Some things about him are the same as Hades, Pluto, and the Christian Satan, but he is also unique. The dead were helped by Arawn to go to Annwn, the old Otherworld, where they can rest in peace. Arawn, a male Celtic god, is thought to have ruled over the Welsh underground. His name may have come from the Hebrew name Aaron, which means “High.” He is also related to the Celtic god Ariubianes.
From the beginning, he was king of the magical land of Annwn, which he ruled with his beautiful queen. But as stories changed over time, he turned into a psychopomp and a bad Lord of the underworld. This change may have been caused by the fact that Christianity became very popular after it took over the Celtic realm. A lot of heathen gods were “demonized” by Christians to make Christianity look better.
Arawn was a skilled hunter, magician, and shape-shifter, even though he looked broken. He could change into any shape he liked. His wife had no idea what was going on, even though he had been pretending to be someone else for a whole year. Arawn was a hunter who often went on daily shooting trips with his dogs. With their red eyes and white ears, these dogs became Arawn’s symbol. As Christianity spread across the British Isles, those dogs started to look more and more like hellhounds. They would look for bad people who were going to “Hell.”
Arawn loves fall because it is the best time to hunt in the Northern Hemisphere. At one point, you could hear the barking of hunting dogs as they went after their owners’ prey. Swans honked as they moved to warmer places to get ready for winter. The Celtic year ended on Halloween in October. People have long thought that the night of Halloween is when the dead come back to life to cause trouble. Given that Arawn is linked to the future, this makes sense.
The Otherworld of Wales Annwn was a beautiful place, just like the Otherworlds that people from other countries wrote about. In the next life, everyone will be happy and at peace. But Arawn was the Lord or King, and neither death nor the future were the main ideas. Annwn used to be thought of as a Welsh island. Like in Greek and Roman myths, it might have been a hidden kingdom. The island of Avalon from the Arthurian tale was only a story; this one was real and beautiful. Lord Arawn and his wife, the unknown queen, made a paradise where people could rest and enjoy life. People thought he was a fair and just leader until he made them follow new rules and beliefs.
His queen may or may not have been the only family member Arawn had. We don’t know anything about them. Along with him, she ruled in silence. The story says that she really loved him, even though her king was being mean to her. Arawn shows up for the first time in the first story in this book. The story is about Arawn and how he could change how he looked. A man named Pwyll was hunting one day. The king of Dyfed was looking for a stag with his hunting dogs.
Before the Hunter could get to the stag, strange hunting dogs with white ears and red eyes attacked it and tore it apart. At that very moment, Pwyll was shocked when a mysterious rider showed up and said his name was Arawn. He lied to Pwyll and said he had come to Annwn to steal the king’s stag. Pwyll would have to pay for his dishonesty. Even though Pwyll was scared, Arawn’s words made him feel better. The Pwyll was asked to switch bodies with him for a year as a way to make things right. As a reaction, Pwyll agreed to fight Hafgan, who was his sworn enemy. Hafgan, another one of Annwn’s kings, fought Arawn’s attempts to remove him from power for a long time.
The guys were now in their new bodies after the switch was made. It was a whole year that Pwyll pretended to be Arawn. He went shooting during the day and ate with the queen at night. Besides that, Pwyll wouldn’t sleep with Arawn’s Queen, even though she thought he was her husband. Arawn took over as Lord of Dyfed after Pwyll died, but the two never slept together. It’s still not clear why Arawn thought this was the best way for Pwyll to make up for entering the king’s realm. He chose to take a break from his job as Lord of the Otherworld for some reason and see what life was like as a normal person. There have been stories like this before.
Before the end of the year, they changed back to their old forms when they were together again. Pwyll wrote down everything he did that year. Even though the Queens of the Otherworld tried to seduce him, he defeated Hafgan and kept his promise to stay single. I’m glad to hear that, Arawn. He also said that he had been good in Pwyll’s wife’s bed.
After meeting, the Lord of the Otherworld and Pwyll stayed close friends. We know this to be true because Arawn shows up again in the fourth branch of the Mabinogion. He gave Pryderi, Pwyll’s son, a gift while he was in this area. He made Pryderi promise to look out for the pigs from the Otherworld. He wouldn’t give them up until he got something in return. After a while, though, a con artist named Gwydion fab Don stole them. When he told Pryderi he was an artist, he got him to give him the pigs as payment. After some thought, Pryderi agreed to Gwydion’s offer of a trade in exchange for the pigs. But Gwydion took them without giving anything in return. To get back at Gwydion, Pryderi fired the people who lived in Gwynedd. It’s too bad that Gwydion killed him in that fight.
