Ged, also known by his use-name alias Sparrowhawk, is a wizard who was born at a village on Gont. His true name is Ged. He has a boat called Lookfar.
Ged is described in The Farthest Shore as "a short, straight, vigorous figure.... His face was reddish-dark, hawk-nosed, and seamed on one cheek with old scars." He carries a yew-wood wizard's staff of exactly his own height. As a student and young wizard, he had an animal familiar, a small mammal called an otak, native to southern isles such as Roke.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Ged was born in Ten Alders on Gont. His mother died when he was one year old, naming him Duny. His father was a bronze-smith and his only close family member. He had six much older brothers. One day at the age of seven, he saw his aunt, who was a witch, using spells, and he tried them out, but some goats chased him. His aunt saw him and decided to teach him more spells till he was twelve. Also the local weather wizard taught him. One day, Kargish forces attacked Gont, but Ged used magic to cloud the village in mist, which helped to defeat the invaders. This led the mage Ogion to come and name him and take Ged as his apprentice when he was 13 years old. While living with Ogion in Re Albi, a mysterious girl wanted to see Ged's magic, and after he showed her some, Ged looked in Ogion's spell-books for the spell she asked for. This spell nearly released a gebbeth, or shadow of evil.
The School for Wizards[]
Ogion caught him and gave him two choices, to go to the School for Wizards on Roke Island, or continue to be his apprentice. Ged travelled to Roke on a ship called Shadow (which was going south to Hort Town). At the school, he acquired a friendship with another student called Vetch and a competitive, pride-driven rivalry with Jasper. He also gained a pet otak by using its true name, Hoeg, in the Old Speech. One day, Ged was bragging to Jasper about his great magical power and told him of his power to bring back the dead. Jasper didn't believe him and told him to prove his ability. Out of his own foolish arrogance, he accepted. To show them he was not lying, Ged resurrected the lady Elfarran. When he had brought her back though, he had also released a shadow that then attacked him. The power of Archmage Nemmerle sent it away temporarily. The large power use eventually killed the archmage. Ged suffered serious injury, along with his distinguishing scars on his left cheek and was unconscious for several weeks. It took several seasons for him to recover fully, however his personality changed drastically. Once a proud, skillful boy is now a quiet, solemn student who was struggling to practice magic. He also learned that his friends Vetch and Jasper are now full pledged wizards, and Ged makes no more attempts to make friends. Vetch visits Ged and shares his true name. This encourages Ged to bring himself back up, appreciating the trust and friendship from Vetch. Ged tells his true name to Vetch as well, and he regained his spirit and vigor for magic once again. Ged becomes a full wizard that Spring.
Searching for the shadow[]
Ged was searching for the shadow! The quotation "The dark thing lurked ... waiting and watching Ged" implies that he fears the shadow to the centre of his being. Ged was sent to Low Torning by Archmage Gensher, to deal with the possible threat of young dragons that had made their home on the nearby island of Pendor. In Low Torning he befriended a boat maker called Pechvarry. Ged tried to save his dying son one night, but failed. During this event he realised the shadow was now searching for him and he grew apprehensive of it finding him and putting the locals in danger. Ged resolved to deal with the dragons and then leave. On Pendor, he met the dragon Yevaud after slaying six of his young sons and guessed his true name based on his studies on Roke. Ged used the name against him and in doing so, persuaded him to leave the people of Low Torning alone.
Unsure of where else to go next, Ged then attempted to return to Roke, but realised that protective spells around the island would not allow his return while the shadow pursued him. Learning of the stone of Terrenon, Ged traveled to Osskill but was lured into the wilderness by the shadow in gebbeth-form, he fled and was nearly caught by the shadow before he found his way to the Court of Terrenon. There a woman named Serret, lady of the castle, tempted Ged to use the stone of Terrenon to gain limitless knowledge and power, enough to name and defeat the shadow. Ged recognised that trapped within the stone was an Old Power of the world, a powerful, ancient, dangerous being. Ged escaped the castle with Serret, pursued by the stone's minions. Serret transformed into a seagull but was caught and killed, while Ged transformed into a falcon and flew all the way to Gont.
