Ged was the greatest painter in the world who lost his hands. Of course he despairs for a while, grieves. We are all eventually shadows of who we were. But Ged remains kind, respectful, loving, and still f*cking protects who he cares about. I think his story is great for anyone who feels powerless

You know it's an amazing and magical book when Studio Ghibli made an anime adaptation of it. Tales from the Earthsea will always have a special spot here in my heart

Will be 65 this year as I read my way through Earthsea for the first time in my life. Why I never read the books before I'll never know. Highly recommended. The writing is simple, clear and wonderful.

so glad to hear the praise for Tombs. You can’t help but hear Le Guin’s voice when reading it. Truly amazing and overlooked story, deserves to be in the fantasy canon.

The part where Ged sacrificed his magic just to seal the crack between the realm of the dead and the living is just indescribable for me.

I clearly have mind control over this channel. Every time I wonder "whatever happened [ insert setting here ]" you do a video on it.

My favourite book. My favourite author. She stands out because her books are so much more than the genre they're labeled as. Rather than being witty or sprinkled with lines that resemble wisdom, what she writes is wise from beginning to end. And you can see her wisdom grow from book to book over the decades. I can also see my understanding grow with each read-through; when I was a kid, I mourned Ged's loss of magic; as I grew up, I understood he'd lost nothing; magic was just one of the things that helped him become a wise, whole person that he was - which is something he could never lose. Out of all modern interpretations of mythic themes, Ged's hero's journey is the only one I'd wish for myself.

For those who don't know, Ursula K. Le Guin also wrote The Word for World is Forest, which really is what the movie Avatar is based on - even if her characters weren't as 'flashy' as those in the movie. It's a beautiful story.

I'm so happy to see Earthsea getting some love. Thank you for this video!

There is not enough about Earthsea on KZfaq. First the DinoTopia video NOW THIS!? You’ve got a sub.

The Tombs of Atuan is my favorite book of all time. I have never felt the way I did when I finished that book again.

Earthsea had my favorite depiction of dragons in fantasy novels. "Dragons don't use magic, they are magic, it is very substance of their being." Could you maybe do Dying Earth by Jack Vance?

I have a major soft spot for the ghibli adaptation, even if the plot is clunky, I just loose myself in its visuals and music and love putting it on as background noise while I work on projects :)

The Tombs of Atuan was one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. Amazing job on the video, didn't even know about the Ghibli film!

I have so, so much to say about Earthsea. What a brilliant set of books, what an imaginative take on fantasy and story, Ursula Le Guin has opened my mind to many different ways a story can be; I've since gobbled up any book of hers I can find (most recently, Lathe of Heaven). On the Ghibli side of things, word on the street is Hayao Miyazaki was a HUGE fan c. 1980's and the series has been a huge influence for him; if you ask me, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind feels like it gets Earthsea more than the actual Ghibli Earthsea did.

Yes! These illustrations look beautiful and we need and deserve some beauty!

I tried to like the Ghibli film but the story was hard to try to feel invested in. I was more interested in the landscaping. Movie felt more like a pretty postcard

Earthsea was one of my favorite books growing up. Right up there with The Alchemist and The Years of Rice and Salt.

I love seeing Earthsea content, it made up a big part of my childhood :)

Doesn't Ged's condition come out of a choice he makes? A sacrifice? He makes his peace with it - like a strong person who knows himself.

Earthsea os one of my favourite fantasy series, so cool to see you do a video on it! I had no idea they did a radio series on it, hope it gets adapted properly one day...

My first book I read from her is The Left Hand of Darkness. That book changed my world view.

The initial reception of “Tehanu” and Ged’s depiction kinda reminds me of how fans responded to Luke Skywalker’s portrayal in “The Last Jedi”. Would you say the comparison is valid, or are there differences between the two media that you feel separates them from each other in terms of execution?

Oh man I loved Earthsea as a kid

I’m so glad to see a video on Earthsea! It’s so under appreciated. I love UKLG’s notes at the end of all the later editions of the novels.

