Fflewddur Fflam facts for kids
Fflewddur Fflam, son of Godo, is a cantrev lord in the fictional country of Prydain in Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain. He is referred to as a King, but makes it perfectly clear that he is a very minor king of a tiny kingdom at best, much less important than the High King who is the ruler of Prydain. His kingdom is described as being dreary and dull. As a result, he often leaves it to go wandering about as the world's most unofficial bard in the mystical land of Prydain. Though he returns from time to time to rule, he once mentions that he gets the feeling that the people of his country get along just fine even if he is not there.
Character description
Fflewddur is described as a tall, thin man with spiky blonde hair, although in the Disney film The Black Cauldron he is depicted as a white-haired older man, semi-lanky, with a bit of a pot belly. The Disney version of Fflewddur has apparently been stripped of his royalty, or at least it never gets mentioned, and is the object of intense, disturbing attraction from the overweight enchantress Orwen, one of the witches of Morva (especially when he repeatedly rejects the advances of Orwen the witch). However, Fflewddur stands up to the witches so that they can revive Gurgi at the end of the film. (The reason why Taran wants to trade the Cauldron for Gurgi is that he never needs a sword to be a hero.) He is voiced by Nigel Hawthorne.
In the film and the novels, one of the witches of Morva, Orwen, has a soft spot for Fflewddur. Fflewddur becomes increasingly frustrated with Orwen's insistence they marry and repeatedly rejects her advances because he knows his companions Taran and Eilonwy are more important than being involved with the three witches of Morva.
Fflewddur Fflam is a good-hearted soul, much less interested in the pomp and circumstance of his role than in doing right—if children wander into his throne room, he'd far rather play hide-and-seek with them than chase them out. Inside, though, he has the heart of a bard; he is restless and prone to wanderlust, and in fact he is mostly met more or less accidentally on one on his wanderings. His catchphrase is "Great Belin!"
Alexander has indicated that he modeled Fflewddur Fflam partly after himself: "Rumor has is that we have very similar personalities. I will neither confirm nor deny that".
Despite his bard training and the use of a magical harp, Fflewddur has a distinct manaphobia (fear of magic), and is especially fearful about what he considers "black magic". He steadfastly refuses even to look at magic things unless they have proven themselves to be harmless (like Eilonwy's Pelydryn) or are bardic in nature (his own harp and Adaon's brooch).
