Fie Ellyllon

*‘If the Unseelie Kingdom had more honour, it would have greater trust, more investors, and the fie ellyllon would have access to greater resources, which means more wealth for me.'* *- Prince Vane*

## Introduction

There are only two named fie ellyllon in the canon: Princess Braith and Vane.

Vane served as an Unseelie War General on Gwyn ap Nudd's Council of Generals, until Vane attempted to murder Gwyn and used Crielle ferch Fnwy's mothersbane poison to kill himself after he failed.

## Physical Description

Fie ellyllon display their wealth on their bodies (e.g., Vane often wore an array of necklaces, bracelets, circlets, rings, earrings, and other jewelry). They have 'access to a great deal of silver and copper'.

## Abilities

The fie ellyllon can create - or at least possess - a small amount of elfshot, which is made using 'elf magic', which they would place in mines to surprise enemies. 'All the legends said that if a person was shot with elfshot, the tip of the arrow would break away immediately, falling even as the person who was shot fell – paralysed. No cure for the paralysis except to find the exact same arrow tip in a mess of dirt and battlefield and touch it to the place where the person was shot.' It's powerful enough to even affect a fae with King status.

The fie ellyllon use swords and bows in combat. Although Vane 'didn’t fight with anything heavier than an epee – broadswords and long-swords were beyond him, to say nothing of axes and maces', it's unclear if this was a trait unique to him, since he specialized in speed and stealth, or generally applied to fie ellyllon. Gwyn said that 'fie ellyllon are competent, incredible fighters.' Vane noted 'fie ellyllon have never been the best in the frontlines.' The fie ellyllon are notably fast, to the point that they appear to blur to the naked eye.

## Characteristics (culture, habits)

Fie ellyllon are a kind of elf - or aelves - and the exclusively Unseelie subgroup of ellyllon. They hail from Wales. 'The fie ellyllon had been well-favoured by many Unseelie Courts in the past, only to be subtly snubbed by the Raven Prince', partly because the fie ellyllon were rumored to be informants. Prior to the snubbing, they were close with their Seelie ellyllon cousins, but the Raven Prince's distrust seemingly caused them to break off with their cousins, and the fie ellyllon became targets of the Unseelie military. Vane stated that the An Fnwy family was always good to the fie ellyllon, until Gwyn.

With Gwyn's Court, they 'were ready to step back into the limelight.' Gwyn particularly took note of them for their vast wealth, which the Unseelie Court greatly needed. They intended to install one of their number of Gwyn's Inner Court (likely Vane, to serve as Court treasurer). After Vane's betrayal was revealed, Mu and Zudanna sent teams back to the Unseelie Court to place any fie ellyllon in prison for questioning. Augus Each Uisge noted that Vane's actions, which led to the permanent end of the Wild Hunt, would win the fie ellyllon more disfavor among the fae.

After Vane's betrayal, the fie ellyllon were unwelcome in the Unseelie Court, but insisted that Vane was a lone agent. This assertion was seemingly proven false in part, since interrogation of fie ellyllon prisoners led to the identity of three assassins Vane trusted to support and/or continue his work against Gwyn.

Gwyn noted that the fie ellyllon are particularly 'canny' in terms of combat. They are also secretive, but love gossip.

The fie ellyllon participated under Vane's command with the Unseelie Court in the war against Albion's Seelie Court, and were rewarded with loot for their services.

Their homeland is surrounded by seas.

