Badaptations — A Wizard of Earthsea & The Tombs of Atuan → Earthsea

I knew there was I reason I kept that tablet around.

Okay! So, we all remember that weird adaptations series I wrote several entries of last year, right? Well, we're sort of resurrecting it. This is Badaptations, where I look at adaptations that suck, and talk about why. Expect SPOILERS aplenty.

A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) & The Tombs of Atuan (1970) by Ursula K. Le Guin into Earthsea (AKA Legend of Earthsea) (2004) dir. Robert Lieberman, written by Gavin Scott

So, what got lost in translation when a tv producer decided to take a beloved fantasy series and adapt it as a cheap Lord of the Rings knock-off?

The Original: Okay, so I've recently reviewed both Wizard and Tombs, so I'll try and be brief here. All right. Let's get cracking:

Duny is the son of a village bronze smith on the isle of Gont. Like most Gontish men, Duny has reddish brown skin. Unlike most Gontish men, he displays an early talent for the Art Magic, learning a few simple spells from his aunt, the village witch. When the town is attacked by slavers from the Kargad Empire in the east, twelve-year-old Duny (by now nicknamed Sparrowhawk) summons up a fog and creates the illusion of ghosts to frighten off the warriors. This drains him so much that it's feared he will die and Ogion the Silent, wizard of Re Albi, is summoned to heal him. After Sparrowhawk recovers, Ogion baptizes him with the true name of Ged (true names are a whole thing, but most people will call Ged Sparrowhawk, which is his usename). Ogion takes on Sparrowhawk as an apprentice, but after the boy nearly reads out a powerful spell form a book of Pelnish lore, Ogion decides to give him the choice of studying the Art Magic at the school for wizards on Roke. Sparrowhawk proves to be a skilled student, and while he makes a good friend in Vetch, a portly young man from the isle of Iffish, he antagonizes Jasper, an aristocrat's son. As they study, Jasper and Sparrowhawk's rivalry grows until one night they challenge each other to a show of power. Sparrowhawk recites the spell he read from Ogion's book, which happens to be a summoning spell. It works, but it also tears a hole in reality releasing some sort of nameless dark power (this is a problem because to do magic you need to know the true names of things). Not only does this Shadow severely injure Sparrowhawk, it kills the Archmage of Roke. A humbled Ged eventually finishes his studies and takes his first assignment as the wizard of the Ninety Isles. It's a bit of a backwater, but the locals need a wizard to lay charms on their fishing boats and nets. Oh, and also to protect them from the dragon that's taken up residence on the isle of Pendor. Worried that he can't give the islanders the service they deserve while the Shadow is out there, Sparrowhawk resolves to defeat the dragon. Fortunately, he has an ace up his sleeve: he knows the dragon's true name. He deploys this knowledge to bend Yevaud (the dragon) to his will and leave the Ninety Isles alone. Then he's free to sail off and run away from the Shadow. He feels something calling him to Osskil in the north. After a run-in with the shadow on Osskil, Ged flees back to Gont where Ogion advises him that he must turn the tables and hunt down his pursuer. So he does, in his journeys he builds a magic boat, gets shipwrecked with a pair of little old people who don't speak Hardic and give him half of a ring, and finally ends up on the home island of his school chum, Vetch (aka Estarriol) who agrees to help Ged track the shadow to the ends of Earthsea if necessary. It's a good thing, too, because it's definitely necessary, Ged and Vetch chase the shadow out past the last island in the Southeast. In the novel's conclusion (did I warn you about SPOILERS yet?) our hero takes the shadow in his arms, names it Ged and takes it on as the darkness within himself, a story related in The Deed of Ged and other songs across Earthsea. All this before he turned twenty, and what have you done with your life?

