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
Ged is probably one of the most unique main characters from any fantasy which is even more interesting considering he's only the POV character for one of the six books.
My friend said: If you live long enough, you will become disabled in some way. It's a poignant story about coping with different kinds of loss and change, and how to handle grief and loss of power
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.
Totally agree - it's kind of amazing you don't hear more praise for Tombs in general, but maybe that just speaks more to the crowds I'm in haha. So cool to see appreciation for this series though!
I’ve read the Earthsea Cycle is its entirety twice in my life. First as a teen in high school, second in my mid twenties, and now again for the third time at the start of my thirties. Being able to revisit and re-experience these novels at each interval has lead to a lot of personal introspection and so much enjoyment. Ursula is my absolute favorite author and here I am currently reading Tehanu and finding so much more understanding and sympathy for the women of these books in ways that my teen boy and younger adult male self couldn’t really quite catch on to. Such brilliant writing from a brilliant author. Much love for her and for seeing this review, cheers!!
If you can guess what I'm covering in two weeks I will be truly impressed haha. But glad to be mind controlled if it lets me cover such amazing series like Earthsea!
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.
It’s not rlly related or similar but I couldn’t believe how good the Three Musketeers books were until I read the first two, and I’m so excited for the final three
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
@@vincentprado6676 I thought she was more ambivalent to the animated adaptation. But vehemently HATED the lie action adaptation...which in all fairness they lied to her
@@vincentprado6676Honestly this is why I don't believe anything anymore that some random person writes online. She didn't hate it. She was disappointed but explicitly said it's a good movie. Just not her story anymore. Which wasn't the point and I assume that just wasn't communicated to her in advance. Still. You shouldn't just make up stuff and spread it online.
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.
The movie skipped most of the poignant commentary on colonialism though. Hollywood gonna Hollywood. I love generic action movies soooooo much. I'll never not be mad about what they did to world war z
@@fermintenava5911 It's the other way around - and that would be right then. She didn't base anything on the movies, but if you have read the book? Have you? Since you feel you know what you are talking about? Then you will see where HE gets his ideas from. And then climb down from your high horse!
Hey thanks so much! Honestly just so cool there's people who are interested in this stuff on TH-cam! It is interesting how there's not really a ton of Earthsea content on TH-cam, I wonder if it's indicative to the popularity of the series or something else
Yes, and instead of going out in a blaze of glory, La Guin has him survive past his time, and we see him then struggle to find his place in the universe. He faces powerlessness and the decline of old age, but still manages to find beauty and purpose just as powerful and just as important as a humble old man and supporting father figure. Absolutely inspired.
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.
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 :)
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.
@@jemm113 I remember it being incredibly popular when it came out (The Alchemist, I mean). At least in my country. I read it then as a teenager and it made a big impression, but when I read it again a bit later, it seemed... way too aware of the fact that it's trying to be wise (maybe it's time for another reassessment?). Since then it seems like it's lost popularity because Coelho leaned into the whole "look how deep I am" angle too much, so people started to retrospectively kinda laugh a bit at the the Alchemist too. This is not to throw shade at any fans like the OP here! Give it a go and form your own opinion, you might love it. It could simply be that it's a book that speaks to a certain need for a sense of importance that tends to be more common in young people :-)
LeGuin was an award winning author for reasons. Eight Hugos (Awarded by fans), Six Nebulas (Awarded by peers), and six Locus awards for her novels... which is sort of a combination of the two, but more like a Nebula (It's the magazine for pro genre writers). While Earthsea had a huge impact they are more scratching the surface, novels like The Left Hand of Darkness and the Dispossessed run far deeper.
For many years LeGuin had an Earthsea screenplay she and the great British director Michael Powell had co-written, but they could never get a studio interested. Imagine an adaptation of Earthsea by her and Powell, directed by Powell, and edited by Schoonmaker (Powell's wife, and main editor for Martin Scorsese)! Though they would have had to fight quite hard to get any studio at that time to accept POC actors for all the lead roles.
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...
Hey thanks so much! Hope I did. the series justice in your opinion. It would be great to see an adaption, but I think it's a tough series to do properly, we'll see if the most recent one gets off the ground!
Earthsea sets itself apart by not being an unabashed Tolkien clone. I've grown up loving Tokkien and his work, still do, and looking for oher fantasy series is so hard because nothing else quite captures the wonder in fantasy the same way Tolkien does. Earthsea is one rare exception to that.
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.
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
That's true it was a gorgeous movie if nothing else. Apparently Miyazaki wanted to do the film much earlier but Ursula shot it down because she hadn't heard of Ghibli at the time. After a while Ghibli blew up a little and she agreed to do the film. A juicy theory some have people is that Miyazaki handed it to his son and part of the reason he was so hands off on the project was a kind of revenge for being put off the first time. In any event it does make you think how it would have turned out differently if Miyazaki had been more involved, or directed himself instead of his son.
@@exitsexamined It was Toshio Suzuki who gave it to Gorō, not Hayao Miyazaki. Hayao was actually vocally against giving the project to his son, and it caused some rift in their relationship and they did not speak to each-other during the whole production of the film. Le Guin was against giving Ghibli the rights originally mainly because her main reference point for animated fantasy films at the time was Walt Disney and she did not want to risk an Earthsea film being like that. She changed her mind after actually getting the chance to see a Miyazaki film, namely My Neighbor Totoro. Le Guin wanted Hayao Miyazaki to do it and Hayao wanted to do it, but he was busy with Howl's Moving Castle at the time, so instead of waiting on him Suzuki gave it to Gorō.
