Character Study: Ged, A Wizard of Earthsea

This week, I wanted to do a little something different while analyzing a story. I decided I would do a character study to see how an author or filmmaker created a satisfying character arc for their audience to follow, and if there was anything we could take away from the example.

Obviously, there are a lot of great stories and characters to choose from. The book I landed on is one that was published all the way back in 1968 but is as magical and meaningful as it was when it was first released.

I’m talking about Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic fantasy A Wizard of Earthsea—and the character we’ll be focusing on today is the book’s protagonist, Ged.

A Classic Fantasy Origin

Ged is a classic fantasy hero. He comes from humble origins, but it is discovered at a young age that he possesses innate magical power and the potential to become a great wizard. Ged’s aunt, a witch with a little magical knowledge, teaches the boy what she knows.

Ged’s skill with magic comes in handy when Kargish raiders (think Vikings) attack his island village. With the help of Ged, the people of his village are able to repel the invaders. This display of power catches the attention of Ogion, a powerful mage, who offers to take Ged as his apprentice.

The Hero’s Flaw

At this point in the story, we get a better sense of who Ged is and what he wants. His power makes him proud, and he longs for recognition and fame. This desire clashes with the teaching of his master.

In the world of Earthsea, magic is powerful and can come with significant repercussions. Ged is determined to master every spell, bending them to his will, and does not think of the consequences or potential dangers of his actions. Ogion seeks to teach Ged the character he needs to develop to wield magic well, but Ged has no patience for his master’s deliberate teaching methods.

Pride continues to drive Ged’s actions. We get our first glimpse of the trouble this might cause soon after. Ged, trying to impress a girl named Serret on the island with his magical prowess, searches through Ogion’s spell book while his master is away. He stumbles upon a dark spell and accidentally summons a shadow. Before the shadow can get at Ged, Ogion returns and banishes it, saving the boy.

Still, Ogion realizes that Ged’s ambition would reach far beyond his home, and so he gives his student a choice: Ged can stay with Ogion to learn patience and humility through a modest life or go to a famed wizarding school on another island to accelerate his learning and chase the recognition Ged feels he deserves.

It’s a powerful moment and, despite Ged’s pride, isn’t an easy decision. Ged loves Ogion, but he chooses to forego his master’s instruction in favor of the wizarding school. This is a great example of a character rejecting what they need for what they want, and it sets Ged up to make a grave mistake.

Growing Power, Growing Pride

Once Ged arrives at school, he immediately makes a rival in an older student named Jasper. This meeting is not dissimilar to another pair of rivals that find themselves in a wizarding school in a different book series. Jasper is haughty, antagonistic, and looks down on Ged. It isn’t long before Ged makes it his mission to prove himself superior to his rival.

As a sidebar, the character of Jasper as an early antagonist is a great addition. He has the same character flaw as Ged (pride), but we as readers forgive Ged’s pride because we feel like Jasper is worse. It’s a clever bit of character work that keeps us in Ged’s corner even as he displays his own character flaws.

Years go by and Ged studies at the school, gaining a friend (a fellow wizard named Vetch) and a few admirers along the way. He proves to be well ahead of his studies, which only fuels his pride and confirms in his mind that he is equal to (or better than) the older Jasper. Jasper, though, will not recognize Ged’s skill and continues to belittle him. Each student has their own success, but neither are content with that—they need to see their rival humiliated.

The Shadow

This rivalry culminates during a festival, when Jasper provokes Ged. Ged’s pride does not allow him to refuse a challenge and he agrees to a duel of magic to prove once and for all who is the better wizard. Ged is determined to bring back a spirit of the dead—dangerous magic—and for a moment it seems like Ged will succeed. But the spell goes awry and instead Ged summons a creature from the ether—a living shadow.

The shadow attacks Ged, nearly killing him. Only the intervention of the Archmage, the headmaster of the school, saves Ged and forces the shadow to retreat. However, the Archmage dies in the effort.

A Change of Character

Following the shadow’s attack, Ged spends months healing. He bears physical scars from the attack, but his psychological scars run much deeper. He is consumed with the shame of his actions and unleashing the shadow’s evil on the world. His character is totally changed, no longer seeking recognition and fame. He even doubts his power, a far cry from the confident character we met early in the story.

