Duty and Destiny Theme Analysis

In the world of the Earthsea archipelago, wizards and mages are bound by duty to use their gifts to help others in their home communities and beyond. After finishing his prenticeship (the word that denizens of Earthsea use in place of “apprenticeship”) at a school for wizards on the island of Roke, Ged finds himself torn between a sense of duty to fellowship, service, and good works carried out on small, unremarkable islands versus the larger pursuit of great deeds, heroism, and his own mortal struggle against the shadow creature that he unleashed upon the world while still in school. As the novel progresses and Ged comes to understand the true meaning of hard work and goodwill, Le Guin shows how while one may feel they are destined for greater things than rote duties, one can learn that living a life of responsibility to other people and service to one’s community is a heroic destiny in and of itself.

As she delves into Ged’s world, Le Guin shows how Ged must learn to see the beauty in his ability to offer his services as a wizard to his friends and neighbors rather than looking upon his destiny as a chore, a bore, or an imposition. While Ged is still a child known as Duny, he lives on a poor and isolated island where he learns charm work from his aunt, a local witch, and becomes versed in the uses of herbs, healing spells, and other minor helpful, protective enchantments. The root of Ged’s education is based in helping others to heal, grow, and stay safe. He comes to magic knowing that magic is a humble thing—its true purpose is not to bring one glory or renown, but rather to allow one to aid one’s community. In spite of Ged’s humble roots, as his skills with magic bring him more and more attention in his small community, he is told—and begins to truly believe—that he is destined for greatness. He begins to conceive of magic as a way to escape his unremarkable home, to make his mark on the world, and to become one of the greatest wizards ever to live. Ged’s hubris in his formative years ultimately leads him to pursue an education on the isle of Roke—but while there, Ged finds that the pursuit of power is not all it’s made out to be. After a terrible accident, in which Ged accidentally unleashes an evil shadow into the world, he begins reconsidering what his destiny might be—out of necessity, out of shame, and out of a deeper sense of self-understanding.

After his adventures in school on the isle of Roke, Ged is injured, humble, and wary of pursuing his former notions of a heroic destiny. Despite his former yearning for power and glory, Ged’s harmful and frightening act of hubris leads him to accepts a post on the poor, faraway island of Low Torning with grace and thankfulness. It does not even “enter his head that a wizard might be ashamed to perform such simple crafts.” Just a few years ago, Ged shirked the humble but essential practice of healing crafts and protective spells in pursuit of flashier, illusion-based magic that would allow him to demonstrate his might and prove that he was destined for greatness. Now, however, Ged has begun to see that duty to his fellow people may, in fact, be a great enough destiny for him. On Low Torning, Ged truly learns the value of serving others. Now a humbler, quieter version of the boy he once was, he quickly finds that the people of the island hold him in high regard as a former inhabitant of Roke, or “the Isle of the Wise”—yet the praise he garners and the attention he attracts make him uneasy and embarrassed. When he sets off for the island of Pendor to confront the young dragons who live there—dragons who will eventually fly eastward to wreak havoc on the poor, vulnerable Low Torning—Ged does not undertake the journey as a means of asserting his power, prowess, or skill as a wizard. He genuinely wants to serve the people of Low Torning by protecting them from any harm that might come their way. Throughout his encounters with the young dragons and their progenitor, Yevaud, Ged remains focused not on outsmarting the dragons, approaching their horde of gold, or matching them in battle: he focuses only on containing them to their isle, ensuring that they leave Low Torning be. This episode is proof of Ged’s realization that duty to others is a great destiny in and of itself. He does not need to use his encounter with the dragons to prove himself, to secure glory, or to begin spinning for himself another, grander destiny. Ged has accepted that his destiny as a wizard is to help others—and it is only after accepting that fact that he’ll begin performing the works that will bring him the renown he always sought. Though Ged’s power as a wizard brings him attention and the sense of pride he always longed for, he now knows that the only way to truly earn these things is to root his actions in a sense of service, duty, compassion, and humility.

Over the course of the novel, Ged transforms from an impatient, petulant boy who sees his gifts as a wizard worthy only for their abilities to bring him power, glory, and fame into a young man who appreciates the value of duty to one’s community and who understands the gravity of his destiny. Ged comes to see that his destiny to serve others is not mutually exclusive from a destiny in which he achieves greatness—and that, in fact, achieving the latter is not possible without fulfilling the former.