Coming of age
A Wizard of Earthsea focuses on Ged's adolescence and coming of age,[15] and along with the other two works of the original Earthsea trilogy forms a part of Le Guin's dynamic portrayal of the process of growing old.[55] The three novels together follow Ged from youth to old age, and each of them also follow the coming of age of a different character.[32] The novel is frequently described as a Bildungsroman.[22][56] Scholar Mike Cadden stated that the book is a convincing tale "to a reader as young and possibly as headstrong as Ged, and therefore sympathetic to him".[56] Ged's coming of age is also intertwined with the physical journey he undertakes through the novel.[57]
Ged is depicted as proud and yet unsure of himself in multiple situations: early in his apprenticeship he believes Ogion to be mocking him, and later, at Roke, feels put upon by Jasper. In both cases, he believes that others do not appreciate his greatness, and Le Guin's sympathetic narration does not immediately contradict this belief.[58] Cadden writes that Le Guin allows young readers to sympathize with Ged, and only gradually realize that there is a price to be paid for his actions,[58] as he learns to discipline his magical powers.[59] Similarly, as Ged begins his apprenticeship with Ogion, he imagines that he will be taught mysterious aspects of wizardry, and has visions of transforming himself into other creatures, but gradually comes to see that Ogion's important lessons are those about his own self.[22][60]
The passage at the end of the novel, wherein Ged finally accepts the shadow as a part of himself and is thus released from its terror, has been pointed to by reviewers as a rite of passage. Jeanne Walker, for example, wrote that the rite of passage at the end was an analogue for the entire plot of A Wizard of Earthsea, and that the plot itself plays the role of a rite of passage for an adolescent reader.[61][62] Walker goes on to say, "The entire action of A Wizard of Earthsea ... portrays the hero's slow realization of what it means to be an individual in society and a self in relation to higher powers.[61] Many readers and critics have commented on similarities between Ged's process of growing up and ideas in Jungian psychology. The young Ged has a scary encounter with a shadow creature, which he later realizes is the dark side of himself. It is only after he recognizes and merges with the shadow that he becomes a whole person.[63][64] Le Guin said that she had never read Jung before writing the Earthsea novels.[63][65]
Le Guin described coming of age as the main theme of the book, and wrote in a 1973 essay that she chose that theme since she was writing for an adolescent audience. She stated that "Coming of age ... is a process that took me many years; I finished it, so far as I ever will, at about age thirty-one; and so I feel rather deeply about it. So do most adolescents. It's their main occupation, in fact."[14] She also said that fantasy was best suited as a medium for describing coming of age, because exploring the subconscious was difficult using the language of "rational daily life".[14] The coming of age that Le Guin focused on included not just psychological development, but moral changes as well.[66] Ged needs to recognize the balance between his power and his responsibility to use it well, a recognition which comes as he travels to the stone of Terrenon and sees the temptation that that power represents.[57]
Equilibrium and Taoist themes
The world of Earthsea is depicted as being based on a delicate balance, which most of its inhabitants are aware of, but which is disrupted by somebody in each of the original trilogy of novels. This includes an equilibrium between land and sea (implicit in the name Earthsea), and between people and their natural environment.[21] In addition to physical equilibrium, there is a larger cosmic equilibrium, which everybody is aware of, and which wizards are tasked with maintaining.[67] Describing this aspect of Earthsea, Elizabeth Cummins wrote, "The principle of balanced powers, the recognition that every act affects self, society, world, and cosmos, is both a physical and a moral principle of Le Guin's fantasy world."[68] The concept of balance is related to the novel's other major theme of coming of age, as Ged's knowledge of the consequences of his own actions for good or ill is necessary for him to understand how the balance is maintained.[63] While at the school of Roke, the Master Hand tells him:
But you must not change one thing, one pebble, one grain of sand, until you know what good and evil will follow on that act. The world is in balance, in Equilibrium. A wizard's power of Changing and of Summoning can shake the balance of the world. It is dangerous, that power. It is most perilous. It must follow knowledge, and serve need. To light a candle is to cast a shadow.[16][69][70]
