Gwydion

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In Welsh mythology, Gwydion is a magician appearing prominently in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion and the ancient poem Cad Goddeu. He is the brother of Gilfaethwy and Arianrhod, and the nephew of Math ap Mathonwy. In the Mabinogion he is called the son of the goddess Don, making it likely he is a euhemerized god or demi-god.

Mythological exploits

In the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, Gwydion helps his brother Gilfaethwy rape Goewin, Math's foot-holder. To this end he steals Pryderi of Dyfed's pigs, thus forcing Math away to fight a war (Math only took his feet from his foot-holder's lap to go to battle). Gwydion and Gilfaethwy sneak back to Math's court where Gilfaethwy forceably sleeps with Goewin. When Math hears of this, he turns his nephews into a series of mated pairs of animals; Gwydion becomes a stag for a year, then a sow and finally a wolf. Gilfaethwy becomes a hind deer, a boar and a she-wolf. Each year they produce an offspring which is sent to Math; after three years Math releases his nephews from their punishment.

In the search for a new foot-holder, who must be a virgin, Math tests Gwydion's sister Arianrhod. The test reveals that Arianrhod is not a virgin however, when she immediately gives birth to two children after stepping over a magic stick. One of these children is born a formless blob, and Arianrhod places three curses (see the Irish geas) upon him: the child will never have a name unless she herself names him, he cannot carry weapons unless she had arms him (neither of these things does she intend to do), and he cannot marry any human woman. In effect she had denied her child three major aspects of humanity, but Gwydion puts his formless nephew in a box and raises him. When the boy is old enough Gwydion takes him incognito to see Arianrhod, who declares he is a "bright lion with a sure hand" when she sees him drop a wren with a single stone. Gwydion reveals the child is her son and that she has unknowingly supplied him with a name; from then on he goes by Lleu Llaw Gyffes, "bright lion with a sure hand". Arianrhod is similarly tricked into supplying her son with weapons. The third curse proves harder to overcome, so Gwydion and Math use magic to create a wife for Lleu out of flowers, named Blodeuwedd (flower woman). Blodeuwedd proves unfaithful and with her lover, Goronwy, attempts to slay Lleu. Lleu does not die but transforms into a wounded eagle, and Gwydion tracks him to the forest and heals him. Gwydion then turns Blodeuwedd into an owl, and Lleu himself kills Goronwy.

Gwydion also appears in the 6th century poem Cad Goddeu (The Battle of the Trees), found in the Book of Taliesin. There he wins a battle against Bran the Blessed by animating an army of trees and guessing Bran's name.

Etymology of the name

This theonym appears to be derived from Proto-Celtic *Weidī-kondos meaning "masculine knowing sense" (cf. [1] [2] [3]). Following accepted sound laws elucidating systematic diachronic phonological sound change in Celtic proto-linguistics (cf. [4] [5] [6] [7]), the Romano-British form of this Proto-Celtic theonym is likely to have been *Vēdīcondos.

Gwydion in modern fiction

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. He also appears in Phillip Mann's alternate history series A Land Fit for Heroes, 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.pl:Gwydion sv:Gwydion