A glossary of people, places & objects in Earthsea

Now showing glossary items starting H

Hair styles

Dark straight hair is the norm in the Archipelago and Reaches, while people of the Kargad Lands generally have fair or yellow hair; there are, however, exceptions, including dark-haired Tenar and red-haired Sopli. People in the west of Havnor isle generally have curly or frizzy hair. Some men are explicitly described as having long hair; for example, Ged as an old man wears his hair tied back, Alder has long hair loosely gathered at the nape, Sopli has long wiry reddish hair, Cob in his Sending has long black hair, and Ivory is described as having braided hair with the braid clubbed. It's unclear whether others have short hair, but it seems probable. Skiorh and an unnamed sailor on the Dolphin are bald. Women generally seem to have long hair. In the Archipelago, women's hair is often described as unbound; for example, Serret's hair (as a child on Gont) is described: 'Her hair fell long and straight like a fall of black water'^a; the witch of Ten Alders has uncombed, tangled black hair. Braided hair is, however, mentioned for Rush, a common woman on Pody in the Dark Years, and the Gontish witch Moss has her hair tied in charm-knots. Hairpins are mentioned on Gont.

Kargish warriors wear their fair hair long, as does Azver, the Kargish Master Patterner; in court dress, their hair is braided, though the warriors who attacked Ten Alders seem to have worn their hair loose. Manan is described as hairless. Plaited or braided hair is mentioned for women at the Place of the Tombs of Atuan; Arha's (Tenar's) hair is cut short during her dedication to the Nameless Ones, but is later described as braided

Sources: Warriors in the Mist, WoE; The Shadow, WoE (a); Hunted, WoE; Lorbanery, FS; Ogion, T; Finding Words, T; The Finder, TfE; Palaces, OW

Related entries: Headgear; Beards

Hake

Male tramp of Middle Valley on Gont; thin with a hairy chest. Probably father of Tehanu. Part of group including Handy, Shag and Senini, he's injured by a pitchfork when the group attack Oak Farm. Sentenced to slave labour in the galleys for his involvement in the murder of Senini

Sources: Home, T; Winter, T; The Master, T

Halkel

Also known as: Halkel of Way
Titles: Archmage

First archmage of the School of Wizardry on Roke in 730, some eighty years after the establishment of the school. He established a rigid hierarchy of wizards, sorcerers and witches, and set up a distinction between the high arts and base crafts of magic. He banned the teaching of the high arts such as knowledge of the Old Speech to women (though this proscription was widely ignored), and excluded them from Roke School. He also abolished the original office of the Master Finder, now considered a base craft, replacing it with the Master Chanter

Sources: A Description of Earthsea, TfE

Hall of the Throne

Ancient and semi-derelict temple of the Nameless Ones at the Place of the Tombs on Atuan; a vast low hall with a crumbling dome. The Throne Room has double rows of columns and a huge black jewelled throne, the Empty Throne, on a high platform of red-veined marble. Behind lies a warren of small rooms, including storerooms, treasure rooms, robing rooms, attics & basements; one cell contains a trapdoor, the only exit from the Labyrinth; another has a small trapdoor to the Room of Chains within a minor labyrinth off the Undertomb which lies beneath the Hall of the Throne. The oldest temple in the Kargad Lands, it is destroyed when Ged & Tenar escape from the Labyrinth with the Ring of Erreth-Akbe

Sources: The Eaten One, ToA; The Prisoners, ToA; Light under the Hill, ToA; The Anger of the Dark, ToA

'Through cracks in the roof of the Hall of the Throne, gaps between columns where a whole section of masonry and tile had collapsed, unsteady sunshine shone aslant. … Dead leaves of weeds that had forced up between marble pavement-tiles were outlined with frost, and crackled, catching on the long black robes of the priestesses.'

