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Rhiannon (Welsh pronunciation: [r̥iˈan.ɔn]) is a major figure in Welsh mythology, appearing in the First Branch of the Mabinogi, and again in the Third Branch. Ronald Hutton called her "one of the great female personalities in World literature ", adding that "there is in fact, nobody quite like her in previous human literature". [ 1 ]
The Adar Rhiannon are also mentioned in the second branch of the Mabinogi, the tale of Branwen ferch Llŷr. Following a cataclysmic war against the Irish, the fatally wounded British king Bendigeidfran orders his seven surviving men to decapitate him. They are then to take his head to the White Tower of London to bury it as a national protection.
Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed, "Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed," is a legendary tale from medieval Welsh literature and the first of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi.It tells of the friendship between Pwyll, prince of Dyfed, and Arawn, lord of Annwn (the Otherworld), of the courting and marriage of Pwyll and Rhiannon and of the birth and disappearance of Pryderi.
Gwawl, son of Clud, is initially mentioned in the first of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, when Rhiannon tells Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, who wishes to marry her, that she is intended for Gwawl. Rhiannon and Pwyll form a plan to free her from her forced marriage to Gwawl and make arrangements for their own marriage in a year's time.
The Four Branches of the Mabinogi (Pedair Cainc y Mabinogi) are the most clearly mythological stories contained in the Mabinogion collection. Pryderi appears in all four, though not always as the central character. Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed (Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed) tells of Pryderi's parents and his birth, loss and recovery.
Rhiannon eventually bears Pwyll a son and heir, but the child disappears the night he is born. Rhiannon 's maids, in fear of their lives, accuse her of killing and eating her own baby. Rhiannon negotiates a penalty where she must sit at the castle gate every day for seven years telling her terrible tale to strangers and offer them a ride on her ...
Rhiannon and Pryderi. Pwyll "Head of Annwn": King of Dyfed and eponymous hero of the first branch of the Mabinogi. He swaps places with the otherworldly king Arawn for a year, earning his lifelong friendship, and later wins the lady Rhiannon from her suitor Gwawl. Rhiannon: Sometimes associated with the horse goddess Epona.
Pryderi was born in Arberth to Pwyll, Lord of Dyfed, and Rhiannon, daughter of Hyfaidd Hen. On the night of his birth, he disappeared while in the care of six of Rhiannon's ladies-in-waiting. To avoid the king's wrath, they smeared dog's blood onto a sleeping Rhiannon, claiming that she had committed infanticide and cannibalism by eating her child.