Rhiannon

For other uses, see Rhiannon (disambiguation).

Rhiannon is often associated with Epona)

Rhiannon (Ancient Greek: Ῥιάννον) is a prominent figure in Welsh mythology, mother to the Demetian hero Pryderi and wife to Pwyll (and later Manawydan fab Llyr). She is probably a reflex of the Celtic Great Queen goddess Rigantona and may also be associated with the horse goddess Epona.

She appears in both the first and third branches of the Mabinogi and is further mentioned in the early Arthurian prose tale Culhwch and Olwen.

Role in Welsh mythology

The First Branch

Upon ascending the magical mound of Gorsedd Aberth, the Demetian king Pwyll witnesses the arrival of Rhiannon, appearing to them as a beautiful woman dressed in gold silk brocade and riding a shining white horse. Pwyll sends his best horsemen after her, but she always remains ahead of them, though her horse never does more than amble. After three days, he finally calls out to her, and Rhiannon tells him she has come seeking him because she would rather marry him than her fiancé, Gwawl ap Clud. A year after their meeting, Pwyll accidentally and foolishly promises Rhiannon to Gwawl, before managing to win her back through outwitting, bloodying and dishonouring his rival.

Rhiannon riding in Arberth. From The Mabinogion, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest, 1877

Under the advice of his noblemen, Pwyll and Rhiannon attempt to supply an heir to the kingdom and eventually a boy is born. However, on the night of his birth, he disappears while in the care of six of Rhiannon's ladies-in-waiting. To avoid the king's wrath, the ladies smear dog's blood onto a sleeping Rhiannon, claiming that she had committed infanticide and cannibalism through eating and "destroying" her child. Rhiannon is forced to do penance for her crime.

The child is discovered outside a stable by an ex-vassal of Pwyll's, Teyrnon, the lord of Gwent Is Coed. He and his wife claim the boy as their own and name him Gwri Wallt Euryn (English: Gwri of the Golden hair), for "all the hair on his head was as yellow as gold." The child grows to adulthood at a superhuman pace and, as he matures, his likeness to Pwyll grows more obvious and, eventually, Teyrnon realises Gwri's true identity. The boy is eventually reunited with Pwyll and Rhiannon and is renamed [Pryderi] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), meaning "loss". Some time later, Pwyll dies peacefully and Pryderi ascends to the throne, marrying Cigfa and amalgamating the seven cantrefs of Morgannwg to his kingdom.

Third Branch

Pryderi and Rhiannon's imprisonment. From Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic, Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Image by Albert Herter.

Having honoured the last requests of his brother Bendigeidfran, by burying his head facing France so as to ward off invasion, the usurped British king Manawydan accompanies Pryderi to Dyfed where the latter is reunited with his wife Cigfa. During his stay, Manawydan meets and marries Rhiannon, while Pryderi heads off to Kent to pay homage to the usurper Caswallon. Soon after, a magical mist descends on the land leaving it empty of all domesticated animals and humans apart from the four protagonists.

Pryderi and Manawydan travel to England to make a living from various trades, but are forced to leave one town after another to avoid conflict with other tradesmen who resented their superior skills. Returning to Dyfed, Manaywdan and Pryderi go hunting and, coming across a white boar, follow it to a huge, towering fort. Against Manawydan's advice, Pryderi enters the fort and is drawn towards a beautiful golden bowl. Upon touching the bowl, his feet stick to the floor, his hands stick to the bowl and he loses the power of speech. Manawydan waits in vain for his return before giving news of his disappearance to Rhiannon. Chiding her husband for his poor companionship, Rhiannon too enters the fort and suffers the same fate as her son. In a "blanket of mist", Pryderi, Rhiannon and the fort itself, vanish. Cigfa weeps at the loss of her husband, but is comforted by Manawydan, and the two head off to England before being driven out, once again, due to their superior craftmanship.

Upon returning to the wasteland, they sow three fields of wheat but the first field is destroyed before it can be harvested. The next night the second field is destroyed. Manawydan keeps watch over the third field and when he sees it destroyed by mice he catches one and decides to hang it the next day. A scholar, a priest and a bishop in turn offer him gifts if he will spare the mouse but he refuses. When asked what he wants in return for the mouse's life he demands the release of Pryderi and Rhiannon and the lifting of the enchantment over Dyfed. The bishop agrees because the mouse is in fact his wife. It is revealed that the catalyst of their suffering was the enchanter Llwyd ap Cil Coed, who sought revenge for the humiliation of his friend Gwawl ap Clud at the hands of Pwyll and Rhiannon. The enchantement over Dyfed is lifted.

Interpretation as a goddess

The Mabinogi do not present Rhiannon as anything other than human. Scholars of mythology have nevertheless speculated that Rhiannon may euhemerize an earlier goddess of Celtic polytheism. Similar euhemerisms of pre-Christian deities can be found in other medieval Celtic literature, when Christian scribes and redactors may have felt uncomfortable writing about the powers of pagan gods. In the Táin Bó Cúailnge, for example, Macha and Morrígan appear as larger-than-life figures, but are never described as goddesses, very similar to the presentation of Rhiannon in the Mabinogion.

Proinsias Mac Cana states: "[Rhiannon] reincarnates the goddess of sovereignty who, in taking to her a spouse, thereby ordained him legitimate king of the territory which she personified". According to Miranda Jane Green, "Rhiannon conforms to two archetypes of myth ... a gracious, bountiful queen-goddess; and as the 'wronged wife', falsely accused of eating charlotte".

Some scholars specifically identify her as a horse goddess cognate to Gaulish Epona, because of Rhiannon's close association with horses in the first part of the story.

In popular culture

In gaming

• An adventure game named Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches was released by Arberth Studios in 2008.

In literature

• Leigh Brackett wrote the science-fiction novel, The Sword Of Rhiannon, first published in 1949 as Sea-Kings of Mars, although the story has no direct relation to the myth.

• In T.A. Barron's series of novels The Lost Years of Merlin, Rhiannon is the full name of Rhia, a forest girl whom Merlin meets on the island of Fincayra and who turns out to be his lost twin sister.

• The Divine series of books (Divine by Mistake, Divine by Choice, Divine by Blood, and Divine Beginnings), by PC Cast, uses Rhiannon as a main character, she lives in the mythical city of Parthalon and his Epona's chosen until she goes to the dark side of Pydri.

In music

• The Song of Rhiannon is an operatic treatment of the myth, composed by Mark Bowden with a libretto by Helen Cooper, first performed by W11 Opera in 2008.

• "Angel" by Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac and "The Birds of Rhiannon" by Faith and the Muse are based on this myth, as well as the song "Rhiannon" from German folk band, Faun.

• The Rhiannon myth was the inspiration for the song "Rhiannon", by Stevie Nicks, who read the name in a novel by Mary Leader called Triad.

See also

• Epona
• Étaín
• Mabinogion*Welsh mythology
• Welsh mythology in popular culture

References

• W. J. Gruffydd, Rhiannon, Cardiff, 1953.
• James MacKillop, "Rhiannon" in A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (2004).

External links

• Story of Rhiannon