'…the altars, the alcoves behind and beneath the altars, the rooms of chests and boxes, the contents of the chests and boxes, the passages and attics, the dusty hollow under the dome where hundreds of bats nested, the basements and underbasements that were the anterooms of the corridors of darkness.'

[The Eaten One, ToA/Light under the Hill, ToA]

Hama Gondun

Also known as: Woman on Gont, a

'Hama Gondun!' ('a woman on Gont') is a prophecy spoken in Kargish by Azver the Patterner during the council of the Masters of Roke in around 1051 to choose an Archmage to succeed Ged. At the time the prophecy is made, it is thought that the woman would guide them to the new Archmage. Azver later identifies Tehanu as the woman of the prophecy, which proves instead to refer to the Vedurnan

Sources: The Dolphin, T; Dragonfly, TfE; Rejoining, OW

Hand

See Master Hand

Hand, the

See Women of the Hand

Hands

Also known as: West Hand, East Hand, The Hands

Pair of mountainous inhabited islands at the northern edge of the East Reach, south of Karego-At and north of Vemish; named for their shape. The western isle has steep forests. So rarely are they visited by Archipelagan ships that songs made a hundred years ago are new there

Sources: Hunting, WoE; Iffish, WoE

'a pair of lonely isles that reach their mountain-fingers northward towards the Kargad Lands.'

[Hunting, WoE]

Handy

Young male tramp of Middle Valley on Gont, described as 'well enough looking'^a. He wears a leather cap, jerkin and vest with a torn shoulder seam. Part of group including Hake, Shag and Senini. Sentenced to slave labour in the galleys for his involvement in the murder of Senini

Sources: A Bad Thing, T; Going to the Falcon's Nest; Hawks, T (a); Winter, T; The Master, T

Hara

See Alder

Hardic

Also known as: Common tongue

General language of the Archipelago, derived from the Old Speech. Whilst Hardic is widely spoken in the Archipelago and the Reaches, some islands, such as Enlad and Osskil, have their own languages or dialects. The Children of the Open Sea (raft people) speak a heavily accented but understandable version of Hardic. Hardic is not spoken in the Kargad Lands

'The Hardic tongue of the Archipelago, though it has no more magic power in it than any other tongue of men, has its roots in the Old Speech…'

[The Shadow, WoE]

Related entries: Language

Hardic lands

See Archipelago

Hardic runes

Also known as: Runic writing

Non-magical runes used for general writing purposes in the Archipelago, for example Ogion's letter to Nemmerle. Not the same as the Six Hundred Runes of Hardic, which are True Runes, used for magic. Possible examples include the rune of the Closed Door, the rune of the Closed Mouth, rune of the Talon and the sword-rune

Sources: The School for Wizards, WoE; A Description of Earthsea, TfE

Hare

Weatherworker for the pirate Egre; Egre cut his right hand off after he lost his powers

'…the dark, bearded face had been very handsome once. The wrinkled wrist stump lay on the pavement stones in the hot, bright sunlight, shameful.'

[Hort Town, FS]

Harrekki

Also known as: harikki, harekki

A tiny dragon-lizard, common on Iffish, that lives in oak trees and eats wasps, worms and eggs, and grows no larger than a hand. Yarrow keeps one as a pet

Sources: Iffish, WoE

Hatha

See Moss

Hats

See Headgear

Havnor

Also known as: Great Island, King's Island, the Great Isle, Cold Hill

The largest island in the Archipelago, Havnor lies at its centre, and is the seat of the monarchy. A broad, rich, heavily farmed land with green hills and several mountain ranges, the Faliern Mountains, Revnian Mountains & Mount Onn. The Onneva river feeds into the Great Bay of Havnor, on which lies the capital city, Havnor City, also known as Havnor Great Port. South of this city lies the cave of Aurun, known as the Lips of Paor, a centre of the Old Powers. Other inhabitations include Havnor South Port, Glade, Reche, Easthill, Resbel and the villages of Endlane, Woodedge & Firn. Other features include Faliern Forest, the sands of Onneva and the rivers Amia, Serrenen & Yennava. The island is divided into domains, including Eolg and the Western domain

