Young Prince Arren begins his journey into adulthood when he starts to admire the wizard Ged. This marks the moment he dedicates himself to adult matters: love, honor, wisdom, and danger. He also commits himself to a quest, joining Ged in the mission to restore a crumbling world. From this point, Arren starts evolving into the prince destined to fulfill the prophecy of becoming the first king in eight hundred years to rule all of Earthsea peacefully. The prophecy foretells that this future king must "cross the dark land living and come to the far shores of the day." This involves traversing the dry land of the dead, passing the stone wall that leads into it, and overcoming the mountains of pain that lead out. Typically, only a mage can reach and return from this place, as the journey involves spiritual and physical movement. It remains uncertain if this "place" truly exists in a physical sense. While crossing this landscape holds multiple meanings, a significant one for Arren is confronting and overcoming the despair of acknowledging his mortality.

During his passage through this dark land, Arren gains insights into the powers and boundaries of magic, learns when to take action versus when to reflect, and discovers his own strengths and weaknesses. A key lesson involves understanding the nature of evil. Ged teaches him, in various ways, that evil is a web woven by people's choices and actions.

The worldview permeating Le Guin's work, a fusion of Jungian psychology and Taoism, is apparent in her earliest writings. In her essays, particularly 'The Child and the Shadow," Le Guin explores Carl Jung's psychological theories' influence on her thinking. Literary critics have examined her use of Taoism, especially the Tao Te Ching, which contains teachings attributed to Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher. She discusses this philosophical aspect in her essay "Dreams Must Explain Themselves." Although these ideas often underpin her stories, they rarely intrude. Readers can enjoy Le Guin's works purely as fantastical entertainment. However, the intellectual foundation allows her stories to achieve a psychological and philosophical depth rarely found in the genre.

In Earthsea's Taoist world, evil is not a part of creation. The world maintains a balance between creation and destruction, between being and nonbeing. Evil arises solely from human actions that disrupt this balance. Humanity's role is to keep the balance by fostering order and beauty, enabling people to lead reasonably happy lives and fulfill their natural destinies. When individuals seek to serve themselves by embracing nonbeing, evil ensues.

This perspective on evil becomes particularly significant when Arren, in his dreams, starts to be drawn in by the magician Cob's promise of eternal life. Enticed by Cob's offer, Arren feels despair about his inevitable death. However, deep down, he understands that the promise is hollow. To achieve immortality, he would need to forfeit his very essence. Arren would have to relinquish his secret name, which represents his core identity, to attain immortality. In doing so, he would lose his individuality.

Ged explains that it is only natural for humans to long for immortality. Humanity favors existence over oblivion, so why would people willingly accept death? Indeed, only those who have fallen prey to Cob's offer actively seek to die. Ged emphasizes that true happiness and meaning in life come from serving existence. He also teaches that death gives life its significance, as life's brevity unites humanity in the pursuit of creating order and beauty.

Ged, Arren, and Cob are the central figures in this narrative. At the peak of his abilities, Ged serves as a wise mentor and a...