## Folklore/Mythology

*'Tylwyth Teg* (Middle Welsh for "Fair Family"; Welsh pronunciation: [ˈtəlʊi̯θ teːg]) is the most usual term in Wales for the mythological creatures corresponding to the fairy folk of English and Continental folklore and the Irish *Aos Sí*. Other names for them include *Bendith y Mamau* ("Blessing of the Mothers"), *Gwyllion* and ***Ellyllon***. . . . The term *tylwyth teg* is first attested in a poem attributed to the 14th-century Dafydd ap Gwilym, in which the principal character gets perilously but comically lost while going to visit his girlfriend . . . In later sources the *tylwyth teg* are described as fair-haired and covet golden-haired human children whom they kidnap, leaving changelings (or *crimbilion*, sing. *crimbil*) in their place. They dance and make fairy rings and they live underground or under the water. They bestow riches on those they favour but these gifts vanish if they are spoken of, and fairy maidens may become the wives of human men. These fairy wives are however still bound by traditional taboos. They must be careful to avoid touching iron or they will vanish back to their realm never to be seen by their husbands again. . . . According to the folklorist Wirt Sikes the *Tylwyth Teg* may be divided into five general types: the *Ellyllon* (elves), the *Coblynau* (fairies of the mines), the *Bwbachod* (household fairies similar to brownies), the *Gwragedd Annwn* (female fairies of the lakes and streams) and the *Gwyllion* (mountain fairies more akin to hags). The *ellyllon* (singular *ellyll*) inhabit groves and valleys and are similar to English elves. Their food consists of toadstools and fairy butter (a type of fungus) and they wear digitalis bell flowers as gloves. They are ruled by Queen Mab and bring prosperity to those they favour.'

'The Ellyllon are the pigmy elves who haunt the groves and valleys, and correspond pretty closely with the English elves. The English name was probably derived from the Welsh *el*, a spirit, *elf*, an element; there is a whole brood of words of this class in the Welsh language, expressing every variety of flowing, gliding, spirituality, devilry, angelhood, and goblinism. Ellyllon (the plural of ellyll), is also doubtless allied with the Hebrew Elilim, having with it an identity both of origin and meaning. [Pughe's 'Welsh Dictionary.' (Denbigh, 1866)].

. . . The hollows, or little dingles, are still the places where the peasant, belated on his homeward way from fair or market, looks for the ellyllon, but fails to find them. Their food is specified in Welsh folk-lore as fairy butter and fairy victuals, ymenyn tylwyth teg and bwyd ellyllon; the latter the toadstool, or poisonous mushroom, and the former a butter-resembling substance found at great depths in the crevices of limestone rocks, in sinking for lead ore. Their gloves, menyg ellyllon, are the bells of the digitalis, or fox-glove, the leaves of which are well known to be a strong sedative. Their queen--for though there is no fairy-queen in the large sense that Gwyn ap Nudd is the fairy-king, there is a queen of the elves--is none other than the Shakespearean fairy spoken of by Mercutio, who comes

*In shape no bigger than an agate-stone*

*On the forefinger of an alderman*

['Romeo and Juliet,' Act II,. Sc. 4]'.

## Image Gallery

Fanart of Prince Vane by tetsujou https://tetsujou.tumblr.com/post/125099986949/i-drew-this-before-the-latest-chapter-and-now-im
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 4: Suspicions. Accessed 04 May 2021.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 53: Arrow. Accessed 04 May 2021.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 *Game Theory*, Chapter 45: Coronation. Accessed 09 May 2021.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 23: Confrontation. Accessed 04 May 2021.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 49: Battle. Accessed 09 May 2021.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 13: Advice. Accessed 04 May 2021.
7. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 46: Masque. Accessed 09 May 2021.
8. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 52: Unravel. Accessed 09 May 2021.
9. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 4: Esgrettio. Accessed 09 May 2021.
10. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 3: Disintegration. Accessed 09 May 2021.
11. ↑ Pia on the creation of the fie ellyllon. https://not-poignant.tumblr.com/post/121750895128/what-does-fie-ellyllon-mean-if-you-dont-mind-me/amp. Accessed 09 June 2021.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 7: Debut. Accessed 04 May 2021.
13. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 23: Confrontation. Accessed 04 May 2021.
14. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones, Chapter 54*: Fraught. Accessed 04 May 2021.
15. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 55: Refuge. Accessed 09 May 2021.
16. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 56: Grief. Accessed 09 May 2021.
17. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 10: Battlefields. Accessed 09 May 2021.
18. ↑ "Tylwyth Teg". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tylwyth\_Teg. Accessed 09 June 2021.
19. ↑ Sikes. *British Goblins* (1880).