I rewatched Tales from earthsea last week and there's some things that really confuse me. Could anyone please explain these things to me:
1. Arren's shadow. If I understand correctly, shadow explains to Therru that he is Arren's soul who has left his body because Arren's mind was going into darkness or the bad thing Arren did. But if the shadow is Arren's soul, how can Therru see it and talk with it? And why is Arren so scared of the shadow? Because it reminds him of what he has become?

2. Therru and Sparrowhawk/Ged. Is there some kind of connection between the two of them? Why does Sparrowhawk when he first meets Therru in Tenar's house say something like "I can't believe this" when he sees Therru's scar? And why does Therru's scar look like Sparrowhawk's? Another confusing thing is that Therru talks to Sparrowhawk, even though Tenar says she never talks to strangers. The only explanation I can think of is that Therru is really Sparrowhawk's and Tenar's daughter.

3. Cob. Why does Cob sometimes look like a man and sometimes like a woman? Edit: I just read on the imdb message board for Tales from earthsea that Cob is a man disguising himself as a woman to shake the balance of the world. But it still makes no sense to me.

Can anyone answer these questions? I really don't understand it

My opinions, for what it's worth...

1) First of all, Arren is afraid of the Shadow because he doesn't know or understand what it is. He feels threatened by it and that is why he flees.
As for Therru seeing and talking with the Shadow, possibly the love that she feels for Arren contributes to this ability...

2) As to the "I don't believe this" comment, possibly Sparrowhawk sees it as a mark of special understanding or something along those lines. This may be, in part, why Therru can see Arren's Shadow (see ques 1)

Yes, she may also be his daughter, but that is never fully explored, as far as I can remember. That Tenar and Sparrowhawk have a close relationship is obvious and Therru may BE his daughter, but that is left unsaid, I believe. I will have to re-watch the movie.

3) I don't know that Cob is dressed as a woman. Tall, slender, wearing the dark robe and long hair might give that impression, but women are mysterious in and of themselves, IMO, and that may be what the artist was trying to portray, the mysteriousness of the character. I really didn't think of Cob as a woman, just an androgynous figure that was supposed to represent evil and the end result of the long travel of his towards immortality...

My two cents, for what it's worth...

Now to hie myself off and do the dishes, stc and later, watch the movie...

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Thanks for answering. With the shadow-thing, it's probably like you say, Arren is scared of the shadow because he doesn't understand it. And it's clear that there's some sort of special connection between Sparrowhawk and Therru, that makes Sparrowhawk say "I can't believe it" when he sees Therru's scar and makes Therru talk to him even though Tenar says she never talks to strangers. About Cob... have you watched the subbed or dubbed version of Tales from earthsea? Because in my version (japanese with swedish subs) Cob is voiced by a woman. It also becomes clear that many people, especially Cob's men, percieve Cob as a woman, even though in the end, he's clearly a man.

haven't rewatched it yet, but will do so shortly... The version I have is subbed...

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It's been a while since I saw the film so I can't remember a lot of these details. But certainly in the books, Therru is kinda Sparrowhawk's adopted daughter. I don't remember how it's covered in the film, and I'm definitely unsure about the "I can't believe it" line.

I'd say Cob looks how he does to reflect how he's becoming less human. It's hard to distinguish whether he is still a human or something else, and it's shown by making it hard for the audience to distinguish his sex. Or something.

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