The Kargs are a fictional people in Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...

's Earthsea

Earthsea

Earthsea is a fictional realm originally created by Ursula K. Le Guin for her short story "The Word of Unbinding", published in 1964. Earthsea became the setting for a further six books, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The...

canon.

Appearance

Kargs have fair skin and many have blond hair, unlike the majority of the inhabitants of Earthsea, who have dark skin and hair. Tenar, perhaps the best-known Kargish individual, happens to have dark hair. The Kargs' Nordic appearance and their raider culture resembles the Scandinavian Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 civilisation.

Culture and Religion

Within the context of the nonindustrial civilization of Earthsea, the technological level of Karg society is high, having a strongly militaristic and urbanized culture. The Kargs were greatly feared by the people of Earthsea for their piratical raids on the East Reach, but subsequently a peace was reached, giving rise to some trade and commerce between the peoples. The Kargs are skilled sailors, fishers and farmers.

Somewhat anomalously, their literacy level is very low: one Kargish character remarks that reading is "one of the black arts". In this respect, the Kargish society somewhat resembles that of the Inca

Inca society

The society of the Inca Empire was centered in what is now Peru, from 1438 BC to 1533 AD. Over that period, the Inca used conquest and peaceful assimilation to incorporate in their empire a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges...

. Magic was once anathema to the Kargs, and the use of magic among the people of the Archipelago was taken as proof of their wickedness - anyone in the Kargad lands suspected of being a "sorcerer

Magician (fantasy)

A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...

" was put to death. Nevertheless, a few Kargs come to study magic at Roke, including the Master Patterner during Ged's tenure as Archmage.

The Kargs have their own religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

 which is different from the rest of Earthsea. Their principal deities are The Nameless Ones, sentient

Sentience

Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...

 manifestations of Earth's more malevolent aspects; they are symbolized by darkness and hunger. In many respects, they are similar to Kami

Kami

is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...

. However, their influence declined over the years as successive Karg rulers, the self-styled Godkings, gradually usurped their position at the pinnacle of Karg religion. Although immensely powerful magically, The Nameless Ones are for the most part tied to specific locations. By the time of The Tombs of Atuan

The Tombs of Atuan

The Tombs of Atuan is the second of a series of books written by Ursula K. Le Guin and set in her fantasy archipelago of Earthsea, first published in 1971. Its events take place a few years after those in A Wizard of Earthsea and around two decades before those in The Farthest Shore...

, they are seriously worshipped only in a few places, notably an isolated temple complex over an underground labyrinth in which some of them reside on the island of Atuan. On his travels, Ged ventures into this labyrinth, meeting the Karg priestess Tenar, who had been dedicated to serving The Nameless Ones. Ged shows Tenar that although The Nameless Ones are real, the cult centered around them is a folly, and so they escape the labyrinth and return to Earthsea.

The Kargad Lands - geography

The Kargad Lands consist of four large islands in north-eastern Earthsea, to the northeast of Havnor. Though they lie outside of the Archipelago itself, they do not belong to either the East nor the North Reach.

• Karego-At: The most important island, it contains the capital, Awabath.
• Hur-at-Hur: The largest of the Kargad islands.
• Atuan: One of the smaller Kargad islands, but one of the most important. It contains the Place of the Tombs of Atuan, which is the setting for most of the book The Tombs of Atuan. A large part of Atuan is desert. One of its cities is called Tenecbah.
• Atnini: The smallest Kargad island is sparsely populated.