Sources: The Masters of Roke, FS; The Finder, TfE; Diamond and Darkrose; TfE; Palaces, OW; Dolphin, OW

Havnor Bay

See Bay of Havnor

Havnor City

Also known as: Havnor Great Port, Great Port, The King's City

Walled city of the isle of Havnor, seat of the King of All the Isles. A large, bustling, wealthy port on the huge Bay of Havnor, it's a city of steep, wide paved streets and squares, little dark shops, shuttered houses, roof gardens, and many canals, decorated bridges and white marble towers. Features include the New Palace, where the imperial court is located & whose highest tower (Tower of the Kings) is crowned with the Sword of Erreth-Akbe; the River House; a harbour berthing a hundred ships; the king's shipyards; Boatwright Street in the old city; and the stream Serrenen, which runs within the city walls at the north of the city. The city is backed by Mount Onn to the north. To the south, the countryside is relatively poor, with rough ridged hills and marshy valleys; the cave of Aurun, called the Lips of Paor (a centre of the Old Powers), is located a few miles south of the city

Sources: The Great Treasure, ToA; Bettering, T; Palaces, OW; Dolphin, OW

'"…the fairest of them all, maybe, is Havnor, the great land at the centre of the world. In the heart of Havnor on a broad bay full of ships is the City Havnor. The towers of the city are built of white marble. The house of every prince and merchant has a tower, so they rise up one above the other. The roofs of the houses are red tile, and all the bridges over the canals are covered in mosaic work, red and blue and green. And the flags of the princes are all colours, flying from the white towers. On the highest of all the towers, the Sword of Erreth-Akbe is set, like a pinnacle, skyward. When the sun rises on Havnor it flashes first on that blade and makes it bright, and when it sets the Sword is golden still above the evening, for a while."'

'Now she was able to loiter and watch the street shows, the market booths, the various faces and clothing from all over the Archipelago, to go out of the direct way to let her footboy show her a street where the painted bridges from rooftop to rooftop made a kind of airy vaulted ceiling high above them, from which red-flowering vines looped down in festoons, and people put birdcages out the windows on gilt poles among the flowers, so that it all seemed a garden in the middle of the air.'

[The Great Treasure, ToA/The Dragon Council, OW]

Havnor Great Port

See Havnor City

Havnor South Port

Also known as: South Port (Havnor), South Port

Old city port in the south-west of Havnor island with cobbled streets; a centre of ship-building

'…the water stairs, the dirty harbor water sloshing at the next step down, the yells of gulls and dock workers wreathing the air with a thin, ungainly music…'

[Darkrose and Diamond, TfE]

Havnorian Lay

Lay that recounts the history of the fourteen kings and queens of Havnor

Sources: A Description of Earthsea, TfE; The Dragon Council, OW

'A hundred warriors, a hundred women / sat in the great hall of Gemal Sea-Born / at the king's table, courtly in talk, / handsome and generous gentry of Havnor, / no warriors braver, no women more beautiful.'

[The Dragon Council, OW]

Related entries: Songs

Hawk

False identity as a trader from Temere on Enlad, used by Ged when visiting Hort Town in The Farthest Shore. He later uses the name when living as a farmer on Gont

Sources: Hort Town, FS; Home, T; Mending the Green Pitcher, OW

Hayohe

See Apple

Hazia

Also known as: hazia-root

Addictive drug used in Hort Town to give visions; users chew the root. It blackens the mouth and causes nervous disorders and eventually death

'"It soothes and numbs, letting the body be free of the mind. And the mind roams free. But when it returns to the body it needs more hazia … and the craving grows: and the life is short, for the stuff is poison. First there is a trembling, and later paralysis, and then death."'

