Gebbeth

A shadow is a creature in the world of Earthsea. The first book of the Earthsea series was based around Ged wishing to destroy the shadow that he had accidentally summoned. A shadow takes over a body and turns it into a gebbeth. The spell Ged uses to summon a shadow was one for summoning the dead. He had found it while being tutored by Ogion, and accidentally read it, causing a shadow of a shadow to appear before being banished by Ogion. Ged would later cast the spell on Roke Knoll to summon Elfarran and prove his superiority over Jasper. The shadow followed Elfarran's ghost and attacked Ged, trying to turn him into a "gebbeth," before the Archmage Nemmerle drove it away from Roke at the cost of his life. Ged would ultimately name the shadow his own name and merge with it, before eventually sacrificing it along with his magic in order to close the hole made by Cob. 
The exact nature of the shadow is never clear, but it is implied to be connected to witchcraft and the Old Powers of the Earth, as well as the Dry Land. 
In a time prior to the setting of the Earthsea series, the enemy of Morred turns Elfarran's brother Salan into a gebbeth and then uses it to trick Morred into travelling into the Jaws of Enlad. It is unclear if the Enemy summoned a shadow or if gebbeth is simply a term used to refer to any former human consumed by power.
Category:Creatures