#blodeuwedd
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Dear Tumblr, I have been desperately wanting to share this news with you since May last year and now I finally can: Gollancz is publishing not one, not two, but THREE of my queer medieval retellings over the next few years! You'll have seen me posting little bits about these books in the past, but I'm so excited to get to share them with you properly.
First up in 2025: The Wolf and His King, a queer retelling of Bisclavret that uses werewolfism as a metaphor to explore chronic pain and illness. It's also very much about gay yearning, fealty, and the mortifying ordeal of being known. Partially in second person and partially in verse, you can see my previous posts about it under the tag the wolf and his king or, for the really early ones, werewolves and gay yearning.
In 2026, I'm bringing you The Animals We Became [working title], which is a queertrans retelling of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, looking at gender, compulsory heterosexuality, and trauma, via nonconsensual shapeshifting. Lotta trans vibes, lotta trauma; I wrote a first draft of this last year because I got carried away writing the sample chapters for my proposal and I'm excited to get deeper into it in edits. Aka t4t shapeshifting and trauma; generally tagged as also owls are transmasculine now.
And finally, in 2027, which is the one I've honestly been most excited to tell you guys about, it's To Run With The Hound [working title]. If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I wrote a book with this title way back in 2018… well, the one I've sold isn't exactly that book, it's a proposal for how I intend to completely rewrite that book from the ground up, but yes, this is it: my Cú Chulainn novel, my queer medieval Irish book, my (hopefully) magnum opus. Haven't written it yet, but the plan is to use a nonlinear narrative to explore why Táin Bó Cúailnge is a tragedy, featuring a great many feelings about Fer Diad, Láeg, and Cú Chulainn himself.
There's a bit more detail and some FAQs on my website right now, but the most important thing is QUEER MEDIEVAL BOOKS WRITTEN BY SOMEBODY WITH MULTIPLE DEGREES IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE. If that sounds like your jam, stick around.
#the wolf and his king#the animals we became#to run with the hound#also owls are transmasculine now#cu chulainn#blodeuwedd#bisclavret#writing#news#books
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mythologies: spring deities
#greek mythology#persephone#eostre#germanic mythology#blodeuwedd#welsh mythology#renpet#egyptian mythology#xipe totec#aztec mythology#flora#roman mythology#idunn#norse mythology#jarylo#slavic mythology#gou mang#chinese mythology#belenus#cetic mythology#mythologyedit#mythedit#gods#goddesses#sorry if i missed any couldn't fit them
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— Blodeuwedd: Welsh Goddess of Seasonal Sovereignty
#aka:#ELAIN ARCHERON#pro elain#pro Elain archeron#blodeuwedd#welsh mythology#Elain haters: wah wah wah you guys want her to be a fighter when she’s a boring gardener#actually you’ve got it all wrong#she isn’t physically strong she’s SPIRITUALLY STRONG#SHE IS BOTH STRONG OF SPIRIT AND A FLOWER MAIDEN
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Happy Valentine's Day! 😘🌹💕💕
#edern ap nudd#aka yder son of nut#the romance of yder#blodeuwedd#arthuriana#gwyn ap nudd#welsh mythology#the mabinogion#art tag#digital art#artists on tumblr#luguain/yder/guenloie polycule 😌💕#alcohol
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Blodeuwedd by Annie Stegg
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#my art#artists on tumblr#eagle#owl#idk how to tag this tbh#it's re: the mabinogi#lleu llaw gyffes#blodeuwedd#messing around with a messier/lineless style
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Proposing creating a Fifth Branch of the Mabinogi where Blodeuedd gets a gun.
#blodeuedd holds it in her little owl talons#blodeuedd#blodeuwedd#Mabinogi 5: Revenge of Blodeuedd#this time: it's personal#the mabinogi#the mabinogion#welsh mythology#celtic mythology
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Some pictures of our lovely Blodeuwedd at the end of yesterday’s festivities! See how beautifully decorated she is with the tokens of everyone’s blessings and wishes? And so many offerings were brought for her! It was a delightful beginning to Spring 💜
#goddess religion#goddess#great mother#pagan#witchcraft#blodeuwedd#druid#druidry#the guild of sacred night#ostara
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A while ago, a friend suggested that I draw Blodeuwedd, the Welsh goddess of flowers, and here she is! Yes, camellias are tropical flowers and probably weren’t found in ancient Wales, but they’re blossoming all over Southern California and I felt very inspired ✨
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Blodeuwedd
// Friedrich Heyser, Ophelia,1900 // Melchior D'Hondecoeter, The Concert of Birds,1670 // René-Antoine Houasse, Apollo pursuing Daphne,1677 // Aert van der Neer, A Landscape with a River at Evening, 1650 // Lawrence Alma Tadema, Spring, 1894 // Nicolas de Vree, A Forest Floor Still Life with Flowering Plants and Butterflies, 1702 // Salvatore Postiglione, Dante a Beatrice, 1906 // Emil Carlsen, Moonlight, 1901 // Anna Lea Merritt, Eve, 1885 //
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what do you think about elain being a shadowsinger?
