King Lludd

King Lludd, otherwise referred to as King Lud, is a character in that is now found in the collection of Welsh folk tales known as the Mabinogion in the story The Tale of Lludd and Llefelys. The story tells the tale of King Lludds struggles against three plagues that infect his kingdom, taking on the form of magical giants, monstrous dragons and stealthy villains. He defeats these plagues with the help of his youngest brother Llefelys, King of France. This tale is not part of the main four branches of the Mabinogion, and is only included in with the rest of the tales when Lady Charlotte Guest translated the original medieval welsh texts and due to a transcript/translation error popularised the term Mabinogion for the collection as well. It is thought that King Lludd is based on King Lud that according to the debated historian Geoffrey of Monmouth is one of the ancient kings of Britain and is where the city of Londons name originates from. King Lud is said to have founded London and protected it against many invasions during his reign. If this is to be true then the character King Lludd appears to be a story that has been crated to celebrate King Luds achievements. So it would be logical to assume that each plague represents different invading forces, the Coraniad are the cloaked and secretive Romans, the Giant could be a Viking come to pillage food stores and the opposing dragon is the Saxons. King Lludd also has ties to the more famous King from the Mabinogion, King Arthur, the dragons King Lludd traps in Dinas Emrys are later the dragons that cause issues for King Arthur and Merlin, and in the other Mabinogion story How Culhwch Won Olwen it is said that one of the sons of Lludd is cursed by King Arthur to find every May Day with is rival until judgement day for the Maiden they both love. Of course all of this is subjective as stories are lost and retold over time, and a lot of historical truths are later thought to be fiction and vice versa. However for the purposes of retelling the tale is helpful to attempt to connect the dots and build as full and image as possible of King Lludd to better express his character and appearance in the game. As such the following images are to help indicate what type of character I think King Lludd might have been.

King Lud Statue in London

Figure 2

Figure 1

After much reading it can be logically assumed that King Lludd from the tale is perhaps an account of or story based on King Lud as mentioned in other historical texts. As with much of history this is always up for debate, but for the purpose of this project the visual reference is useful. It is said that King Lud is buried at Ludgate in London, and it is near there that this statue is found depicting King Lud with his two sons.

King Lludd from the Mabinogion

These images are from two different versions of the Mabinogion tale retold for younger audiences. The one on the right was published in the early 80s and the one of the left only a few years ago. Both books were originally published in Welsh and provide an interesting take on the look of the King and tale itself.
Figure 4

Figure 3

King Arthur

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Figure 6

King Arthur is the most famous King from the Mabinogion tales. His image and design has changed with each artistic iteration in film, books and art. However there are certain tropes that always identity him as a King. These two images are helpful for that purpose, the one on the left is from the illustrated Mabinogion poster and is rather fanciful; whereas the image on the right has been created by a company that creates accurate colouring sheets like this one and other memorabilia for sale in museums.

Armour and Weapons

Figure 8 Figure 7

From a personal collection of reference images these (along with the sword below) have been selected to help inform the type of clothing and weaponry that the King would be in possession of. The shield in particular is noteworthy as it is the striking colour that was rare for the time period and would only be available to those with wealth and influence.

King Lludd Sword

This sword was chosen out a collection of Celtic style weaponry that best reflected the type of sword required for the King. As research indicates that the King would be known as such due to the quality of his possessions, this one was seen as appropriate due to the intricate carving on the hilt.

Figure 9

Figure 10

Liam Neeson

Figure 14

The physical characteristics of the

Figure 11

King are ideally based on the characteristics of Liam Neeson. This is to help illustrate a believable person and for artistic reference.

Figure 12

Figure 13

Jac Jones Illustrations

Jac Jones has done many illustrations for childrens books based on Welsh mythology. These two images are from the book Branwen a tale form the Mabinogion adapted by Jenny Nimo. They are included as they nicely show the types and colours of clothing that
Figure 15

the noblemen of that era may have worn, if slightly simplified for younger readers.

