Almost two decades after the original Earthsea trilogy was completed, LeGuin produced this novel, the "last" in the series (although it has since been followed, thankfully, by a collection of stories and another novel). She said the series until this point felt like a "chair with three legs"; Tehanu completes the main body of the Earthsea Cycle with the story of Tenar. After the events in The Farthest Shore, Ged comes to Gont, where Tenar has been living her own quiet life. She has been raising a young girl, Therru, who is more than her disfigured appearance would make her seem, and making her way in this foreign land.

Tehanu won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1990.