This is my screenplay adaptation of Ursula Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan, the second book of her MG/YA Earthsea Trilogy. In it, I try not just to make a good movie of the story, but to do it in accordance with the shift in values that Le Guin undertook in her later, grownup, Earthsea novels.
I don’t hold the adaptation rights to the book, so this is purely non-commercial fan fiction, grist for discussion by lovers of Earthsea. What might The Tombs of Atuan have looked like had Le Guin written it at the end, rather than at the beginning, of her Earthsea evolution?
I’ve written notes about the cinematic and thematic alterations I made to the story, but will place them below, after the screenplay itself, so you can choose to read them either before or after the screenplay.
The Tombs of Atuan has haunted my imagination for decades. Ever since I first read it as a teenager, I’ve imagined scenes of the movie that might be. Seventeen years ago in a writing workshop, I took a screenwriting class and wrote the first draft of my Atuan. I’ve been working on it off and on ever since.
I recently submitted it to a few screenplay competitions, just to get a sense of how good it was. It made finalist in the BLASTOFF Film Festival and semi-finalist in the International Indie Film & Screenplay Festival and the Outstanding Screenplays Feature Competition.
I hope you’ll enjoy my rethinking and cinematic rendering of this powerful story.
The Tombs of Atuan
FADE IN:
EXT. SELIDOR BEACH – MIDDAY
A solo CELLO plays the QUESTING THEME (wistful, wandering phrases, tentative and exploratory).
SELIDOR is a rocky island rimmed by sparkling sand. At one end of a beach, something wreathed in smoke hovers above a small figure holding up a staff against it.
The Cello transitions into a ragged, intense version of the RUNNING THEME: complex arpeggios.
GED, a wiry 20-year-old man with medium-dark, reddish-brown skin and sharp features, stands amidst swirling churned-up sand, staff raised against the whirlwind of smoke and sound of enormous wingbeats above him.
The dragon ORM EMBAR speaks in a deep and smoky voice.
ORM EMBAR (O.S.)
Yuventi kah senvani?
(laughs)
Thessa kelindan Erreth-Akbe!
The Cello goes into a single, long-fading note, as the tumult subsides with a whoosh of takeoff. Ged stands on a barren beach. Around his neck hangs half of a broken bronze armband with shapes cut out of it, and he holds it up beside the distant sight of the departing dragon.
EXT. TEMPLE – DUSK
THAR, a 70-year-old woman with a kind and serene face, dressed in a black robe, leads a solemn procession along a road. Four guards carry a sedan chair behind her containing YOUNG TENAR, a six-year-old girl wearing a simple farm dress and looking despondent.
Several ACOLYTES, girls in white robes aged 12-18, follow, and then more guards (lightly armed men in leather and cloth), and then KOSSIL, a 50-year-old woman in a black robe with a bitter look and manner.
All are darker skinned than Ged, with more rounded features.
The group turns up a path to the TEMPLE, which looms before them in the twilight. They halt at the front door, which has a labyrinth symbol carved into it.
THAR
We’re home.
Thar opens the door, which also has the labyrinth carved on its inside, and everybody except the guards enters.
INT. TEMPLE – MOMENTS LATER
The Temple is a place of shadows and echoes lit by torches at night, and during the day by the faintest sunlight filtering down from high unseen windows.
There are no ground-level windows or interior doors.
The group exits the foyer and moves down a couple of long halls and enters the Throne Room.
INT. THRONE ROOM – MOMENTS LATER
A high throne faces a stone altar. Twelve candle stands with lit candles surround the altar. Fountains sound in the darkness.
The Acolytes, Kossil, and MANAN, a soft and fleshy middle aged eunuch with a fretful and deferential manner, position themselves on either side of the altar.
Thar guides Young Tenar to the foot of the altar, in front of the throne.
THAR
She who never left us has returned.
She who can never die is reborn.
She who serves the Nameless will be named.
Thar nods to Young Tenar. Young Tenar does not react. Thar raises Young Tenar’s arms and then lifts off her dress, exposing whip marks on her back.
THAR (cont’d)
We take the life that was not yours.
We take the self you thought you were.
We take the name you will forget.
Thar lays the dress on the altar.
INTERCUT WITH SERIES OF FLASHBACKS:
FLASHBACK – EXT. WOODS – MORNING – 6 DAYS AGO
The Cello returns with a lighthearted version of the Running Theme at a low volume. Young Tenar, wearing the dress, runs through a sunlit wood. She bumps along across uneven terrain, laughing and almost tripping at times, crunching Autumn leaves.
MOTHER (O.S.)
Tenar!
Young Tenar keeps running.
MOTHER (O.S.) (cont’d)
Tenar!!
Young Tenar keeps running.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the first candle.
THAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – EXT. WOODS – MOMENTS AFTER LAST FLASHBACK
Young Tenar runs through the woods, as the Cello plays the Running Theme more loudly and insistently than before.
MOTHER
Tenar!!!
Young Tenar stops, as does the Cello, and glances behind her, worried.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the second candle.
THAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
Young Tenar is not responding.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – EXT. TENAR’S HOUSE – MINUTES AFTER LAST FLASHBACK
Young Tenar stands at the door of her house breathing heavily. She opens it. Inside, MOTHER and FATHER face Thar, Kossil, the Acolytes, and the guards. Everybody turns to Young Tenar.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the third candle.
THAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
The Acolytes recite dutifully but mechanically.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – INT. TENAR’S HOUSE – MINUTES AFTER LAST FLASHBACK
Thar examines Young Tenar’s face.
THAR
She is the one.
Mother collapses, wailing, into Father’s arms.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the fourth candle.
THAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
Manan utters his responses earnestly and fearfully.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – INT. TENAR’S HOUSE – MOMENTS AFTER LAST FLASHBACK
Young Tenar wails in Mother’s arms. Mother retreats with her into a corner of the room. Father hovers near them, looking uncertainly from them to Kossil and the guards.
MOTHER
You can’t have her! She won’t go with you! She’s ours!
FATHER
Omana, please! We promised! They’re priestesses of the Tombs.
Kossil strides over to them, flanked by two guards. A guard pulls Father away from Mother. Kossil strikes Mother across the face, knocking her sprawling to the ground. Father struggles in vain against the grip of the guard.
FATHER (cont’d)
Omana!
Kossil seizes Young Tenar by the shoulders. Young Tenar continues to cry. Kossil cocks an arm. Thar steps forward and lays a hand on Kossil’s shoulder. Kossil snorts and walks off.
Thar crouches before Young Tenar.
THAR
My name is Thar. That was Kossil. We are adjunct priestesses of the Tombs of Atuan, and we’ve come to help you.
You are not who you think you are. You are not what you feel yourself to be. You are the high priestess of The Tombs of Atuan, sole intermediary of the Nameless Ones. You have always been our high priestess.
You were reborn on the day your former self passed. Soon after, we found you. We’ve been receiving reports of your health and your growth. Your parents have been expecting our return.
Young Tenar turns in shock to look into her parents’ sorrowful faces.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the fifth candle.
THAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
Young Tenar glances at Manan. He smiles and nods tentatively.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – INT. TENAR’S HOUSE – MOMENTS AFTER PREVIOUS FLASHBACK
THAR
(to Mother and Father)
This is a great honor. She is Arha, the Devoured One. Before you and I were, she was. When you and I are dust, she will live on, eternally reborn. Her life is not of this place. Her place is with us. It is the will of the Nameless Ones.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
The will of the Nameless.
Thar nods to Mother. Mother glances at Kossil and then reaches for a doll and places it in Young Tenar’s hands.
The doll is fancier than anything else that can be seen in the house, but well worn by handling over time.
The Temple Party exits the house. After Thar has gone out the door and just as Young Tenar is about to, Kossil snatches the doll from her and flings it back at Mother.
KOSSIL
(to Mother)
She’s ours now.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the sixth candle.
THAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
Young Tenar looks toward Manan. He slips a wooden doll from within his robe, a crude hand-carved simulacrum actually a little Manan-like, and shows it to her invitingly.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – EXT. WOODS – DAY – 3 DAYS AGO
The Temple Party walks down a road, Thar beside the sedan chair with Young Tenar in it, followed by the Acolytes, more guards, and then Kossil.
THAR
(to Young Tenar)
I did not think I would live to see another high priestess born. I’m honored to reacquaint you once more with your temple and your duties.
They continue in silence.
THAR (cont’d)
The temple is a place of beauty and antiquity. You’ll find it large enough to contain the whole of your life. Many lives.
They continue in silence.
THAR (cont’d)
Beneath it lies the greatest wonder of all: the Labyrinth, the domain of the Nameless Ones. Your domain. Though Kossil and I may enter, only you may commune therein with the Nameless Ones, learning their ancient wisdom, receiving their perfect guidance.
They continue in silence.
THAR (cont’d)
You will see. You will learn. You will relearn all that you were, all that you forever will be.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the seventh candle, noticing for the first time that Tenar is not uttering the responses.
THAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – EXT. WOODS – DUSK – 3 DAYS AGO
A brilliant star field fills the night sky. Frogs croak and crickets chirp. In the distance, Kossil barks orders about setting up camp.
THAR (O.S.)
So we are, child: points of light in the darkness. And the darkness? That is the domain of the Nameless Ones. In them we live and move and have our being, but they themselves are hidden from our sight. From all but yours.
Thar and Young Tenar sit in the sedan chair, unattended by any guards, looking up at the night sky.
THAR
As creatures of thought and motion, we yearn to the light and fear the dark. But there must be darkness to see the stars. The word must be heard in silence. So we maintain the Temple and the Tombs and keep alive the worship of the Nameless Ones. So we find you, lifetime after lifetime, our guide into deepest night.
The stars blaze on.
THAR (O.S.)
There is no safety, and there is no end. There is only the dark and the brief, bright flicker of our lives.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the eighth candle. Young Tenar gazes into the darkness of the upper reaches of the room.
THAR (O.S.)
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
ALL (O.S.)
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – EXT. WOODS – MOMENTS AFTER PREVIOUS FLASHBACK
Thar has dozed off. Young Tenar slips out of the sedan chair and runs into the woods.
KOSSIL (O.S.)
The girl! Stop her! That way!
Running Theme, strident.
Young Tenar runs through the woods in a mirror of her opening scenes: through the dark this time, and panting with fear.
KOSSIL (O.S.) (cont’d)
Stop! Come back! You’ll regret this!
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the ninth candle.
THAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
A tear slides down Young Tenar’s face. She wipes it and glances warily toward Kossil, who is watching her.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – EXT. WOODS – DAY – 2 DAYS AGO
Young Tenar hides behind bushes bordering a small clearing where Kossil stands with Thar and some of the guards.
KOSSIL
You two, back toward the beach. You, with me.
(into the air)
Child! When we find you, you will pay!
THAR
We must be careful not to frighten her into reckless action. These woods are full of perils.
KOSSIL
(mockingly)
Why the concern? If she falls into a pit, she will simply be reborn. Will she not?
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the tenth candle. As she speaks, she catches sight of Kossil. Kossil meets Thar’s gaze and mouths her response with pointed disbelief.
THAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – EXT. BEACH – MORNING – 1 DAY AGO
Running Theme, darkly muted.
Young Tenar runs through the woods. She emerges onto a narrow beach. She halts in wonder at the moonlit sight of the crashing surf and the distant horizon.
Kossil appears from the woods behind her, Guards block escape in other directions. They close on Young Tenar, who retreats to the water. The Cello goes silent.
KOSSIL
Well, priestess, it seems I’ve run you to ground at last.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the eleventh candle. A young Acolyte fidgets. Kossil shoots her a withering glance, and an older Acolyte lays a hand on the younger Acolyte’s shoulder, stilling her.
THAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
ALL
(except Young Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
FLASHBACK – EXT. WOODS – DAY, 1 DAY AGO
The Temple Party is breaking camp. Two guards hold a crying, struggling Young Tenar while Kossil, wielding a switch, speaks with Thar.
KOSSIL
She must be punished. You know this.
THAR
I only ask that you do what you must with kindness.
KOSSIL
If you would have her whipped “kindly,” you can do it yourself.
Kossil offers Thar the switch, but Thar doesn’t respond.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
Then I will proceed.
Kossil advances on Tenar, striking her own hand hard with the switch but not reacting to the blow.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM
Thar extinguishes the twelfth candle, but does not immediately recite her usual words. She kneels before Young Tenar, eye-to-eye.
THAR
(gently to Young Tenar)
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
This time, Young Tenar joins the refrain.
