Welcome to day six of Legendary Love Week at White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings. Today’s post is about Blodeuwedd and Gronw Pebyr! Now, Blodeuwedd’s relationship with Gronw famously began as an affair, as Blodeuwedd was called forth from the Otherworld into physical form, literally made of flowers, to be the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes.
Blodeuwedd was happy for a short amount of time in her marriage, as she knew nothing else. However, it was not long before Blodeuwedd grew tired of Lleu’s constant travel, abandoning her to try and expand his lands. While this was logical for Lleu as a ruler, it was not a good choice for his marriage, as it is what would lose him the love and blessings from the Faery Queen Goddess of Sovereignty!
It was at this point in the tale that Blodeuwedd met Gronw when Lleu was yet again away on business, leaving Blodeuwedd to manage their lands. Gronw was hunting with his party when he ended up finding himself on Blodeuwedd’s lands, and given that Blodeuwedd was ever the hospitable host, she invited Gronw and his men to dine with her and her ladies, giving a feast for them at her Court.
This Feast was when Blodeuwedd and Gronw grew to love one another, being infused with both lust and love. So, that night they slept together for the first time. Blodeuwedd also invited Gronw into her bed the next night, and the third night as well. It was on the morning after their third night together that Blodeuwedd and Gronw began to plot how they could remain together forever. This included that Blodeuwedd would find out how her husband Lleu could be killed so that they could rule his lands together.
When Gronw left and Lleu returned, Blodeuwedd feigned deep concern for her husband’s well-being, fearful that he would die. Lleu was touched and revealed that he could only die under very specific circumstances, making him very hard to kill! Blodeuwedd gave Gronw the information he needed to craft the only weapon capable of killing Lleu. It took Gronw a full year to work on this spear (as it had to be worked on for a year on Sundays). Then Gronw came back to Lleu and Blodeuwedd’s lands, to a pre-determined area where Blodeuwedd had set up a bath in a way that would fulfill the circumstances that could bring about Lleu’s death.
Gronw used the spear and hit Lleu, who turned into a wounded Eagle and flew away. I want to briefly mention that the Eagle was always aligned with Lleu in this tale, and the Stag was aligned with Gronw, given the story’s significance with the Seasonal Sovereignty motif, hence why I referred to Gronw as the Stag Lord in the title. If you want to read a bit more about Seasonal Sovereignty, I will link a post I wrote about the concept of Seasonal Sovereignty and Sacrificial Kingship.
Now, back to the story after my little side tangent. For a time, Blodeuwedd and Gronw lived in true love and happiness, ruling over the lands together. However, this happiness did not last, as the magician Gwydion, who was the Uncle of Lleu and the one to create Blodeuwedd to be his bride, had found the dying Lleu. Gwydion was able to heal Lleu, and they took revenge on the lovers.
Gronw was killed by Lleu in revenge and Gwydion (and his own Uncle Math, who had helped in the creation of Blodeuwedd) turned her into an Owl. In some versions, Blodeuwedd chose the Owl form to have ultimate Sovereignty after the loss of her true love. But, either way, Blodeuwedd did gain her Sovereignty in her Owl nature, as her talons could protect her from being taken advantage of ever again!
I hope you have enjoyed this overview of the love story between Blodeuwedd and Gronw. What is your favorite part of their story? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a lovely illustration of Blodeuwedd and Gronw. I found the art on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blodeuwedd_and_Gronw.jpeg.
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries
Further Reading
- The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies
- Blodeuwedd: Welsh Goddess of Seasonal Sovereignty by Jhenah Telyndru
- https://whiteroseofavalon.life/2023/11/22/the-welsh-celtic-concept-of-sacrificial-kingship/