Ged /ˈɡɛd/ is the true name of a fictional character in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea realm. He is introduced in A Wizard of Earthsea, and plays both main and supporting roles in the subsequent Earthsea novels. In most of the Earthsea books he goes by the Hardic name Sparrowhawk; as a child he is known as Duny.

Ged is the main protagonist in A Wizard of Earthsea in which he is a serious and arrogant boy who matures into "one of the wisest and most powerful magicians in the land." He has red-brown skin.

At birth, Ged was given the child-name Duny by his mother. He was born on the island of Gont, the son of a bronzesmith. His mother died before he reached the age of one. A small boy, Ged had overheard the village witch, his maternal aunt, using various words of power to call goats. Ged later used the words without understanding their meanings, to surprising effect. The witch knew that using words of power effectively without understanding them required innate power, so she endeavored to teach him what little she knew. After learning more from her, he could call animals to him. Particularly, he was seen in the company of wild sparrowhawks so often that his "use name" became Sparrowhawk (in Earthsea, most people customarily conceal their true name from all but their closest confidants). By age twelve, Ged had learned all the village witch could teach him.

When Ged was twelve, the island was attacked by raiders from the nearby Kargad lands. This attack changed Ged's life forever. When the Kargs attacked, Ged, seeing the doom of his village, used two spells to protect his people from the Kargs. The first spell enveloped the town in a fog that hid the villagers from the Kargs. The second created illusions in the mist. Ged's need to cover a large area in moisture for a long time overspent his strength, leaving him semi-conscious.

The witch could not heal Ged, but the island's great wizard, Ogion, had heard the tale of Ged's deed and sought him out. Ogion healed Ged and later returned to perform a naming ceremony on his 13th birthday for his passage out of childhood, where Ogion gave him the "true name" of "Ged." After the naming ceremony, Ogion took Ged as a pupil in the wizardly arts.

Sensing the latent power within Ged but understanding Ged's youthful impatience to be trained faster than Ogion was willing, Ogion gave Ged a choice to stay or to attend the wizard school on the island of Roke. On Roke, Ged was an outstanding student. Still, his arrogance and a dispute with a classmate caused him to try a very dangerous spell: he attempted to call the spirit of the long-dead queen Elfarran from the "Dry Land" - the bleak, joyless afterlife of Earthsea. Ged succeeded in calling Elfarran, but an evil shadow spirit slipped through the "door" Ged had opened between the living world and the dead. The Archmage (head mage of Roke) was able to partially correct this by closing the door. The Archmage, however, died in the process and could not destroy the shadow spirit which had escaped. This willpower hunted Ged, attempting to possess his body and turn him into a "Gebbeth", a soulless creature serving the forces of darkness. During Ged's travels and attempts to flee, he drives off a dragon on the isle of Pendor by calling its true name and also encounters a remote island where he is given half of a ring. After many adventures, Ged could name the shadow and thus understand it was a dark part of himself— his materialized evil. By successfully naming the shadow, Ged demonstrates he has a complete sense of his magical powers and identity as a person; these understandings fully signify Ged's entrance into manhood.

When Ged was in his thirties, he traveled to Atuan, one of the Kargad isles, to recover one-half of the broken Ring of Erreth Abke (having been given the first half during his flight from the shadow). He met Arha, the teenage high priestess of the Nameless Ones - ancient, formless evil spirits worshipped in Kargad and other gods. Ged was imprisoned by Arha in the Tombs of Atuan, where the Nameless Ones were strong, but eventually, he convinced her to leave with him and escape religious servitude. The pair saved each other's lives in the tombs, and Ged gave Arha her actual name: Tenar. Ged bought her to the isle of Havnor, and the two presented the ring to the ruler there, restoring a powerful force for peace and unity in Earthsea. Ged then took Tenar to Gont and placed her in Ogion's care before continuing his life as a traveling mage.

Ged was later appointed Archmage and served in that role for over 20 years.