ALL
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
Kossil strides up to the altar and flings a black sheet over the dress in a single, sudden sweep.
FLASHBACK – EXT. TEMPLE – DUSK – EARLIER TODAY
The Temple Party stands on the road just outside the Temple in their traveling formation: Thar next to the sedan chair with Young Tenar, Acolytes, guards, and Kossil.
THAR
(to Young Tenar)
Then I’ll remove your dress and lay it on the altar and conduct the ceremony. You have only to stand in your place and repeat the words that all will speak. At the end, I’ll dress you in your new robes.
(beat)
Let me see your back.
Young Tenar turns her back to Thar, who lifts her dress to examine whip marks on her back. Thar runs a hand lightly over the wounds, and Young Tenar flinches.
THAR (cont’d)
You bear pain well. You must not try fleeing again, and you must obey us, or you will be punished further.
Thar lowers the dress.
THAR (cont’d)
We’ll go straight to the Throne Room and proceed with the ceremony. It won’t last long. Afterward, I’ll tend to your wounds.
Thar leads the procession along the road and then turns up the path to the front door of the Temple.
THAR (cont’d)
We’re home.
Thar opens the door onto the darkness within.
PRESENT – INT. THRONE ROOM – DUSK
Thar puts a robe on Young Tenar.
THAR
You are Arha, the Devoured, eternally reborn, high priestess of the temple and the tombs. All that you were is passed. All that you knew is forgotten. All whom you loved are dead. Your name is Arha once more, as it ever was and ever shall be.
Thar holds a knife up to the candlelight.
THAR (cont’d)
This is the instrument of your office.
She slips it into a sheath sewn into the robe. She pulls another object out of her pocket.
THAR (cont’d)
This is the talisman of your power.
Thar leans in and hangs something around Young Tenar’s neck. She backs away to reveal a broken half of a bronze armband with shapes cut out of it. Young Tenar examines it against the flickering candlelight of the room.
THAR (cont’d)
It is the will of the Nameless.
ALL
The will of the Nameless.
INT. CONFERENCE ROOM, HAVNOR
Ged sits in lavish surroundings with a PRINCE and a MERCHANT, both with skin and features like his, holding up his half of the broken arm band. He sets it on the table between them.
GED
…and so I went my way, and did this and that, whatever needed to be done: the dragon’s run, the healing of the font of Milea. And had no idea what I wore around my neck, until that morning on the beach of Selidor.
PRINCE
The Ring of Erreth Akbe!
MERCHANT
Half of it, anyway.
GED
The dragon thought it amusing that I didn’t know what I wore. They think we’re funny, the dragons.
MERCHANT
If this is a joke, it’s in very poor taste.
Ged holds up the half ring.
GED
As you can see, there are four runes cut into the metal: Pirr that protects from fire and madness, Simn that aids the work, Ges that confers endurance, and Agnen, the rune of ending.
PRINCE
No doubt, the missing half bears the other four.
MERCHANT
And in the middle, at the break?
Ged holds up the broken end of the ring.
GED
There’s half a shape here. It doesn’t match any of the other known runes. It must be that the other half, when rejoined with this one, would reveal the Lost Rune, the Rune of Peace.
PRINCE
That would be a gift to the world indeed.
MERCHANT
Where to find it, though. That’s the question.
INT. TENAR’S ROOM – NIGHT
Manan tucks Young Tenar, still wearing her half of the Ring of Erreth Akbe around her neck, into bed.
MANAN
Do you remember me, little one? I took care of you before, when you were here before.
(beat)
We had such good times, you and I. How I wept for you when you fell ill. I sat by your side every day until–but maybe it’s best you don’t remember.
He offers her the doll.
MANAN (cont’d)
This was my gift to you, before. Do you remember it? Would you like it back?
Young Tenar reaches blankly out to take it.
MANAN (cont’d)
Is it well, little one?
(beat)
You were sad before, at first. You didn’t stay that way. You’ll see. They’ll teach you everything you’ve forgotten, and you’ll learn the service of the temple. You’ll be happy again. Very soon, little one. Very soon.
INT. GARDEN – MORNING
Thar walks with Young Tenar through the TEMPLE GARDEN, which in contrast to the Temple interiors is bright and living, though walled and guarded so that here, too, there is no view of the outside world.
THAR
Yes, there are men here. They are permitted, here. And nearby is a garrison where many more come and go. But not within the Temple.
Young Tenar says something to Thar in a low voice.
THAR (cont’d)
Manan was brought here as a child. He has been…unmanned. His position is one of great honor, to serve you, the Devoured One, all his days.
Young Tenar says something else. Thar alters their direction as she responds.
THAR (cont’d)
You serve the Nameless Ones and no other. No man, no priest, no king. Not me and not Kossil. We are your guides and your helpers, to remind you of all that you’ve forgotten, that the worship of the Nameless Ones might continue though the generations. When we grow too old to fulfill our duties, others will replace us, but you will always be Arha.
They arrive at a stone stairwell that leads to a sunken door at the base of the Temple.
THAR (cont’d)
Below the temple, through that door, lies the Labyrinth. Some day, when you’re ready, Kossil and I will lead you through it and show you what little we know of it, but it will be for you to explore its deepest ways.
You may bring Manan with you if you wish, but no true men. As they are forbidden to enter the Temple, so–more so–are they forbidden from entering that holiest of holy places.
There, you will meet your masters, the Nameless Ones, for though they are the source and end of all that is, their power is greatest there.
Thar continues on, but Young Tenar lags behind, looking back at the stairwell.
EXT. SHRINE – MIDDAY
CAPTAIN, SOLDIER 1, and LIEUTENANT stand in front of a shrine that bears, on its door, the Labyrinth symbol. From inside comes the muffled sound of screams. The soldiers are much more heavily armed than any temple guard, and are armored in metal.
CAPTAIN
How goes the sport?
SOLDIER 1
Sweetly. A house of women and girls, guarded by eunuchs and boys afraid of their own swords.
CAPTAIN
Have your fun, but leave no one alive.
SOLDIER 1
Not even the priestess? I thought she was one of ours.
CAPTAIN
She was useful, and now she’s not.
SOLDIER 1
(with relish)
Yes sir!
Soldier 1 exits. Lieutenant fidgets and bows his head.
LIEUTENANT
Sir? Do you ever worry?
CAPTAIN
Never. (beat) About what?
LIEUTENANT
The gods. The Nameless Ones.
CAPTAIN
You mean the stories my mother used to tell me so I would mind my manners?
LIEUTENANT
I mean the polity. They helped our God-King to his throne. When they learn about…this…If news were to reach the Tombs…
CAPTAIN
The Tombs are in good hands.
INT. DINING HALL – EVENING
Kossil walks through the dining hall, two goblets in her hands, past tables occupied by softly chattering Acolytes who go silent as she passes them. Manan sits at a small table of his own near the entrance.
Young Tenar sits in a high-backed chair at the center of the head table, with Thar to one side of her. Kossil reaches the table, sets down one of the goblets in front of Thar, and takes the seat on the other side of Young Tenar.
Young Tenar catches the eye of one of the younger Acolytes and smiles at her, provoking a smile in return.
KOSSIL
(loud enough for all to hear)
Priestess! That is not permitted.
The hall goes quiet. The young Acolyte turns back to her plate of food, bracing herself.
THAR
(to Young Tenar)
You are apart from them. They’ve been taught not to look into your eyes. If they did, we would have to punish them, so try not to tempt them.
The Acolytes resume their low chatter.
KOSSIL
Little brats. They will see. They will learn. That the price of joy is pain. Who suffers it–and who inflicts it.
MONTAGE – VARIOUS
The Cello plays a light, unobtrusive version of the Questing Theme throughout.
A) INT. TENAR’S ROOM – MORNING–Manan wakes Young Tenar, who sleeps with the Manan-doll in her arms.
B) EXT. GARDEN – DAY–Young Tenar walks with Thar, who is speaking and gesturing.
C) INT. THRONE ROOM – NIGHT–Kossil watches Young Tenar and some Acolytes. Young Tenar tries a few steps of a dance and Kossil claps her hands loudly, stopping her.
D) INT. TENAR’S ROOM – NIGHT–Manan sits in a big chair by Young Tenar’s bed, with Young Tenar curled in his lap holding the doll.
E) EXT. GARDEN – DAY–Young Tenar sits with Manan in the garden watching a group of young Acolytes play catch. The ball gets loose and a couple of Acolytes chase it until it rolls by Young Tenar, at which they stop dead, averting their gazes.
F) INT. TEMPLE – DAY–Young Tenar walks down a long hall, executing dance steps and tossing her knife into the air and catching it.
G) INT. DINING HALL – NIGHT–Young Tenar, Thar, Kossil, Acolytes, and Manan having supper.
H) INT. THRONE ROOM – NIGHT–Young Tenar dances around the altar, tossing her knife spinning into the air and catching it, as the Acolytes dance around her, with Thar and Kossil watching.
I) EXT. GARDEN – DAY–Young Tenar sitting with Manan, whose absent gaze is fixed on something at eye level. But Young Tenar tracks a hawk in flight above them.
J) INT. SHRINE – DAY–The Cello cuts off. The Captain stands, sword drawn, before a priestess, who is held by two soldiers and breathing heavily, in front of another shrine with the Labyrinth symbol on it.
CUT TO: BLACK
END OF MONTAGE
INT. THRONE ROOM – DAY
Young Tenar stands between Kossil and Thar before a live goat bound upon the altar. The Acolytes are lined up opposite them.
THAR
Light into darkness.
YOUNG TENAR
From darkness, light.
THAR
Life to death.
YOUNG TENAR
The seed is sown.
Kossil strides to the altar and slashes the goat’s throat in a single sudden sweep. Young Tenar buries her face in Thar’s robe. After a beat, Kossil claps sharply, jolting Young Tenar back to attention.
YOUNG TENAR (cont’d)
Consumed by darkness
THAR
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
ALL
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
INT. FRONT HALL – DAY
Kossil looms over Young Tenar inside the opened door of the Temple.
KOSSIL
Priestess! Give me your hand.
Young Tenar extends it. Kossil takes hold of it and hits it three times sharply with a stick. Young Tenar gasps every time the stick strikes, but she does not cry.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
You will not go out that door again unless you are accompanied by Thar or by me.
Kossil shuts the front door of the Temple, cutting off the light.
INT./EXT. TEMPLE – DAY
The Cello plays a ponderous version of the Questing Theme as we zoom out from outside the shut door to eventually see the whole of ATUAN.
Beyond the Temple door with its labyrinth symbol lie the rocky grounds that surround it.
The Temple is an enormous, sprawling complex. The walled garden is a patch of greenery in a corner to one side of the front door.
Behind the Temple is a dusty flat with enormous standing stones like the stones of Stonehenge scattered around it, some of them fallen.
Beyond that rises a mountainside, with woods at its base that stretch all the way to a narrow beach along the coastline.
The island of Atuan lies surrounded by the sea.
The Cello ends on a long, sustained note.
EXT. SCHOOL OF WIZARDS AT ROKE – DAY, 10 YEARS LATER
Ged, now about 30, sits at a rustic wooden table with several cloaked figures holding staffs, which include the MASTER PATTERNER and the ARCHMAGE GENSHER. Their half of the Ring of Erreth Akbe sits on the table. In the background is a bay where students laugh and shout, piloting boats on the water.
GED
In all my travels, through all the islands of Earthsea, I’ve found no trace of the other half. Ten years–and nothing.
MASTER PATTERNER
You did plenty, those ten years.
GED
Yet, the lands are still restless. Still, there is no peace. No king sits on the throne at Havnor, and how could one, without the Bond-Rune, the Rune of Peace?
ARCHMAGE GENSHER
Even the dragons can’t say where it is.
GED
Or won’t.
MASTER PATTERNER
Maybe they truly don’t know. Maybe the other half of the ring was lost before this half ever came to Selidor.
The Archmage leans forward with interest. The Master Patterner continues with growing enthusiasm. But Ged’s expression darkens as the Patterner speaks.
MASTER PATTERNER (cont’d)
Erreth Akbe met his death on the shores of Selidor, but he met his doom before that, when he fought the powers of darkness in a distant land and his staff was broken and he had to flee from priestess of the–
GED
(flatly business-like)
No. It’s not possible.
The Archmage and the Master Patterner turn to Ged. The Archmage lays a hand on Ged’s.
GED (cont’d)
(earnestly)
It’s not possible.
ARCHMAGE GENSHER
Do you remember when you first came here to be a student? “You thought, as child, that a mage was a man who could do whatever he wanted.”
