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**Achren (AHK-ren): Prince *Gwydion describes Achren as being “as dangerous as *Arawn himself; as evil as she is beautiful” (BT 24/41). Achren once wore the *Iron Crown of Annuvin as *Queen of Prydain but made the mistake of teaching her consort Arawn the secrets of her enchantments. “And he betrayed me,” says Achren. “He robbed me of my throne and cast me aside” (HK 17/28–29). However, in *The Book of Three she still seems to be in league with Arawn, for it is the *Death-Lord’s *Cauldron-Born who capture Gwydion and *Taran and deliver them to her. When the reader first meets Achren, she is described in this manner:
Her long hair glittered silver in the torchlight. Her face was young and beautiful; her pale skin seemed paler still above her crimson robe. Jeweled necklaces hung at her throat, gem-studded bracelets circled her wrists, and heavy rings threw back the flickering torches. (BT 45/63)
Achren’s power as an enchantress is exhibited immediately upon her first appearance. She touches Taran’s wounds and his pain is replaced by a comforting warmth. Angry when Gwydion scorns the offer to join forces with her, Achren resorts to dark *magic in this powerful scene:
Achren raised [Gwydion’s] sword above her head and smote with all her force against a stone pillar. Sparks flashed, the blade rang unbroken. With a scream of rage, she dashed the weapon to the ground.
The sword shone, still undamaged. Achren seized it again, gripping the sharp blade itself until her hands ran scarlet. Her eyes rolled back into her head, her lips moved and twisted. A thunderclap filled the hall, a light burst like a crimson sun, and the broken weapon fell in pieces to the ground.
“So shall I break you!” Achren shrieked. (BT 47–48/65)
It is in Achren’s stronghold, *Spiral Castle, that Taran meets *Eilonwy. Eilonwy believes Achren to be her aunt. However, Gwydion later explains that “Achren stole Eilonwy and brought her as a child to Spiral Castle” (CL 130/157). The sorceress had recognized Eilonwy’s *bauble as the *Golden Pelydryn, a powerful magical object that could unlock the secrets of the *enchantresses of Llyr. Because the Golden Pelydryn loses its power if taken forcibly from its rightful owner, Achren found it necessary to “take” its owner. However, Achren loses Eilonwy and her bauble when the girl escapes from Spiral Castle with Taran. Achren also loses Spiral Castle. It tumbles into a mountainous heap of stone because Eilonwy and Taran remove the magic sword, *Dyrnwyn, from the stronghold’s maze of subterranean chambers. The reader learns at the conclusion of The Book of Three that Achren has taken Gwydion to another of her castles, *Oeth-Anoeth, just before the destruction of Spiral Castle. From his prison cell, Gwydion fights the evil spells of Oeth-Anoeth, and his willpower destroys this stronghold as well. We do not see Achren in *The Black Cauldron and assume she may have perished when Oeth-Anoeth fell.
Achren surfaces in *The Castle of Llyr. Her power has steadily waned, Gywdion tells us, since the day she broke with the *Lord of Annuvin. She therefore makes one final bid to gain back what she has lost. For this she needs Eilonwy and the Golden Pelydryn. With the girl in her power, Achren need only find the *book of spells recorded by the *daughters of Llyr to fulfill her desire. Only a daughter of Llyr (and Eilonwy is the last remaining) can use these spells, which are only visible by the light of the Pelydryn. Robed in black now, Achren returns with a bewitched Eilonwy to the ruins of *Caer Colur, the ancestral home of Llyr. “Caer Colur shall rise more glorious than ever,” she says with passion. “The Lord of Annuvin himself shall kneel in homage to me. . . . Arawn of *Annuvin shall cower and beg for mercy. . . . He betrayed me and now he shall suffer my vengeance” (CL 148/177).
Finally Achren acquires the Golden Pelydryn and the book of spells, both of which had been lost. But again her plans are frustrated. Eilonwy is able to free herself momentarily from Achren’s spell and touch the Pelydryn to the pages of the book. The book of spells is destroyed and with it Achren’s power forever. Unable to face her loss, Achren uses the last of her magic to conjure a dagger from a piece of driftwood and tries to kill herself. Gwydion stops her and says, “Your enchantments have ever been the enchantments of death. . . . Seek life, Achren” (CL 163/193). She does then agree to come with the *Companions to *Caer Dallben and accept Gwydion’s offer of refuge.
