1. Sheryl Doiron
ENGL3643A
Professor Cornell
November 10, 2015
Battle the Demons Within: Shadow as a Literary Device
It is a bit too simple to dismiss fantasy as genre used solely to entertain or occupy the
mind and take us away from the harsh realities of life. It is easy to get caught up in a fantastical
tale and fail to take notice of the literary devices used, not only to weave a spellbinding story, but
to address the struggles faced by humans as they morph and become better versions of
themselves. The use of shadow in fantasy is used in both A Wizard of Earthsea and Phantastes to
help Ged and Anodos take their leap from childhood into adulthood, come to terms with their
past, and embrace or combat their darkness as part of their identity.
When we consider that Ged isidentified by four different names throughout the course of
the novel, it is not hard to imagine this would create a person struggling with identity issues. We
learn at the beginning that this story will tell the tale of a great wizard, Sparrowhawk and are
then almost immediately told: “The name he bore as a child, Duny, was given to him by his
mother, and that and his life were all she could give him, for she died before he was a year old
(LeGuin, 1).” With his mother’s passing in his formative years and his father being a cold and
disconnected man, Ged had no real sense of who he was or where he fit into his world and did
not know himself.
Anodos begins his story with him gaining access to his deceased father’s possessions and
his hopes to: “learn how my father, whose personal history was unknown to me, had woven his

2. web of his story; how he had found the world, and how the world had left him (MacDonald, 8).”
He reveals that his mother also died when he was a baby and, although he is known by only one
name, he too fits the orphan mold seen in so many quest heroes who have to grow into
themselves through the literary devices authors weave into their tales (MacDonald, 10).
An additional naming occurs when Ogion arrives in Ged’s hometown after he protects his
village by summoning mist and says: “Let him be named as soon as may be for he needs his
name (LeGuin, 9).” The importance of identity is further highlighted by the author throughout
with the reinforcement that all things have their true name which holds power over them and that
magic is often completed through using the true name of a being or object.
Both Ged and Anodos undergo a rebirth or baptism in which they take on their new
identities, unbeknownst to them at the time. LeGuin chooses to do this at the beginning of her
tale when our character enters a spring for his naming ceremony: “Nameless and naked he
walked into the cold spring. As he came to the bank Ogion, waiting, reached out his hand and
clasping the boy’s arm whispered to him his true name: Ged (LeGuin, 9).” MacDonald’s
character journeys for a while before he takes the symbolic plunge himself: “Led by an
irresistible desire, I undressed and plunged into the water. It clothed me as with a new sense and
its object both in one (MacDonald, 64).” When our characters step out of the water, their true
quests to find themselves begin.
Not long after Ged and Anodos emerge from the symbolic waters they are forced to face
the dark halves of themselves by way of their shadows. Ged must address his character flaws and
overcome is his anger, pride, hastiness, his need to assert his importance, and his fear of death
without recognition by his peers before he can be a whole and happy person. Le Guin pours all

3. of these identity traits or flaws into shadow as a literary device to make them the monster to
overcome on his quest. Ged unleashes the shadow by trying to one-up Jasper because he has not
yet learned that his self-worth is not contingent on others and comes from within. He rashly tries
to outshine Jasper and calls out Elfarran, a spirit of the dead, and inadvertently unleashes the
shadow being (LeGuin, 41). Only when Ged can embrace all aspects of himself will he know and
accept who he is and his place in the world.
Anodos’s shadow appears prior to his symbolic rebirth in the spring but he essentially
dismisses it as a quirky part of Fairy Land up until this point. His childish impetuousness leads
him to open a door he should not and his shadow slips out from inside a forbidden doorway:
“Then with a feeling that there was yet something behind me, I looked round over my shoulder;
and there on the ground, lay a black shadow, the size of a man (MacDonald, 52).” The
appearance of the shadow comes not long after Anodos begins to become aware that beauty and
ugliness often appear next to each other, which he cannot reconcile in the world or himself
(MacDonald, 44).
Both main characters ignore early advice from their guides repeatedly, as new questers
often do. Ged and Anodos are given advice by various mentors throughout their quests but the
foolhardy youths miss all of these signposts on their path to self-discovery. The act of finding
yourself is hard work which requires your own effort and all the advice in the world from
external forces is unhelpful to Ged and Anodos at this point anyway as they have not yet stopped
running from themselves, their pasts, or their futures.
Ged is chased to the Court of Terranon by his shadow and finds refuge there with Lady
Serret. Ged has to face an important decision and one he does not realize puts him much closer to

