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{{short description|Otherworld in Welsh mythology}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox fictional location
| name       = Annwn
| image      =
| imagesize  = 250px
| caption    =
| source     = [[Welsh mythology]]
| creator    =
| genre      =
| type       = [[Otherworld]]
| locations  =
| people     = [[Arawn]], [[Gwyn ap Nudd]], [[Hafgan]]
}}
'''Annwn''', '''Annwfn''', or '''Annwfyn''' ({{IPA|cy|ˈanʊn|}}; ''Annwvn'', ''Annwyn'', ''Annwyfn'', ''Annwvyn'', or ''Annwfyn'') is the [[Celtic Otherworld|Otherworld]] in [[Welsh mythology]]. Ruled by [[Arawn]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maniu |first=Alexandru |date=2022 |title=Onirismul cavaleresc |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1025225 |journal=Orizont |language=Romanian |volume=XXXIV |issue=2 |pages=27 |issn=0030-560X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hornsby |first1=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IWDDwAAQBAJ&dq=Annwn+arawn&pg=PA4 |title=Eastern European Perspectives on Celtic Studies |last2=Rosiak |first2=Karolina |date=2019-01-08 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-5275-2449-1 |language=en}}</ref> (or, in [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] literature, by [[Gwyn ap Nudd]]<ref>{{Citation |last=Smyth |first=Matthieu |title=Processions and Masks |date=2022 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81534-9_5 |work=Coping Rituals in Fearful Times: An Unexplored Resource for Healing Trauma |pages=77–90 |editor-last=Gordon-Lennox |editor-first=Jeltje |access-date=2023-09-29 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-81534-9_5 |isbn=978-3-030-81534-9}}</ref>), it was essentially a world of delights and eternal youth where disease was absent and food was ever-abundant.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chandler |first=Kirstie |date=2002 |title=Patriarchy and Power in Medieval Welsh Literature |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40285164 |journal=Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium |volume=22 |pages=80–95 |jstor=40285164 |issn=1545-0155}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kunkel |first1=Robert |last2=Marks |first2=Stephen Powys |date=1998 |title=John Cowper Powys's "Porius": A Partial Glossary of Proper Names |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26106038 |journal=The Powys Journal |volume=8 |pages=163–188 |jstor=26106038 |issn=0962-7057}}</ref>
==Name and etymology==
[[Middle Welsh]] sources suggest that the term was recognised as meaning "very deep" in medieval times.<ref>Sims-Williams 1990</ref> The appearance of a form ''antumnos'' on an ancient [[Gaulish]] [[curse tablet]], which means ''an'' ('other') + ''tumnos'' ('world'), however, suggests that the original term may have been *''ande-dubnos'', a common [[Gallo-Brittonic languages|Gallo-Brittonic]] word that literally meant "underworld".<ref>Lambert 2003</ref> The pronunciation of [[Modern Welsh]] ''Annwn'' is {{IPA|cy|ˈanʊn|}}.
==Whereabouts of Annwn==
In both Welsh and [[Irish mythology|Irish mythologies]], the Otherworld was believed to be located either on an island or underneath the earth. In the [[Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed|First Branch]] of the ''[[Four Branches of the Mabinogi|Mabinogi]]'', it is implied that Annwn is a land within [[Kingdom of Dyfed|Dyfed]], while the context of the [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] poem ''[[Preiddeu Annwfn]]'' suggests an island location. Two other otherworldly feasts that occur in the [[Branwen ferch Llŷr|Second Branch]] of the ''Mabinogi'' are located in [[Harlech]] in northwest Wales and on [[Grassholm|Ynys Gwales]] in southwest [[Pembrokeshire]].