By her own choice, Achren accepts the role of a commoner. At Caer Dallben she toils as a scullery maid and will sleep only upon a pallet of straw in the granary. Her time with *Coll and *Dallben seems to mellow Achren. She is more civil and even welcomes Taran home from his wanderings. However, she still harbors a deep hatred for Arawn and has sworn an oath of revenge. Achren betrays Arawn by revealing the Death-Lord’s most closely guarded secret. She explains that the Lord of Annuvin can shape-change to any form and that this is the time when he is most vulnerable. “Once he assumes a shape, his strength and skill are no greater than that of the guise he wears. Then he can be slain, like any mortal thing” (HK 17/28). Gwydion will not, however, allow Achren to leave Caer Dallben to seek vengeance against Arawn, even though she may know best where the Death-Lord would hide the stolen sword Dyrnwyn.
Achren will not be denied and leaves secretly for Annuvin. It is not until near the end of *The High King that she reappears. Near the gates of Annuvin, *Kaw and his band of crows save her from death at the talons of the *gwythaints. Taran and his Companions bind her wounds. For the first time, Achren offers words of humility and thanks. “Forgive me. . . . I am grateful to you for my life and shall repay you far beyond its worth” (HK 205/237–238). Achren then shows them the shortest route into Annuvin—a secret roadway that winds over *Mount Dragon and up to the *Iron Portals.
Making good on her promise to repay the Companions, Achren sees through Arawn’s final shape-changing guise and throws herself upon his serpent shape. The serpent sinks its fangs deep into Achren’s throat, but the moment of distraction allows Taran to cleave the snake in two.
Achren has received her death wound. “‘Have I not kept my oath, Gwydion?’ she murmured, smiling vaguely. ‘Is the Lord of Annuvin slain? It is good. My death comes easily upon me.’ Achren’s lips parted as though she would speak again, but her head fell back and her body sagged in Gwydion’s arms” (HK 222/257).
It is with some regret that we see Achren die. Yet it is best, for there is no future for her in the new Prydain. Achren is laid to rest in the *Great Hall of Annuvin. As the Companions leave her there, the stronghold bursts into flame and the walls crumble. It seems fitting that Annuvin, the kingdom she once ruled, becomes both her pyre and her *barrow.
In death the face of Achren, no longer bitterly haughty, was at last tranquil. Shrouding the woman in her tattered black cloak, the companions bore the body to rest in the Great Hall, for she who had once ruled Prydain had died not without honor. (HK 224/259)
The name of Achren was gleaned by Alexander from *Celtic mythology. In her notes to the *Mabinogion, *Lady Charlotte Guest recounts the tale of “The Battle of the Trees,” which served as Alexander’s inspiration for *The Book of Three. The story tells of a battle fought between Amathaon, brother to Gwydion, and Arawn, King of Annuvin (Hell). In the tale there appears a powerful woman named Achren. In fact, the battle is often referred to as the Battle of Achren. Not only was there a man in this battle who could not be overcome unless his name were known (as with the *Horned King) but “there was on the other side a woman called Achren, and unless her name were known her party could not be overcome” (M 280). As eventually occurs in the *Prydain Chronicles, this Achren was apparently aligned with Gwydion and his brother.
Elizabeth Lane (1973:26) states a strong case for similarities between another figure in Celtic tales and Alexander’s Achren. This character, Arianrhod, appears in several stories, primarily “Math the Son of Mathonwy” in the Mabinogion.
One senses an affinity [of Achren] with Arianrhod, however, in various small ways: both share castles with well-known dungeons, for one thing. . . . The similarity is borne out in Robert Graves’s book The White Goddess. The names of Achren’s two strongholds, Spiral Castle in The Book of Three and Caer Colur in The Castle of Llyr, do not occur anywhere in the Mabinogion, but both appear in Graves’s work—and in connection with Arianrhod and her castle. All are death symbols and labyrinthine fastnesses associated with the Ariadne myth, according to Graves. Alexander’s Spiral Castle is just such a maze . . . , and his ruined Caer Colur lives up to its meaning, which Graves gives as “gloomy castle.”
Lane (1973:26) points to another similarity. “Throughout the Prydain books Achren and Gwydion show a solicitude for each other that would be a little shocking if the old brother-sister relationship didn’t come to mind.” Arianrhod and Gwydion are indeed brother and sister in the Celtic myths of the Welsh Triads (WG 56).
See also Characters—fantasy, Magic.
(M2 80; WG 49, 341)
Adaon (ah-DAY-on): Adaon is the son of the *Chief Bard, *Taliesin. He is introduced in *The Black Cauldron with this description:
Adaon . . . was tall, with straight black hair that fell to his shoulders. Though of noble bearing, he wore the garb of an ordinary warrior, with no ornament save a curiously shaped iron *brooch at his collar. His eyes were gray, strangely deep, clear as a flame, ...
