Tales from the Mabinogion

These verses list and describe the graves of legendary heroes and warriors from across Welsh folklore, from The Mabinogion's Pryderi and Owain, to one of the earliest references to the legendary king Arthur himself.
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Few poems can be more apt for Halloween than the Englynion y Beddau (the Verses of the Graves) from the Black Book of Carmarthen.
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#FolkloreThursday
"Bedd i Farch, bedd i Wythur,
bedd i Wgon Gleddyfrudd.
Anoeth byd, bedd i Arthur."
"A grave for March, a grave for Gwythur,
a grave for Gwgon Red-sword.
Hard to find in the world – a grave for Arthur."
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Tales from the Mabinogion on Steam Venture into the medieval kingdom of Dyfed in Tales from the Mabinogion. As King Pryderi, traverse dense forests, rugged mountains, and windswept coastlines. Uncover long-held secrets, face the forces...

store.steampowered.com/app/3067260/...
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As the Irish fell, they would be placed within a magic cauldron to be reanimated. It was only when Efnysien, half-brother to Bran and Branwen, gave up his life to shatter the cauldron that the war would come to and end.
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The Second Branch of the Mabinogi tells the tale of a great war between the British and the Irish, that would leave both nations devastated. The giant king Bran the Blessed led an army to rescue his sister, Branwen, being held by the Irish.
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#MythologyMonday
"Gadewais er mwyn dilyn Bendigeidfran, y Brenin Mawr. Trechon ni fyddin o feirwon Gwyddelig oedd wedi’u dadeni o bair yr oedd e wedi’i roi iddyn nhw."
I had left at the side of High King Bendigeidfran, to crush an army of Irish dead rebirthed from a cauldron he had gifted them.
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Tales from the Mabinogion on Steam Venture into the medieval kingdom of Dyfed in Tales from the Mabinogion. As King Pryderi, traverse dense forests, rugged mountains, and windswept coastlines. Uncover long-held secrets, face the forces...

store.steampowered.com/app/3067260/...

#BookWormSat #ScreenshotSaturday
Forests in the Mabinogi are far more than simple scenery. Heroes hunt, plot and lose themselves in the woods while Otherworldly creatures shift through their shadows.
I've shared this clip before, but it's a fine time to share it once again! Best with sound on... :)

I imagine that "percent" is the standard, but that it created an orphan in the first example, so they switched for the percentage sign to keep it all on one line.

For three years, transformed into wolf and she-wolf, stag and hind, and boar and sow, the pair are forced to breed.
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#FairyTaleTuesday
In one of the Mabinogion's more bizarre moments, the brothers Gwydion and Gilfaethwy are punished for their transgressions against the foot maiden Goewin by being transformed into a series of mating animals.
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Tales from the Mabinogion on Steam Venture into the medieval kingdom of Dyfed in Tales from the Mabinogion. As King Pryderi, traverse dense forests, rugged mountains, and windswept coastlines. Uncover long-held secrets, face the forces...

What greater flex for a medieval hero than to arrive at King Arthur's court with a pair of hellhounds (as the Christians would later dub them) by your side!
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#MythologyMonday
The Cŵn Annwn, the red-eared, ghost-white spectral hounds of the Welsh Otherworld, are most often portrayed running alongside Arawn on his wild hunts.
But they appear elsewhere also. When Culhwch rides to Arthur's court, he is accompanied by two of the beasts.
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#BookWormSat
I feel like I don't write enough here about Rhiannon, one of the strongest and most stoic characters of the Mabinogion.
From her defiance of her father and rebuff of Gwawl, to the courageous bid to rescue her son from his magical prison, we see a model of fearlessness and endurance.

#ThrowbackThursday
Five years ago that I did the very first vegetation rendering tests that would become Tales from the Mabinogion.
At the time, it was a small side project to investigate some different shader techniques. It's come a long way since then...!
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In the poem Cad Goddeu - the Battle of the Trees - a horde of Otherworldly creatures invade. In a scene that surely inspired Tolkien, the wizard Gwydion animates a forest of trees to repel them.
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#WyrdWednesday
Centuries before Lovecraft ever dreamed his tentacled nightmares, the great bard Taliesin had already given us his own version of cosmic horror.
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Although less extensive than the Red Book of Hergest, the other source for the tales of the Mabinogion, the White Book predates it by some decades. Scholars still debate whether the Red Book was derived directly from the White, or more likely, if they both derive from a now lost common ancestor.
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#FairyTaleTuesday
The White Book of Rhydderch is one of the most important Welsh language works, containing a collection of Welsh prose texts and early Welsh poetry, including some of the very earliest mentions of King Arthur.
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Image from medieval floor mosaic of King Arthur hunting Cath Palug.
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Raised without knowing its true nature, the kitten grew into a monstrous cat-beast, wreaking havoc on the island.
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#FolkloreSunday
Cath Palug, one of the three great plagues of Ynys Môn, originated in Gwynedd. Born as a kitten to the great white sow Henwen of Cornwall, at the black rock in Llanfair, it was cast into the sea and later found by the sons of Palug.
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Ah yes! You're quite right, my mistake!

Tales from the Mabinogion on Steam Venture into the medieval kingdom of Dyfed in Tales from the Mabinogion. As King Pryderi, traverse dense forests, rugged mountains, and windswept coastlines. Uncover long-held secrets, face the forces...

#ScreenshotSaturday
Just made a few updates to the Steam page, including a couple of new screen shots. Check it out, and add a wishlist or follow, if you haven't already!
store.steampowered.com/app/3067260/...

In this painting by Margaret Jones, we see the young Lleu Llaw Gyffes breaking free of one of the Tynged laid on him by his own mother, the sorceress Arianrhod, with the help of his uncle, the trickster Gwydion.

#BookologyThursday
In Welsh folklore, "Tyngedau" are a type of curse, an inevitable destiny cast on to an ill-fated target.
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The Physicians of Myddfai were highly respected medical practitioners in their day, pretty sure RFK would want nothing to do with them! :D

Caerphilly Castle reopens after two-year renovation The upgrades at Caerphilly Castle include a reconstruction of the Great Hall and digital exhibits.

Somehow I missed sharing this one! Has anyone visited since the renovations? Worth a trip...?
bbc.com/news/article...

Oh wow, I just managed to watch the video... It's wonderful, really, my favourite of all the one's you've done! DIolch yn fawr, wir :)