#Lleu

[aneurinallmoods]

My fav moodboard series I've ever done :> Alan Lee's drawings can elevate anything

The Four Branches of the Mabinogion

The First Branch: Pwyll and Rhiannon

Prince Pwyll encounters a mysterious maiden, who evades him until he finally calls out to her. Her name is Rhiannon. They marry and have a son, but the newborn vanishes and is presumed dead. Rhiannon is falsely accused of the crime, but Pwyll refuses to accept her guilt. Eventually, they were reunited with their lost child, Pryderi, thus proving Rhiannon's innocence and vindicating Pwyll.

The Second Branch: Bran and Branwen

Brân the Blessed, king of Britain, is visited by a starling. The starling carries a message from his sister Branwen, telling him that her husband, the Irish king Matholwch, is abusive. Brân and his army set sail to Ireland to rescue his sister and have revenge on Matholwch. Brân is slain by a poisoned spear, and Branwen dies from heartbreak.

The Third Branch: Manawydan

Only seven British warriors survive the war with Ireland. Pryderi offers the throne to his friend Manawydan, along with his mother Rhiannon's hand in marriage. Manawydan and Rhiannon are happily married, and along with Pryderi and his wife Cigfa, lift a curse afflicting the kingdom of Dyfed.

The Fourth Branch: Math, son of Mathonwy

In the kingdom of Gwynedd, the lady Arianrhod is ashamed at losing her virginity. She curses her son to never have a name and never bear arms; but her brother, the magician Gwydion, tricks her into giving the boy a name (Lleu) and a weapon.

Angry at being deceived, she places a third curse on the boy: that he can never have a human wife. Gwydion makes Lleu a wife out of flowers, and names her Blodeuwedd, but Blodeuwedd falls for another man instead and tries to murder Lleu. Lleu has revenge on those who betrayed him, and becomes ruler of Gwynedd, since Arianrhod was the niece of King Math.

(originally posted June 17 2024)

[garlandedspirits]

Medraut and Lleu in The Winter Prince

Elizabeth Wein, The Winter Prince // Elizabeth Wein, drawing of Medraut and Lleu // Cover for the first edition of The Winter Prince // Hélène Cixous, Stigmata: Escaping Texts; from ‘Love of the Wolf’, tr. Keith Cohen // Jean Baptiste Oudry, The wolf and the lamb // Maria Dahvana Headley, Beowulf: A New Translation // Alexandre Falguière, Cain carrying the body of Abel // Elizabeth Wein, The Winter Prince

[cryptidlark]

“You cling to me so—do you still trust me, after all this?”

He said in a low, broken voice, “I have always trusted you.”

[dare-valley]

The King of Annwn

Brythonic Paganism Essays: Part I

The Usual Disclaimer: The tales of The Mabinogion and other surviving Welsh texts were once shared orally, passed down across generations, and over vast distances. By the time these stories were finally committed to writing, the Welsh had long embraced Christianity. As a result, what remains in these medieval manuscripts offers only a faint echo of the ancient beliefs held by the Brythonic or Romano-British peoples. Yet, by examining these stories in relation to one another, and drawing parallels with other Celtic or even Indo-European traditions, we may catch glimpses of the older beliefs that inspired them. What follows is simply theory, built upon these comparisons.

There are many contenders for the title of King or Lord of Annwn, the Otherworld in Welsh mythology. So many, in fact, that most Brythonic polytheists I’ve spoken to tend to agree that Annwn, like the mortal world, has multiple rulers. However, I believe these deities share too many similarities to be entirely distinct. Rather, I see them as different aspects or variations of a much older, singular god. Before delving into the gods themselves, let’s examine the key motifs:

The God-King is often depicted as a hunter, accompanied by the Cŵn Annwn—the hounds of Annwn—described as pure white with red ears.

He is locked in an eternal, seasonal conflict, where he can be seen as representing winter, battling against an opponent who embodies summer.

This struggle often revolves around a goddess who symbolizes spring, the earth, or fertility. This mythic framework is incredibly ancient, with perhaps the most well-known version being the story of Persephone in Greek mythology.

The conflict often involves a journey to the Underworld and escalates to such intensity that a mortal king must intervene.

The god is also often depicted as a psychopomp—an entity that guides the souls of the dead to their final destination, much like the Grim Reaper. However, it’s important to note that Annwn wasn’t necessarily viewed as an “afterlife” by its original believers. Instead, it was more of a mystical realm, later misunderstood and conflated with Hell or Hades through the lens of Christian propaganda.

