Princess Braith

## Introduction

Princess Braith is the leader of the fie ellyllon, an Unseelie faction of fae in disfavor with the Unseelie Court as of the end of *The Court of Five Thrones*, and possibly still into *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*.

## Appearance

As fie ellyllon, Braith wore her wealth. During the Triumphal Entry, Gwyn ap Nudd noted that she 'dripped jewels.' She wore so many pearls in her hair that some were falling off, which were then taken by other Unseelie. She had heavy freckles, pink skin, and blue eyes that 'shone like the sea around her homeland.' Her gaze was shrewd and her eyebrows were dark red. She was a foot taller than Prince Vane. Since Gwyn noted that Vane was about a foot and a half shorter than Gwyn, Braith might have been relatively close in height to Gwyn.

## Personality

Braith reminded Gwyn of Crielle ferch Fnwy, hinting that she was cunning and manipulative like his mother was. When he took Braith's hands, she dug her nails into his palms as an insult. Vane described Braith as astute.

## Life

Princess Braith is the leader of the fie ellyllon. She attended Gwyn's Triumphal Entry, where she brought him six coffers of uncut, high grade gems, along with a seventh coffer full of pearls from Trearddur Bay, harvested from rare singing oysters. Gwyn knew she was trying to buy the Court's favor, but accepted the offering, as the Court desperately needed the funds and it would not do to neglect the fie ellyllon. Braith witnessed the arrival of the Nain Rouge, but did not do anything except raise a brow when the Nain Rouge rummaged through the gems in one of the coffers.

When Vane was injured during Ifir's mutiny, Gwyn sent Seanan to check with Vane how he wanted to inform Braith of what occurred, and if Vane was unconscious, Seanan was to deliver a missive directly to Braith himself.

After Vane's attempted assassination of Gwyn during the Wild Hunt, which destroyed the sacredness of the ritual and caused the King of the Forest to put an end to all future Wild Hunts, the fie ellyllon are no longer welcome in the Court. Though the fie ellyllon tried to assure Gwyn that Vane acted alone, questioning those fie ellyllon imprisoned at the Court revealed that at least three of them worked with Vane on the plot.

## Special Abilities

**Dra'ocht:** Her dra'ocht was heavy and reminded Gwyn of Crielle.

## Relationships

#### Gwyn ap Nudd

Gwyn courted the favor of the fie ellyllon, largely due to their vast wealth, which the Unseelie Court had need of. After being snubbed by the Raven Prince, the fie ellyllon were ready for the welcome, though Braith dug her fingernails into Gwyn's palm at the Triumphal Entry.

#### Prince Vane

Braith and Vane's relationship is unclear, either as family, spouses, or partners. Vane stated that he would put his life on the line for her, and referred to her as 'My Lady Braith'.

## 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]'.

## References

1. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 4: Esgrettio. Accessed 31 May 2021.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 8: Court. Accessed 11 May 2021.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 7: Debut. Accessed 04 May 2021.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 13: Advice. Accessed 04 May 2021.
5. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 38: Realisations. Accessed 09 May 2021.
6. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 54: Fraught. Accessed 31 May 2021.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 55: Refuge. Accessed 31 May 2021.
8. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 53: Grief. Accessed 09 May 2021.
9. ↑ *The Court of Five Thrones*, Chapter 39: Want. Accessed 09 May 2021.
10. ↑ "Tylwyth Teg". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tylwyth\_Teg. Accessed 09 June 2021.
11. ↑ Sikes. *British Goblins* (1880).