The book that contained the source material for the Earthsea miniseries also had an additional book which was not covered in the miniseries. I wrote this review July 1, 2006:
The third book of the Earthsea Trilogy - The Farthest Shore - revolves mainly around the
character Arren, a prince from Enlad who has arrived at the Isle of
the Wise (where the wizards' school is located) to tell how magic is
draining from the lands. Ged is now Archmage and in his forties,
an `old man' from Arren's perspective. Much is made of how the
isles need a king to deal with such issues though the last king was
800 years past. Ged decided he must track down the trouble and
elects to take Arren with him. The pair sail through several
adventures, each demonstrating that the world of the living and the world
of the dead are drawing nearer. Still on their quest, Orm Embar,
the greatest living dragon, seeks Ged and requests his aid. Ged and
Arren sail to the distant isle of Selidor, supposedly on the edge of
the world. There they meet a wizard who has seemingly defeated
death and made himself immortal. In order to defeat him, Orm Embar
gives his life while Ged and Arren must chase the wizard into death
to undo the curse he has set upon the world. In order to win
immortality for himself, the wizard had torn a hole between life and
death, a hole through which all the magic from the living world was
draining, thus killing the world while not bringing life to the
dead. Ged mended the rent thus killing the wizard but in so doing
spent all his magic, leaving him just a man. Arren helped/carried
Ged back to the world of the living, thus fulfilling a prophecy for
the future king. The eldest of the dragons met them upon their
return to Selidor and flew the pair back to the Isle of the Wise,
where Arren was proclaimed the future king and Ged retired as
Archmage to live out his life on his home island of Gont.
Of the three books, this one showed itself as being written by a woman more clearly than the others. There was too much talk of Arren's love for Ged and vice versa. Constantly the reader is reminded of Arren's affection and devotion for the older man. He was excessively emotional though I guess that isn't too strange for a teenage boy. Also, Arren seemed rather dense at times, proving oblivious to Ged's efforts to track the source of the drain on the world's magic.
I don't know if anyone has printed a D20 World Supplement for Earthsea but it doesn't seem a good world for gaming, at least not what is seen in the books. Though we are told of Gontish pirates and Karg Raiders, they are on the fringes of the stories and mostly undeveloped. In the whole trilogy, we never meet a warrior character. All the great heroes of old were mages. Arren wore an enchanted sword that he drew many times but only used once, and that on the wizard who was immortal.
Of the three books, this one showed itself as being written by a woman more clearly than the others. There was too much talk of Arren's love for Ged and vice versa. Constantly the reader is reminded of Arren's affection and devotion for the older man. He was excessively emotional though I guess that isn't too strange for a teenage boy. Also, Arren seemed rather dense at times, proving oblivious to Ged's efforts to track the source of the drain on the world's magic.
I don't know if anyone has printed a D20 World Supplement for Earthsea but it doesn't seem a good world for gaming, at least not what is seen in the books. Though we are told of Gontish pirates and Karg Raiders, they are on the fringes of the stories and mostly undeveloped. In the whole trilogy, we never meet a warrior character. All the great heroes of old were mages. Arren wore an enchanted sword that he drew many times but only used once, and that on the wizard who was immortal.
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