The Tombs of Atuan
First edition cover (hardcover, second state, with the Newbery Honor)
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| Author | Ursula K. Le Guin |
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| Cover artist | Gail Garraty |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Earthsea |
| Genre | Fantasy novel, Bildungsroman |
| Publisher | Atheneum Books |
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Publication date
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1971 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 163 (first edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 11659281 |
| Preceded by | A Wizard of Earthsea |
| Followed by | The Farthest Shore |
The Tombs of Atuan is a young adult fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the Winter 1970 issue of Worlds of Fantasy and published as a book by Atheneum in 1971. It is the second book in the series commonly called the Earthsea Cycle. The events of The Tombs of Atuan continue the story of Ged, a wizard introduced in the previous novel, A Wizard of Earthsea. The Tombs of Atuan was a Newbery Honor Book in 1972.
Like A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan is a coming-of-age story. The story is told from the perspective of Tenar (also called Arha), a young priestess who traps Ged in a labyrinth. Tenar is often considered a female counterpart to Ged, and the two characters can be said to represent "male" and "female" comings of age. Tenar would be the subject of the later book Tehanu.
The story centers on a Kargish child, taken from her family and dedicated as the high priestess in the service of the "Nameless Ones" on the island of Atuan. Her name is Tenar, but she is renamed Arha, "the eaten one", when formally consecrated to the gods' service at age six, as all the high priestesses are considered reincarnations of the first.
Arha's youth is a contrast between childish escapades and dark rituals. Her only friends are the eunuch Manan and Penthe, a young priestess her own age. Gradually she comes to accept her lonely role, and to feel at home in the unlit underground labyrinth, the eponymous Tombs, where the malevolent, powerful Nameless Ones dwell and where prisoners are sent to be executed. As Arch-Priestess, Arha is made complicit in the evil system and orders prisoners who are sent by the God-Emperor to be killed slowly by starvation – a cruel act which is to haunt her in later life. As she becomes aware of the political conflicts between the older priestesses Thar and Kossil, the Tombs become a refuge to her, as she is the only one permitted to move freely through the labyrinth beneath them. After Thar dies, Arha becomes increasingly isolated: although stern, Thar had been fair to her. Now only Arha and Kossil remain; Kossil despises Arha and sees the Nameless Ones' cult as a threat to her power.
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