them. He accepts Tenar's offer to return to Oak Farm to manage things there in her absence and flees there to take up a life as a goatherd.
After informing the king's men that she does not know of Ged's whereabouts, Tenar joins him at Oak Farm and they begin a relationship, acknowledging that they had always loved each other even if it had been impossible to express it before now. Ged wants nothing more now than to settle down and live an ordinary life, far from the concerns of an Archmage. Together, they care for the girl Therru and successfully protect both her and themselves from an attempt by Therru's uncle Handy to take her back by force. However, although Therru is growing up and becoming more confident, the locals fear her, not only because of her scars but also because they perceive a strange fiery power in her. The order at Oak Farm is then upset when Tenar's son Spark returns home from a life as a sailor and tells her he wishes to run the farm. Under Gontish law Oak Farm belongs to him and Tenar has no claim to it.
Before they have time to work out what will happen, Tenar hears word that Moss is dying and wants to see Tenar. She, Ged and Therru leave immediately for Re Albi. However, the message was a trap set by the wicked and misogynistic
local wizard Aspen. He is a follower of the defeated wizard Cob, who despises Ged and Tenar, and fears Therru. Aspen has laid a curse on Tenar and Ged is powerless to prevent him from capturing them both and holding them prisoner, humiliating them in the process, especially Tenar whom he makes crawl on all fours. However, Therru escapes capture and runs to the cliff behind Ogion's cottage. Here Therru's true identity is revealed to be much more than she seems: she is in fact " a double being, half human, half-dragon. " Using her dragon identity she calls for help from the dragon Kalessin in the dragon language of the 'True Making'. In the meantime Aspen and his followers bring both Tenar and Ged up to the clifftop. Under the influence of Aspen's spell, they are both just about to jump to their deaths off the cliff when the dragon Kalessin arrives and burns and crushes Aspen and his men to heaps of ash and rags. Kalessin calls Therru by her true name Tehanu and asks her if she would like to assume her dragon identity and leave with him, but she decides for now that she will stay with Tenar and Ged. The novel ends with all three of them settling down to a simple life of farming and goat keeping at Ogion's old cottage.
: Archmage of Roke. Called Sparrowhawk.
Erisen : A twisted mage and follower of Cob. Called Aspen.
Kalessin : The eldest dragon.
Tehanu : A burned child, a woman-dragon. Called Therru.
Tenar : Priestess of the Tombs of Atuan, White Lady of Gont. Called Arha and Goha.
Le Guin's exploration in her fiction of gender power issues has grown more overt in the years between the publication of The Farthest Shore
in 1972 and Tehanu in 1990. An example of this can be seen in her book Always Coming Home
. Tehanu revisits the world of Earthsea with this sensibility and explores questions such as why women can't be wizards, why men are seen as superior to women in Earthsea, and what kind of power may be open / natural to woman if they are denied the power of wizardry.
Whilst a central tenet of feminism is gender equality, some readers have nevertheless remarked that the book is, if anything, anti-feminist, because the lead female characters are largely shown as victims and require the recognition and acquiescence of the patriarchy to give them freedom..
, in the contrast between Ged's first teacher Ogion the Silent
, and Ged himself as a young student.
The initial trilogy focuses on the character and quests of Ged, with Tenar introduced as the central character of the second book. Tehanu uses the lens of everyday events and a strong anti-patriarchal viewpoint to not only explore the future of these two characters - and of Earthsea itself - but to reinterpret them. According to Sharada Bhanu, Le Guin sees this reinterpretation as a more balanced view of the world of Earthsea, which is written in the first three books from an implicitly patriarchal (or at least, male) viewpoint.
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
's Earthsea
Earthsea
Earthsea is a fictional realm originally created by Ursula K. Le Guin for her short story "The Word of Unbinding", published in 1964. Earthsea became the setting for a further six books, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The...
books. It won the Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
for Best Novel
Nebula Award for Best Novel
Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year.- Winners and other nominees :...
in 1990, and the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel is one of the awards given by Locus Magazine.-External links:* * *...
in 1991.
Plot summary
Tehanu continues the stories of Tenar, the heroine of the second book of the Earthsea series The Tombs of AtuanThe Tombs of Atuan
The Tombs of Atuan is the second of a series of books written by Ursula K. Le Guin and set in her fantasy archipelago of Earthsea, first published in 1971. Its events take place a few years after those in A Wizard of Earthsea and around two decades before those in The Farthest Shore...
, and Ged
Ged (Earthsea)
Ged , is the true name of a fictional character in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea realm. He is introduced in A Wizard of Earthsea, and plays both main and supporting roles in the subsequent Earthsea novels...