Arawn

Pwyll, King of Dyfed, embarks on a hunt and encounters a pack of white, red-eared dogs bringing down a deer. He claims the kill for himself, only to be confronted by Arawn, the true owner of the hounds, who is also hunting. To make amends for his transgression, Pwyll agrees to a request from Arawn: they will swap appearances and live as each other for one year. Arawn explains that he goes to war every year with Hafgan—a name meaning something like "summer song" or "summer white"—for rulership of Annwn. Despite defeating Hafgan in combat each time, Arawn always loses in the end. As Hafgan lays dying, he taunts Arawn to strike again, and Arawn, unable to resist, delivers the fatal blow—only for Hafgan to be magically revived.

Pwyll agrees to the plan and spends a year living in Annwn disguised as Arawn. Though he shares a bed with Arawn’s Wife every night, Pwyll honors the situation and never takes advantage of it. When the time comes to face Hafgan in battle, Pwyll defeats him but refuses to strike the final blow. With Hafgan dead, his followers recognize Arawn as the true King of Annwn.

Here, we see the recurring motifs of the hunt, the yearly conflict with summer, and the intervention of a mortal king. In this version of the myth, it is the King who travels to the Otherworld, not the goddess who is absent. While the myth lacks a love triangle with a goddess, Arawn’s unnamed Wife does play a role, with her honor preserved, this was included in the story for a reason. The psychopomp element isn’t explicitly referenced in this story, but other familiar themes remain.

Gwyn ap Nudd

Culhwch desires to marry Olwen, the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden. However, Ysbaddaden knows that he is doomed to die once his daughter marries, so he sets Culhwch forty impossible tasks. One of these is to slay the monstrous boar Twrch Trwyth, a cursed Irish king who now roams Britain as a destructive beast. Culhwch seeks help from his famous cousin, King Arthur, who agrees but warns that to hunt this particular monster, they will need the aid of Gwyn ap Nudd.

Gwyn ap Nudd - whose name means "White Son of Mist" - is somewhat preoccupied at the time, having just abducted the lady Creiddylad from her betrothed, Gwythyr ap Greidawl, whose name means "Victory Son of Scorcher." The ensuing conflict between Gwyn and Gwythyr grows vicious. In one particularly brutal act, Gwyn kills a captured knight, cuts out his heart, and forces the knight's son to eat it, driving him mad. King Arthur intervenes and orders the two rivals to cease their war. From that moment on, they are condemned to battle each other once a year, on May Day, until the end of the world.

Gwyn also appears in the poem The Dialogue of Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwyddno Garanhir in the Black Book of Carmarthen. It can be interpreted from this poem that Gwyddno, unaware that he has been slain in battle, meets a warrior (Gwyn) and asks for his protection. During the course of their conversation Gwyddno learns that the warrior has witnessed many battles and the deaths of many of Britain's heroes, and Gwyddno realises he is now one of those dead heroes as he is speaking to Gwyn ap Nudd.

Later traditions place Gwyn at the head of the Wild Hunt as the King of the Tylwyth Teg, the fair folk, the inhabitants of Annwn, where he rides his host on the night between October 31st/November 1st looking for the souls of the dead. He hunts with the Cwn Annwn, the same pack of dogs Arawn had.

Let's go through all this. We have two examples of a Hunt motif, the Hunting of Twrch Trwyth, and The Wild Hunt. Both can be seen as metaphors for Gwyn's role as a psychopomp, The Wild Hunt is explicitly about the souls of the dead being taken to the Otherworld, and Twrch Trwyth is no ordinary boar, he is a human soul transformed into a monster, and Arthur believes that only with Gwyn with them could they succeed.

We also have a war with summer over a girl. Creiddylad is of uncertain meaning, it could mean "heart-flood", "blood-flood" which is unclear to me, but Gwythyr being "son of Scorcher" seems to be a clear reference to summer, their battle is to commence on May Day, the start of summer, every year, forever. It's also worth noting that the Wild Hunt the night before November 1st is the start of winter. This was of course decided by the (not so mortal) legendary King Arthur.

A note on Gwyn's family: Nudd (pronounced Neathe like breathe) is a god who's name means mist. Getting lost in mist is a sure fire way of getting to Annwn, like a portal, and the Tylwyth Teg, or fair folk of whom Gwyn is king, are said to waylay travelers with mist and fog. Nudd comes from the older Celtic word Nodens, a god associated with healing, specifically but not limited to eyes, as well as dream interpretation. So here we see a god who is responsible for clearing or obscuring vision, both physically and mentally, like mist. Nodens is also closely linked to dogs, hunting and fishing. Lludd is another version of this name, and Lludd is given to be Creiddydlad's father, making her Gwyn's sisters as well as lover, but we don't know for sure if the medieval writers saw Lludd and Nudd as literally the same person, so it's really a matter of opinion.