“Elain stepped out of a shadow behind him, and rammed Truth-Teller to the hilt through the back of the king’s neck as she snarled in his ear, “Don’t you touch my sister.”
Be prepared because you're getting more than you bargained for 🤣
I definitely don't think it means Elain is a shadowsinger. Shadowsingers are rare (so two characters with the exact same power in one small group of people would be overkill) and nothing about Elain's personality fits the shadowsinger imagery, she wants light and Az shadows are scared of the sun. Not to mention it's noted they often vanish around Elain.
I do think the excerpt is hinting at something because we still have no idea how Elain made it all the way from the safety of the camp to Nesta and Cassian.
No one would have winnowed her, if they had, they wouldn't have had her face the king alone.
So where does that leave us?
If Gwydion / the Starsword is based off the Sword in the Stone than King Arthur also had a dagger (TT is the twin to Gwydion)
I think one possibility is that TT itself is somewhat responsible for Azriel being cloaked in shadows to the extent he is.
I'm not fully sold on this because Cormac seems to have shadows around him as Az does and he's not in possession of TT.
My second theory is one I love and I love it so much that at this point I can't tell if it's completely farfetched or plausible (anyone who has followed my blog for awhile is probably groaning right about now because they know what's coming 😂).
Did Elain really come out of the "shadows" and shadows alone or did she creep up behind him under the shadows of the trees?
Nesta again dodged and retreated through the trees. Leading him away—away from Cassian.
Her power sent him flying back, trees snapping under him. One after another after another.
Her power had stopped hurling the king across the forest. He now stalked toward them, brushing off splinters and leaves from his jacket—
The King of Hybern stepped into that clearing, dark power wafting from his fingertips.
But as a black blade broke through the king’s throat, spraying blood, I realized someone else had. Elain stepped out of a shadow behind him, and rammed Truth-Teller to the hilt through the back of the king’s neck
The king stepped out of the forest, right into the clearing (so he wasn't in the middle of the clearing at this point) and Elain came up directly behind him with his back facing those trees.
Same question as above but how did she get to the forest so quickly? Second, how did she even hear that Nesta and Cassian were in trouble right at that moment? We need a solution that explains all those things, how she could move quickly and quietly and how she heard so far.
The reason I initially came up with this theory is because SJM pinned a photo of Blodeuwedd under Elain's name.
Blodeuwedd is the Welsh Goddess of Spring, made out out of flowers to be the most beautiful female anyone had seen and created by the hero's (Lleu aka Lucien) uncle Gwydion in order to give him a wife (finding a way around the curse that had been placed upon him). However, Blodewwedd wasn't happy at being made for someone and she ended up having an affair with Gronw (aka Az), scheming with him to kill her husband. They were caught, her lover was killed, and her punishment was being turned into an owl.
Notice any similarities there?
Elain is "the most beautiful female" Lucien had ever seen, not to mention "Spring had been made for someone like her". She's angry at being given a mating bond and she ended up almost kissing Az on Solstice who doesn't seem all that bothered at the thought of killing Lucien in a duel.
SJM gives fairytales happy endings so of course she's not going to punish Elain for nearly kissing Az, she and Az aren't truly plotting Lucien's death, Az isn't going to be killed by the "hero" Lucien, and Lucien wouldn't have his "bride" betray him in the end.
(side note, I do find it interesting that the sword in Sword in the Stone and the dagger that cloaks it's user in shadows are connected in mythology, the "Starsword" is connected to Az's dagger in ACOTAR and SJM named that sword Gwydion, a name used in the Blodeuwedd fairytale which seems to be connecting to Lucien and Az).
But still, the only thing missing from this fairytale right now is that Elain doesn't shift into an owl.......
Fun facts about owls:
The "stealthy hunting hypothesis" holds that owls fly inaudibly so that prey CAN'T HEAR THEM coming"
Owls are known as SILENT predators of the night, capable of flying just inches from their prey WITHOUT BEING DETECTED.
All owls possess extremely sensitive hearing, allowing them to hear low-volume sounds that are relatively far away. But beyond that, many owls also have the uncanny ability to hone in on the exact location of a sound source.
An owls night vision is anywhere from 35 - 100 better than a humans. Not only that but they can see great in the daytime too. However, there is a drawback. Because they're far-sighted, they can't see objects up close. Finally owls have three eyelids.
So we know owls can see far away and really well at night. They have extremely sensitive hearing, they are silent predators meaning their prey can't hear them coming (aka the king?), and of course we all know a lot of owls fly under the cover of night and shadows though some are active during the day and some are active at dusk and dawn.
Mercifully, Elain QUIETLY approached me at breakfast.
Elain was again at my side. I HADN'T HEARD HER steps.
Elain PERCHED SILENTLY on the couch nearby.
Elain spoke from the doorway, having appeared so SILENTLY that they all twisted toward her, “Using me.”
