Editing Arianrhod

{{Short description|Figure in Welsh mythology}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2025}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox deity
| type         = Welsh
| name         = Arianrhod
| deity_of     = The sky and the stars
| member_of    = ''Three Beautiful Maidens of Britain''<ref name="IoMG" />
| cult_center  = Wales
| planet       = [[Moon]]
| symbol       = Silver wheel
| consort      = [[Math fab Mathonwy]] by proxy
| parents      = [[Dôn]] and [[Beli Mawr]]<ref name="IoMG" />
| siblings     = [[Penarddun]], [[Amaethon]], [[Gilfaethwy]], [[Gofannon]], [[Gwydion]], and [[Lludd Llaw Eraint|Nudd]]<ref name="IoMG" />
| offspring    = [[Dylan ail Don]] and [[Lleu Llaw Gyffes]]<ref name="IoMG" />
| gender       = Female
}}
'''Arianrhod''' ({{IPA|cy|arˈjanr̥ɔd}}) is a figure in [[Welsh mythology]] who plays her most important role in the [[Four Branches of the Mabinogi|Fourth Branch]] of the ''[[Mabinogion|Mabinogi]]''. She is the daughter of [[Dôn]]<ref name="IoMG">{{cite book |last=d'Este |first=Sorita |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Isles_of_the_Many_Gods/4GhrBAAACAAJ?hl=cy |title=The Isles of the Many Gods: An A-Z of the Pagan Gods & Goddesses of Ancient Britain worshipped during the First Millennium through to the Middle Ages |last2=Rankine |first2=David |date=2007 |publisher=Avalonia |pages=66-67 |language=English}}</ref> and the sister of [[Gwydion]] and [[Gilfaethwy]]; the [[Welsh Triads]] give her father as [[Beli Mawr]].<ref name="Bromwich">Triad 35. Bromwich, ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein'', pp. 284–285.</ref> In the ''Mabinogi'' her uncle [[Math ap Mathonwy]] is the King of [[Kingdom of Gwynedd|Gwynedd]], and during the course of the story she gives birth to two sons, [[Dylan ail Don]] and [[Lleu Llaw Gyffes]], through magical means.

==Mabinogion==
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2025}}
According to the Fourth Branch (circa 12th century), Arianrhod's uncle [[Math fab Mathonwy]] would die if he didn't keep his feet in the lap of a virgin when he was not at war. Gilfaethwy develops a lust for Math's original footholder, pretty Goewin, and he and his brother [[Gwydion]] engineer a war with King Pryderi of Kingdom of Dyfed, forcing Math to leave his court. In Math's absence, Gilfaethwy rapes Goewin. When Math returns, he punishes his nephews severely by turning them into a series of mated pairs of animals and marries Goewin to alleviate her shame. However, he must find a new virgin to hold his feet.

Gwydion suggests his sister, Arianrhod. To test her virginity, Math tells her to step over his magician's rod. On doing this, however, she immediately gives birth to a young boy, [[Dylan ail Don]], and a blob-like entity which becomes [[Lleu Llaw Gyffes]]. Dylan is a sea spirit, who flees to the ocean immediately after he is [[baptism|baptized]]. Gwydion grabs Lleu Llaw Gyffes before anyone else sees it and places it in a chest. Before long, it becomes a boy who grows at twice the normal rate; when he is four, he is as big as an eight-year-old. Gwydion takes him to see his mother at her home, [[Caer]] Arianrhod.

However, Arianrhod was angry about her humiliation at Math's court. She places a ''[[tynged]]'' (a ''[[geis]]'' or taboo) on the boy that he will never have a name unless she gives it to him. Gwydion disguises the boy as a [[shoemaker]] and returns to Caer Arianrhod; while Arianrhod is being fitted, she sees the boy killing a wren with a single stone and remarks that the fair-haired one ("lleu") has a skillful hand ("llaw gyffes"). Gwydion reveals the disguise, and says she has just given her son a name – Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Arianrhod then places a second ''tynged'' on Lleu, that he would never take arms unless she armed him. A few years later, Gwydion and Lleu return to Caer Arianrhod, this time disguised as [[bard]]s. Gwydion is an accomplished storyteller and entertains her court. That night, while everyone sleeps, he conjures a fleet of warships. Arianrhod gives her guests weapons and armor to help her fight, thereby dispelling her second curse. When Gwydion reveals the trickery, Arianrhod places a final ''tynged'' on Lleu: he would never have a wife from any race that is on this earth now. Gwydion and Math eventually break this curse by creating a woman out of [[oak]] blossom, [[Broom (shrub)|broom]], and [[Filipendula ulmaria|meadowsweet]]; she is named [[Blodeuwedd]] ("flower face"). 