GED
(reluctantly)
“And the truth is that as a man’s real power grows…”
MASTER PATTERNER
(savoring the recitation.)
“Ever the way he can go grows narrower…”
ARCHMAGE GENSHER
(gently)
“Until at last he chooses nothing…”
GED
(in resignation and acceptance)
“But does wholly and only what he must do.”
Ged takes up their half of the Ring of Erreth Akbe.
GED (cont’d)
I have to go there, don’t I? To the Tombs of Atuan.
EXT. GARDEN – MORNING
TENAR is now 16. She stands in the garden looking at her reflection in the water of a pond, her half of the Ring hanging around her neck. A hawk appears in the reflected sky, shrieking once. She lifts her gaze and flings her arms upward, holds them there for a beat, then lowers them in resignation.
Thar approaches, occasionally coughing, laboring to walk and leaning heavily on a cane. Tenar runs over and helps her to a stone bench.
TENAR
Grandmother! You shouldn’t be out in this cold. Not until you’re well again.
THAR
I’m well enough! I have never failed to greet the day.
Thar coughs as Tenar settles her onto the bench.
THAR (cont’d)
Thank you, child. I think I’ll sit here a while. If you would stay, we could resume your history lessons.
TENAR
Could we just sit?
THAR
(smiling after a beat)
Also a good lesson.
Thar’s attention, and then Tenar’s, is drawn to Kossil coming up the Labyrinth steps. Kossil spots them and smiles grimly. She walks over to them.
KOSSIL
Priestess! You will come with me.
THAR
Arha, help me up.
KOSSIL
(scornfully)
You’re in no condition! You’ll only slow us–or break your neck on the steps.
Thar glances at the steps leading down to the Labyrinth door.
THAR
You’re taking her there?
KOSSIL
Yes.
THAR
Today? Now? We agreed we wouldn’t–
KOSSIL
Her duties demand it. Today. Now.
THAR
What duties?
KOSSIL
That will no doubt become clear to our priestess once she’s there.
TENAR
Go back to bed, grandmother. I’ll be all right.
Thar leans in toward Tenar, taking hold of her arm and pulling her close.
THAR
(to Tenar)
The Labyrinth is your domain. You have nothing to fear there.
KOSSIL
(impatiently)
Priestess?
Tenar nods to Thar and follows Kossil to the stairs. Manan gets up and follows, but sits back down at a sharp gesture from Kossil. Thar tries to stand, but another fit of coughing forces her to sit again.
Kossil and Tenar walk down the steps to the sunken Labyrinth door. Kossil pulls open the door onto the darkness within.
EXT. ROAD – MORNING
Captain and Lieutenant stand in front of a platoon of soldiers on the road.
CAPTAIN
Are they ready to move out?
LIEUTENANT
Yes, sir. (beat) Some of them are wondering where we’re going. There are rumors–
CAPTAIN
(with relish)
The Tombs.
LIEUTENANT
(uneasily)
Trouble there?
CAPTAIN
No trouble, just business. Our priestess remains loyal, though I’ve been given the power to judge if she’s still useful. But the God-King has business with the “Arha.”
LIEUTENANT
The God-King. He’s…he’s coming with us?
CAPTAIN
He’ll be two days behind us. We’ll have that long to secure the site.
LIEUTENANT
For what? What’s the God-King’s business with the Arha?
CAPTAIN
He’s decided that ‘deathless’ is too valuable a title to share.
INT. LABYRINTH – MORNING
Kossil and Tenar enter the LABYRINTH, a maze of dark stone passages lit only by the torch they carry in with them.
KOSSIL
We’re going to the Treasure Room. I will not always accompany you. I will tell you the way, once and never again. If you lose yourself here, no one will come for you.
(beat)
So then: the turns will be right, left, left, right, left, right, and right.
(beat)
Now you will show me you’ve learned them.
Kossil gestures for Tenar to lead the way. Tenar mouths the turns to herself as they come to them. They arrive at the TREASURE ROOM, which is filled with chests and piles of gold and jeweled items. In one corner, chained to the wall, is a group of dirty, ragged PRISONERS, all with skin and features similar to Ged’s.
Tenar gasps.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
Yes, priestess. Men in the Labyrinth. Men on the holy ground of the Temple!
TENAR
(to the Prisoners)
Who are you? Why have you come here?
The men don’t answer.
KOSSIL
(pleasantly)
They can’t answer you, priestess. I have relieved them of their tongues. But I will guess that they are pirates from the north, come to rob us of our treasure. One might think that the Nameless Ones would have struck them dead before they could even set their eyes on it, but it seems they have left that task to you, their servant.
TENAR
To me…
KOSSIL
You are the high priestess of the Tombs of Atuan. It is your privilege to pronounce the manner of their death.
TENAR
Their death…?
KOSSIL
No man may enter the Temple or the Tombs and live. So, priestess, how shall these men die?
TENAR
I can’t! You do it. You say.
KOSSIL
Not I, priestess. I am but your servant. You are Arha, the “Eternal One.” Are you not?
TENAR
I’m not! I can’t! I am not Arha!
KOSSIL
(slowly and pointedly)
Who are you if not Arha?
TENAR
I am…I was…
FLASHBACK – EXT. WOODS – 10 YEARS AGO
Young Tenar runs through the woods of her home, the leaves rustling in her passage and crackling beneath her feet.
TENAR (V.O.)
I was Te-…, T-…, I was…
Tenar goes silent.
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
KOSSIL
You are Arha.
You are the Devoured One.
And now you will pronounce this doom.
TENAR
(desperately)
Cut their throats. Like…like the goat.
KOSSIL
(leisurely)
Cut their throats, priestess? End their suffering in one swift stroke? That would be a mercy. Surely the high priestess of the Tombs of Atuan can devise a more fitting death. You may even inflict it with your own hands, if you wish.
TENAR
(hysterically)
Let them lie here, in their filth. Let them die of thirst, slowly, in sight of the treasure they sought. Let the Nameless Ones devour their souls!
Tenar breaks into a panicked run, out of the room and up the passage ahead, rather than back the way they came.
KOSSIL
(panicky herself)
Priestess! Priestess!!!
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
Running Theme, low and rambling.
Tenar runs wildly through the passages, stumbling randomly into one or the other path of a couple of branching points.
KOSSIL (O.S.)
Arha!
The Cello cuts off abruptly. Tenar stops her flight, breathing heavily.
KOSSIL (O.S.) (cont’d)
Priestess! You must find your way back to me. I will not stray to rescue you!
Tenar retraces her steps.
KOSSIL (O.S.) (cont’d)
(impatiently)
Priestess!
TENAR
(resentfully)
Yes!
Tenar fumbles though the passages until she rejoins Kossil.
KOSSIL
(in control again)
Very good, priestess. Now, tell me the way back.
TENAR
(hatefully between labored breaths)
Left. Left. Right. Left. Right. Right. Left.
INT. DINING HALL – DAY
Thar, Tenar, and Acolytes sit at a meal, Thar coughing uncontrollably. Kossil enters with two goblets, setting one down for Thar, who takes a deep drink from it, and then Kossil takes her usual place on the other side of Tenar.
THAR
Trespassers in the Labyrinth? Not since my youth has anyone dared.
KOSSIL
The Northern realms grow bolder. They will soon be attacking us openly.
THAR
The powers we serve will protect us.
KOSSIL
That and the armies of the God-King.
Thar turns to Kossil with a hint of alarm, but Kossil returns her gaze steadily.
THAR
You should have told me this was the reason you wished to bring her into the Labyrinth.
KOSSIL
What difference should it have made? Should anyone other than the high priestess of the Tombs deal with trespassers in her domain?
THAR
Not on her first visit there.
KOSSIL
Then you should have agreed to bring her there earlier. Nevertheless, despite your concerns, she acquitted herself perfectly well.
Thar turns to Tenar with concern. Tenar bows her head.
THAR
Did she?
TENAR
Yes.
Thar regards Tenar anxiously for a beat, then switches to a business-like tone.
THAR
Very good. Now the bodies must be burned and the ashes disposed of outside the walls. No part of them may remain on holy ground.
KOSSIL
I’ll see to it–when they are dead.
THAR
When they are dead?
KOSSIL
The decree of our high priestess was a slow death by thirst. She will let me know when it’s been accomplished.
THAR
(to Tenar)
You let them live?
TENAR
(in a small voice, head still bowed)
That was my judgment.
THAR
(with sudden urgency)
Arha! Did any of the men carry a staff?
Tenar looks up in surprise and shakes her head.
THAR (cont’d)
You’re certain?
Tenar nods.
THAR (cont’d)
Did any of them speak to you? Or even gesture?
TENAR
(glancing at Kossil)
No.
Thar breathes a sigh of relief.
THAR
There are sorcerers in the north, men with power over mind and matter. They can conjure with a word, but the greater part of their power lies in their staves. If you ever face one, you must not look into his eyes or let him speak to you, and you must separate him from his staff if you can, or break it.
KOSSIL
You believe in these “sorcerers”? You believe they have real power? Do you not believe in the power of the Nameless Ones?
THAR
There are many powers in this world. Some we serve. Others oppose them. Just as, in this room, there may be hearts both good and evil.
EXT. GARDEN – MORNING
Tenar walks with Manan in the Temple garden.
MANAN
Yes, I’ve been there, little one. I’ve been there. Twice when I was younger. And the harsh mistress has instructed me to keep the torch lit in the room with the men, so I’ll have to go in again soon. When they’re dead, I’m sure she’ll command me to carry out their bodies. The soldiers aren’t allowed to enter, but I may.
TENAR
Because you were…”unmanned.”
A beat as Manan’s expression slightly and briefly darkens.
MANAN
I was very young. I hardly remember it. But I would not choose another path if I could, for the joy of having known you and served you.
TENAR
How many…How many times…
Manan sits on a stone bench. Tenar sits beside him.
MANAN
I have known you three times. When I was first brought here to serve you, you were grown already. You were more a mother to me than I ever was your servant. You lived to be as old as the kind mistress is now. The second time…But you were reborn after that, and when you had grown to the proper age, you were brought to me again.
TENAR
Who was I? What was I? Am I…what I was?
MANAN
You were, you are, you always will be: a light in this dark place.
Tenar leans across his lap to be cradled by him, but her face as she looks out from his embrace is troubled.
INT. THRONE ROOM – DAY
Thar enters, leading Tenar.
THAR
You need not go in again until you’re ready. It’s a fearful place–to me as well–as any dwelling of the gods should be. Kossil fears it, too, though she labors not to show it. You alone may walk there unafraid, but these thieves are a different matter. When they are dead and removed…but in the meantime, I’ll show you a way to watch them that I don’t believe even Kossil knows.
Thar goes behind the throne. She removes some floor coverings to reveal a small trap door. She opens the door to reveal a grate.
THAR (cont’d)
There are many spy holes like this one scattered throughout the temple. There’s one near the door to the Garden that overlooks the inside of the Labyrinth door. There’s another in the kitchen.
This one will give us a view of the Treasure Room.
Thar looks into it and gasps.
THAR (cont’d)
I see them.
Thar continues looking. She rises unsteadily from the grate.
THAR (cont’d)
They’re still alive.
Tenar stoops to look as well, but Thar stops her.
THAR (cont’d)
It’s not a pleasant sight.
(beat)
But maybe it’s not so different from the one you’ve already had.
Thar gives way. Tenar bends to the spy hole. She sees the men in the Treasure Room. One of them makes a thin wailing or whining sound, and Tenar quickly withdraws.
MONTAGE – INT. TEMPLE – VARIOUS ROOMS – VARIOUS TIMES OF DAY
Questing Theme, somberly.
Tenar enters various rooms of the Temple, sometimes traversing long halls between them, finding the spy grates in each and seeing, through them, some other part of the Labyrinth.
In the midst of this, she rechecks the Throne Room spy grate a couple of times.
The following specific scenes are interspersed with the above, with D) being the final scene of the Montage.
A) INT. THRONE ROOM – DAY–Tenar and the Acolytes perform their ritual dance before the Throne, witnessed by Thar and Kossil
B) EXT. GARDEN – DAY–Tenar sits half cradled in Manan’s lap as before, but while he chatters on about something, gesturing this way or that, she’s gazing at the entrance to the Labyrinth.
C) EXT. ROAD – DAY–Soldiers of the God-King, led by the Captain, on the march.