A few years later we pick up our story in the Kargad Empire, specifically on the desert island of Atuan, where five-year-old Tenar is taken from her parents and secreted away to the Place of the Tombs of Atuan. While there, she is initiated into the cult of the Nameless Ones, by which I mean she's symbolically sacrificed to ancient gods who will own her life and death and even name. She is then given the name of "Arha" the Eaten One. She learns to pour out blood on the tombs, dance in the Hall of the Empty Throne, and execute prisoners of the God-king in the Undertomb. Actually, she's not just a member of the cult of the Nameless Ones, she's the High Priestess. Also, the only priestess. But she's not the only high priestess at the Place. There's also Kossil, the High Priestess of the God-king (although, how divine can he really be, after all, he's bald), and Thar, the High Priestess of the Twin Gods. They pass along the secrets that the previous Arha revealed to them on her deathbed (oh, and have I mentioned that Tenar is believed to be the reincarnation not just of her predecessor but of all the previous Arhas? Because she is.). In any case, although she isn't particularly happy with her life, she does seem to be resigned to it. She is, nominally, the most powerful woman in the Kargad Empire. That said, as the sole priestess of her order, her authority begins and ends in the maze of tunnels under the Place. One day, when she's walking the tunnels she spots a foreign wizard profaning the Undertomb with with light and manages to trap him in the labyrinth. However, instead of reporting his presence to the other priestesses or the guards, she keeps him alive down there. He tells her his name is Sparrowhawk, and that he's come to steal half of a ring from the treasure room(remember the ring I mentioned in passing while summarizing A Wizard of Earthsea?). Which is, oddly enough, where Tenar decides to move him after Kossil finds out she's keeping a prisoner in the labyrinth instead of killing him. On the one hand, there's the fear that Kossil can reveal her impiety and on the other hand this foreign wizard she's captured doesn't seem nearly as accursed as she's been raised to believe, so she's not sure what to do. But then again, Sparrowhawk did somehow know that her real name was Tenar and not Arha. Ultimately, she decides to turn her back on the only life she's ever known, help Sparrowhawk steal the other half of the ring, and help him escape the labyrinth. Once free of the labyrinth, Sparrowhawk stops trying to hold back the power of the Nameless Ones, and the Tombs are consumed in an Earthquake. Oh, and at some point, Sparrowhawk has revealed to Tenar that his true name is Ged. In any case, they camp out for a few nights while they sneak back to Ged's boat and though they bond, Tenar has doubts both about Ged's motives and her own worthiness to make a new life after killing those three blasphemers. Still, they sail triumphantly into the harbor at Havnor and restore the Rune of Peace inscribed on the ring. And all this before she turned sixteen, and what have you done with your life?

