#chronicles of Prydain

[cosmicretreat]

These were the editions of The Chronicles of Prydain I checked out of the library and read as a kid.

[disneysnowprincess]

THE BLACK CAULDRON WAS HEAVILY FEATURED IN ONCE UPON A STUDIO!!!

I swear, there is a disney exec out there that secretly loves this movie and wants to give us crumbs whenever possible. Either that or they're trying to us the IP enough that people don't riot for them to relinquish their rights.

But Gurgi was sung to by Pocahontas, Eilonwy was included in the same shot as Snow White, Mulan and Asha!

In the final photo we can see Taran holding Hen, with Eilonwy and Fflewdur, then with the Horned King in the back. Gurgi is on the plane's wing and I believe the character to the right of him is in fact Creature. Like... WHAT. Y'all this is insane. So, so happy they are using this amazing series for what it's worth.

[the-hearth-and-the-wild]

We don't need to have just one favorite. We keep adding favorites. Our favorite book is always the book that speaks most directly to us at a particular stage in our lives. And our lives change. We have other favorites that give us what we most need at that particular time. But we never lose the old favorites. They're always with us. We just sort of accumulate them.

Lloyd Alexander

[book--brackets]

[gravewilt]

✦ princess eilonwy ✧

posting this cuz i decided ill drop it 😭😭 school's abt to start resulting to a decline in my motivation to finish any of my wips so :'D

[welshoot]

Twisted Wonderland and The Black Cauldron

This theory honestly seemed so far-fetched when I first came up with it before Twisted Wonderland got localized, but I felt like writing this so here we are.

There might just be a connection between Twisted Wonderland and  The Black Cauldron (film or novel). Before I get into the wild theorizing/analysis I would like to say that this post will contain major spoilers for the book and film of The Black Cauldron as well as for Twisted Wonderland, so proceed at your own risk. Also, this is going to be very long, so be forewarned

This entire theory comes completely from this image:

This is the mirror chamber from Twisted Wonderland, a room we seem to keep coming back to in terms of potential lore importance. I don’t really know why, but when I saw this image for the first time my mind immediately flew back to this:

I guess it’s something about the green stuff coming out the thing up top that reminds me of the titular black cauldron from one of Disney’s worst performing films, The Black Cauldron (1985). 

Now, The Black Cauldron (1985) is a bit of a dark spot on the history of Disney’s animated movies. All in all, it is generally forgotten and most everyone likes to pretend it doesn’t exist because of how poorly it performed when it came out compared to the amount of money Disney sank into it (at a $44 million it cost more than $40 million budget of The Little Mermaid [1989]). But, notably, The Black Cauldron (1985) also contains one of Disney’s most terrifying villains. The Horned King. 

Now, if you’ve never seen the movie or read the book, the Horned King intended to use the titular black cauldron to unleash an undead, immortal army and intends to become “A god between mortal men” (quote from the disney wiki page for the man himself). Interestingly, considering he’s wanting to amass an undead army, the Horned King is quite skeletal himself. Outside of that, there is very little known about this character. He is very mysterious, very evil, and is implied to have magical powers though he hardly ever uses them. An additional point of interest for the sake of this theory is the fact that the castle of the Horned King is in horrible shape. Sort of ramshackle if you will.

The film version of this villain is very different from the book version. The book version is not the primary antagonist, rather he is the antagonist's champion warrior until death. With that said though, he is still quite ominous. No one knows his name and his title comes from the horned mask he wears. In the book he doesn’t seem quite human and is rather bestial. Another potentially interesting point is that, in the film, his goons are identical to Maleficent's and he is connected to dragons.

Now, for this theory, the Horned King may or may not come into play, but the black cauldron itself is important. In both the book and the movie, the only way to destroy the black cauldron (and it is evil and needs to be destroyed so that the undead/immortal army can’t be made) is for a willing sacrifice to go into it and die. While in the movie, the sacrifice is saved this is not the case in the book.

