Benderesk

Benderesk, the Lord of the Terrenon, is the gaunt, bone-white master of a remote tower-keep on the Keksemt Moors of Osskil, a man who has bound his life and his household to the service of an ancient and terrible speaking stone, the Terrenon, and who attempts to use his young wife Serret to lure the wizard Ged into becoming a slave of that Old Power.

Identity and Domain

Benderesk is described as thrice the age of his wife Serret, bone-white, bone-thin, with clouded eyes. He is the sovereign of the land from the edge of the Keksemt Moors north to the Mountains of Os, and the keeper of the precious stone called Terrenon. His tower-keep, the Court of the Terrenon, stands aloof and remote, its back turned on the way to the nearest town, Neshum; no man comes to the keep, none leaves it. The tower is built upon a founding-stone that is a very ancient thing, an old and terrible spirit prisoned in a block of stone, which Benderesk serves as Lord and Inheritor. He is a sorcerer who has spent his life brewing spells, and he paces the snowy inner courtyards of the castle-keep in the mornings like an old sorcerer who has been at his craft all night.

Role in the Temptation of Ged

Benderesk and Serret together scheme to capture Ged for the Stone. Serret tells Ged that Benderesk cannot use the Terrenon wholly, nor can she alone or with him, but that Ged has the skill and power to make it serve his will. The Lord of the Terrenon stands listening and smiling a little while Serret tempts Ged, revealing that he is complicit in the plot. When Ged refuses the Stone, Benderesk emerges and dry-voiced tells Serret, "I told you that he would slip from your hands, Serret. They are clever fools, your Gontish sorcerers." He then attempts to punish Serret for her disloyalty by raising his hands to work a spell of Changing, intending to shape the cowering woman into some hideous thing, swine or dog or driveling hag, but Ged steps forward and strikes the lord's hands down with a single short word, prevailing even on the evil ground of the Stone's domain.

Relationship with Serret and the Stone

Benderesk views Serret as an item of his hoard, looking up at his young wife with a hard, covetous glance. He accuses her of trying to trick both him and Ged, and to use the Terrenon to her own ends, asserting his own mastery: "But I am the Lord of the Stone, I." When Ged and Serret flee, Benderesk summons the Servants of the Stone, dark creatures that creep forth from slit windows near the tower's base, and the tower itself trembles with a dry whispering murmur as if the earth itself should speak. After the escape, it is suggested that Benderesk may weep at the return of his black emanations, or may laugh.

Narrative Significance

Benderesk embodies the corrupting alliance between human ambition and the Old Powers of Earth, which are not meant for men to use. He is a figure of cold, covetous, and ultimately impotent malice, a lord whose power is entirely derivative of the Stone he serves, and whose schemes are thwarted by Ged's refusal to consent to evil. His attempt to punish Serret and his summoning of the Stone's servants mark the climax of Ged's temptation in Osskil, forcing Ged to choose between the false promise of power over the shadow and the integrity of his own soul.