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 think Tales and The Other Wind are 100% at least worth checking out if you've gotten to Tehanu! It somehow feels like a proper end even though somehow Tehanu also felt like an end haha and if nothing else it's more Earthsea! It is interesting how some people were so upset by Tehanu, but on the other hand it's kind of surprising that even after all this time this is still such fresh ground for fantasy as a whole. I haven't checked out that much modern recent fantasy to be fair, but I've never seen another fantasy series that deals with heros after they lose their power. in their old age, and settling down and coming to terms with it. Agree it would take a very special team to be able to translate Earthsea into visual media, but I think actually a graphic novel might be interesting to see actually
In Tehanu, Ged's parallels that of Tenar. He's given up magic (with more regret than she did) but he learns how to be a normal mortal man, becoming a domestic defender of Tenar and Tehanu and losing his virginity. Something's lost but something's gained and it's understood that he will now mentor Tehanu as she comes into her power.
@@cliffarroyo9554 I like this interpretation, too. I was saying that his development as a wizard was _symbolic_ of his development as a person; you're saying the point (in some sense) of _Tehanu_ is his transition _from_ a wizard _to_ a regular person. Makes sense. "Something's lost but something's gained" Nicely put.
Hey thank you so much! I'd be really curious to hear how you enjoy the last two books! If you enjoyed Tehanu and the proceeding books you'll probably like the last few!
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 think it can be a bit jarring and seemed like it was for readers on release but at least all the characters and plots are connected throughout the series which hopefully makes it a bit less jarring
I read the first four Earthsea books this year and your video makes me want to reread them already, your descriptions resurface the excellent story each book had and the impact they had on me. My first introduction to Le Guin was The Left Hand of Darkness, and besides the Earthsea books, I've also read The Dispossessed and The Word for World is Forest this year. Everything I have read so far is absolutely wonderful and exceptional. For the short time I have spent with her books, she has become one of my favorite authors for possibly the rest of my life
The Earthsea series is 100% on my TBR. I can say that this description really reminds me of a different style of fantasy from that era, specifically the early Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey,. What I mena is that more modern fantasy series feel as if they are seperate books, but meant to be read as one long book/story, essentially. Books from the Earthsea era really seem more like they are a continuous sory, yes, but each book is its own thing, with its own story that has a full and proper beginning, middle, and end, so they can each be read as a single novel and provide a fulfilling experience when doing so. Honestly, I prefer this style of writing and I'm really happy to see it getting some proper attention!
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 didn't think having the violent barbarian empire being a blonde race was subverting the superior white race trope, I thought she was using vikings as the barbarians.
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.
_"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.
Hey fair enough! I should have clarified for fantasy! Although I'm not hugely knowledgeable about sci fi I would be curious if there were many prominent minority MC from famous authors from that time though - for example Ursula LG had to fight extremely hard to get a dark skinned Ged on the cover, which makes you wonder if that precedent had been set before in Sci fi or other genres!
There was nothing challenging about discussing race in the 1960s. People act like the Civil Rights Movement didn't exist, and as if it wasn't endorsed by most mainstream media, JFK and mainstream democrats, Richard Nixon and mainstream republicans, and countless colleges and church organizations. "Modern" leftism has existed and been mainstream for a very long time. I hate how people often act like it's more novel or revolutionary than it is.
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?
On the surface level I can see where the comparison is coming from, but there's some pretty major differences - Ged isn't training anyone, Ged actively tries to hide away from politics, it's more about him coming to terms with another side of himself, ultimately it's a much more rich and fleshed out story. Also it's directly after Ged was in his prime, not like years and years
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.
I have only read the first Earthsea but its legitimately the most beautiful fantasy novel i've ever read. Its more than just a fantasy novel, its as if a legend was being told to you by a blind storyteller around a campfire.
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.
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.]
Hey! I hear you! But my guess is that woman authors, just like men authors all write different depending on their background, generation, beliefs, demographics etc. Earthsea has a good amount of aspects that make it unique from other fantasy. Actually this comment has me thinking the same thing I did when doing my video for Eragon - makes you think how the series would critiqued differently if the the books were released anomalously, so much of how we perceive them is based on our opinions of the authors, myself included haha. Interesting to think about!
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". EDIT - Katherine Kurtz wrote a once popular series the High Derynie series, and both Ursula LeGuin and I think that series was a little under baked - LeGuin's takedown of this series was part of her famous essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", a must read for any fan or would be author of fantasy. Thanks to crazyquilt below for setting me straight. 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.
Hey thanks so much for the detailed response, I've recorded some of these for future entries! I already covered Chronicles of Prydain series though! Check it out, would be good to hear your thoughts!
@@exitsexamined I've finished Pryidan and I think I left some comments there too. I am enjoying these, and will be looking at some of the other vids. Good luck with this channel.
Lots of names I haven't heard in an age! One point: The Deryni books were written by Katherine Kurtz. A few other nitpicks, but overall a good list of some lost classics.
