A glossary of people, places & objects in Earthsea

Now showing glossary items relating to people of the Kargad Lands

Anthil

The last female descendant of the House of Hupun, stranded as a baby on a sand bar near Karego-At (later called Springwater Isle) on the orders of the father of the Godking reigning during The Tombs of Atuan. She gave the half Ring of Erreth-Akbe to Ged. Her brother is Ensar

Sources: Hunting, WoE; Voyage, ToA

Arha

See Tenar

Atwah

Titles: Twin God, God-Brother

One of the Twin Gods, Warrior Gods of the Kargad Lands; said to be sons of the Old Powers of the Earth. Brother of Wuluah

Sources: The Wall around the Place, ToA; Rejoining, OW

Azver

Titles: Master Patterner, Azver the Patterner, Lord Patterner, Master of the Grove, Lord Azver

Master Patterner at the School of Wizardry on Roke during The Farthest Shore, 'Dragonfly' & The Other Wind; he comes from Karego-At (the only Karg ever to come to the School). Described as between thirty and forty in 'Dragonfly', tall and slight, with a hard face and 'pale reddish skin, long pale hair, and narrow eyes the colour of ice'^a; he is quiet, smiles rarely, and is said to have a hint of fierceness. Ged describes him: '"He's not a gentle man, but he is to be trusted."'^b His speech is said to be 'strange, stiff and somehow deformed … harsh, quick, dry, peaceable.'^a His Kargish name means 'banner of war'; he learned his true name as an adult from the trees of the Immanent Grove. His wizard's staff is of willow

Sources: The Rowan Tree, FS; Dragonfly, TfE (a); Mending of the Green Pitcher, OW (b)

'…the Master Patterner, who lived within the Grove and seldom or never came forth from it. His hair was yellow as butter; he was no Archipelagan. … Such had been the Master Patterner ten years ago, a sword-begirt, red-plumed young savage from Karego-At… a tall man and fair, with long fair hair, and strange green eyes…'

[The Rowan Tree, FS]

Duby

Titles: Warden, Warden of the Place of the Tombs

Eunuch serving the Temple of the Godking with Uahto; one of the ten Wardens of the Place of the Tombs on Atuan. Plays the game sticks and counters with Manan, the eunuch serving the Nameless Ones; the two may be friends. Described as strong

Sources: The Prisoners, ToA; Dreams and Tales, ToA; The Man Trap, ToA

Ensar

The last male descendant of the House of Hupun, stranded as a child on a sand bar near Karego-At (later called Springwater Isle) on the orders of the father of the Godking reigning during The Tombs of Atuan. His sister is Anthil

Sources: Hunting, WoE; Voyage, ToA

First Priestess

See One Priestess

Gobar

Titles: Captain of the Guards

Captain of the guards of the Place of the Tombs of Atuan. The temple guards appear to be distinct from the Godking's soldiers

Sources: The Prisoners, ToA

God-Brothers

See Twin Gods

Godking

Titles: Divine Emperor of Kargad, Emperor of the Kargad Lands, Lord Who Has Arisen, the Man Immortal

Ruler of the Kargad Lands. His court is at Awabath on Karego-At. The first Godking reigned around 150 years before The Tombs of Atuan (in the year 840); before that the Kargad Lands were ruled by Priest-Kings. At the time of ToA, the Godking is around 50 and bald. The Godking is deposed by High King Thol from Hur-at-Hur in a civil war in around 1061 (ten years after the restoration of the Archipelagan monarchy), and flees to the Place of the Tombs on Atuan, to be murdered by a priest-eunuch

Sources: Dreams and Tales, ToA; Palaces, OW

'"…Am I supposed to feel so much awe and so on about the Godking? After all he's just a man, even if he does live in Awabath in a palace ten miles around with gold roofs. He's about fifty years old, and he's bald. You can see in all the statues. And I'll bet you he has to cut his toenails, just like any other man. I know perfectly well that he's a god, too. But what I think is, he'll be much godlier after he's dead."'

[Dreams and Tales, ToA]

Godking's soldiers

Also known as: Soldiers of the red helmet

Soldiers in the Godking's service in the Kargad Lands, distinguished by red-plumed helmets. Apparently distinct from the temple guards of the Place of the Tombs, their duties include taking prisoners to the Place of the Tombs, accompanying priestesses of the Tombs when they travel, acting as gate guards for Kargish towns and, presumably, guarding the Godking and his palace in Awabath

Sources: The Wall around the Place, ToA; The Prisoners, ToA; The Western Mountains, ToA

