Llew and Gronw’s enmity

Llew and Gronw’s enmity turns a concealed betrayal into a public contest over justice, land, and the right to rule. Gronw learns from Blodeuwedd how Llew might be killed, uses that knowledge to attack him, and takes his territory. Restored by Gwydion, Llew refuses payment for the injury and demands that Gronw stand where he had stood and face an answering strike. Their conflict ends at the River Cynvael, where a slab meant to protect Gronw becomes the enduring marker of his defeat.

From Disclosure to Conspiracy

Gronw’s attack depends on intimate knowledge rather than open challenge. When he seeks to leave Blodeuwedd, he urges her to speak fully with Llew under the guise of love and discover how he might die. On Llew’s return, Blodeuwedd asks about the conditions of his death while presenting herself as concerned for his safety. Llew explains that he cannot easily be killed: the spear that could wound him must take a year to make, and its making is restricted to Sundays. He also describes the unusual circumstances in which an attacker could strike him: a bath beside a river, covered by a tightly thatched roof, with a buck brought beside it. He would have to place one foot on the buck and the other on the bath’s edge.

Blodeuwedd passes this knowledge to Gronw, who works on the spear until it is ready a year later. The scheme makes the intimacy of Llew’s disclosure its means of undoing him. What appears to be a conversation about care instead supplies the precise conditions for an attack, and the year spent making the weapon turns that betrayal into a deliberate plan.

Attack and Loss of Power

Blodeuwedd prepares the bath and invites Llew to inspect it. When he enters, bathes, and steps out, she has a buck brought to him. As he takes the position he had described, Gronw rises from Bryn Kyvergyr and throws the poisoned spear. Llew is struck and rises in the form of an eagle with a fearful cry; from then on, he is no longer seen. Gronw and Blodeuwedd go to the palace together, and Gronw takes possession of Ardudwy. After overcoming the land, he rules there, extending his sway over Penllyn as well.

The attack therefore removes Llew from view while transferring his political authority to Gronw. It does not, however, settle the conflict. Gwydion searches for his nephew, finds him in eagle form, and restores him with his magic wand. Llew is brought to Caer Dathyl, where physicians treat him; before the year ends, he is fully healed. His return changes the balance between the two men: Gronw’s occupation of the land is no longer secure, and Llew can pursue not merely recovery but retribution.

Reparation on Llew’s Terms

When Llew says he is ready to seek retribution, Math son of Mathonwy affirms that Gronw cannot retain what belongs to Llew. Llew’s response is immediate: he wants his right returned without delay. The whole of Gwynedd is called together, and the company sets out for Ardudwy. Faced with Llew’s approach, Blodeuwedd flees with her maidens; Gronw withdraws to Penllyn and sends messengers to offer land, domain, gold, or silver in exchange for the injury he has caused.

Llew refuses every offered form of compensation. He requires Gronw to come to the place where Llew was when struck, while Llew stands where Gronw had stood, and to face a dart thrown in return. The demand makes the terms of reparation an exact reversal of the original attack: the same location and exchanged positions replace payment with personal accountability. Gronw asks whether one of his warriors, household members, or foster-brothers will take the blow in his stead. None agrees. Their refusal is remembered in the narrative as the reason they are called the third disloyal tribe.

The Slab and the End of the Feud

At the banks of the River Cynvael, Gronw stands in Llew’s former place and Llew takes the position from which Gronw had attacked him. Gronw asks to put a slab from the riverbank between himself and the blow. Llew grants this concession, but it cannot undo the symmetry of the encounter. Llew throws the dart; it pierces the slab and kills Gronw.

The slab survives with a hole through it and is called Llech Gronw. Its presence gives the feud a visible, local memorial: the object Gronw placed between himself and the consequence of his attack becomes evidence of how that consequence reached him. Llew takes possession of the land again and governs it prosperously. The narrative concludes that he thereafter rules over Gwynedd, making the end of his personal vengeance also the restoration of his political standing.