[Hort Town, FS]

Headgear

Also known as: Hats, Caps, Headdresses

Hats are among items sold at the market in Hort Town on Wathort; velvet caps and hair ribbons are carried by Medra as a peddler on Pody during the Dark Years. Felt hats are worn by farmhands, knitted watch caps by shepherds, wool caps by sailors; the tramp Handy wears a leather cap. The king's messengers from Havnor wear hats. Ged once wears a makeshift turban of sailcloth aboard Lookfar. Well-born women in the Archipelago are often described in some form of headdress, such as the net of silver crowning Lady Serret's hair, and opals bound in the hair of the Lady of O; a female market trader in Hort Town wears a feathered headdress decked with tiny mirrors. Cloaks for both sexes frequently have hoods. A wizard on Havnor during the Dark Years is described as wearing a wide-brimmed, peak-crowned hat, which might have been typical of wizards at that time.

High-born women of Hur-at-Hur in the Kargad Lands wear the feyag, an all-encompassing veil attached to a flat-brimmed hat or headdress; such veils don't seem to be worn elsewhere in the Kargad Empire. The Godking's soldiers wear red-plumed helmets, probably bronze; warriors of the High King in court dress wear plumed headdresses

Sources: Hort Town, FS; Sea Dreams, FS; Going to the Falcon's Nest, T; Mice, T; Home, T; The Finder, TfE; Dragonfly, TfE; Palaces, OW

Healing

Also known as: Medicine

Healing is a skill of wizards, physician-sorcerers, healalls, herbalists, bonesetters and many witches, and is based on herbal remedies, magical spells, charms or talismans, chants, runes and symptomatic treatment, which are sometimes used separately, but often in conjunction.

Herbal remedies include corly-root, white hallows, witch hazel and cobweb-wrapped perriot leaves. Herbs may be ingested as tea, applied to the skin in ointments, salves or poultices, or burned for their scented smoke. Spells range from calling the spirit back from the spirit world to simple spells of feverstay, blood-staunching, wart-curing and against seasickness, as well as non-specific curing charms. Charms or talismans include emmel-stone charms against rheums, sprains and stiff necks, and a sailors' talisman of petrel breastbone and seaweed, used to avert seasickness. Spells and charms are also used to ward off illness, eg: 'he laid charms of heal and ward on children who were lame or sickly.'^a Chants are said to 'aid the sick body or the troubled mind'^b and include the Nagian Chant. The rune Pirr is used for burns. A highly gifted mender, such as Lily, can heal broken limbs, though this appears to be a rare skill.

Symptomatic treatment mentioned includes bed rest, poultices, cooling fever with cold water, bandaging wounds, setting broken bones, salving cuts, disinfection of wounds/sores with salt water and massage with warm oils.

There is no mention of anything akin to hospitals, though Roke School of Wizardry has healing-chambers presided over by the Master Herbal. Healing lore is taught on Roke

Sources: Iffish, WoE (a); Orm Embar, FS (b)

'…Master Herbal had taught him much of the healer's lore, and the first lesson and the last of all that lore was this: Heal the wound and cure the illness, but let the dying spirit go.'

[The Dragon of Pendor, WoE]

Related entries: Curer; Disease; Midwifery

Heart of the Swan

Also known as: Tehanu (star), Arrow, the

White summer star seen in the Archipelago & Kargad Lands; called 'the Arrow' in Ten Alders on Gont and 'Tehanu' in Kargish

Sources: Worsening, T; Mending the Green Pitcher, OW

Heather

Simple woman who lives with the witch Moss and works as a goatherd in Re Albi on Gont. Aged around twenty during Tehanu, she's big and bony; described as gentle

Sources: Kalessin, T; Mice, T; Mending the Green Pitcher, OW

'…a bawling-voiced, gentle lackwit of twenty…'

[Kalessin, T]

