Golden Pelydryn

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The Golden Pelydryn is a fictional magical object in Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain fantasy series. It is owned by the young enchantress Princess Eilonwy and is used by her to light her way through darkness. It resembles a sphere of pure gold and is referred to as her "bauble." It also reveals things which ordinary lights cannot.

[edit] Appearances:

We first discover the Golden Pelydryn in The Book of the Three, when Taran is being held prisonor by the evil queen Achren in her fortress, Spiral Castle. When Eilonwy is playing on the battlements of the castle, she drops the bauble through a crack in the ceiling and it falls into Taran's cell. She breaks into the dungeon and uses the magic of the Pelydryn to light up the room. She never parts with it and it accompanies her through the entire series from then on.

The Golden Pelydryn plays a minor role in The Black Cauldron other than Eilonwy willing to barter it with the Three Sisters in exchange for the cauldron. They turn her offer down. It is in The Castle of Llyr that we find out how powerful the bauble really is. It is an ancient heirloom of the Royal House of Llyr and was the source of all the magical power that the Princesses of Llyr possessed.Before Eilonwy,the last owner of the Pelydryn was her mother the Princess Angharad,the sole heiress to the throne of Llyr.But when Angharad fled the royal household to marry the commoner Geraint she loved against her family's orders, she took the Pelyndryn with her and passed it down to her beloved daughter Eilonwy.When her parents were murdered,Eilonwy was taken to the fortress of Achren who tried to convince the girl that she was her aunt though Eilonwy did not believe her.Eilonwy studied magic under Achren but also received harshness and neglect.Achren dreamed of gaining the power of the Pelyndryn but knew it would lose all its magical power if taken against its owners will.When the castle fell and Achren fled,Eilonwy went to live with Taran and took the Pelydryn with her.But on her visit to the Isle of Mona she was kidnapped by Achren and placed into a trance when Achren tried to steal the Pelydryn from her. The Pelydryn acted on its own power and destroyed Achren's magical powers and released Eilonwy from her grip.It fell into the sea and was thought to be lost,but a magical crow returned it to the Princess.