The influence of Taoism on Le Guin's writing is evident through much of the book, especially in her depiction of the "balance". At the end of the novel, Ged may be seen to embody the Taoist way of life, as he has learned not to act unless absolutely necessary.[16] He has also learned that seeming opposites, like light and dark or good and evil, are actually interdependent.[16] Light and dark themselves are recurring images within the story.[41] Reviewers have identified this belief as evidence of a conservative ideology within the story, shared with much of fantasy. In emphasizing concerns over balance and equilibrium, scholars have argued, Le Guin essentially justifies the status quo, which wizards strive to maintain.[71] This tendency is in contrast to Le Guin's science fiction writing, in which change is shown to have value.[71]
The nature of human evil forms a significant related theme through A Wizard of Earthsea as well as the other Earthsea novels.[4] As with other works by Le Guin, evil is shown as a misunderstanding of the balance of life. Ged is born with great power in him, but the pride that he takes in his power leads to his downfall; he tries to demonstrate his strength by bringing a spirit back from the dead, and in performing this act against the laws of nature, releases the shadow that attacks him.[72] Slusser suggests that although he is provoked into performing dangerous spells first by the girl on Gont and then by Jasper, this provocation exists in Ged's mind. He is shown as unwilling to look within himself and see the pride that drives him to do what he does.[72] When he accepts the shadow into himself, he also finally accepts responsibility for his own actions,[72] and by accepting his own mortality he is able to free himself.[73] His companion Vetch describes the moment by saying
that Ged had neither lost nor won but, naming the shadow of his death with his own name, had made himself whole: a man: who, knowing his whole true self, cannot be used or possessed by any power other than himself, and whose life therefore is lived for life's sake and never in the service of ruin, or pain, or hatred, or the dark.[74][75]
Thus, although there are several dark powers in Earthsea (like the dragon, and the stone of Terrenon), the true evil was not one of these powers, or even death, but Ged's actions that went against the balance of nature.[76] This is contrary to conventional Western and Christian storytelling, in which light and darkness are often considered opposites, and are seen as symbolizing good and evil, which are constantly in conflict.[77][78] On two different occasions, Ged is tempted to try to defy death and evil, but eventually learns that neither can be eliminated: instead, he chooses not to serve evil, and stops denying death.[79]
True names
In Le Guin's fictional universe, to know the true name of an object or a person is to have power over it.[7][73] Each child is given a true name when they reach puberty, a name which they share only with close friends.[80] Several of the dragons in the later Earthsea novels, like Orm Embar and Kalessin, are shown as living openly with their names, which do not give anybody power over them.[7][81] In A Wizard of Earthsea, however, Ged is shown to have power over Yevaud. Cadden writes that this is because Yevaud still has attachment to riches and material possessions, and is thus bound by the power of his name.[81] Wizards exert their influence over the equilibrium through the use of names, thus linking this theme to Le Guin's depiction of a cosmic balance. According to Cummins, this is Le Guin's way of demonstrating the power of language in shaping reality. Since language is the tool we use for communicating about the environment, she argues that it also allows humans to affect the environment, and the wizards' power to use names symbolizes this.[82] Cummins went on to draw an analogy between the wizards' use of names to change things with the creative use of words in fictional writing.[80] Shippey wrote that Earthsea magic seems to work through what he called the "Rumpelstiltskin theory", in which names have power. He argued that this portrayal was part of Le Guin's effort to emphasize the power of words over objects, which, according to Shippey, was in contrast to the ideology of other writers, such as James Frazer in The Golden Bough.[83] Esmonde argued that each of the first three Earthsea books hinged on an act of trust. In A Wizard of Earthsea, Vetch trusts Ged with his true name when the latter is at his lowest ebb emotionally, thus giving Ged complete power over him. Ged later offers Tenar the same gift in The Tombs of Atuan, thereby allowing her to learn trust.[84]