Hega of O

First Master Hand of the Roke School of Wizardry, he teaches tricks of illusion

Sources: The Finder, TfE

Heleth

Also known as: Dulse, Heleth Farseer

Mage of Re Albi, master of Ogion the Silent. Born in Re Albi to a sorcerer-prospector, he was taught by the sorceress Ard and by Nemmerle at the School of Wizardry on Roke. His staff is of yew tipped with copper; his lorebooks come from the mage Ennas of Perregal via Ard. Lives at the Old Mage's House on Gont. Considering himself an impatient, quick-tempered man, and said to be talkative for a wizard, he's also described as peaceful. With Ogion, aged nearly eighty, he stilled the earthquake threatening Gont Port ten years before 'The Shadow' [WoE], giving his life in the process

'Dulse considered himself a wordy, impatient man with a short temper. The necessity of not swearing had been a burden to him in his youth, and for thirty years the imbecility of prentices, clients, cows, and chickens had tried him sorely. Prentices and clients were afraid of his tongue, though cows and chickens paid no attention to his outbursts.'

[The Bones of the Earth, TfE]

Hemlock

Scholar and wizard of Havnor South Port; trained at the Roke School of Wizardry. Lives an austere life, in a narrow house on a back street of the city. Described as serious, unyielding and quiet, with a dry flat voice, he's said to be loath to practise the lesser arts of magic. Briefly teacher of Diamond

'Hemlock was an honest, upright, humorless, scholarly wizard, with little interest in feelings or ideas. His gift was for names.'

[Darkrose and Diamond, TfE]

Hemmen

Large tree found on Roke, and probably elsewhere

Sources: Rejoining, OW

Heno

Titles: Lord Heno

Lord of Valmouth in the south of Gont; his stone manor house stands in the hills behind Valmouth. Said to be corrupt and to support piracy. After the restoration of the Archipelagan monarchy, he sends three ships commanded by Tally against Lebannen's fleet, but is arrested by the king's soldiers and tried for piracy and murder

Sources: Home, T; Winter, T

Herbal

See Master Herbal

Herbal remedies

An important part of healing in the Archipelago. Herbal remedies mentioned include corly-root, for fever; white hallows, a white-flowering herb of unknown use; witch hazel, used on burns; and cobweb-wrapped perriot leaves, used to staunch bleeding (cobwebs alone are also used for bleeding). Herbs may be ingested as tea, applied to the skin in ointments, salves or poultices, or burned for their scented smoke; they may also form a component of potions and elixirs. Herb lore is commonly known by village witches & sorcerers, and is taught by the Master Herbal at the Roke School of Wizardry

Sources: The Shadow, WoE; The School for Wizards, WoE; The Loosing of the Shadow, WoE; The Dragon of Pendor, WoE; A Bad Thing, T; Mending the Green Pitcher, OW

Herbs, trance inducing

See Trance-inducing herbs

Heru

Also known as: Eagle Queen, the Eagle
Titles: Queen of Earthsea

Queen of Earthsea, of the House of Ilien; she ruled from Havnor in 400-430. Granddaughter of Gemal Sea-born and daughter of Denggemal, she married Aiman of the House of Morred; their son was Maharion. She undertook a building programme in Havnor City, including the River House palace (called the Queen's House) and, with Maharion, the three towers of the New Palace. During her reign, dragons started to raid the western isles and forays by the Kargs increased. Given the Ring of Erreth-Akbe by Aiman as a marriage gift, she gave it to Erreth-Akbe to take to the Kargad Lands as a sign of peace in 440

Sources: The Finder, TfE; A Description of Earthsea, TfE; The Dragon Council, OW

High arts

The greater arts of magic, as defined by Archmage Halkel in 730, including human healing, chanting, weatherworking (all practised by both sorcerers and wizards), as well as the art magic, including changing, naming, summoning and patterning. The art magic was practised only by (male) wizards. As opposed to the base crafts (witchcraft)

Sources: A Description of Earthsea, TfE

High Creek farm

Farm owned by Flint and Tenar, presumably in the Middle Valley on Gont; later sold to Tholy for three Havnorian ivory pieces

