Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

This is our discussion of the short story....

"The Word of Unbinding" by Ursula K. Le Guin

From the anthology Epic: Legends of Fantasy edited by John Joseph Adams. See the Epic: Legends of Fantasy anthology discussion hub for more info on the anthology and pointers to discussion of its other stories.

"The Word of Unbinding" was previously published in Le Guin's The Wind's Twelve Quarters and in Sorcerers!.

I found the story really dull and could not remember anything except that two wizards were fighting.

but at least I did not lem it like her last novel I read

Silvana wrote: "but at least I did not lem it like her last novel I read"

"lem it" ?

This story, from 1964, is Le Guin's earliest concept of what would become Earthsea (along with its companion story, "The Rule of Names" (which I don't think is included in Epic, but is in The Wind's Twelve Quarters.) Not the Earths characters, just the general nature of the archipelago and its magic.

A wizard, Festin, presumably the "good guy", was apparently supposed to be protecting his island, and apparently blew it. The story begins with him awakening in a dungeon. He attempts several escapes by transformation magic (cf Ged as a hawk), only to find his enemy (Voll) has anticipated & prepared for such eventualities. Eventually, exhausted, Festin leads Voll into the land of the dead (cf The Farthest Shore).

I don't think there's anything especially remarkable about the story, other than its foreshadowing of Earthsea. It's pretty straightforward. Festin has been and continues to be overconfident throughout (only a wizard would be overconfident when he wakes up in a dungeon with no memory of how we got there.)

whoops, I meant abandon. was using a vocab from another group.