A glossary of people, places & objects in Earthsea

Now showing glossary items relating to inland regions, including valleys, forests, moors & marshes

Aol

Also known as: Forest of Aol

Forest of the island of Enlad. According to 'The Masters of Roke', in the east, though it's shown in the west in the map from Tales from Earthsea

Sources: The Masters of Roke, FS

East Creek

Region of Sattins island, presumably in the east

Sources: The Rule of Names, W12Q

East Forest

Region in the south-east of Gont, with several towns including Ovark and possibly Wiss; hilly and presumably at least partly forested

Sources: Warriors in the Mist, WoE

Eolg

Domain on Havnor Isle

Sources: The School for Wizards, WoE

Faliern Forest

Great forest in the interior of Havnor island, west of Samory, near villages of Endlane and Woodedge. Its trees include oaks. The Old Powers are said to be strong there

Sources: The Finder, TfE

Forest of Aol

See Aol

Grove, the

See Immanent Grove

High Marsh

High marshy grassy plain on the island of Semel south of Andanden, formed due to ash deposition from the last volcanic eruption; sparsely populated, major livelihood is cattle farming. The water isn't safe to drink without boiling, and marsh fever and murrain are common. Villages include Purewells

'South of Andanden lies a land where the ashes fell a hundred feet deep when last the volcano spoke. Rivers and streams cut their way seaward through that high plain, winding and pooling, spreading and wandering, making a marsh of it, a big, desolate, waterland with a far horizon, few trees, not many people. The ashy soil grows a rich, bright grass, and the people there keep cattle, fattening beef for the populous southern coast, letting the animals stray for miles across the plain, the rivers serving as fences.'

[On the High Marsh, TfE]

Immanent Grove

Also known as: Grove, the

Grove of trees on Roke, near Roke Knoll: 'the oldest trees in the world, and the source and center of magic'^a. Said to have been planted by Segoy, and considered to be a manifestation of the Old Powers; Kalessin referred to it as the forest that is at the centre. Said by Elehal to stretch '"As far as the mind goes"'^a, it is larger inside than out; Azver claimed that the roots of the trees 'mingled with the roots of all the forests that were or might yet be.'^b Though the outer trees are varied (including oak, willow, alder, chestnut, ash, hemmen, fir & other evergreens), the trees towards the middle are predominantly of a single type with no name in Hardic (arhada in the Old Speech, though in 'The Finder' each of the trees is said to have its own name), whose leaves have a hint of gold. There is always a faint light under the trees, and the Grove burns with a light like moonlight when the nine Masters of Roke meet there. The leaves of the trees are said to speak to those who know how to listen. Generally south west of the Great House of Roke, but appears to move location; actually, the Grove is stationary while the world moves around it. The paths and clearings within are never in quite the same place. Near its margins stands the Otter's House and the Thwilburn flows out of the Grove. Home of the Master Patterner; ordinary people, especially women, and novices are forbidden entry

Sources: The Rowan Tree, FS; The Finder, TfE (a); Dragonfly, TfE (b); Mending the Green Pitcher, OW; The Dragon Council, OW; Rejoining, OW

'There is no place for it on maps, and there is no way to it except for those who know their way to it. But even novices and townsfolk and farmers can see it, always at a certain distance, a wood of high trees whose leaves have a hint of gold in their greenness even in the spring. And they consider -- the novices, the townsfolk, the farmers -- that the Grove moves about in a mystifying manner. But in this they are mistaken for the Grove does not move. Its roots are the roots of being. It is all the rest that moves.'

'"If the Grove were cut, all wizardry would fail. The roots of those trees are the roots of knowledge. The patterns the shadows of their leaves make in the sunlight write the words Segoy spoke in the Making."'

'"You can walk and walk in their shadow, in their light, and never come to the end of them."/ "But is Roke so large an island?"/ … "The forests here on Gont Mountain are that forest," he said. "All forests are."'

[The Rowan Tree, FS/The Finder, TfE/Rejoining, OW]

Iria

Large, beautiful and formerly prosperous domain on the island of Way, with oak forests, hills and rich farming land, including vineyards. Divided between four families a hundred years before the events of 'Dragonfly' [TfE], and in decline

'That prosperity and the beauty of the meadows and upland pastures and oak-crowned hills made the domain a byword, so that people said "as fat as a cow of Iria", or "as lucky as an Irian." … But though the farmers and shepherds went on from season to season and year to year and generation to generation as steady and regenerative as the oaks, the family that owned the land altered and declined with time and chance. … By the time the girl called Dragonfly was born, the domain of Iria, though still one of the loveliest regions of hill and field and meadow in all Earthsea, was a battleground of feuds and litigation. Farmland went to weeds, farmsteads went unroofed, milking sheds stood unused, and shepherds followed their flocks over the mountain to better pastures.'

[Dragonfly, TfE]

Keksemt Moors

Large area of bleak rolling moorland in the interior of the island of Osskil, bounded by the Mountains of Os in the north and the coast around Neshum in the south; described as bare, brown and treeless. Though crossed by several tracks, it appears to lack habitations, apart from the Court of the Terrenon

Sources: Hunted, WoE; The Hawk's Flight, WoE

'…over the low brown hills that went on houseless and treeless and changeless, clear to the sunwashed winter sky.'

[The Hawk's Flight, WoE]

Long Fells

High sheep & goat pastures above Lissu and the Middle Valley on Gont

Sources: Home, T

Middle Valley

Lowland farming valley of the river Kaheda in the south of Gont. Its major town is the harbour Valmouth; other towns or villages include Lissu at the head of the valley, Kahedanan and Oak Village. As in other parts of southern Gont, herding cattle, goats and sheep is a major livelihood here

Sources: Frontispiece map, T; A Bad Thing, T; Mice, T; The Dolphin, T

'She pointed past the town, inland, where Middle Valley lay broad and sunlit between two arms of the mountain, like a lap. … "It's a pretty corner of your kingdom."'

[The Dolphin, T]

Northward Vale

Steep valley of the River Ar, in the north-east of Gont island, headed by Ten Alders village. The lower parts are farmed, with fields, orchards and cattle pastures; several towns lie on the river: Lotin, Medu, Chodur and Toss

Sources: Warriors in the Mist, WoE; Frontispiece map, T

'Below the village the pastures and ploughlands of the Vale slope downwards level below level towards the sea, and other towns lie on the bends of the River Ar…'

[Warriors in the Mist, WoE]

Old Iria

Area within the domain of Iria on Way, held by the Master of Iria. Includes a vineyard, pastures, oak woods, the half-ruined mansion house on Iria Hill and an unnamed village at its foot

Sources: Dragonfly, TfE

Trimmer's Dell

Also known as: Yaved

Small valley in the hills just inland of Gont Port on the island of Gont, on the fault line

'It was the place where the ridges parted, just inland from Gont Port, deep in the knot of hills above the city. It was the place of the fault. An earthquake centred there could shake the city down, bring avalanche and tidal wave, close the cliffs of the bay together like hands clapping.'

[The Bones of the Earth, TfE]

Wayfirth

Domain or place on the island of Way, ruled by the Lord of Wayfirth

Sources: Dragonfly, TfE

West Shore

Region of Sattins island, presumably in the west

Sources: The Rule of Names, W12Q

Western domain

Domain in the west of Havnor island, with hills covered with oak and chestnut forests. Contains the towns and villages of Glade, Reche & Easthill, and the river Amia. Ruled by the Lord of the Western Land

Sources: Darkrose and Diamond, TfE

Yaved

See Trimmer's Dell

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