Sources: The Master, T

High Fall

Cliff on Gont rising 100 feet above the springs of the River Ar; also the steep goat pastures that lie above it

Sources: Warriors in the Mist, WoE

High King

Also known as: High King of the Four Kargad Lands

Ruler of the Kargad Lands after the Godking is defeated in a civil war in around 1061

Sources: Palaces, OW

High Marsh

High marshy grassy plain on the island of Semel south of Andanden, formed due to ash deposition from the last volcanic eruption; sparsely populated, major livelihood is cattle farming. The water isn't safe to drink without boiling, and marsh fever and murrain are common. Villages include Purewells

'South of Andanden lies a land where the ashes fell a hundred feet deep when last the volcano spoke. Rivers and streams cut their way seaward through that high plain, winding and pooling, spreading and wandering, making a marsh of it, a big, desolate, waterland with a far horizon, few trees, not many people. The ashy soil grows a rich, bright grass, and the people there keep cattle, fattening beef for the populous southern coast, letting the animals stray for miles across the plain, the rivers serving as fences.'

[On the High Marsh, TfE]

Highdrake

An old mage on the Isle of Pendor; he taught Medra in around 650

'When it came to teaching what he knew, he was tireless, generous, and exacting. … Highdrake's mastery of spells and sorcery was not much greater than his pupil's, but he had clear in his mind the idea of something much greater, the wholeness of knowledge. And that made him a mage.'

[The Finder, TfE]

Hill of the Tombs

Hill within the Place of the Tombs on Atuan, on which the Hall of the Throne and the Tombs of Atuan are set. The crest of the hill is encircled with a massive rock wall, the Tomb Wall

Sources: The Wall around the Place, ToA

Hille

Medium-sized island, the northernmost in the West Reach; near Derhemen

History of the Wise Heroes

History book

Related entries: Books

Hoary Men

See Kargs

Hode

Historical Archipelagan figure, whose unspecified deeds are recounted in the Deed of Hode

Sources: Hunted, WoE

Hoeg

See Otak

Hogen Land

Large ice-bound island in the northernmost part of the North Reach

'"Or to sail north into the ice-floes, clear to Hogen Land. Some say that is a land greater than all the Archipelago, and others say it is mere reefs and rocks with ice between. No one knows."'

[The Open Sea, WoE]

Holp

Small island in the East Reach, near Korp, Kopp and Tok

Sources: The School for Wizards, WoE; Iffish, WoE; Afterword, WoE

Holy Land

See Atuan

Hopeful

Boat made by Medra, who sailed in her for several years seeking recruits to the newly-founded School of Wizardry on Roke during the Dark Years

'…a slender, sturdy deep-sea boat, built according to the style of Havnor.'

[The Finder, TfE]

Horsehair belt

One of the One Priestess's traditional garments on Atuan. Incidentally, the only mention of horses in the original Earthsea trilogy

Sources: Voyage, ToA

Horses

Horses are rare in the Archipelago except on the islands of Havnor, Semel and Way; indeed they are never directly mentioned in the original Earthsea trilogy. Apart from the cowboys of Semel, even on these islands horseriding seems to be a mark of status, largely confined to the nobility and the relatively wealthy. The imperial court at Havnor City has royal stables equipped with 'fine, strong, slender-legged creatures'^a (Lebannen rides a big grey gelding), and stables attached to a mansion house and a farm are mentioned on Way. A carriage drawn by four grey horses carries Seserakh in state in Havnor City, and cart horses are occasionally mentioned pulling carts or wagons. Transporting horses by ship appears rare. Horses are cared for by cowboys, handlers or hostlers; riding gear mentioned includes saddle, saddle blanket, bridle, reins, headstall, whip and a mounting block. Except for a horsehair belt among the One Priestess's garments on Atuan, horses are not mentioned in the Kargad Lands