Gronw Pebr

Gwydion, a magician, trickster, bard and potentially tree deity (more on this in a future essay), has gone to great trouble to bring about the birth of Lleu Llaw Gyffes, Lleu of Many Skills. This includes him stealing divine pigs from Annwn, given to Pryderi ap Pwyll by Arawn and magically impregnating his own sister. As a result Lleu's mother, Arianrhod, has laid three tynghedau on him, which is like a curse or a fate.

One tynged is that Lleu could not marry any woman of any race in this world. So Gwydion, along with his magically talented uncle King Math, created a wife for Lleu out of flowers and named her Blodeuwedd, meaning flower-face. Blodeuwedd and Lleu are happily married until one day, when Lleu is away from home, a hunter arrives.

His name is Gronw Pebr, Gronw the Radiant, and he requests shelter. Blodeuwedd, having never seen another man in her life other than her husband and her creators, falls in love with him. Gronw explains that in order for them to be together, Lleu must die. So Blodeuwedd discovers from her trusting husband the very specific and convoluted means that Lleu could be killed, which involves a spear that takes a year of Sundays to create. She tells Gronw about this, who goes about creating the spear.

When the time comes, Blodeuwedd tricks Lleu into the exact situation in which he can be killed, and Gronw strikes him with the spear. Lleu is "killed" but his body transforms into an eagle that continually rots, and flies away. Using pigs to sniff him out, Gwydion finds the decaying eagle perched in an oak tree, and with his gift of awen (divine talent and knowledge) sings Lleu back to life.

Lleu, Gwydion and Math return for vengeance, and this time it is Lleu who slays Gronw with a spear thrust that pierces the solid stone Gronw used as a shield. Blodeuwedd and her maidens flee, but as they keep looking behind them the maidens fall into a lake and drown and Blodeuwedd is transformed by Gwydion into an owl as punishment, a goddess of flowers cursed to never see the sun again.

This story is a lot more from the point of view of our summer representative Lleu, who's fleshed out far more as a god in his own right in the full telling of it. Lleu specifically is the god of light, as well as being "many skilled" and sharing many characteristics of the "divine son" god that will be explored in the next essay.

Gronw, by contrast, has nothing that indicates winter other than he opposes Lleu and his opposition takes a year of work. He also enters our story as a hunter. The circularity of this conflict is reinforced in the resurrection of Lleu, as winter defeats summer just for summer to return and defeat winter and so on. I am reminded by this resurrection by Gwydion of Hafgan's final strike, which revives him.

Blodeuwedd also gets far more attention in this story than the women in the other tales. A being who is a literal embodiment of spring, fertility and the earth, being made from flowers. It is likely that the owl transformation is a medieval invention. There are other animal transformations in this branch of the Mabinogion that I didn't mention here as they weren't relevant, which also seems to be an addition based on a trendyness of people who shapeshift in medieval literature. However, we also have the maidens falling into the lake, which I imagine is a remnant of the original, in which Blodeuwedd falls in, as the maidens are not really mentioned before so this is an odd detail. Lakes were seen as gateways to Annwn, so here we see Blodeuwedd fleeing to her Otherworldly lover. I personally take the owl to represent Blodeuwedd during the dark half of the year, when she is with her winter lover, awaiting to emerge from the earth in spring.

We have no psychopomping either, but we do have two references to swine herding which seems reminiscent of Culhwch and Olwen. King Math is certainly no mortal, but he seems to be a god involved with magic, judgement and punishment.

A note on Lleu's family: just as Gwyn and Creiddydlad are potentially siblings, so too are Lleu's parents Gwydion and Arianrhod. The story doesn't come straight out and say it, creating the characters of Gilfeathwy and Goewin as stand-ins, probably for the sake of Christian sensibilities. These two are never mentioned again or anywhere else as far as I know, and it is Arianrhod who is pregnant as a result of the whole thing, not Goewin. Some versions even have Arianrhod in Goewin's place as foot holder to Math. Lleu appears as Llefelys in another story, who is brother of Lludd (Nudd). This would make Creiddydlad, the Blodeuwedd-like lady of Gwyn's story, his niece, as well as Gwyn maybe his nephew.

This really nails home how these tales became so mixed up in their countless retellings over space and time before being written down. They spread out and became something unique then smashed back together time and again, but somewhere in there is the important truth. It can be confusing and frustrating, but bare in mind always:

The Gods are not their myths,

Embrace the mystery!