Goha

See Tenar

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

Hoary Men

See Kargs

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 Thoreg

See House of Hupun

Hupun, House of

See House of Hupun

Intathin

Titles: High Priest Intathin

Kargish High Priest of the House of Tarb, who defeated Erreth-Akbe in Karego-At; he is said to have broken the Ring of Erreth-Akbe and his staff. He gave the half of the Ring he retained to the Tombs of Atuan. The Priest-Kings are descended from him

Sources: Dreams and Tales, ToA

Kargs

Also known as: Hoary Men, Eastern peoples

Inhabitants of Kargad Lands, generally white-skinned and fair or yellow-haired. Considered war-like barbarians by the Archipelagans, who sometimes call them 'Hoary Men' for their frost-like colouring

Sources: Dragonfly, TfE

'…they are a savage people, white-skinned, yellow-haired, and fierce, liking the sight of blood and the smell of burning towns.'

'…the tall, rawboned men with their pale, braided hair, their plumed headdresses, their court armor of silver mesh interwoven with feathers.'

[Warriors in the Mist, WoE/Palaces, OW]

Kossil

Titles: High Priestess of the Godking

High Priestess of the Godking at the Place of the Tombs on Atuan. She looks after some of the duties of the One Priestess while Arha (Tenar) is a child. Unlike Arha and Thar (High Priestess of the Twin Gods), her motivations appear to relate more to power than any belief in the gods. In appearance she is tall, stout and heavy, with grey eyes; in character, cruel

Sources: The Prisoners, ToA; Light under the Hill, ToA; Names, ToA

'Kossil had no true worship in her heart of the Nameless Ones or of the gods. She held nothing sacred but power. The Emperor of the Kargad Lands now held the power, and therefore he was indeed a godking in her eyes, and she would serve him well. But to her the temples were mere show, the Tombstones were rocks, the Tombs of Atuan were dark holes in the ground, terrible but empty. She would do away with the worship of the Empty Throne, if she could. She would do away with the first Priestess, if she dared.'

[Light under the Hill, ToA]

Manan

Titles: Warden, Warden of the Place of the Tombs

Old eunuch in the service of the Nameless Ones, one of ten Wardens of the Place of the Tombs on Atuan. Born in the hill country north of Gar on Atuan. Guardian of Arha (Tenar) as a child, and bears a dog-like fidelity towards her. Plays the game sticks and counters with Duby, a eunuch serving the Godking; the two may be friends. Described as large, bald, with a strange ugly face, big hands and a husky voice; he appears to be very strong. He is killed by Ged in the Labyrinth

Sources: The Eaten One, ToA; Dreams and Tales, ToA; The Anger of the Dark, ToA

'…a strange head, hairless as a peeled potato, and of the same yellowish colour. The eyes were like potato-eyes, brown and tiny. The nose was dwarfed by great, flat slabs of cheek, and the mouth was a lipless slit.'

[The Eaten One, ToA]

Mebbeth

Titles: Priestess

Priestess in the Temple of the Godking; a young dark woman whose passion in life is fishing

Sources: The Wall around the Place, ToA

Munith

Woman in service at the Place of the Tombs on Atuan; it isn't clear whether she's a servant or a novice

Sources: Dreams and Tales, ToA

Nathabba

Cook at the Place of the Tombs on Atuan; Penthe describes her as 'that old skinflint'^a

Sources: Dreams and Tales, ToA (a)

One Priestess

Also known as: First Priestess, Priestess of the Tombs, Arha
Titles: The Eaten One, Priestess Ever Reborn, the Reborn

Priestess of the Nameless Ones at the Place of the Tombs on Atuan; associated with the Tombs of Atuan, Hall of the Throne, Undertomb and Labyrinth. Nominally the senior priestess of the Kargad Lands, though her influence diminished after the rise of the Godking. Believed always to be reincarnated as herself; her name, Arha, means 'the eaten one' or 'the one who was devoured'. Her traditional accoutrements include a horsehair belt, a ring of keys and a ceremonial dagger

Sources: The Eaten One, ToA; Dreams and Tales, ToA

'"O let the Nameless Ones behold the girl given to them, who is verily the one born ever nameless. Let them accept her life and the years of her life until her death, which is also theirs. Let them find her acceptable. Let her be eaten!"'

'It still made her feel strange when Thar and Kossil spoke to her of things she had seen or said before she died. She knew that indeed she had died, and had been reborn in a new body at the hour of her old body's death: not only once, fifteen years ago, but fifty years ago, and before that, and before that, back down the years and hundreds of years, generation after generation, to the very beginning of years when the Labyrinth was dug, and the Stones were raised, and the First Priestess of the Nameless Ones lived in this Place and danced before the Empty Throne. They were all one, all those lives and hers. She was the First Priestess. All human beings were forever reborn, but only she, Arha, was reborn forever as herself.'

