The Kargad Lands or the Kargad Empire is a group of arid islands in the far east of Earthsea. Unlike most people in Earthsea, its people are light skinned. They also have light to dark hair and brown to blue or grey eyes. They are isolated from the rest of the world, its interactions with it mostly negative. They view the outside world as accursed sorcerers, while the people of the Archipelago think of them as xenophobic raiders. However after the events of The Tombs of Atuan they stop raiding due to the mending of the Ring of Ereth-Akbe and have gained diplomatic ties to the rest of Earthsea by the events of The Other Wind.
Islands[]
History[]
The Kargad Lands were the eastern-most lands humanity came to after dragons and men split. Some dragons remained in Hur-at-Hur, but they lacked the sapience of their western kin. According to A Description of Earthsea, the early history of the Kargad Lands is hidden by legend. At least two hundred tribes, city-states and and small kingdoms fought and allied with each other over the centuries.
The islands were united by religion. Hundreds of Truce Places dotted the islands, where even the most violent of tribes would not fight. These places were often locations where the Old Powers of the Earth resided. The worship of these entities defined the lives of the Kargish people, the forms of which varied wildly and was open to all. The greatest of these places were the Tombs of Atuan, which maintained constant pilgrimage till very recently.
This all changed with the ascendance of the worship of the Twins Gods and the God-King. The Twin Gods, Atwah and Wuluah, began as the deification of two heroes from Hur-at-Hur. Six or seven hundred years before the events of A Wizard of Earthsea, a development of their worship including a new sky god spread across the islands. A priestly class developed to observe his rites, taking over public ceremonies.
The centralization of the priests led them to ally with the Kings of Hupun on Karego-At. Within a century they had conquered the whole of the Kargad Lands. However over the years the priests of the Twin Gods began to seek political as well as religious powers over the islands from their capital of Awabath, fifty miles away from Hupun.
Around the year 440 of the Hardic calendar, the wizard Erreth-Akbe came to make peace with the Kargad Lands in light of their disastrous attacks on the Inner lands. As a token of peace given by Queen Mother Heru, he offered them a bong ring which had been held by the kings of Earthsea since the dawn of history. The Kargish King, Thoreg, gladly accepted the offer of peace due to the recent loss of his fleet and agreed to withdraw from conquered territory so long as King Maharion did not retaliate.
However the high priest Intathin forbade any agreement with their enemies. He challenged Erreth-Akbe to a duel in magic. However it is unclear how he did so, since the Kargs forbade magic. Likely Intathin lead Erreth-Akbe to a place where his powers would be nullified, as said in the Deed of Erreth-Akbe:
the weakness of the old darkness came into Erreth-Akbe's limbs,
the silence of the mother darkness into his mind
Long he lay, forgetful of bright flame and brotherhood,
long, and on his breast lay the rune-ring broken
Intathin took his stolen half of the ring and offered it to the Tombs of Atuan. Erreth-Akbe was only saved when the daughter of King Thoreg broke his trance or imprisonment spell. In thanks he gave her the remaining half of the ring before leaving for the Inner Lands. It would remain in her family for over five hundred years. However the House of Hupun had lost all its power and served only as a puppet to the new Priest Kings of Awabath.
In the year 840, one of the Priest Kings poisoned the other and declared himself the incarnation of the Sky Father, the God King. All were commanded to worship him, though worship of the Twin Gods and the Old Powers continued,, though not endorsed. The God-King raided Hupun to remove the previous line of kings from the equation. Unwilling to spill royal blood, the God-King instead abandoned the last two heirs of Thoreg on a desert island. Their names were Prince Ensar and Princess Anthil, The former only being eight or ten and the latter only a baby. Within Anthil's clothing and toys was the broken half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, still with their family after all this time. And so they would sit on this island for decades.
Books[]
A Wizard of Earthsea[]
In the time of A Wizard of Earthsea the Kargad Empire is described as strong. It sent raiding parties to Torheven and the Torikles. A year later it invaded Spevy, enslaving its population. They ten turned their attention to the island of Gont. The Lords of Gont had failed to prepare despite the recent raids because they were too busy with their own piracy. So the Kargish warriors quickly raided East Port and up the River Ar, burning orchards and fields. They met their match at the village of Ten Alders, where they were confused by an enchanted mist sent by a young boy named Duny, later known as Sparrowhawk. The raiders fled, but found themselves caught between retaliatory forces from the East Forest and their burnt ships. They were killed to the last man upon the beaches of Gont.
Several years later Sparrowhawk, or Ged, was hunting for the Shadow he loosed upon the world. However it tricked him and he shipwrecked on a desert island. There he encountered the long banished Ensar and Anthil. They didn't learn each other's names because of their language barrier. However after spending a few days with them Anthil gave Ged her half of the Ring. Not knowing what it was, he accepted merely as a gift given to him by someone who had very little. He offered to take them to a bigger island but they refused. Instead he enchanted their spring to give freshwater. So when the elderly siblings finally passed on and all trace of them vanished, sailors knew it as Freshwater Isle.
The Tombs of Atuan[]
The novel The Tombs of Atuan mostly takes place on the island of Atuan, specifically within the titular Tombs of Atuan. Arha, once named Tenar, was taken from her family to become the High Priestess of the Nameless Ones at the Tombs. Throughout her youth she becomes dissatisfied with her position, especially with her lack of power compared to Kossil, high priestess of the God-King. When she was fifteen, the wizard Sparrowhawk came searching for the other half of the ring of Erreth-akbe after being told by the dragon Orm Embar the pendant he gained from Anthil years prior was its long missing half. Sparrowhawk restored Tenar's name and identity to her and together they escaped the Tombs and the Nameless Ones attempted to kill them. The Temple of the Nameless Ones was destroyed, likely with Kossil in it, but the rest of the complex remained intact. They travelled past the Western Mountains with the restored Ring and brought it back to Havnor Great Port.
The Farthest Shore[]
Little is mentioned of the Kargad Lands in the Farthest Shore aside from how the restoration of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe stopped their raids.
Tehanu[]
While the Kargad Lands are not seen in Tehanu, its main character Tenar is from there and thinks about her time there through out the novel.
Tales From Earthsea[]
The history of the Kargad Lands is given in A Description of Earthsea.
The Other Wind[]
In the timeskip between Tales From Earthsea and The Other WInd, the God-King was overthrown by Thol of Hur-at-Hur. Declaring himself a descendant of Thoreg and the god Wuluah, he quickly conquered Hur-at-Hur and Atnini before turning his attention to Karego-At. The God-King was overthrown by the people of Awabath and fled to Atuan. Thol was accepted into the city with celebration. In the Tombs of Atuan the God-King's throat was slit by one of his own preist-eunuchs.
Thol spent the next five years trying to keep control over his fractured realm. During this time he was contacted by the newly crowned King of Earthsea, Lebannen, who had been trying to open diplomatic connections with God-King for years. Initially indifferent due to the theft of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, King Thol then decided to send his daughter Seserakh to be married to him. Lebannen discreetly refuses as he believes Thol is after his throne. This is not helped by Seserakh's unfamiliarity with Hardic language and customs. But with the help of Tenar teaches Seserakh and helps her get to know Lebannen. So they fall in love and are married with Elfarren's Ring, allying the Kargad Lands with the Western Lands for the first time.