Thwil Bay
Thwil Bay, on the eastern coast of Roke Island, is the sheltered harbor of the town of Thwil and the principal sea-gate to the Isle of the Wise. It is a small bay where boats lie at anchor in peace, overlooked by the high, round, green hill called Roke Knoll and the town's high houses with their sharp slate roofs. The bay is the first landfall for those approaching Roke from the Inmost Sea, and it is protected by the powerful enchantments that surround the island, including the Roke-wind that keeps evil powers at bay.
Arrival Through the Storm
Ged first saw Thwil Bay after a harrowing voyage aboard the ship Shadow. The vessel had been caught in a fierce gale on the Inmost Sea, and the master had despaired of reaching Roke, intending to turn south toward Hort Town. Ged, however, glimpsed a clear light to the west and insisted it was Roke Island. The master, hoping to save his ship, ordered the steersman to head westward toward the light. They rowed across the wind's way through heavy seas, and at last, between one oarstroke and the next, they ran out of the storm into a clear air where the light of after-sunset glowed in the sky and on the sea. Over the foam-crested waves they saw not far off a high, round, green hill, and beneath it a town built on a small bay where boats lay at anchor, all in peace. The steersman, doubting his senses, called out, "Sir! is this true land or a witchery?" The master roared back that it was Thwil Bay and the Knoll of Roke, and they rowed wearily into the bay, where the air was still and quiet, and stars were coming out one by one in a clear sky, while clouds hung dark a mile off all about the island.
The Roke-Wind and Ged's Exclusion
After Ged's disastrous summoning on Roke Knoll and the loosing of the shadow, he attempted to return to Roke for safety and counsel. He took passage from Serd, but as the ship turned from Serd Inner Port and raised sail, a wind came up hard from the east against her, though the wintry sky was clear and the weather had seemed settled mild. The wind veered and gusted so wildly that the ship was in danger of jibing. Ged spoke to the wind, and it blew less hard for a while, but then sudden great gusts came whistling out of the south, driving them back westward. The ship's master, enraged, called it a "fool's gale" that blew all ways at once. Ged raised the magewind into the sail, and the ship began to cleave straight to the east, but the magewind slackened, growing feebler, until the ship hung still on the waves. Ged realized the truth: "It's not against your ship this wind blows, but against me." The Roke-wind, the ancient spell that keeps evil powers from the Isle of the Wise, had risen against him because the shadow that hunted him was now very close. He ordered the master to turn back to Serd, and they returned under clearing skies. Thwil Bay, which had once welcomed him, was now forbidden to him.
Departure for the Final Voyage
Thwil Bay was also the point of departure for Ged's final, fateful voyage. After his reunion with Vetch on Iffish, the two young wizards set forth from the harbor of Ismay, but the narrative arc that began with Ged's arrival at Thwil Bay concluded when he and Vetch sailed from the East Reach into the Open Sea. The bay thus stands as the threshold between the known world of the Archipelago and the unknown, between safety and peril, and between the beginning and the end of Ged's first great quest. It is the place where the ordinary sea meets the enchanted island, and where the laws of the world begin to change.