@@crazyquilt oops! Sorry, but as to the takedown of High Derynie, that was true... LeGuin had a very well defined sense of what high fantasy should look and sound like, and lords in a medieval keep with medieval drama should not sound like a couple of IBM execs leaving a board meeting in Poughkeepsie. Thanks for the kind words.
So, I never knew this was a series until now. I remember picking up 'The Tales of Earthsea' and I couldn't get into it because I kept feeling like there was something I was missing. Now that I know it's a series I'll definitely have to give it another try.
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)
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).
Hey thank you so much for the suggestions! I've written all of these down and will let you know, it will probably take me a couple months to go through these, but they sound really interesting!
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.
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;)
Thanks so much for watching it! That's true, going for Paolini for copying is a low hanging fruit and some people do debate if Le Guin even came up with it. Honestly that's a whole video in itself!
@@exitsexamined the power of the name is ancient belief in many cultures, and LeGuin as the child of an anthropologist would know that. Like Elves and Dwarves, anyone can write about that. It's just that real power like that isn't visual, and nowhere near as flashy as throwing fireballs around.
The concept of true names is an integral concept in several semitic mythologies. Most gods just spring into existence just by uttering their name. In Christianity and Judaism, God can be named YeHoWaH (I am) because he is and cannot not be. True names are based on the cogito ergo sum principle, from knowledge comes power and from knowledge of yourself comes the ability to affirm your own sentinence
@@lucagianchino6404 just so we are clear...Paolini is much much younger than Ms LeGuin was, and she wrote A Wizard of Earthsea before Paolini was born (Paolini was a bona fide teenager whose manuscript for Eragon got greenlit when publishers were desperate for fantasy content in the late 1990s to early 2000s, while LeGuin was writing since the 1960s ). While it is entirely possible for Paolini to have come up with true names having power, completely sui genuris, it is more likely that by the time he sat down to write his own fantasy story, the ingredients like a true name, were already part of the 'common knowledge' lore of dragons, the same way that 'everyone' knows vampires can't abide crucifixes or garlic or sunlight, without having read a word of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel. Dragons have been in the world for a very very long time, I think Gilgamesh had a dragon or two hunting around the camp, so there's not much that Paolini could have 'invented' without said 'invention' having already been part of the canon for about 4 millennia.
My biggest regret reading the Earthsea Cycle is that I didn't read them sooner than I did. Reading the first book alone made me understand why people used to write letters to their favorite authors.
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.
Fantasy is a genre that is riddled with storms, grand conflicts, epic conflicts, and massive social upheaval. Earthsea is a fantasy more interested in the eye of the storm, the place of calm amid the tumult as the storm rages around it.
Sadly to say, the TV-miniseries painted my first impression of Earthsea, and I was mildly disappointed upon my first read of "Wizard". It took me some years and a read through the entire trilogy to make it one of my secret favourites. And as much as a mess the Ghibli-adaptation is, it certainly played a part in giving me a better appreciation for the true tone of the books - quiet and gentle and observing to the world at late while also finding your own place in it.
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.
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 :)
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!
Please do. The "adaptations" are simply dreadful. LeGuin was so excited that Studio Ghibli was going to do Earthsea, and then so disappointed in how they butchered her stories. The books are truly remarkable.
@@katharinewiley8850 I've since read the entire series and love it! I'm so glad I actually read the books rather than only seeing adaptations! Thank you!
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.
The fact that we have Earthsea, such a gem, and yet Netflix still goes ahead with turning Avatar, One Piece, etc., into live-action. What the hell? Instead of creating something new for us (like turning the Earthsea books into films), they’re doing such unnecessary work. 🤦♂️
And yet another thought. While you are very clear that she wrote her Earthsea "trilogy" in a very reasonable timeline, I think we lose something when we forget (or don't know) that LeGuin was a master of Science Fiction and she was writing the freaking "Left Hand of Darkness" between "Wizard" and "Tombs", and then another SyFy masterpiece "The Lathe of Heaven" between "Tombs" and "The Farthest Shore". Who the heck does that? Five books in five years straight? Forget that; five great books in five years in two different genres? I'm not sure Steven King has pulled that off, and I can't think of anyone else that writes palate cleansers of SyFy masterpieces between fantasy masterworks. And if we look at all the Hannish Cycle books as a whole, then starting with "Rocannon's World", we can say that Earthsea's first set were the palate cleansers for the other books! And people have forgotten her...
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.
Honestly it's kind of an amazing career - even after writing what some people consider the best fantasy series of all time probably a ton of people know her for her sci fi and probably vice versa
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.
Funny enough there’s a conspiracy theory that supposes that Miyazaki intentionally didn’t direct or put much work in the movie because he was pissed off that Le Guin didn’t give him the rights to adapt Earthsea back in the 80’s
I read that theory while researching, and was toying with including it but couldn't find enough evidence. Real interesting production and drama with the making of the film though
One day I'd love to do a long video covering even more about Earthsea but to keep the videos as concise and on track as possible it's hard for me to mention every book that has been inspired by Earthsea, there would be a good amount!
I hope so too! I think book four was hard for me at first too but I found it worth reading because it's rare for me to start a book with boredom, then hate, then a begrudging respect. But I'm sure everyone will feel differently!
