Gwyllion or gwyllon (plural noun from the singular Gwyll or (Yr) Wyll "twilight, gloaming") is a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
word with a wide range of possible meanings including "ghosts, spirits" and "night-wanderers (human or supernatural) up to no good, outlaws of the wild." ''Gwyllion'' is only one of a number of words with these or similar meanings in Welsh. It is a comparatively recent word coined inadvertently in the seventeenth century by the Welsh lexicographer
Dr John Davies of
Mallwyd
Mallwyd () is a small village at the most southern end of Gwynedd, Wales in the Dinas Mawddwy community, in the valley of the River Dyfi. It lies on the A470 approximately halfway between Dolgellau and Machynlleth, and forms the junction of t ...
.
Folklore
According to folklorist
Wirt Sikes
William Wirt Sikes (November 23, 1836 – August 18, 1883) was an American journalist and writer, perhaps best known today for his writings on Welsh folklore and customs.
Early life
William Wirt Sikes was born in Watertown, New York, the son of W ...
the gwyllion are female
fairies
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...
of frightful aspect who haunt lonely roads in the
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
mountains and lead travellers astray. They are gloomy spirits more akin to
hag
HAG is a Swiss maker of model trains. The company was founded by Hugo and Alwin Gahler on 1 April 1944 in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
The Gahler brothers originally manufactured model trains in O scale but due to competition, particularly by Märk ...
s or
witches
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...
, as distinct from the Welsh ellyllon (
elves
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
) that are more benevolent. Those who encountered them either by night or on a misty day would be sure to lose their way even if they were perfectly familiar with the road. One gwyll in particular was known as the Old Woman of the Mountain who haunted Llanhyddel Mountain in
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...
, and the popular tradition in that district was that she was the
ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
of a woman who had been regarded in life as a witch. She is known to utter strange cries and shouts throughout her mountain in order to frighten wayfarers.
[Sikes, Wirt (1880). ''British Goblins: Welsh Folklore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions''. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington. pp. 49-55.]
The Old Woman has also been encountered on
Black Mountain in
Breconshire
, image_flag=
, HQ= Brecon
, Government= Brecknockshire County Council (1889-1974)
, Origin= Brycheiniog
, Status=
, Start= 1535
, End= ...
. One man reported meeting her there and at the same time found that he had lost his way. Thinking she was human he called out for her to stay but receiving no answer he thought she was deaf. He tried to overtake her but she led him further astray, always out of reach, until he found himself in a marsh. When she uttered a cackling laugh he suspected she might be a gwyll so he drew his knife, whereupon the Old Woman vanished. His suspicions were confirmed for it was well known that Welsh ghosts and fairies were afraid of knives and could be banished by them.
[
This ]exorcism
Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...
by knife, according to Sikes, is a particularly Welsh tradition. The gwyllion often came into the houses of the people at the parish of Aberystruth
Aberystruth was an ancient ecclesiastical parish in Wales, located beside the north-west corner of the county of Monmouthshire against the border with Breconshire and between the parishes of Bedwellty and Trevethin. It extended from Beaufort i ...
, especially in stormy weather. She was always made welcome, not out of any sense of friendship but out of fear of what she might do to them if she were offended. She was provided with clean water and care was taken that no knife or any other cutting tool should be in the corner near the fire where the fairies liked to sit. While it was desirable to exorcise them when in the open air it was not prudent to display an inhospitable attitude towards any member of the fairy realm.[
Another traveller encountered the gwyllion at night on Bedwellty Mountain. There were several such spirits dancing fantastically around him. He also heard the sounds of a bugle-horn and what seemed like invisible hunters riding by. Although he was afraid he drew his knife and the fairies vanished. Sikes speculates that if these ideas are traced back to their source then they may have some connection with the sword ]Excalibur
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...
and the role it plays in the primeval world.[ The folklorist Katharine Briggs suggested that it may have to do with the traditional fairy vulnerability to ]cold iron
Iron has a long and varied tradition in the mythology and folklore of the world.
While iron is now the name of a chemical element, the traditional meaning of the word "iron" is what is now called wrought iron. In East Asia, cast iron was also ...
.[Briggs, Katharine (1976). ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies''. Pantheon Books. p. 212. .]
In popular culture
* The Gwyllion is featured as the main antagonist in the 2013 CGI animated film '' Barbie: Mariposa and the Fairy Princess''. She appears as a vengeful old woman with light grey hair who attacked the crystal fairies.
* In ''The Lord of the Rings Online
''The Lord of the Rings Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows and OS X set in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, taking place during the time period of ''The Lord of the Rings''. Originally d ...
'' video game the culture of Dunland, sparsely described by J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
, is heavily based on the Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology (Welsh: ''Mytholeg Cymru'') consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of the predominantly oral societies Cel ...
. Gwyllion, also called "the Old Woman of the Mountain", appears in Dunland as a secondary antagonist who is in alliance with Saruman the White
Saruman, also called Saruman the White, is a fictional character of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is leader of the Wizard (Middle-earth), Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Vala (M ...
.
See also
* Gwylliaid Cochion Mawddwy, the so-called "Red Bandits of Mawddwy"
*Tylwyth Teg
(Middle Welsh for "Fair Family"; ) is the most usual term in Wales for the mythological creatures corresponding to the fairy folk of English and Continental folklore and the Irish . Other names for them include ("Blessing of the Mothers"), and ...
, the Welsh fairy folk
*Will-o'-the-wisp
In folklore, a will-o'-the-wisp, will-o'-wisp or ''ignis fatuus'' (, plural ''ignes fatui''), is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes. The phenomenon is known in English folk belief, ...
, another being that leads travellers astray
References
Further reading
*Jones, Edmund (1813). ''A Relation of Apparitions of Spirits in the County of Monmouth and the Principality of Wales''. .
{{Fairies
17th-century neologisms
Welsh legendary creatures
Female legendary creatures
Welsh folklore
Fairies