Song of Albion

[thegrimmsleeper]

Spoilers abound through my post so if you've not read them, maybe stop after the third paragraph.

I completely and utterly adore every word of this trilogy. I first read them when I was a teenager, shortly after the TPW and TSH came out. I was completely enthralled! They came to me under recommendation from a good friend of mine. I snubbed him at first because I didn't want to read a book in first-person, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance.

I would daresay this is my favorite series of books, period. I make a habit of reading the series every year, and as my sons get older, I hope they'll join in that tradition. With each subsequent reading I find more subtleties, more brilliance, and I anticipate every event as if it were the first time. From the first visit to the cairn, to the horrifying moments when Llew and Tegid are cast adrift, to the breath-taking restoration of the foul land, these are stories I look forward to reading over and again.

I also love the subtlety Lawhead includes in his books, and in these ones specifically. I too was miffed about the death of Silver Hand, until I saw the entire thing as being analogous to Christ's sacrifice. It then struck me how brilliant the trilogy was, and with each read-through I find more symbolism and more tie-ins to this theme. Some are likely happenstance but I think most are intentional.

Lewis has always been someone I could relate to. I think having Tegid narrate the second volume was a brilliant idea because upon opening the third volume for the first time and seeing it was again Lewis telling the story, I felt immediately as though I were with an old friend after a period of brief absence. Not to mention we could not have seen the rise of Silver Hand so dramatically had Lewis narrated the second book. That moment alone is worth all of the horrors that befell our friends.

I'll close with a nit-pick that I wonder how many others have noticed. Near the end of The Silver Hand, as the warhost is being divided up to meet Meldron's advancing army at Dinas Dwr, Tegid explains that the war host is split into three thirties and three, in honor of the bards of Prydain who were slain. Recall in TPW, Tegid tells Lewis there are three thiries and three in all of Albion, no doubt where that number came from. But Tegid is still alive - so the total number should be three thirties and two; and those were in all of Albion, not just in Prydain. (Perhaps it's just the edition of the book I have; the large paperbacks with the original covers that were based on the hard covers.) Anyone else ever notice?

[dinadan]

I thought that was becausse with the Penderwydd dead, Llew was filling his shoes...so the count would come out right.

What's really nit picky is that on the cover of original US mass markets, the picture of Llew on the front has his silver hand on the wrong arm.

[calixar]

dinadan said:

What's really nit picky is that on the cover of original US mass markets, the picture of Llew on the front has his silver hand on the wrong arm.

AND it looked like it was drawn by the people who do Harlequin Romance covers.

I guess I'm just lucky I have it in the original harcover.

[twyrch]

dinadan said:

I thought that was becausse with the Penderwydd dead, Llew was filling his shoes...so the count would come out right.

What's really nit picky is that on the cover of original US mass markets, the picture of Llew on the front has his silver hand on the wrong arm.

It think it was a little more than that... Llew was the embodiment of Albion. He was more than a King... More than a Bard.... He WAS Albion.

Yes, I did notice that difference... I have that cover at home on my edition. ;D

[twyrch]

thegrimmsleeper said:

Spoilers abound through my post so if you've not read them, maybe stop after the third paragraph.

I completely and utterly adore every word of this trilogy. I first read them when I was a teenager, shortly after the TPW and TSH came out. I was completely enthralled! They came to me under recommendation from a good friend of mine. I snubbed him at first because I didn't want to read a book in first-person, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance.

I would daresay this is my favorite series of books, period. I make a habit of reading the series every year, and as my sons get older, I hope they'll join in that tradition. With each subsequent reading I find more subtleties, more brilliance, and I anticipate every event as if it were the first time. From the first visit to the cairn, to the horrifying moments when Llew and Tegid are cast adrift, to the breath-taking restoration of the foul land, these are stories I look forward to reading over and again.

I also love the subtlety Lawhead includes in his books, and in these ones specifically. I too was miffed about the death of Silver Hand, until I saw the entire thing as being analogous to Christ's sacrifice. It then struck me how brilliant the trilogy was, and with each read-through I find more symbolism and more tie-ins to this theme. Some are likely happenstance but I think most are intentional.

Lewis has always been someone I could relate to. I think having Tegid narrate the second volume was a brilliant idea because upon opening the third volume for the first time and seeing it was again Lewis telling the story, I felt immediately as though I were with an old friend after a period of brief absence. Not to mention we could not have seen the rise of Silver Hand so dramatically had Lewis narrated the second book. That moment alone is worth all of the horrors that befell our friends.

I'll close with a nit-pick that I wonder how many others have noticed. Near the end of The Silver Hand, as the warhost is being divided up to meet Meldron's advancing army at Dinas Dwr, Tegid explains that the war host is split into three thirties and three, in honor of the bards of Prydain who were slain. Recall in TPW, Tegid tells Lewis there are three thiries and three in all of Albion, no doubt where that number came from. But Tegid is still alive - so the total number should be three thirties and two; and those were in all of Albion, not just in Prydain. (Perhaps it's just the edition of the book I have; the large paperbacks with the original covers that were based on the hard covers.) Anyone else ever notice?

Grimm,

It sounds like you enjoy this series as much as I. I'm going to take a page from your book and start reading the series more often as well... It's been a few years.

