All things Prydain

my corner of the fanverse

[highqueenofprydain]

How do you think Taran told Eilonwy about her mother Angharad's death, and how he “avenged” her? How do you think she would react?

This is a relevant plot point from Taran Wanderer and it never comes up again in The High King

That is an excellent question, one that I have wrestled over. I had a very early fic that addressed it, but I’ve wanted to revisit that for a long time. I wanted to work it into a High King rewrite, when/if that ever happens. After all the time I’ve spent developing Eilonwy and the lore about Angharad’s pendant I wrote into my prequel, I have more complex thoughts about how she would react to hearing about this, but I’ve not sat with it long enough to answer yet. In my personal opinion Taran should have passed that pendant to Eilonwy instead of giving it to Doli. I follow his logic, but it still rankles, and I think it would bother her a lot, too. His avenging of her mother might be the only thing that really reconciles it. Lloyd actually wrote Taran Wanderer after he wrote The High King, which is, I think, why it contains a loose thread or two, though this particular one is especially egregious.

[highqueenofprydain]

one of your posts has midjourney in it and i was just curious if youve started to use ai...?

I experimented a bit with its animation feature using my own art as the input, but I’ve moved away from that. The technology is certainly intriguing, but the ethical and environmental impacts are troubling. My still images are always my own work. I don’t do a lot of progress video, bc it’s a tedious pain in the butt, but I knew this question would be asked at some point, so here’s one: https://youtube.com/shorts/aWwSdCu_fa8?si=DI6cDvWl88pMvD6y

[highqueenofprydain]

Hello! I am a fellow fan of the original books by Lloyd Alexander, and I’m aiming to fix the problems that the film adaptation had. I am also a dungeons of dragons player, which brings it to a question I want to ask you. If the characters from the Chronicles of Prydain are going to be character characters to play in any Dungeons & Dragons game, what class would fit each of the companions the most?

I’ve never played D&D, so I unfortunately can’t answer this as I don’t know anything about how characters are classified. But maybe posting this will spark some discussion.

[highqueenofprydain]

Hi, I recently found your the book of three webcomic and im so happy!! I read those books in grade school and theyre super nostalgic for me, but i never knew there was an online community, and I felt like I was the only one who knew it. Which is why im so happy to find your webcomic! I love art and comics and I love these books! Thank you so much for adapting them! Im happily reading rn! I hope this isnt wierd, but i just wanted to share appreciation. Thank you so much!!!! im like actually so happy!!!

thank you so much for this. I’ve had a rough week and this made today brighter. I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the comic!

[highqueenofprydain]

Thoughts on Taran Wanderer

...in which I write an essay.

 *cracks knuckles* 

The thing about the TW quest is that it’s not really about Eilonwy; it’s never been about Eilonwy, he just uses that as his excuse. If he actually thought for ten seconds that she gave a rat’s rear end about his parentage then he doesn’t know her or appreciate her enough to ask for her hand. I can imagine, if it ever actually came up, that she would tell him flat out that she didn’t care about his status and he would literally tell her she SHOULD care - like he knows better than she does whether their relationship is appropriate, and doesn’t even see how stupid and offensive that is. 

TW is the book where Taran comes face to face with his own pride and vanity. That is what his quest is about. He really does hope and secretly believe he’s going to turn out to be a prince or a lord because he’s had his head turned by all those fairy tales in The Book of Three and he thinks that clearly, he has shown his worth so many times over, that PROVES he must be nobility because in his mind only high-born people behave nobly. That his actual lived experience contradicts this at every level is irrelevant; it’s the cognitive dissonance he lives with (and totally human, just look at the flaming garbage of current politics as a real-life example). And he wants to be noble...just because. Because that means he is Somebody besides some worthless Assistant Pig-Keeper. He wants to matter.

So until the experience with Craddoc he is able to lie to himself continually about what he’s looking for on this quest, and he indeed does a lot of heroic and noble things because that’s who he is underneath all the nonsense. But that’s why when  he has to face the (apparent) truth that he is not nobly born but the poorest of the poor, it utterly destroys him. He doesn’t even wonder what Eilonwy would think because he’s too busy wallowing in self-pity and the crushing of his own dreams for /himself/ to be sensible and rationalize that if she loves him as a pig-keeper she’ll love him as a shepherd.  And because he’s melodramatic Taran he thinks he’s being self-sacrificing for giving her up but he’s really being incredibly, horrendously selfish, not once considering how just being told to “forget him” would rip her heart out. I know I sound hypercritical here but it’s that paradox of, like, a suicide victim - it’s ok to be both compassionate toward that Level of unimaginable pain but also furious for how that act destroys everyone that loves them. And I really do think it’s what Lloyd was aiming for, BECAUSE...

...it takes the crisis of Craddoc’s fall to make Taran realize the depth of his own selfishness, that he could actually  fantasize for a hot second about just leaving him to die. And this is not judgmental; most of us would probably feel the same way, because humans /are selfish/. Whether it’s a survival instinct in our DNA or the result of original sin - whatever your beliefs, we all have a streak of it, and it’s the true heroes who learn how to do the right thing in spite of it. 