What is rare - its a book series with a pretty big bunch of healthy relationships. I was mesmerised by it in the childhood, because there were not so many examples of healthy dynamics in my circumstances.

Great video, only read the first 4 books so far but I'm excited to read the last 2. Love Usula K. LeGuin's writting so much.

Ursula le Guin is one of my favorite authors and the Eathsea series I have read over and over again. Too good to be turned in run of the mill action TV, I hope Hollywood leaves it alone.

I still remember how well written these books were, especially the first one, with a prose that was almost poetic. Earthsea still inspires my worldbuilding to this day, especially when it comes to its magic and people.

I *adore* the Earthsea (first) trilogy + _Tehanu._ Book four is where I stopped; as the video says, that seemed like the end. But now I've been persuaded to at least read _The Other Wind._ I think people who were upset by Ged's loss of power in _Tehanu_ were not paying attention to what Le Guin was telling them all along in the first trilogy. Ged is not the main character of a power fantasy. If he's an aspirational figure at all, it's not for fantasy reasons but reality reasons. He struggles, stumbles, fails, and grows up―not as a wizard but as a human being. His status as archmage in book three is symbolic (in Jungian or mythological fashion, if you like) of a man in the prime of his life, at the height of his physical and social power. Then he grows into old age. His powers decline, but they're replaced by other powers. It's natural and not undesirable. Last note: Part of the difficulty of adapting Earthsea to visual media may be that Le Guin often "violates" the truism "Show, Don't Tell". Actually, telling is sometimes the best way to convey information. Sorry if that comes as a surprise to anyone. (This is possibly why the first four books of Earthsea pack more punch into fewer pages than some single entries in some long-winded writers' series.)

I was literally just telling my friend about earth sea now I’m gonna send this to her

Earthsea is arguably as influential to fantasy as Dune is to scifi. And for both, the maturity and depth of the books mean a lot of genre fans haven't actually read the books and only know of the terrible, inaccurate adaptations. Always sad to see Ged whitewashed

In general, I'm hearing the same thing I learned from Fullmetal Alchemist: it had a lady author, Arakawa Hiromu, and women authors write differently than men authors. That's it! If I had to try and put it to words, I've found that women authors have a kind of gentleness in their stories, and it's like they don't even have to try hard to write characters. Granted, my sample size is Le Guin, Arakawa, and Lois McMasters Bujold (Miles Vorkosigan sci-fi novels), and maybe Rowling...Jane Austen too, now that I think of it, when I was reading the text wall at the 22:00 minute mark. [Edit: we have Twilight and trashy romance novels that contaminate the sample size, so I want to say 'the high-caliber women authors' show the above similarities.]

Talk about Earthsea? Subscribed.

If you want a newer fantastic fantasy series written by a woman, I propose: "Witch Hat Atelier." Which essentially takes the magical school idea and takes an original spin with the idea while weaving in some real world issues. There are also stakes at hand that not only the main character faces, but everyone has their own secrets or helps to hide the secrets of others. I can't say much more without spoiling integral plot points, but it is an ongoing series that is beautifully drawn and written. Shameless fan plug out of the way I want to give my thoughts. I haven't managed to read this series yet, in fact my first introduction was Ghibli's version. Visually, I found it so beautiful, but story wise, I do agree it felt a little odd. I had no idea it was based on a book series until I went and did some digging. Now this series is definitely on my list of underrated fantasy series to try. I have found that some of modern fantasy books just don't do it for me, and I questioned if I just didn't fit with the genre. But then I was encouraged to read older fantasy like Narnia and The Last Unicorn and realized I was just likely not looking in the right places. But this series definitely looks right up my alley of what I've always wanted in a fantasy series. It's just so unique? I think current fantasy has fallen into a bottlenecked rut of limiting itself to European ideals. I don't hate it, I love elves, and fae, dragons, changelings, etc. But it's ALL fantasy showcases nowadays. I'm hoping to find more fantasy and that future fantasy takes inspiration from other cultures. Like the Brazilian myths of pink dolphins could be weaved into a fantasy. Let's switch out unicorns for things like Qilins. Throw in the old myths of the terrifying dog people. I'd love to see more selkies, or fantasy inspired by mythology from Africa, Indigenous Mexico, India, etc. I don't think modern fantasy writers do it on purpose, at least I hope not, but I hope it does start to shift soon. I think Ursula K. Le Guin was certainly on the right path to taking fantasy where it's never gone before. Deserts and Islands and jungles sound so fun for a fantasy setting and it's definitely underutilized. Unfortunately it seems she was just overshadowed and the adaptations of her series were clearly not understood by folks who salivated over male dominated fantasy settings that were popular at that time. Again nothing wrong with those, I LOVE The Witcher, and grew up watching or reading Harry Potter, The Hobbit/LOTR, but it's all so male centered and idealized. I hope we get another like Ursula soon. (Another shameless fan plug: Delicious in Dungeon and Frieren both somewhat scratches that itch I've been looking for)

