I don't think I ever caught the first mention of Belin - who Fflewddur swears by constantly - before (he's King of the Sun and consort of the Lady Don).
I always wondered if the Sons of Don were supposed to be immortal (or as good as), like Dallben and Arawn and Achren. (They are immortal in the Summer Country, but it's not clear if they are in Prydain.) Gwydion is referred to as "Son of Don," which implies that he was one of those who first came over from the Summer Country, since they aren't all referred to that way: there's Math son of Mathonwy, and Fflewddur Fflam son of Godo, and, um, that's all the Sons of Don I think are ever named.
If Gwydion is not actually a son of the Lady Don, and therefore extremely old, then of course it is possible one of his parents was also named Don. Or, he could be illegitimate. Alexander never goes into that sort of detail.
Speaking of not going in detail, I don't think I ever noticed just how brief is Gwydion's description of his... enlightenment, or whatever you may call it, in the dungeon of Oeth-Anoeth. And he doesn't seem that much different than before, despite now understanding the speech of all animals, the secrets of life and death, etc.
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Date: 2010-03-10 03:04 am (UTC)I don't think I ever caught the first mention of Belin - who Fflewddur swears by constantly - before (he's King of the Sun and consort of the Lady Don).
I always wondered if the Sons of Don were supposed to be immortal (or as good as), like Dallben and Arawn and Achren. (They are immortal in the Summer Country, but it's not clear if they are in Prydain.) Gwydion is referred to as "Son of Don," which implies that he was one of those who first came over from the Summer Country, since they aren't all referred to that way: there's Math son of Mathonwy, and Fflewddur Fflam son of Godo, and, um, that's all the Sons of Don I think are ever named.
If Gwydion is not actually a son of the Lady Don, and therefore extremely old, then of course it is possible one of his parents was also named Don. Or, he could be illegitimate. Alexander never goes into that sort of detail.
Speaking of not going in detail, I don't think I ever noticed just how brief is Gwydion's description of his... enlightenment, or whatever you may call it, in the dungeon of Oeth-Anoeth. And he doesn't seem that much different than before, despite now understanding the speech of all animals, the secrets of life and death, etc.