Alaw River

The Alaw River is the place where Branwen’s grief becomes the final loss of the Irish war: during the journey to bury Bendigeid Fran’s severed head, she dies on its banks and is buried there. The brief scene makes the river a resting place for the travelers and the setting of Branwen’s last act and burial.

Setting and Arrival

After Bendigeid Fran’s head has been cut off, seven men carry it onward, with Branwen accompanying them as the eighth. They come ashore at Aber Alaw, in Talebolyon, and sit down to rest. The river’s role in the episode is bound to this pause in the journey: it is not merely a landmark on the route but the place where the company’s passage is interrupted by Branwen’s death.

Branwen’s Death and Burial

While resting, Branwen looks toward Ireland and the Island of Britain, trying to see whether she can make them out. She laments that two islands have been destroyed because of her, then gives a loud groan and dies of a broken heart. Her death follows the catastrophe of the war, but the scene locates its immediate expression in her grief at the destruction she sees as bound to her own life.

The companions make a four-sided grave for her and bury her on the banks of the Alaw River. The burial fixes the river as the place where the journey carrying Bendigeid Fran’s head passes into mourning for Branwen herself: she is laid to rest before the surviving company continues toward Harlech.