I think this is one of the best things about making RU-vid videos because when I said that sentence this thought didn't even cross my mind haha. Times were definitely different - but luckily enough because of that we got this amazing series.
These days, it takes a masters degree to become a priest. Back in the day, it would have been a bachelor's degree, but a bigger one, probably an extra year or two in college.
He wanted to be a priest when he was still like 13 in 1937 or so. This was still in the great depression when his father a stockbroker was bankrupted by the market crash. He was attending public school now instead of a private quaker school and his parents could not afford to send their 13-year-old to private divinity school. So, it wasn't a one or the other situation be a priest or go to college. He graduated from high school at age 16 in 1940 so he still had three years until he went to college. He went to West Chester State Teachers College for one semester a college owned by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. So, a public state college. In the 1940s it was very cheap to attend college in general compared to our costs now and even cheaper back than versus a private divinity school.
I was fortunate enough to meet Lloyd Alexander before his passing, and it is one of my happiest memories that I was able to convey to him how much his books meant to my childhood. I was working in Springfield, PA (a suburb of Philadelphia, and Mr. Alexander lived for much of his years in Drexel Hill, another suburb of the city) at the Borders Books & Music in the early 2000's. Working at the register when this small gentleman with a mad wisp of dandelion fluff white hair and very impressive nose came up to purchase a DVD of WWII battles. This was back in the day when you handed the cashier your credit card and they compared signatures to what was on the back of the card, so out of habit I look at the name as he's signing away. Already in awe, I ask him "Are you Lloyd Alexander... the author?" He looks up at me with a sly smile, before faux stumbling back and clutching at his chest while looking around for the friend who accompanied him. "Someone knows who I am!" It was a quick meeting, but I will never forget it in all of my years.
"There is more honor in a field well plowed than in one drenched in blood." I am working on a farm, and when hoeing the rows of garlic, I sometimes remember the words of an old turnip-farmer named Coll. When I thrilled to the tales of Prydain it always struck me as odd, because I was caught up in the excitement of battle and heroic derring-do. Wanting, like Taran, to follow the way of the sword, and never considering that it might find myself walking the path of Dorath or Morgant or Pryderi. I have 20 times as many garlic plants as the Spartans who stood with Leonidas and they defy the elements much longer than the single day the Spartans held off the Persians. But I don't think anything could have convinced my younger self of the wisdom of Coll's words. That is how the architecture of a young man's mind works. I tend to think that in any decade Hollywood would miss the point of Lloyd Alexander, what makes Prydain different from Tolkien's great kingdoms of Middle Earth or Lewis and the house of Pevensey. That was true in the eighties, probably the nineties, and I worry would be doubly true in the current year.
It reminds me of the conclusion that Voltaire comes to at the end of Candide--where Candide and Cunegonde realize that chasing foolish dreams is nothing compared to a simple life well lived. And of course I'm playing in my head Leonard Bernstein's adaptation of that scene from Candide with the song: "Make Our Garden Grow".
Could you explain what sets Alexander apart from, say, Tolkien? Tolkien certainly didn't glorify the way of the sword, and also expressed a fondness for peaceful soil-tilling.
