
He cannily negotiates their release, as well as the restoration of the land, by confronting the villain behind it all.

An enchanted trap removes Pryderi and Rhiannon: Manawydan becomes a farmer. Journeys in England setting up craft businesses follow. Pryderi arranges his friend's marriage to Rhiannon. Manawydan Son of Llŷr brother of Branwen, heir to the throne of Britain, becomes Pryderi's good friend during the war.Pryderi is merely named as a war survivor, and Branwen dies heartbroken. A tragically genocidal war develops fomented by Efnysien, in which a Cauldron which resurrects the dead figures, and the giant king Bran's head survives his death in an enchanted idyll. Branwen Daughter of Llŷr follows Branwen's marriage to the King of Ireland, who abuses her due to insult by her half brother, Efnysien.The strange abduction at birth of their baby son follows, with his rescue, fostering and restoration by the good lord Teyrnon of the Kingdom of Gwent. The formidable Rhiannon courts him, and he helps her win her freedom to marry him. Pwyll Prince of Dyfed tells of the heroic and magical sojourn of Pwyll in Annwfn, his shapeshifting, chastity and a duel, which all establish a mighty alliance.Only one character appears in all four Branches, Pryderi, though he is never dominant or central to any of the Branches. These titles are Pwyll, Branwen, Manawydan and Math, but this is a modern custom: the Branches are not titled in the mediaeval manuscripts. Įach Branch contains several tale episodes in a sequence, and each Branch is titled with the name of a leading protagonist. Possible authors who have been proposed for the Four Branches include Rhigyfarch and Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd. It presents a legendary Britain as a united land under a king, yet with powerful separate princedoms, where native Welsh law, hud (magic), and romance, combine in a unique synergy. The world displayed within the Mabinogi extends across Wales, to Ireland, and into England. The style of writing is admired for its deceptive simplicity and controlled wordpower, as well as intricate doublets where mirrorings have been compared to Celtic knotwork. Since the 1970s the tales have become recognised as a complex secular literature, though rooted in and containing elements of Welsh Mythology, with powerfully explored characters, political, ethical and gendered themes, as well as imaginative fantasies. Early modern scholarship of the Mabinogi saw the tales as a garbled Welsh mythology which prompted attempts to salvage or reconstruct them. They survived in private family libraries via medieval manuscripts, of which two main versions and some fragments still survive today.

The tales were compiled from oral tradition in the 11th century. The Mabinogi are known as the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, or Pedair Cainc y Mabinogi in Welsh. 2.4 Fourth Branch: Math, son of Mathonwy.2.3 Third Branch: Manawydan, son of Llŷr.2.2 Second Branch: Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr.

