Rhiannon

Family: Dyved · Role: daughter of Heveydd Hen · First appears: PWYLL PRINCE OF DYVED 2

At Gorsedd Arberth, Rhiannon revealed herself to Pwyll as the daughter of Heveydd Hen, saying, “I am Rhiannon, the daughter of Heveydd Hen”. She had refused a marriage arranged against her will because of her love for Pwyll, and Pwyll chose her above every other woman. She arranged for him to meet her at Heveydd Hen’s palace a year later, where he arrived with a hundred knights and was received with great rejoicing. When Gwawl sought her, Rhiannon agreed to become his bride a year later while secretly arranging her escape; with Pwyll’s help, Gwawl was trapped in the magical bag and then released under a covenant forbidding revenge. The next day, Rhiannon and Pwyll departed for Dyved, where they ruled prosperously.

Before the end of a year, Rhiannon bore a son to Pwyll at Narberth. On the night of his birth, the women watching him slept, and the boy disappeared; towards morning they falsely accused Rhiannon, asking, “Hast thou not thyself devoured thy son? Claim him not therefore of us.” She was sentenced to seven years of public penance at Narberth. While this was happening, Teirnyon Twryv Vliant recognized the boy as Pwyll’s son and agreed to send him back.

In the first chapter concerning Manawyddan, Rhiannon became Manawyddan’s bride before the feast ended. She and Manawyddan, Pryderi, and Kicva were bound by a friendship in which the four would not part by night or day. At the Gorsedd of Narberth, a supernatural mist caused the court, its inhabitants, animals, and dwellings to vanish. Later, Llwyd said that Pryderi had worn the gate knockers of his palace around his neck and that Rhiannon had worn the collars of asses after they had carried hay.