D) INT. THRONE ROOM – NIGHT–Tenar, Thar, and Kossil stand before a live goat bound onto the altar, with the Acolytes lined up opposite them. This time, Tenar slits the goat’s throat.
EXT. LOOKFAR – DAY
Ged sits at the aft of his boat LOOKFAR on the sea, one hand on the tiller and the other holding his staff up toward the billowing sail. The wind whooshes and the boat creaks, against the background rumble of the sea.
GED
(re-raising his staff toward the sail)
Nanthessa!
The wind intensifies and the sail billows a bit more. Lookfar picks up speed toward its destination: the island of Atuan.
INT. OWL ROOM – DAY
Tenar enters the OWL ROOM, which is filled with stuffed birds and paintings of birds on the walls–and has windows. Tenar dashes over to one of them. It’s a tall vertical slot cut into the wall: no glass, but too narrow for a person to squeeze through.
Outside the window is a dusty clearing with distant woods beyond it.
She wanders around the room, examining the paintings and stuffed animals. She shyly strokes the fur of an owl.
Thar enters the room.
THAR
I call this the Owl Room. It’s no longer used. You’ll find a spy hole in that corner.
Tenar opens the trap door. She peers through the grate, but sees only the ground faintly lit by light through the grate.
THAR (O.S.)
The God-Brothers created this room. They ruled, briefly, when I was young. They sought to add, to the worship of the Nameless Ones, the veneration of the creatures of the earth. They attempted trade with the northern realms. Then the God-Kings came into power.
TENAR
(still looking through the grate)
There are no walls!
As Thar replies, Tenar gets up and joins Thar at the window.
THAR
Yes, we stand above the Undertomb, at the other end of the Labyrinth from its entrance. I’ve never been so far through the Labyrinth, but it’s said the Undertomb fills all the space beneath where the First Temple once stood.
Tenar joins Thar at the window and sees a barren, dusty flat with enormous stones like the stones of Stonehenge scattered around it, some of them fallen.
THAR (cont’d)
Do you remember it? No one knows how long ago it was built, or when it fell, or why.
Tenar and Thar look out the window in silence. Tenar leans into Thar, and Thar puts an arm around Tenar’s shoulder.
TENAR
Grandmother, what was my name? Before I came here.
THAR
Your name is Arha. Whatever anybody called you in any of your lives, you were Arha before that. You have always been Arha, and always will be.
INT. THRONE ROOM – NIGHT
Tenar kneels at the spy grate. After a long while, she gasps and backs convulsively away from the grate. She leans back against the wall of the room, breathing heavily.
INT. TEMPLE – NIGHT
Tenar walks down a hall to Kossil’s room, the only room in the Temple with a door. Tenar knocks on the door but there’s no response.
TENAR
Kossil?
Tenar knocks again.
TENAR (cont’d)
Kossil!
Tenar knocks again, but there’s still no answer. Looking around, she opens the door a crack and peeks in. After another look up and down the hallway, she slips into the room.
INT. KOSSIL’S ROOM – MOMENTS LATER
Kossil’s room is cluttered with bottles and jars with cryptic labels, and mortars filled with strange powders, like a mad chemist’s lab.
A big pile of rags, broken equipment, and other discarded junk sits against one corner of the room. Tenar is drawn to it (maybe there’s a short thin note of the Cello) and picks among its contents. She finds, almost at the bottom of the pile, her old dress.
Tenar buries her face in the dress, smelling it and releasing one brief sob. She stops herself and puts the dress back under the pile, then stops and looks more closely into the pile.
She pulls out a doll. Not her old one. Not as fancy as hers had been, but it’s a real doll (unlike the wooden Manan doll) that shows equal signs of long past use. She gazes at it, and around the room at Kossil’s other things, and then returns both it and the dress to the bottom of the pile.
Tenar exits the room–and gasps upon encountering Kossil right outside the door.
KOSSIL
Were you looking for me, priestess?
TENAR
Thar said you would be here.
(beat)
I knocked.
(beat)
The thieves. They’re dead.
KOSSIL
Then their torment is ended.
TENAR
Yes.
EXT. GARDEN – MORNING
Thar, Kossil, and Tenar look on while Manan drags the dead men out of the Labyrinth. Thar shyly approaches one of the bodies and rubs the skin of its hands and face.
THAR
I’ve never seen a man from the north.
(beat)
The world is vast.
KOSSIL
(spitting)
Foreign devils!
Ged watches them over a wall of the Garden opposite the Labyrinth entrance.
INT. TEMPLE – NIGHT
Tenar is lying awake in her bed when a low rumble sounds, shaking it. She gets up and paces, looking around. There’s another rumble and she dashes to the door that leads to the Garden. There’s another rumble and she drops to the floor to listen.
She opens the spy hole near the door, but as she’s opening the trap door, light shines through from below and Tenar suppresses a gasp and shuts the door.
She reopens the trap door and sees, through the grate, Ged pacing back and forth in the Labyrinth, near its door, with a ball of light shining from the top of his staff.
Ged holds his staff out toward the Labyrinth door.
GED
Emenn!
There’s another, softer, rumble. Ged sighs and slumps against a wall. He pulls out his water bottle, gives it a shake, then checks himself. He turns his gaze slowly up to the grate. Ged and Tenar look at each other for long seconds, and then Tenar shuts the grate.
INT. DINING HALL – DAY
Everybody is at their midday meal. Tenar and Thar and Kossil sit at their places at the head table.
THAR
I heard rumblings in the night. As if the Earth groaned in its sleep.
KOSSIL
I slept through the night as I always do, without so much as a dream.
THAR
Arha, did you hear anything?
Tenar shakes her head.
THAR (cont’d)
Perhaps it was the Nameless Ones calling to me. I begin to see darkness even at midday in the garden.
KOSSIL
Perhaps it’s time to initiate a new adjunct.
THAR
None of the acolytes are ready.
KOSSIL
Perhaps we should draw from the priestly orders of the God-King.
THAR
(carefully)
This is not a temple of the God-King.
KOSSIL
(casually as she eats, without looking at Thar)
Every temple is a temple of the God-King, is it not? Every temple, every field, every house, every soul.
INT. THAR’S ROOM – EVENING
Tenar sits by Thar in her bed.
THAR
There was a time, granddaughter, when the kings of Kargad came to this temple a dozen times a year to beg for the guidance of the Nameless Ones. The high priestess–you–would go into the Labyrinth with their questions, into its deepest ways, and emerge with the answers: to plant or leave fallow, to build walls or roads, to seek war or peace.
(beat)
I don’t know how to live in this time that’s come. I’m a pilgrim, pausing for rest on my way to a far land. I’ll soon be pressing on.
TENAR
You mustn’t. Not so soon!
THAR
“Soon?” Ah, granddaughter. We all go into the dark. I’ve been granted many more years than most. But did you know? I too will be reborn, though not as you have been.
(beat)
“Only in dying, life.” Do they still repeat that saying in the farmlands? It was already ancient when I heard it as a child. I will be reborn in the grass and the light and the fall of the rain. Only you are reborn into your self, as a sign of that which all creation undergoes, world without end.
INT. TEMPLE – NIGHT
Tenar checks the spy hole above the entrance of the Labyrinth, but there’s no one in sight below. She looks blankly around, then snaps her fingers. She enters the Throne Room and sees Ged though its spy hole sleeping fitfully on the floor of the Treasure Room, looking worn and pale.
TENAR
Sorcerer! Sorcerer!
Ged wakes with a start.
TENAR (cont’d)
Sorcerer!
Ged holds his staff up toward the grate, but it makes so little light as to be practically useless.
TENAR (cont’d)
Sorcerer, are you all right?
Ged tries to rise, but falls.
GED
Thirsty.
TENAR
Wait!
Tenar dashes about the room, finds a wooden bowl and scoops water from a fountain. She reopens the grate.
TENAR (cont’d)
Raise your bottle up to the grate.
Ged rises with difficulty and raises his water bottle shakily to the grate. Tenar fills it with water from her bowl. Ged collapses back onto the ground, where he takes great gulps from the bottle.
Tenar returns to the fountain and refills the bowl. When she gets back to the grate, Ged is holding up the bottle again, this time more steadily. Tenar fills the bottle and Ged withdraws.
GED
I thank you. But why?
TENAR
You mustn’t die.
GED
(lilt in his voice)
I concur.
(beat)
Are you a servant of this place? Or perhaps a student?
TENAR
I am its high priestess.
A beat.
GED
I see. What may I call you?
TENAR
I am…Arha.
Ged gazes at her face in the grate for three slow beats.
GED
Are you?
TENAR
I…have no other name.
GED
Arha then. My name is a word I can’t reveal. But you can call me Sparrowhawk.
Tenar smiles.
TENAR
There’s a hawk I see sometimes.
GED
I’ve seen it, too.
TENAR
Why did you come here? To rob us?
GED
(after a half beat pause)
Yes. But only of one particular treasure, which was not yours to begin with.
TENAR
What treasure?
GED
(holding up his half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe)
The other half of this.
Tenar suppresses a gasp, grabbing her half of the Ring as it hangs from her neck, out of sight of Ged from below.
TENAR
What is it, this treasure?
KOSSIL (O.S.)
Priestess!
Tenar gasps and quickly shuts the trap door.
KOSSIL
Priestess! Is that you?
TENAR
Yes! Yes. I’m here.
Tenar walks out from behind the Throne.
TENAR (cont’d)
I couldn’t sleep.
KOSSIL
That is understandable. As you can see, I too am filled with thoughts that will not let me rest.
(beat)
I don’t believe Thar will rise from her bed again. When she’s gone, much will change. You had best prepare for that.
INT. DINING HALL – DAY
Tenar enters. Kossil is sitting imperiously in the big chair at the center of the main table, with Tenar’s plate to one side. Tenar takes a breath and approaches the table. She picks up her plate.
TENAR
I’ll eat in my room.
KOSSIL
(with a regal nod)
Very well.
Manan sees Tenar leaving and gets up, but then sees Kossil glaring at him and sits down again.
INT. THAR’S ROOM – DAY
Tenar sits by Thar’s bed. Thar is weaker than before. Tenar holds out her half of the Ring.
TENAR
Grandmother? What is this?
THAR
A relic. Passed down. Ancient.
TENAR
Does it…belong to us? Or did it come from, from some other land?
THAR
I don’t know. You’ve worn it. Always.
TENAR
Is it…magic?
THAR
What is not?
Tenar gazes at her half of the Ring.
TENAR
I’m afraid, Grandmother.
With great difficulty, Thar pulls herself up in the bed.
THAR
(weakly but urgently)
Then go to the Labyrinth. As you have through years beyond count. The answers to your questions, your salvation and your doom, await you there.
Thar collapses back into her bed.
INT. THAR’S ROOM – NIGHT
Tenar sits by Thar’s bed, watching her face. Thar remains motionless except for her steady but thin breathing. Manan stands in the doorway watching Tenar.
Manan enters the room and sits beside Tenar. Tenar continues to watch Thar. Manan continues to observe Tenar.
MANAN
Is it well, little one?
TENAR
(without removing her gaze from Thar’s face)
Tonight, an hour after last bell, come to me in the Throne Room.
INT. THRONE ROOM – NIGHT
Tenar looks through the grate into the Treasure Room. Ged is not in view.
TENAR
Sorcerer! Sparrowhawk!
Ged shuffles into sight, weaker than he was in those moments after he received water the day before.
GED
Arha.
TENAR
Sparrowhawk, do you need more water?
Ged shakes his head, shaking his still half full water bottle to demonstrate.
TENAR (cont’d)
Food?
GED
I’m hungry. But…not seriously, yet.
TENAR
Then what’s the matter? Are you injured? Are you sick?
GED
There’s a power here. It’s…formidable.
TENAR
It’s the Nameless Ones.
GED
The Old Powers. We call them. Strong here. Their place. It seems.
TENAR
How can I help?
GED
The door. Can you open it?
TENAR
The door’s not locked. It swings outward easily.
GED
Not for me. Your…Nameless Ones…won’t let me. But you…
Tenar bites her lip.
TENAR
I could open the door, but there are guards outside, in the garden. It’s death for any man to enter the Labyrinth.
GED
You. High priestess. Command them.
Tenar doesn’t respond.
GED (cont’d)
I see. There are guards–and you fear me.
(beat)
Rightly. I came to rob. Hardly a basis…for trust.
TENAR
Trust?
GED
(with a wan smile)
The greatest power.
Tenar furrows her brow.
MANAN (O.S.)
Little one! Little one!
TENAR
(to Ged)
Wait there. Do not leave the room!
