Approximate timeline of some events mentioned in the Earthsea tales
| Date | Archipelago | Kargad |
| Creation of Éa by Segoy whose Word
balanced dark and light, and established the lands amidst the seas (the
Making); the Nameless Ones planted in the darkness |
||
| Division or Vedurnan; dragons and humans follow separate paths | ||
| Worship of the Nameless Ones at the Tombs of Atuan has gone on for 'a hundred generations' | ||
| [-1250] | Rune Makers invent runes and the art of naming, and establish the Archipelagan afterlife, the dry land | Kargad Lands ruled by plethora of minor kings, princes and chiefs |
| [-250-1] | Kings and Queens of Enlad expand in power and proclaim themselves rulers of Earthsea | |
| 1 | Morred comes to the throne | |
| 3 | Morred and Elfarran the Fair meet and marry | |
| Waste of west of Osskil by dragon Yevaud, defeated by the mage Elt | ||
| 8 | Waste of Enlad. Isle of Soléa lost beneath the sea by spell of the Enemy of Morred. Death of Morred and Elfarran the Fair | |
| 8-150 | Serriadh and six or seven subsequent kings/queens reign from Enlad | |
| 150 | Akambar moves the court to Havnor | |
| 150-452 | Fourteen kings/queens reign from Havnor | |
| 350-450 | Raids from dragons and Kargish fleets increasing. Compilation of the Book of Names by Ath. Ath killed by dragon Orm | Rise of cult of Twin Gods in Kargad; rise of House of Hupun consolidating kingship of Kargad Lands |
| 400 | Heru comes to the throne; increasing raids from dragons; construction of the New Palace and the River House in Havnor City | Kargish occupation of Venway, Torheven, the Torikles, Spevy, Perregal and parts of Gont; conflict between King at Hupun and High Priests at Awabath |
| 430 | Maharion comes to the throne | |
| 430-40 | Maharion and Erreth-Akbe fight the Kargs under King Thoreg of Hupun; Kargish invasion at Waymarsh is defeated, with the loss of the entire Kargish fleet | |
| <440 | Erreth-Akbe defeats the Firelord, Ilien set alight | |
| 440 | Raids from dragons; Maharion travels west to fight them | Erreth-Akbe goes to Hupun on Karego-At, carrying the Morred's ring (later Ring of Erreth-Akbe), to establish peace with King Thoreg. High Priest Intathin of the House of Tarb opposes treaty and challenges Erreth-Akbe to duel, defeating him and breaking the Ring |
|
|
Establishment of the Priest-Kings of Karego-At, and later also Atuan; descended from House of Tarb | |
| [448] | Erreth-Akbe killed by the dragon Orm on Selidor, Orm also slain |
|
| 452* | Death of Maharion in battle against Lord Gehis of the Havens; loss of line of kings in Havnor |
|
| 452-[700] | The Dark Years; warlords rule the Archipelago |
|
| Grey Mage of Paln summons spirits of dead heroes and mages, including Erreth-Akbe** |
||
| 600 | Establishment of the Hand on Roke and elsewhere in the Inmost Isles | |
| [620] | Roke attacked by Lords of Wathort | |
| 650 | Founding of the School of Wizardry on Roke | |
| [665] | Roke School of Wizardry attacked by wizard Early (Teriel), death of warlord Losen of Havnor and break up of his kingdom | |
| 730 | First Archmage of Roke; formal mascularisation of wizardry | |
| 750 | Keor, Prince of Enlad, kills the dragon Bar Oth in Enlad |
|
| 840 | One of the Priest-Kings declares himself Godking in Awabath and rules over the four lands of Kargad. Rebellion of House of Thoreg | |
| [850] | Dragon lays waste to Isle of Pendor | |
| [866] | Plague loosed on Paln and Semel due to duel of magic | |
| [961] | Birth of Ogion | |
| [968] | Earthquake on Gont | |
| [975-85] | Father of Godking during The Tombs of Atuan puts down rebellion of House of Thoreg, stranding its last descendants on islet, with half Ring of Erreth-Akbe | |
| [1000] | Duny (later named Ged) born in Ten Alders, Gont, seventh son of a bronze-smith | |
| [1001] | Duny's mother dies | |
| [1004] | Earthquake on Gont stilled by Heleth and Ogion; death of Heleth | |
| [1005-13] | Duny works as a goat-herd and later as a smith's boy in his father's forge | |
| [1007-13] | Duny taught the rudiments of spell casting by his maternal aunt, a village witch. He acquires the use-name Sparrowhawk | |
| 1010 | Birth of Tenar in hamlet west of Entat, fifth child of an apple orchard worker, on the day of death of Arha, First Priestess of the Nameless Ones | |
| [1011-26] | Kargish raids on the Torikles and Torheven. Kargs take the island of Spevy | |
| [1012] | Kargish raid on East Port and the east of Gont. Duny foils raid on Ten Alders by calling a dense concealing fog over the village; news of his deed spreads over Gont. Five days later, Ogion visits and revives him | |
[1013] |
Duny named Ged by Ogion (early autumn) and is apprenticed to him. They leave Ten Alders, wander Gont mountain and come to Re Albi (winter) | |
| [1014] | (Spring) Ged leaves Ogion and goes to Roke, joining the School for Wizards. Spends a year (from winter) learning names in the Old Speech at the Isolate Tower. Jasper and Vetch become sorcerers (autumn) | |
| [1015] | Ged acquires an otak pet (winter). Starts to learn Spells of Shaping and Summoning (spring). Ged releases the shadow-beast and is gravely injured, lying for four weeks in a coma. Death of Nemmerle, Archmage of Roke. Gensher of Way chosen as new Archmage and brings Stone of Shelieth to Roke (summer) | Tenar brought to the Tombs of Atuan |
