Over the years, the shadow continues to pursue him-first in dreams, and then in the flesh-while Ged frantically tries to figure out where the shadow has come from, what it wants from him, and what the rules of their careful yet violent dance truly are. Even though Archmage Nemmerle arrives and chases the shadow off, the shadow still remains in the world of the living and the light, and Ged knows deep down that he will have to face it once again. The shadow seems to leap of the mysterious space Ged opens up between the world of the living and the world of the dead and instantly attacks Ged, rending his face and arms with horrible long gashes. The shadow is, at first, a child-sized, featureless “clot” that Ged brings forth while trying to summon the spirit of a dead maiden of yore. The shadow Ged lets loose into the world during a duel with Jasper on Roke Knoll is the primary antagonist of the novel and its greatest mystery.