Tenar rises and hands Manan a basket.
TENAR (cont’d)
Take this to the door of the Labyrinth. Open the door and place this just within. Go no further! Then return to your room.
Manan picks uneasily at the cloth covering the basket.
MANAN
Mistress?
TENAR
Obey me!
Manan bows but sniffs suspiciously at the basket as he departs. Tenar returns to the grate.
TENAR (cont’d)
I’m sending food. You’ll find it inside the door. You must remain where you are until it’s delivered.
GED
I understand.
INT. THAR’S ROOM – MORNING
Tenar enters the room to find Kossil helping a half sitting Thar to drink from a cup.
TENAR
Grandmother!
Tenar dashes over to Thar, but Kossil stops her with a gesture. Thar finishes drinking and Kossil lowers her back down onto the bed.
KOSSIL
She woke, but in great pain. I’ve given her medicine to help her sleep.
Tenar notices the medicine bottle. Which Kossil quickly pockets.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
You may sit with her, but do not fail to appear for the moon dance. Fifth bell.
INT. THRONE ROOM – NIGHT
Tenar is at the grate again, speaking with Ged, who is even weaker than before.
TENAR
If you can’t open the door, how did you get in? How did you get past the guards?
GED
Easy enough–before, outside. Spell of illusion. Guards saw nothing. Moon shadow, rustle of branches. If needed…I could have…disabled them. Here, now…my strength…is dust.
TENAR
I won’t let you die.
GED
I’ll try…to stay alive.
EXT. DOOR OF COTTAGE – NIGHT
The Captain and his platoon crowd in front of the open door of a cottage, from which a MAN and his WIFE look out smiling.
MAN
Yes sir, you’re on the right road. Just two more days journey to the coast.
WIFE
You’re soldiers of the God-King, aren’t you? Are you going to the Tombs to ask the favor of the gods?
CAPTAIN
Something like that.
MAN
We go every spring, as early as the weather allows. Did you know? The Deathless One has almost come of age and will soon enter fully into her duties.
CAPTAIN
We hope to arrive in time for that.
WOMAN
You’re welcome to rest and sup here tonight. We don’t have much, but you’re welcome to all that we can spare.
CAPTAIN
We thank you. We’ll take it all.
The Captain pushes his way into the house, his men pouring in after him.
INT. THAR’S ROOM
Tenar walks through the halls of the Temple. She enters Thar’s room and stops short, gasping, at the sight of the bed empty and stripped of linens.
INT. THRONE ROOM
Kossil, Tenar, the Acolytes, and Manan stand around the altar, which bears Thar’s body. Ten of the twelve candles have already been extinguished. Kossil snuffs out the eleventh.
KOSSIL
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
ALL
(except Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
Kossil snuffs out the twelfth candle with a smile.
KOSSIL
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
ALL
(except Tenar)
Darkness, the will of the Nameless.
Kossil spreads a black sheet over Thar’s body in a single sudden sweep. The Acolytes exit. Tenar remains gazing at the altar for a beat. She turns to leave and sees that Kossil has been standing behind her.
KOSSIL
Priestess. I would speak with you.
Manan, his face troubled, shuffles over to stand behind Kossil, bowing his head.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
Priestess, there’s a man in the Labyrinth.
Tenar recoils at having been found out, then turns in surprise and realization to Manan.
MANAN
I had to tell her, little one! The man is a sorcerer. I’ve seen him. He wields a staff. He has bewitched you! You are not yourself!
KOSSIL
Don’t worry, priestess. I won’t punish you or report your crime to the God-King. But the God-King is coming. He’ll be here with his soldiers within the week. The man must be dead by then. You must kill him.
TENAR
I can’t! No one can. He has powers. He eluded the guards but he could have killed them.
KOSSIL
There are other ways.
Kossil pulls a bottle out of her pocket.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
Sprinkle this powder into the air of the room while he sleeps, through the spy hole you’ve been using to speak with him, and he will never wake.
Kossil pulls another bottle out of a pocket.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
A drop of this every day in the water you’ve been providing him will kill him slowly, and a spoonful will kill him in hours.
It’s the same “medicine” Tenar saw Kossil administering to Thar.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
You see, priestess? And there are many more ways. More than anyone, even a sorcerer, even a high priestess, could foresee or forestall.
(beat)
In five days, the sorcerer will be dead. It had best be by your hand.
EXT. TEMPLE – NIGHT
Tenar exits her room. As she passes Manan’s, which is next to hers, he appears at the door with a hopeful look, but she walks pointedly past him.
Tenar finds a guard posted near the Throne Room spy hole. She tries another room and finds the same. She goes to the front door of the Temple and opens it: more guards there.
Tenar enters the Garden. She approaches the guards there.
TENAR
Go to the Throne Room and wait for me there.
GUARD
(uncomfortably)
We can’t, mistress.
TENAR
I am the high priestess. You’ll do as I say!
GUARD
Mistress, we’re under orders we can’t disobey.
Tenar glances at the Labyrinth stairwell, which is unguarded, and then back at the guards. She walks toward the stairwell and sees that the guards aren’t following. She descends the stairs and enters the Labyrinth.
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
Tenar walks through the Labyrinth toward the Treasure Room. She stops, one hand darting to her half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe hanging from its chain around her neck. She thinks for a beat and then tucks the Ring under her robe. She continues into the Treasure Room, but Ged is not there. She gasps.
TENAR
(whispering)
Sparrowhawk! Sparrowhawk!
(louder)
Sparrowhawk!
Tenar moans and collapses into a sitting position against a wall.
INT. TREASURE ROOM – NIGHT
Tenar wakes with Ged crouched by her. Ged is still in a weakened state, but seems stronger than before.
GED
Arha.
TENAR
Sparrowhawk.
GED
I’m sorry I wasn’t here. I’ve been searching the maze.
TENAR
There’s no other way out.
GED
I wasn’t seeking escape, but relief. I thought the power might center on this room. It does not.
TENAR
But you’re feeling stronger?
GED
It helps to be doing, striving. And…it helps that you’re here.
TENAR
What time is it?
GED
It must be close to dawn now, above.
Tenar scrambles to her feet.
TENAR
I have to get back. You can’t stay here. Kossil knows you’re here. She knows about the spy holes. She has ways…she can kill you without your knowing it. You would never wake up.
GED
I’ll move up the passage. Away from this room, but not too far, so you can still find me.
Tenar takes Ged by the arm.
TENAR
She’s killed before.
I think she killed Thar.
GED
Arha, is your own life in danger?
Tenar steps closer to Ged, looking pleadingly up into his eyes.
TENAR
(a confession and a warning and a cry of despair)
I have killed.
Ged looks back at her.
FLASHBACK – EXT. ROKE KNOLL – NIGHT
Running Theme, darkly minor.
NEMMERLE, a robed man with Ged’s general racial characteristics, holds a staff up against a SHADOW that looms above him. Ged runs desperately toward them.
GED
Master!
As the Cello crescendos and then stops, there’s a jumble of darkness and light and Nemmerle is lying on the ground. The Shadow flees. Ged reaches Nemmerle and kneels beside him.
GED (cont’d)
Master! Nemmerle!
The Shadow disappears into the distance and darkness.
INT. TREASURE ROOM – NIGHT – MOMENTS LATER
GED
I, too. Before I fully understood the darkness within me.
INT. DINING HALL – MORNING
Tenar enters the dining hall. She walks by Manan without acknowledging him. Picks up her plate from her place at the main table. Takes a step or two back the way she came.
KOSSIL
You had best eat your meal here, priestess.
Tenar returns to her seat and sits with her plate.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
So, priestess, have you decided how you’ll kill the interloper?
Tenar holds up her ceremonial knife.
TENAR
With this.
KOSSIL
(loudly enough for the whole room to hear)
Do you jest? He’s a full grown man–and a sorcerer! You plan to overcome him and his magic?
Tenar stands and speaks equally loudly, in anger that masks her grief.
TENAR
My masters are overcoming him as we speak! Or do you not believe in the power of the Nameless Ones? Believe me, “priestess”, it is real.
The hall goes quiet, all eyes on the two women. Manan wrings his hands.
KOSSIL
Believe me. I know all there is to know about the ways of power: where it comes from, how to gain it, and how to use it. You had best believe in that.
Tenar defiantly picks up her plate after all and exits the hall with it.
INT. LABYRINTH – NIGHT
Tenar moves along the passages, the Ring tucked beneath her robe again. She passes the Treasure Room. She ventures into the passage just beyond it.
TENAR
(whispering)
Sparrowhawk! Sparrowhawk!
Tenar finds Ged lying on the ground.
TENAR (cont’d)
You’re getting weaker.
GED
This is…a deathly place.
Tenar gives him food and water. He accepts them with a weary nod.
TENAR
I couldn’t bring more. I have to be careful. Kossil watches me, or sets the guards to watch me.
GED
You can’t keep helping me.
TENAR
I am Arha, high priestess of the Temple and the Tombs. I can–I will–command.
GED
But Arha is not your only name.
TENAR
(nonplussed)
How did you know?
GED
It’s what I do. The essence of wizardry. To find the true names of things. By that, to have power over them.
TENAR
(crestfallen)
Then you can have no power over the Nameless Ones.
Ged raises himself higher, infused with energy, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
GED
I’ve called them by name before!
FLASHBACK – LOOKFAR ON THE SEA – NIGHT
Running Theme, darkly minor.
Ged lifts his staff against the Shadow that rises from the sea, looming above him.
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
GED
(wincing)
It wasn’t easy.
EXT. GARDEN – DAY
Tenar watches Manan sitting dejected on a stone bench. She sits beside him.
MANAN
You must kill him, little one, as you promised the harsh mistress. Or let me do it for you! Give me your knife and I’ll go in. All will be well then. She will forgive.
TENAR
Hush, Manan.
Tenar leans across his lap to be cradled by him again as before, but her face as she looks out from his embrace is determined.
INT. THRONE ROOM – MORNING
Tenar sits on the high throne with Kossil before her.
TENAR
The sorcerer is dead.
KOSSIL
Is he?
TENAR
I found him deep in the Labyrinth, near death already. I cut his throat as I said I would.
She holds up her blood-stained ceremonial knife.
KOSSIL
I’m impressed. But you must know you can’t leave the body on holy ground. It must be brought out. I’ll instruct Manan to–
TENAR
No! My masters have commanded me. I’m to go in with Manan, but we’ll bury the sorcerer in the Undertomb. Where my masters will consume his soul forever.
(pointedly)
It is the will of the Nameless Ones.
KOSSIL
(as if saying, “You win this round, but the game is not over.”)
The will of the Nameless.
INT. OWL ROOM – DAY
Tenar paces the room anxiously. A lizard clambers onto the ledge of one of the side windows, startling her.
The lizard climbs down from the sill and into the room. Tenar follows it as it moves around, sometimes losing sight of it but then catching up to it again. It climbs up onto the sill of one of the windows on the back wall.
Tenar approaches the window, extending her hand. Just as she’s about to touch the lizard, it scampers off, down the outside wall and out of sight. Tenar gazes out the window at the stones of the First Temple, and her expression lights up.
Tenar dashes out of the room.
INT. TEMPLE – MOMENTS LATER
Tenar trots swiftly through the halls of the Temple.
INT. TENAR’S ROOM – MOMENTS LATER
Tenar arrives at her room. She throws off her robe, puts on an additional layer of clothing, and puts the robe back on over it. She puts on a pair of heavy shoes.
She picks up the Manan doll and considers it for a moment. She stows it in an inner pocket of her robe.
INT. TEMPLE – MOMENTS LATER
Just outside her room, Tenar sees Manan walking down the hall toward her. He waves tentatively. She nods in acknowledgment but turns deliberately and walks swiftly away in the other direction, breaking into a trot as she turns a corner out of his sight. He gapes at her, then trots away himself in another direction.
INT. TEMPLE KITCHEN – MOMENTS LATER
Tenar enters the empty Temple kitchen and rummages around. She finds a sack and tosses various items of food into it. She removes her robe, slings the bag over her shoulder, and puts the robe back on over everything.
INT. TEMPLE – MOMENTS LATER
Tenar almost runs past the door of Kossil’s room, but stops and disappears into it. She emerges a few moments later, smoothing down her cloak. She resumes her dash through the Temple, reaching the door to the Garden. She pauses a moment, then pulls out her half of the Ring of Erreth Akbe that hangs around her neck so it lies outside her cloak, in plain sight.
