Ged makes the Ring whole again using a strong Patterning magic and gives the restored arm ring to Tenar. They collect a bag, flask, and cloak when Ged wishes he had his staff. Tenar had it outside the room, intending to return it to Ged. They leave the Treasury and reach the pit. They edge across the ledge, but its stones are loose. Ged lights the area to repair it when Manan looms out of the darkness on the other side. He tries to shove Ged into the pit, but Ged blinds him with light while striking him. Manan falls into the pit without a sound.

Le Guin, not yet a feminist by her own words (see paragraph eleven) at this point in time, used a children’s fantasy novel to lay out a deeply feminist understanding of power. First, by implicating the relationship between gender and power through Arha’s struggles with Kossil and with her forced role as First Priestess. Second, by implicating further the disempowerment of Kossil. Third, by implicating the Godking’s own falsified establishment of power over not only Kossil (and Arha), but over an entire nation. The fragility of the Godkings’ masculinity abided neither wizards nor words, for both have power, both can see through the illusion of ideology. Like A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan is a bildungsroman that explores Tenar's growth and identity. Tenar's coming-of-age is closely tied to her exploration of faith and her belief in the Nameless Ones. The Tombs of Atuan explores themes of gender and power in the setting of a cult of female priests in service to a patriarchal society, while providing an anthropological view of Kargish culture. Tenar, who became the subject of Le Guin's fourth Earthsea novel, Tehanu, has been described as a more revolutionary protagonist than Ged, or Arren, the protagonist of The Farthest Shore (1972), the third Earthsea volume. Whereas the two men grow into socially approved roles, Tenar rebels and struggles against the confines of her social role. The Tombs of Atuan shares elements of the story of a heroic quest with other Earthsea novels, but subverts some of the tropes common to the genre of fantasy at the time, such as by choosing a female protagonist, and a dark-skinned leading character. [5] The Tombs of Atuan is a 1971 science fiction novel by the legendary American author Ursula K. Le Guin. First published in a 1970 issue of the periodical Worlds of Fantasy, The Tombs of Atuan is the second installment of Le Guin’s Earthsea series. The book follows the characters Ged and Tenar—the former a would-be thief who becomes trapped in the titular tombs after attempting to steal a valuable talisman, and the latter a child being groomed as a high priestess who falls under the sway of Ged’s unorthodox, rebellious ways. One winter night, Arha descends into the Labyrinth and notices a faint gray light in the Undertomb. Light was never permitted, so she sees the beautiful natural cavern of limestone sparkling with crystal, diamond, and amethyst for the first time. A dark-skinned man carries a staff glowing with magic light searching the Undertomb. At first, Arha cannot even conceive that it is a stranger, a thief violating the sacred Undertomb where no man was permitted. She wonders why the Nameless Ones don't eat this man like the prisoners buried shallowly in the Undertomb, until she realizes they mean her to take action. She shouts, "Go! Go! Begone!" startling the man. He momentarily glimpses Arha, puts out the light, and flees into the darkness. Eventually, Arha traps the intruder in the greater Labyrinth slamming the Iron Door behind him.Le Guin let down a lot of folks when she couldn’t imagine a girl-wizard becoming a powerful wizardess in her first Earthsea novel. She then made the rather startling decision to write a sequel in which Ged appears only halfway through and in which he is not, in fact, the protagonist. True, Tombs ’s Arha is not a wizard and even lives in a land where wizards are barely more than a legend, but Arha is a priestess, the High Priestess of the Tombs, born into her office as First Priestess, raised believing in her continued rebirth since time began, and brought into service of the Nameless Ones who dwell below the Tombs of Atuan, who in her and the Kargs’ beliefs have dwelt so since the beginning of time. Arha, in short, is powerful beyond measure. At least in word.

