highqueenofprydain

[highqueenofprydain]

He broke the seal at their lips to speak raggedly against her mouth. “This is why.”

She had forgotten the question, and mumbled in confusion.

“Why I keep my distance.” Words broke hot against her cheek, her jawline, under her ear; down the curve of her neck. “Because when I am close to you, I cannot think of anything else.”

“And what is so wrong with that?” It was a gasping demand, too urgent to acknowledge the satisfaction of such a confession.

“Eilonwy,” he groaned softly, into the hollow of her throat. “I have a responsibility to my men. It isn’t fair to them.”

“Fair?” She pushed him away a little to glare him in the face. “It wasn’t fair that I was sent away for years and had to fight to come back to you. It wasn’t fair that the moment I got back, the world came all undone. It isn’t fair that I can’t stay with you on what could be our last night alive.” 

Her hands fisted into his cloak, as though she could twist the sense out of him by force. “And you worry so much about being fair to a lot of farmers and crofters, you’ll barely be seen in my company. Shall I always come second to your sense of duty?”

“I...” He looked upset and bewildered, as though somehow it had never occurred to him that she would want anything else. “I didn’t...”

“Next time you decide to be so bloody self-denying,” she plowed on ruthlessly, “you might stop and consider how it’s affecting others. And by others,” she added, “I mean me. Because you’re quite good at thinking of everyone else.”

She sensed him tighten all over, stoked by an invisible spark, like the crackling jolt that sometimes jumped between metal and wool. He took her by the shoulders almost roughly, steered her backwards until she was pinned against her own bed, leaning against its high support, melting into the space between it and his body. “I never stop thinking of you,” he said hoarsely. “Never. It is all I can do, when you are in my sight, to concentrate on the tasks set before me. You cannot know what it is, to be so...”

“Oh, yes, I can,” she interrupted, and pulled him to her mouth again to prove it.

#prydain #fanfiction #fanart #the high king #fixing lloyds lack of romantic tension #because come on #taran #eilonwy

[highqueenofprydain]

Chapters: 20/20 Fandom: Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Eilonwy/Taran of Caer Dallben Characters: Eilonwy (Prydain), Taran of Caer Dallben, Prince Rhun (Prydain), Teleria (Prydain), Gwydion (Prydain), Achren (Prydain), Coll (Prydain), Dallben (Prydain) Additional Tags: Identity Issues, Magic-Users, Coming of Age, Feminist Themes, Spells & Enchantments, Slow Burn, Eventual Romance Summary:

Awakening to powers and passions compelling and confusing, haunted by her past and coveted for her future, she is bound to a land whose magic claims her for its own. The tides of fate may be irresistible…but she is a daughter of the Moon. The Castle of Llyr, retold from Eilonwy’s pov.

#prydain #fanfiction #eilonwy #done! though there might be an epilogue I think

[highqueenofprydain]

The Book of Three

To me, the Horned King was more creature than man. A being that instilled fear in the people. In the first book, Taran as a young boy, freezes in fear in the shadow of the Horned King. "It is not the trappings that make the prince," he said gently, "nor, indeed, the sword that makes the warrior." - Gwydion Mar. 1st. HAPPY NATIONAL PIG DAY!! To: Hen Wen, my favorite oracle pig. I freckled her little back with stars ✨

bsky // twitter

[highqueenofprydain]

Right, don't have anything else going on right now, so why not hop back over to Prydain with The Castle of Llyr. I... remember absolutely nothing about this one. At all.

Anyway, our basic premise seems to be that Dallben doesn’t feel up to teaching princesses how to Princess, and so Eilonwy is being sent to an island castle for fostering, accompanied by Taran, Gurgi, and Prince Rhun, who thus far is a combination of three traits: always cheerful, “no thoughts, head empty”, and a comedic level of clumsiness. So basically, your standard Royal Twit. And Taran is frustrated because he’s finally hit puberty but Can’t Spit It Out, while also seeing Prince Fumbles as a romantic rival. And himself as losing.

…

I hope things go disastrously and fantastically wrong here soon, or this is gonna be a very painful read.

On a side note, while Dallben might not have known what to do about Eilonwy’s etiquette and such, girls in her family are also supposed to learn how to be sorceresses. Did he ever do anything regarding her magical education?

#eilonwy #castle of Llyr #questions like this are why I write fic #the chronicles of prydain #book banter

[highqueenofprydain]

Wow. I dream of a fandom active enough that I can be this picky.

Just start reading a Thing. You will generally know within a couple paragraphs if you want to continue. Who cares what the kudos ratio is?!?!

Another AO3 thing I’m curious about, how do yall decide if something is good enough to read? Usually I follow a rule of 1 kudos for every 10 hits. One because it’s easy math and two it’s yet to fail me. Thoughts? Do you just go for it and pray it’s good?

[highqueenofprydain]

#prydain #eilonwy #lloyd alexander #queen achren #castle of llyr

[highqueenofprydain]

Knowledge, truth, and love being things that develop over time, experience, and often hardship, I suspect the brooch is sort of imbued with the essence of every bard to ever wear it, and it grants him little random aspects of their personalities and collective memory. A maturity he doesn’t possess, and awareness of things he hadn’t yet learned to be attentive toward. Wearing it even for a short time fundamentally changed him, IMO.

