Table of Contents
Of Various Mythologies
I think the first most noticeable aspect of The Wild Huntress is its use of mythology. More specifically, its use of Welsh mythology. I am endlessly fascinated by the various mythologies fantasy authors choose to borrow from to build their worlds and stories and this one piqued my interest because Welsh mythology is not one that I see usually in fantasy novels.
I’ll talk about some of the myths that were borrowed from in this book below.
Tylwyth Teg
This is a young adult fantasy novel with fae in it. That in itself is not remarkable, a lot of fantasy novels borrow from the vast mythologies of fae beings for their tales.
However, usually fantasy novels tend to gravitate towards the Irish version of the fae myths. Specifically the Aos SÃ and the sÃdhe. This book borrows instead from the Welsh variation of the fae mythos, also known as the Tylwyth Teg.
I’ll quote here from A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology and the definition for y tylwyth teg.
[W, the fair folk].
The most usual Welsh name for fairies. They are often known by the euphemism bendith y mamau [W, mother’s blessings] to avert kidnapping, especially in Glamorgan. Although most stories about y tylwyth teg are recorded from oral tradition, references to them appear in writing as early as Giraldus Cambrensis (c.1146–1223). They are described as fair-haired and as loving golden hair, and thus they covet mortal children with blond or fair hair. Their usual king is Gwyn ap Nudd. In general y tylwyth teg are portrayed as benevolent but still capable of occasional mischief. Some of their later stories even profess improved behaviour and good morals, such as promising rewards of silver to young women who keep tidy houses. In distinction from other Celtic fairies, they are more often associated with lakes, especially at Llyn y Fan Fach in south Wales. Another distinction is their fear of iron; unbaptized children should be guarded from y tylwyth teg by having a poker placed over the cradle. But like other fairies they are thought to possess magical cattle, the most famous of which is the Speckled Cow of Hiraethog. In one of the most commonly told stories of y tylwyth teg, a mortal young man seeks to marry a beautiful young daughter of the fairy host. She agrees, but only on the condition that he does not touch her with iron nor strike her with three unnecessary blows. Gwlad y Tylwyth Teg is a Welsh name for fairyland.
The link with such lakes as Llyn y Fan Fach has implied to some commentators that the conception y tylwyth teg is derived from dark-skinned, short, early inhabitants of Britain who lived in crannogs, primitive lake dwellings; this coincides with one of the four general theories explaining the origin of fairies. Smaller than y tylwyth teg are the ellyll, who may have been adapted from the non-Welsh elves. Other names for y tylwyth teg include: dynon bach teg, gwarwyn a throt, jili ffrwtan, sili ffrit, sili-go-dwt, trwtyn tratyn.
tylwyth teg, y in A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology
From this definition alone we can glean certain similarities between the Irish and Welsh myths – namely the weakness to iron which is talked about in this book. Iron is harmful to the Tylwyth Teg and suppresses their magic. In fact in this book iron suppresses all magic, not just of the fae but also magic done by human diviners.
There are other similarities that I noticed as well – the inability to tell lies, immortality or semi-immortality, a willingness to make deals and the need to stick by them and of course the use of magic.
The Wild Hunt
The big key event in this book is The Wild Hunt and this is fascinating to me as it ties into one of my favourite video games of all time The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The mythological concept of the Wild Hunt is not specific to Irish or Welsh mythologies and is present in multiple European mythologies.
The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif occurring across various northern, western and eastern European societies, appearing in the religions of the Germans, Celts, and Slavs (motif E501 per Thompson).[1] Wild Hunts typically involve a chase led by a mythological figure escorted by a ghostly or supernatural group of hunters engaged in pursuit.[2] The leader of the hunt is often a named figure associated with Odin in Germanic legends,[3][4] but may variously be a historical or legendary figure like Theodoric the Great, the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag, the dragon slayer Sigurd, the Welsh psychopomp Gwyn ap Nudd, biblical figures such as Herod, Cain, Gabriel, or the Devil, or an unidentified lost soul. The hunters are generally the souls of the dead or ghostly dogs, sometimes fairies, valkyries, or elves.[5][6][7]
Wild Hunt, Wikipedia
The Three Crones
Another bit of mythology present in The Wild Huntress is The Three Crones or The Three Witches or in the Ladies of the Wood. I have seen variations of this particular myth in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt and in this book.