EXT. GARDEN – MOMENTS LATER
Tenar turns confidently toward the door to the Labyrinth, only to stop short when she sees Kossil there with the Captain and his platoon of soldiers. She approaches them cautiously.
KOSSIL
Priestess! I was about to send for you. These are members of the God-King’s advance guard. The God-King himself is only days behind. Before he arrives, you will guide us to the body of the sorcerer, and we will bury it in the Undertomb as your masters commanded.
TENAR
They’re men! They’re not allowed.
KOSSIL
They are men of the God-King’s personal guard. As He may enter any house, any temple, any refuge in his realm, so may they.
Tenar doesn’t respond.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
Come, priestess. Let us go.
Tenar doesn’t move. Kossil gestures toward a dozen or more soldiers also present at the other end of the Garden.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
Don’t force us to search the Labyrinth on our own.
TENAR
Very well.
(to the soldiers)
The Nameless Ones were here long before your God-King, and their power is greater than any man’s. If you enter their domain, you will not leave it alive.
SOLDIER 1
We enter where and what we will.
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
Tenar enters with Kossil, Soldier 1, and SOLDIER 2. She leads them down the initial passage, but turns right rather than left at the first branching.
Tenar leads the group through many twists and turns, mouthing them to herself, but as she comes around a corner, gasps at a pit that opens before her.
TENAR
Stop!
KOSSIL
Priestess, you seem surprised. Did you forget there was a pit here?
TENAR
I was thinking only of the turns. Trying to remember them.
There’s a narrow ledge on each side of the pit.
TENAR (cont’d)
We have to pass along the sides.
KOSSIL
After you, priestess.
The party skirts the pit on either side and continue down the passage. At a sharp turn, Tenar peeks around the corner and gasps.
TENAR
The body! It’s gone!
The others push past her, and she darts back to the pit, leaping over it and running down the passage out of their sight.
KOSSIL
Stop her!
The soldiers and Kossil laboriously slide along the ledges to cross back over the pit. Kossil makes it across and screams at the soldiers still working their way across.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
Slugs!
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
Running Theme, light and fast.
Tenar races back through the passages.
TENAR
(breathlessly to herself)
Left, left, right, left…
Tenar arrives back at the Labyrinth door and pauses for a moment, her hand on the door, her face screwed up in indecision. With a shriek, she tears herself away and runs up the path to the Treasure Room.
She finds Ged just past the chamber, sitting up and awake.
TENAR (cont’d)
Kossil is here. With men!
But Ged is transfixed by the sight of Tenar’s half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. The Cello intensifies.
TENAR (cont’d)
Sparrowhawk! We must flee!
GED
I know a place!
Ged leads Tenar off.
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
Kossil stands with soldiers at the Labyrinth door.
KOSSIL
…right, left, right, and right. That will take you to the Treasure Room. If you don’t find them there, wait for reinforcements. I’ll send more men.
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
Ged leads Tenar through twists and turns. They arrive at a sharp bend in the passage and Ged falls to his knees, panting heavily.
GED
How many?
TENAR
Two, but a dozen more, in the garden.
GED
Enough to search every branch. And still guard the door. And I can’t…I can’t outrun them or fight them.
(beat)
Here, then.
Ged guides Tenar into the outer curve of the sharp bend, where there’s a low, narrow opening. They slip through the opening into a small space.
They wait there as Ged’s panting subsides. They hear the voices of soldiers approaching and see the glow of their torches pass by the opening to the room.
GED (cont’d)
(looking out the opening)
I found this in my explorations. I could be safe here, for a long time, if you could bring me food and water, just a little–
As Ged finishes speaking, he gets up to face Tenar and sees that she’s removed her half of the Ring from around her neck and is holding it out to him.
Ged reaches out to accept Tenar’s half of the Ring. He pulls his half out of a pocket and holds them up side by side. He casts a questioning glance at Tenar.
TENAR
I’m not going back.
Ged stands a little straighter, and a grim smile appears on his face. He speaks more clearly and calmly and moves more strongly than before.
GED
If we’re to leave together, you’ll need your true name. May I discover it?
Tenar nods. Ged stands back and just looks at her. She fidgets and avoids his eyes, and then relaxes, calmly meeting his gaze.
FLASHBACK – EXT. WOODS – DAY – 10 YEARS AGO
Young Tenar runs through the sunlit woods outside her home, laughing joyfully. The Cello plays a translucent version of the Running Theme for a good ten seconds that transforms into a swift ascending scale.
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
GED
Your name is Tenar.
The Cello’s ascending scale peaks at that line and holds on a sustained note. Recognition and remembrance dawn on Tenar’s face and she embraces Ged, sobbing.
GED (cont’d)
(in a low voice into her ear)
Tenar, my true name is Ged.
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
Ged guides Tenar swiftly through the Labyrinth.
GED (V.O.)
Neither of us could have stayed and lived. Only together may we escape. But I have no strength to face the guards. We’ll have to find another way.
TENAR (V.O.)
The Undertomb. Thar said it lies “on the other side of the Labyrinth from its entrance.”
GED (V.O.)
And therefore perhaps an exit?
TENAR (V.O.)
I don’t know how to get there.
GED (V.O.)
I think I might. I think I’ve come close.
Ged and Tenar enter a long corridor but stop short when they see light coming around a distant bend. They backtrack until they come to a branching, and go down one branch while staying within sight of the intersection.
The light and sounds of the soldiers approach the intersection and stop.
SOLDIER 1
This way.
SOLDIER 2
No! That’s the way we came.
SOLDIER 1
Damn maze.
Ged and Tenar wait until the light and sounds of the soldiers fade, then return to the intersection and resume their path.
INT. LABYRINTH – MOMENTS LATER
Ged and Tenar approach a turning.
GED
Careful. There’s a pit just before that turn. There are several, throughout the maze.
TENAR
I know.
They arrive at the pit.
GED
Let me go first. The ledge might not hold both of us at once.
Ged reaches the other side and turns back to Tenar.
GED (cont’d)
All right, now you.
Manan appears behind Ged with a raised club.
TENAR
Manan!
Ged spins and backs away with a cry, thrusting his suddenly blazing staff at Manan. Manan throws up his arms to shield his eyes, gets too close to the edge of the pit, and falls. Tenar shrieks and nearly leaps into the pit herself, reaching for Manan.
GED
That was no guard!
TENAR
You killed him! You killed him!
GED
We can’t linger. My strength is fading. I sense the guards all around us, closing in.
Tenar is still gazing into the depths of the pit. Ged leaps across the gap and crouches by her, holding out his hand.
TENAR
I killed him.
(turning to Ged)
I killed him!
GED
Please! We must go. Now.
Tenar takes his hand, but there is hate and grief in her eyes now.
INT. LABYRINTH
Ged and Tenar come to a branching of the ways. Ged stops.
GED
This is as far as I ever got. The power of your masters is almost unbearable here. We’re close, but I don’t know which way to take.
Tenar steps past Ged and takes the lead down the final passage.
INT. UNDERTOMB
Ged and Tenar stand at the end of the passage. Ged is holding the torch out before him, but its light is swallowed by a vast darkness.
GED
(with dread)
This is the place.
TENAR
The Undertomb.
GED
Are you ready?
They enter the cavern. The flickering torchlight fades before reaching any wall or ceiling of the vast space. The ground starts to shake.
TENAR
Earthquake!
GED
More than that. Run!
They break into a run. The shaking grows worse. The Cello launches the most chaotic and perilous version of the Running Theme. Chunks of the ceiling crash to the ground.
TENAR
The Nameless Ones! They know we’re escaping! They know we’re here!
GED
Then let them see us!
Ged flings the torch away and raises his blazing staff, which reveals the jewel-encrusted interior of the Undertomb. Ged and Tenar dash across the vast, brilliantly lit, sparkling cavern as the Cello makes a key transition to a higher level of dissonant intensity.
They reach other side. Ged’s light dims. The Cello slips down to its former level.
GED (cont’d)
Here!
Ged stands at the base of a stone stairwell that leads up into a pale sky. Tenar runs over to him, but as soon as she sees the sky, she freezes. Ged pushes against an invisible force that is preventing him from gaining the steps.
GED (cont’d)
This is the way. But only you can pass.
TENAR
I can’t. You go! I can never leave.
GED
“Only together.” Your Nameless Ones, they’re beyond my strength.
TENAR
You named them once. You said you did.
Torches appear at the other side of the Undertomb, dimly lighting the distant figures of Kossil, Soldier 1 and Soldier 2.
SOLDIER 1
There!
KOSSIL
Priestess!
Kossil and the soldiers begin crossing the Undertomb. Ged stares at them in horror.
FLASHBACK – LOOKFAR ON THE SEA – NIGHT
As the Cello continues playing the darkly minor version of the Running Theme, Ged holds up his staff against the Shadow that looms over him.
GED
Shadow! Your name is–
The Cello cuts off.
INT. UNDERTOMB
Ged rouses with a start. The cavern continues to rumble, rock crashing to the ground. He takes Tenar by the shoulders.
GED
(calmly and clearly)
It’s not I who must name them this time.
Tenar absorbs this, steadies, and stands, turning to face outward back into the cavern.
TENAR
(clearly into the darkness)
I am Tenar.
(a beat, and then painfully)
We are Tenar!
The Cello and the rumbling of the cavern resume at full intensity, and then fade as the sight breaks up into a jumble of darkness and light.
EXT. WOODS – SUNSET
SLOW FADE IN:
Tenar and Ged work their way up into the hills surrounding the Temple, along a path that overlooks the stones above the Undertomb. It’s a cold, pale day, with a bitter wind. Ged leans heavily on his staff. Tenar trudges along behind him numbly.
There’s a distant rumbling. One of the stones above the Undertomb falls over, and when it hits the ground, it breaks into pieces with an improbably sharp and loud crack that causes Tenar to gasp in pain.
More stones fall and crack, each one rending the air and wracking Tenar, blow by blow, into complete immobility. The ground gives way beneath the stones, and the entire Undertomb caves in, Tenar collapsing along with it.
EXT. WOODS – DAY
Ged is leading Tenar through the woods.
GED
We should reach my boat before dark. I cast a spell of concealment around it, but I don’t know if it would have held. Then it’s two days sailing to Havnor, if I’m strong enough to raise the mage wind.
Havnor is a beautiful city. They are a noble and generous people there. They’ll call you the Lady of the Ring and do you great honor. You’ll meet with praise, and gratitude, and love. You who have known nothing but solitude and the dark.
Tenar’s face, blank throughout, flares into anger on the last line.
EXT. WOODS – NIGHT
Ged and Tenar are sitting up in their bedrolls by the fire. Ged is holding the two halves of the Ring of Erreth Akbe in his hands.
GED
No, I can’t say beyond all dispute that it belongs to me. Say rather that I seek to restore it to the world. And it was possessed in the past by Erreth Akbe, the greatest wizard in our history. But when he came here, he was attacked and the Ring was broken, and he barely escaped with his own life and half the Ring.
TENAR
So he said.
GED
His report is the only one we have from that time. Are there any writings or tales of his appearance here, or of the ring, that your people have preserved?
TENAR
No. But I was here.
GED
No, this was long ago. A thousand years or more.
TENAR
I was here. I am–I was–Arha, the only high priestess of the Temple, eternally reborn.
Ged raises an eyebrow skeptically, then manages to hide his reaction.
GED
(earnestly)
Do you remember Erreth Akbe, then? Or retain memories from any of your past lives?
Tenar is silent.
GED (cont’d)
Then I don’t think it can be true. It was a fiction, invented to keep you and the high priestesses of the past bound to the service of the temple. A fiction used to separate you from the life you ought to have had. You were never Arha the undying, but Tenar: here, now, a flicker of thought in the night. You have lost eternity, but gained your self.
Tenar turns away from him in anger, settling herself for sleep on the ground with her back to him.
EXT. WOODS – DAY
Ged and Tenar sit in a clearing eating a simple meal from the food Tenar brought.
GED
There are many, many cities in Earthsea. Many, many lands.
Only silence from Tenar.
GED (cont’d)
It’s marvelous to see them: the islands rising from the sea as you approach. The farmlands and forests, the cities with their harbors and palaces, the marketplaces where they sell everything in the world.
Tenar remains silent with her gaze averted, but raises a piece of food to her mouth, focusing her attention on it, and takes a bite of it.
EXT. BEACH – DAY
Ged and Tenar approach the end of the woods where it turns into beach.