Ogion found Ged in falcon-form and helped him transform back into a man. He advised Ged to turn and face his shadow, rather than flee from it. Ged agreed and decided to hunt the shadow. He acquired a boat and headed out to meet the shadow at sea, the shadow then fled from him and he gave chase, but ended up stranded on a sand spit in open sea. After rebuilding his boat with spells, Ged continued his pursuit.
After reuniting with Vetch on the island of Iffish, Ged sailed with his friend far out into open ocean. Vetch feared they would sail off the edge of the world, but instead Ged arrived in death's kingdom. There he at last met and merged with the shadow, recognising it as part of himself and giving it his own name. Ged then rejoiced with Vetch, realising he had become whole again.
Quest for the Ring of Erreth-Akbe[]
While chasing the Shadow in A Wizard of Earth Sea, Ged was temporarily marooned on a tiny island with two elderly Kargish castaways, a brother and sister, with whom he could not communicate, since they didn’t speak the Hardic language of the Archipelago. Unbeknownst to him, they were Ensar and Anthil, the last descendants of the House of Thoreg, left for dead by the Kargish Godking. When Ged escaped, Anthil made him a present of her greatest treasure: half of a broken arm ring.
After defeating the Shadow, Ged began to wear the ring fragment on a chain around his neck because he found Anthil’s generosity touching. Years later, while speaking with the dragon Orm Embar on the far western island of Selidor, Ged learned that Anthil’s gift was a fragment of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, an ancient artifact that once belonged to the Kings of Earthsea. Centuries ago, while Erreth-Akbe was in the Kargish lands, the ring was broken, destroying the Rune of Peace that was carved inside it, a powerful magical symbol under which the ancient kings of Havnor united a large part of Earthsea under their wise a prosperous rule. The loss of the Rune plunged the Archipelago into chaos from which it still hadn’t fully emerged. One half of the broken ring was given to Tiarath, a daughter of King Thoreg, by Erreth-Akbe, and was apparently passed down, mother to daughter, through the generations to Anthil. The other half was captured by the Kargish High Priest and sent to the Tombs of Atuan as an offering dedicated to the Nameless Ones, an Old Power of the Earth which is worshipped by the Kargs as a god.
Ged was tasked by the princes of Havnor to travel to the Tombs and try to recover the missing half of the Ring, a journey shown in The Tombs of Atuan. After learning Kargish, he traveled to Atuan and was trapped in the Labyrinth of the Tombs by Arha, the seventeen-year-old First Priestess of the Nameless Ones. He was unable to free himself with magic, since it took all his power to escape detection by the ancient powers. Fortunately for Ged, Arha was curious about him. By restoring to Arha her forgotten true name, Tenar, he was able to gain her trust. They found the missing piece of the Ring in the Labyrinth, Ged made it whole again, as though it had never broken, by using a Patterning spell. Ged and Tenar escaped the Tombs just as they were destroyed by an earthquake caused by the Nameless One’s wrath, and traveled together to Havnor where they returned the restored Ring of Erreth-Akbe to the princes of Havnor.
Later life[]
Many years later, Ged was also made Archmage of Roke Island. Five years after this, Ged noticed that magic was losing its power. Together, he and Arren, a prince of Enlad, traveled to see what was causing it. Ged spent his powers during the attack, and went to live with Tenar on Gont.
Other Portrayals[]
The 2004 television adaptation of A Wizard of Earthsea and Tombs of Atuan cast Shawn Ashmore as Ged.
Ged in Tales from Earthsea
The 2006 Studio Ghibli film Tales from Earthsea, Ged is played by Bunta Sugawara in the original Japanese and Timothy Dalton in the English dub.