@Easttowest45 Tolkien's wise enchanter is Gandalf, who keeps visiting the Shire to lead members of the Baggins family on great adventures and deeds of derring-do, which eventually lead to Bag end passing out of the family and into the hands of the gardener. Gandalf leads troops into battle like the bishop in Roland. He has no home of his own, but Saruman another member of his order has a great tower. Alexander's wise enchanter is Dallben, who does not seek adventure and does not ride to battle but stays throughout the books in his cottage, accompanied by a turnip farmer and an assistant pig-keeper, except when they ride off on adventures, but we understand the specifics of their vocation better than we do master Samwise. "Two strongholds have long stood against the Lord of Annuvin: a golden castle and a farmer's cottage." When a minor king, Pryderi comes to steal Dallben's life, and his great tome, the Book of Three, he taunts Dallben "You cannot do what the lowest warrior can do, you cannot kill." But there is a sense that Dallben's vocation, like that of Irish monks whose Celtic vision of the Trinity forbids them from taking life, is still meaningful, at least in a land never enslaved by Roman-style military discipline. Because he stays close to home, we never see Dallben fall into the doubt and anger that Gandalf does "Fool of a Took." "There never was much hope." There are other aspects of world-building as well. The feminine is more powerful abd independent in Alexander, the three weird sisters, still weave the cloth of fate. They are much more pagan and outside society than Galadriel. Rohan and Gondor in Middle Earth are much bigger and older than the patchwork of dozens of petty kingdoms in Prydain. The gradient between King and commoner isn't as big in Alexander. It's not just class, it's also morality where the divide is less stark. Especially in the fourth book, Taran has many adventures which don't revolve around slaughtering legions of orcs like in Tolkien, or mythical monsters like Beowulf or the Greek heroes. I read the Mabinogion, though I don't know it well, but stories about lame ants and forest creatures aren't things I remember from Tolkien. It is the Celtic fringe at a stage in society when they had more in common with native Americans than Mediterranean Europe or Londinium did within recorded history. Now that may also be because Tolkien's books treat "The great War of the ring" and the battle against Annuvin is only the last book of five. The fourth book was not part of Alexander's original vision but I feel that that one, in which "the little Robin must scratch for his own worms" without Coll, Dallben, or Gwydion to give advice is a large part of why I feel the way I do. Meeting the craftsmen (and women) of the free Commots, and that the return of lost skill and knowledge for yeoman and craftsmen rather than simply the restoration of King Aragorn bridegroom of an Elf princess.
@@vernonchow2032Absolutely, Taran Wanderer is the book that exposes the true heart of the series for me, and it would still be amazing without that book… but not, I think, truly great.
@@keithtorgersen9664 I think they are intended as a Celtic version of the Norns. The Triple Goddess is probably the closest Celtic figure, and thinking about it matches pretty well.
Honesty, one of the things I love about this series is how you see Taran grow and develop; it's quite subtle most of the time, and you might only really notice it when you read the whole thing back-to-back. In "The Book of Three" he's actually quite childish, and reading as an adult, you have to remind yourself that he's still just a kid. In "The Black Cauldron" he's brash, and full of pride and insecurity, but you start to see the hints of maturity in his decisions by the end. Through "The Castle of Llyr" you see his motivations have changed - pride and expectation are practically absent from his decision-making, and he is driven by his concern for the people he loves. In "Taran Wanderer" he sets out on a quest, but for knowledge and self-discovery, rather than glory, and he eagerly sets himself to learning trades that he would have dismissed as innocuous at the start of the series. Finally, in "The High King", he becomes a leader, gratefully taking advice from his companions and making decisions not for himself or his friends, but the entire world. If you read through it, the progression is slow, and you don't see a massive change in Taran across any individual book, but the stubborn, whiny boy we meet in "The Book of Three" is scarcely recognisable in the thoughtful and serious man we leave at the end of "The High King".
Hey, nice to have a Welsh person on my channel! I don't doubt you! I'm going off Llyod Alexander's usage of it he made a pronunciation guide for many of the names that appear in the book, and he gives the same pronunciation for Prydain that I use! Alexander's pronunciation guide can be found online. Pronunciation is always scary!
@@Happyland1971 it may be what the author has said about His work and he is entitled to say so about His work but when the inspiration (and Exact spelling) comes from the Welsh language and Welsh Mythos then i have a duty to combat misinformation
That’s kind of neat to learn about the pronunciation. I just checked with Google Translate and, sure enough, the Welsh word “Prydain,” is pronounced (prih-DINE). Thank you for sharing that!
The Chronicles of Prydain was my first introduction to the world of heroic fantasy at the age of ten. I can't overstate how influential this series was to my development and outlook as i got older.
What happened? The same thing that happened to Marvel and Star Wars....DISNEY. Ugh. Disney is where fantasy franchises go to die. I read this in middle school. So fantastic. Went form here to Dragon Lance and on from there.
So cool to see other people into Dragonlance (Dunno if you saw but I actually covered that on the channel!) Well although we'll see if Disney manages to do the series the justice it deserves, I wouldn't mind a video game version
I reread these books at leas half-a-dozen times as a kid and loved the Sierra video game too - gotta agree that Taran Wanderer is the most poignant of the five books, I love the classic high fantasy of the other books but the more character-centred narrative and the difficult situations and choices Taran has to deal with really resonated with me and I can still remember the book clearly 40 years later... I really enjoyed the somewhat darker Westmark series as well, those and the entertaining The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha were the only Alexander books available in my local library, sadly I never encountered any other of his books... He really was a peerless children's author.
