The boat Lookfar
The boat Lookfar is a small, clinker-built fishing vessel that becomes the central material vehicle of Ged's sea-quest across the East Reach and into the Open Sea, carrying him from the West Hand to the very edge of the world and back. More than a means of transport, Lookfar is a crafted object imbued with gratitude, magic, and the weight of a hunter's purpose, and its journey mirrors Ged's own transformation from a hunted fugitive to a man who chooses to turn and face his shadow.
Origin and Naming
Lookfar was originally owned by an old man of the West Hand, a village on the southern coast of that lonely isle. The old man, whose cataracts Ged healed, offered the boat as a gift out of fear and wonder of the young wizard's power. Ged, however, paid for it in sorcerers' kind, restoring the old man's sight. Rejoicing, the old man said, "We called the boat Sanderling, but 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. For I had forgotten how much light there is in the world, till you gave it back to me." Thus the boat was renamed Lookfar and given painted eyes, a charm of protection and gratitude. Ged reinforced her wood with deep-in-woven charms, for he thought he might go far in that boat. She was built to carry two or three men, and the old man said she had ridden gallantly through high seas and foul weather.
The Voyage into the East Reach
From the West Hand, Ged sailed Lookfar southward over the wide seas of the Reach, following the shadow's track. The boat carried him past Vemish, where a sorcerer warned him that a shadow in his likeness had been seen, and on to Iffish, where he reunited with his friend Vetch. Together, the two young wizards set forth in Lookfar from the harbor of Ismay, raising a brown, strong-woven sail to the north wind. The boat carried them across the hundred miles to Soders Island, through foul weather and contrary winds, and then onward into the outmost fringes of the Reach. Ged, who had been unwilling to use his craft, finally raised the magewind, and Lookfar shuddered with the great, smoking, sunlit waves that hit her as she ran, but she went gallantly as her builder had promised, answering the magewind as true as any spell-enwoven ship of Roke.
The Final Confrontation and Return
Lookfar carried Ged and Vetch eastward from Astowell into the Open Sea, on the first day of the Fallows, before sunrise. For three days and nights the boat was driven by the powerful wind of magery over the great swells of ocean. On the third day, Ged stood up in the prow and spoke aloud, and the magewind dropped. Lookfar lost headway and rose and fell on the vast surges like a chip of wood. Ged took down the sail and began to row, and the boat seemed to go forward over water that lay almost still, as in a land-locked bay. The sea turned to sand, and Lookfar's keel dragged on the dry land. Ged stepped over the side and walked away from the boat, leaving it behind as he confronted the shadow. After the confrontation, Vetch found Lookfar rocking on the grey waves, empty, and rowed mightily to rescue Ged from the wild water. The boat then carried them westward on the long return voyage, sixteen days of sailing, with Ged and Vetch fishing and refilling their waterskin with spell-sweetened water. They came in to Ismay harbor on a still, dark evening before snow, and tied up the boat Lookfar that had borne them to the coasts of death's kingdom and back.