[tooboredforthis]

If you're in the USA, the entire ebook collection of my "Lion Hunters" novels is on sale for $3.99 until 15 Nov. 2024. This is a HUGE savings over the $44.99 list price and includes my first five novels, my own line drawing illustrations for The Winter Prince, and a photographic bio from my childhood! Here is the link:

[to-lamb-to-slaughter]

SCRIPTURES

In a world of Goewin. daughter of Artos, sister to her brothers. It follows the world beyond her written, personal scriptures, and explores a world for... another brother of her's. the world is cruel, and Athena is loud.

edit : by @to-lamb-to-slaughter. txt : by @to-lamb-to-slaughter / A Coalition of Lions by Elizabeth Wein or @/tooboredforthis / edit : by @to-lamb-to-slaughter. txt : by @to-lamb-to-slaughter / A Coalition of Lions by Elizabeth Wein or @/tooboredforthis / edit : by @to-lamb-to-slaughter . txt : by @to-lamb-to-slaughter / The Sunbird by Elizabeth Wein or @/tooboredforthis

[thewintersprincess]

hey anon im on a different blog now but i hope you still find it lol

[snocklock]

[the-lord-of-springs]

Referencing Ewin's art of them, I do not feel like rendering🫠

[ceo-of-jennette-de-alger-obelia]

I discovered "The Winter prince" because of my moot so here I am

[red-sea-itinerary]

art by @tooboredforthis (of course), @cryptidlark, and myself (@thecrenellations)

more Lion Hunters memes 🥰⚔️📚

[medraud]

Ley, the British Horus

(English way of saying Lleu)

[cryptidlark]

Collection of winter prince siblings from the discord

[penwl]

Lleu and Jen did the dragon ball fusion

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[brotherslayer]

"Your soul is your own responsibility."

[orphiclovers]

omg yes I am apart of so many more fandoms, I'm just not sure which one you are apart of. and the reason why I never made any posts on orv is because I have never found anyone who loved yoo joonghyuk as much as I do (also I have never found bottom yjh people ever soooo)

also I will never try to hate on a ship, as long as the shipper does not try to shove it in my face, I will always love the ship and talk about with a genuine interest !

I also lleu's character very underdeveloped and just... unchallenging in general. If lleu was genuinely made to challenge medraut and medrauts temper tantrum was much more reasonable, then maybe I would have liked him. I definitely would've loved medleu had it truly been with 2 developed characters with both having personality (aka medraut meets the standard and lleu does not)

and then goewin, GAHH I LOBE YOU.

I find the self-cest/spyjh ship extremely intriguing and genuinely so complex, imagine loving another version of you, less experienced, and so so naive. Imagine loving someone who don't even know is another version if you, destroyed to no return, like??? It should be a crime for it to be a rare pair !

(also I read a han sooyoung/kim dokja/yoo joonghyuk fic and it just scrambled my entire brain completely like girl you are literally on to something and I think it makes us moot worthy!)

I never read the novel either, but you inspired me to start reading it (apparently there's an epub?? it was said it was on orv reddits pinned post, but I can't find it anywhere)

orv has taken over my entire life (do drop the fics you're reading I am curious) so I'm not really active in any other fandom right now lol. I downloaded the orv epub here btw. good luck soldier

for twp - medraut and goewin really understand each other is what gets me. they both are better suited for the throne than Lleu but cannot take it because society forbids it - goewin because she is a woman and medraut because he is a bastard. they're both failed by Artos' off hands parenting method. they both love and are envious of lleu. goewin is the first to know about medrauts nightmares and scars but does not judge him, and he in turn defends her right to swear fealty in court. "I fear you as little as you fear me" theres mutual trust there.

medlleu is more medraut projecting his Issues onto Lleu. In the first chapter he comes back and quickly becomes devoted to Lleu's safety and comfort in a desperate bid to keep himself occupied and not think about his past two years at Orcades. as goewin tells him - he's come back changed, scarred. he's traumatized and latches on onto the first hint of stability he has, which is lleu.

Lleu is… well I think his childhood of constant sickness really fucked him up. He had no choice but to put his life in medraut’s hands and ‘trust him utterly’ knowing that he could do nothing if medraut decided to hurt him. That’s gotta be tough. All he had were his words, which he said carelessly, unknowing of how much impact and hurt they do medraut. Well, medraut hid it on purpose too. I can't speak on any development he gets in further books, but I’ve come around to his character.

there's interesting friction there, but we only see medraut's extremely biased point of view