The Black Cauldron game was made by Sierra On-Line, and the writer / main designer of the game, Roberta Williams, was a fan of the novels, so it was somewhat truer than the movie itself to the source material (it was licensed as an adaptation of the movie). I read the books in my teens, but sought them out because (a) I had vague memories of seeing the movie at the drive-in, and (b) had the game on floppy disc. Since Disney did not release it on VHS, I sought out the books instead. No regrets.
Cool to know about the video game! I'm jealous that you have the original floppy. Glad you found your way to the books, just hope one day we get another game in the series
Never played Black Cauldron, don't even have specific memories of the film or books. But I remember noting how much of King's Quest III seemed to be homage of some sort. Alexander of Llewdor?
buddy got done kinda dirty in the Disney version, though they all kinda did, not like they could cram a book series worth of character development into one animated kids movie
@exitsexamined Not that I can think of off the top of my head. That's why Prydain is so fascinating! The best I could think of is traditional versions of Arthurian Legends, but that has some Old French and Gaelic admixture. Susan Cooper's "Dark is Rising" looks like a Welsh backdrop.
With Hollow Wood traipsing through with DIE? Do you WANT a race/gender-swapped Taran of Cair Dalbin? You'd think after the failed Distard movie from the 80's, the Prydain fans would have learned their lesson.
I really don’t want this, if only because Taran is never physically described, so anyone, or at least anyone who thinks or has thought of themselves as a boy, can more easily imagine themselves in his place. Either no one should be able to cosplay as Taran, or anyone should. Make yourself a cloak and a sword and wear them, and carry an ugly little pot you made and love, and you’re as much of a Taran as anyone.
@@muddlewait8844 I hear ya. Would like to see more adaptations of Welsh stories sometimes and Prydain is more or less based or inspired by Welsh folktales.
@@muddlewait8844 anyone can cosplay as any character, no matter who or what they look like. Anyone can identify with any character, no matter who or what we look like. What we look like is probably the least interesting thing about us.
I was a little older when I first discovered the book series, after having watched The Black Cauldron when it came out. I was 13 at the time and my 4 year old brother loved the movie so much, so we ended up watching it a lot. Eventually I learned the source material from the credits and pretty soon thereafter, I randomly found the book series at the local LA Public Library branch. I devoured those books and to this day, it's the only piece of literature that has ever made me cry. I then borrowed the books again for my brother, once he got old enough to read more advanced books, and he fell in love with the series too. We bonded heavily over that over the years and even now as adults at both ends of our thirties. Knowing now that Lloyd Alexander cried writing the same part of the story that cried at hits me hard.
Good on you for putting in the work to find the source material! Disney should have done a better job of acknolwdeding the books in the movie. It's amazing how these books can bring people closer. And I think alot of us felt the same as Alexander after going through all of Taran's adventures...
@@exitsexamined Well, if Disney had simply changed the names of Taran and Eilonwy (and whatever that fuzzy thing was they claimed was supposed to have been Gurgi), they could have gotten away with not citing Alexander's name at all. It's so utterly unlike the source material Alexander wouldn't have had a plagiarism case. The only good thing about the movie is that a few people discovered five of the best books ever written after watching it.
Reading west mark right now, I honestly hope we never get another Prydain book because 1.The story is over 2.Lloyd has been dead for years, so he can’t write a new book.
These books, alongside playing Zelda games, sparked and cemented my love of Fantasy throughout life. The Black Cauldron was my favorite Disney movie to watch for a long time, and I only found out about the books much later, in 4th grade. My friend handed me a book he'd been reading and told me he thought I'd like it. It was The High King, which opens with an interaction between Taran and Gurgi. My mind was blown realizing that there were more stories and adventures to be experienced than the same movie I'd seen countless times. I spent a lot of time in the school library that year reading The Chronicles of Prydain, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. Great memories. Also, hard agree with the best book being Taran Wanderer. That one was my favorite right from the first read through the series.
I was wandering around my middle school library when I found an old blue book titled "The High King" and saw that it was part of a five book story. It was my first real step into fantasy novels and I loved every second of it. I read the Chronicles of Pyrdain long before I ever picked up Lord of the Rings or The Wheel of Time and it holds a very special place in my heart even about 20 years after I read it.