, the hero of the first book, A Wizard of Earthsea
A Wizard of Earthsea
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 wizard named Ged...
.
Tehanu is set almost immediately after the conclusion of the series' third book, The Farthest Shore
The Farthest Shore
The Farthest Shore is the third of a series of books written by Ursula K. Le Guin and set in her fantasy archipelago of Earthsea, first published in 1972. It follows on from The Tombs of Atuan, which itself was a sequel to A Wizard of Earthsea. It is the Earthsea series novel which inspired the...
. Tenar, who arrived on Gont some years ago, became known to the locals as Goha, and married a farmer called Flint with whom she had two children, Apple and Spark. Her husband now dead and her children grown up, Tenar lives on her own at Flint's farm Oak Farm, and is lonely and uncertain of her own identity - is she the simple farm woman Goha, or the ex Kargish priestess Tenar. She adopts the child of wandering vagabonds after the child is maimed and abused by her natural father by being pushed into a fire and left for dead. Tenar helps to save the child's life, but the child is left with one side of her face permanently scarred and one hand merely a webbed claw. Tenar gives the child the name Therru (later to become the Tehanu of the title) which means 'flame' in Tenar's native Kargish language.
After some time Tenar learns that the old mage Ogion the Silent is dying and has asked to see her. She sets out to visit Ogion at his house outside the town of Re Albi, taking Therru with her. After helping Ogion in his last weeks, and learning his true name Aihal, she stays on at his cottage, tending to his orchard and goats and pondering her future. She befriends a local witch called Moss and a simple village girl called Heather. Her tranquil existence is dramatically broken by the arrival of Ged (or Sparrowhawk) on the back of the dragon Kalessin. Ged - once the Archmage - has now lost his powers of wizardry after the supreme effort of closing the hole between the worlds of the living and the dead caused by the actions of the evil wizard Cob. Ged is worn out and broken by his efforts, which involved a harrowing journey through the Dry Land of the dead, over the Mountains of Pain to the land of the living. He is certain that he has lost his powers for good, and can no longer be the Archmage. When the new king Lebannen sends envoys to see him and take him back to Roke to resume his duties as Archmage, he does not even have the strength to face them. He accepts Tenar's offer to return to Oak Farm to manage things there in her absence and flees there to take up a life as a goatherd.
After informing the king's men that she does not know of Ged's whereabouts, Tenar joins him at Oak Farm and they begin a relationship, acknowledging that they had always loved each other even if it had been impossible to express it before now. Ged wants nothing more now than to settle down and live an ordinary life, far from the concerns of an Archmage. Together, they care for the girl Therru and successfully protect both her and themselves from an attempt by Therru's uncle Handy to take her back by force. However, although Therru is growing up and becoming more confident, the locals fear her, not only because of her scars but also because they perceive a strange fiery power in her. The order at Oak Farm is then upset when Tenar's son Spark returns home from a life as a sailor and tells her he wishes to run the farm. Under Gontish law Oak Farm belongs to him and Tenar has no claim to it.
Before they have time to work out what will happen, Tenar hears word that Moss is dying and wants to see Tenar. She, Ged and Therru leave immediately for Re Albi. However, the message was a trap set by the wicked and misogynistic
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
local wizard Aspen. He is a follower of the defeated wizard Cob, who despises Ged and Tenar, and fears Therru. Aspen has laid a curse on Tenar and Ged is powerless to prevent him from capturing them both and holding them prisoner, humiliating them in the process, especially Tenar whom he makes crawl on all fours. However, Therru escapes capture and runs to the cliff behind Ogion's cottage. Here Therru's true identity is revealed to be much more than she seems: she is in fact " a double being, half human, half-dragon. " Using her dragon identity she calls for help from the dragon Kalessin in the dragon language of the 'True Making'. In the meantime Aspen and his followers bring both Tenar and Ged up to the clifftop. Under the influence of Aspen's spell, they are both just about to jump to their deaths off the cliff when the dragon Kalessin arrives and burns and crushes Aspen and his men to heaps of ash and rags. Kalessin calls Therru by her true name Tehanu and asks her if she would like to assume her dragon identity and leave with him, but she decides for now that she will stay with Tenar and Ged. The novel ends with all three of them settling down to a simple life of farming and goat keeping at Ogion's old cottage.
Major characters
GedGed (Earthsea)
Ged , is the true name of a fictional character in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea realm. He is introduced in A Wizard of Earthsea, and plays both main and supporting roles in the subsequent Earthsea novels...
: Archmage of Roke. Called Sparrowhawk.
Erisen : A twisted mage and follower of Cob. Called Aspen.