Figure 16

References and Bibliography

Figure 1THE BRITISH MUSEUM. Unknown. The British Museum: Prints and Drawings. [Webpage]. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=3299665&partId=1&search Text=gosling&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&numpages=10&currentPage=6. (14 Nov 2012) Figure 22012). Figure 3Figure 4Figure 5Figure 6Figure 72011). Figure 8Figure 9LEVIUS, P. Unknown. Armour_0501.jpg. [Online Image]. www.3d.sk. (22 September 2008). LEVIUS, P. Unkown. Barrandov_0014_0069.jpg. [Online Image]. www.3d.sk. (28 Febuary 2010). IFANS, R. 1988. The Magic of the Mabinogion. 1st edn. Talybont, Wales: Y Lolfa Cyf. HUWS, J.O., LEWIS, S., MERION, C. 2008. Folk Stories and Heroes of Wales: Volume 2. 2nd edn. Gwynedd, Wales: Llygad Gwalch. JONES, M. Unknown. Poster y Mabinogion. Talybont, Ceredigion, Wales: Y Lolfa Cyf. ANCESTORS OF DOVER LTD. 2004. Legendary Heroes: King Arthur. Kent: Historic Image Stationary STOCK PHOTOS FOR COMIC ARTISTS AND CG ILLUSTRATORS. Unknown. HAMEY, B. 2012. London Details: King Lud. [Blog Post]. http://baldwinhamey.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/king-lud/. (14 Nov

2011_04_Medieval_Warrior1_Smaz_Front_Attack_Sword1_00.JPG. www.photo-reference-for-comic-artists.com. [Online Image] (11 July

Figure 10- LEVIUS, P. Unkown. Barrandov_0014_0069.jpg. [Online Image]. www.3d.sk. (28 Febuary 2010). Figure 11- MAIDMENT, J. 2011. liam-neeson-wrath-of-the-titans.jpg. [Online Image]. http://www.flicksandbits.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/03/liam-neeson-wrath-of-the-titans.jpg. (5 December 2012). Figure 12- WARNER BROS. PICTURES. Unknown. clash_of_the_titans.jpg. [Online Image]. http://www.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/201293/reg_1024.clashtitans.mh.100312.jpg. (5 December 2012). Figure 13- GUARDIAN NEWS AND MEDIA LTD. 2011. godfrey3.jpg. [Online Image]. http://film.guardian.co.uk/pictures/image/0,8545,10205185657,00.html. (5 December 2012). Figure 14- UNKNOWN. 1981. excalibur.jpg. [Online Image]. http://mimg.ugo.com/200905/21859/excalibur.jpg. (5 December 2012.)

Figure 15- NIMMO, J., JONES, J. 2008. Branwen. 4th edn. Ceredigion, Wales: Pont Books. p. 27. Figure 16- NIMMO, J., JONES, J. 2008. Branwen. 4th edn. Ceredigion, Wales: Pont Books. p. 26. CURNOW, C. 2012. The Project Gutenberg EBook of London Before the Conquest, by W. R. Lethaby. [eBOOK]. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40271/40271-h/40271-h.htm. (7 November 2012). DAVIS, S. 2008. The Mabinogion: A new translation by Sioned Davies. 2nd edn. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 111-115, 252-253. GRUFFYDD, W.J. 1964. Folklore and Myth in the Mabinogion. 3rd edn. Oxford, UK: University of Wales Press. GUEST, C.E., DELGADO, T. 1997. The Mabinogion. 1st edn. Mineola, New York, USA: Dover Publications, INC. pp. 58-62. HAMEY, B. 2012. London Details: King Lud. [Blog Post]. http://baldwinhamey.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/king-lud/. (14 November 2012) HUWS, J.O., LEWIS, S., MERION, C. 2008. Folk Stories and Heroes of Wales: Volume 2. 2nd edn. Pwllheli, Gwynedd, Wales: Llygad Gwalch. pp. 41-51. IFANS, R. 1988. The Magic of the Mabinogion. Talybont, Wales: Y Lolfa Cyf. pp. 45-53. MERDIN, C. 2008. Clas Merdin: Tales from the Enchanted Island: Lud's Church. [Website]. http://clasmerdin.blogspot.co.uk/p/luds-church.html. (8 December 2012.) PARKER, W. 2010. The Mabinogion: Llud and Llefelys. [Website]. http://mabinogion.info/llud.htm. (17 October 2012.) RIDER-BEZERRA, S. Unknown. The Mabinogion Project: A Brief History of the Mabinogion. http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/sbrmab.htm. (7 November 2012).