[The Eaten One, ToA/Dreams and Tales, ToA]

Related entries: Reincarnation; Tenar

Penthe

Friend of Arha (Tenar), in the service of the Godking at the Place of the Tombs on Atuan. A tall, plump girl with pink cheeks, she's described as 'soft and comfortable-looking'^a and 'round and full of life and juice as one of her golden apples, beautiful to see'^b; her voice is soft and dreamy. The same age as Arha, she came from a village by the sea; the sixth girl in her family, her parents dedicated her to the Godking's service in Ossawa aged seven because they could not afford to bring her up. She seems to have an irreverent attitude, being more interested in food than religious duties, though she's also described as 'submissive and easily bullied'^b; she's afraid of the dark

Sources: The Wall around the Place, ToA (a); Dreams and Tales, ToA (b)

'"I'd rather marry a pig-herd and live in a ditch. I'd rather anything than stay buried alive here all my born days with a mess of women in a perishing old desert where nobody ever comes! But there's no good wishing about it, because I've been consecrated now and I'm stuck with it. But I do hope that in my next life I'm a dancing-girl in Awabath! Because I will have earned it."'

[Dreams and Tales, ToA]

Poppe

Woman in service at the Place of the Tombs on Atuan; it isn't clear whether she's a servant or a novice

Sources: Dreams and Tales, ToA

Priestess of the Tombs

See One Priestess

Priest-eunuchs

See Wardens of the Place of the Tombs

Priest-Kings

Before the first Godking, 150 years ago, the Kargad Lands were ruled by Priest-Kings descended from Intathin of the House of Tarb. The Priest-Kings seized power from the secular kings of the House of Hupun in around 440

Sources: Dreams and Tales, ToA; Voyage, ToA; A Description of Earthsea, TfE

Punti

Titles: Warden, Warden of the Place of the Tombs

Eunuch; one of the ten Wardens of the Place of the Tombs on Atuan. At the time of The Tombs of Atuan, rather deaf

Sources: Dreams and Tales, ToA

Reddy

See Seserakh

Segoy

Titles: Eldest Lord, Doorkeeper, Maker

The creator of Earthsea, whose First Word balanced dark and light, and established the lands amidst the seas: the Making, as recounted in the Creation of Éa. All peoples of Earthsea appear to share this belief, including those of the Kargad Lands & the Children of the Open Sea. Tehanu calls the dragon Kalessin Segoy

Sources: Orm Embar, FS; Tehanu, T; Rejoining, OW

'Among all beings ever returning, the eldest, the Doorkeeper, Segoy'

[A Description of Earthsea, TfE]

Seserakh

Also known as: Reddy
Titles: High Princess, (High) Princess of the Kargad Lands, Daughter of Thol, Lady of Hur-at-Hur, Princess of Hur-at-Hur

Kargish princess from Mesreth on Hur-at-Hur in the Kargad Lands, daughter of High King Thol. She briefly lives at Awabath on Karego-At before Thol sent her to Havnor with a request that she should 'wear the Ring of Peace upon her arm, as Queen Elfarran of Soléa wore it, and this will be the sign of everlasting peace between the Western and the Eastern Isles'^a -- interpreted by Lebannen and others as a demand for marriage between the kingdoms. A tall, vigorous young woman, with tawny hair, cream-coloured skin and blue eyes with gold flecks, she wears the heavy red & gold feyag (veil) in public, initially speaks no Hardic and conceals her name for fear the Archipelagans will steal her soul. Under her veils, she wears a long shirt, trousers and gold rings. She's described both as 'intelligent, practical, and courageous'^b and 'like a brick chimney'^a. Betrothed to Lebannen, King of All the Isles, in around 1066

Sources: Palaces, OW (a); The Dragon Council, OW, Dolphin, OW (b); Rejoining, OW

'…she was magnificent: tawny-haired, tawny-eyed, with round arms and full breasts and slender waist, a woman in her first full beauty and strength.'

[The Dragon Council, OW]

Soldiers of the red helmet

See Godking's soldiers

Tarb, House of

See House of Tarb

Tenar

Also known as: Arha, Goha
Titles: The Eaten One, One Priestess, First Priestess, Priestess Ever Reborn, One Ever Reborn, Priestess of the Tombs, White Lady of Gont, Tenar of the Ring, Peace Bringer, Lady Tenar

