Rhiannon

Rhiannon (Welsh pronunciation: [r̥iˈan.ɔn]) is a protagonist (main character) of the Mabinogi, in its First and Third Branches. She originates only in these prose tales, with just a couple of references in 14thC mediaeval Welsh poetry, and none in the Trioedd/ Welsh Triads. Ronald Hutton calls her "one of the great female personalities in World literature", adding that "there is in fact, nobody quite like her in previous human literature". Patrick K. Ford comments ‘It is clear from her first entrance that she will accomplish her ends’.

In the Mabinogi, Rhiannon is a strong-minded ruler, a lady of the courts, and a devoted mother. She is intelligent, politically strategic, famed for her sophisticated conversation and striking looks, as well as her wealth and the generosity of her gifts especially to minstrels.

In the First Branch Rhiannon chooses Pwyll, prince of Dyfed (south-west Wales), as her consort, breaking her contract with Gwawl, another prince. Her fateful choice employs two hudiau/ enchantments: an uncatchable horse, and an almost unfillable bag. With Pwyll she has a son, Pryderi. She endures tragedy when her newborn child is abducted, and she is accused of infanticide. She is later cleared of this calumny when the child is restored, and her son Pryderi duly inherits the lordship of Dyfed. In the Third Branch Rhiannon as a widow marries Manawydan the usurped heir of the British royal family. She has further trials and adventures with him, her son and his wife, involving various enchantments: chiefly the Desolation of all Dyfed, seven years of vengeance by Gwawl's magician friend Llwyd.

There are five scholars who are particularly associated with Rhiannon lore: Edward Anwyl (works 1899-1910); W. J. Gruffydd (1953); Patrick K. Ford (1977); Roberta Valente (1986); and Shân Morgain (works 2014-2025).

Rhiannon has long been recognised as a Goddess, first on record by William Owen Pughe (1803), strongly developed as Mother Goddess and Horse Goddess by Edward Anwyl (1906) whose work appears uncredited by William John Gruffydd (1953); the goddess theme is structurally analysed by Patrick Ford (1977), critiqued by Roberta Valente as obscuring Rhiannon the woman (1986). There may be an inheritance in the traditions of the Mari Llwyd whose wassailing customs centre a horse skull, and match Rhiannon's geographic distribution in Wales. The Adar Rhiannon/ Birds of Rhiannon also express her paradoxical enchantment power: far yet near, living and dead. They originally appear both in the Mabinogi and Culhwch ac Olwen.

Rhiannon seems to inherit the traditions of an earlier Celtic deity the Gaulish horse goddess Epona. Rhiannon is strongly associated with horses, and so is her son Pryderi. She and her son are often depicted as mare and foal. Like Epona, she sometimes sits on her horse in a calm, stoic way. This connection with Epona is generally accepted among scholars of the Mabinogi and Celtic studies, but Ronald Hutton, a historian of paganism, is sceptical.

Her name has been linked to a linguistic reconstruction Brittonic form *Rīgantonā, derived from *rīgan- "queen" (cf. Welsh rhiain 'maiden', Old Irish rígain 'queen').