Erreth-Akbe

Erreth-Akbe is a fictional character in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea realm. He is introduced in A Wizard of Earthsea and is part of the historical back-story of the Earthsea novels.

Character Overview

Erreth-Akbe lived many centuries before the primary events that take place in the Earthsea novels. Erreth-Akbe was a famous hero and a great sorcerer, as well as counselor and good friend to King Maharion. Erreth-Akbe was a dragonlord, i.e. esteemed enough to be spoken to by dragons.

Biography

Erreth-Akbe gained undying fame when he fought and defeated the Firelord, a being of immense power who sought to conquer the lands of the inner sea and stop the sun at midday so there would be light unending.

In 440, he carried the Ring of Morred (later to be called the Ring of Erreth-Akbe) to King Thoreg of the Kargs, as a sign of peace between the Archipelago and the Kargad Lands. However, he found himself in the midst of a coup, organised by a Kargish High Priest, who broke the ring in half.

In 448, Erreth-Akbe fought the ancient dragon Orm on Selidor, the remotest island in the West Reach. The battle resulted in the death of both Orm and Erreth-Akbe.

Later, after Ged found half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, he met the dragon Orm Embar, descendant of Orm, on Selidor. Orm Embar told Ged the history of the ring half he carried. When Ged was an archmage, he met the ghost of Erreth-Akbe summoned by Cob, in the place where the hero died.

The dragons on Selidor and in the West Reach remember Erreth-Akbe and respect him. Ged later said of his meeting with Orm Embar:

"He thought it very funny that I hadn't known. Dragons think we are amusing. But they remember Erreth-Akbe; him they speak of as if he were a dragon, not a man."

References

• Le Guin, Ursula K. (1968). A Wizard of Earthsea (1st ed.). Berkeley: Parnassus.
• Le Guin, Ursula K. (1971). The Tombs of Atuan (1st ed.). New York: Atheneum.
• Le Guin, Ursula K. (1972). The Farthest Shore (1st ed.). New York: Atheneum.
• Manguel, Alberto (2000). The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0-15-100541-9.