An important Welsh chieftain, he mixed with the high and mighty.

His first clash came when he was hunting near Beyond and saw some white hounds with red ears cornering a stag. He drove them off with his own hounds, only to be confronted by King Arawn, owner of the hounds, the land of Annwn and of course the stag.

Acknowledging and apologizing for this terrible breach of etiquette, Pwyll agreed to prove his honor with a job swap. They would trade places and appearances for a year, whereby he would run Annwn, and Arawn would run Pwyll’s kingdom, with the proviso that Pwyll was expected to have a go at Arawn’s enemy Havgan who could only be killed by a single blow. And there was to be no wife-swapping.

Pwyll did well, managed to rule the Otherworld quite competently and avoided any naughtiness with Arawn’s wife. He then zapped Havgan most successfully, earning the respect and praise of everyone.

But somehow he felt he had missed out on the wife-swapping deal and decided it was high time he was married. Out riding one day, he encountered the mysterious but highly alluring maiden Rhiannon.

Then things went a bit haywire as she already had a suitor. But after some hijinks involving an enchanted bag he managed to wed her and live happily ever after for a while.

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Article last revised on May 18, 2026 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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