Karg

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This article is about the people in Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books. For the Masters of the Universe character, see Karg (Masters of the Universe).

The Kargs are a fictional people in Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea book series.

The Kargs live in the Kargad Lands, four large islands in north-eastern Earthsea. Unlike the majority of the inhabitants of Earthsea, who have dark skin and hair, the Kargs have fair skin and blond hair.

Within the context of the nonindustrial civilization of Earthsea, the technological level of Karg society is high, having a strongly militaristic and urbanized culture. The Kargs are skilled sailors, fishers and farmers. Somewhat anomalously, their literacy level is very low: one Kargish character remarks that writing is "one of the black arts." In this respect the Kargish society somewhat resembles that of the Inca.

The Kargs have a different religion from the people of Earthsea. They are ruled by an (apparently mortal) Godking, but the principal deities of their religion are The Nameless Ones, to whom an entire subterraean labyrinth on Atuan is dedicated. These Nameless Ones are inarticulate, sentient, sapient manifestations of Earth's more malevolent aspects; they are symbolized by darkness and hunger. In many respects they are similar to Kami, or to Brenin Llwyd.

On his travels, Ged ventured into this labyrinth, meeting the Karg priestess Tenar, who had dedicated her entire life to serving The Nameless Ones. Ged showed Tenar that although The Nameless Ones were real, the cult centered around them was a folly, and so they escaped the labyrinth and returned to Earthsea.

The Kargs were greatly feared by the people of Earthsea for their piratical raids on the East Reach, but subsequently a peace was reached, giving rise to some trade and commerce between the peoples.

Magic was once anathema to the Kargs, and the use of magic among the people of the Archipelago was taken as proof of their wickedness - anyone in the Kargad lands suspected of being a "sorcerer" was put to death. During the period of peace it appears that the taboo against magic was relaxed: a few Kargs came to study magic at Roke, including the Master Patterner during Ged's tenure as Archmage.

[edit] The Kargad Lands-Geography

The Kargad Lands consist of four large islands to the northeast of Havnor. Though they lie outside of the Archipelago itself, they do not belong to either the East nor the North Reach. The total land area of the Kargad Lands is about 4750 square miles (12160 sq. km), which is slightly more than the total land area of the Pacific island country of Vanuatu.

Karego-At: The most important island in the Kargad Lands, it contains the capital, Awabath. It is the second-largest island in the Kargad Lands (1355 sq. mi/3470 sq. km).

Hur-at-Hur: The largest of the Kargad Lands. It has large forests, mountains and also slightly bestified dragons. Its size is 2520 square miles (6450 sq. km), about twice the size of the Balearic isle of Mallorca.

Atuan: One of the smaller Kargad islands, but one of the most important. It contains the Place of the Tombs of Atuan, which is the setting for most of the Earthsea book The Tombs of Atuan. A large part of Atuan is desert. One of its cities is called Tenecbah.