Sources: The Finder, TfE; On the High Marsh, TfE; Dragonfly, TfE; Palaces, OW (a); Dolphin, OW

Related entries: Travel & transport

Hort Town

Main city of the island of Wathort, one of the Seven Great Ports of the Archipelago. It stands on three hills with steep valleys or gorges in between, in at least one of which runs a stream. Unlike the cities of the Inner Lands, the city is constructed of clay, plastered in colours, with tiled roofs. In the backstreets, the attics of the houses almost meet overhead across the street

'Hort Town, one of the Seven Great Ports of the Archipelago, rose from its noisy waterfront up the slopes of three steep hills in a jumble of colour. The houses were of clay plastered in red, orange, yellow, white; the roofs were of purplish-red tile; pendick-trees in flower made masses of dark red along the upper streets. Gaudy striped awnings stretched from roof to roof, shading narrow marketplaces. The quays were bright with sunlight; the streets running back from the waterfront were like dark slots full of shadows and people and noise. … Overhead the attics of the houses almost met across the street, cutting out light; underfoot the stones were slippery with water and refuse. … [Arren] breathed in the sweet stink of the city, a smell of garbage, incense, carrion and flowers.'

[Hort Town, FS]

Hosk

Large island on the west side of the Inmost Sea; major city is the port of Orrimy. The interior is a lawless region

Sources: The Dragon of Pendor, WoE; Hunted, WoE

Hot Springs Mountain

Mountain in the south of Gont, above Lissu and the Middle Valley. Possibly a subsidiary peak of Gont Mountain, or a local name for the mountain itself

Sources: Home, T

Hound

During the Dark Years, a wizard and finder in the service of Losen skilled in sniffing out magic and its practitioners; later unwillingly serves Early. He's described: 'with age Hound had come to look his name, wrinkled, with a long nose and sad eyes.'^a Believing that '"Crafty men need to stick together"'^a, he eventually deserts Losen to stay in Endlane, living with Rose of Endlane

Sources: The Finder, TfE (a)

'In Losen's service was a man who called himself Hound, because, as he said, he had a nose for witchery. His employment was to sniff Losen's food and drink and garments and women, anything that might be used by enemy wizards against him; and also to inspect his warships.'

[The Finder, TfE]

House of Enlad

Also known as: Enlad, House of

The descendants of Morred, the Princes of Enlad and the Enlades; the latest is Lebannen. Its crest is a flying heron with a twig of rowan in its beak

Sources: The Masters of Roke, FS; The Dragon Council, OW

'[Lebannen] was proud of his lineage, but thought of himself only as an heir of princes, one of the House of Enlad. Morred, from whom that house descended, had been dead two thousand years. His deeds were matter of legends, not of this present world. It was as if the Archmage had named him son of myth, inheritor of dreams.'

[The Masters of Roke, FS]

House of Hupun

Also known as: Hupun, House of, House of Thoreg

House of the secular kings of Karego-At, ruling from Hupun; includes Thoreg and his descendants

Sources: A Description of Earthsea, TfE

House of Tarb

Also known as: Tarb, House of

The descendants of the High Priest Intathin; the lineage of the Priest-Kings and later the Godking of the Kargad Lands

Sources: Dreams and Tales, ToA

House of the Great Ones

Temple of the Children of the Open Sea to the Great Ones; located on their largest raft. It has idols of god figures, carved from a single tree and depicting a mixture of dolphin, fish, man and seabird

'This raft was larger and higher out of the water than any other, made of logs forty feet in length and four or five feet wide, blackened and smooth with use and weather. Strangely carven statues of wood stood about the several shelters or enclosures on it, and tall poles bearing tufts of seabirds' feathers stood at the four corners. … the large shelter near by: a kind of temple, it appeared to be, with a square design of great complexity above the doorway, and the doorjambs made of logs carved in the shape of grey whales sounding.'

