Tales from Earthsea

Tales from Earthsea coming soon on giga repulser

Tales from Earthsea (Japanese: ゲド戦記, Hepburn: Gedo Senki, literally Ged's War Chronicles) is a 2006 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Gorō Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi and Toho, and distributed by the latter company. The film is based on a combination of plot and character elements from the first four books of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu). The film's title is named from the collection of short stories, Tales from Earthsea, made in 2001. The plot was "entirely different" according to the author Ursula K. Le Guin, who told director Gorō Miyazaki, "It is not my book. It is your movie. It is a good movie", although she later expressed her disappointment with the end result.[2] A film comic adaptation of the film has been published in Japan.[3]

The crew of a war galley are up against a storm. Suddenly two dragons are fighting above the clouds, during which the White Dragon is killed suddenly by the Black Dragon, an occurrence believed to have been impossible for centuries.

News of the kingdom declining and nothing heard from Prince Arren troubles the King of the once tranquil kingdom of Enlad. The wizard Root speaks of dragons and men once being "as one", divided by their particular desires (freedom and possessions respectively), which is the cause of the world's balance, gradually weakening. Suddenly the King is fatally stabbed with a dagger in a dark corridor by his own son, Prince Arren, who steals his father's sword and flees the castle.

In the desert, Arren is rescued from wolves by the archmage Sparrowhawk. Together they travel to the city of Hort Town. When Arren explores the town alone, he rescues a young girl named Therru from slavers, but is later captured by the same slave master, Hare. His sword is dumped in the sea. Sparrowhawk rescues Arren from the slave caravan and takes him to a farm run by Sparrowhawk's oldest and greatest friend Tenar, who lives with Therru.

Sparrowhawk's intervention against Hare's slave caravan angers Lord Cob, a powerful warlock and the ruler of Hort Town, who wants the archmage brought to the castle. Meanwhile, Sparrowhawk tells Arren that he seeks a way to restore the upset balance, then resumes his search in Hort Town. While there he buys Arren's sword from a merchant's stall and manages to evade capture from Hare whilst learning about Cob's castle.

Arren confesses to Therru that he killed his father and that he feels an unknown presence following him. Because of this, Arren leaves the farm, but is met by the presence, which is a mirror image of himself. Arren falls unconscious after stumbling into a swamp while fleeing from the image. Cob takes him to the castle, where he manipulates him into revealing his "true name", Prince Lebannen, to control him. Meanwhile, Hare captures Tenar as bait to lure Sparrowhawk into the castle, leaving Therru tied to a post as a messenger. She frees herself, and encounters Sparrowhawk, who gives her Arren's sword to give to Arren. Sparrowhawk breaks into the castle to save Tenar and confronts Cob. Sparrowhawk learns that Cob is causing the world's Balance to collapse by opening the door between life and death to try and gain eternal life. Sparrowhawk tries to warn Cob of the dangers of upsetting the balance, and Cob sends Arren out to kill him. Sparrowhawk frees the prince from Cob's control but is captured by Hare, his great mystical strength and powers having been weakened within the stronghold of Cob's castle.

Meanwhile, Therru sees the same copy of Arren and follows him to the castle, where he reveals that he is the light within Arren and tells Therru his true name. Therru enters the castle and learns of Sparrowhawk and Tenar's sunrise execution. She finds Arren, guilty and hopeless, and brings hope back to him, calling him by his true name and confiding in him her own true name, Tehanu. They rush to rescue Sparrowhawk and Tenar. Arren confronts Cob, who tries to kill him. He fights back and finally unsheathes his sword, which was sealed with magic. Arren cuts off Cob's staff-holding hand. Unable to use any of his magic powers, Cob rapidly begins to age. He captures Therru and flees to the highest tower of the castle, with Arren in pursuit. Cornering Cob, Arren tries to explain what he learned about life and death from Therru and Sparrowhawk to Cob, but the withering Dark Lord refuses to listen and uses the last of his magic to strangle Therru to death. Instead of dying, she reveals her true form as the Black Dragon, possessing life everlasting. Therru kills Cob with her fire breath and rescues Arren from the collapsing tower.

Sparrowhawk and Tenar leave the castle while Therru and Arren land in a field where Therru changes back into a human. Arren tells Therru he will leave for home to repent for his crime, but will come back to see her some day. After he and Therru reunite with Sparrowhawk and Tenar, the four of them spend time together. Arren and Sparrowhawk depart for Enlad, bidding Therru and Tenar goodbye. Therru looks up to see her fellow dragons airborne, indicating that the balance of the world has been restored.

Cast

Bunta Sugawara (Timothy Dalton in the English Dub) as Ged/Sparrowhawk, a famous, powerful, wise, and noble sorcerer of Earthsea, known as the Archmage, who is trying to solve the mystery on why the world's Balance in collapsing. He acts as a father-figure to Arren.

Junichi Okada (Matt Levin in the English Dub) as Prince Arren/Lebannen, a seventeen-year-old boy who is followed by a shadow due to his fear of death and the darkness in his heart caused by the collapse of the balance of the world itself.

Aoi Teshima (Blaire Restaneo in the English Dub) as Therru/Tehanu, a burn victim who, like Prince Arren, is also seventeen. She was abused and abandoned by her birth parents until Tenar took her in. She originally thought of Arren as a monster, after he saved her from Hare because he seemed to lack any respect for life, but came to fall in love with him when she sees his compassion. Revealed to be the Black Dragon.

Jun Fubuki (Mariska Hargitay in the English Dub) as Tenar, Sparrowhawk's old friend. When she and Sparrowhawk were young, she was a priestess at the Tombs of Atuan until Sparrowhawk guided her to freedom. She raises Therru on her own and accepted Arren and Sparrowhawk into her and Therru's home with open arms.

Yūko Tanaka (Willem Dafoe in the English Dub) as Cob, a maniacal warlock. Years ago, Sparrowhawk defeated him before he could attempt to control the dead and was, therefore, banished to the Wastelands. Eventually, he escaped and destroyed the world's Balance in order to try and to gain eternal life.

Teruyuki Kagawa (Cheech Marin in the English Dub) as Hare, Cob's head slaver. Despite being somewhat bumbling and cowardly, he is very loyal to Cob and takes his slaver job seriously.

Kaoru Kobayashi (Brian George in the English Dub) as the King of Enlad and Arren's father. He cares for his kingdom and its well-being.

Yui Natsukawa (Susanne Blakeslee in the English Dub) as the Queen of Enlad and Arren's mother. She is very strict that she believes Arren is old enough to take care of himself.

Mitsuko Baisho (Kat Cressida in the English Dub) as a Cloak Vendor, a middle-aged woman who according to herself, used to be a sorceress. Due to the world's Balance collapsing and the people's failing belief in magic, she lost her magic and was reduced to selling cloaks.

Takashi Naito (Jess Harnell in the English Dub) as the Hazia Dealer who attempted to bribe Prince Arren into eating some Hazia until Sparrowhawk intervenes due to its addictive qualities.