4. the end of his quest. When Lady Serret is discussing the Terrenon stone with Ged, she gives him
the opportunity the very thing he attempted to prove when he inadvertently released the shadow:
“It knows its master…And he who can make the Terrenon answer what he asks and do what he
wills, has power over his own destiny: strength to crush any enemy, mortal or of the other world:
foresight, knowledge, wealth, dominion, and a wizardry at his command that could humble the
Archmage himself (LeGuin, 73)!” Ged realizes in this moment that power and supremacy at any
cost is not what he wants after all and he and Lady Serret escape from the castle. He has made
his first huge decision as an adult and has begun to address the flaws in his character.
Anodos’ mindset also changes in a similar way when he starts to lose sight of the magical
aspects of Fairy Land. He begins to realize that looking at the world through the eyes of a child
does not serve him in any way and that a more adult perspective is warranted if he is to get
through his quest and on with life after the deaths of family members: “But the most dreadful
thing of all was, that I now began to feel something like satisfaction at the presence of my
shadow. In a land like this, with so many illusions everywhere, I need his aid to disenchant the
things around me. I will not see beauty where there is none. I will dare to behold things as they
are (MacDonald, 55).” The loss of his mother, father, and brother have all affected who he is as
a person and he must begin to put these losses into perspective before he can accept who he is.
Ged returns to his mentor, Ogion, in the form of a hawk after escaping the Court of
Terranon. Ogion must call Ged by his true name in order for him to transform back into human
form as he has remained a hawk too long. He identifies with a hawk even after Ged has released
him from this form and it takes some fatherly care, advice, and comfort from Ogion for his
humanity to return. This can be seen as Ged facing a huge identity crisis after he had to let go of
what it is he thought he wanted above all else.

5. At this point in A Wizard of Earthsea, the only thing left for Ged to do is turn and face his
fears once and for all: “Do not transform yourself again, Ged. The shadow seeks to destroy your
true being…it’s a hard thing to say to you…you must turn around…If you go ahead, if you keep
running, wherever you run you will meet danger and evil, for it drives you, it chooses the way
you go. You must choose. You must seek what seeks you. You must hunt the hunter (LeGuin,
80).” After he considers his mentor’s words for a short time, Ged sets out to chase down his
shadow and take his fate into his own hands: “And when he finally met his shadow in this final
end of his folly,’ he thought, ‘maybe at least he could grip the thing even as it gripped him, and
drag it down with the weight of his own death (LeGuin, 82).” This marks Ged’s first step over
the threshold from childhood to adulthood, the beginning of his identity formation, and acts as a
turning point.
After Anodos’ shadow turns to stand in front of him and he comes to the realization that
he must stop looking at his life through the eyes of a child, he also has a shift in mindset like that
experienced by Ged. While Anodos doesn’t make a literal about-face, his shadow does it for him
and he does so more subtly in two other sections of his story. His first major advancement is
when he puts the past into perspective somewhat for the first time: “Even the memories of the
past pain are beautiful; and past delights, though beheld only through clefts in the grey clouds of
sorry, are lovely as Fairy Land (MacDonald, 59).” He enters The Chamber of Anodos, perhaps a
room constructed by the author as the place he will compartmentalize and absorb his past in
some way, and his shadow is not able to follow him because it is represented by the room itself.
In this place he believes he can: “find the magic word of power to banish the demon and set me
free, so that I should no longer be a man beside myself (MacDonald, 63).” He later decides he:
“Will not be tortured to death...I will meet it half-way. The life within me is yet enough to bear

6. me up to the face of Death, and then I die unconquered (MacDonald, 109).” These first steps
over the threshold to adulthood, to facing his fears, and the acceptance of himself mark the
turning point in the story for Anodos.
Each of our characters then experiences a period of solitude which acts as a time of
reflection. Ged sets out to chase his shadow alone, “in the terrible solitude of the winter sea Ged
stood and saw the thing he feared (LeGuin, 85).” Some of Ged’s biggest fears are not being
accepted, not having a place in the world, and the fear of reaching the end of his life alone. He
embraces his fear of isolation and dying by himself when he sets out to chase the shadow. He
must rely only on himself, no one will see anything he manages to accomplish, and he must
chase these fears away: “In the utter silence the shadow, wavering, turned and fled…He hunted,
he followed, and fear ran before him (Le Guin, 85).” At one point, Ged grabs the shadow for a
moment but it manages to escape. All is not lost, though as: “he had forged between them a
bond; a link that had no breaking point,” and Ged begins to embrace his identity with this
symbolic bonding (Le Guin, 92).
Anodos encounters a similar recognition and acceptance when reading a book and he is
transported into the story and must also do things on his own: “I walked, I discovered, I fought, I
suffered, I rejoiced in my success. Was it a history? I was the chief actor therein. I suffered my
own blame; I was glad in my own praise (MacDonald, 66).”
Ged encounters his old friend, Vetch, who tells him a shadow which resembles him has
been seen in the area. The pair set out to finish the quest together, and Vetch tags along for
support and in case the shadow should possess Ged and wreak havoc on Earthsea. The bond
which links the shadow to Ged acts as a compass to point them in the right direction and they

