Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. Today’s post is a bit of an expansion of the idea of having a King who is literally tied to the Land, which I analyzed in my review of The Folk of the Air Trilogy. I wanted to go deeper and analyze how this is inspired by Faerylore and Celtic myths and legends. The King having a deep bond with the land is a very common thing to see in Sovereignty myths, where the King literally married a Sovereignty Goddess, or her representative in order to marry the land herself!
Now, in The Queen of Nothing, the final book in The Folk of the Air Trilogy, we learn that now only is the High King of Elfhame literally tied to the land, as was explicitly shown that Cardan was tied to the land in The Wicked King, but he can also pass this connection. He passed this connection on to Jude when they got married. She has the opportunity to test this ability when she is nearly killed by Madoc and has to use the Earth around her to heal herself! I found this whole idea of a High King of Elfhame being tied to the health of the land to be very recognizable as a motif. However, the romance of his being able to pass the ability on to his wife is so heartwarming!
In Celtic folklore, we see countless examples of Kings marrying the land. We also see accounts of the land dying and becoming a wasteland when the King is stuck down! Now, some of the most famous examples are passed down into Arthurian legends. For instance, Arthur’s marriage to Guinevere cemented his Kingship, and his right to rule the land of Camelot. When he began to focus more on his Knights and began to prefer listening to the exploits of his Knights when they came home from Questing than paying attention to his wife, he lost the love of Guinevere and therefore the love of the land herself! This is what truly led to the downfall of Camelot more than the betrayal of Guinevere when she fell in love with and bedded a Knight. You see, Guinevere is the Sovereignty Goddess whose love and marriage truly chose Arthur as the rightful King, and when he lost that admiration he lost his right to rule! Another Arthurian account of the King’s tie to the land was the story of the Fisher King. The Fisher King is also known as the Grail King, and he is the Wounded King who is the Grandfather of Percival and his Wounded nature led to the land he ruled becoming a Wasteland!
Another Welsh Celtic reference to the Queen representing the land incarnate is of course my beloved Blodeuwedd. She is a Goddess of Seasonal Sovereignty whose marriage to Lleu Llaw Gyffes cemented his right to rule his land, allowing him to fully embody his own Divinity. When he lost her love and reverence because he was so often away from his court and she was incredibly lonely and feeling abandoned, she fell in love with the neighboring Lord Gronw Pebyr. This led Blodeuwedd and Gronw to plot the death of Lleu and even attempt to kill him and take over his lands for a time. While Gronw ended up dead and Blodeuwedd punished by becoming an Owl, she is also empowered in her transformation from Flower to Owl, fully capable of embracing her Sovereignty and innate connection to the land! I find that Blodeuwedd and Guinevere’s stories are intimately linked as Queens of the Land granting Sovereignty to their respective Kings.
I hope you have enjoyed this short post about the King’s innate tie to the Land as granted by a Sovereignty Goddess through marriage. What is your favorite story of Sovereignty Goddesses marrying Kings? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Reading
- The Wicked King by Holly Black
- The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black
- Once and Future Queen by Nicole Evelina
- Blodeuwedd: Welsh Goddess of Seasonal Sovereignty by Jhenah Telyndru
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