3:56 The people of Oskill have light skin too. Also, the common skin colour is a red brown, while the people of the East Reach, such as Vetch, have a dark brown skin colour.

Tombs of atuan and tehanu are a couple of my all time favorite books

Firstly, amazing video! Got me to order the first book, which i've been meaning to do for a while. Secondly, there's some pieces of media I think deserve more attention and that seem up your alley: the book series the Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu (who translated the 1st and 3rd book from Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past series), which also has a lot of variety in scope, themes and writing style and also uses subversions of fantasy/scifi tropes in interesting ways. The netflix series Maniac is an amazing magical realism scifi (is that a thing?) series about trauma and healing whose structure, pacing, writing and direction might suit a tv-adaptation of Le Guin's work. Lastly, Netflix series Dirk Gently, which I can't link really link to this video, but it's a really fun and interesting scifi-ish series which sadly got cancelled (but for a very good reason).

Love the quote at the end of the video!

This was a very interesting video, I liked the thoughtful exploration of the philosophical themes in this series. It's inspired me to go pick up one of these novels! One thing I'm curious about that wasn't covered in the video is how much of a modern day fandom this series supports. Is there a big online community for Earthsea and does it have a lot of fanfiction, fan art, fan animation, and fan created works like Warrior Cats or was it more the pre Millennial generations who liked it and consequently didn't create a lot of fandom culture.

The Dark Tower series.

Dang. You just reminded me I haven't started on that book. Once again sleeping on excellence I intended to learn from

I read a comment once long ago where Tenar's struggle in "The Tombs of Atuan" could be a metaphor for a person escaping a cult or a high-pressure religious community. She actively questions and defies, but she's also emotionally scarred and doesn't know how to live.

This series is on my list for this year. It’s so well known and I just gotta know what’s going on!

The thing if treu name is a very interesting topos, used both by Le Guin and Paolini, much time before LeGuin used, so I do not thing Paolini copy the writress, at last not in this case;) Beautiful video;)

Thank you for this video! The adaptations were the only exposure I had to the series and they turned me off so much, I never thought I'd take an interest in the source material. Your analysis made me realize it actually sounds like exactly what I want from fantasy and I'm gonna try the books!

That's a Rebecca Guay painting as the thumbnail isn't it

Ursula K. Le Guin inspired readers to watch out for our mistakes, the consequences, and the price of wisdom (surviving the repercussions, being at odds with former mindsets AND companions). For supposed YA aka coming of age that is A LOT of maturity in compressed form, and without the weaponized therapy-talk or woke BS of nowadays.

