Series of children's fantasy novels by author Lloyd Alexander. Based (very) loosely on the Mabinogion and taking place in the fantasy world of Prydain, which bears no small resemblance to Wales, the novels feature a series of epic adventures as well as exploring the themes of growing up. The protagonist is Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper to the oracular pig Hen Wen. A
boy seemingly in his early teens who was
orphaned at a young age, Taran is thrust into the conflicts between the Sons of Don, the mighty and noble rulers of Prydain, and Arawn the Death Lord, an
Evil Overlord who seeks to rule Prydain. Taran is an ambitious, headstrong youth who initially
leaps at any call to adventure and beleives himself
capable of great things, but in truth he often finds the leading a heroic life of adventure is not all as romantic and exciting as he would have thought. Over the course of the novels, however, Taran grows from a callow, stubborn youth into a genuinely wise and noble young man, and in the end, learns the hard way what it truly means to be a hero.
Joining Taran on his adventures are his loyal group of loveable companions, and much of the attraction of the series is simply watching them talk to each other:
Eilonwy: An enchantress and
princess who talks constantly in similies and serves as a romantic interest for Taran. She's also a
Tsundere and a bit of an
Action Girl.
Fflewddur Fflam: A
loud-mouthed bard and King who has a tendency to aggrandize accounts of his own adventures.He carries a magical harp whose strings break whenever he "colors the facts." (They break often.) His catchphrase is "A Fflam is (insert appropriate adjective here)!"
Gurgi:
A shaggy creature who at first has a tendency to be a
Dirty Coward but grows to become brave and loyal, and comes to admire Taran for his wisdom and call him "Master."
Doli: A member of
The Fair Folk, a grumpy dwarf and
Jerk With A Heart Of Gold. He has the ability to turn invisible starting at the end of book one, but
hates to do so as it causes a horrible ringing in his ears.
Gwydion:
The Wise Prince and
mentor to Taran, a great warrior and war leader whom Taran looks up to and idolizes immensely. He leads the Sons of Don in their battles against the forces of evil.
The series contains five books as well as one anthology which also serves as a prequel:
The Book of Three (1964), The black Cauldron (1965), The Castle of Llyr (1966), Taran Wanderer (1967), The High King (1968) and
The Foundling and Other Tales From Prydain (1973).
Disney produced a movie version of
The Black Cauldron in 1985, which notably blended elements from the first two books. It is perhaps
best forgotten by fans of the novels, however.
This series includes examples of, or the sources for:
- Action Girl: Eilonwy frequently proves more capable than Taran, especially in the early books.
- Adaptation Decay: The 1985 animated film.
- Anticlimax Boss: Arawn
- The Aragorn: Gwydion
- Artifact Of Doom: The titular Black Cauldron of the second book.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Mostly played straight, especially with Prince Gwydion and King Smoit. Sadly subverted with High King Math.
- Awesome Moment Of Crowning: Taran at the end of the last book.
- Aw Look They Really Do Love Each Other: Taran and Eilonwy, constantly.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Inverted with Achren, who is as wicked as she is beautiful.
- Big Badass Cat: Llyan
- Blessed With Suck: Doli and his invisibility powers.
- Book Of Shadows: The Book of Three.
- Brainwashed: Eilonwy in the third book.
- Character Development: Taran, who grows from a stubborn, witless child to a wise and noble warrior.
- Conservation Of Ninjutsu: The Huntsmen of Annuvin literally become stronger when one of their number is killed.
- Cool Horse: Gwydion's horse, Melyngar, in the first book, Melynlas for the rest of the series.
- And of course, Llyan to Fflewddur.
- Cool Old Guy: Coll
- Distressed Damsel: Eilonwy occasionally, especially in book three.
- The Dragon: The Horned King in book one.
- Elite Mooks: The Huntsmen and the Cauldron-Born.
- Evil Overlord: Arawn
- Face Heel Turn: King Morgant and King Pryderi
- The Fair Folk: A bit of a subversion, they had no particular liking for men but were willing to work with them against Arawn.
- Five Man Band: The role each character plays in the band varies from book to book.
- Flaming Sword: Dyrnwyn
- Genre Savvy: Fflewddur, occasionally.
- Giant Flyer: The gywthaints. It turns out that they aren't Always Chaotic Evil, though, as Taran adopts one as a Baby Wild Animal
- God Save Us From The Queen: Achren
- Gondor Calls For Aid: The premise of the first half of the fifth book.
- The Hecate Sisters: Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch are a textbook case.
- Heel Face Turn: Achren in book three.
- Heroic BSOD: Taran in book four.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Ellidyr in The Black Cauldron, Rhun and Coll in The High King.
- Heroic Wannabe: Taran in books one and two.
- Hulk Speak: Kaw
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: The relatively inexperienced heroes are more than a match for hardened enemy soldiers.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Good old Doli, Taran towards Eilonwy at least, and Ellidyr.
- Karmic Death: King Pryderi
- Kid Hero: Taran
- Jumped At The Call: Taran in the first and second books.
- Just Eat Gilligan: Suggested numerous times by Fflewddur of Glew. They should have listened.
- The Load: Taran himself in book one. Rhun in book three. Glew in book five.
- Load Bearing Boss: Annuvin is destroyed when Arawn is slain.
- Too Dumb To Live: Glew in book five.
- Lord Error Prone: Prince Rhun in The Castle of Llyr. He shapes up considerably in The High King.
- Papa Bear: Gwydion can get this way when his companions are threatened.
- The Messiah: Taran slowly evolves into this.
- Mordor: Annuvin
- Names To Run Away From Really Fast: Arawn-Death Lord
- Nigh Invulnerable: The Cauldron-Born, and Morda.
- No Man Of Woman Born: A prophecy states that the Big Bad will be vanquished only when such things as "rivers burn with frozen fire" and "night turn to noon" occur. Some characters set a fire to melt a frozen waterfall, while another uses magic to light up an entire valley in the middle of the night.
- Non Human Sidekick: Gurgi
- Not Quite Dead: Gwydion in the first book.
- The Obi Wan: Gwydion, subverted in that he doesn't die.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Gwystyl, unconvincingly.
- Oracular Urchin: Hen Wen is a non-human variant.
- Rebellious Princess: Eilonwy
- Redemption Equals Death: Ellidyr
- Retired Badass: Coll, who once single-handedly fought his way into Annuvin to save Hen Wen.
- Rhymes On A Dime: Gurgi likes to speak with rhyming pairs of words ("smashings and gnashings", "crunchings and munchings", etc.)
- The Rival: Ellidyr in the second book. Dorath in the fourth.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Many of the important characters are royalty.
- Scaled Up: Arawn is a particularly bad case of this.
- Shape Shifter: Arawn
- Takahashi Couple
- The Starscream: A bit of a twist, current Big Bad Arawn was in fact The Starscream to former Big Bad, Achren.
- The Only One Allowed To Defeat You: Gwydion and the Horned King seem to feel this way about each other.
- The Toblerone: Fflewddur. King Smoit even more so.
- Trickster Mentor: Dallben
- Tsundere: Eilonwy
- The Unreveal: We never learn who Taran's true parents are.
- Vain Sorceress: Achren, who is far older than she looks.
- Walking The Earth: Taran in book four.
- Warrior Poet: Adaon and Taliesin
- Will They Or Wont They: Dragged out until the very last page of the final book with Taran and Eilonwy. They do, of course.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Taran, starting in book four.
- The Wise Prince: Gwydion