Definitely “make it through” book 4 and then finish the series, and then you’ll see the brilliance of it. Even if it never becomes your favorite, it’s a vital part, the vegetables of a Thanksgiving meal.
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.
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.
My favorite that I never hear mentioned anywhere is the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams. Love Earthsea though! Also.. discworld and the hyperborean cycle
I am not sure the skin color is as relevant to the Earthsea cultural _diversity_ as people often tend to state. If anything, the mainstream world culture being dark skinned and the (stereotyped as violent no less) minority being light skinned is just an inversion of color. The _culture_ differences described between the various locations were far more interesting, imho. Then again, I'm not American, so, focusing on culture/ethnicity rather than skin color difference is probably as natural for me as it is for an American to focus on skin color... Also, I find the claims that Earthsea popularized wizard schools (especially the more ridiculous ones claiming that, say, Harry Potter is an Earthsea rip-off) to be highly dubious. School as an environment is a pretty big part of one's upbringing in a very large number of cultures on Earth, so it is natural to make it a focal point of at least _some_ of our modern stories. Especially in coming of age stories. Earthsea being one of the early _successful_ American fantasy works to prominently feature school in one book may be a notable piece of trivia at best.
Hey thanks so much! Earthsea isn't for everyone but for the people who get into it, there's nothing else like it. The next few weeks I'll be covering some YA series so depending on your tastes might not want to auto que those haha.
I do wait for an adaptation that can capture at least part of the feel and the poignancy of the books. I was so excited before the sci-fi came out and after the first 20 mins I was like: what IS that? It had nothing to do with the books, and what's arguably worse for a movie/series, it looked so cheap and careless, like it was put together in 2 days (that includes working out the screenplay)
Another thought - LeGuin wrote in the shadow of Tolkien, and when she was writing, authors in fantasy were all trying to write "trilogies", mistakenly thinking tha The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy, when in fact it was a single narrative, War and Peace sized, that the British post-WW2 publishing industry could not produce given the paper shortages. So her publisher was likely dead set on a three book series, especially after the first one did well. However, I think that LeGuin was a much better author than some of the hacks that the industry was throwing at the fantasy audience, and I'm sure she had a solid plan for the ArchMage and the world of Earthsea, and once she was done with the original three, she had the integrity not to go back through the veil until she knew there was more to say.
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.
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.
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
Ged is probably one of the most unique main characters from any fantasy which is even more interesting considering he's only the POV character for one of the six books.
@@exitsexamined seeing his growth through the eyes of other characters is very cool
Painter?
@@marieroberts5664 After all, is magic not like weaving a picture with your hands? To turn your imagination to reality?
My friend said: If you live long enough, you will become disabled in some way. It's a poignant story about coping with different kinds of loss and change, and how to handle grief and loss of power
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.
Totally agree - it's kind of amazing you don't hear more praise for Tombs in general, but maybe that just speaks more to the crowds I'm in haha. So cool to see appreciation for this series though!
I’ve read the Earthsea Cycle is its entirety twice in my life. First as a teen in high school, second in my mid twenties, and now again for the third time at the start of my thirties.
Being able to revisit and re-experience these novels at each interval has lead to a lot of personal introspection and so much enjoyment.
Ursula is my absolute favorite author and here I am currently reading Tehanu and finding so much more understanding and sympathy for the women of these books in ways that my teen boy and younger adult male self couldn’t really quite catch on to.
Such brilliant writing from a brilliant author. Much love for her and for seeing this review, cheers!!
I clearly have mind control over this channel. Every time I wonder "whatever happened [ insert setting here ]" you do a video on it.
If you can guess what I'm covering in two weeks I will be truly impressed haha. But glad to be mind controlled if it lets me cover such amazing series like Earthsea!
@@exitsexamined I’ll have to wait until I’m driving on some long highway and my brain goes “Whatever happened to…” Then I’ll know!
@@exitsexamined Bam! Got it already. I woke up thinking “whatever happened to Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar saga?”
@@williamobraidislee3433 haha not quite! But you have inspired me to write it on my list! I'll let you know when I release it though, a good pick!
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.
There's no wrong age to pick up Earthsea in my opinion at least!
It’s not rlly related or similar but I couldn’t believe how good the Three Musketeers books were until I read the first two, and I’m so excited for the final three
I`m a bit jealous - its so cool to read it for the first time.
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
For the animation alone.
Shame the movie is an atrocious adaptation
Ursula hated that movie.
@@vincentprado6676 I thought she was more ambivalent to the animated adaptation. But vehemently HATED the lie action adaptation...which in all fairness they lied to her
@@vincentprado6676Honestly this is why I don't believe anything anymore that some random person writes online.
She didn't hate it. She was disappointed but explicitly said it's a good movie. Just not her story anymore. Which wasn't the point and I assume that just wasn't communicated to her in advance.
Still. You shouldn't just make up stuff and spread it online.
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.
The movie skipped most of the poignant commentary on colonialism though. Hollywood gonna Hollywood. I love generic action movies soooooo much.
I'll never not be mad about what they did to world war z
To bring LeGuin's work even "close" to the base-pandering scripting of James Cameron feels sacrilege to me.
@@fermintenava5911 It's the other way around - and that would be right then. She didn't base anything on the movies, but if you have read the book? Have you? Since you feel you know what you are talking about? Then you will see where HE gets his ideas from. And then climb down from your high horse!