[thegrimmsleeper]

dinadan said:

I thought that was becausse with the Penderwydd dead, Llew was filling his shoes...so the count would come out right.

Hm - well if this is true then technically the Perderwydd is still alive - which means the count should be one less, since there are technically 2 bards alive, and the number was to represent the slain bards.

dinadan said:

What's really nit picky is that on the cover of original US mass markets, the picture of Llew on the front has his silver hand on the wrong arm.

Yes! That drove me nuts. You'd think they would at least know enough about the source material to make an accurate cover. I'm glad I didn't have that edition. I missed out on the hard covers, but I have the large paperbacks and the covers are exactly the same as the dust jackets on the hard covers.

I know that SRL has said in the past that Albion represents the island of Great Britain - Wales is Prydain, Scotland is Caledon, England is Llogres or something like that. And Ynys Sci is based on the very real Isle of Sky. But one thing he's never mentioned that I've seen, that I've always been curious about, is Tir Aflan, and if there is a historical or geographical basis for it. To me it's always been one of the more interesting aspects of the series; the size, the people, the twisted mirror versions of the things we love so much about Albion. Anyone know if its based on a real place in terms of layout?

Which gets my interested in knowing...if Albion is an island in the Otherworld which is basically the Great Brittain only larger - what would Europe or America look like over there? What kinds of people would inhabit it? Makes ya wonder...

[twyrch]

thegrimmsleeper said:

But one thing he's never mentioned that I've seen, that I've always been curious about, is Tir Aflan, and if there is a historical or geographical basis for it. To me it's always been one of the more interesting aspects of the series; the size, the people, the twisted mirror versions of the things we love so much about Albion. Anyone know if its based on a real place in terms of layout?

Which gets my interested in knowing...if Albion is an island in the Otherworld which is basically the Great Brittain only larger - what would Europe or America look like over there? What kinds of people would inhabit it? Makes ya wonder...

Both of these would be good questions to send to him through the website. I'd really like to know the answer to the "Tir Aflan" question as well.

As for the other lands, I'm assuming they would be an idealized version of the current inhabitants.

[thegrimmsleeper]

I've submitted both of those questions a few times, but he's not yet answered them. I'll give it another whirl, though!

[twyrch]

thegrimmsleeper said:

I've submitted both of those questions a few times, but he's not yet answered them. I'll give it another whirl, though!

Well, he's a registered member here... Maybe he'll show up and we can ask him ourselves.

[dinadan]

I sort of though Tir Aflan is either the Otherworld version of either Ireland or America. Not that there is much support for either, but I think that in both cases, we're told that Tir Aflan used to be a place of promise, but that promise was tainted by the corruption of its dream. Ireland, arguably, because of the continuing violence in the north, or the US because of its corruption/empire building. Anyway, just thoughts I had when reading it.

[thegrimmsleeper]

dinadan said:

I sort of though Tir Aflan is either the Otherworld version of either Ireland or America. Not that there is much support for either, but I think that in both cases, we're told that Tir Aflan used to be a place of promise, but that promise was tainted by the corruption of its dream. Ireland, arguably, because of the continuing violence in the north, or the US because of its corruption/empire building. Anyway, just thoughts I had when reading it.

Yeah, exactly; that thought crossed my mind as well. Well not Ireland but Europe or America.

[twyrch]

dinadan said:

I sort of though Tir Aflan is either the Otherworld version of either Ireland or America. Not that there is much support for either, but I think that in both cases, we're told that Tir Aflan used to be a place of promise, but that promise was tainted by the corruption of its dream. Ireland, arguably, because of the continuing violence in the north, or the US because of its corruption/empire building. Anyway, just thoughts I had when reading it.

Tir Aflan was supposed to be an island wasn't it? And didn't Albion send criminals there? Sounds more like New Zeland... A beautiful country, but once a penial colony....

*shrugs*

Who knows....

[dinadan]

Well, (correct me if I'm wrong) but I think it is supposed to be west of Albion...so there's a limited number of options, which excludes the continent.

And, keep in mind, the geography of the otherworld is a bit off...after all, Albion is Great Britain magnified to huge size. It's possible that there might be an inverse relationship to size as it regards N. America.

Also, Georgia was used as a penal colony for GB (debtors, mostly), and many condmened Jacobites from Scotland found themselves shipped to Virginia and the Carolinas.

[LadyofAlbion]

thegrimmsleeper said:

I too was miffed about the death of Silver Hand, until I saw the entire thing as being analogous to Christ's sacrifice. It then struck me how brilliant the trilogy was, and with each read-through I find more symbolism and more tie-ins to this theme. Some are likely happenstance but I think most are intentional.

This is why I wondered about Llew going gack to Albion. Since he is a Christ figure, it seems that he would be able to go back.

[twyrch]

LadyofAlbion said:

This is why I wondered about Llew going gack to Albion. Since he is a Christ figure, it seems that he would be able to go back.

By returning back, he created a paradox... the endless knot. To return, Doc Brown said it best in Back to the Future II... "the encounter could create a time paradox, the results of which could start a chain reaction that wold unravel the very fabric of the space time continuum, and destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's a worse case senario. The destruction might in fact be very localized, limited to our own galaxy."

Seriously though... I feel that his return would unmake the land he had just made whole... he sacrificed himself for Albion.