But like every magical object in the series, it functions as a cheap shortcut, ultimately not as valuable, to him, as what he achieves by “digging for his own worms” as the Morva ladies put it. Adaon, already in possession of all its attributes, would have worn it casually as a memento of his lady; it added nothing. For Taran, it gave him a glimpse of greater things, that he would have to strive for on his own. Keeping it would have made him, ironically, a lesser man in the end.

I wonder how would one define the power of Adaon’s broach. “Awareness” perhaps? I don’t think it’s giving Taran enhanced senses necessarily, so much as helping him notice and put together the little bits of information around him he would have overlooked or lacked knowledge about before. Of course there’s also the prophetic dreams. So there’s at least some supernatural awareness there as well.

#book banter #the chronicles of prydain #the black cauldron #lloyd alexander

[highqueenofprydain]

The Castle of LLyr

'The Castle of Llyr' is, in a sense, more romantic than the preceding chronicles-- Taran is noticeably aware of his feelings toward Eilonwy....The mood, perhaps, is bittersweet rather than grandly heroic. The nature of fantasy allows happenings which reveal most clearly our own frailties and our won strengths. The inhabitants of Prydain are fantasy figures; I hope they are also very human. --LLoyd Alexander

bsky // twitter

#Prydain art!!!! #castle of llyr #oh my heart #not my art

[highqueenofprydain]

Finally finished both my dolls, so here are some pics of the shrine.

Technically the bauble shouldn’t still light at this point, but it was too fun an effect to give up.

#Prydain #Taran #Eilonwy #lloyd alexander #fandom #my art #art dolls

[highqueenofprydain]

My interpretation: in TBC, Adaon and Ellidyr are held up as alternate prototypes for what Taran could become, depending on his choices. He could stay obsessed with status and honor and let pride and self-interest eat him alive, or he could turn to self-sacrifice for the greater good. Of course we all know what he’s doing to do, so the thread is thin, but without the solid wholesome influence of the good people around him, Taran could have become an Ellidyr easily. Instead he gives up the magic brooch, releases his claim to any honor over finding the cauldron, and almost dies for the sake of the quest, making him well on the way to becoming an Adaon. What he endures and experiences in Taran Wanderer just backs up that notion, though I’m not sure Alexander had planned on it when he was writing Cauldron, given that Wanderer was written last as the “missing” story.

Even Adaon’s physical description is bang on what I imagine adult Taran to look like, though that’s probably due mostly to the Jody Lee covers that hit me in the eye and reeled me in the day I discovered Prydain.

Huh. Here’s one bit that seems oddly familiar from what I can recall about Taran Wanderer:

[Adaon] had worked at the potter’s wheel, cast nets with the fisherfolk, woven cloth at the looms of the cottagers; and, like Taran, labored over the glowing forge.

I don’t recall Taran trying his hand at being a fisherman, but that other stuff… is that book essentially making Taran into another Adaon? Again, it’s been far too long for me to really remember. The only reason I remember anything about Taran Wanderer is because we actually had a copy of that one rather than having to go to the library so I read it more.

[highqueenofprydain]

Accurate

I ship this ship because:

I have eyes

I can see

I am the smartest person in the room

I receive divine revelations about them in the dead of night, alone in my chambers

[highqueenofprydain]

“…but I think they must have forgotten about me by now.”

#prydain #eilonwy #fanfiction #fanart #taran #lloyd alexander #the book of three

[highqueenofprydain]

"Sometimes there's absolutely nothing to do around here..."

#eilonwy #prydain #fanart #fanfiction #lloyd alexander #the book of three

[highqueenofprydain]

Alert to the Gwyd/Achren shippers... ((nd honestly, even if you aren’t, give it a read, because if Zosia can convert me she can convert anyone.)

Chapters: 3/?

Fandom: Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Achren/Gwydion Characters: Achren (Prydain), Gwydion (Prydain) Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe (although I aim to convince you it isn't), Enemies to Lovers (yes it's a trope but I try to go deeper I promise!) Summary:

You know that scene in The Book of Three, that showdown between a desperate, fallen queen and a defiant hero? Well... what if that wasn't their first meeting after all? What if the real story was more tangled, more nuanced, more tragic? Boundaries can be crossed and instinct overridden, but it's impossible to truly leave oneself behind...

#prydain #fanfiction #achren #gwydion #enemies to lovers #and back again

[highqueenofprydain]

Reposting bc for some reason tumblr wouldn’t let me add tags.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Eilonwy/Taran of Caer Dallben Characters: Taran of Caer Dallben, Eilonwy (Prydain) Additional Tags: Romance, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, slightly AU Summary:

A proper lady would have gone with the women and children when so ordered. But she’d never been a proper lady, and he ought to know better than to think she’d start now.

The High King. Slightly AU, total wish-fulfillment mildly erotic vignette: Taran/Eilonwy having a moment the evening before the battle of Caer Dathyl.

#prydain #prydain fanfiction #eilonwy #lloyd alexander #taran

[highqueenofprydain]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Eilonwy/Taran of Caer Dallben Characters: Taran of Caer Dallben, Eilonwy (Prydain) Additional Tags: Romance, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, slightly AU Summary:

A proper lady would have gone with the women and children when so ordered. But she’d never been a proper lady, and he ought to know better than to think she’d start now.

The High King. Slightly AU, total wish-fulfillment mildly erotic vignette: Taran/Eilonwy having a moment the evening before the battle of Caer Dathyl.

[highqueenofprydain]

It’s been so long since I got a page done, I think it deserves a tumblr presence.

#Prydain #graphic novel #fanart #Taran #Eilonwy #Fflewddur #Wales landscapes