Ged learns the lesson Ogion tried to teach him, but years too late. Because of this, Ged has loosed an ancient evil on the world that, as we find out, will never stop pursuing him—its desire to possess Ged and turn him into a tool of evil.

All this results in a remarkable change in Ged’s character. I would even argue that it serves as a complete character arc: Ged goes from proud and powerful to wounded and weak. A tragic arc resulting from his hubris.

But the story isn’t over! Not even halfway. Ged still has more to do and more to grow.

New Purpose

After recovering from the shadow’s attack, Ged is given the choice to take an assignment or remain at the wizarding school. Now, this isn’t a flippant decision. Ged is safe from the shadow at the school thanks to the mages there. But he takes the assignment in a backwater collection of islands to help the people there—a humble post if ever there was one.

On assignment, Ged serves the islands’ fishermen and their families as best he can, safeguarding against the dragons dwelling nearby. But despite his efforts to lead a modest, uneventful life, he soon receives troubling news: the shadow is seeking him, intent to possess him. The young wizard realizes that he cannot put the fishermen’s families at risk and sets off to evade the shadow—but not before taking care of the islands’ dragon problem.

Ged sails to the dragons’ lair. He comes face-to-face with a massive, monstrous dragon. The dragon is crafty, but Ged is able to gain power over it by guessing its “true name” (in Earthsea, knowing something’s secret name gives a sort of magical dominance over that thing).

What comes next is an act of true heroism and shows us the kind of man Ged has become. The dragon, at Ged’s mercy, offers to help Ged against the shadow—possibly the only way Ged could ever be free of his dark pursuer. Instead, Ged makes the dragon promise that it will not threaten the people of the islands, fulfilling his mission to protect the community he was sent to serve.

The Temptation of Power

However, without protection against the shadow, Ged is forced to flee. He travels to a far away land across the sea, but the shadow follows and attacks him. Ged barely escapes the shadow’s clutches and comes under the protection of an old king and his young bride.

The lady of the castle reveals herself to be Serret, the girl that challenged Ged to display his magical prowess all those years ago on their home island. Learning of Ged’s predicament, she urges him to use the power of a magical stone held within the castle to gain limitless knowledge and power—power enough to defeat the shadow.

This proves to be another test for our hero. A young Ged, before his fall, would surely have seized the stone, hoping to claim the power for his own. But an older, wiser Ged recognizes the stone for what it is—an object that harbors ancient and evil magic (a bit like the One Ring in Lord of the Rings, corrupting and enslaving all who seek to use it). Ged refuses Serret’s offer and is forced to flee once more, transforming himself into a falcon to make a swift escape.

Turning the Tide and Becoming Whole Again

In falcon form, Ged travels all the way back to his island and the home of his master, Ogion. The old mage nurses Ged back to health and learns of his old apprentice’s troubles. Ogion advises Ged to stop running and face the shadow, confident he can overcome it and become whole again. Ged still doubts his abilities, but finally agrees and leaves Ogion to hunt the shadow.

When Ged confronts the shadow, it flees from him. He pursues it across the seas, getting help from some unexpected sources, including his old friend Vetch from wizarding school. Ged chases the shadow over the waves to the ends of the earth and finally confronts it. Ged merges with the shadow, facing his failures and fears, and strips it of its power over him—healed and whole once more.

Two Character Arcs

Like I mentioned above, Ged has already gone through a character shift within the book’s first four chapters: from proud and powerful to wounded and weak. But by the end, he has made another shift, from wounded and weak to powerful and humble.

Through his experiences, Ged learns to serve others, even if that means he’s giving up what’s in his own best interest. He regained confidence in his abilities, but not the pride that had come with that confidence in his early years. And in a beautiful twist by Le Guin, the shadow that pursued Ged actually helped accelerate his character growth. He was forced to move to new places, helping people and overcoming challenges that he would have failed in his early years.

Finally, he developed the character that his master Ogion was trying to teach him from the start. The strength of character to wield magic well, in service of others. Ged took a hard road to get there, but isn’t that often true in life? By the end of A Wizard of Earthsea, our protagonist finally gets what he needs, and he and the world around him are better for it.

Conclusion: Ged, A Wizard of Earthsea

So that’s Ged’s character in A Wizard of Earthsea! If you haven’t read the book, I would strongly suggest you check it out. It’s a wonderful story, and the best kind of fantasy: the kind that can speak to the heart of readers, young and old.