Like A Wizard of Earthsea before it, Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan was meant for kids. Now we call it a YA novel, though recent marketing schemes for the Earthsea series seem to be aiming more for the 8-11 year old crowd (I cannot stand my books’ covers!). Of course, the novels weren’t written solely for children but for anyone, even if they happen to be quite marketable as children’s fiction. But Le Guin certainly did right by her publishers’ intended audience when she chose the setting, an underground tomb and labyrinth complex both frightening and exhilarating, an extension of Earthsea all the more exciting because it is so unspeakably mundane and exotic at once: the darkness. And, what’s more, it’s about those who dwell in the darkness, the Nameless Ones, embodiments of the great Powers we imagine and fear are there. True, we’ve no proof, but we have heard stories and would rather not chance it—so we run, we shut the door tight, we turn the lights on, we pull the covers over our heads. Kids are primed to experience the Tombs. Now 15, Arha reflects on her life as the full Priestess of the Tombs of Atuan. Though she receives respect from others, her daily chores and religious duties remain unchanged. She fears this monotony will persist from age 6 to 15 until the end of her days. Arha confides her concerns to Manan, who surprises her with actual answers. He recounts how noble quarrels were once resolved by seeking counsel from the Nameless Ones through the Priestess of the Tombs. However, since the Godking conquered the 4 lands of the Kargad Empire, he has taken on the role of settling disputes. Each successive Godking's worship waned. Now, the only remaining ritual is the sacrifice of prisoners to the Tombs. List of Newberry award winners". Association for Library Service for Children . Retrieved November 17, 2014. The Tombs of Atuan / ˈ æ t uː ɑː n/ [4] is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the Winter 1970 issue of Worlds of Fantasy, and published as a book by Atheneum Books in 1971. It is the second book in the Earthsea series after A Wizard of Earthsea (1969). The Tombs of Atuan was a Newbery Honor Book in 1972.What she had begun to learn was the weight of liberty. Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it. Arha, now feeling a sense of rebirth, embraces her name Tenar. In the Big House dining hall she tells Kossil, "I have done away with the robber.... What a fine day it is!" Kossil reminds her that the Priestess must fast for 3 days after a human sacrifice, but Arha had clearly forgotten. Arha fumbles, saying that he's been buried alive. The questions and answers escalate to threats until Arha curses Kossil. Arha shouts, "May the Dark Ones eat your soul, Kossil!" and Kossil visibly staggers before entering the Temple of the Godking. Like A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan is a bildungsroman that explores Tenar's growth and identity. Tenar's coming-of-age is closely tied to her exploration of faith and her belief in the Nameless Ones. The Tombs of Atuan explores themes of gender and power in the setting of a cult of female priests in service to a patriarch Though the structure of the Earthsea novels is in many ways typical of fantasy, it has been described as subverting the tropes of this genre. The protagonists of her stories, with the exception of Tenar, were all dark-skinned, in comparison to the white-skinned heroes more traditionally used. [60] [61] [5] The Tombs of Atuan examines the development of a young girl in great detail, a choice unusual for a fantasy writer of the period in which the book was written. [5] Besides featuring a female protagonist, I also noticed a detail I overlooked in the first book: Sparrowhawk is described as being dark skinned. We rarely get fantasy books with non-white protagonists to this day, and a female protagonist was very rare at the time this book was written, so it’s amazing to me how far ahead of its time this series was.