[The Children of the Open Sea, FS]

House of the One Priestess

See Small House

House of the Sea-Guild

Also known as: Sea-Guild, House of the

Place in Gont Port which deals with local shipping business, presumably run by the local Seamasters. Has a buttery where people such as longshoremen, shipwrights and weatherworkers gather for food and conversation

Sources: Hunting, WoE

House of the Wise

See Great House of Roke

House of Thoreg

See House of Hupun

Houses, town

Buildings in towns or cities in the Archipelago are typically constructed of dressed stone, with roofs of slate or red tile. Unlike the rural huts, which are often single roomed, Vetch's 'spacious and strong-beamed' house^a in the town of Ismay clearly has several rooms. The house of the wealthy merchant Golden in Glade (Havnor island) has two storeys, as does Ath's House in Telio (Pody island). Buildings in towns of the Kargad Lands are typically built from yellow clay brick with red tile roofs

Sources: The Western Mountains, ToA; Iffish, WoE (a); The Finder, TfE; Darkrose and Diamond, TfE

Related entries: Building materials; Kargish architecture

Hunting

Hunting is one of the major livelihoods mentioned in the islands. Various animals are hunted for sport and/or food, including stags in the forests of Enlad, wild boars, and dragons in the Dark Years on Pendor. Hawks are used in hunting, at least by noblemen such as the princes of Enlad. Archery is practised on Enlad, and hunting bows are mentioned at Ten Alders. The Children of the Open Sea hunt whales, using whale-ivory harpoons taller than they are

Sources: Warriors in the Mist, WoE; Hort Town, FS; Orm Embar, FS

Hupun

Also known as: City of the Kings

City on Karego-At, fifty miles from Awabath; former capital of the Kargad Lands at the time of Thoreg of Hupun, before the rise of the Priest-Kings

Sources: Voyage, ToA; A Description of Earthsea, TfE

Hupun, House of

See House of Hupun

Hur-at-Hur

Largest and easternmost island of the Kargad Lands, part desert, part forested, mountainous and relatively impoverished; the inhabitants are considered barbarians by people of Atuan. Major town is called Mesreth. Produce includes opals, turquoises and cedar logs. Well-born women are segregated in women's quarters and wear the feyag (veil), which is not worn on Atuan or in Awabath. Small flightless dragons live in the mountains. Ruled by the Godking at Awabath on Karego-At, and by local warlords. Around ten years after the restoration of the Archipelagan monarchy, a warlord, Thol, consolidates power to become High King after deposing the Godking

Sources: The Wall around the Place, ToA; Dragonfly, TfE; Palaces, OW; The Dragon Council, OW

Hurbah trees

Low round-topped trees on whose leaves silkworms feed; ubiquitous on Lorbanery, where houses are thatched with hurbah-twigs and wine is made of hurbah-berries

Sources: Lorbanery, FS

Huts

Also known as: Cottages

Cottages or huts with thatched rooves are the usual dwellings of the rural inhabitants of the Archipelago, usually constructed from wood. The poorer houses would be single roomed, low and windowless, with a central crosspole supporting the roof, earthern floors and a central firepit. Better houses might have a hearth and chimney, a sleeping area separate from the main room, possibly other back rooms, one or more shuttered windows, and perhaps a wooden floor. Conical roofs with an overhang 'like the fat red caps of toadstools'^a are found on Sattins island in the East Reach

Sources: The Rule of Names, W12Q (a); Warriors in the Mist, WoE; The Shadow, WoE

'The mage's house, though large and soundly built of timber, with hearth and chimney rather than a firepit, was like the huts of the Ten Alders village: all one room, with a goatshed built on to one side. There was a kind of alcove in the west wall of the room, where Ged slept. Over his pallet was a window that looked out on the sea, but most often the shutters must be closed against the great winds that blew all winter from the west and the north.'

[The Shadow, WoE]

Related entries: Houses, town; Building materials

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