Serret

Serret is a pivotal antagonist in Ged's early life, a beautiful and manipulative enchantress whose actions twice set him on paths of great peril. She first appears as a girl on Gont, where her mockery and dares provoke Ged into a disastrous act of pride, and later as the Lady of the Court of the Terrenon in Osskil, where she attempts to bind him to an ancient evil. Her character embodies the seductive danger of power sought for selfish ends, and her betrayals are crucial to Ged's education in the true nature of wizardry and the self.

Identity and Introduction

Serret is introduced as the daughter of the old Lord of Re Albi, a town on the edge of the high rocks of Overfell on Gont. She is described as a tall girl of about Ged's age, very sallow, almost white-skinned, with hair that falls long and straight like a fall of black water. The villagers whisper that her mother is from Osskil or some such foreign land, a detail that foreshadows her later allegiance. When Ged first encounters her in a meadow where the flower called white hallows grows, she approaches him boldly, asking him to tell her about sorcery. Her manner is open, careless, and willful, and she quickly sets him at ease, though Ged initially thinks her very ugly. She is later revealed to be half a witch herself, and Ogion warns Ged that her mother, the Lord's wife, is an enchantress, suggesting that Serret may have been sent to ensnare him.

Role on Gont: The Temptress and the Catalyst

On Gont, Serret's primary function is to provoke Ged's pride and lead him into forbidden knowledge. She questions him about his magical abilities, asking if he can call the spirits of the dead and perform Changing spells. When Ged boasts that he might if he chose, she presses him to transform himself, and when he hesitates, she mocks him, asking if he is afraid or too young. Unable to endure her disdain, Ged resolves to prove himself. He goes to Ogion's Lore-Books and reads a spell of summoning up the spirits of the dead, an act that summons a shadow-beast that attacks him and nearly destroys him. This event, the Loosing of the Shadow, is the central crisis of Ged's youth, and Serret's taunts are the direct cause. She disappears from the story after this, but her influence lingers in the form of the shadow that hunts Ged for years.

Role in Osskil: The Lady of the Terrenon

Years later, after Ged has fled from the shadow and been shipwrecked on the moors of Osskil, he is rescued and brought to the Court of the Terrenon. There he finds Serret, now the young wife of the ancient Lord Benderesk. She is dressed in white and silver, with a net of silver crowning her hair, and Ged is struck by her beauty, comparing her to the white new moon. She welcomes him as an old friend and tells him that the keep is called the Court of the Terrenon, and that she is called Serret, which means Silver in the Osskilian language. She claims that the Terrenon, a powerful speaking stone, has waited for him to come, and that he can master it to gain power over his destiny and defeat the shadow. She tries to persuade him to touch the stone and ask it questions, but Ged, sensing the stone's evil nature, refuses. She then reveals her true purpose: she and Benderesk want him to become a slave of the Stone, so that they can use his power. When Ged resists, she attempts to flee with him, but her betrayal is complete. She is a woman who has yielded to the dark power of the Terrenon, and she tries to use Ged's fear and desire for power to bind him to it as well.

Change and Ending

Serret's final act is one of desperation and self-preservation. When Benderesk attempts to punish her for her disloyalty by casting a spell of Changing on her, Ged intervenes and protects her. She then leads him in an escape from the tower, but her ruthlessness is revealed when she uses a deadly spell on the servants who try to stop them, saying she has run hot lead in the marrow of their bones. As they flee the Court, the servants of the Stone attack them. Serret, in a panic, transforms herself into a grey gull and flies away, abandoning Ged. The creatures of the Stone pursue her, and she is killed, her blood on their beaks and white feathers stuck to their claws. Her death is a direct consequence of her own choices and her alliance with the Old Powers. She is a figure of tragic ambition, a woman who sought power through manipulation and servitude to evil, and who was ultimately destroyed by the very forces she tried to control.

Thematic Significance

Serret's character serves as a dark mirror to Ged's own potential. She represents the path of power sought for personal gain, through pride, manipulation, and a willingness to serve evil. Her beauty and charm are weapons, and her seductive promises are traps. Ged's ability to resist her lures, both on Gont and in Osskil, marks his growth from a prideful boy into a wiser, more cautious wizard. She is a cautionary figure, illustrating the dangers of the Old Powers of Earth, which are not for men to use, and the truth that "it is very hard for evil to take hold of the unconsenting soul." Her fate underscores the novel's central theme that true power comes not from domination or servitude to dark forces, but from self-knowledge, balance, and the refusal to be used by evil.