7. enter the deepest part of the unknown Ged has had to enter on his quest. The light, or good,
within Ged shines through the power of his staff: “grew so bright that it reddened his fingers
where they held the radiant wood…at first it was shapeless, but as it drew nearer it took on the
look of a man. An old man it seemed, grey and grim (LeGuin, 112).” This figure shifts and
presents itself as every challenging figure Ged has ever encountered, and finally turns into an
unrecognized monstrous face: “In silence, man and shadow met face to face, and stopped. Aloud
and clearly, breaking that old silence, Ged spoke the shadow’s name and in the same moment the
shadow spoke without lips or tongue saying the same word: ‘Ged.’ and he two voices were one
voice…Light and darkness met, and joined, and were one (LeGuin, 112).” Ged has faced his
past, his fears, the negative characteristics of himself, and has accepted them.
Anodos ventures into a door and encounters one of the keys to the fracture in his identity.
When he enters he appears as the child version of himself and finds he is on his father’s estate.
He encounters his brother and they enjoy playing together. He hears his father’s voice while
playing and decides he may not want to leave this place. Before bed the brothers fight and when
Anodos awakens he discovers his brother has gone to bathe in the stream and begins to get a
sense of foreboding much like déjà vu. His brother is brought home drowned and Anodos flees
back through the door he entered. This memory may have been partially blocked before this
moment and is one of the main issues he has to deal with before he can become whole as he
partially blamed himself for his brother’s death (MacDonald, 120).
Anodos is then lured into a strange tower. His shadow has reappeared and follows him
inside. Here, Anodos will be forced to come face to face with both his shadow and his guilt: “Oh
to be a child again, innocent, fearless, without shame or desire (MacDonald, 145).” A character
previously met in the novel was a young girl with a mystical globe. Anodos had broken this

8. object and had, in a way, destroyed part of her innocence and this girl returns as a singing
woman and her voice beckons him from his black, self-made prison: “Hardly knowing what I
did, I opened the door. Why had I not done so before? I do not know (MacDonald, 147).” He
recognizes the woman for who she is and apologizes for breaking her prized possession. She tells
him that had he not done so she wouldn’t have found her voice. This is the point at which the girl
with the globe had accepted her own identity and became who she is. When she tells him this
story it is like the final piece of the puzzle for Anodos.
Anodos’ logic brings him to the realization that his quest is now complete: “‘I am what I
am, nothing more. I have lost myself, would it have been my shadow,’ I looked round: the
shadow was nowhere to be seen. Ere long, I learned that it was not myself, but only my shadow I
had lost (MacDonald, 149).” Anodos accepts himself for who he is and all becomes clear to him:
“I learned that it is better, a thousand-fold; for a proud man to fall and be humbled, than to hold
up his head in pride and fancied innocence (MacDonald, 149).” Anodos’ quest to become who
he is is then complete.
Ged, too, experiences a similar experience: “The wound is healed. I am whole. I am
free…naming the shadow of his death with his own name had made himself whole; a man: who
knows his whole true self cannot be used or possessed by any power other than himself; and
whose life therefore is lived for life’s sake and never in the service of ruin, or pain, or hatred, or
the dark (Le Guin, 113).” While this point is just the beginning for Ged and his legendary quests,
it is the end of his search for his identity and he will set forth on those quests knowing exactly
who he is and what he is capable of. It is possible that the songs about Ged do not contain this
tale because up until this point, Ged is not fully Ged.

9. Our authors’ use of shadow in A Wizard of Earthsea and Phantastes is an effective
literary device which can relay the struggle each hero must undergo to become who they are.
While these two stories don’t seem particularly heroic in the usual sense, they create individuals
which can then go about their lives with the core characteristics necessary to do heroic or
positive things for themselves or others. Both Ged and Anodos are, by the end of their quests,
self-aware men who have successfully traversed the threshold from child to adult with their past
issues behind them and ready to take on the world, their dark demons conquered from the battle
within.

10. Works Cited
Guin, Ursula K. A Wizard of Earthsea. Boston: Graphia/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.
MacDonald, George. Phantastes: A Faerie Romance. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1981.
Print.