==Locations inside Annwn==
* [[Caer Sidi]] ("Mound Fortress") A fortress containing the "Chair" of [[Taliesin]], and where Gweir was imprisoned.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Preiddeu Annwn |url=https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/t30w.html |access-date=2024-09-11 |website=www.maryjones.us}}</ref>
* Caer Wydyr ("Glass Fortress") A fortress guarded by six thousand men and a sentinel.<ref name=":0" />
* Caer Pedryvan ("Four peaked fortress") A fortress located on the "Isle of the strong door"<ref name=":0" />
* Caer Vedwyd ("Fortress of Drunkenness")<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Preiddeu Annwn: The Spoils of Annwn {{!}} Robbins Library Digital Projects |url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/preiddeu-annwn |access-date=2024-09-11 |website=d.lib.rochester.edu}}</ref>
* Caer Vandwy ("Fortress of God's Peak")<ref name=":1" />
* Caer Rigor ("Fortress of Hardness")<ref name=":1" />
==Appearances in Welsh literature==
Annwn plays a reasonably prominent role in the [[Four Branches of the Mabinogi]], a set of four interlinked mythological tales dating from the early medieval period. In the First Branch of the ''[[Mabinogion|Mabinogi]]'', entitled ''[[Pwyll]], Prince of Dyfed'', the eponymous prince offends Arawn, ruler of Annwn, by [[Baiting (blood sport)|baiting]] his hunting hounds on a stag that [[Cwn Annwn|Arawn's dogs]] had brought down. In recompense he exchanges places with Arawn for a year and defeats Arawn's enemy [[Hafgan]], while Arawn rules in his stead in Dyfed. During this year, Pwyll abstains from sleeping with Arawn's wife, earning himself gratitude and eternal friendship from Arawn. On his return, Pwyll becomes known by the title ''Penn Annwn'', "Head (or Ruler) of Annwn." In the [[Math fab Mathonwy (Branch)|Fourth Branch]], Arawn is mentioned but does not appear; it is revealed that he sent a gift of otherworldly pigs to Pwyll's son and successor, [[Pryderi]], which ultimately leads to war between Dyfed and [[Kingdom of Gwynedd|Gwynedd]].
[[File:E. Wallcousins - The Cauldron of Inspiration.jpg|thumb|Image by [[Ernest Wallcousins]], 1912. "In Caer Pedryvan, four its revolutions; In the first word from the cauldron when spoken, From the breath of nine maidens it was gently warmed".
]]
The similarly mythological epic poem ''[[Cad Goddeu]]'' describes a battle between Gwynedd and the forces of Annwn, led again by Arawn. It is revealed that [[Amaethon]], nephew to [[Math fab Mathonwy|Math]], king of Gwynedd, stole a [[dog|bitch]], a [[lapwing]] and a [[Roe deer|roebuck]] from the Otherworld, leading to a war between the two peoples. The denizens of Annwn are depicted as bizarre and hellish creatures; these include a "wide-mawed" beast with a hundred heads and bearing a host beneath the root of its tongue and another under its neck, a hundred-clawed black-groined toad, and a "mottled ridged serpent, with a thousand souls, by their sins, tortured in the holds of its flesh".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.celtnet.org.uk/texts/llyfr_taliesin/cad_goddeu_eng.html |title=Battle of the Trees (Cad Goddeu) |access-date=20 March 2011 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302085244/http://www.celtnet.org.uk/texts/llyfr_taliesin/cad_goddeu_eng.html |archive-date=2 March 2011  }} Cad Goddeu</ref> [[Gwydion]], the Venedotian [[hero]] and [[Magic (illusion)|magician]] successfully defeats Arawn's army, first by enchanting the trees to rise up and fight and then by guessing the name of the enemy hero [[Brân the Blessed|Bran]], thus winning the battle.