| [1016] | Ged first leaves the healing chambers; Gensher refuses his fealty (early spring). Ged remains studying at Roke. Vetch earns his mage's staff and leaves Roke for the East Reach; Jasper leaves for O-Tokne without earning his staff (summer--autumn) | Tenar dedicated to the Nameless Ones, renamed Arha |
| [1017] | Ged goes to the Isolate Tower (autumn), returning to be made a sorcerer; Gensher accepts his fealty (end of winter). Ged studies for his wizard's staff | |
| [1018] | Ged goes to Immanent Grove (autumn), and gains his staff (spring). Ged leaves Roke to be the mage of Low Torning in the Ninety Isles | |
| [1019] | Death of Ioeth, son of Pechvarry. Ged defeats the Dragon of Pendor and leaves Low Torning (late autumn). Turned from Roke, he travels to Osskil, encounters the gebbeth, and finds shelter at the Court of the Terrenon. Ged's pet otak dies. Ged fails to be trapped by the Terrenon Stone, flies to Re Albi in the form of a falcon, then sails in pursuit of the shadow creature. Shipwrecked on islet near Karego-At, where he is given half Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Given boat Lookfar. Meets Vetch on Iffish, and sails with him in eastwards to defeat the shadow creature (winter) |
|
| Ged sails the Dragons' Run in the West Reach; dragon Orm Embar identifies the half Ring of Erreth-Akbe on Selidor | ||
| Ged first travels to Havnor | ||
| 1024 | Tenar passes into womanhood and becomes the One Priestess of the Tombs of Atuan | |
| 1025 | Tenar first enters the Labyrinth and condemns three prisoners to death by starvation | |
| 1026 | Ged travels to the Tombs of Atuan in Kargad, finds the other half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, restores the Ring and destroys the Tombs | Death of Thar, High Priestess of the Twin Gods. Escape of Tenar from the Tombs with Ged, bearing the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Destruction of Tombs, death of Manan. Tenar comes to live on Gont with Ogion |
| Relative peace follows the restoration of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, with the cessation of raids from the Kargad Empire and some treaties and trade agreements | ||
[1029] |
Marriage of Tenar and Flint, a farmer on Gont | |
1034 |
Birth of Lebannen (Arren) on Enlad | |
| Ged confronts the sorcerer Cob | ||
| Ged builds the sea-wall of Nepp | ||
| Ged caps the Black Well of Fundaur | ||
| [1043-44] | Birth of Therru (Tehanu) | |
| 1045 | Archmage Gensher dies. Ged becomes Archmage. He confronts the mage Irioth. Magic begins to fail in the Outer Lands. Political situation uneasy, with wars and raids | |
| 1049 | Death of Flint, husband of Tenar | |
| 1050 | Attack on Therru (Tehanu); she is taken in by Tenar | |
| 1051 | Ged and Arren set out from Roke seeking the cause of the failure of magic in the Reaches (early spring). Seeking a mysterious mage figure who summons the dead and the living, they wander the South and West Reaches, meeting raft people in the West (summer). Meanwhile spells begin to fail everywhere, even on Roke, and both people and dragons lose their reason. Ged and Arren are guided to Selidor by the dragon Orm Embar; there Orm Embar is killed by the mage Cob. Ged defeats Cob in the Dry Land, healing the breach between the death & life, but spending his mage power in the process. The dragon Kalessin carries the two back to Roke, where Arren is revealed as the King Lebannen. Ged retires to Gont. Death of Ogion the Silent. No new archmage is chosen; Azver the Patterner makes a prophecy made relating to 'a woman on Gont'. (Autumn) Coronation of Lebannen, King of All the Isles in Havnor |
Godking refuses to recognise King Lebannen |
| 1052 | Naming of Tehanu by the dragon Kalessin, who calls her his child (spring) | |
| Lebannen fights the Siege of Sorra against slavers of Wathort, and abolishes slavery | ||
| 1058 | Dragonwoman Irian comes to Roke. Death of Thorion the Summoner | |
| 1061 | Thol, a warlord from Hur-at-Hur, declares himself High King of the Four Kargad Lands; the Kargish people rise against the Godking who flees to Atuan and is killed | |
| 1066 | Dragons attack the Archipelago including Havnor. Dragon Council with Orm Irian held at Havnor City. The wall of stones in the dry land is destroyed | |
| 1066 | Lebannen, King of All the Isles, betrothed to Seserakh, daughter of Thol, High King of the Kargs | |
Dates are in the Archipelagan calendar, as given in 'A Description of Earthsea' [TfE]. Dates in [italics] are conjectured; events that don't have an obvious relative position are in italics. Many of the dates given conflict; some of more problematic conflicts are noted in the footnotes
*Date from 'A Description of Earthsea' [TfE]; the death of Maharion is given as 800 years before The Farthest Shore [The Masters of Roke, FS], which fits with the 'some six hundred years ago' composition of the Book of the Dark, supposedly written late during the period of which it tells [The Finder, TfE]
**Ged says Grey Mage of Paln lived 'a thousand years ago' [Sea Dreams, FS], but he summons spirits including Erreth-Akbe, who died a few years before 452
| WoE | A Wizard of Earthsea |
| ToA | The Tombs of Atuan |
| FS | The Farthest Shore |
| T | Tehanu |
| OW | The Other Wind |
| W12Q | The Wind's Twelve Quarters |
| TfE | Tales from Earthsea |
Last updated: 20 January 2006