The Marshes of Morva is a region in the fictional country of Prydain in Lloyd Alexander's fantasy series, The Chronicles of Prydain. It is most notable for being the home of the three Fates-like enchantresses, Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch.
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The Marshes, themselves are similar to marshes encountered today, although Alexander imbibes them with a menacing and foreboding air. They are a vast "dreadful, smelly, ugly-looking fens."[1] Great ropes of fog rise from the ground. Thorny furze and meager clumps of trees dot the edges of the marsh. The sky seems permanently gray and cloudy. There are many pools of stagnant water, grasses, reeds, and bogs. A strong stench of decay fills the air. The Marshes are bursting with life, with marsh birds, ducks, frogs, mice, and insects whose wings cause a "ceaseless thrumming and groaning" in the air. As the companions travel through the marshes, they also see bodies of drowned travelers stuck in the bogs.
The Marshes are located in the extreme southwest corner of Prydain. Alexander found the name "Morva" in the Welsh literary piece, the Mabinogion, although there it is a field. He thought the sound and alliteration were particularly appealing.[2]
A significant portion of the second novel of the series, The Black Cauldron, occurs in the Marshes of Morva. They are first mentioned by the talking crow, Kaw, who is hinting to Taran and the companions the location of The Black Crochan, the object of their quest. After many days of travel, the companions find the Marshes, but are then attacked by the Huntsmen of Annuvin. The Companions jump from bog to bog to escape them, while the Huntsmen are sucked into the mire and drown.
However, greater dangers await them as them meet the mysterious sorceresseses Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch, who live in the Marshes. Their cottage is made of peat, with neglected chicken coops and rusted farm implements scattered among the tall grasses. The Marsh both teams with life and reeks of decay; an appropriate setting for the three witches who seem to be a form of the Fates who control life and death.
Eventually, the companions make a trade for the enchanted cauldron in the Sister's possession and the leave the swamp. Upon exiting, their journey is even more difficult, and they are gladdened to depart the Marshes.
Taran returns to the Marshes in the fourth novel of the series, Taran Wanderer. While seeking information about his lineage, he finds the region still uninviting and "bleak, ugly, untouched by spring".[3] While Taran does not spend much time in the Marshes, it is here that Orddu sends him on his quest to find the Mirror of Llunet. He thinks back to this meeting many times in the remainder of the novel.
While the sorcerer Dallben makes an off-stage voyage to the Marshes in the fifth novel The High King, the titular short story of The Foundling and Other Tales from Prydain is set in the Marshes of Morva. It is explained how Dallben, Moses-like, is found in a basket in the rushes by the Orrdu, Orwen and Orgoch. They raise him as their own child until he tastes a potion of wisdom and must be expelled from their care. (A possible reference to Adam and the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden). Little is made of the ominous nature of the Marshes in this story.
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