The Remake: As a voiceover by the Magus Ogion (Danny Glover) informs viewers at the beginning of the miniseries, Earthsea's 1,001 islands used to be ruled over by the evil Nameless Ones until they were sealed away by an amulet, forged from the faith of the priestesses of Atuan. Unfortunately, the amulet was broken when King Tygath (?) (Sebastian Roché) sent out Kargide (?) raiders to conquer Earthsea. Now the priestesses' prayers are the only things keeping the Nameless Ones at bay. However, given how little time they spend praying in the miniseries, the Nameless Ones can't be all that powerful. In any case, we join Ged (Shawn Ashmore), a boy in his extremely late teens, while he wrestles with his girlfriend, who seems oddly nonplussed when he mentions that he has recurring visions of another girl. That girl is Tenar (Kristin Kreuk) a novice at Atuan, who aced the test she needed to pass to become a full-fledged priestess (I'm not even joking). She's been troubled by recent visions of a wizard who will unleash the Nameless Ones (it's Ged). Meanwhile, on Ged's island of Gont, Kargide raiders are attacking his village. It's a good thing that amnesiac witch has time to teach him a spell to conjure fog and give him half an amulet before they get there. Ged uses the fog to trick the invaders into running off of a cliff like Wile E. Coyote, but one of them takes Ged with him. Don't worry, he'll be fine after Ogion heals him, and of course, gives him his true name of Sparrowhawk. Ogion then takes Ged away to learn magic over his father's objections. Meanwhile, Tenar's rapid ascent through the ranks of her order annoys Kossil (Jennifer Calvert), another priestess who's also the lover of King Tygath. See, Tygath's plan to take over the world involves releasing the Nameless Ones because . . . reasons (?) and he needs Kossil to become the Venerable Mother so that she can . . . do that. But there's a problem, the current Venerable Mother, Thar (Isabella Rosellini) is obviously grooming Tenar to take her place. So, of course, Kossil has to trick a serving girl into slipping Thar poison under the guise of sneaking her medicine. Oh, but meanwhile, Ogion sends Ged off to the magic school on Roke island after Ged nearly summons . . . something by reading from a lore book. At the school he befriends Vetch (Chris Gauthier) a student from Vemish who thinks and speaks of nothing but food, and befrenemies Jasper (Mark Hildreth) a rich man's son who thinks and speaks of nothing but his own social standing. In a school montage we see Ged excel at a bunch of stuff, including transforming himself into a not-at-all convincing CGI hawk. Unfortunately, he donks everything up by accidentally summoning one of the Nameless Ones in a wizard's duel with Jasper. This leads the Archmagus (Alan Scarfe) to eject Ged from the school, so that he can face off against an Eldritch horror with nothing but his incomplete magic education to protect him. Meanwhile, Tygath, hearing that a wizard at Roke will somehow stop him, invades the school with the help of Jasper, who he promises to make the new Archmagus. The invasion seems pretty successful, especially after Tygath throws a knife into the Archmagus' chest. Meanwhile, Ged is wandering Earthsea when his traveling companion, Skiorh (Alessandro Juliani), is possessed by the Nameless One to become a Gebbeth. Ged escapes by turning into a sparrowhawk and flying back to Gont where Ogion gives him a pep-talk and tells him to hunt down the Gebbeth. So that's what he does, he confronts it, barely survives, and tracks it to Vemish where he runs into his old school chum, Vetch, now the Magus of Vemish. But it seems like the Gebbeth has also been through and is imitating Ged, and also killing people. So that's a problem. They have a run-in with a dragon but Ged uses its true name to force it to answer three questions (?). It answers with riddles, which seems like cheating. Meanwhile, Thar has named Tenar her successor, so Kossil just straight up murders the maid and frames Tenar for both the murder and for poisoning Thar. Meanwhile, Vetch and Ged, unable to solve the riddle, go back to Roke where the new Archmagus, Jasper, reveals that he's actually the real Archmagus who not only isn't dead, he's going to help them. They figure out that they need to sail to Atuan and go to the Tombs where the Nameless Ones are sealed away. Unfortunately, Ged is captured and Vetch gets lost in the labyrinth. Ged's cell happens to be next to Tenar's and each of them finally meets the person they've been dream-stalking. They escape from their cells, but Kossil finds Tenar and takes her to the room where the Nameless Ones are sealed away. Meanwhile Ged encounters the Gebbeth who's already (seemingly) killed Vetch. Don't worry, Ged ultimately realizes that the real Gebbeth was inside him the whole time and absorbs it by giving it his own true name, (which, remember, is Sparrowhawk, not Ged). Ged and Tygath both end up in the chamber of the Nameless Ones with Kossil and Tenar. Look, I'll level with you, I've forgotten where the second half of the amulet comes into play, but Ged knows that it's around and he tells Tenar to unleash the Nameless Ones. She does, and her faith protects her and Ged while Tygath is killed, so Ged and Tenar can put the amulet back together and bring peace back to Earthsea. Then Ged uses magic to call Vetch back from the dead and the audience (realizing that they never even need to think about this experience again) lives happily ever after.

So much for trying to be brief.

Fidelity to Source Material: Well, it retains a lot of characters and scenarios from the source material, but it also shuffles two novels that take place several years apart into one story and disregards a lot of the texture and culture of Le Guin's fictional world (we'll talk about that later).

Smart Changes:  Um . . . pass?

Stupid Changes: Okay, so, there's just so much to talk about. There are silly little changes they make like swapping Ged's use name and true name, changing the pronunciation of Ogion (Oh-GEE-on) and Kargad to Oh-jee-on and Kargide, making Thar, Kossil, and Tenar priestesses in the same order, making Vetch's home island Vemish instead of Iffish, casting actors who are clearly in their early twenties as characters in their early-to-mid teens, etc. And those aren't so egregious, but in light of all the other problems it does sort of indicate that the producers had no interest in getting anything right.

