Editing Earthsea (section)

== Influences ==

The ''Earthsea'' series, from 1968, was one of the first fantasy series [[Works inspired by Tolkien|influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien]].<ref>"Le Guin's Earthsea series, beginning with ''The Wizard of Earthsea'' (1968) is not only amongst the finest examples of post-Tolkien fantasy, it is explicitly and directly influenced by Tolkien himself." [[Adam Roberts (British writer)|Adam Roberts]], ''The Riddles of the Hobbit''. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. {{ISBN|1137373652}} p. 19</ref><ref>"For Le Guin, Tolkien is a major precursor...Le Guin also acknowledges the importance of Tolkien, whose ability to create a world she finds impressive."Susan M. Bernardo, Graham J. Murphy, ''Ursula K. Le Guin: A Critical Companion''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. {{ISBN|978-0313332258}} (pp. 92-93).</ref> Among the Tolkienian archetypes in the Earthsea books are wizards (including the protagonist, [[Ged (Earthsea)|Ged]]), a disinherited prince (Arren in ''[[The Farthest Shore]]''), a magical ring (the ring of Erreth-Akbe in ''[[The Tombs of Atuan]]''), a [[Quests in Middle-earth|Middle-earth style quest]] (in ''The Farthest Shore''), and powerful dragons (like the dragon of Pendor, in ''A Wizard of Earthsea'').<ref name="Paxson 1984">{{cite journal |last=Paxson |first=Diana |year=1984 |title=The Tolkien Tradition |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=11 |issue=1 |at=Article 19 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol11/iss1/19 }}</ref>

The Tolkien scholar [[John Garth (author)|John Garth]] writes that Tolkien's name appears to be hidden in the small amount of the Hardic language of Earthsea in ''The Wizard of Earthsea''. "Sea" is ''sukien'', from ''suk'', "foam", and ''inien'', "feather". "Rock", the material of earth, is "tolk", so, he suggests, the Hardic for "Earthsea" would be ''Tolkien'', for ''tolk + inien'' on the same pattern as ''sukien''. Garth suggests that this is a tribute to Tolkien, ''tolk'' being the first word of the "Old Speech" that she names, and the first to be handed down both by the Wizard Ged to Tenar in ''[[The Tombs of Atuan]]'', and by Tenar to her daughter in ''[[Tehanu]]''.<ref name="Garth 2021">{{cite web |last=Garth |first=John |author-link=John Garth (author) |title=Ursula Le Guin, the language of Earthsea, and Tolkien |url=https://johngarth.wordpress.com/2021/01/22/ursula-le-guin-the-language-of-earthsea-and-tolkien/#_ftn2<!-- WEBSITE of PUBLISHED AUTHOR--> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122223313/https://johngarth.wordpress.com/2021/01/22/ursula-le-guin-the-language-of-earthsea-and-tolkien/ |archive-date=22 January 2021 |url-status=live |publisher=John Garth |access-date=3 February 2021 |date=22 January 2021}}</ref>