Thinking about Manawydan, Bendigeidfran and Branwen today and how they all must've felt to have their lives upended by the carnage again Matholwch's steeds their half-brother - slighted, hot-tempered, bitter Efnisien - committed.
Do you think they realised when the grooms brought the news, or did they have an inkling before then? Did they hear the steeds' screams but just dismissed them as being the howls of the sea or an owl? Do you think Branwen knew Matholwch was an abusive man after she was greeted with cold silences from him once she'd awoken, or do you think she only found out after they returned to Ireland? Did she foresee the destruction her summons would cause lot before she made the plea?
Do you think Bendigeidfran had an inkling of his demise at the hands of a poisoned speartip? Did the ravens whisper it to him? Crowed it in his ear alongside visions of his head being cut off, being buried, being dug up in a hubristic fit by a King who'd perish in battle just as he'd done. Did he give Matholwch the Pair Dadeni as a gift without thinking about the consequences, or did he know of them - of the conflict that might ignite - because he was the son of the sea and the sea knows all?
And Manawydan. Do you think he knew he'd be the only one of his siblings left behind? That he'd have no home to go back to, no kingdom, no family? Did his perceptiveness fail him, his kingship now in tatters?
(Do you think he blamed himself for hailing Matholwch back once the Irish boats had crashed back into the tide, steadily sailing away without their bride? And yet... he still persuaded the Irish king to return because his older brother, his lord wanted to build a bridge?)
