Nameless Ones

The Nameless Ones are the ancient, pre-human powers to whom the Place of the Tombs of Atuan is dedicated. They are older than the Godkings of Kargad, older than the Twin Gods Atwah and Wuluah, and older than light itself. Their worship defines the entire structure of the Priestess's life, demanding absolute submission and the erasure of her individual identity.

Nature and Worship

The Nameless Ones are not named; they are referred to only by their lack of a name. The Priestess who serves them is likewise nameless, called Arha, "the Eaten One." The central ritual of their cult is the Remaking ceremony, in which a child is symbolically "eaten" by the Nameless Ones, her former name and identity consumed. The ritual formula declares, "Let them accept her life and the years of her life until her death, which is also theirs. Let them find her acceptable. Let her be eaten!" The response from the other priestesses is, "She is eaten! She is eaten!" This act of consumption is not metaphorical; it is the foundational event of the Priestess's existence, marking her as belonging wholly to the Nameless Ones.

The Tombs and the Sacred Space

The physical center of their worship is the Hall of the Throne, where a huge, empty black throne sits, not of human dimensions. Behind the Hall, encircling the crest of the hill, runs a massive rock wall. Inside this wall stand the Tombs themselves: nine black stones, eighteen to twenty feet high, planted in the earth since the time of the world's creation. They are older than the Godkings, older than the Twin Gods, older than light. The Priestess alone may enter this ground. Twice a year, at the full moon nearest the equinoxes, she performs a blood sacrifice, pouring goat's blood at the foot of the standing black stone and over one of the fallen stones. The Nameless Ones are bound to this specific place, a cave or stone or welling spring, and their power does not cross the sea.

The Priestess's Role and Isolation

The Priestess of the Nameless Ones is selected as a child, taken from her family, and raised in isolation. She must be sound of body and mind, and if she reaches the age of five unblemished, she is brought to the Place. After a year of instruction, she undergoes the Remaking ceremony. From that point on, she lives alone in the Small House, and no one may enter without her permission. She is forbidden to be touched by men. The High Priestesses Kossil and Thar, who serve the Godking and the Twin Gods respectively, oversee her training but cannot punish her, for she is the One Priestess. The Nameless Ones demand her complete devotion, and her life is one of ritual, work, and solitude, with no games or play. The only relief is the rare permission to go fishing.

The Nameless Ones in the Wider World

The Nameless Ones are a type of Old Power of Earth, ancient and terrible spirits that are not for men to use. They are bound to a specific place, and their power is local. In the wider world of Earthsea, such powers are known and feared. The Archmage Gensher tells Ged that the shadow he loosed is one of the "Powers of unlife," a being from a place where there are no names. The dragon Yevaud also speaks of the shadow as a thing that hunts Ged, and the Old Power of the Terrenon stone in Osskil is a similar, ancient, and malign force. The Nameless Ones, however, are the most extreme example of such a power, demanding a human life in total service and consumption. Their worship is the antithesis of the balanced, named magic of Roke, representing a pre-human, amoral, and absolute power that can only be served, not controlled.