Red Dragon Song – Welsh Mythology
Red Dragon Song – Welsh Mythology
A real treat today. The Queen of Welsh Mythology – Author of Red Dragon Song is here to chat all things Welsh Mythology and dragons…..
Red Dragon Song location map
Penllergare Valley Woods, Swansea
Red Dragon Song opens with the main character, Arianwen, leaving her home for the very first time. Up to that point, she has spent her entire life in Hengoed – a small settlement hidden between the shaded oaks of deep Welsh woodland.
Red Dragon Song location map
Penllergare Valley Woods
My inspiration for Hengoed sits almost on my doorstep. Penllergare Valley Woods was the Victorian estate of John Dillwyn Llewelyn – a renowned horticulturist and pioneering photographer who, together with his daughter Thereza, took some of the earliest images of the moon. The area is now maintained by a trust, and includes miles of peaceful woodland walks, two lakes, and a beautiful waterfall. I have walked between the trees there for the better part of twenty years, latterly with my dogs and my children, and it has never failed to stoke my imagination.
Red Dragon Song location map
Bannau Brycheiniog National Park
No sooner has Arianwen left Hengoed than she finds herself in the company of a terrifying red dragon and her unpredictable dealer, Edern. Together, they must travel from the south of the country to the north, though both is keeping secrets about why. On foot, horseback, and dragon wing, they pass through a fictionalised version of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.
Red Dragon Song location map
Located roughly in the centre of the park’s 519 square miles, Bannau Brycheiniog’s six main peaks – Corn Du, Pen y Fan, Cribyn, Fan y Bîg, Bwlch y Ddwyallt, and Waun Rydd – form a long ridge, and the opportunities for keen walkers and hikers are endless here.
Red Dragon Song location map
Watch out, though, for soldiers from many a century in these hills, as not only do the British Armed Forces use the park as their training ground, it is also said to be location where The Slumbering Knights of Craig y Ddinas – or King Arthur and his Knights – who, under Merlin’s spell, lay sleeping in a hidden cave, await the arrival of Britain’s darkest hour, upon which they will awaken and ride to the country’s rescue.
Red Dragon Song location map
Pembroke Castle
A number of castles feature in Red Dragon Song and, luckily for me, Wales isn’t short of a few to visit. Though we cannot rival France, Germany, or even Scotland for the highest total number of castles, Wales does boast the greatest density of castles of any country in the world – the legacy, no doubt, of the Roman Conquest, the Norman Conquest, and the Edwardian Conquest. Wales’ borders have been invaded many times, and it is the threat of invasion in Red Dragon Song that led the ancient Cambrians to make the unfortunate deal with the gods that Arianwen and Edern must now battle against.
Red Dragon Song location map
I continue to visit as many Welsh Castles as my children will explore, but one of my favourites is Pembroke Castle, which has many intact areas to discover. It is home to Wogan Cavern – a cave used by early hunter-gatherers during the last ice age, where mammoth bones, reindeer bones, and stone tools have been discovered, and which you can access via a spiral staircase from within the castle. It was also at Pembroke Castle that thirteen-year-old Margaret Beaufort gave birth to Henry VII – the first Tudor monarch – and founded a dynasty.
Eryri
As Arianwen and Edern unite in their efforts to subdue the soul-stealing wraiths that plague Cambria, they must venture to the Eirias Mountains – a fictionalised version of Eryri, or Snowdonia.
Red Dragon Song location map
Snowdonia is home to Wales’ highest mountain, Yr Wyddfa, or Snowdon – which I once climbed half-way up in a snowstorm, but that’s a story for another day. Snowdonia’s landscape is impossibly rich not just with breathtaking views, but with story and history. The heavy impact of the slate industry is apparent here, for instance. Snowdonia is the location of many of the Mabinogi stories, including those of Ceridwen and Blodeuwedd – look them up, I urge you. Yr Wyddfa’s summit is also purported to be the burial place of Rhita Gawr, a medieval Welsh king who was defeated by King Arthur.
The story attached to this area of Wales which moves me the most, however, is that of Gelert the dog. Gelert belonged to Llywelyn the Great, a prince and warrior who went out hunting one day and left his baby son in Gelert’s care. When a wolf began prowling around the baby’s cot, Gelert leapt to his defence and fought fiercely with the wolf, which he managed eventually to kill. On returning home, Llywelyn discovered Gelert, covered in blood, besides the overturned cot and immediately killed the loyal dog. Only then did he hear the baby crying and, righting the cot, find the boy safe inside and, nearby, the slain wolf. It is said that the prince never smiled again.
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Twitter: @Rebecca_Writer
