Tehanu

Tehanu is the fourth book in the Earthsea Cycle, a fantasy series set in an archipelago world where wizards wield power through the Old Speech, the Language of the Making, which is also the native tongue of dragons. The story follows Tenar, who first appeared in the second book as a young priestess of the Tombs of Atuan in the Kargad Lands, an eastern archipelago. There she was rescued by the wizard Ged and brought to the island of Gont. In the years since, she married a farmer named Flint, raised two children, and lived as a common farmwife under the use-name Goha.

After Flint's death, Tenar lives alone at Oak Farm in Middle Valley on Gont. Her friend Lark brings urgent word that vagrants camped by the river have abandoned a girl of about six or seven who has been beaten unconscious and pushed into a fire, the right side of her face, head, and hand charred to the bone. The village witch has applied ointments, but the injuries are beyond healing. Tenar takes the child in, speaking to her in Kargish: "I served them and I left them. I will not let them have you" (6).

More than a year later, word comes that Ogion, the Mage of Re Albi and Tenar's old guardian, is dying. Tenar sets out with the child, whom she has named Therru, a Kargish word meaning "burning." On the road they encounter four threatening men; Tenar bluffs past them by raising her stick like a wizard's staff and invoking Ogion's name. One man, called Handy, stares after them. They reach Ogion's house on the Overfell, the cliff-top ledge above Gont Port. The dying mage speaks urgently of the Archmage Ged, also known as Sparrowhawk: "Lost. He's lost" (23). Of Therru he says, "They will fear her" (25), and charges Tenar: "Teach her all!—Not Roke" (26), meaning she must not send the child to the wizard's school on Roke Island, where only men are trained. The next day Ogion dies beneath a beech tree at the forest's edge. With the help of Aunty Moss, the village witch, Tenar ensures his burial follows his wishes, over the objections of two arriving wizards, one of whom, Aspen, serves the local lord's manor.

Tenar settles into Ogion's house with Therru. One day she sees a dragon, enormous and iron-dark with scarlet wings, land on the cliff. It speaks its name in the Old Speech: "Thesse Kalessin" (48). On its back is Ged, unconscious and barely alive. Tenar drags him down and, with help, gets him inside. Moss, nursing Ged, declares he is "no mage. Not even a sorcerer" (52). Through weeks of recovery, Ged confirms his power is gone, spent entirely closing the passage to the Dry Land, the realm of the dead, an act that saved King Lebannen and all of Earthsea. Shame and misery possess him.

During this period, Tenar and Moss discuss the nature of power. Moss explains that a woman's power runs deep, "deeper than the roots of trees, deeper than the roots of islands" (64), and that wizards maintain their magic through celibacy. Tenar reflects on a life shaped by others' authority and wonders what her own power truly is.

Five men arrive from Havnor, sent by King Lebannen to find the Archmage and invite him to the coronation. Tenar will not reveal Ged's location. Terrified of facing anyone who expects him to wield power, Ged flees to Oak Farm on Tenar's instructions. Meanwhile, Tenar learns that Handy, one of Therru's original abusers, has been hired at the manor house and has come to Ogion's house, terrifying Therru. On the road Tenar encounters Aspen, who threatens her viciously and raises his staff to curse her; two of the king's envoys intervene. Aspen's hatred of women with any claim to authority is now open.

A stronger curse follows. Tenar's ability to speak Hardic, the common language of the archipelago, and the Old Speech is stripped away; she can think only in Kargish. She packs Ogion's Lore-books, takes Therru, and flees toward Gont Port, where Handy pursues them through the streets. Tenar runs to the king's ship, and Lebannen himself helps them aboard. On the vessel, called the Dolphin, Tenar meets the Master Windkey, one of the governing Masters of the wizard school on Roke, who explains that the Masters failed to choose a new archmage. Another governing Master, the Patterner, a man from the Kargad Lands, spoke in vision and said only: "A woman on Gont" (176). The Windkey assumes this woman will guide them to an archmage. Tenar asks Lebannen privately whether the Masters might need this woman not as a guide but for her own sake. The ship carries Tenar and Therru south to Valmouth, where her daughter Apple lives.

Tenar returns to Oak Farm, where her tenant Clearbrook has sent the man called Hawk (Ged's assumed name) to herd goats in the high pastures. She settles back into farm life, teaching Therru the great songs and stories of Earthsea as Ogion charged. The sorcerer Beech, from Valmouth, suggests Therru might be trained as a witch, but the village witch Ivy refuses: "I'd be afraid to. Of her! What is she?" (202). Ivy warns Tenar to beware the day the child finds her strength. Deep into autumn, three men break into the house at night: Handy, Hake (another of Therru's original abusers), and a third called Shag. Tenar grabs a butcher knife and flings open the door. At that moment Ged attacks from the darkness with a pitchfork, having followed the men from the mountain road. The attackers are caught and taken for trial; it emerges they had beaten Therru's mother to death.

Ged stays on at the farm. Through the winter, he and Tenar grow close. One evening she asks which bed she shall sleep in, and he answers, "Mine, if you will" (235). They become lovers. Together they teach Therru the Creation of Éa and other great stories, debating whether the Patterner's vision signals a fundamental change in the nature of power. In spring, Tenar's son Spark arrives to claim the farm as his inheritance, and Tenar gives it to him. A message then arrives: Aunty Moss is dying. Tenar, Ged, and Therru set out for Re Albi.

As they approach, the wizard Aspen meets them and lays a binding spell. Tenar is compelled to crawl, unable to speak; Ged is bound through his love for her. Aspen leads them into the manor house, boasting that the power of his dead master Cob, the evil wizard Ged defeated in the Dry Land, still lives. He locks them in dark rooms. But Therru had turned away on the road, recognizing Aspen as a darkness. She runs to the cliff's edge and calls the dragon's name with a voice that is not human but a dragon's. She then goes to Moss's house, takes the dying witch's hand, and calls her by her true name, Hatha.

At dawn, Aspen brings Tenar and Ged to the cliff's edge, intending to force them to their deaths. Tenar, still bound, points to the sky. Aspen says, "Albatross" (276). Tenar laughs. The dragon Kalessin comes trailing fire from the west. Tenar cries its name and pulls Ged down as flame roars over them, destroying Aspen and his followers. Kalessin asks for Tehanu, and Therru comes along the cliff path, addressing the dragon by name. The dragon calls her Tehanu, and she speaks to it in the Language of the Making, her native tongue. Kalessin tells her it has sought her long and offers to take her west where dragons live, but Therru chooses to stay. "Thou hast work to do here" (278), the dragon says, and promises to return. To Ged and Tenar it says, "I give you my child, as you will give me yours" (278).

They tend to Aunty Moss and plan to send for help. Tehanu tells Tenar the peach seedling she planted has died, but peaches ripen on the old tree. Tenar says they can plant new ones and speaks of living in Ogion's house on the Overfell. "I think we can live there," she says (281).