''[[Preiddeu Annwfn]]'', an early medieval poem found in the [[Book of Taliesin]], describes a voyage led by [[King Arthur]] to the numerous otherworldy kingdoms within Annwn, either to rescue the prisoner Gweir or to retrieve the [[cauldron]] of the Head of Annwn. The narrator of the poem is possibly intended to be [[Taliesin]] himself. One line can be interpreted as implying that he received his gift of poetry or speech from a magic [[cauldron]], as Taliesin does in other texts, and Taliesin's name is connected to a similar story in another work.<ref name=Higley13>Higley, note to [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/CAMELOT/annwn.htm ''Preiddeu Annwn'', Stanza II, line 13.]</ref> The speaker relates how he journeyed with [[King Arthur|Arthur]] and three boatloads of men into Annwfn, but only seven returned. Annwfn is apparently referred to by several names, including "Mound Fortress," "Four-Peaked Fortress," and "Glass Fortress", though it is possible the poet intended these to be distinct places. Within the Mound Fort's walls Gweir, one of the "Three Exalted Prisoners of Britain" known from the [[Welsh Triads]],<ref>Triad 52. [[Rachel Bromwich]] associates the Gwair of this triad with the Gweir of ''Preiddeu'', see ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein'' pp. 146–147 and 373–374.</ref> is imprisoned in chains. The narrator then describes the cauldron of the Chief of Annwn: it is finished with pearl and will not boil a coward's food. Whatever tragedy ultimately killed all but seven of them is not clearly explained. The poem continues with an excoriation of "little men" and monks, who lack various forms of knowledge possessed by the poet.
Over time, the role of king of Annwn was transferred to [[Gwyn ap Nudd]], a hunter and [[psychopomp]], who may have been the Welsh personification of winter.<ref>''The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth''. [[Robert Graves]]. Octagon Books. 1978. {{ISBN|0-374-93239-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-374-93239-8}}</ref> The Christian ''Vita Collen'' tells of Saint [[Collen]] vanquishing Gwyn and his otherworldly court from [[Glastonbury Tor]] with the use of [[holy water]].  In ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'', an early Welsh Arthurian tale, it is said that God gave Gwyn ap Nudd control over the [[demon]]s lest "this world be destroyed." Tradition revolves around Gwyn leading his [[Wild Hunt|spectral hunts]], the [[Cŵn Annwn]] ("Hounds of Annwn"), on his hunt for mortal souls. Angelika Rüdiger's Doctoral Thesis, 'Y Tylwyth Teg: an analysis of a literary motif' (Bangor University, 2021) is a detailed study of supernatural characters connected with Annwn (including Gwyn ap Nudd), covering a period from the earliest sources to the 19th and 20th centuries.<ref>{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|2665129964}} |last1=Rudiger |first1=Angelika |year=2022 |title=Y Tylwyth Teg. an Analysis of a Literary Motif }}</ref>
==Annwn in modern culture==
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2019}}
[[J. R. R. Tolkien]] used the word ''annún'' in his [[Middle-earth]] [[Tolkien's legendarium|mythology]] as a term in the Elvish language [[Sindarin]] (phonologically inspired by [[Welsh language|Welsh]]) meaning "west" or "sunset" (cognate with the [[Quenya]] ''Andúnë''), often referring figuratively to the "True West", i.e. the blessed land of Aman beyond the Sea, the Lonely Island [[Tol Eressëa]], or (in the later mannish usage) to the drowned island of [[Númenor]]. This is an example of Tolkien's method of world-building by "explaining the true meaning" of various real-world words by assigning them an alternative "Elvish" etymology. The Sindarin word for 'king', ''aran'' is also similar to {{lang|cy|Arawn}}, the king of {{lang|cy|Annwn}}.
