Efnysien- Celtic FigureMortal

The Insult That Kindled War

The Second Branch of the Mabinogi introduces Efnysien alongside his twin brother Nisien, the two half-brothers of Brân the Blessed and Branwen through their mother Penarddun. Where Nisien could make peace between warring armies, Efnysien could set brothers against each other. When Matholwch, King of Ireland, came to Wales to ask for Branwen's hand in marriage, Efnysien took offence that the match was arranged without his consent. He found Matholwch's horses tethered outside the feast and mutilated them savagely, cutting their lips to their teeth, their ears to their heads, and their tails to their bodies.

The insult was so extreme that Matholwch prepared to depart Ireland-ward in rage. Brân placated him with replacement horses, a staff of silver, and a plate of gold, and as a final gift offered the Cauldron of Rebirth (Pair Dadeni), which could restore dead warriors to life though they would be unable to speak. Matholwch accepted and took Branwen to Ireland, but the resentment planted by Efnysien's act was never fully healed. The Irish court eventually punished Branwen for the insult, banishing her to the kitchens as a scullion. When Brân learned of her mistreatment, he led the hosts of Britain across the sea to Ireland, and the catastrophic war that followed can be traced directly to Efnysien's hands.

The Fire, the Cauldron, and the End

During the uneasy feast held between the British and Irish forces in a newly built hall, the Irish concealed armed warriors in flour bags hung from the pillars, planning an ambush. Efnysien, suspicious, walked among the bags and crushed each warrior's skull through the leather by squeezing with his hands. When peace seemed possible, the Irish presented Gwern, the young son of Branwen and Matholwch, as the future king whom both sides might accept. Efnysien, in an act of sudden and unexplained violence, seized the boy and threw him headfirst into the fire.

The hall erupted into battle. The Irish gained the advantage by reviving their dead in the Cauldron of Rebirth, until Efnysien performed his one redemptive act. He lay down among the Irish dead and was thrown into the cauldron by the Irish themselves. Once inside, he stretched out with all his strength until the cauldron shattered into four pieces and his own heart burst with the effort. The destruction of the cauldron turned the battle in Britain's favor, but only seven men survived to return home. Efnysien's final act inverted his entire character: the man whose spite began the war became the one whose self-destruction ended it, though at the cost of nearly everything and everyone involved.