It is about fifteen years since the events described in Tehanu, and eight after those in Dragonfly. King Lebannen has his share of governmental problems. The dragons want his kingdom, the Kargads want to marry him off, and the dead want release from death. Accompanied by three wizards, two dragons in human form, and one Kargad princess, he sails to Roke where, together with the Masters of that island, they are able to put right an ancient wrong.
The Other Wind continues the stories of Lebannen, Tenar, Tehanu, and, in a minor role, Ged, from the previous books. With the exception of Tehanu, These characters are already fully developed, and there is little further development. Tehanu, now a young woman, is still very shy and emotionally dependent upon her adoptive mother, Tenar. Nevertheless she reluctantly agrees to accompany the King on a mission to meet and parlay with the dragons. On their first encounter with one, despite its apparent hostility, and her particular fear of fire, she rides forward to meet it in the hope, but not the certainty, that it would recognise and honour her kinship with the ancient Dragon Kalessin established in the book Tehanu. In the denouement of the book, she transforms into dragon form herself, and is thus freed from the burden of the injury inflicted upon her in childhood.
The theme of reconciliation underlies this book. Besides Tehanu's personal reconcilliation with her own nature, The sourcerer Alder is reconciled with his dead wife, Lebannen with his future bride, and though that marriage, a lasting peace with Kargad should be forged. The disparate lores of Paln, Roke, and Kargad are each shown to be imperfect reflections of the true history of the world. The spell that created the Dry land is broken, and the land itself returned to the dragons, from whom it had been stolen thousands of years previously.Synopsis
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