There is not enough about Earthsea on TH-cam. First the DinoTopia video NOW THIS!? You’ve got a sub.
Hey thanks so much! Honestly just so cool there's people who are interested in this stuff on TH-cam! It is interesting how there's not really a ton of Earthsea content on TH-cam, I wonder if it's indicative to the popularity of the series or something else
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.
Yes, and instead of going out in a blaze of glory, La Guin has him survive past his time, and we see him then struggle to find his place in the universe. He faces powerlessness and the decline of old age, but still manages to find beauty and purpose just as powerful and just as important as a humble old man and supporting father figure. Absolutely inspired.
"just"?
This is like Edward from FMA sacrificing his alchemy to get gis brother and his limbs back.
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.
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!
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?
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.
This was definitely my favourite of the series
Now I HAVE TO read it again. I read it at about age 12 and hated it. It made me furious. I can't remember why, or much else at all about it.
I'm so happy to see Earthsea getting some love. Thank you for this video!
Happy to do it, and thanks for watching!
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 :)
I actually might take that idea from you! Putting on a projector in the background sounds really comfy!
And the music. Oh, the music.
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.
Earthsea was one of my favorite books growing up. Right up there with The Alchemist and The Years of Rice and Salt.
I saw the Alchemist at the bookstore but didn’t pick it up, what’s it about and would you recommend it?
@@jemm113 It’s a coming of age story, very lite read, and has fantastic world building. Would recommend for everyone at all ages.
@@jemm113 I remember it being incredibly popular when it came out (The Alchemist, I mean). At least in my country. I read it then as a teenager and it made a big impression, but when I read it again a bit later, it seemed... way too aware of the fact that it's trying to be wise (maybe it's time for another reassessment?). Since then it seems like it's lost popularity because Coelho leaned into the whole "look how deep I am" angle too much, so people started to retrospectively kinda laugh a bit at the the Alchemist too. This is not to throw shade at any fans like the OP here! Give it a go and form your own opinion, you might love it. It could simply be that it's a book that speaks to a certain need for a sense of importance that tends to be more common in young people :-)
LeGuin was an award winning author for reasons. Eight Hugos (Awarded by fans), Six Nebulas (Awarded by peers), and six Locus awards for her novels... which is sort of a combination of the two, but more like a Nebula (It's the magazine for pro genre writers). While Earthsea had a huge impact they are more scratching the surface, novels like The Left Hand of Darkness and the Dispossessed run far deeper.
For many years LeGuin had an Earthsea screenplay she and the great British director Michael Powell had co-written, but they could never get a studio interested. Imagine an adaptation of Earthsea by her and Powell, directed by Powell, and edited by Schoonmaker (Powell's wife, and main editor for Martin Scorsese)! Though they would have had to fight quite hard to get any studio at that time to accept POC actors for all the lead roles.
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...
Hey thanks so much! Hope I did. the series justice in your opinion. It would be great to see an adaption, but I think it's a tough series to do properly, we'll see if the most recent one gets off the ground!
Earthsea sets itself apart by not being an unabashed Tolkien clone. I've grown up loving Tokkien and his work, still do, and looking for oher fantasy series is so hard because nothing else quite captures the wonder in fantasy the same way Tolkien does. Earthsea is one rare exception to that.
The Earthsea-Ghibli connection runs older--Nausicaa is inspired in part by Earthsea. Miyazaki being a fan is probably why his son tried to adapt it.
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.
Yes! These illustrations look beautiful and we need and deserve some beauty!
Agree, the illustrations were a joy to go through
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.
The scene where Tenar's son comes back, and simply takes over her home, and casually, with no malice, reduces her to a guest, is chilling.
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
That's true it was a gorgeous movie if nothing else. Apparently Miyazaki wanted to do the film much earlier but Ursula shot it down because she hadn't heard of Ghibli at the time. After a while Ghibli blew up a little and she agreed to do the film. A juicy theory some have people is that Miyazaki handed it to his son and part of the reason he was so hands off on the project was a kind of revenge for being put off the first time. In any event it does make you think how it would have turned out differently if Miyazaki had been more involved, or directed himself instead of his son.
@@exitsexamined It was Toshio Suzuki who gave it to Gorō, not Hayao Miyazaki. Hayao was actually vocally against giving the project to his son, and it caused some rift in their relationship and they did not speak to each-other during the whole production of the film. Le Guin was against giving Ghibli the rights originally mainly because her main reference point for animated fantasy films at the time was Walt Disney and she did not want to risk an Earthsea film being like that. She changed her mind after actually getting the chance to see a Miyazaki film, namely My Neighbor Totoro. Le Guin wanted Hayao Miyazaki to do it and Hayao wanted to do it, but he was busy with Howl's Moving Castle at the time, so instead of waiting on him Suzuki gave it to Gorō.
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 think Tales and The Other Wind are 100% at least worth checking out if you've gotten to Tehanu! It somehow feels like a proper end even though somehow Tehanu also felt like an end haha and if nothing else it's more Earthsea!
It is interesting how some people were so upset by Tehanu, but on the other hand it's kind of surprising that even after all this time this is still such fresh ground for fantasy as a whole. I haven't checked out that much modern recent fantasy to be fair, but I've never seen another fantasy series that deals with heros after they lose their power. in their old age, and settling down and coming to terms with it.
