The Tombs of Atuan - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

The story centers on a Kargish child who is taken from her family and dedicated as the high priestess in the service of the "Nameless Ones" on the island of Atuan. Her true name is Tenar, but she is renamed Arha, "the eaten one", when she is formally consecrated to the gods' service at age six, as all the high priestesses are considered reincarnations of the first.

Arha's youth is a haunting contrast between lighthearted childish escapades and dark, solemn rituals. Her only true friend is the eunuch Manan who cares for her. Gradually she comes to accept her lonely, anonymous role, and to feel at home in the unlit underground labyrinth, the eponymous Tombs, where the malevolent, powerful Nameless Ones dwell, and where prisoners are sent for a slow death. Indeed, as she becomes aware of the political machinations among the older priestesses Thar and Kossil, the Tombs become a refuge to her, as she is the only one who may freely move through the labyrinth under them. When Thar dies, Arha becomes increasingly isolated, as although she was stern, Thar was fair to her. Now there is only Arha and Kossil, who despises Arha and her cult as rivals to Kossil's power.

The numbing routine of Arha's world is dramatically disrupted when she is fifteen years old by the arrival of Ged, the protagonist of A Wizard of Earthsea. He comes to the Tombs in order to find the long-lost half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, a magical talisman necessary for peace in Earthsea, which had been broken centuries before. (The other half came into his possession entirely by chance, and it took a dragon to inform him what it really is.) Arha finds him wandering, lost in the magic-laced labyrinth, and traps him underground to die in order to punish what she sees as sacrilege. She goes back and forth in her mind as to whether she should kill him. Yet in her loneliness, she is drawn to him and listens as he tells her of the outside world. Arha spares Ged's life and keeps him prisoner in the tombs, bringing him food and water. However, she is unable to keep it a secret indefinitely, and the priestess Kossil learns of Ged's existence. Now Arha is trapped into promising that Ged will be sacrificed to the Nameless Ones. She realises that she cannot go through with killing Ged and instructs Manan to dig a false grave underground, while she takes Ged to hide in the treasury of the tombs where only she is allowed to go.

By now Arha's relations with Kossil have deteriorated to the point of no return and they have a public falling out in front of the subordinate priestesses. Kossil tells her openly to her face that no-one believes in the Nameless Ones anymore and that Arha is only a powerless figurehead. The real power lies with her, Kossil, as the priestess of the Godking. In response Arha curses her in the name of the Nameless Ones. After her anger has cooled Arha realises that Kossil will now be determined to kill her, and that no-one can stop her. She heads underground to the labyrinth to think, and is horrified to find Kossil uncovering the fake grave, and desecrating the tombs by using a light. She heads for the treasury where Ged is kept prisoner, and in her desperation, confesses everything to him.

In the meantime while prisoner there Ged has discovered what he came to find - the other half of Erreth-Akbe's ring. He begs Arha to abandon her role as priestess and escape with him from the tombs. Arha is eventually won over by Ged's kindness. She realizes that the Nameless Ones demand her service, but give nothing and create nothing in return. Ged must expend his strength continually on hiding himself from the Nameless Ones, as they would kill him if they detected his presence. Realising that she has no future in the tombs Arha renounces her role as priestess and reverts to calling herself by her original name Tenar. She helps Ged escape from the Tombs with the other half of the ring, as he frees her from the priesthood. The Tombs fall in upon themselves as Tenar and Ged escape. Ged brings her with him back to Havnor where they are received in triumph, and the reunited ring of Erreth-akbe ushers in a new era of peace to Earthsea.