A Wizard of Earthsea

Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea follows a gifted boy first known as Duny on the island of Gont. After his power helps defend his village, the mage Ogion gives him the true name Ged and begins his training. Ged's impatience leads him to the school of wizardry on Roke, where rivalry and pride push him toward a spell beyond his judgment.

The spell releases a shadow that hunts him across the islands of Earthsea. Magic in this world depends on true names and on understanding the balance among things, so raw power cannot repair a mistake made through self-division. Ged must learn when knowledge requires restraint and when fear turns flight into another form of surrender.

Read the novel as both an adventure and a study of identity. Its seas and islands make each passage feel outward, yet the pursuit continually returns Ged to questions about the self he wants others to see and the self he refuses to know. This guide reveals the failed summoning and the beginning of the shadow's pursuit without disclosing the final naming, confrontation or return.