Kalessin : The eldest dragon.
Tehanu : A burned child, a woman-dragon. Called Therru.
Tenar : Priestess of the Tombs of Atuan, White Lady of Gont. Called Arha and Goha.
Gender issues
Tehanu is written much more from a female perspective than the earlier novels. It is made clear that women's magic is every bit as strong as men's; it is described by the witch Moss as being 'deeper than the roots of trees, deeper than the roots of islands, older than the Making, older than the moon'. Although it is less concerned with authority and dramatic actions than male power, in its own simpler and compassionate way women's magic is just as valuable. The average wizards is portrayed as rather emotionally stunted and somewhat arrogant and detached. For the first time it is made explicit that wizards lead a life of celibacy because they are expected to devote all their energy to their magic. These shortcomings are laid bare in Ged after he has lost his power. He is completely at sea and is described by Moss as having the emotions of a fifteen year old boy. He does not have the courage to face the King's men to tell them the difficult truth that he cannot be mage and flees. He is reliant on Tenar to work out a solution for him, and find somewhere for him to recover his sense of identity. It is only when he acknowledges his feelings for Tenar and enters into a relationship with her that he begins to grow and develop emotionally. Thus although he has lost his male power as an archmage, Ged is able to be reborn by deferring to female power, and so discovering his own feelings and the value of down to earth simplicity. In so doing he reaches a new maturity and depth to his character that he never would have done if he had remained Archmage. The dark wizard Aspen is also a very negative portrayal of a wizard and it is obvious that his loathing of Tenar is based on a hatred and fear of her womanhood.Le Guin's exploration in her fiction of gender power issues has grown more overt in the years between the publication of The Farthest Shore
The Farthest Shore
The Farthest Shore is the third of a series of books written by Ursula K. Le Guin and set in her fantasy archipelago of Earthsea, first published in 1972. It follows on from The Tombs of Atuan, which itself was a sequel to A Wizard of Earthsea. It is the Earthsea series novel which inspired the...
in 1972 and Tehanu in 1990. An example of this can be seen in her book Always Coming Home
Always Coming Home
Always Coming Home is a novel by Ursula K. Le Guin published in 1985. This novel is about a cultural group of humans—the Kesh—who "might be going to have lived a long, long time from now in Northern California." Always Coming Home is a novel by Ursula K. Le Guin published in 1985. This novel is...
. Tehanu revisits the world of Earthsea with this sensibility and explores questions such as why women can't be wizards, why men are seen as superior to women in Earthsea, and what kind of power may be open / natural to woman if they are denied the power of wizardry.
Whilst a central tenet of feminism is gender equality, some readers have nevertheless remarked that the book is, if anything, anti-feminist, because the lead female characters are largely shown as victims and require the recognition and acquiescence of the patriarchy to give them freedom..
Being and Doing
Following the Taoist thread running through the first three books and many of Le Guin's other works, a further theme in Tehanu is Ged's transition from a man of 'doing' and action to a man of generally passive 'being' in harmony with his feelings and with nature. This was foreshadowed in the first book of the trilogy, A Wizard of EarthseaA Wizard of Earthsea
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 wizard named Ged...
, in the contrast between Ged's first teacher Ogion the Silent
Aihal
Aihal is the true name of a fictional character in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea fantasy series. In most of the Earthsea books he goes by the Hardic name Ogion or Ogion the Silent.-Biography:...
, and Ged himself as a young student.
Magic
Magic in general has a much smaller role in Tehanu than in the previous trilogy. The book's text suggests that, to some extent at least, this is prompted by Le Guin's redefinition of the world of Earthsea and the questions she asks about the differences between male and female 'power'. In other words, the reduced emphasis on magic appears to be not just a difference in the kind of narrative Le Guin decided to tell, but in the actual role she felt that magic (as defined in the earlier trilogy) would play in the future of Earthsea.Literary style
The style of the book is noticeably different than the initial Earthsea trilogy. Whereas the initial trilogy was written around classic fantasy tropes such as perilous quests, heroic actions and larger-than-human forces, Tehanu is more a study of social interaction and emotional resonance. The pace is far slower, the mood much darker and more introspective.The initial trilogy focuses on the character and quests of Ged, with Tenar introduced as the central character of the second book. Tehanu uses the lens of everyday events and a strong anti-patriarchal viewpoint to not only explore the future of these two characters - and of Earthsea itself - but to reinterpret them. According to Sharada Bhanu, Le Guin sees this reinterpretation as a more balanced view of the world of Earthsea, which is written in the first three books from an implicitly patriarchal (or at least, male) viewpoint.
External links
- Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea at Worlds Without End