East Reach

The East Reach is the vast, sparsely populated eastern expanse of Earthsea, a region of scattered, small islands where the power of wizardry from the Inner Lands grows uncertain and where the rules of magic themselves seem to change. It is the homeland of Ged's friend Vetch, and it is across its lonely seas and through its strange villages that Ged pursues the shadow he loosed, finding both refuge and the final confrontation that will define his life.

Geography and Character

The East Reach is a region of many small islands, including Iffish, Tok, Holp, Korp, Kopp, Venway, Vemish, Koppish, and Sneg. The people of these islands speak Hardic, but often in their own fashion, strange even to the ears of someone from the Inner Lands like Vetch. The inhabitants of the East Reach are described as having very dark skin, black-brown in color, unlike the red-brown skin of most Archipelagans. This physical difference marks them as a distinct people within the world of Earthsea. The region is also home to the Kargad Empire, a savage, white-skinned, yellow-haired people who speak a tongue unlike any in the Archipelago, and who are known for their fierce raids and love of bloodshed. The Kargish lands lie between the Northern and Eastern Reaches, comprising Karego-At, Atuan, Hur-at-Hur, and Atnini.

The Nature of Magic in the East Reach

The East Reach is a place where the certainties of wizardry learned on Roke begin to fray. As Vetch tells Ged, "Rules change in the Reaches." Good spells learned on Roke may have no power there, or go all awry, while other spells worked there were never learned on Roke. Every land has its own powers, and the farther one goes from the Inner Lands, the less one can guess about those powers and their governance. This uncertainty is a key factor in Ged's quest, as the shadow he hunts begins to take on a new form—a likeness of himself—once he enters the East Reach, a phenomenon that did not occur in the Archipelago. This suggests that the shadow's nature is also subject to the region's shifting magical rules.

A Place of Refuge and Departure

Ged finds a brief but profound respite in the East Reach, specifically on the island of Iffish, where his friend Vetch lives. In the town of Ismay, Ged stays in Vetch's house, a place of "well-founded, peaceful, and assured" comfort. There, he meets Vetch's sister, Yarrow, and his brother, Murre. This interlude is a moment of warmth and human connection before the final, harrowing stage of his journey. It is from Iffish that Ged and Vetch set sail on the boat Lookfar for the Open Sea, leaving behind the last haven Ged is to know. The East Reach, therefore, serves as the final threshold between the known world and the unknown, between the lands of men and the realm of the shadow.

The Final Confrontation and Return

Ged's pursuit of the shadow takes him eastward from Iffish, past islands like Soders, Pelimer, and Astowell (also called Lastland), and finally out into the Open Sea. It is beyond the East Reach, on the edge of the world, that Ged faces the shadow in its ultimate form. After the confrontation, Ged and Vetch sail back westward, and it is to the East Reach that they return. They first raise land off the southernmost cape of Koppish, and from there the voyage to Iffish is not long. They come into Ismay harbor on a still, dark evening before snow, and go up through the narrow streets to the wizard's house, where Yarrow runs to meet them, crying with joy. The East Reach is thus both the point of departure for the most perilous part of the quest and the place of safe return, the home that welcomes the hero back from the edge of death.