With her curses, Arianrhod denied Lleu the three aspects of masculinity: a name, arms, and a wife.{{citationneeded|date=June 2012}}

==In other sources==
One of the Welsh Triads, 35 by [[Rachel Bromwich]]'s numbering, establishes a different family connection for Arianrhod. Her father is named as [[Beli Mawr]], and her brother is [[Cassivellaunus|Caswallawn]] (the historical Cassivellaunus). She has two sons by Lliaws son of Nwyfre, Gwenwynwyn and Gwanar, who both accompany Caswallawn in his pursuit of [[Julius Caesar]] after he has been chased from Britain. This triad is the only source connecting Arianrhod to Beli Mawr and the Caswallawn saga, but it is not incompatible with the tradition recorded in the ''Mabinogion''.<ref name="Bromwich"/> 

The stories of Welsh mythology changed over time, and the ''Mabinogion'' does not contain the only version of them. Welsh scholar [[William John Gruffydd]] noted that 15th- and 16th-century poets apparently knew an alternate tradition in which Arianrhod actually became Math's footholder.<ref name="Bromwich"/> Additionally, some scholars have suggested that in an earlier form of the Fourth Branch, Gwydion was the father of Arianrhod's sons.<ref name="MacKillop">MacKillop, ''Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology'', p. 24.</ref>

Arianrhod's palace, Caer Arianrhod, is connected with a rock formation visible westward of [[Llandwrog]], North-West Wales at low tide.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=13.505477242945712&lat=53.06805&lon=-4.35801&layers=1&right=ESRIWorld|title=Side by side georeferenced maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland}}</ref><ref name="Bromwich"/> This formation is one of several landmarks that attest to the localization of the events in the Fourth Branch in this area. The name "Caer Arianrhod" is also used in Welsh for the constellation [[Corona Borealis]].<ref name="MacKillop"/> [[Robert Graves]] cites the riddling claim of [[Taliesin]] to have spent three periods in the prison/castle of Arianrhod,<ref>R Graves, ''The White Goddess'' (Manchester 1999) p. 77 and p. 86</ref> who Graves considers as "one more aspect of Caridwen, or [[Ceridwen]], the White Goddess...the Muse-goddess".<ref>R Graves, ''The White Goddess'' (Manchester 1999) p. 94 and p. 492</ref>

==Etymology==
The name "Arianrhod" (from the Welsh ''arian'', "silver," and ''rhod'', "wheel") may be cognate with [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] *''Arganto-rotā'', meaning "silver wheel."<ref name="CAWCS">[http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/PCl-MoE.pdf Proto-Celtic—English lexicon] and [http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/MoE-PCl.pdf English—Proto-Celtic lexicon]. [[University of Wales]] Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. (See also [http://www.wales.ac.uk/newpages/EXTERNAL/E4504.asp this page] for background and disclaimers.) Cf. also the [http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic University of Leiden database] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211181501/http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic |date=February 11, 2006 }}.</ref> Alternatively, the earliest form of the name may have been ''Aranrot'', in which case the first part of the name would be related to "Aran," a word with uncertain meaning, "but 'huge', 'round' or 'humped' would all be possible interpretations."<ref name="Bromwich"/>

==In popular culture==
*The term 'Arianrhod' is used in two different fantasy TV series during 2012. On both occasions it is a term connected to mind control.
**In the fourth series of ''[[Young Dracula]]'', the mind-controlling Rings of Arianrhod are used by Ramanga ([[Robbie Gee]]) as part of a plan to kill Vlad Dracula ([[Gerran Howell]]) on his wedding day, though the scheme is thwarted by Bertrand De Fortunessa (Cesari Taurasi). Adze Ramanga (Nathasha Stokes) uses the Rings to control Erin Noble ([[Sydney Rae White]]) and force her to stand on the roof of Garside Grange School, before striking her with a fireball, causing her to fall. The blast embeds fragments of the Ring in Erin's chest, and they remain there after Vlad turns her into a vampire. The other Ring is used by [[Count Dracula]] ([[Keith-Lee Castle]]) and Malik Vaccaria ([[Richard Southgate (actor)|Richard Southgate]]) to track Ramanga down.
**In the fifth series of ''[[Merlin (2008 TV series)|Merlin]]'', [[Merlin]] ([[Colin Morgan]]) uses the Pool of Arianrhod to undo the brainwashing of [[Guinevere|Guinevere Pendragon]] ([[Angel Coulby]]) by [[Morgan le Fay|Morgana Pendragon]] ([[Katie McGrath]]).
* In [[Fire Emblem: Three Houses]], Arianrhod is the name of a city in the Kingdom of Faerghus. The city is destroyed as an act of vengeance for killing an important leader from Those Who Slither in the Dark.
* In [[The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure]] and [[The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III]], one of the major antagonists is named Arianrhod.
* In [[The Wheel of Time]], the dream-world [[Tel'aran'rhiod|Tel'Aran'Rhiod]] was named after Arianrhod.
* In [[The Merlin Conspiracy]] by [[Diana Wynne Jones]], one of the two main protagonists is named Arianrhod.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Bromwich, Rachel (2006). ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain''. University Of Wales Press. {{ISBN|0-7083-1386-8}}.
*Ford, Patrick K. (1977). ''The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales''. University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-520-03414-7}}.
*Gantz, Jeffrey (translator) (1987). ''The Mabinogion''. New York: Penguin. {{ISBN|0-14-044322-3}}.
*Ellis, Peter Berresford (1994). ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''. (Oxford Paperback Reference) Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-508961-8}}
*MacKillop, James (1998). ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-280120-1}}.
*Wood, Juliette (2002). ''The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art''. Thorsons Publishers. {{ISBN|0-00-764059-5}}.

{{Celtic mythology (Welsh)}}

[[Category:Welsh mythology]]
[[Category:Welsh feminine given names]]
[[Category:Feminine given names]]
[[Category:Stellar goddesses]]
[[Category:Welsh goddesses]]