A Wizard of Earthsea: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Ged wakes in a large bed upon a stack of mattresses. He is in a large room made of stone. From a nearby window, he can see the wintry moor outside. He is surprised to be alive. As Ged rises from the bed, he realizes that his otak is missing. He calls for it by its true name, but still, it does not come to him—he knows this means it is dead. He wonders what could have happened to it and finds that he cannot remember much about his struggle against the gebbeth. A door opens, and a young woman in fine clothing enters the room. She welcomes the wizard Sparrowhawk to her home.

Ged asks the woman where he is. She tells him that he is at the Court of the Terrenon, ruled by the lord Benderesk, who is the keeper of the precious stone called Terrenon. The woman introduces herself as Serret. She promises Ged that he is safe in their castle—the mighty stone walls will protect him from the thing that drove him here. Here, she tells him, he may find a new and different kind of strength as he heals. Serret takes Ged on a tour of the castle and introduces him to her elderly husband Benderesk. Ged senses something strange about the place and wonders whether he is here by chance or by fate. 

As the days pass in the cold, dreary palace, Ged finds himself full of sadness and shame. He feels he has disappointed all who have taught him so far: the Masters of Roke, the Archmages Gensher and Nemmerle, and Ogion, too. He is embarrassed about running away from his shadow yet again. He keeps mostly to himself, but occasionally takes walks through the halls with Serret. Soon a friendship grows between them and they talk more and more each day.

One afternoon, Ged asks Serret about the precious stone of Terrenon. Serret offers to show it to him. She leads him up to a high, empty tower and unlocks a large door with a special silver key. Ged stares in amazement as Serret unlocks two more doors in a long, winding hall, breaking through the final door with a whispered enchantment. As Ged peers into the small, dank room she has unlocked, he feels a sickness come over him. He spots the stone of Terrenon: it is rough and unshapen yet it possesses a great, dark power—the power of an “old and terrible spirit” imprisoned within it.

Serret tells Ged that the stone was made at the beginning of time itself—its infinite power allow it to answer any question asked of it. She invites Ged to ask it anything he wants, but he refuses to do so. Serret asks Ged if he is afraid of the stone, and he admits that he is. The stone, he explains, has the power to work terrible evil. Serret insists she’s touched the stone and spoken to it before, yet she has come to no harm. Serret abruptly leaves the room, and Ged follows her.

Ged does not sleep well that night. The next morning, he apologizes to Serret for offending her. Serret explains that there is nothing to be afraid of—she believes that he is the lone individual who can control the stone. The stone itself, she says, prophesized Ged’s arrival. Serret encourages Ged to use what is his for the taking: the power of the stone. Ged insists that the Old Powers are not for the use of men—he believes he is here by chance, not by fate. Serret, however, explains that the man who spoke to him in the streets when he arrived in the north was once a wizard, now a servant of the Terrenon, who brought Ged to the castle. Only darkness, Serret says, can defeat the shadow.

Ged says the only way he can defeat the shadow is to learn its true name. Serret says the stone can reveal that name. Though Serret quietly encourages Ged to give in and approach the stone so that they can rule the land together, Ged stands up and replies that it is light that defeats the dark—not more darkness. He realizes that he has fallen into a trap and is in danger of being bound to the Stone forever.

As Benderesk enters the hall, he reprimands Serret for being unable to bend Ged to their will—and the will of the stone. He calls his wife—addressing her as “woman of Gont”—a fool. Benderesk casts a Changing spell on Serret, transforming her into a hideous, sniveling beast. Ged reverses the spell. Serret grabs his hand and pulls him through the halls outside to a courtyard to make their escape before Benderesk unleashes the mysterious Servants of the Stone.

Outside, Ged leads Serret through the charmed gate, which is invisible to her, and out onto the moors. Ged at last recognizes Serret as the Gontish village girl, the daughter of the Lord of Re Albi—the girl who initially encouraged him to speak that horrible spell that loosed the shadow. Ged looks around nervously as they emerge onto the moor for any sign of the gebbeth or the shadow itself—instead, he spots the dead body of his otak preserved in the snow.

Serret urges Ged to change himself quickly—the Servants of the Stone are creeping forward from the castle. Serret transforms into a grey gull and flies away. Instead of changing himself, Ged transforms a blade of grass into a wizard’s staff and uses it to cast a spell that will drive the dark creatures away. Still, the winged creatures continue attacking Ged, while others fly after Serret. Ged transforms himself into a hawk and flies after them. When he catches up with them, he realizes they have already killed Serret. Ged flies out to sea, where the Old Powers, bound to the isle of Osskil, cannot follow him.

Ogion, who has been wandering the forests of Gont for a whole season, returns to his hut in Re Albi. The morning after his return, as he fetches water from a spring, he hears the scream of a hawk—moments later, the hawk alights on his wrist. The hawk looks directly at him. Ogion recognizes the hawk as something he once named. He brings the hawk home and offers it water, but it is too frightened to drink. After speaking a spell and saying Ged’s name aloud, the hawk transforms into a trembling, scarred young man dressed in fine silks. Ogion leads him to a pallet in the corner and helps him to lay down and rest.

Ogion knows that great dangers accompany the art of changing—the longer a person stays in their changed form, the greater risk they run of being unable to find their way back to themselves and forgetting their human identities entirely. While in hawk form, Ged’s instincts merged with the instincts of a hawk, and by the time he reached Ogion, he had lost the ability to return himself to his true form. Ogion knows he has saved Ged at the last possible moment.

In the morning, Ged wakes and apologizes to Ogion. He feels he has returned to him just as he left: as a fool. As snow begins to fall, Ged tells Ogion about the years that have passed since he left Gont, informing him about the battle he wages against his shadow. Ged tells Ogion he fears he has no power against it. Ogion points out the feats Ged has accomplished—but Ged attributes his survival to luck alone.

Ged tells Ogion that he needs the shadow’s true name to defeat it—but he believes it has none. All things, Ogion tells him, have a name, and Ged senses the certainty in Ogion’s voice. Ogion remarks how strange it is that the shadow knew Ged’s true name. Ogion gets lost in thought, but Ged assures his former master he will not stay long enough to bring the shadow to Re Albi—he will soon move on. Ogion warns Ged that there is no safe place in the world, and that he will only make himself more vulnerable by changing shape to try escaping it. Ogion tells Ged the only thing he can do is turn around and seek that which seeks him. He must become the hunter rather than the hunted.

Ged, Ogion points out, has already returned to Gont, the place where his journey began—now, he must seek the source of the shadow. Maybe at their third meeting, Ogion suggests, Ged will have the opportunity to defeat it. Ged thanks Ogion for being his “true master.” Ogion gets to work whittling Ged a new staff of yew-wood. Ged, still weary from his ordeal, sits quietly and watches and listens as Ogion forms the staff. At last, the staff is finished. Ged accepts it with gratitude. In the morning, when Ogion wakes, he finds that Ged is already gone. Ged has left Ogion a note which reads only, “Master, I go hunting.”