Earthsea is an archipelago, or group of islands. In the fictional history of this world, the islands were raised from the ocean by Segoy, an ancient deity or hero. The world is inhabited by both humans and dragons, and several among the humans are sorcerers or wizards. [20] Influenced strongly by Le Guin's interest in Taoism, the world is shown as being based on a delicate balance, which most of its inhabitants are aware of, but which is disrupted by somebody in each of the original trilogy of novels. [21] [22] Magic in the societies of Earthsea is depicted as a force for both good and evil. [21] The setting of Earthsea is preindustrial, and has many cultures within the widespread archipelago. Most of the characters of the story are of the Hardic peoples, who are dark-skinned, and who populate most of the islands. [5] The internal universe of Earthsea has not remained constant across Le Guin's various works set in it, but has been continually adjusted and revised. [23] The Earthsea Cycle is narrated by several esteemed voice actors, including actor Rob Inglis (who also lends his voice to the Lord of the Rings audiobooks), critically acclaimed British actress Jenny Sterlin, and English television and film star Samuel Roukin. To take Le Guin’s genius—please permit me this one, unironic usage—further, Tombs suggests another type of power, that of the bond. After all, in the story of Sparrowhawk’s life, the Tomb of Atuan is the setting of his great adventure to reunite the broken halves of the lost Ring of Erreth-Akbe and the novel itself ends with the ring being held aloft by Tenar as Lookfar glides into the harbors of Havnor to triumphant cheers. It is a Tolkienian scene, perhaps the only one in all of the Earthsea novels, but the ring is important. (Sadly, Le Guin does not explain how this vision of power-sharing fits with the very idea of kings and princes, still very much active in her pseudo-medieval fantasy world, but genius isn’t all-encompassing.) Whether or not Erreth-Akbe’s ring is a ring of power in the sense of Tolkien’s rings, it symbolizes (and supposedly aids) the ability of leaders to bind together the people of Earthsea not under the autocratic submission of tyrants and princes, but in peace. The ring of Erreth-Akbe is sought once lost because the broken rune, the Bond-Rune, was lost. Tenar and Ged reunite the runes through an act of solidarity and trust. Ged survives the Labyrinth because he trusts Tenar; she escapes the Tombs and her ideological enthrallment because she trusts Ged. The book is based around a girl named Tenar, renamed Arha, who is placed in the tombs of Atuan as the high priestess for the " Nameless Ones". Set in the fictional world of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan follows the story of Tenar, a young girl born in the Kargish empire, who is taken while still a child to be the high priestess to the "Nameless Ones" at the Tombs of Atuan. Her existence at the Tombs is a lonely one, deepened by the isolation of being the highest ranking priestess. Her world is disrupted by the arrival of Ged, the protagonist of A Wizard of Earthsea, who seeks to steal the half of a talisman buried in the treasury of the Tombs. Tenar traps him in the labyrinth under the Tombs, but then rebels against her teaching and keeps him alive. Through him she learns more of the outside world, and begins to question her faith in the Nameless Ones and her place at the Tombs.I read this and A Wizard of Earthsea after watching the TV adaption. As I stated in my review of the previous book, I was not expecting such a well written and engaging book as this one is. The notion of faith and deep belief is a large part of the novel, and is related to the book's other theme of identity. Throughout the story there is a tension between faith in the Nameless Ones and their power, and human curiosity and the tendency to question. [38] The importance of tradition and belief in Kargish culture is emphasized when Tenar is taken from her family, and chosen to be the high priestess of the Tombs. However, Tenar's mother unsuccessfully tries to dupe the priestesses into believing the child has a skin disease. Commentators state that this episode suggests certain universal impulses can lead to resistance against "cultural imperatives"; Tenar's mother is willing to bend the rules to keep her child. [17] Unlike the rest of Earthsea, which relies on the "Old Speech" for its magic and rituals, the Kargish lands use their own tongue, and rituals are conducted with meaningless babble; thus from the moment the chanting of the priestesses is described, Le Guin suggests that the Kargish faith is one of meaningless words and ritual. [24] The Kargish deities are revered as the "Nameless Ones"; thus Ged's statement to Arha that all things have names also works to undermine her faith. [24] Arha spends the day lost in thought at the lowest step of the Empty Throne. She cannot enter the Labyrinth or go among the other priestesses now. She asks herself "Who am I?" and gets no answer. Manan enters and warns about Kossil's revenge. He suggests killing Sparrowhawk to take the lies and turn them into truth. Arha replies that Kossil can't hurt her and at worst Arha would be reborn. Manan counters that Kossil could imprison Arha in the Labyrinth for years and the Nameless Ones would not forgive her sacrilege. Arha dismisses his concerns and tells him to go to sleep affectionately. One he leaves, she enters the Labyrinth one last time.