My whole family grew up with these books. Had them on our shelves, reread them constantly. If you enjoyed them, you should check out Tamora Pierce’s books Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, The Circle, The Circle Opens, and such good storybuilding. One of my favorites is the series The Provost’s Dog, a magical police drama set in the fantasy medieval world all her books inhabit. It follows a young woman as she makes it through the police academy and how that would have to work in a world with magic, monarchies, and thieves guilds. It’s masterfully written. If you haven’t read any of them, I would really encourage you to. I alternated between Lloyd Alexander and Tamora Pierce for most of my young adult and teen years and still go back to reread them all!
It was my second fantasy series and I absolutely loved it. I am so thankful I found it in a second hand book store. Redwall was my first fantasy series.
My local Pizza Hut franchise had a deal set up with my high school in which if you read books, you got a certain amount of points. I discovered the "The Black Cauldron", which had a high point value and I vaguely remembered the Disney animated movie. I read it and loved every single page. My middle school didn't have "The Book of Three" or "Taran Wanderer", but I read the other two as soon as I could figure what they were. And, I enjoyed some free tasty pizza of questionable health value. Ah, public schools in the south in the 90s.
One of the greats. I remember the last book was the first to ever make me cry. As a child the choice seemed incredibly harsh and unfair. As an adult it (and the themes of the 4th book) seem incredibly realistic and human.
Thanks for recognizing this series - I loved these books as a kid. The ones I read had the covers shown at 4:10 - so great to see them again! For that reason, Taran will always have black hair to me.(don't remember how he was described in the book - as a kid, art always made more of an impression 😁)
Those cover designs might be my favorite versions. It is interesting to see how his character design was represented in the various covers across the years
I was in high school when Disney first dug The Black Cauldron out of the vault. I enjoyed it, but a friend of mine who had read the books and was less than enthused about how they were adapted convinced me to read the series. I'm glad I discovered Prydain in this order because I don't know if I could have ever enjoyed the movie otherwise. XD But to this day I've got the books sitting happily on my shelves, one of my favorite series. Thanks for covering it!
That makes sense, probably would have felt the same. I'm jealous you have the entire series on the shelf! Did you check out any of Alexanders other works or the side stories of pydrian?Thanks for watching!
I loved this series growing up. Westmark was very important to me as an older child as well. I am just outside of the age range for Harry Potter to have meant much to me and I didn't read LOTR until I was an adult so when I think of the most important fantasy books of my youth, it was Prydain, Westmark, Narnia (for the most part), and Dragonlance. Edited: I forgot to add L'Engle's Time Quintet. Unforgivable error!
Hey sounds like we had very similar childhoods! So cool to see other people into Dragonlance (Dunno if you saw but I actually covered that on the channel!) How was Westmark, especially compared to Prydain? I only listened to snippets of it on Audiobook for this video - but I'm considering checking it out more
I hit me at the right time, I never had the books until later, so I picked up the first book when I was about 11-12 and the last when I was 13-14. In particular, Taran Wanderer hit me in that transition between being too old for everything I had known up to that point and too young for everything else.
I vaguely remember seeing my brother read The Book of Three at some point when I was young. I think I was aware of the Black Cauldron Disney movie, but didn't see it at the time. I actually read the last book, The High King, first. It was on the shelf in my Junior High Reading class at school, and I borrowed it to read, not realizing that it was the last book in the series. I really enjoyed it and I think for a time it was a big influence on my view of fantasy tropes (I didn't actually read Lord of the Rings till I was in college). It wasn't till years after that that I went back to read the series from the start. Also went back to watch the Disney movie. I liked it, it was fun, though I can see its flaws as both a mass-market disney movie and as an interpretation of the books. Pretty clear the Disney movie is what killed further adaptations. Lord of the Rings was able to get its big movies after a series of questionable adaptations, but it was such a bigger deal overall than Prydain, it was inevitable that someone would pick that up and try it again. But with Dune being given a second try... maybe Prydain has a chance. Would love to see the Horned King on the big screen.,
I think if that one day happens, that might be the first time I would be obsessing over the casting. If they do my girl Eilonwy like they did the Witcher, I swear
Another absolutely FANTASTIC book by Alexander is Outcast. One of the most memorable books I've ever read. It follows the story of a young Briton boy, growing up in tribal society before being captured and enslaved by Romans and spirited away to his new life in the drastically foreign and dynamic Roman colonies. I cannot overstate how good this book is, and the characters and dialogue in it is as good as any of his works. I cannot recommend this book enough for history nerds who want to dive into a unique historical perspective, narrative driven readers who love GREAT characters and arcs, or even casual readers looking to pick up something interesting and fun. Alexander's character and narrative writing shines in this book, and it should be remembered as one of his great works.
