Brenin Llwyd
{{Short description|Welsh mythological figure}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2023}}
Brenin Llwyd ({{langx|en|Grey King}}, also known by the sobriquet, The Monarch of the Mist), is a legendary figure in Welsh mythology. Recorded in mountainous locations throughout the country, the figure is always silent, semi-corporeal, is cloaked in mist or a grey cloak and preys on unwary travellers, especially children.{{cite book |last1=Eberhart |first1=George M. |title=Mysterious Creatures A Guide to Cryptozoology |date=2002 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=1576077640 |page=68}}
Description and locations
File:North View from Cader Idris (JE01).jpg
Although Brenin Llwyd is a solitary, individual figure and is not part of any other mythological groups or species, consistent accounts of the Brenin Llwyd are found across Wales, with only minimal variations.{{cite book |last1=Bane |first1=Theresa |title=Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology |date=2013 |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers |isbn=978-1476612423 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nSuXAAAAQBAJ&dq=%22brenin+llwyd%22&pg=PA65}} An archetypal description of the figure and its localities was given by the folklorist Marie Trevelyan in 1909:
"Stories about the Brenin Llwyd, the Grey King or Monarch of the Mist, were told in the most mountainous districts. In the North, he was described as being very mighty and powerful. He was represented as sitting among the mountains, robed in grey clouds and mist, and woe to anybody who was caught in his clutches! Snowdon and the ranges of it, Cadair Idris, Plinlimmon, and other lofty places, were his favourite haunts. In the south, he was regarded as 'hungering' for victims, and children were warned not to venture too high up the mountains, lest the Brenin Llwyd should seize them."{{cite book |last1=Trevelyan |first1=Marie |title=Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales |date=1909}}
In the same text, Trevelyan records another encounter in a different locality much further south. This figure is also named Brenin Llwyd and the description closely matches that of the figure in the north:
"An old woman said that many a time she shuddered when they ascended to the mineral wells on the Smaelog, and was glad to come down, because the people and children warned everybody not to linger late, for the Brenin Llwyd would be after them. She was further told that there was no trusting him, for sometimes on the brightest summer evening he would come suddenly and draw them into his clutches."{{cite book |last1=Trevelyan |first1=Marie |title=Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales |date=1909 |page=69}}
Trevelyan gives a third account of the figure in Carmarthenshire which has certain embellishments not recorded at other locations. This version is notable for associations with the court of a king, which she names as the "Court of the Mist" and hunting hounds named as "the Dogs of the Sky". These aspects suggest a connection in the area between the Brenin Llwyd and the Welsh version of the Celtic Otherworld, Annwn and the Cŵn Annwn.{{cite book |last1=Trevelyan |first1=Marie |title=Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales |date=1909 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cybaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22brenin+llwyd%22}}
Comparisons with other legends
While Brenin Llwyd is a singular entity, the tales of the Brenin Llwyd have been compared with other features of Welsh, Celtic and European Mythology.{{cite web|url=https://hdl.handle.net/10107/3151144|title=Hen Draddodiadau - Y Dydd|date=1878-12-27|accessdate=2023-10-02|publisher=William Hughes|hdl=10107/3151144 }} In Wales, the king of the Tylwyth Teg, Gwyn ap Nudd is said to haunt mountain tops and is also associated with the Cŵn Annwn. Similarly, Brenin Llwyd's association with Cadair Idris may be connected with Idris the giant who is said to be king of the mountain. Other comparisons have been made with Herne the Hunter and the pan-European motif of the Wild Hunt.{{cite book |last1=Hartland |first1=E. Sidney |title=Folk Lore and Folk Stories of Wales. |date=1973 |publisher=EP Publishing |location=Wakefield |pages=69, 82}}
One of the most notable modern comparisons is with the {{langnf|gd|Am Fear Liath Mòr|Big Grey Man|paren=left}}), a similarly ghostly figure associated with the mists on Ben Macdui in the Cairngorms mountain range of Scotland.{{cite book |last1=West Budd |first1=Deena |title=The Weiser Field Guide to Cryptozoology Werewolves, Dragons, Skyfish, Lizard Men, and Other Fascinating Creatures Real and Mysterious |date=2010 |publisher=Red Wheel/Weiser |isbn=978-1609250836 |pages=46–48}}{{cite book |last1=Braunbeck |first1=Gary A. |title=Far Dark Fields |date=2009 |publisher=Dorchester |isbn=978-0843961904 |page=286}}
In popular culture
=In literature=
As with other Welsh legends, aspects of the Brenin Llwyd mythos have been linked to the Middle English romance Gawain and the Green Knight. Roger Sherman Loomis has suggested that the character of Bertilak de Hautdesert is an interpretation of Welsh legends such as the Brenin Llwyd.{{cite journal |last1=Loomis |first1=Roger Sherman |title=More Celtic Elements in "Gawain and the Green Knight" |journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |date=April 1943 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=149–184 |publisher=University of Illinois Press}}{{Cite journal|first=Alice|last=Buchanan|title=The Irish Framework of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight|journal=Publications of the Modern Language Association of America|volume=47|issue= 2|date=June 1932|pages=315–338|doi=10.2307/457878|jstor=457878|s2cid=163424643 | issn = 0030-8129 }}
The fourth book in Susan Cooper's fantasy series The Dark is Rising, is named The Grey King after the Brenin Llwyd. The novel won the 1976 Newbery Medal.
=In radio=
In 2016, comedians Mike Bubbins and John Rutledge investigated the Brenin Llwyd as part of The Unexplainers radio show.{{cite web |title=Welsh Bigfoot |url=https://www.babiafi.co.uk/2021/01/welsh-bigfoot.html |website=Babi a Fi |access-date=18 October 2023}}