GED
(cheerfully)
I named her “Lookfar” at the behest of the fisherman who helped me build her. I healed the cataracts that were in the way of blinding him, and he told me, “Do you call her ‘Lookfar’ and paint eyes aside her prow, and my thanks will look out of that blind wood for you and keep you from rock and reef.”
I didn’t think–
Ged gasps and ducks behind a tree, drawing Tenar down beside him. Lookfar is visible on the beach–guarded by a dozen soldiers of the God-King.
GED (cont’d)
We’ll have to find a safe place to hide. Maybe for some days. I have no strength now to face so many armed men, but I will.
Ged turns and notices Tenar’s despondent state.
GED (cont’d)
Tenar, we’re not close to the end. I will regain my strength. There are spells that will allow us to walk right past them to the boat, as unseen as the wind. Or I can call the boat to us, late one night from a safe stretch of the shore. But we can’t linger here. If they’re guarding the boat, they’ll also be searching the woods. We’re fortunate we haven’t been sighted by them already. Come! Please.
Tenar allows Ged to raise her to her feet by the hand, and they go back the way they came, back into the woods.
EXT. WOODS – MORNING
Ged wakes to find Tenar gone.
GED
Tenar. Tenar!
Ged raises his staff.
GED (cont’d)
Aro Tenar!
Ged staggers with sudden fatigue, but then becomes aware of the direction he should search. He pulls himself back onto his feet to trot that way.
EXT. WOODS – MORNING
Tenar works in a hollow, sticking long, straight tree branches into the ground around a central stone. A pile of additional branches lies nearby.
The Manan doll lies on the stone. Tenar sticks the fourth branch into the ground.
Ged appears in the background behind her, approaching warily.
TENAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
Tenar takes another branch from the pile. As she brings it over to the stone and sticks it next to the previous branch, Ged creeps up behind her.
TENAR (cont’d)
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
GED
(tenderly)
Tenar.
She freezes. As Ged continues speaking, strength and determination fill Tenar’s face, and then at the very end, anger.
GED (cont’d)
Tenar. There will be a time for mourning. We can’t afford it now. Neither the time nor the exposure. I know it must seem to you as if all were ending, but it’s only night that’s ending. You’ve known only its darkness, living among old women and half men, but Day approaches. Come, little one…
Tenar whirls and slaps him across the face, knocking him to the ground. He gazes up at her in astonishment.
EXT. WOODS – DAY – 20 MINUTES LATER
Tenar, alone, plants the twelfth branch to complete the circle around the stone.
TENAR
Consumed by darkness
And the will of the Nameless Ones.
Tenar kneels at the stone.
TENAR (cont’d)
Light into darkness. Life to death.
Tenar collapses across the stone sobbing.
EXT. WOODS – DAY – MOMENTS LATER
Ged sits halfway up a hill, watching Tenar. His shadow stretches out in front of him, down the hill toward her.
GED
Shadow, your name is Ged.
EXT. WOODS – DAY
Tenar wakes still lying on the stone. She pulls herself up and sees Ged up the hill. She walks shakily up to him.
Ged is holding the two halves of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe in his hands.
GED
The shapes cut into this ring are runes whose power we know. Of endurance, for example, or protection from wind and fire.
This shape in the break is the Rune of Peace, which has been forgotten. And though we’ve tried to live in friendship, still there is distrust: piracies and skirmishes and diplomatic deceit.
(beat)
It’s more important that the Ring be made whole and the rune recovered than that I escape this land alive. If they catch us, they’ll certainly kill me and might destroy–or bury in some treasure room–any talisman they find on me. But you they might let live.
(beat)
And…it may be that the thing is as much yours as mine, if you were here when Erreth Akbe came, and took it from him in necessary combat, defending your domain from the invader.
(beat)
And so I give it to you.
Ged places the two halves of the Ring into Tenar’s hands.
TENAR
(with a faint smile, for the first time with a bit of a lilt in her voice)
It’s still broken.
GED
I believe I have the strength now to remedy that!
Ged stands and clasps her hands with his.
GED (cont’d)
Harw hadannen!
Tenar gasps. Ged withdraws his hands. Tenar opens hers to see the restored Ring. Above them, a hawk shrieks, and Tenar jerks her gaze up at it, exultant.
The hawk circles in a wide arc through the sky.
GED (O.S.)
Only in silence the word.
Only in dark the light.
Only in dying, life:
Tenar snaps her gaze to Ged in surprise as he speaks the third line. Ged continues to look upward.
GED
Bright the hawk’s flight
On the empty sky.
EXT. WOODS – EVENING
Ged and Tenar walk wordlessly through the woods side by side, occasionally holding a branch aside for one another, or gesturing at a potential tripping hazard on the ground.
EXT. WOODS – NIGHT
Tenar and Ged sit on their bedrolls in a small clearing mostly surrounded with trees, behind thick brambles.
TENAR
She told me to go to the Labyrinth. That I’d find the answers I needed. I’ve been there now, but it was all pursuit and escape. There was no time.
GED
It’s just as well. You would not have found your answers there. Not from those powers.
TENAR
So you say.
GED
In any case, it’s too late now. I’m sorry, Tenar. I’m sorry for the loss of all that you knew.
Tenar settles into her bedding. Ged does so as well. His breathing deepens.
Tenar pulls herself up to sit up again. She draws her knife and examines it, and then the sleeping man, for a beat. Clasping it in her two hands, she assumes a cross-legged meditation posture.
INT. TENAR’S MIND – NIGHT
Questing Theme.
Tenar’s consciousness moves through the night and finds an entrance to stone passages very like those of the Labyrinth. (They are the Cave Tunnels that appear later).
She takes this turn or that, and then reaches a long straight stretch with a light in the distance. As the Cello transitions to the Running Theme, she accelerates toward the light and enters it, the Cello ending on a single sustained note.
EXT. WOODS – MORNING
Ged wakes and sees Tenar sitting, eyes closed, in her meditation posture, the dawn light on her face. He notes the knife in her hands. He gets up and empties their sack of food of its last few items. He goes into the wood.
EXT. WOODS – MORNING
Ged emerges from the woods with some fruits and roots. Tenar is still in her trance. He sits beside her.
GED
Tenar. Tenar?
Tenar opens her eyes. She speaks and moves in a trance-like state, in calmness and intentionality regardless of circumstance, her eyes fixed on faraway sights.
TENAR
Yes.
GED
We must be going.
TENAR
Yes.
GED
Are you all right?
TENAR
Yes.
GED
You seemed…very far away.
TENAR
I was.
GED
Where did you go?
Tenar looks up at him in muted joy.
TENAR
Into the Labyrinth.
Ged’s face tightens, but he keeps his voice neutral.
GED
I see. Did you…find anything of value there?
Tenar turns away and gets up.
TENAR
The way to go.
EXT. WOODS – DAY
Tenar leads Ged through the woods. She fixes her eyes forward, as if tracking some unseen path, and moves with steady certainty. Ged shifts his gaze constantly.
GED
Do you know this land, then? I thought you were brought to the temple as a child and never left it again. Is there some refuge you learned of in your time there?
They continue walking without any response from Tenar.
GED (cont’d)
I don’t know this land myself, but I have some understanding of woods and rivers and the shapes they take. It might be better…but if you’re following some certain knowledge you have…
Tenar continues to press forward without answering.
GED (cont’d)
Tenar?
EXT. WOODS – DAY
Tenar continues to lead Ged through the woods. Ged spots four soldiers in a clearing and springs ahead of Tenar to stop her.
GED
Guards! Just beyond the trees there.
Tenar stands taller to see them, and then walks in their direction. Ged trails anxiously after her.
GED (cont’d)
Tenar! Tenar!
Tenar breaks into a trot and Ged raises his staff in her direction. But Tenar stops at a large bush near the perimeter of the clearing.
Ged catches up and ducks down with her.
The soldiers turn and take a step toward the bush, but Kossil enters the clearing with three more soldiers.
KOSSIL
Report!
SOLDIER 3
No signs.
KOSSIL
You two: into those pines. You three: up that hill, from every side. Take it slow! Do not let them elude you or I will have your hides. You two with me.
The five dispatched soldiers, which include Soldier 3, head off.
SOLDIER 3
(under his breath to another soldier)
Stupid old crone!
KOSSIL
(into the air)
Priestess! When we find you, you will pay!
Kossil sweeps her gaze around the wood. As it passes Ged and Tenar’s hiding spot, Ged ducks further but Tenar does not. Kossil sets off into the wood with the two remaining soldiers.
GED
Was that Kossil?
Tenar nods.
GED (cont’d)
So she escaped the collapse of the Undertomb.
Tenar nods grimly, gazing in the direction Kossil went.
EXT. WOODS – DAY
Tenar continues leading Ged through the woods in her new steadiness.
EXT. WOODS – NIGHT
Ged and Tenar are huddled for the night beneath a fallen tree. Ged sleeps, but Tenar pulls Kossil’s doll from her bag. She sits up, holding it in her hands and looking down at it.
EXT. WOODS – DAY
Running Theme, fast.
Tenar and Ged run through the woods, pursued by a number of soldiers. Ged is constantly looking around as he runs, but Tenar runs, not as if she’s escaping pursuit (like she did when she first tried to escape as a child), nor in child-like joy (like she did in the woods of her home), but with the intensity of focus on a known goal.
GED
This way!
SOLDIERS
There!
Cut them off!
Where’d they go?
I see them!
Ged and Tenar stop and Ged looks frantically around.
TENAR
(calmly but firmly)
This way.
Tenar bounds off in a new direction. Ged follows.
GED
Wait! Be careful!
They reach the edge of the woods, where the forest floor drops a couple of feet to a beach, and they drop to the sand behind the lip of forest floor. The Cello cuts out. The voices of the soldiers rise and fall but finally fade away.
GED (cont’d)
That was close. We need a true refuge. A place to hide and rest.
TENAR
There.
Far up the beach, a rocky formation juts out from the woods almost all the way to the water.
EXT. CAVE – DUSK
Tenar and Ged approach a cave on the beach near the water. Tenar strides right in, while Ged inspects the structure as he approaches.
INT. CAVE – DUSK
Ged stows their things in a corner of the cave. Tenar sits cross-legged just inside the entrance, face lit by the incoming light, looking out across the sea.
GED
This will do well. We can build a fire at night that won’t be seen, and live on mussels and perhaps even fish from the sea. And we’re within sight of Lookfar. I can call her to us when I’m stronger, or we can walk right down the beach to her when I’m able to deal with the guards.
(beat)
How did you know to come here?
TENAR
We won’t have long to wait.
INT. CAVE – NIGHT
A rumbling wakes Ged, the same sound Tenar heard in the Temple when she first discovered Ged there. Tenar continues sleeping soundly. Ged looks out mouth of the cave and sees only the empty night.
He examines the back of the cave and finds a narrow opening that wasn’t there before. Leading with his lit staff, he enters the Cave Tunnels.
INT. CAVE TUNNELS – MOMENTS LATER
Ged walks through a stone passage very like the ones of the Labyrinth. He encounters a branching and pauses. He raises more light into his staff and continues down one path. He encounters another branching, and another.
As Ged proceeds, the light of his staff dims and he occasionally shakes it, injecting more light into it. That gets harder and harder until finally, the light goes out.
Ged cries out in alarm. He scuffles and bumps, groaning, into the walls as he runs back through the passages. Finally, some light reappears at the end of his staff, as he stumbles through the last few turnings.
INT. CAVE – MOMENTS LATER
Ged emerges back in the cave, rattled and panting. He wakes Tenar.
GED
Tenar! We must go.
TENAR
(sleepily)
Yes, soon.
GED
We must go now. The Old Powers, the Nameless Ones, they’re here.
TENAR
(simply, as if to a child)
They’re everywhere.
GED
This is a special place of theirs. A place of special power. Like the Undertomb once was.
TENAR
(fully awake now.)
I’ve named them. Why should I fear them?
Ged doesn’t respond for a beat.
GED
I may never regain my full strength here. If this is a known place of power, Kossil might think to search for you here.
TENAR
(laying a hand on his arm)
When the time comes, your strength will be sufficient.
EXT. BEACH – MORNING
Ged scrambles over the rocks leading from the mouth of the Cave, glancing worriedly around.
GED
Tenar! Tenar!
Ged spots Tenar on the beach on the other side of the rocks from the stretch of beach leading to Lookfar. She paces up and down, tossing her knife and catching it.
INT. CAVE – DAY
Tenar sits in her usual place, near the cave entrance looking out across the sea. Ged squats by her.
GED
Was that a skill you practiced in the temple? Was it part of your priestly observance? It’s impressive, but you have no more need of it. Those days are over. There’ll be new skills to learn, new worlds to discover.