I don't think people should ever scoff at something just because they're considered to be "children's novels" some of the best books out there are "children's novels" take The Wind in the Willows, for example, despite being for kids that book has some pretty deep themes that you can appreciate even when reading it for the first time as an adult, same goes for The Hobbit. As C.S Lewis used to say "Just because we can drink beer now, it doesn't mean we need to leave lemonade behind"(paraphrased)
I've been meaning to read the books for some time. I actually enjoy the movie for what it is; a flawed gem. I'd like to see Disney take another crack at it. But hopefully not for a few more years. At least until Bob Iger and his cronies have gone the way of the Dodo. He may have some honest intentions to course-correct (though I doubt he wants to even if he could get rid of his politically obsessed appointees). But, quite frankly, I no longer trust Iger and his current management not to...um... PUT A CHICK IN IT! MAKE HER LAME AND GAY!!!
Great video, though, I'd say it's more of a Dark Ages setting than a classic Middle Ages setting, such as Song of Ice and Fire. And speaking of George R.R. Martin, while the Chronicles of Prydain are never quite that dark and have none of the sex and way less explicit violence, it's still pretty dark for mid-grade fiction and the betrayals by Morgant, Magg, and, in particular, Pryderi, are right up there with the Red Wedding in how it messed with me. Great stuff.
Wow… a Disney I.P. whose original source has a naturally strong female character they don’t have to shoehorn in?! This is beyond lazy. This is just incompetent
Wow… a Disney I.P. whose original source has a naturally strong female character they don’t have to shoehorn in?! This is beyond lazy. This is just incompetent
Great video! Maybe this is off in right field here but I've always loved this book series and I also play a game called Dungeons and Dragons. Anywho, in my world building for DnD I've definitely taken elements of Prydain and lovingly used them in the game. I like to think of it as a way to pay a bit of honer to his writing.
I think it's a modern trope that women characters in the past were by default all damsels in distress. I would blame Hollywood as it has had a powerful hold on our collective knowledge and was good in reinforcing this view.
I agree to a certain amount! I think my main point was it was rare to see a female character at that time in fantasy (or even now) with so much raw personality. Eilonwy is in a league her own.
Thank you. I very much enjoyed the black cauldron. And had no idea where they got it from. I love token, dungeons, and dragons, all other forms of fantasy. I will now begin looking for these books..
@@exitsexaminedme! I learned about this book series from a Disney-watching podcast (Dis-Order) that I’m in the middle of. I love The Black Cauldron and enjoying reading it.
They did my man Fflewder so wrong in that movie… (as well as everyone else but yeah). I discovered Taran Wanderer while waiting for jury duty. (The courthouse had a small bookshelf and I was unprepared.) It was enthralling! So I read the whole series, and Taran Wanderer is still my favorite. Though The Black Cauldron was also really good.
That's so true he deserved so much better then being an old man comic relief. And sounds like a great escape from jury duty, I'll have to try that haha
When I was a kid in the 70s there were only four fantasy series for kids in our library (Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising, Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, and Prydain - you gotta remember in the 1960s and 70s there was a whole "kids books need to be grounded in 'real life'" thing going on). And wow, did Prydain blow me away. Taran Wanderer is still one of the most profound and impactful books I'd ever read. On the one hand, I'd love for someone to make Prydain into a movie or streaming series. Flamm burning his harp would nail everyone as hard as Sam carrying Frodo up Mount Doom. On the other hand I've seen too many streaming adaptations . . . I hate for Prydain to get the Wheel of Time/Rings of Power treatment. But "what ever happened to the Chronicles of Prydain" is kinda the opposite of when I was a kid. It's now just another (old) fantasy series competing for space on bookshelves flooded with books like Harry Potter or Redwall or Percy Jackson or Crestomancy or the Magical School of Good and Evil - and libraries and bookstores only have so much shelf space (that are biased to more modern books).