Agree it would take a very special team to be able to translate Earthsea into visual media, but I think actually a graphic novel might be interesting to see actually
In Tehanu, Ged's parallels that of Tenar. He's given up magic (with more regret than she did) but he learns how to be a normal mortal man, becoming a domestic defender of Tenar and Tehanu and losing his virginity. Something's lost but something's gained and it's understood that he will now mentor Tehanu as she comes into her power.
@@cliffarroyo9554 I like this interpretation, too. I was saying that his development as a wizard was _symbolic_ of his development as a person; you're saying the point (in some sense) of _Tehanu_ is his transition _from_ a wizard _to_ a regular person. Makes sense.
"Something's lost but something's gained"
Nicely put.
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.
Hey thank you so much! I'd be really curious to hear how you enjoy the last two books! If you enjoyed Tehanu and the proceeding books you'll probably like the last few!
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.
My first book I read from her is The Left Hand of Darkness. That book changed my world view.
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.
From my understanding he does eventually make peace with it, after understandably some time of struggle. Which is a great message!
I think it can be a bit jarring and seemed like it was for readers on release but at least all the characters and plots are connected throughout the series which hopefully makes it a bit less jarring
I read the first four Earthsea books this year and your video makes me want to reread them already, your descriptions resurface the excellent story each book had and the impact they had on me. My first introduction to Le Guin was The Left Hand of Darkness, and besides the Earthsea books, I've also read The Dispossessed and The Word for World is Forest this year. Everything I have read so far is absolutely wonderful and exceptional. For the short time I have spent with her books, she has become one of my favorite authors for possibly the rest of my life
The Earthsea series is 100% on my TBR. I can say that this description really reminds me of a different style of fantasy from that era, specifically the early Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey,. What I mena is that more modern fantasy series feel as if they are seperate books, but meant to be read as one long book/story, essentially. Books from the Earthsea era really seem more like they are a continuous sory, yes, but each book is its own thing, with its own story that has a full and proper beginning, middle, and end, so they can each be read as a single novel and provide a fulfilling experience when doing so. Honestly, I prefer this style of writing and I'm really happy to see it getting some proper attention!
I actually really love this ghibli movie. The world is so colorful and so well illustrated. The soundtracks are incredible too
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 love seeing Earthsea content, it made up a big part of my childhood :)
I didn't think having the violent barbarian empire being a blonde race was subverting the superior white race trope, I thought she was using vikings as the barbarians.
Oh man I loved Earthsea as a kid
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.
_"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.
Hey fair enough! I should have clarified for fantasy! Although I'm not hugely knowledgeable about sci fi I would be curious if there were many prominent minority MC from famous authors from that time though - for example Ursula LG had to fight extremely hard to get a dark skinned Ged on the cover, which makes you wonder if that precedent had been set before in Sci fi or other genres!
@exitsexamined The author demographic reflected the reader demographic. That said, check out Dhalgren 👌💯💥
There was nothing challenging about discussing race in the 1960s. People act like the Civil Rights Movement didn't exist, and as if it wasn't endorsed by most mainstream media, JFK and mainstream democrats, Richard Nixon and mainstream republicans, and countless colleges and church organizations. "Modern" leftism has existed and been mainstream for a very long time. I hate how people often act like it's more novel or revolutionary than it is.
I was literally just telling my friend about earth sea now I’m gonna send this to her
Awesome! Let me know what they think, would be so cool to get someone into the series!
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?
On the surface level I can see where the comparison is coming from, but there's some pretty major differences - Ged isn't training anyone, Ged actively tries to hide away from politics, it's more about him coming to terms with another side of himself, ultimately it's a much more rich and fleshed out story. Also it's directly after Ged was in his prime, not like years and years
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.
Red brown skin tone is unique to Gont, that's how everyone who meets Ged knows that he's Gontish.
I have only read the first Earthsea but its legitimately the most beautiful fantasy novel i've ever read. Its more than just a fantasy novel, its as if a legend was being told to you by a blind storyteller around a campfire.
Talk about Earthsea?
Subscribed.
Honestly, that's a great rule of thumb for youtube and one I intend to steal from you haha
@@exitsexamined never regretted it so far, haha. And also, great video!!!
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.
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.]
Hey! I hear you! But my guess is that woman authors, just like men authors all write different depending on their background, generation, beliefs, demographics etc. Earthsea has a good amount of aspects that make it unique from other fantasy.
Actually this comment has me thinking the same thing I did when doing my video for Eragon - makes you think how the series would critiqued differently if the the books were released anomalously, so much of how we perceive them is based on our opinions of the authors, myself included haha. Interesting to think about!
@@exitsexamined Yeah, seems that way.
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". EDIT - Katherine Kurtz wrote a once popular series the High Derynie series, and both Ursula LeGuin and I think that series was a little under baked - LeGuin's takedown of this series was part of her famous essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", a must read for any fan or would be author of fantasy. Thanks to crazyquilt below for setting me straight.
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.
Hey thanks so much for the detailed response, I've recorded some of these for future entries! I already covered Chronicles of Prydain series though! Check it out, would be good to hear your thoughts!
@@exitsexamined I've finished Pryidan and I think I left some comments there too.
