Welsh mythology in popular culture

Elements of Welsh mythology have appeared many times in popular culture.

Afanc

Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence features an afanc which inhabits Llyn Barfog. It is driven away by the son of King Arthur.

China Miéville's The Scar features a large afanc (spelled as avanc), bound by chains to tow the city of Armada across the oceans. The afanc in The Scar is of phenomenal size, so vast that to observers one vein on the creature's surface looks like a 20-foot (6.1 m) high ridge.

The Afanc plays a leading role in episode three of Merlin - it's a creature made of earth and water which can be destroyed by fire and wind. It poisons Camelot's water supply, causing a supernatural plague.

The Lord of the Rings Online features the afanc (here spelled as avanc) as a species of salamander-like beasts that dwell in and around bodies of water in Dunland. A tribe of swamp-dwelling Dunlendings subsist in part off the beasts, and call themselves the Avanc-luth.

Arawn

Blodeuwedd

Cantre'r Gwaelod

Although not as famous as Atlantis, with which it has been compared by some modern authors, Cantre'r Gwaelod has featured in fiction with a Welsh flavour, notably the alternate universe Louie Knight series. In the satirical parody Aberystwyth Mon Amour, a group of Druids plan to launch an ark and reclaim the land of Cantre'r Gwaelod.

Cantre'r Gwaelod is also a major location in Susan Cooper's Silver On The Tree, the fifth and final book in her series The Dark is Rising.

The British musical group The Lowland Hundred take its name from the English translation of Cantre'r Gwaelod.

It features in the young adult book series of Welsh author Jenny Sullivan.

Culhwch and Olwen

The tale of Culhwch and Olwen appears on Gems of Celtic Story One, by Robin Williamson.

Culhwch and Olwen also appear as the characters Kilhwch and Ulla in the Final Fantasy XI MMORPG.

Cŵn Annwn

Diana Wynne Jones' children's novel Dogsbody includes both Cŵn Annwn and hybrids of Cŵn Annwn and Labrador retrievers.

In Michael Scott's The Sorceress: Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel the Wild Hunt is a dominant antagonist to Nicholas Flamel and Josh and Sophie Newman.

In Final Fantasy XI, NPC enemies named Cwm Annwn show up, resembling emaciated hounds.

In The Lord of the Rings Online, the Cwn Annwn (here spelled Cun Annun) appear in the Welsh-themed lands of Dunland as a species of ghostly hounds with glowing red eyes.

Gwydion

Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain, a series of fantasy novels inspired by Welsh myths, features a character named Gwydion, based somewhat on the Gwydion of myth, but markedly different in terms of moral character. (The character is not included in the Disney animated film based on the novels.)

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's Keltiad series - Irish, Welsh and Scottish legends translated to an interstellar, Star Wars style context — has a character named Gwydion Prince of Don as its co-protagonist. Like Alexander, Kennealy-Morrison bases her character on the mythological Gwydion, but humanizes him through her own creative process.

He also appears in Phillip Mann's alternate history series A Land Fit for Heroes. Judith Tarr's fantasy series, The Hound and the Falcon and the Alamut series, features Gwydion as the immortal elf king of Rhiyana, a side character in both series. Robert Carter's "The Language of Stones" series, has a short appearance in American Gods by Neil Gaiman and is the ancestor to the main character in Jenny Nimmo's Snow Spider Trilogy. In The Mists of Avalon, Gwydion is the birth name of both King Arthur and Mordred. The name Gwydion also appears in the Sierra game King's Quest III, where a Prince Alexander of Daventry has been kidnapped by an evil wizard named Manannan who renames him Gwydion.

Gwydion is also one of the main protagonists in the books of the Welsh author Jenny Sullivan.

Llŷr

Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain includes a "House of Llŷr", a royal family whose female members are often enchantresses. The Princess Eilonwy, the heroine in the series, is the daughter of Angharad, daughter of Regat of the House of Llŷr.

Jenny Nimmo's "The Magician Trilogy" (also known as "The Snow Spider Trilogy") draws on the stories of the Llŷrs, especially The Chestnut Soldier, in which the descendants of the Llŷr line find the legends repeating themselves.

Olwen

Andrew Lang retold the tale in "The Winning of Olwen" for The Lilac Fairy Book.

This name was also used by Monica Hughes in the young adult novel Keeper of the Isis Light.

Pryderi

Pryderi appears as a powerful king in The High King, the fifth and final novel of Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain. Pryderi also appears in the "Goddess of Partholon" series, by "House of Night" author P.C. Cast. In Book 3 - Divine by Choice, the daughter of Rhiannon MacCallan from Books 1 and 2 must face a choice of whether to give in to the evil that controlled her mother, which turns out to be Pryderi, or help destroy it - she chooses the latter by embracing Pyderi and then throwing herself on a funeral pyre.

Rhiannon

References

  1. "Welsh Noir Drama Hinterland Coming to Netflix". BritishTVPlace. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
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