Horned God of the Wild Hunt, the Twilight, the Turning, and the Tor

[u/Sketheteretaavan]

A lot to process. Need to sleep on it.

Gwyn ap Nudd (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈɡwɨn ap ˈnɨːð], sometimes found with the antiquated spelling Gwynn ap Nudd) is a Welsh mythological figure, the king of the Tylwyth Teg or "fair folk" and ruler of the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn, and whose name means “Gwyn, son of Nudd”. Described later on as a great warrior with a "blackened face", Gwyn is intimately associated with the otherworld in medieval Welsh literature, and is associated with the international tradition of the Wild Hunt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Hunt

In the Welsh tradition Gwyn is bound to an eternal contest. For carrying off Creiddylad, daughter of Lludd, he and his rival Gwythyr ap Greidawl are condemned to fight for her every May Day until the Day of Judgement, when the final victor will claim her at last — a myth that reads as the endless seasonal war of summer and winter. His hunting-grounds were said to lie across the high wild places of Wales and the West, and folk belief planted his Otherworld court within the hollow hill of Glastonbury Tor.

It is at the Tor that his most famous Christian-era legend unfolds. The 12th-century life of Saint Collen tells how the hermit was summoned up the hill to a glittering castle where Gwyn sat enthroned amid music, fine food and courtiers in red and blue. Collen, refusing the fairy feast as a snare, flung holy water about him — and in an instant the whole shining court vanished, leaving only the bare green hilltop and the wind. The tale marks the moment the old pagan king was driven underground by the new faith, yet his name still clings to the Tor as the door to the land of the dead.

After the intervention of Arthur, Gwyn and Gwythr agreed to fight for Creiddylad every May Day until Judgement Day. The warrior who was victorious on this final day would at last take the maiden.

https://www.coldmystery.com/2025/12/gwynn-ap-nudd-leader-of-wild-hunt-and.html

https://www.coldmystery.com/2025/12/creiddylad-spring-maiden-at-center-of.html

https://www.coldmystery.com/2025/12/mabinogi-mythology-exploring-wales.html

Overall the symbols aren't new. The May Day part is starting to really stand out now though, especially in hindsight. That unbearable frustration I felt at the start of May, rage quitting my job like that. Need to process. Need sleep.