The Left Hand of Darkness: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Ai wakes up the morning of his meeting with the King and nervously reviews his notes on Gethenian psychology and manners. He reminds himself that his job as Envoy is designed for a single person, and he doesn’t need Estraven’s help to succeed. He reasons that “one voice speaking truth is a greater force than fleets and armies” if given enough time—and time is a resource the Ekumen has an endless supply of, even if he, personally, does not.

Ai arrives at the palace, finally calm, but becomes immediately nervous when he is made to wait alone in an anteroom. A radio in the room plays a news bulletin, and Ai is shocked to hear that Estraven has been exiled for treason, and must leave Karhide within three days. The radio continues, saying that Estraven has been conspiring against the King, trying to sell out Karhide’s sovereignty to a Union of Peoples, which in fact does not exist, and is a fiction created to undermine Argaven. Ai begins to panic, but before he can do anything he is called in for his meeting.

Ai joins Argaven in his immense reception hall. Ai sits while Argaven stands. Ai asks about Estraven, and the King reveals that Estraven has been advising him not to meet with Ai, while at the same time Estraven was promising Ai he was arranging a meeting. Argaven tells Ai he doesn’t see him as a traitor, just a tool of a traitor, and warns Ai to trust no one.

Ai wonders if Argaven believes he is an alien, and Argaven says he does. Argaven doesn’t understand what Ai wants, even as Ai explains that he wants to add Gethen to a vast trade network coordinated by the Ekumen. Argaven is used to speaking politically, where every conversation is a verbal duel. Ai, speaking plainly about the universe and the exchange of knowledge and goods, cannot get through to him. 

Ai tries to soothe the King, explaining that all the people of Ekumen, 3,000 nations across 83 planets, are “all sons of the same Hearth.” He shows the King images of people from across the universe. Gethen’s sexual development is unique, and Argaven is disturbed by photographs of men and women, people who he perceives to be “perverts.” Argaven wonders “why human beings here on earth should want or tolerate any dealings with creatures so monstrously different.”

Argaven wonders what will happen to Ai if he refuses to join the Ekumen. Ai explains to him that due to the mechanics of space travel he (Ai) could spend what would feel, to him, like a few hours on a spaceship, and generations would pass on Gethen, at which point he could return and try again. Argaven sees this, together with Ai’s ansible communicator, as forms of trickery, which he distrusts.

Argaven does not feel obligated to believe or even listen to Ai. He says Karhide is uninterested in worlds of “monsters.” Karhide is on the brink of its own “great new age,” and needs no help. Argaven admits he is threatened and made fearful by Ai, even though he is a single man.  He fears “liars,” “trickers,” and “the bitter truth.” He believes his fear makes him a better ruler, and while he fears Ai he has always been afraid. In Karhide, “fear is king.” Unsuccessful, Ai is dismissed from his meeting.

As he walks home Ai, feeling like a failure, wonders what is true and what is false. Estraven is apparently exiled because he advocated for Ai, but the King claimed Estraven spoke against him. Ai is not sure whether he can trust Estraven, but he finally realizes that Estraven has been trying to warn him to stay safe. Ai thinks he will eventually go to Orgoreyn and try to work with the government there, but he has more business in Karhide, outside of Erhenrang, first. He will continue to gather information, specifically about the Foretellers.