Philip

I was pondering over the storyline to Gedo Senki/Tales from Earthsea by Miyazaki Goro while reading The Other Wind (book 6 in the Earthsea series) when I came across Ursula Le Guin’s response to the film being made. Best people read it for themselves here, in short probably the same sort of response I’d make having seen the film.

What’s interesting is that the film is more like a mutant version of The Farthest Shore mixed in with Shuna no Tabi (by Miyazaki Hayao), certain elements are the same such as Téa vs Therru, the parts where Ged walks into the deserted ship and steps on some bones, the llama (?) chase through the desert. You can peruse the start of Shuna no Tabi here to see what I mean. It just seems a shame since the Earthsea two-parter was shocking, it appears that the rush to get stuff on film means quite a few author rights and privileges are trampled over.

Anyhow, back to The Other Wind. Interesting stuff as it continues on from where Tehanu/Gedo Senki left off (almost) 15 years later where dragons are razing the countryside and a lone wizard has recurring dreams of The Dry Land in The Other Wind (essentially, a desolate place in an alternate reality where the dead are after their bodies pass away from The Farthest Shore). Meanwhile King Arren/Lebannen is saddled down with the High Princess of the Kargs (magic-free Eastern Earthsea people) with the imminent prospect of being married while Tenar and Tehanu are with him investigating the dragon problem.

Worth reading, similar to the Hyperion Cantos where what’s supposedly good and ignorance is bliss isn’t always so…