A glossary of people, places & objects in Earthsea

Now showing glossary items relating to dragons

Ammaud

Male dragon, brother of Orm Irian; referred to by Lebannen as a chief among dragons

'…the dragon hovered, its long wings beating quick and short like a hovering hawk's. But these wings were fifty feet from tip to tip, and as they beat they made a sound like kettledrums or rattles of brass. As she came closer to it, a little curl of fire escaped from the dragon's long, long-toothed, open mouth.'

[The Dragon Council, OW]

Bar Oth

Young dragon killed by Keor, Prince of Enlad three hundred years before The Farthest Shore, the last dragon to be seen in Enlad. Its skin was preserved at Serilune on Enlad

'I saw the skin of Bar Oth. It is heavy as iron, and so large that if it were spread out it would cover all the marketplace of Serilune, they said. The teeth are as long as my forerarm. Yet they said Bar Oth was a young dragon, not full grown.'

[Hort Town, FS]

Related entries: Dragons

Children of Segoy

See Dragons

Dragon of Pendor

See Yevaud

Dragon of Selidor

See Orm Embar

Dragons

Also known as: Children of Segoy, People of the West, the Eldest

Vast winged, lizard-like, fire-breathing creatures; they speak the Old Speech. Described by Orm Irian as jealous and irate; dragons obey none and have no king. Very long-lived: some are older than any other living thing; young dragons are thin and black, with little fire-breathing capacity. According to the lore of the Vedurnan, dragons and humans were one people in ancient times; in token of this, one or two dragon-humans are born into each generation. At the time of the Earthsea cycle, dragons are largely confined to the westernmost isles, especially the Dragons' Run; they move between this world and the timeless region west of west, the other wind. At the end of The Other Wind, dragons abandon the earthly realm. Named examples include Kalessin, Orm, Orm Embar, Yevaud (the Dragon of Pendor), Bar Oth, Orm Irian, Ammaud and Tehanu.

Small dragons, around a yard long, live in the mountains on Hur-at-Hur; they have only wing stubs and hiss without speaking. Considered sacred animals, a spring sacrifice is made to them annually at the Place of the Sacrifice. Tiny dragon-lizards called harrekki are found on Iffish in the East Reach

Sources: Palaces, OW; The Dragon Council, OW

'…that the dragon and the dragon's speech are one thing, one being. That a dragon does not learn the Old Speech, but is it."/"As a tern is flight. As a fish is swimming,"''

[Palaces, OW]

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

Kalessin

Titles: The Eldest

The oldest of the dragons, immense, scarred, iron black with red wings and yellow eyes; so old that Orm Embar is but a yearling kid beside him (or her). Inhabits an island called the Keep of Kalessin in the Dragons' Run. Calls Tehanu 'my child'; she calls him Segoy

Sources: The Stone of Pain, FS; Kalessin, T; Tehanu, T

'Its head, the colour of iron, stained as with red rust at nostril and eye socket and jowel, hung facing him, almost over him. … It did not move. It might have been crouching there for hours, or for years, or for centuries. It was carven of iron, shaped from rock -- but the eyes, the eyes he dared not look into, the eyes like oil coiling on water, like yellow smoke behind glass, the opaque profound, and yellow eyes watched Arren.'

[The Stone of Pain, FS]

Orm

Ancient great dragon who killed the mage Ath. Later killed Erreth-Akbe on Selidor, and was slain by him; its bones lie buried in the sands of Selidor. Of its lineage are Orm Embar and Orm Irian

Sources: The Loosing of the Shadow, WoE; Orm Embar, FS; The Dragon Council, OW; Dolphin, OW

Orm Embar

Also known as: Dragon of Selidor

Ancient dragon of the lineage of Orm, the mightiest of all dragons. Identified Ged's half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe on Selidor. Killed by the mage Cob on Selidor

'Ninety feet, maybe, was he from tip to tip of his vast membranous wings, that shone in the new sunlight like gold-shot smoke, and the length of his body was no less, but lean, arched like a greyhound, clawed like a lizard, and snake-scaled. Along the narrow spine went a row of jagged darts, like rose thorns in shape, but at the hump of the back three feet in height, and so diminishing that the last at the tail-tip was no longer than the blade of a little knife. These thorns were grey, and the scales fo the dragon were iron-grey, but there was a glitter of gold in them. His eyes were green and slitted.'

[Orm Embar, FS]

Orm Irian

Dragon form of Irian, described as red-bronze with red-gold vaned wings, gold flanks, a gold-mailed, red-horned head and huge amber eyes. Claims to be the sister of Tehanu, Ammaud & Orm Embar, and grandchild of Orm; called daughter by Kalessin (as Kalessin is considered the oldest dragon, this may denote some more distant or honorary kinship)

Sources: Dragonfly, TfE; Palaces, OW; The Dragon Council, OW; Rejoining, OW

'As she went farther from them they saw her, all of them, the great gold-mailed flanks, the spiked, coiling tail, the talons, the breath that was bright fire. … Then with a rattle like the shaking of sheets of brass the wide, vaned wings opened and the dragon sprang up into the air, circled Roke Knoll once, and flew.'

[Dragonfly, TfE]

People of the West

See Dragons

Yevaud

Also known as: Dragon of Pendor

Ancient male dragon. Laid waste to the west of Osskil in the time of Morred, being driven forth by the wizard Elt, and to the island of Pendor four generations before A Wizard of Earthsea. Apparently capable of shape-changing, he lives in human form for four years on Sattins island in the East Reach as the wizard, Mr Underhill, after being temporarily driven from Pendor by the League after around a hundred years of occupation. Later returns to Pendor, where Ged defeats him by knowing his name, binding him and his offspring not to fly eastwards to the Archipelago. Of his eight sons by a she-dragon of the West Reach, Ged kills six

Sources: The Rule of Names, W12Q; The Dragon of Pendor, WoE

'When he was all afoot his scaled head, spike-crowned and triple-tongued, rose higher than the broken tower's height, and his taloned forefeet rested on the rubble of the town below. His scales were grey-black, catching the daylight like broken stone. Lean as a hound he was and huge as a hill. Ged stared in awe. There was no song or tale could prepare the mind for this sight.'

[The Dragon of Pendor, WoE]

Related entries: Dragons

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