I am enjoying these, and will be looking at some of the other vids.
Good luck with this channel.
Lots of names I haven't heard in an age! One point: The Deryni books were written by Katherine Kurtz. A few other nitpicks, but overall a good list of some lost classics.
@@crazyquilt oops! Sorry, but as to the takedown of High Derynie, that was true... LeGuin had a very well defined sense of what high fantasy should look and sound like, and lords in a medieval keep with medieval drama should not sound like a couple of IBM execs leaving a board meeting in Poughkeepsie.
Thanks for the kind words.
@@marieroberts5664 That piece, "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie" is some of LeGuin's best writing, imho.
So, I never knew this was a series until now. I remember picking up 'The Tales of Earthsea' and I couldn't get into it because I kept feeling like there was something I was missing. Now that I know it's a series I'll definitely have to give it another try.
If you do let me know what you think! It's a really incredible series but definitely a polarizing one
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)
I don't choose my reading according to the author's genitals and look down on those who do as sexists.
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).
Hey thank you so much for the suggestions! I've written all of these down and will let you know, it will probably take me a couple months to go through these, but they sound really interesting!
@@exitsexamined I hope you like them, and looking forward to your future videos (whether they're about the recommendations or not)!
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.
Dang. You just reminded me I haven't started on that book. Once again sleeping on excellence I intended to learn from
Hey better late than never! Let me know how you like it! What were the other things you slept on?
Great examination. Thank you.
Having been a huge SciFi channel fan back in 2004, the CGI was about par for them. That was just how SciFi channel stuff looked, and we accepted it.
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;)
Thanks so much for watching it! That's true, going for Paolini for copying is a low hanging fruit and some people do debate if Le Guin even came up with it. Honestly that's a whole video in itself!
@@exitsexamined the power of the name is ancient belief in many cultures, and LeGuin as the child of an anthropologist would know that.
Like Elves and Dwarves, anyone can write about that. It's just that real power like that isn't visual, and nowhere near as flashy as throwing fireballs around.
The concept of true names is an integral concept in several semitic mythologies. Most gods just spring into existence just by uttering their name. In Christianity and Judaism, God can be named YeHoWaH (I am) because he is and cannot not be. True names are based on the cogito ergo sum principle, from knowledge comes power and from knowledge of yourself comes the ability to affirm your own sentinence
@@lucagianchino6404 just so we are clear...Paolini is much much younger than Ms LeGuin was, and she wrote A Wizard of Earthsea before Paolini was born (Paolini was a bona fide teenager whose manuscript for Eragon got greenlit when publishers were desperate for fantasy content in the late 1990s to early 2000s, while LeGuin was writing since the 1960s ).
While it is entirely possible for Paolini to have come up with true names having power, completely sui genuris, it is more likely that by the time he sat down to write his own fantasy story, the ingredients like a true name, were already part of the 'common knowledge' lore of dragons, the same way that 'everyone' knows vampires can't abide crucifixes or garlic or sunlight, without having read a word of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel. Dragons have been in the world for a very very long time, I think Gilgamesh had a dragon or two hunting around the camp, so there's not much that Paolini could have 'invented' without said 'invention' having already been part of the canon for about 4 millennia.
This series is on my list for this year. It’s so well known and I just gotta know what’s going on!
My biggest regret reading the Earthsea Cycle is that I didn't read them sooner than I did. Reading the first book alone made me understand why people used to write letters to their favorite authors.
Did you end up writing one? Would be super cool to have a letter from Le Guin!
@@exitsexamined I didn't, because she was dead before I even read her stuff, sadly. That would have been very cool tho.
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.
Really like your channel, wish there was official subtitles though as the youtube ones tend to butcher fantasy names
Fantasy is a genre that is riddled with storms, grand conflicts, epic conflicts, and massive social upheaval.
Earthsea is a fantasy more interested in the eye of the storm, the place of calm amid the tumult as the storm rages around it.
Sadly to say, the TV-miniseries painted my first impression of Earthsea, and I was mildly disappointed upon my first read of "Wizard". It took me some years and a read through the entire trilogy to make it one of my secret favourites.
And as much as a mess the Ghibli-adaptation is, it certainly played a part in giving me a better appreciation for the true tone of the books - quiet and gentle and observing to the world at late while also finding your own place in it.
Tombs of atuan and tehanu are a couple of my all time favorite books
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.
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 :)
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!
Please do. The "adaptations" are simply dreadful. LeGuin was so excited that Studio Ghibli was going to do Earthsea, and then so disappointed in how they butchered her stories. The books are truly remarkable.
@@katharinewiley8850 I've since read the entire series and love it! I'm so glad I actually read the books rather than only seeing adaptations! Thank you!
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.
first three books are glorious, i think after that is where peoples attention fell away.
The fact that we have Earthsea, such a gem, and yet Netflix still goes ahead with turning Avatar, One Piece, etc., into live-action. What the hell? Instead of creating something new for us (like turning the Earthsea books into films), they’re doing such unnecessary work. 🤦♂️
And yet another thought.
While you are very clear that she wrote her Earthsea "trilogy" in a very reasonable timeline, I think we lose something when we forget (or don't know) that LeGuin was a master of Science Fiction and she was writing the freaking "Left Hand of Darkness" between "Wizard" and "Tombs", and then another SyFy masterpiece "The Lathe of Heaven" between "Tombs" and "The Farthest Shore".
