The Priestess must be taken from her family

The rule that the Priestess must be taken from her family is a central tenet of the religious order that governs the Place of the Tombs of Atuan. This practice is not merely a custom but a rigid, codified procedure that defines the identity and life of the girl who becomes the Eaten One, the living servant of the Nameless Ones. The rule ensures that the child is wholly absorbed into the sacred institution, with no lingering loyalties or memories of a former life that could compromise her absolute devotion to the dark powers she serves.

Selection and Removal

The process begins with the death of the current One Priestess. Priestesses and Wardens of the Place then journey across the desert into the towns and villages of Atuan, seeking the girl-child born on the very night of the Priestess's death. The child must be sound of body and mind, and must reach the age of five years unblemished by disease or deformity. Once identified, the child is watched from afar for five years. At the end of this period, the High Priestesses Thar and Kossil, accompanied by Temple guards and soldiers of the Godking, travel to the child's home to take her. The rule is enforced without exception, as demonstrated when the mother of the girl who would become Arha attempted to fake a smallpox infection to keep her child. The deception was discovered by Kossil, who saw through the berry-juice rash, and the child was taken. The mother's grief is implied but not detailed; the father, a poor orchard-tender, had already resigned himself to the loss, complaining that the child was "no good to us" and that they would receive no payment for her.

Severance of Identity

Upon arrival at the Place, the child's former identity is systematically erased. The name given by her family is taken from her, and she is given the title Arha, meaning "the Eaten One." She is told repeatedly, "You are Arha. There is nothing left. It was all eaten." The child is made to repeat this formula daily. She is housed not with her family but in the Small House, a dwelling she will occupy alone for the rest of her life. The rule of separation is so absolute that the girl eventually loses all remembrance of her mother, retaining only a vague, sensory memory of being held and the scent of hair washed in sage-scented water. The only link to her past is the Warden Manan, a eunuch who was present when she was found and who becomes her guardian, but even he is an outsider to her former life.

Enforcement and Consequences

The rule is enforced by the High Priestesses, particularly Thar and Kossil, who ensure that the Eaten One is kept apart from the other girls and from any ordinary childhood experiences. When Arha, at age twelve, is caught climbing the Men's Wall with another girl, Penthe, it is Penthe who is whipped and punished, while Arha is merely reminded of her unique status. Thar tells her, "It is not fitting that you be seen climbing and running with other girls. You are Arha." The rule isolates the Priestess, making her a figure of awe and loneliness. She is permitted to wander among the nine standing stones of the Tombs, but even there, the coldness and desolation of the place mirror the emotional void created by her removal from family. The rule is designed to produce a priestess who is wholly owned by the Nameless Ones, a living vessel with no other allegiance, no other love, and no other home.

Narrative Significance

The rule that the Priestess must be taken from her family establishes the fundamental conflict of Arha's existence. It creates a character who is both immensely powerful within her domain and utterly vulnerable, a child who has been "eaten" by her role. This severance from her origins is the source of her later crisis when Ged, a wizard from the Archipelago, enters the Tombs. Her encounter with him forces her to confront the possibility of a life beyond the rule, a life where she might have a name and a past. The rule, therefore, is not just a background detail but the engine of the story's central drama: the struggle between the absolute, inhuman demands of the sacred and the persistent, fragile call of the human.