In this series, I’ll be working my way through Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea works and analyzing her prose chapter by chapter. Spoilers follow.
Chapter 4: Magelight
Length: 11 pages, 80 paragraphs
Setting: At sea
Characters introduced: Egre
“My lord, do nothing because it is righteous or praiseworthy or noble to do so; do nothing because it seems good to do so; do only that which you must do and which you cannot do in any other way.”
That’s Ged after he’s freed Arren from Egre’s slave ship and left the rest of the unarmed slaves to do with the outnumbered but armed slavers what they will. I’m not sure I find his argument convincing.
You can see how, as Ged tells us in the last chapter, another Deed here might bind him into a chain of action and reaction that he needs to be free of to deal with greater troubles. Nevertheless, it feels a little more cavalier than wise or just.
I like that Ged returns with the fog, calling back to his magical debut many chapters and several decades before. It makes me wonder about the fog pressing against the windows at Roke in the second chapter of this book, though at present I don’t see anything to draw from that.
Along with the callback, we get a little foreshadowing as Ged discusses the advice he’d give to a king if only he had one to advise.
That’s all for tonight. Until tomorrow!
chasetriesagain.com 