The Anglo-Welsh author, poet, critic and playwright, David Jones Annwn (born 1953) adopted the name Annwn in 1975 in the same spirit that his great-uncle, the Welsh bard {{Interlanguage link|Henry Lloyd (ap Hefin)|cy}}, had adopted the name Ap Hefin ("Son of the Summer Solstice").{{Citation needed|date=November 2016}}
Annwn is the name of a [[Music in Germany|German]] medieval and pagan folk duo from [[North Rhine-Westphalia]].<ref>[[:de:Annwn (Band)]] at de.Wikipedia</ref> The name was also previously used by an unrelated Celtic Rock trio in [[Berkeley, California]], from 1991 until the death of lead singer Leigh Ann Hussey on 16 May 2006.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.motogrrl.org/Bands/annwn/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=24 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502151924/http://www.motogrrl.org/Bands/annwn/ |archive-date=2 May 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Annwn is one of the deep realms of Faerie in ''October Daye'', a 2012 urban fantasy series written by [[Seanan McGuire]].<ref>McGuire, S. (2012). Ashes of Honor. United States: DAW.</ref>
British author [[Niel Bushnell]]'s novels ''Sorrowline'' and ''Timesmith'' feature an island called Annwn in the realm of Otherworld.<ref>[[Niel Bushnell|Bushnell, N.]] 2013. ''Sorrowline'', Andersen Press, {{ISBN|9781849395236}}</ref>
Children's author [[Lloyd Alexander]] used the name "Annuvin", an Anglicized spelling of the variant ''Annwfyn'', in his ''[[Chronicles of Prydain]]'' series. Annuvin is the domain of Arawn, who in these novels plays the role of a villainous [[dark lord]].
On the British rock band The Mechanisms' 2014 album ''High Noon Over Camelot'', a [[space Western]] retelling of the Arthurian mythos, "Annwn" is the name given to the lower levels of the space station Fort Galfridian. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Bandcamp|url=https://themechanisms.bandcamp.com/album/high-noon-over-camelot |access-date=2023-09-01 |website=www.bandcamp.com}}</ref>
One of the areas in the platform-adventure video game ''[[La-Mulana|La-Mulana 2]]'' is named Annwfn.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Thielenhaus|first=Kevin|date=4 August 2018|title=La-Mulana 2 Walkthrough: Annwfn & Annwfn Guardian {{!}} Part 3|url=https://gameranx.com/features/id/157906/article/la-mulana-2-walkthrough-annwfn-annwfn-guardian-part-3/|access-date=21 July 2021|website=Gameranx|language=en-US}}</ref>
''Annwn: The Otherworld'' is a surreal stealth/strategy game drawing on Welsh mythic motifs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Quantum Soup |url=http://www.quantum-soup.com/annwn.html |access-date=2022-09-17 |website=www.quantum-soup.com}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Avalon]]
*[[Caer Sidi]]
*[[Tír na nÓg]]
==Notes==
{{More footnotes needed|date=August 2022}}
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==Sources==
*Lambert, Pierre-Yves. (2003). ''La langue gauloise: description linguistique, commentaire d’inscriptions choisies.'' Paris: Errance. 2nd ed.
*Sims-Williams, Patrick. (1990). "Some Celtic otherworld terms". ''Celtic Language, Celtic Culture: a Festschrift for Eric P. Hamp'', ed. Ann T. E. Matonis and Daniel F. Mela, pp.&nbsp;57–84. Van Nuys, Ca.: Ford & Bailie.
*Davies, Sioned. (2007). ''The Mabinogion – a new translation''. (Oxford World's Classics.)
*Mac Cana, Proinsias. (1983). ''Celtic Mythology'' (Library of the World's Myths and Legends). Littlehampton Book Services Ltd.
*Lindahl, C. A. (2000–2002). ''Medieval Folklore''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Inc.
*[[John and Caitlin Matthews|Matthews, John]]. (1996). ''Sources of the Grail''. Edinburgh: Floris Books {{ISBN|0-86315-233-3}}.
*Dixon-Kennedy, Mike. (1996). ''Celtic Myth & Legend''. London: Blandford and Cassel Imprint {{ISBN|0-7137-2571-0}}.
{{Celtic mythology (Welsh)}}
{{The Chronicles of Prydain}}
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[[Category:Locations associated with Arthurian legend]]
[[Category:Locations in Celtic mythology]]
[[Category:Welsh mythology]]
[[Category:Taliesin]]
[[Category:Underworld]]