The Last Dragon of Earthsea

Ursula Le Guin’s original Earthsea trilogy was published between 1968 and 1972. Sequels have since been published at long intervals, first Tehanu in 1990, then The Other Wind (together with a volume of short stories, Tales from Earthsea) in 2002. This essay argues that each of these additions has retrospectively “rewritten” the earlier books, replacing the accepted original trilogy by a different one, to which the first two books are prequels. Major revisions include the displacement of the principle of ‘balance and equilibrium’ by that of change, the introduction of feminist perspectives, a movement from supernatural to secular and domestic power, altered status for both wizards and dragons, and above all a radical change in attitudes to death and immortality.