Welsh mythology - Definition and Overview

Welsh mythology consists of stories written down in the Mabinogion and other medieval texts.

Deities

• Amaethon - god of agriculture
• Arawn - ruler of Annwn
• Arianrhod - mother of Dylan and Lleu, brother of Gwydion
• Bran the Blessed - son of Llyr, British king and ruler of Annwn (?)
• Ceridwen - goddess of fertility
• Don - mother goddess
• Dylan - sea god
• Gwydion - Arianrhod's brother
• Lleu - god of sun
• Llyr - sea god, possibly prototype of William Shakespeare's King Lear
• Manawydan - Llyr's son, sea god

Other characters

• Arthur - king
• Bedwyr - Arthur's knight
• Blodeuedd - woman created of flowers. Was supposed to marry Lleu, but she killed him with her lover, Goronwy
• Branwen - Bendigeidfran's sister
• Caradawc - Son of Bendigeidfran
• Culhwch - son of Cildydd, had to kill a giant to marry his daughter, possibly one of Arthur's knights
• Efnisien - Bendigeidfran's halfbrother and enemy
• Gwalchmai - see Gawain
• Gwenhwyfar - Arthur's wife
• Gwern - son of Matholwch and Branwen, Efnisien killed him when he was three years old
• Gwyn ap Nudd - shadowy character sometimes called the king of the fairies and connected to the Wild Hunt
• Kai - the oldest Arthur's knight
• Mabon
• Math - king of Gwynedd, had to have a virgin to hold his feet
• Matholwch - king of Ireland, husband of Branwen, Efnisien mutilated his horses
• Nudd - warrior with a hand of silver
• Olwen - wife of Culhwch
• Owain - Arthur's knight
• Peredur - Arthur's knight
• Pryderi - kidnapped son of Pwyll
• Pwyll - king of Dyfed, for some time he also ruled in Annwn
• Rhiannon - Pwyll's wife, Pwyll accused her of eating Pryderi
• Taliesin - bard, prophet
• Teirnon - Pryderi's stepfather
• Urien - Owain's father, knight

(Were Pelles, Uther Pendragon, Vortigern, Morgan le Fay, Modred, Percival, Lancelot and Galahad also in Welsh myths?)

See also

• Celtic mythology