Snowdon

Snowdon appears as a rugged landmark in a journey across the Island of Britain and as the region where Lludd hides two battling dragons. Its narrative significance rests on this contrast: it is both a feature recognized from a distant dream and a secluded place where a supernatural threat is contained.

Setting and the Envoys’ Route

In the account of the Roman emperor’s dream, thirteen messengers trace the landscape he had seen. After crossing the sea to the Island of Britain, they travel across the island to Snowdon, which they identify as the rugged land of the dream. Their route continues past Anglesey to Arvon and Aber Sain, where they enter a castle and find the hall and people that complete the recognition of the emperor’s vision. Snowdon thus marks a stage in a journey that turns an imagined geography into a traversable one.

The Dragon Plague

Snowdon also belongs to the account of Lludd’s efforts to end the plagues afflicting his dominion. Llevelys explains that the island’s fearful outcry comes from two dragons of different races fighting for mastery. His instructions direct Lludd to measure the Island of Britain, locate its exact centre, and dig a pit there. Lludd is to place in it a cauldron of the best mead, cover it with satin, and watch until the dragons, exhausted from their battle, fall into the vessel and drink themselves to sleep.

The Dragons’ Imprisonment

Lludd carries out the plan at Oxford, the measured centre of the island. He watches the dragons fight, sees them fall onto the satin and sink into the cauldron, then wraps them in the covering once they have drunk the mead and fallen asleep. He carries them to the securest place he has in Snowdon and conceals them in a kistraen. The account names the spot Dinas Emreis, formerly Dinas Ffaraon. With the dragons hidden, the fierce outcry ceases in Lludd’s dominion.

Narrative Significance

Snowdon’s two appearances give it distinct functions. On the envoys’ journey it is a recognizable landmark in a sequence of places that verifies a dream; in Lludd’s story it is a place of concealment that helps bring a supernatural disturbance to an end. The dragon account also distinguishes the island’s geographical centre, where Lludd traps the creatures, from Snowdon, where he buries them. That movement—from a public, measurable centre to a secure hiding place—makes the mountain region part of the remedy, not the source, of the plague.