If you want suggestions, you've come to the right place. Unlike most here (I would guess), I haven't hopped on the bandwagon for most of the popular new or current writers (like Sanderson or Martin). I'm kinda picky, and shy away from most sci-fi (but I like Star Wars of course, go figure). So here is my short list of authors that need a revival. Lloyd Alexander (with a bullet) he wrote for kids and older kids, but I loved pretty much everything. His big splash in fantasy was all about Welsh mythology, The Chronicles of Pyridan, featuring the adventures of Taran, Assistant Pig Keeper. One single adaptation, the Black Cauldron, one of Disney's flops, when they could put out good work, but marketing had no idea how to market (it failed at the same time frame as Treasure Planet and now having watched both, it's like how??). PS - special shout out to his three book series West Mark - Star Wars in a medieval setting, but pretty deep - rebelling is easy, but winning is hard and hardest of all is keeping the win and your soul while doing it. Julian May - when this author shot to the top, there was nothing like it. The prehistoric past on earth, invaded by ancient elves, at the same time the current timeline aliens have come to invite us to join the rest of the galaxy, at the same time that we in the current day discover that we can go back to prehistory so that the people who can't put up with the brave new world can go back and live out their lives without suicide or messing up the timeline... The series regarding this Many Colored Land ends and we never hear from the author again. Elizabeth Scarborough - wonderful fantasy and a very fun world starting with The Unicorn Creed, and our Maggie, the village witch, and the rest of the series expands to include her entire extended family. Nancy Springer - another genius storyteller who loves to tell us of a place called Isle, and how some of their folk are descended from elves and goddesses and how mad gods and invaders came among them...yes, we've seen this before, but it doesn't feel derivative or rehashed. Barbara Cooper - she's done a lot, but most famous series is a what if Arthurian cycle of young Bran, heir to Arthur in the modern day- of the five, I Stan the middle book "Green witch". IIRC she was also the creator of the High Derynie series, and both Ursula LeGuin and I think that series was a little under baked - LeGuin's takedown of this Cooper series was part of her famous essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", a must read for any fan or would be author of fantasy. Anne McCaffrey - prolific author of both science fiction (eg The Ship Who Sang) and her fantasy - sci-fi hybrid the Dragonriders of Pern series. I especially like and recommend the side series 'for kids' the Harper Hall trilogy... Dragons and their mini ancestors the fire lizards and a girl named Mennolly who can sing and play music and who imprinted (called Impression in world) nine singing fire lizards. Why much lesser stuff gets the adaptations and this gets passed over? Beats the heck out of me. There's more, but these are the authors the uppermost in my mind.

I have absolutely adored this series ever since the first books were read to me as a child (Tehanu was also out then, but my folks thought it a bit too dark for a 7-year-old)! I genuinely think it's a nearly perfect series. I think if I had only one criticism, it was the hurried ending of Tehanu, and the fact thay the villain of that book was motivated by loyalty to the book 3 antagonist. I think it would jave been better if Aspen had just been a mean-spirited ambitious bastard disrespecting Tenar for being a woman, and Ged for having thrown away personal ambition and power.

I´m gonna come back to this video when I´m done reading the books. It might take a while.

I have all the Earthsea books in hard copy. I treasure them. I also have LOTR and CON. I hope my kids will one day appreciate.

I had no idea Ursula had written fantasy books :o

I read the books as they came out and they have always resonated so deeply with me, there is nothing I can say about the series because it simply is for me.

Honestly, this is one book series that I really don`t want adapted into TV/movie/game. It works so well exactly because it a book, and IMHO taking it out of this medium would just take away from the experience. All the stories are very introspective and not action focused at all, which can be extremely hard to pull off in a visual medium. And on Ged loosing his powers, I mean, as we get older we all start loosing abilities that we had when we were younger. I don't think he was emasculated, it's just a continuation of the "coming of age story", continuation of age if you will. It´s something that`s not covered in fantasy books often, but is a normal part of life. To me it perfectly fits into what Le Guin is doing with her books.

First three are wonderful but I gave up on book four. Hopefully you’ll inspire me to go back to it.

Holy hell this channel is a GOLDMINE! THIS is what i want out of the internet! Thank you!

I need to continue reading the series, i finished book 1 not so soon

_"This was way, way, way ahead of its time."_ 4:05 This 1968 book is definitely innovative in a lot of ways, but sci-fi had been for decades engaging with themes of race and challenging racial tropes. Even *Starship Troopers* from the 1950s challenged racial ideas of the time.

Studio Ghibli got me interested in Earth Sea! I thought (after reading the books) it was a great mix of the books almost a separate story or continuation...

