Lleu Llaw Gyffes

Lleu Llaw Gyffes, Lleu Llawgyffes, Llew [W, light/the fair one of the sure/steady hand]. Central figure of the fourth branch of the Mabinogi, son of Arianrhod, who conceives him only when Math tests her virginity, and brother of Dylan. Gwydion, Arianrhod's brother, abducts and raises the child, who shows great strength by his first birthday and is able to go to court by himself on his second. Because Gwydion then presents the still unnamed child to his mother, embarrassing her, some commentators have suggested that Gwydion may be the actual father, an incest hidden by late redactors; certain internal references may support this argument. For whichever reason, Arianrhod is furious at the sight of the child, accusing Gwydion of ‘pursuing her shame’. She curses the boy three times: he shall not have a name unless she give it to him; he shall not bear arms unless she equip him; and he shall not have a wife of the race of this earth. Gwydion cleverly overcomes all these obstacles, the third by creating the lovely Blodeuwedd entirely from flowers. But for all her comeliness, Blodeuwedd does not become a good wife to Lleu. While he is absent, she entertains the wandering hunter Gronw Pebyr and resolves to help him to follow the formulated steps needed to kill her husband. Wounded, Lleu Llaw Gyffes turns into an eagle and after uttering a piercing shriek flies to a magic oak tree. Gwydion finds and restores him to human form, and shames Blodeuwedd by changing her into an owl. Lleu Llaw Gyffes seeks out Gronw Pebyr, who begs reconciliation before he is killed in the same way he would have killed Lleu. Thereafter Lleu becomes lord of Gwynedd, north Wales.

A virtuous, skilful, but naïve figure in the Mabinogi, Lleu's antecedents imply a larger character than we find in this literary context. Philologically he is connected to, and may be identical with, the Irish hero Lug Lámfhota [of the long arm] and the ancient god Lugos/Lugus, who, along with being the antecedent of both Lleu and Lug, was probably the Gaulish Mercury of whom Julius Caesar spoke (1st cent. BC). Lugos/Lugus gave his name to Lug(u)dunum, a place-name given to scores of sites on the Roman map. His fleeting associations with the oak and eagle also imply a divine origin.

Bibliography

See W. J. Gruffydd , Math vab Mathonwy (Cardiff, 1928);
Rachel Bromwich , Trioedd Ynys Prydain, rev. edn. (Cardiff, 1978), 408–10, 555;
Valenté , Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 35 (1988), 1 ff.