The Tombs of Atuan shares elements of the story of a heroic quest with other Earthsea novels, but subverts some of the tropes common to the genre of fantasy at the time, such as by choosing a female protagonist, and a dark-skinned leading character. Whereas the two men grow into socially approved roles, Tenar rebels and struggles against the confines of her social role. Tenar, who became the subject of Le Guin's fourth Earthsea novel, Tehanu, has been described as a more revolutionary protagonist than Ged, or Arren, the protagonist of The Farthest Shore (1972), the third Earthsea volume. The Tombs of Atuan explores themes of gender and power in the setting of a cult of female priests in service to a patriarchal society, while providing an anthropological view of Kargish culture.
Tenar's coming-of-age is closely tied to her exploration of faith and her belief in the Nameless Ones. Like A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan is a bildungsroman that explores Tenar's growth and identity. Through him she learns more of the outside world, and begins to question her faith in the Nameless Ones and her place at the Tombs. Tenar traps him in the labyrinth under the Tombs, but then rebels against her teaching and keeps him alive. Her world is disrupted by the arrival of Ged, the protagonist of A Wizard of Earthsea, who seeks to steal the half of a talisman buried in the treasury of the Tombs. Her existence at the Tombs is a lonely one, deepened by the isolation of being the highest ranking priestess.
Set in the fictional world of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan follows the story of Tenar, a young girl born in the Kargish empire, who is taken while still a child to be the high priestess to the "Nameless Ones" at the Tombs of Atuan. The Tombs of Atuan was a Newbery Honor Book in 1972.
It is the second book in the Earthsea series after A Wizard of Earthsea (1969). Le Guin, first published in the Winter 1970 issue of Worlds of Fantasy, and published as a book by Atheneum Books in 1971. The Tombs of Atuan / ˈ æ t uː ɑː n/ is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K.
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