I'd always heard that there were several Earthsea covers which bafflingly chose to whitewash Ged and other non-Kargish characters. This one has to be the worst one I've seen yet, because not only is Ged whitewashed, he's also fallen victim to some sort of quick-aging spell: that's supposed to be either a 16-year-old or a 19-year-old on the cover.
Also, don't even get me started on that goblin-shadow! It is misshapen, I'll grant, but it's supposed to be scary, so its description is usually left pretty vague.
Drink it in.