Monday, April 2, 2012

I'm Back

Not a lot to say, but I'm back. Have a magic sword:
His father had given him that sword on the eve of his departure from Enlad. He had received it solemnly and had worn it, as if it were a duty to wear it, even aboard ship. He was proud of the weight of it at his hip, the weight of its great age on his spirit. For it was the sword of Serriadh who was the son of Morred and Elfarron; there was none older in the world except the sword of Erreth-Akbe, which was set atop the Tower of the Kings in Havnor. The sword of Serriadh had never been laid away or hoarded up, but worn; yet was unworn by the centuries, unweakened, because it had been forged with a great power of enchantment. Its history said that it never had been drawn, nor ever could be drawn, except in the service of life. For no purpose of blood-lust or revenge or greed, in no war for gain, would it let itself be wielded.
-Ursula K. LeGuin, The Farthest Shore
During my hiatus I've been reading some of the Earthsea books. I wonder why no one ever seems to talk about them in the OSR.

3 comments:

  1. The Earthsea books are some of my favorite fantasy novels. A Wizard of Earthsea would rank in my top ten. The Farthest Shore is pretty good too. The Tombs of Atuan also has some very nice megadungeon inspiration. I still don't think I have read Tehanu though.

    I remember seeing a Dragon Magazine article with stats for Ged (they were ridiculous).

    Studio Ghibli did an anime interpretation of the series. It plays fast and loose with the plots, but I enjoyed it and felt like it captured the spirit of the world pretty well.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0495596/

    I never bothered to watch the Sci-Fi channel live action version because apparently Le Guin hated it.

    http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2004/12/a_whitewashed_earthsea.html

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  2. I came to the stories a little later in life but love them. I think The Farthest Shore is one of, if not the source for the D&D lich. It's different than the fairy tale undying wizards in a darker way.

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  3. I like the Earthsea books, but I think it would be hard to recreate the tone of them in a gaming session. One of the challenges of gaming is that it's much easier to recreate the tone and style of mediocre fiction because the writer's voice is less distinctive and less demanding.

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