Why it doesn't work: So, this aired in 2004, the year Return of the King swept the Oscars and everyone wanted their own fantasy epic. So, they bought the rights to Le Guin's first two Earthsea novels — which look like epic adventures if you squint hard enough — and slapped Shawn Ashmore in what amounts to Hobbit cosplay and said, "That'll do." Tenar is transformed from a ruthless cult leader/initiate into a doe-eyed love interest (Dan Olson of Folding Ideas covered this quite well in a video on the Earthsea miniseries). Also, instead of being taken from her parents as a five-year-old, she arrived at the Place as an orphan. Not only does this rob her of any defining characteristics, but it also removes her character arc. An evil warlord character is created out of thin air (I mean, the God-king of the Kargad Empire is mentioned in the books but never appears), robbing Ged's story arc of its emotional resonance. Sure, he still has the epiphany that the only way to defeat the Shadow/Gebbeth/Nameless One is to give it his own true name, but that's not the climax of the story anymore because Ged and Tenar still need to confront Tygath.

Then there's the whitewashing. All the characters except for Ogion and Tenar are cast with white actors (I mean, it makes sense that the . . . sigh . . . Kargide characters to be white). That's something I haven't touched on in my Earthsea reviews, pretty much everyone in the Archipelago is dark-skinned, Ged's skin is described as reddish-brown, Vetch's as dark brown. You get the idea. Meanwhile characters from northern isles like Osskil are paler and the inhabitants of the Kargad Empire are white. I'm not going to say that the producers whitewashed the cast because of overt racist sentiment, but it was the early 2000s so it was probably the belief that a cast full of non-white actors would be difficult to market (On reflection, that actually is overtly racist sentiment, I guess I do want to say that the casting decision was overty racist.). That also seems to be why all the design elements default to the blandest of Medieval European inspired fantasy clichés.

And that right there might just be the miniseries' greatest crime. Part of what makes Earthsea work so well is the specific detail that Le Guin uses to build up the world. She never really bogs the story down with info-dumps about who say, Segoy, is or what the significance of the Long Dance is, because these are all things that the characters in the world would already understand. There isn't an audience stand-in who needs those things explained. Just about the only things that are explained are the things that Ged and Tenar learn in their magical and religious instruction, respectively. Meanwhile, any of the lore from the books that manages to make it into the mini-series is shoe-horned in with a ham-handed explanation.

Have I made it clear that the movie is poorly written? Because it is. The effects have also aged badly, but they also would have been visibly terrible in 2004. I won't go too hard on the cast, but none of them elevates the material. But maybe with better direction? No, the nicest thing I can say about it is that on the whole, the miniseries is pretty bland. Not good enough to enjoy on its own merits, but not bad enough to be so-bad-it's-good. It's bland, it's boring, but it's watchable, barely.

At the core of all these issues seems to be a deep indifference to the source material. A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan aren't epic adventures, they're character studies. I mean, sure, they have adventure elements. But the stakes are personal, and not just metaphorically. Neither Ged or Tenar is facing anything world-ending or even as drastic as an invasion. Each goes through something life-altering and comes out with a new perspective, but the world around them is largely unchanged. The end of each book makes it clear that they kept on living their lives and still had some effect on the world; but in the movie, they basically banish evil forever. The producers must have known that there were four more books to adapt. Where did they think this was all going?

Anyway, maybe I'm getting a little too worked up about all this. After all, it could just be that this production was hastily thrown together by a bunch of mercenary hacks. Surely, if a group of talented individuals who were passionate about the project tried to make an Earthsea adaptation, the result would be something special, right? Right?

A grim portent of that which is to come.

Oh, right.

Links:

"What did Ursula K. Le Guin think of this adaptation?" you might ask. She was, shall we say, not shy about its many shortcomings.

The miniseries has been uploaded to YouTube, apparently legally(?). It's in two parts. But why would you punish yourself like that? Maybe you should check out some YouTube videos about food? Food's good. Just don't watch the miniseries. It's bad.

Happy Indigenous People's Day!