Who the heck does that? Five books in five years straight? Forget that; five great books in five years in two different genres?
I'm not sure Steven King has pulled that off, and I can't think of anyone else that writes palate cleansers of SyFy masterpieces between fantasy masterworks.
And if we look at all the Hannish Cycle books as a whole, then starting with "Rocannon's World", we can say that Earthsea's first set were the palate cleansers for the other books!
And people have forgotten her...
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.
I had no idea Ursula had written fantasy books :o
Honestly it's kind of an amazing career - even after writing what some people consider the best fantasy series of all time probably a ton of people know her for her sci fi and probably vice versa
Ursula Von der Leyen
Love the quote at the end of the video!
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.
The illustrated editions are some of the most beautifully done I've seen from any series!
@@exitsexamined Truly stunning, right?
Funny enough there’s a conspiracy theory that supposes that Miyazaki intentionally didn’t direct or put much work in the movie because he was pissed off that Le Guin didn’t give him the rights to adapt Earthsea back in the 80’s
I read that theory while researching, and was toying with including it but couldn't find enough evidence. Real interesting production and drama with the making of the film though
One of the earliest fantasy novels I ever read.
I borrowed the 'archipelago world' idea for my own ttrpg.
Oh is your TTRPG out? Would be cool to check it out!
@@exitsexamined
Soon!
Reading this series ranged from “this is really great” to “the hell is she writing?”
The Name of the Wind. You forgot to mention that The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss was totally inspired by Le Guin's Fantasy Literature.
One day I'd love to do a long video covering even more about Earthsea but to keep the videos as concise and on track as possible it's hard for me to mention every book that has been inspired by Earthsea, there would be a good amount!
First three are wonderful but I gave up on book four. Hopefully you’ll inspire me to go back to it.
I hope so too! I think book four was hard for me at first too but I found it worth reading because it's rare for me to start a book with boredom, then hate, then a begrudging respect. But I'm sure everyone will feel differently!
Definitely “make it through” book 4 and then finish the series, and then you’ll see the brilliance of it. Even if it never becomes your favorite, it’s a vital part, the vegetables of a Thanksgiving meal.
Suggestion for future use: What ever happened to the Dragonriders of Pern?
I will 100% cover Dragonriders at some point, hopefully winter!
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.
I´m gonna come back to this video when I´m done reading the books. It might take a while.
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.
Why does everything need to be adapted into live action films?
I definitely rather it wasn't. Animation is better.
My favorite that I never hear mentioned anywhere is the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams. Love Earthsea though!
Also.. discworld and the hyperborean cycle
4:57 i did not know about the last book!
I am not sure the skin color is as relevant to the Earthsea cultural _diversity_ as people often tend to state. If anything, the mainstream world culture being dark skinned and the (stereotyped as violent no less) minority being light skinned is just an inversion of color. The _culture_ differences described between the various locations were far more interesting, imho. Then again, I'm not American, so, focusing on culture/ethnicity rather than skin color difference is probably as natural for me as it is for an American to focus on skin color...
Also, I find the claims that Earthsea popularized wizard schools (especially the more ridiculous ones claiming that, say, Harry Potter is an Earthsea rip-off) to be highly dubious. School as an environment is a pretty big part of one's upbringing in a very large number of cultures on Earth, so it is natural to make it a focal point of at least _some_ of our modern stories. Especially in coming of age stories. Earthsea being one of the early _successful_ American fantasy works to prominently feature school in one book may be a notable piece of trivia at best.
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-!!!
Hey thanks so much! Earthsea isn't for everyone but for the people who get into it, there's nothing else like it. The next few weeks I'll be covering some YA series so depending on your tastes might not want to auto que those haha.
@@exitsexamined I'm a AVID audiobook listener while I work so the longer my que, the BETTER! I can't wait !!!
I was wondering where the ”power word” magic system that has been employed by Pat Rothfuss for example came from. Glad to have found the answer
I need to continue reading the series, i finished book 1 not so soon
6 books!
And I thought there were only 4 books, ending with Tehanu.
I have to check out the remaining 2 books sometime.
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 do wait for an adaptation that can capture at least part of the feel and the poignancy of the books. I was so excited before the sci-fi came out and after the first 20 mins I was like: what IS that? It had nothing to do with the books, and what's arguably worse for a movie/series, it looked so cheap and careless, like it was put together in 2 days (that includes working out the screenplay)
That's a Rebecca Guay painting as the thumbnail isn't it
Looks like it
Another thought - LeGuin wrote in the shadow of Tolkien, and when she was writing, authors in fantasy were all trying to write "trilogies", mistakenly thinking tha The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy, when in fact it was a single narrative, War and Peace sized, that the British post-WW2 publishing industry could not produce given the paper shortages.
So her publisher was likely dead set on a three book series, especially after the first one did well.
However, I think that LeGuin was a much better author than some of the hacks that the industry was throwing at the fantasy audience, and I'm sure she had a solid plan for the ArchMage and the world of Earthsea, and once she was done with the original three, she had the integrity not to go back through the veil until she knew there was more to say.
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.
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.
@9:20 is that Terese Nielson art?
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.