Now, the whole undead immortal army thing makes me wonder about the overblot monsters. We know from Ignihyde that the blot monsters can exist after the death of their host which makes them a sort of undead immortal monster. They also seem to be wholly obsessed with magic, and the magic mirror of NRC is suggested to be incredibly unique and very magical. So, if the green thingie under the mirror is the cauldron, it might be possible that the overblots are happening to form an undead/immortal army that will obey whoever holds that mirror simply because they themselves want the magical power of the mirror. In such a case, the only way to stop such an army would be to destroy the cauldron (i.e. give it a willing sacrifice). The only question is, who?

In the Disney film, the willing sacrifice (who was brought back to life because it is a kid’s move, albeit a sort of creepy one) was Gurgi. He sacrificed himself so that the protagonist (Taran) wouldn’t sacrifice himself to save his friends. Gurgi was, simply put, an ever hungry, greedy about food, cowardly, and cheerful but annoying sidekick to the lead. It’s never really explained what, exactly, Gurgi is but h had blue eyes and was small and fluffy. Here’s a picture:

Now, we have to consider Grim here. Small animal companion, constantly hungry and greedy for food, fairly cheerful but with a penchant for being annoying, has blue eyes, and we don’t really know what he is. If the theory that each character in Twisted Wonderland has two inspirations (one heroic and one villainous) is true, then Gurgi may very well be part of Grim’s inspiration. And if that’s the case he would be a likely candidate for the willing sacrifice. If that is the case, the situation would probably have something to do with stopping the Prefect from sacrificing themselves (or something).  

In the book version of things the sacrifice is the jerkish, second prince Ellidyr. He is not revived and he sacrifices himself as a way of making atonement. Character-wise, he is the edgy character for the book, though notably he is also a more complicated character for the series. He is also incredibly strong for unexplained reasons, has a deeply hidden sense of honor, and if he sets himself a goal he will see it through. And, as a final character note, he is the foil to the protagonist of the tale.

Now, Ellidyr’s character can match up with several different individuals in Twisted  Wonderland, making it hard to say who any other potential willing sacrifice candidates might be. It could be Leona, a rather jerkish second prince, but he would need a specific reason. It could also be a tie-in to whoever’s hand the player took at the start of the game. However, there is one final option who is present simply due to the virtue of their placement in the story. The Prefect.

While everyone else has shades of villainy, the Prefect is implied to be the most upstanding person at NRC, though they may manipulate others if they feel forced (Octavinelle Chapter and forcing Leona’s hand into helping). As such, their position as outsider in a world with no identifiable way home and resident nice person does unfortunately put them squarely on the chopping block as a sacrifice. Especially since it is implied that they are becoming friends with the various characters at NRC.

There is also the idea of: does someone even want to create any army of overblot monsters? And, to be honest, I really don't even want to consider the implications of such a thing or go into to trying to figuring the who and why of that question, plus this post is already pretty long.

In the end, this is just a wild theory that I thought was rather intriguing since I personally think it would be very amusing if Twisted Wonderland made use of Disney’s black sheep movie in such a pivotal way for the plot. With that said, I highly doubt such a thing will come to pass, though I would find it incredibly amusing.

[highqueenofprydain]

A few questions: Are you planning on doing the High King from Eilonwy's perspective (The High Queen?) Are you planning on doing a book about Eilonwy's education in Diplomacy and Statecraft(tm) on Mona that occurred off screen while Taran was off Wandering(tm)?

(apologies if this is presumptuous, I just really love your work)

oh, please, I’m just dying to be asked!! The High King: absolutely. My goal is to write Eilonwy’s perspective to mirror Taran’s all the way to series end, and that book in particular has SO much I want to tackle and plenty of space to do it.

For the Mona years, I am currently stuck, trying to figure out whether to write them as an entire extra book or try to work in what she experienced there into The High King, as memories and flashbacks.

The purist in me says I really should write the entire book, for the sake of completion. The practical side is frustrated because I have almost no information to work with, beyond certain key events—all we know is that at some point Glew shows up, and at some point Rhuddlum dies. Other than that, by her own testimony, Eilonwy is bored out of her mind and nothing interesting happens. Of course, she must be being at least a bit hyperbolic, but it still doesn’t give me much direction for the sort of plot that will carry an entire novel. I’m quite bad at plotting—how I actually came up with one for my prequel is still a miraculous phenomenon I don’t expect to be repeated.