That was the Big Four of the influential fantasy series which dared to reach out to children and young adults and impart some fine life lessons in the form of thrilling adventures and the confrontations of definite Good and Evil. I read them all, collected them all, enjoyed them all.
We read the first book in school in 6th grade. I bought and read the rest and it set off a long love of fantasy literature. *spoilers* It's interesting how American the story of Taran Wanderer is. He sets out to find himself by learning about his ancestors/family. But he ultimately develops his sense of identify and self-worth based upon his own actions and choices rather than by anything his ancestors did. He grows up, finds his moral core, learns who his real friends are. It's really interesting because so many others would have gone with "you are the long lost son of the true king!" as the message. How different from, for example, the story of Aragorn in LOTR (not saying either is bad, just how different) where it's super important that he can trace his lineage to the dawn of elves and men.
100% agree, that deconstruction of the hero trope is such a surprisignly unique take in the fantasy genre and it really worked well with Taran's character development especially considering the earlier titles
Had a dreamlike childhood memory of seeing The Black Cauldron in the theater....my parents got me a picture book and audio tape set so I knew I did not imagine the movie. Disney did not release it again until I was in college.....this makes me want to check out the source material
I found the first two of these in a closet as a kid and read them so many times, but I'd never been able to find the others. I really should go find them now that I can like ... buy things off the internet
Disney could have their own Lord of the Rings series if they adapted the Prydain Chronicles as a film epic adaptation. These days though I don’t know if they’d manage to do it justice since they kind of do halfassed Disney+ stuff when they don’t believe in it or promote it properly. I adore the books though and think they deserve so much more than what we got. I like the Black Cauldron but it pales in comparison to the books.
Agree - I think Alexander summed it up perfectly when he said the Black Cauldron film was enjoyable but not really related to the books. I guess it is good in a way that Disney has it since if Netflix or Hbo had it, I'd be horrified if they Game of Thrones'd it haha. Not that GOT is bad, just a much different vibe
@@exitsexamined I agree I think that it would be a betrayal to Lloyd Alexander’s work to make it anything other than an all ages feature cause he made the Prydain Chronicles something specifically to introduce kids to magic legends like he had when he was little with his interests in Arthurian legends.
There were so many amazing quotes from these books and a lot of them are just pears of wisdom."″‘In some cases,’ he said, ‘we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.‘
I cant believe this just popped on my youtube feed. Im literelly reading this series right now. Ive came across this book set on a thrift store and was wondering why was the price 17 dollars then i looked it up and saw it went for more than that thankfully i got it or 7 dollars and i dont regret buying this book set.
These books felt like a Hidden Gem even when I found them in 6th grade and I'm so grateful that my school library had the entire Chronicles. I'll be honest I don't want Disney to touch these works at all. They have proven less than Stellar to be very very kind when it comes to every other property they've touched that I grew up with. Lloyd Alexander was a master, in this video brought a smile to my soul. Thank you.
My favorite of his books is "The Truthful Harp"--just fun! Lloyd Alexander was a fantastic writer. He won bunches of awards, with the most notable being the Newbery for best children's book of 1969 for "The High King." As a librarian, he had a special place for me because he helped start "Cricket" magazine, a literary magazine for children. He was the best!
The Truthful Harp is such a great addition and Alexander is amazing. i had no idea about the Cricket magazine, I'll have to add that to the description! Did you have a subscription to the magazine? How was it?
@@exitsexamined It is a literary magazine for kids--upper elementary, pretty much. Great stories, great illustrations! Really high quality. They also have added several other magazines to the list targeted at different ages and interests, but Cricket was the flagship.
It's been over 25 years since I last read the series, and a lot of it is foggy in my memory, but the Cauldron Born stopping in their tracks, even just briefly when facing King Math still resonates.
I really love the Chronicles of Prydain. They are right at the top of my list of favorite books. I reread them a couple years ago.The thing is both "Prydain" and "Albion" or long standing names of Great Britain. They are also used in the writings of Stephen Lawhead. Off this subject, have anyone read the Tripod series? My favorite of the John Christopher series is "The White Mountains."
Prydain is a little messier, as it came to refer specifically to the territory of the Britons later on, as distinct from the Caledonians (and possibly the Hen Ogledd as well).
Recently went through all of these for the first time, got a huge commute and audiobooks are my go-to entertainment. They’re obviously geared toward a younger audience but it’s no less an amazing story with wonderful characters and life lessons. Also, now anytime I’m speaking for my dogs, I preface everything with “Yes! Yeeeessss!!”
