Mabinogi Rhiannon woman of power & her kindred; literary, political, thealogical, arts, & structural perspectives

The study asks 'Who is Rhiannon?', building a portrait of her personage, through multiple perspectives across centuries. Rhiannon sources in the pioneering prose revolution Pedeir Cainc y Mabinogi, c. 1100. In this work of genius 'Mabinogi Rhiannon' develops from oral traditions through manuscripts, print format and 21stC electronics; gaining mythological, literary, and arts interpretations along with political implications. As a leading Mabinogi protagonist, Rhiannon functions as a substantial Mabinogi spine, or 'tour guide'.Three principles govern the study.1. It benefits from the 1970s/1980s paradigm shift, approaching the Mabinogi as predominantly coherent; an intricately layered literature. 'Trusting the text' is primary: commentary is ‘unfolding’, not reconstruction.Feminist perspectives, emergent in the same period, are routine.2.Multiple perspectives draw on broad, supplementary data, building not a monomyth but a mosaic of political, economic, psychological, literary, arts, mythological and structural approaches.3.The Mabinogi is regarded as invaluable Welsh heritage of international significance. Rhiannon as Welsh is respected by plentiful Welsh content: title, subtitles, key terms, and quotes.Rhiannon’s romance is deconstructed to an elite marchoges/ equestrian noblewoman of pragmatic ambitions. Her speech and acts analysis finds dominant assertiveness in her negessau /purposes, but also intense maternal vulnerability. Characteristically embedded in relationships (hybrid personal/political), Rhiannon is male oriented. Her ‘maternal dyad’ is found central to her narrative, and to Desolation aetiology.Rhiannon is presented as a Mabinogi Magician with three paradoxical hudiau/ enchantments. Rhiannon Duwies/ Goddess appears rich in thealogies: Horse-, Mother-, Sun-, Muse-, Initiation-Goddess; Descent cycle, bodhisattva, ambivalence and symbiosis.Structural analyses array a wealth of interlacings and triplicities. Modern adaptations inspire young women with Rhiannon's strength, reflecting my suggested interpretation of mabinogi as 'about the young'.Deconstruction done, Rhiannon remains romantic, a ‘strong woman’, a plausible divinity; above all a mediaeval Welsh noblewoman and a mother.