Arawn - Death Lord

Arawn, Death-Lord is a fictional character in "The Chronicles of Prydain" by Lloyd Alexander. He is the main antagonist of the series and is based on the god of death in Welsh mythology of the same name.

fictional character history

Arawn is an evil sorcerer who rules over Annuvin, a dark realm beyond the borders of Prydain also known as the Land of Death. Many years before the events of the story, he was a mortal man with magical powers who was tutored by the evil Queen Achren, ruler of Prydain. When Achren was overthrown, Arawn who had grown very powerful took the Iron Crown of Annuvin and became its king. Achren became a servant beneath him but always plotted his downfall. He later came into possession of the Black Crochan with which he created a powerful undead army known as the Cauldron-Born. He then attempted to conquer Prydain, the fictional country where the events of the story take place. He was thwarted in this endeavour by the Sons of Don, a race of warriors from the Summer Country who have stood between him and world domination ever since.

"The Book of Three"

In the first book in the series, Arawn sends his general, the Evil Horned King to amass a vast army with which to topple Caer Dathyl, the mightiest city in Prydain. With Caer Dathyl destroyed Arawn will be able to enslave Prydain however the Horned King is destroyed by Gwydion, Prince of Prydain, Son of King Math and his army is scattered.

"The Black Cauldron"

In the second book in the series, "The Black Cauldron" he despoils the grave of fallen warriors and uses the Black Crochan to turn them into Cauldron-Born but the Crochan is stolen by three witches named Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch and eventually finds its way into the hands of the evil King Morgant who plans to use it to overthrow Arawn and become ruler of Annuvin and Prydain. Morgant is later killed and the Crochan is destroyed.

"The High King"

In the final book, "The High King" with the Crochan destroyed, Arawn steals the Black Dyrnwyn the mightiest weapon in all of Prydain but the Sword can only be used by one with a pure heart and so given the fact that Arawn is evil personified, it is quite useless to him so he keeps it shut away in a cache beneath a rock in Annuvin. Unaware that he cannot use it, the peoples of Prydain panic. Arawn allies himself with King Pryderi who commands the mightiest army in all Prydain and uses him to topple Caer Dathyl. With Caer Dathyl out of the way, Arawn sends his legions of Cauldron-Born to conquer Prydain, leaving Annuvin unprotected in the process. The main protagonist, a boy called Taran, leads the remaining armies of Don to Annuvin, accompanied by Arawn's former mentor, Achren who has lost the majority of her powers and blames Arawn.

Pryderi meanwhile plots to overthrow Arawn and steal his power as Morgant before him did but Arawn is aware of this and sends Pryderi on a suicide mission.

During the siege of Arawn's fortress Taran finds Dyrnwyn and uses it to destroy the Cauldron-Born. Arawn then uses his powers of shape-shifting to take on the form of Gwydion and attempts to trick Taran into giving him the sword but Taran sees through the ruse and attempts to strike Arawn who turns into a shadow and flees.

When Taran's forces gather in the main gallery Arawn takes the form of a snake and attempts to bite Taran but Achren who can see through Arawn's shapeshifting powers grabs him and sustains a fatal bite to the neck. Taran decapitates Arawn with the Black Sword, killing him instantly. Taran then discovers that he is the subject of an ancient prophecy saying that some day a boy would wield the Black Sword and vanquish the Death Lord and then become king of Prydain. Taran, being the Chosen One of the prophecy, then ascends his place as ruler of Prydain but the wise enchanter Dallben states that although Arawn, the ultimate personification of evil in Prydain is destroyed, evil will still exist independent of him.

Powers and abilities

Whilst he usually relies on the strength of his Huntsmen, his Gwythaints, and his Cauldron-Born armies, Arawn is immensely powerful in his own right. He appears to be immortal but is not indestructible. In "The High King" Gwydion says that if Arawn were to go into Prydain unprotected and in his true form, he would be killed on sight so Arawn always employs his shape-shifting powers when in Prydain. His shape-shifting abilities give him the ability to take on the appearance of anyone or anything but when he does he takes on the strength and weaknesses of whatever he is disguised as. This leads to his downfall in the final book of the series. Arawn is never seen in his true form over the course of the series but when he is decapitated by Taran while in his snake-form his body and head transform into the those of a man but his body is wrapped in a black robe and his head is lying face down and both immediately disintegrate so his physical features are not known.

In addition to his powers, Arawn possesses an extremely cunning, Machiavellian intellect. This is evidenced by his overthrowing of his powerful former mentor, Achren and his convoluted plans over the course of the stories.

"The Black Cauldron" film

Arawn does not appear in the Disney film adaptation of The Chronicles of Prydain but his role is filled by that of the Horned King. Arawn may in fact be the "spirit" trapped within the Cauldron.