So then we have Craddoc’s confession and Taran’s near-death experience and he comes out of it not relieved to find out he’s not a shepherd’s son but just totally unmoored, because not only does he still not know who his parents are - he isn’t even the type of good guy he thought he was. As it turns out, when push came to shove he was just as fallible and selfish and vain and grasping as all the “common” people he was trying to rise above (It’s like he had forgotten all about Ellidyr and Morgant, two prime examples of royalty who were total frickwads). And so he’s still not ready to hope for Eilonwy at this point, because he realizes that without knowing who he really is, he can’t be anything to anyone.

It’s worth noting that it’s after this turning point that we see him beginning to mingle with common people. With the exception of Coll, and Aeddan and Alarca, every one of his companions, mentors, and acquaintances up to this point have been royalty, nobility, wizard, or some kind of Important Person. It’s Craddoc who gives him his first lengthy taste (Besides Coll, but we always take parental figures for granted) of what a poor but hard-working, proud and generous common man is. It’s a black mark and a big deal that Craddoc lies to him, but he’s still a sympathetic character who Taran comes to respect and love even as he resents him. Then after his crisis we get Llonio and all the Commot folks and for the first time he /gets/ the value of hard labor and craftsmanship beaten into him: prior to Craddoc he wouldn’t have cared or made the effort. (As a parent I can so sympathize with Coll here: “I tried to teach you smithing and it was oh, no, I wanna learn sword fighting, oh but you’ll learn it from THAT guy” - again, Lloyd got human nature so well.)

He wins his own self-respect back not through finding out he’s an orphaned prince or through magical revelation but through honest work and successful and humble leadership, and finding out that that’s who he really is after some of the pride and foolishness is burned away (or at least realizing it’s there and something he has to battle). It’s this that gives him a sense of his own identity so that by the time he looks into the Mirror of Llunet he has no need of it to tell him who he is, and that’s also the point where he realizes - FINALLY- that he’s worthy of Eilonwy. But he wouldn’t have been, prior to all of that; he would have been less of a man but just wouldn’t have known the real reason. 

IMO if he had tried to draw Dyrnwyn at the end of TW he would have done so successfully. His accomplishments in THK are just gravy after this. 

[highqueenofprydain]

In which I take advantage of one of Taran's many periods of unconsciousness to insert heavy fanfic material. (He's super convenient like that, almost like Alexander gave me this gift on purpose.) Eilonwy discovers her magic in defense of her friends and drives off Ellidyr, saved from killing him only by Fflewddur's interference.

Cue the "firestarter" jokes, I know. If it works it works.

[highqueenofprydain]

The Loom

I have a headcanon that Orddu stops her from accidentally unraveling her own thread from the tapestry of Taran’s life.

[highqueenofprydain]

The Loom

“Oh, no, no, my duck! Mustn’t touch! Nasty prickles if you do! It’s full of nettles.”

[highqueenofprydain]

Something a little different, just for yuks. Also to prove I am really painting these, since such questions come up, these days.

“Try to rest,” he whispered hoarsely. “You really oughtn’t to have come, you know, but…but I’m glad you’re here.”

Her heart skipped a little at this: at the words, the tone, and at something she sensed behind them…an unfamiliar emotion peering through his haze of anxiety, nascent and tentative, like a newborn foal taking a wobbly first step. She held her breath, waiting, suddenly warm, and fancied she could hear his heartbeat, thudding between his shoulder blades. He took a breath, and the feeling fled, chased away by the note of irony in his voice. “If this all turns out to be a terrible mistake, you can say you told me so all you like.”

She huffed, a slightly hysterical sound in the stillness. “Don’t think I won’t.”

He squeezed her hand, and the silence wrapped around them again, no longer a wall but a quilt, warm and unifying. Melynlas’s slow gait rocked her side-to-side, and for a long time she was unaware of anything at all.

[naturallyred]

Deeply enchanted with the fact that Taran's memories of Eilonwy are his most precious treasure — precious enough to rival actual in-world rare magical artifacts

Taran is such a hopeless romantic

[highqueenofprydain]

...Taran had whirled on the prince, fists clenched. “You hold your tongue,” he spat. “I have swallowed your insults for the sake of our quest, but you will not speak ill of another!”

Warmth rushed through her, fierce, unwelcome, and somehow ...delightful, all at once. Anger blurred into something else as the two boys faced each other, swords rising, shoulders squared. Taran’s eyes were bright with outrage, his jaw set, his whole posture bristling with a readiness that was reckless and gallant and captivating. She forgot, in that instant, that she had been cross with him at all. ~Single Wild Ember, chapter 6

[highqueenofprydain]

I've done this scene a few times by now, but really, you can't have too many versions.

[highqueenofprydain]

Hello! I finished reading the Chronicles of Prydain just a few days ago and I had to come here and thank you for doing god's work with your art, your fics, and especially with your Eilonwy! (and your Taran X Eilonwy too!)

