Gwythaints

Gwythaints are fictional characters in Lloyd Alexander's fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain. They are a race of ferocious eagles under the command of Arawn Death-Lord, the primary villain of the series.

Description and origins

The birds are actually larger than the largest eagle, with blood red eyes, curving beaks, and talons as sharp as daggers. Black birds of prey, Arawn captured them long ago and tortured them into his service; they serve out of terror. He keeps them in iron cages in his stronghold of Annuvin. Reminiscent in spirit to the Flying Monkeys of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz, the Gwythaints are the eyes and ears of Arawn, spying and bringing information. They are not above attacking, however, and do so on several occasions.

Medwyn, a Noah-like character, explains, "Once, long ago, they were as free as other birds, gentle and trusting. In his cunning, Arawn lured them to him and brought them under his power. He built the iron cages which are now their prison house in Annuvin."^[1]

The Fledgling Gwythaint

Taran, the protagonist of the series, takes Medwyn's word to heart, and when he finds an injured fledgling gwythaint, he builds it a small cage and nurses it back to health. The other companions want to kill it, but Taran refuses. Though it also seems to warm to Taran and also Princess Eilonwy, it escapes, and the companions fear that it will reveal their plans. Instead, it repays Taran's kindness by informing Prince Gwydion (who has the power of speech of animals) of their location, and helps them to resolve the novel's plot.

The Fledgling Gwythaint reappears in the fifth novel of the series, The High King. In a climactic scene, Taran is dangling precariously from a ledge on Mount Dragon when a gwythaint seems to attack. Amazingly, it is the same Fledgling Gwythaint, who instead rescues him and lifts him to the top of the mountain. He then attacks the encroaching Cauldron-born, and is tragically struck down after its noble actions. In addition, the Fledgling Gwythaint placed Taran exactly where the stolen sword Drynwyn had been hidden, again helping resolve the novel's main narrative. Taran's early kindness was repaid many times over.

Alexander's mother recalled he frequently brought home injured animals as a child; this perhaps was reflected in the story of the Fledgling Gwythaint.

Fate of the Gwythaints

Unlike the Fledgling Gwythaint, the other gwythaints are ruthless to the people and animals of Prydain. Besides the sense of oppression they developed, they attacked numerous characters in the series. They inform Arawn of the companions' plans in The Black Cauldron. In The High King, they attack and injure Kaw, the crow, as he spies on Annuvin, and they nearly kill the sorceress Achren, and she is only saved by an "army of crows" so great in number to drive away the eagle-sized gwythaints.

When Arawn is killed and his power destroyed, the gwythaints also die. Sadly, they do not return to their unspoiled state.

In the film The Black Cauldron

In the film, which is a loose adaptation of the entire series, the gwythaints are drawn to resemble wyvern.

Sources

• Tunnell, Michael O., The Prydain Companion, Holt, 1989. ISBN 0-8050-7271-3