I loved that series in school!!!!!!! I had no idea there was a 21st c novel and now I must turn off YT and go read...

Anything to recommend just goes straight on my audiobook que- LOVE your videos dude-!!!

10:23 That same area is what inspired Frank Herbert when making Dune

I read the original trilogy around 13 or so, and then each of the next three books as they were published much later. This is my all-time favorite series ever. I even sprung for the gorgeous Charles Vess illustrated complete Earthsea, with essays and speeches by LeGuin and all the other related stories, as well.

I do wonder how much adaptation friction came from a lack of respect for the diversity, depth and emptional maturity of Earthsea. At least compared to things like LoR and GoT. It's both what makes the series so incredibly special and unique, as well as why so many fantasy fans haven't actually read it. More should.

I really enjoyed the first three books! I think the first book is the strongest and is my favorite, with Tombs being a great book but missing the wonder of the first, and the third having an interesting middle, absolute slog of a middle, and wonderful ending. Everything I've heard of the 4th book onward makes me want to stick with the trilogy and not continue. I'd be happy with the first trilogy and I absolutely do not want Ged's complete character arc betrayed. Not because he lost his power, but because he already found spiritual mastery from the first book and apparently that's all reversed to make a sociopolitical point and one that I'm just tired of. Thanks for the video, I may check out the short stories :)

I read most of these books back when I was 12. I remembered loving the first book and being very confused by the later books. I felt like I was missing key information. I need to reread them. In my 30's now I feel like I have a lot more life experience to get the better.

Why does everything need to be adapted into live action films?

At first I found it jarring that the main character is suddenly dropped in the middle book (Tombs) but then the third book sort of did it again - and the next two books did it AGAIN when they came along. I don't consider Tales from Earthsea as part of the series. It is just good stuff.

Im sure Amazon would do great with Earthsea if they hadnt already invested in Rings Of Power. I couldn't see HBO taking it on either of course. If it could get the same care Warner Brothers are taking with Dune- it could be great. Ultimately I think Studio Gihble should just take another crack at it adapt the first book

Did you ever read the Merlin series by TA Barron? The ending to book 5 (I think? The wings one) still sticks with me

To sneak in a dig at GRRM, if you wanna see a dark fantasy series that can actually finish its story satisfyingly I highly recommend the first three books in the Black Company series by Glen Cook. The first trilogy is an excellent blend of classic pulp fantasy and gritty military fiction. You need not go any further beyond The White Rose, and after reading it you'll see why.

Which book should I start with?

i recently got the first book and I want to read it after seeing the anime movie.

Ursula was happy with the stage adaptation she directly consulted on in Portland OR 1 2012-2014. Google articles from The Oregonian of the time. I did not see it. Only book 1. You are correct. 1st 3 flash of impression-- just middle-aged, kids still at home. Tehanu nagged her for a bit AND she herself thought it the true end -- by then she had grand children, was in a poetry group with similarly older women, and persuing her other themes. Her daemon was not sarisfied, so following Dickinson's "tell it slant," she went back, In effect, to TOMBS to conclude Tenar's story, but needed Tehanu for that purpose & so the daemon created another need Then, too, Ged's story needed a conclusion -- why is he what he is in TEHANU. And of course there's the why of the dragons of Kargad. So, hey, boys, listen to women -- the other wind.

first three books are glorious, i think after that is where peoples attention fell away.

The saga is nice, well written, throughful and the characters are well fleshed out. The first book really is a great work, second and third are good at subverting expectations but they felt a litte like spin-offs, quality included, rather than proper sequels. Tehanu, as you said, felt darker and more mature, but imo it was also a little bit boring. I didn't exactly dislike it, because I remember ending it with intention of reading the other 2 but, truth is, I never did. Overall I think is a nice read to any fantasy lover, but I wouldn't tell people to expect the quality of as ASOIAF and I would never ever try to compare it to LOTR. My advice is approach it without such high expectations and enjoy the many fantasy tropes subtly turned upside down. That way you will be entertained.

