The Tombs of Atuan

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of gender-based discrimination, religious discrimination/trauma, racism/xenophobia, and death.

“The throne itself was black, with a dull glimmer of precious stones or gold on the arms and back, and it was huge. A man sitting in it would have been dwarfed; it was not of human dimensions. It was empty. Nothing sat in it but shadows.”

The description of the Throne Hall and throne within the Place provides vital setting and world-building detail, as well as establishing the cultlike religion of which Tenar is now a part. This passage highlights the supremacy and power attributed to the Nameless Ones, which contributes to Tenar’s faith and the respect she associates with her role as the One Priestess.

“The child said nothing. Manan slowly turned around and went away. The glimmer died from the high cell walls. The little girl, who had no name any more but Arha, the Eaten One, lay on her back looking steadily at the dark.”

Now dedicated to the Nameless Ones, Tenar becomes Arha. This ritual symbolically treats Tenar’s body like a corpse, as she is consecrated with salt and placed on a stone slab like a body in repose and left to lay in the dark. This moment also shows her guardian Manan’s genuine care for her and the seriousness with which she regards her role as the Eaten One.

“She picked up the baby and said, ‘It has no fever.’ And she spat on her finger and rubbed at the red marks, and they came off. They were only berry juice. ‘The poor silly mother had thought to fool us and keep her child!’ Manan laughed heartily at this; his yellow face hardly changed, but his sides heaved. ‘So, her husband beat her, for he was afraid of the wrath of the priestesses.’”

Manan tells Tenar the story of how she was found and declared to be the rebirth of the One Priestess. Crucially, her mother wished to keep her, showing that Tenar was once loved though she now faces a childhood of isolation. Moreover, the treatment her mother received for her attempted deception underscores the oppression and powerlessness of women in the patriarchal society of the Kargish Empire.