Thanks so much! They’re such a niche and largely forgotten set of books, it’s lovely to know someone new has discovered them! I’ve so enjoyed your reactions and am glad you’ve enjoyed my contributions! 😊

[highqueenofprydain]

"Find room, or make room, that's flat!"

[highqueenofprydain]

Box design commissioned by the same client who got the bookmarks last year.

[highqueenofprydain]

Gwystyl, concept. In one of my fics I described him as having the atmosphere of a melting candle, both visually and emotionally. I still love that concept so was trying to follow it here. Gave him some mushrooms and moss sprouting from the top of his head so when he's patrolling the woods and runs across some denizen of Annuvin he can just ball himself up into that ragged robe, tuck his chin, and camouflage right into the forest floor. But he's also still got a little of that Fae penchant for jewelry--they just can't help themselves--so he's got a couple of acorn beads tangled in his hair.

[highqueenofprydain]

I hope this isn't presumptuous, but since I just saw a post regarding Lady Eilonwy (or...whatever you're calling your counterpart to Taran Wanderer) but if you are, I've been wondering for a while about your thoughts about this stuff, since you're phenomenal at filling in blank spaces that Alexander left in the narrative for Eilonwy. - What diplomatic pressure, if any, do you think the Sons of Don exert on the Isle of Mona and the last remnant of the Kingdom of Llyr? - What were the diplomatic consequences of Gwydion going to a foreign court undercover, since the House of Don had no jurisdiction on Mona and Gwydion just disguised himself without any diplomatic permission to be there and carry out a personal vendetta in a fashion that endangered one of their (distant) relatives? - How do the above questions relate to whatever negotiations happen between Mona and the mainland as the sons of don get ready to make their play on Annuvin/become aware that Arawn is getting ready to make his play on the rest of Prydain? - How aware is Eilonwy of all of this? Presumably it's a good place for her to get some diplomatic education in an interesting, live fire environment, but how much is she just told about versus how much does she have to fight to be a part of? - How much does the death of King Rhudlum and the sole rulership (or possibly regency, depending on how you write it since Lloyd Alexander never clarified) of queen Teleria affect all of this and the political gamesmanship going on, and how does that weigh on Teleria? - You've written Eilonwy as using her magic almost like an extra sense, like a hyperempathy for others' emotions as well as a sensitivity to nature. How is she coping with having her third eye struck blind, so to speak? How is she adjusting? - Is there any more traditional trouble to find on Mona? - I was wondering what friends she made on Mona that we never met but you already seem to be fleshing out her handmaids. I hope this isn't presumptuous, but these were a bunch of things I started wondering during my re-read of Taran Wanderer, given all the stuff you've written into my mental picture of Prydain.

I love all this so much. Please feel free to ask presumptuous questions anytime. Even where I don’t have answers, they prompt me to think about angles I hadn’t, and maybe spawn new ideas.

I wish I had more answers to these excellent questions, but I am still feeling my way along for plot elements in this particular story. It also happens to be coinciding with a difficult period of my own life wherein I’m constantly dealing with crises and trauma, and while that might actually turn out to be helpful in providing writing material, it makes it hard to find the time and creative energy to dig out these details. This chapter is an experimental one, as I try to figure out my timeline, tone, and driving action. But I do have a few ideas that touch on your questions here. A) Mona is part of Prydain and thus under the headship of the High King, so there’s no negative repercussions to what Gwydion did there. B)I also think the Sons of Don have largely left Mona to its own devices. It is remote, separated by water, and doesn’t have a very big reserve of battle-ready forces to call up, so they don’t bother. Young men of fighting age might get sent to serve in the forces at Caer Dathyl for a few years as part of fealty paid to Math and co, but in general the people there are shepherds and sailors and fisherfolk, not warriors. One of the reasons Rhun is so sheltered and inexperienced. C) This will, I think, become something of a plot point with Rhun’s reign, as, after hearing Eilonwy’s stories about what she has encountered in the various moves against Arawn, he will press for Mona to be more involved in supporting that effort. The clash between his youthful idealism and sense of duty, and the relative safety and separation that the Mona nobles have enjoyed by NOT being too involved, will drive at least some of the conflict, as Eilonwy falls under criticism for being the one who fills his head with grandiose ideas. D) Eilonwy’s magical sensitivities will gradually atrophy. Her abilities are not gone in a flash, but the final destruction of the spellbook and the foundation of Caer Colur will have set off a slow decay of the framework of her magic—a decay that she is not yet aware of. I haven’t yet decided exactly how all that will work, but it’s percolating. The overall arc of this story needs to be her coming to terms with who she is without magic. As far as close friendships, I’m not quite sure yet. She and Rhun are quite good friends at this point. I would like for her to have the experience of close female friendship, which I think would be an excellent rounding out of her character, but I’m not going to do that just to check a box. If it happens organically, I’ll pursue it.

Hope that gives you a little to chew on!