You Keep Pushing

In case I haven't worn you all out nattering about Earthsea yet, here's some more. On Friday when I finished the Cycle I went online, as one does, and discovered that last year there was published a graphic novel edition of A Wizard of Earthsea, the first book in the series. So naturally this weekend I had to run out and buy it and read it all at once. The art was done by Fred Fordham and the project was overseen by Le Guin's son, Theo (she having passed away in 2018). 

Theo, like Le Guin herself, was trepidatious about any visual representation of Earthsea, after decades of white character designs; white, middle-aged actors; and general tom-fuckery when it comes to representing Le Guin's work. It wasn't until Theo saw Fordham's work in To Kill a Mockingbird that he first considered it might be worthwhile to consider a graphic novel adaptation of his mother's work, and so here we are.

Fordham appears to have been the right man for the job--this graphic novel edition of A Wizard of Earthsea captures the characters as Le Guin may have envisioned them when she wrote. Theo in his forward acknowledges that one of the beautiful things about how the characters are described in Le Guin's work--enough to give an idea of their appearance, but also vague enough that readers can all use their own imaginations to some degree--becomes limited when creating an "official" visual representation of those characters. So he considers Fordham's designs just one of many possible looks for these characters, but one that cleaves to his mother's original descriptions. 

His expressions neatly capture the shift in Ged's attitude over his schooling at Roke, from the proud, angry boy who first arrives to the sobered, haunted young man who departs.

Nearly all of the wording in the book is lifted directly from the original novel, which means Le Guin's original hard-hitting dialogue and beautiful descriptions of Earthsea survive to accompany Fordham's gorgeous scenic illustrations. He really captures the moody atmosphere of some of the book's darker moments, while also creating some truly stunning vistas of the ocean, which of course is a considerable part of the world for the characters of Earthsea (who live in an archipelago). I particularly enjoyed some of the rainy scenes--felt just like home here in the PNW!

He also does a great job making Ged and the Lookfar feel small on some of Ged's journeys. Looking at it some of these full-page spreads, you really feel that Ged is just one young wizard on his own in a vast and unknowable world. 

If I had any issues, it's only that some of the palettes run quite dark, so that a few panels can be almost impossible to distinguish unless you're looking at the book directly under a light source, and that there is some occasional visual awkwardness (not sure how to describe this--maybe Fordham used a 3D rendering tool and it shows?)

Overall, I was delighted with this, and I really hope Fordham and Theo press on to do Tombs of Atuan as well--I would love to see Tenar and Atuan rendered as well!

That's a wrap, folks! Today I concluded the entirety of the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula Le Guin for the first time. The final book in this series is The Other Wind, but the collected volume I have also includes after that a few short stories by Le Guin set in the Earthsea universe as well as a lecture she gave at Oxford on gender and the Western archtype of a hero. Seemed best to lump these all together for this review.

I was emotional about this book from the start, and I can only imagine it was moreso for those who had been familiar with Ged and Tenar for decades before this book was published. The Earthsea Cycle begins with A Wizard of Earthsea in Ged's childhood, before he's even discovered his propensity for magic, and here at the start of The Other Wind, he is a man in his seventies, puttering about his old master's house and waiting for his wife and daughter to come home. We've gotten to see Ged throughout his life--as a child, apprentice, wizard, archmage, goatherd (take 2), old man--and this continuity and journey really got to me.

At the end of the previous novel, Tehanu, the mantle of hero is passed on narratively from Ged and Tenar to their adopted daughter, Tehanu, but it's here in The Other Wind that Tehanu really comes into herself. Given Tehanu's past trauma, the way she clings to Tenar and Ged makes sense, so it was very rewarding to see her grow into herself here and eventually claim the power she was told by the dragon Kalessin she possesses at the end of Tehanu. 

As with Tehanu and Tales of Earthsea, women play a much more central role in The Other Wind. Our noble king, Lebannen, who came into his own in the third book of the original trilogy, is really blown hither-and-thither by the women of the book, who are the real plot-movers. Tehanu, the youthful rising power; Tenar, the wizened heroine; Irian, the free woman who's embraced the power Tehanu shares; Seserakh, the foreign princess who brings Kargish knowledge of dragons; these are the real players of the game. The kings and wizards who follow in their wake exist to help them carry out the plot. 

As with all the Earthsea books, Le Guin focuses her fantasy without centering violence. The great plot of The Other Wind essentially boils down to righting an ancient wrong, and it is resolved through shared knowledge and cooperation. On the whole, the book feels quite positive and we leave Earthsea for this final time on a sweet and hopeful note.

The conclusion itself feels perfect: Ged and Tenar on Gont, talking of nothing, in the end. Who else but Le Guin would have concluded her epic fantasy series with her male hero explaining how he'd kept up the house in his wife's absence? The pair go for a walk in the woods, and that's where the overarching plot of Earthsea ends, beautiful in its simplicity. 

If I had a complaint about Le Guin's writing, it's that she sometimes stows key elements of the plot in opaque dialogue between characters, which comes up a little here, but not as much as in Tehanu.

After The Other Wind come a few short stories by Le Guin set in the world of Earthsea. These are fun little tales, none longer than fifteen pages, which have nothing to do with any of the characters we know, until the final one. If you like the worldbuilding of Earthsea, these will be a great addition. The final one, for reasons I won't spoil, had me getting choked up even though I suspect from the opening paragraphs what was happening. 

I had such fun exploring Earthsea and while I wish I had gotten into them when I was younger (because I know how much I would have enjoyed them as a teen!) I'm still glad to have found them now (and I can just envision the daydreams I would have spun about my own female mage OC if I had known about these books then...) I know I'll revisit Earthsea and the adventures of its heroes again, although I'll stick to the paper versions--I've heard nothing good about any of the attempted screen adaptations! It truly feels like this has been a journey, and what an enjoyable one its been.