With you on the books, a work of genius. All of the attempted movie adaptations fail utterly.

Ghibli movie is good if you first see it and then read the series. Otherwise its very strange and off. But i liked visuals tho, especially city walls.

Sorry I'm on all your videos right now, this one makes me think of "Whatever Happened to Ayla and the Clan of the Cavebear?" Jean M. Auel. Started in the 80's is relatively obscure, there's a bad movie, lots of adaptations, I know a lot of girls named Ayla (cameo in Chrono Trigger!) and the last book came out in 2011.

I felt farthest shore was her "normal" fantasy quest novel, and despite the storyline- her weakest book. Tehanu became my fave book of the series- because of the challenging themes... and the development of the characters. I have become especially fond of Therru; the damaged child who Tenar helps. I have enjoyed LeGuin since I first read her- her sci fi book Lathe of Heaven.

I need to read these

I haven't read the Earthsea Saga but I really want to. I love dragons and stories with dragons in them

The first three books were brilliant. The rest were woke rot.

"Does she fly free?"

Sounds like the Starseige of books

If tombs of atuan is a feminist narrative, it failed completely because she had to be rescued by a man.

Do you want a good adaptation for Earthsea? Hire a shojo or josei mangaka and make a manga. Not comic. Not BD. Not movie. Not TV show. Manga. Or

Earthsea ended badly.

Literally Earthsea and Conan are my biggest writing influences regarding fantasy. I would say after that lord of the rings and game of thrones comes next, regarding western fantasy.

I havent read the books but i came here with a warning, Under all conditions DO NOT watch the tales of earthsea ghibli movie, its, along with maybe earwig and the witch, the worst ghibli movie of all time by far, its absolutely baffling how dull boring and monotonus they made it, its genuelly awful and i hate it

If you honestly think this series does anything new, I don't think you've been paying attention much to fantasy or si fi

I love and adore the Earthsea trilogy, but to be honest, I really hated Tehanu. I know people like to laud it as a kind of feminist redemption of the trilogy's (admittedly very lacking) gender relations, but I feel like it just never got far enough. Yes it's more introspective and told from a woman's perspective, but Tombs of Atuan had that too and did it so so much better. Tehanu really falls into the trap of bioessentialism and oppositional sexism in its belief that men and women are so thoroughly different and may never truly understand each other. Alongside the fact that it veers so hard into heteronormativity (and amatonormativity) with pairing up Ged and Tenar just for the sake of doing it. In general I feel like Ged and Tenar's characters were significantly brought down in Tehanu, Ged seemingly losing his 30-40 years of character development in his grief, and Tenar going from the subordination to dark powers to the subordination to a man. In my opinion Tehanu's biggest problem is that it chose Ged and Tenar to tell its story, instead of looking into a new character's life. Also I think the dragon subplot was very lackluster but that's a different issue.

Wizard of Earthsea is weird, not very good, but far and away the best of the series.

The dig at Paolini wasn't necessary. I've been rereading the Inheritance Cycle for the first time as an adult and I will die defending this series. The first book can be a little derivative but it also has some wonderfully original aspects and each subsequent book mostly only improves. It's a very boilerplate hero's journey but it's certainly not a Star Wars ripoff, like some people try to argue, and I've never found any merit in the plagiarism accusations. Also, Paolini was only 15 when he started writing Eragon and 17 when it was published so I tend to be a little easier on that book despite enjoying the other 3 far more. I love Le Guin as well but she doesn't have a monopoly on language/true name-based magic. That would be like saying every wise old mentor who tragically dies is a shameless ripoff of Obi-Wan Kenobi or every series with dragonriders is stealing from Anne McCaffrey.

391st like!👍 Awesome video!🤘 Should check out this series!😁 Subscribed!😎

Sounds pretty gay, dude. Makes sense no one heard of it. Nice vid though.

4:10 60s feminism? That’ll work

Bro really skipped HP at the beginning as if it wasn't such a a powerful and turning point moment for most kind of media huh?

sounds preachy and a bit contrived