I’d give my eye teeth to know what Lloyd had initially intended for Eilonwy’s Education! I will always be bitter that he didn’t write that one. But it would feel like an honor to fulfill that myself, if I can just figure out what happens!

[darkcloud-kcalifornia]

Taran’s second temptation to abandon his quest is an interesting one, as it’s King Smoit offering to make the boy his heir. And it’s not something that comes out of nowhere. The offer comes after Taran both saves Smoit’s life and proves he is capable of good judgment, and Smoit himself points out that as he’s a childless widower he needs an heir. And given how one of the things Taran is hoping for is noble lineage so he can ask Eilonwy to marry him, this would indeed solve that problem in a way the witches’ advice of “just make up whatever” wouldn’t, as he would have real, acknowledged status as royalty. But he turns it down, for now at least, offer’s still on the table for later, as he fears he would always be haunted both by the lack of knowledge of where he came from and the knowledge that he gave up on it, and by extension himself, so soon.

[princess-ibri]

What would be your design for Arawn Death-Lord, and is there an Achren in your version of the Prydain mythos in the Disneyverse?

Ah, well I’d probably go off these concept art drawings for Aran from the Disney Wiki

And I do have an Achren design here!

[fflewddur-feanorion]

I haven't read the Chronicles of Prydain in years, but I could never forget this guy! Fflewddur Fflam, everybody!

[crudely-drawn-ben]

"They descended to a broad, sun-swept meadow. The morning had turned bright and warm; dew still clung to the bending blades of grass. At the ehad of the travellers strode Fflewddur, stepping out briskly on his long, spindly, shanks. The harp jogged on his back; his shabby cloak was rolled over his shoulder. Eilonwy, hair dishevelled by the breeze, the great black sword slung behind her, followed next, with Gurgi immediately after. [...]

Holding Melyngar's bridle, Taran marched last in line. Except for the weapons lashed to the saddle, these travellers might have been on a spring ramble. Eilonwy chattered gaily; now and then Fflewddur burst into a snatch of song. Taran alone was uneasy." - The Book Of Three, Chapter 11, "Flight Through the Hills."

My "drawing from the Book Of Three" project continues - I needed to take a few weeks out to learn to draw horses because Melyngar shows up in most of the scenes I thought I might draw.

Melyngar is described as a white horse with a golden mane and tail, which is genetically implausible unless you consider "white" to encompass the cream of a bright palomino, which is what I've done here. Looking at this now, I could probably have cropped it in somewhat and there are a few other adjustments I might make, but also sometimes it's better to move onto the next thing than to keep playing with the last.

[exordium-graphx]

Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander (a lovely request from @minutia-r ) (there is a full quote wallpaper and a partial quote)

[disneysnowprincess]

Some beautiful licensed art by Dave Perillo

[verecunda]

All this old Welsh stuff made me decide that I was long overdue a reread of the Prydain books. Already charged through most of The Book of Three today, and it was the perfect choice to cosy up with on this most freezing cold of days. Joy. 🥰

[lady-on-the-grey]

Design explorations for Princess Eilonwy from the Prydain Chronicles. I really love Eilonwy, she was definitely my favorite from the books. She’s such a little shit. I was initially gonna try to go for a more distinctly Welsh look for her clothing, but I wasn’t finding many good reference images, so I sort of just went for a faux medieval European look. I’m normally more into using lots of references for historical clothing design, but it’s fantasy Wales, not real Wales. So who really cares. My Achren design was far from historical as it is

[serpenttailedangel]

I still think the absolute funniest thing that could happen to Disney right now is if they decided to do a live action Black Cauldron and it flopped so hard that they stopped doing live action.

Not that I want that to happen. I’m fine with all the Disney failures in the world after all the ways they’ve tried to get out of paying creators, but Chronicles of Prydain deserves a good adaptation. I almost wonder if Disney is still sitting on the rights just to ensure that no one else gets it right and, in so doing, shows off how incompetent Disney was with their last attempt.