Young Prince Arren takes his first steps out of childhood when he begins to love the wizard Ged. At that point he gives himself to adult concerns: love, honor, wisdom, and danger. He also gives himself to a quest—to accompany Ged in redeeming a decaying world.

From that moment, Arren begins to grow into the prince who can fulfill the prophecy that he will be the first king in eight hundred years to rule all of Earthsea in peace. The prophecy states that the next such king must "cross the dark land living and come to the far shores of the day." This means he must pass through the dry land of the dead, crossing the wall of stone that leads into it, and then the mountains of pain that lead out. Traditionally, only a mage can get to this place and...