(beat)
Meanwhile, we can’t expose ourselves unnecessarily. They are certainly still searching for us, but soon, I’ll be strong enough for us to escape them. Until then, we must be more careful.
TENAR
Why?
Ged scrunches his face in frustration.
INT. CAVE – NIGHT
Ged wakes with a start, breathing heavily. Tenar is still sleeping. Ged gets up and searches among her things with no success. He finally reaches a tentative hand into one of her pockets.
He pulls out the Ring and stows it in one of his own pockets. He returns to his bedroll, but Tenar mumbles in her sleep and he pauses. He puts the Ring back into her pocket.
EXT. CAVE – MORNING
Ged scrambles up the rocks to the Cave. He reaches the lip of the Cave and breathes a sigh of relief. Tenar is still there, sitting in her usual pose, eyes closed. He discreetly glances into her pocket: the Ring is still there.
He wakes her.
GED
Tenar. I’ve found a better refuge. It’s another cave, but up the beach and a short distance into the woods. The cover is better, and there’s a second opening, a way out so we can’t be trapped. We can move there tonight, as soon as it gets dark.
TENAR
(still simply and surely)
But this is the place.
Ged glances at the back of the Cave, to the opening to the Cave Tunnels.
GED
What “place” do you mean?
TENAR
Their place. My masters’. You said so yourself.
GED
Tenar, we should never have come here. This is a place of danger, of darkness.
TENAR
Yes! This is the place.
Ged, open-mouthed, can make no answer.
EXT. CAVE – DAY
Ged watches Tenar as she sits in her usual pose. He goes to the Cave Tunnel entrance and runs his hands along the opening. After a glance back at Tenar, he enters the opening.
After a few beats, Ged lurches back out of the opening and drops to his knees, panting heavily.
INT. CAVE – EVENING
Ged cooks something over the fire. Tenar sits near the cave entrance, focused on a lizard she spots near her, the same type as the one she saw in the Owl Room. She reaches out to touch it and pick it up and let it crawl around on her hands and arms and lap.
GED
The Old Powers of the Earth were here before us, and they have no love for anything that walks beneath the sun, thinking and making and living. You broke free of them, but they will seek to draw you back, confusing your mind and darkening your dreams. We must keep our spirit always strong, always certain against them, until we’re free of them. It’s not safe for us to camp so near this place of theirs.
TENAR
There is no safety. There is no end.
Tenar sets the lizard down to scamper off on its own. She gets up and walks toward the Cave Tunnels entrance.
GED
Tenar! Have you heard a word I said?
She continues walking toward the Cave Tunnels entrance.
GED (cont’d)
Tenar, you mustn’t go in!
Ged rises to his full height.
GED (cont’d)
Tenar, I command you to stop!
Ged raises his staff at her.
GED (cont’d)
Pennodann! Pennodann Tenar!
But Tenar only turns briefly near the entrance to the Cave Tunnels.
TENAR
(as if explaining a simple fact to a child)
“Only in dark…”
Ged dashes over to her, but just as they both arrive at the crack in the wall, there is a jumble of darkness and light and Ged is left pounding at the now nonexistent entrance.
GED
Tenar! Tenar!
Ged holds out his staff at the cave wall.
GED (cont’d)
Emenn!
Ged wields his staff like an ax and desperately strikes at the entrance to the Cave Tunnels, hitting it again and again. Sparks to fly from the contact.
GED (cont’d)
Emenn! Emenn! Emenn!
INT. CAVE – NIGHT
It’s late in the night and Ged wearily feels along every inch of the Cave’s back wall, tapping here and there with his staff, listening at the solid rock.
GED
Tenar! Tenar!
Ged raises his staff again, but can barely lift it, and it barely glows with his first attempt, and only a little more on the second.
GED (cont’d)
Emenn! Emenn!
The light goes out completely and Ged collapses near the entrance to the Cave Tunnels.
INT. CAVE – MORNING
Ged is sleeping at the entrance to the Cave Tunnels when Tenar comes back through it. Tenar looks out the entrance of the Cave. She returns and wakes Ged.
She’s no longer in her distant, trance-like state. She’s herself again, but with strength and feeling she didn’t have before.
TENAR
It’s time!
GED
Tenar! How did you…? Yes, we should go. It’s good to see you. In the light.
Ged springs up and gathers their things. Tenar looks out the cave entrance again and returns to Ged.
TENAR
Sparrowhawk, give me your staff.
GED
What?
TENAR
Give me your staff!
Ged sees Kossil with the Captain and his platoon approaching the mouth of the cave. He takes a step toward the cave entrance, raising his staff, but Tenar stops him.
TENAR (cont’d)
By your name that I know, by my name that you know, tell me what is “the greatest power.”
GED
(recognizing that she’s quoting him)
Trust.
Ged hands her his staff as Kossil, the Captain, the Lieutenant, and several soldiers enter the cave.
KOSSIL
So Priestess, it seems I have once more run you–
Tenar walks toward Kossil with a smile, raising Ged’s staff. Kossil backs away a step, but Tenar extends it for Kossil to take.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
(earnestly)
Is this his staff? Well done, priestess! Very well done.
Kossil gestures to the soldiers and they move swiftly into the Cave and grab Ged.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
(to Tenar)
I may have underestimated you! But do you wish to return to the Temple and your place as high priestess? If so, there’s a task you’ve left undone.
Kossil gestures toward Ged.
KOSSIL (cont’d)
This man must die.
TENAR
There’s one other.
KOSSIL
What?
TENAR
You introduced me to the Nameless Ones. Now I wish to introduce them to you.
KOSSIL
I am adjunct priestess of their Temple! Do you think I don’t know them already?
TENAR
You don’t believe in them. Yet, you fear them.
KOSSIL
I fear nothing!
TENAR
Then sit with me here. In this place. For two minutes.
KOSSIL
Two minutes. Just sit. Then we dispense with this man and return to the Temple?
TENAR
Two minutes, and then we’ll do what we must.
KOSSIL
Well. It was a long slog across that wretched beach. I’ll rest–for one minute.
Tenar sits cross-legged on the cave floor. Kossil cautiously lowers herself into a similar position facing her. The soldiers exchange expressions and grumblings of impatience, contempt and derision among themselves.
Ged glances around the cave in sudden confusion, as if hearing some sound no one else is aware of. The Cello sounds a single, sustained note, at a low volume. His gaze fixes on the back wall of the Cave, where the opening to the Cave Tunnels has been.
SOLDIER 3 (O.S)
(faintly, as if underwater)
Why do we have to bow to the old hag?
CAPTAIN (O.S.)
(faintly, as if underwater)
We won’t for much longer.
INT. CAVE TUNNELS
Ged’s consciousness moves to the back wall of the Cave and enters the Cave Tunnels, as the Cello’s single note increases in volume.
TENAR (V.O.)
You must find it, Ged. You must find it. Your strength will be sufficient.
Ged’s consciousness reaches a long straight stretch with a light in the distance. It accelerates toward the light and enters it as the Cello peaks and cuts out.
INT. CAVE – MOMENTS LATER
Ged snaps out of his vision to commotion in the cave. Kossil is brandishing her old doll, screaming at Tenar, while the soldiers complain loudly to the Captain in the background.
KOSSIL
Where did you get this? What do you mean by it?
TENAR
(to Ged)
Her name, Sparrowhawk! Her name!
GED
(foggily to Tenar)
Aranya.
(to Kossil, more clearly)
Kossil, your true name is Aranya.
Kossil swivels her gaze to him in shock.
CAPTAIN
Enough! The bitch has gone mad. The God-King rules here.
(to his men.)
Kill them all.
The soldiers close in on Tenar, Ged, and Kossil. Kossil shrinks away, clutching her doll, but Tenar steps protectively in front of her, taking up Ged’s staff.
TENAR
I am Arha, the Devoured, the Deathless, servant of the Nameless Ones! Do you dare to challenge my power?
The soldiers pause and look at one another in doubt.
CAPTAIN
Fools! She has no power!
TENAR
(triumphantly)
He’s right! I don’t!
Tenar flings the staff to Ged.
GED
(raising the staff toward the soldiers)
Pennodann!
The spell knocks the soldiers down, but Ged he drops to his knees. Tenar holds the Ring of Erreth-Akbe out to Ged, a fierce expression on her face. He takes hold of it, and linked by the Ring, they run from the cave.
EXT. BEACH – DAY
Running Theme, glorious and triumphant.
Tenar and Ged run along the beach. Tenar’s hair and laughter flow in the wind as she runs like she did as a child, joyfully and artlessly, bumping and leaping through a sparkling world. Far behind them, soldiers emerge from the cave in pursuit.
INT. CAVE
As the Cello continues playing, Kossil stands clutching her doll at the now visible entrance to the Cave Tunnels. The Lieutenant is the only soldier remaining in the cave. He stares at her, open-mouthed.
Kossil enters the Cave Tunnels.
EXT. BEACH
As the Cello continues playing, Ged and Tenar come to the soldiers guarding Lookfar, but Ged raises his staff and they’re swept aside like leaves by the wind.
Tenar and Ged leap aboard Lookfar and Ged raises his staff toward the sail.
GED
Nanthessa!
The sails billow and the boat practically leaps into the sea, as the Cello ends on a single, sustained note.
EXT. LOOKFAR – DAY
Questing Theme, mournful and yet somehow hopeful.
Lookfar sails on across the sea. Ged sits aft, one hand on the tiller and his staff still raised toward the taut sail. His expression is somber.
Tenar stands at the prow looking ahead, her expression a combination of triumph and grief.
EXT. LOOKFAR – DAY
Land comes into view. The Cello shifts slightly into the minor.
EXT. HAVNOR PORT – DAY
Havnor Port is a bustling center of trade. A socioeconomically diverse crowd–from merchants and richly dressed landowners with servants to beggars and street urchins–is gathered at the docks, tracking Lookfar’s approach.
EXT. LOOKFAR – DAY
Lookfar is close enough that Tenar can see details of the crowd that awaits her. The sight does not change her facial expression at all, but she raises the Ring of Erreth-Akbe into the air and the distant crowd cheers. The Cello transitions into a slowly rising scale. (Think of the ending of Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet For The End Of Time.”)
EXT. LOOKFAR – DAY
As the Cello rises to its high-pitched ending, Lookfar comes into the distant dock. People help the small figure of Tenar out of the boat and guide her up a street leading into the heart of the city, with Ged trailing behind.
FADE OUT
Adaptation notes (spoiler alert for some items):
- Because this screenplay will never be produced, I’ve stretched standard screenwriting conventions, detailing aspects of the movie normally left open for the composer, the director, or the actors by:
- Including soundtrack cues for the very specific background music I heard through all the years I imagined the movie.
- Providing occasional hints about how a character is feeling or delivering a line.
- Le Guin’s choice to make the hero dark-skinned and the “bad guys” light skinned was a radical move in its time, but it posed a problem for me because of a reversal of roles I planned for the final act of the story.
- In my version the “damsel in distress” eventually takes over as the all-knowing, sure-handed hero, and if I left her as White, we’d be right back to the White hero saving the day.
- On the other hand, if I switched the skin colors, the movie might seem (after the first few scenes, anyway) to be a MAGA regression of Le Guin’s original breakthrough.
- Then I realized: why does either side, or anybody in the movie, need to be White?
- I altered the layout of the grounds significantly to meet my plotting and thematic needs.
- The biggest change was a reversal of the Labyrinth and the Undertomb, in terms of which one you pass through first to get to the other. This was mostly because of my invention of a First Temple: the more primitive structure that once stood (and the place where I imagine the duel between Erreth-Akbe and Arha was fought in ancient times). In my scheme, the more modern Temple and Labyrinth sit in the foreground of the setting, with the dark past of the First Temple and its Undertomb behind them.
- Le Guin wrote that The Tombs of Atuan is all about sex, and I wonder if her arrangement of the Labyrinth and Undertomb was important to her symbolism in some way. If so, I didn’t need to preserve it because my version of the story is not about sex at all.
- I also imagined the Temple as being the whole of the site: a single, enormous, sprawling structure that is cinematically the entire lightless prison.
- I added a political component, because this to me is the true evil, not confined to any one people. If Le Guin’s theme was sex, mine is power: “Where it comes from, how to gain it, and how to use it.”
- Some Earthsea lovers will be upset at how imperfect my Ged is, but I believe that his journey in this screenplay matches Le Guin’s journey through the writing of all the Earthsea books.