Earthsea is a mythical world of many small island nations surrounded by an unknown sea. It has a border with the world of the dead. Earthsea's economy and politics seem medieval, with trade and barter between nations governed mainly by kings or ruling families. In a few areas magic substitutes for the benefits of modern technology, such as medicine and weather control. But such progress has not affected other social systems such as transportation, industry, or warfare; these remain medieval.

Le Guin explains the creation and existence of this world in the first book of the trilogy, A Wizard of Earthsea, There Ged explains that the shining of the stars is the repetition of a long word of which the name of every essential thing in creation is a syllable. All of creation is contained in and made by words. Out of the darkness of nonbeing comes the...