The Three Witches, also known as the Weird Sisters, Weyward Sisters or Wayward Sisters, are characters in William Shakespeare‘s play Macbeth (c. 1603–1607). The witches eventually lead Macbeth to his demise, and they hold a striking resemblance to the three Fates of classical mythology. Their origin lies in Holinshed’s Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland and Ireland. Other possible sources, apart from Shakespeare, include British folklore, contemporary treatises on witchcraft as King James VI of Scotland‘s Daemonologie, the Witch of Endor from the Bible, the Norns of Norse mythology, and ancient classical myths of the Fates: the Greek Moirai and the Roman Parcae.
Three Witches, Wikipedia
I think the closest analogous myth that this book borrows from when it comes to the The Three Witches is the one about the three Fates of classical mythology. More specifically, they are temporal creates and live outside of linear time like the wormhole aliens in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
I say this because The Three Fates in this book quite literally speak of the fates of our main characters.
Cath Palug
I would be remiss if I did not mention one of my favourite creatures from this book, Branwen’s cat Palug or as they are known in Welsh mythology – Cath Palug.
Cath Palug (also Cath Paluc, Cath Balug, Cath Balwg, literally ‘Palug’s Cat’) was a monstrous cat in Welsh mythology associated with Arthurian legend. Given birth to in Gwynedd by the pig Henwen of Cornwall, the cat was to haunt the Isle of Anglesey until Kay went to the island to hunt it down. Outside of Wales, the cat’s opponent has been transposed to King Arthur himself or, occasionally, other legendary heroes such as Ogier the Dane. Cath Palug’s name in French literature is Chapalu (Old French and variant modern forms: Capalu, Capalus).
Cath Palug, Wikipedia
As the author mentions on their website, the cat lives. I would be quite displeased if something catastrophic happened to this beautiful monstrous cat.
So What About the Book?
The Wild Huntress itself is pretty good. It has well written interesting characters with complicated histories and motivations for their actions.
Characters
The story revolves around three main characters:
- Branwen – the titular Wild Huntress. Possesses a gift no other human has: the ability to see and slay monsters.
- Gwydion – the least impressive member of his magically talented family of diviners.
- Pryderi – prince-born and monster raised.
As the sleeve jacket of the book says – A trickster, a prince and a wild huntress. Which sounds like the start of a joke.
A trickster, a prince, and a wild huntress walk into a Wild Hunt. What follows is the narrative of this book.
I like all of the main characters of The Wild Huntress. Hell this is a book where even the side characters are very very interesting in of themselves. I’d love to read a side story about Arianrhod, Gwydion’s sister or of the two kings in this book or Palug, Branwen’s cat who seems to be a fierce creature that even the king of the Tylwyth Teg is afraid of.
Narrative
The narrative of The Wild Huntress is….fine. I don’t think it is anything to write home about. I did not dislike any particular aspect of the narrative but I wasn’t blown away by any of it either. There is a dash of romance that is typical of YA fantasy but thankfully the author avoided the mistake of putting an entire romance sub-plot that doesn’t get fleshed out all that well.
The narrative leans hard on the Welsh and other adjacent mythologies it borrows from and to its credit, the book does this really well. I didn’t mind that the plot itself wasn’t particularly remarkable. It is a YA fantasy plot executed well.
Conclusions
I enjoyed The Wild Huntress a fair bit. As far as YA fantasy titles go, this is probably the best one I’ve read this year. It has a strong mythological base for its fantasy elements with good character work and a narrative which while not remarkable avoids falling into YA Fantasy narrative tropes I don’t like.
If you are like me in so far that you are fascinated by myths and mythologies *and* you enjoy a fantasy novel, this one is well worth getting into. I’ll definitely be putting the author’s YA fantasy novels in my To-Be-Read pile for later. If I had any further space for physical books I’d buy a physical copy of this book because the cover design is gorgeous. Kudos to whoever the artist for that is.
That is all from me on this one. Tan tro nesaf ffrindiau.
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