“You came,” Elain said behind her, and Nesta started, NOT HAVING HEARD HER sister approach. She scanned Elain from head to toe, wondering if she’d been taking lessons in STEALTH either from Azriel or the two half-wraiths she called friends.
she shook her head, blinking twice.
but Elain peered up at Cassian, blinking twice.
Elain blinked and blinked,
Elain cocked her head
“Could you have done it? Decided to take a male form?” “Then why did you pick this body?” Elain asked.Elain asked, “And once you were in this body, you couldn’t change?”
“I can hear your heartbeat—if I listen carefully. I can hear her heartbeat, too.”
“I can hear the sea. Even at night.". It was an effort not to glance to Nesta. Even the town house was too far to hear anything from the nearby coast.
“When I sleep,” she murmured, “I can hear your heart beating through the stone.” She angled her head, as if the city view held some answer.
“I can hear her—crying.”
How long have you been working on this?” A one-shouldered shrug. “Since dawn"
But Elain, it seemed was as sleepless as me
Elain had walked in halfway through. She’d been toiling in the estate gardens since dawn
Elain moved fast enough that I could barely keep up.
Also, Silba the goddess of Healing and Gentle Deaths is symbolized by an owl and the color lavender.
Elain not only wears various shades of purple in SF, is bothered by death and cruelty but there might be hints that she was the one to heal Cassian in ACOWAR:
Graysen standing on the edge of camp, calling to her, promising her love and healing. (I wonder if this could be a clue as to Elain's future minus the Graysen part)
The Cauldron purred in Elain’s presence as the King of Hybern slumped to his knees, clawing at the knife jutting through his throat. Elain backed away a step.
Elain rushed to Cassian, but the warrior was panting—smiling grimly and panting—
Nesta was watching them when I reached her and Elain at the tree-lined outskirts. Had she done some healing, somehow, in those moments after she’d severed the king’s head? Or had it been Cassian’s immortal blood and Azriel’s battlefield patching that had already healed him enough to manage to stand, even with the wing and leg? I didn’t ask my sister, and she supplied no answer as she took the water bucket dangling from Elain’s still-bloody hands, and I followed them both through the trees.
And finally, if Elain is meant to restore Spring as High Lady or interim High Lady (depending on what SJM is doing about Tamlin), then a known power of the High Lord of Spring is shape shifting and an owl would fall right in line with that. Not to mention it would give Elain the freedom to travel as she's always wanted to do.
So to sum up your original question, I don't think Elain is a shadowsinger 😂
#elucien#pro elucien#elain archeron#lucien vanserra#pro lucien vanserra#elain x lucien#lucien and elain#high lady elain#pro elain archeron#acotar theory#elain and lucien#blodeuwedd#sarah j mass#acotar elain#elain acotar
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Jennifer Allnutt, All Things Move Toward Their End, 2022, oil on ACM panel, 14 × 18 inches (35 × 45 cm).
#jennifer allnutt#women artists#contemporary art#spring#blodeuwedd#flower face#flowers#magical realism
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An old favourite of mine. Finally starting to get a hang of this gold thing.
I'm running out of space to keep these in my bedroom. Maybe that means it's time to start selling them?
#art#illumination#calligraphy#welsh mythology#mabinogi#mabinogion#blodeuwedd#celtic#celtic mythology
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It just occurred to me that some people maybe haven't seen this cool tv ad from Visit Wales, which aired in 2017.
Transcript:
Deep in the soul of epic, a million legends lie,
Awake and reimagined by people passing by.
Arthur, Glyndŵr, Llywelyn, heroes of wild Wales.
Epic legends living in storytellers' tales.
Branwen and Blodeuwedd, Merlin's magic might,
Llyn y Fan's great beauty, Rhiannon's birds in flight.
You become the legend and teller of the tales,
When you find your epic deep in the soul of Wales.
#medieval literature#welsh mythology#the mabinogion#arthuriana#rhiannon#blodeuwedd#folklore#luke evans#it's so cool isn't it!!!
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Blodeuwedd, Butterfly Dream by Helena Nelson-Reed
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I think Blodeuwedd – from The Mabinogi – could kill Macbeth. She was made out of flowers by the magicians Math and Gwydion to be Lleu Llaw Gyffes’ wife. Since she was made out of oak, broom and meadowsweet, I think technically, she could also be counted as the woods moving.
It’s possible that Lleu Llaw Gyffes could also kill Macbeth. His mother was asked to take a virginity test so she stepped over a magic rod. Lleu Llaw Gyffes instantly fell out of her as a blob-like entity that only turned human shaped after being locked in a wooden chest for a while.
Yes, Blodeuwedd from Welsh Mythology could kill Macbeth!
As stated above, she is the goddess of flowers who was crafted out of three kinds of plants by two male magicians, Math and Gwydion, meaning she applies for all three Clauses!
Thank you for your submission!
#asks#unconventional birth clause#gender clause#birth parent clause#blodeuwedd#welsh mythology#celtic mythology#mythology#artistic nudity
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