Born in a tiny hamlet west of Entat, in the north of Atuan, fifth child of an apple orchard worker, on the night of the former One Priestess's death. Supposed to be the reincarnation of the Priestess. As Arha ('the one who was devoured'), was First Priestess of the Nameless Ones at the Tombs of Atuan in the Kargad Lands; as part of her duties, she sacrificed three prisoners by starvation. Left with Ged aged sixteen, after the destruction of the Tombs, bringing with her the restored Ring of Erreth-Akbe, and travelled with him to Havnor before settling on Gont. There she studied briefly with Ogion, before marrying a farmer, Flint, and living at Oak Farm in Middle Valley; their two children are Apple and Spark. After Flint died, she adopted Tehanu and later lived at the Old Mage's House at Re Albi, married to Ged. Little description of her is given in The Tombs of Atuan, but she is known to be small, with white skin, large grey eyes and black hair, worn braided; Ged calls her beautiful. In middle-age, her hair is long and dark, with hardly any grey; she's near sighted. By The Other Wind, she's in her fifties and her hair is greying

Sources: The Wall around the Place, ToA; The Ring of Erreth-Akbe, ToA; Kalessin, T; Winter, T; The Master, T

'"You are like a lantern swathed and covered, hidden away in a dark place. Yet the light shines; they could not put out the light. They could not hide you."'

…'a foreigner to be sure, white-skinned and talking a bit strange, but a notable housekeeper, an excellent spinner, with well-behaved, well-grown children and a prospering farm: respectable.'

'"There's no mercy in me, only justice. I wasn't trained to mercy. Love is the only grace I have."'

[The Ring of Erreth-Akbe, ToA/Kalessin, T/Winter, T]

Thar

Titles: High Priestess of the God-Brothers, High Priestess of the Twin Gods

High Priestess of the God-Brothers/Twin Gods, Atwah and Wuluah at the Place of the Tombs on Atuan. A tall, thin, dry-voiced woman, stern but fair. Teaches Arha (Tenar) the mysteries of the Nameless Ones including the instructions to negotiating the Labyrinth. She died of a wasting disease when Arha was around sixteen

'…tall and dry and thin as the legbone of a deer.'

[The Wall around the Place, ToA]

Thol

Titles: High King of the Four Kargad Lands

High King of the Kargad Lands after a civil war deposing the Godking some ten years into the reign of King Lebannen; claims descent from the god Wuluah (one of the Twin Gods) and King Thoreg of Hupun. Restores worship of the Twin Gods and the Nameless Ones. His daughter is Seserakh

'Thol was a violent man on a threatened throne.'

[Palaces, OW]

Thoreg

Also known as: Thoreg of Hupun
Titles: King of the Kargad Lands

King of the Kargad Lands in the time of Maharion and Erreth-Akbe (around 440), his capital was at Hupun on Karego-At. Fought against the rise of the High Priests (later Priest-Kings) at Awabath. Erreth-Akbe gave half the broken Ring of Erreth-Akbe to his daughter, Tiarath; Ensar and Anthil were the last descendants of his house, the House of Hupun

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

Tiarath

Daughter of King Thoreg of the House of Hupun on Karego-At. Erreth-Akbe gave half of the broken Ring of Erreth-Akbe to her, and it became a treasured heirloom of their house

Sources: Voyage, ToA

Twin Gods

Also known as: God-Brothers, Warrior Gods, White God-Brothers

Warrior Gods of the Kargad Lands, Wuluah and Atwah; said to be sons of the Old Powers of the Earth. Their worship is centuries older than the worship of the Godking. Their original centre of worship was Awabath; there is a Temple of the God-Brothers at the Place of the Tombs on Atuan. Symbol is the double arrow

Sources: Warriors in the Mist, WoE; Hunting, WoE; The Wall around the Place, ToA; A Description of Earthsea, TfE; Rejoining, OW

Uahto

Titles: Warden, Warden of the Place of the Tombs

Eunuch serving the Temple of the Godking with Duby; one of the ten Wardens of the Place of the Tombs on Atuan

Sources: The Prisoners, ToA

Wardens of the Place of the Tombs

Also known as: Priest-eunuchs

Ten eunuchs at the Place of the Tombs on Atuan, the only men serving in religious roles there. Dedicated to specific gods/temples, they include Manan, Duby, Uahto and Punti. In addition to caretaker roles, they appear to function as minor priests (though they are never referred to as such in The Tombs of Atuan); for example, Manan plays an active role in Arha's dedication ceremony; their functions are subsidiary to the High Priestesses and the One Priestess. The Other Wind mentions 'priest-eunuchs' in the service of the Godking at the Place of the Tombs

Sources: The Eaten One, ToA; The Wall around the Place, ToA; Palaces, OW

Warrior Gods

See Twin Gods

Wuluah

Titles: Twin God, God-Brother

One of the Twin Gods, Warrior Gods of the Kargad Lands; said to be sons of the Old Powers of the Earth. Brother of Atwah. Thol claims descent from Wuluah

Sources: The Wall around the Place, ToA; Rejoining, OW

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