I reread or relisten to the entire series at least twice a year. There is also a wonderful Prydain Companion that compiles all the information from the books.
You should! I gained a great appreciation for Alexander from this video. I'd also check out Time Cat, it's fascinating to see his early works. Have you read all the books from Prydain? Even the side stories like the foundling are great
@@exitsexamined I've only read The book of three thru The high king and that was a long time ago. Until this video I did not know the foundling even existed.
I loved these novels as a child and still enjoyed them when rereading them as an adult. Like Mr. Alexander, I too, cried at the end of The High King; a testament to how "real" the characters felt to me at that point. I would dearly love to see these made into live action movies but am not sanguine as to the quality said movies would exhibit.
Going through all the books with the characters together, the end was tough. I agree it would take a really special team who appreciates the source material to make a movie that would capture the magic, but in the meantime we always have the books
When I was a kid I picked up The Book of Three from the library and fell in love with the books very quickly and read all four of the original books. I had no idea the Disney movie existed until much later. I still haven't seen it. 😂
So cool you got into the series as a kid! And maybe it's best to not watch the movie or just go in with the mindset that it's not really like the books haha. Have you reread any of the books as an adult? They're great!
This was my favorite series as a kid. I read them every 5 years. They are fantastic. I know Disney had the rights to them recently for a live action. I am glad that is not happening. Disney will ruin this.
10:30 Nice to see some love for the game! I personally think it's one of the best game adaptations that no one remembers. In particular, all the branching plot paths were practically unheard of at the time. It was possible to almost perfectly recreate the story of the movie, or you can do things totally differently. That was impressively complicated design for 1986! Too bad it will never ever get a rerelease and now only lives on as abandonware.
You know that's a great point about it being one of the first games with branching paths. I remember when I came across that I was really shocked because it is an older game. Who knows with the rerelease, can always hope someone in the modding community does something with it!
I do like this book series [it's even been inspiration for me], and I love The Black Cauldron. But the Prydain fans constantly bashing on The Black Cauldron movie while either ignoring or bashing the good parts has slightly soured my opinion of the books. I also didn't quite care for the book versions of Dallben and Eilonwy. Dallben just felt cold [he and Coll didn't even bother to search for Taran during The Book Of Three and Taran Wanderer, and the titular Book of Three is not an excuse], and while I admit Taran did deserve some [key word: some] of her comments in the books, Eilonwy often went too far IMO and I feel like she and Taran should have stayed just friends. And I really despise the ending: where 99.9% of the cast leaves, and magic leaves Prydain. It feels very anti-magic and very much against the fun spirit of typical fiction books. At least with Lord Of The Rings, some of the magic stayed, even if the cast left. Also, am I the only one who thinks the books are very mean-spirited towards Taran? I get he is reckless and makes mistakes, but I think sometimes the stories get really harsh and cruel.
In The Black Cauldron's defense, this was not the only film that didn't go by the books. If The Fox and the Hound went by the books, it would've been really violent and heartbreaking. Yet, The Fox and the Hound is a really good movie the way it is. Imo, The Chronicles of Prydain has more action, details, and way more characters than what Disney used for The Black Cauldron. They're both awesome in their own ways, but if I were to compare the 2, the book series are better. If Disney wants to remake the movie by all 5 books instead of 2 pressing into a 1 hr 22m movie, then I'd gladly watch. Even if they release the uncut version that Joe Hale has, I would also gladly watch.
The books are really FANTASTIC, but I also love The Black Cauldron movie, and I get really annoyed when people bash on it because it's not 100 precent like the books. It's actually beginning to sour my opinion on the original Prydain books because of that. There's actually a few things in the movie I like better then the books, for example, although Eilonwy still stands up against Taran when he says something wrong, she doesn't constantly insult him like in the books [I know Taran does deserve it sometimes, but other times Eilonwy feels outright mean], and Gurgi's sacrifice actually felt earned unlike Elidyr. Elidyr was a huge jerk to Taran and kept getting him into trouble, even with the allies, so I didn't feel any sympathy for Elidyr at the end of the book. Gurgi in the movie on the other hand, you could see he was lonely and he did feel regret, making his sacrifice and revival feel earned. I also don't care for the ending with almost everyone just leaving [I have this issue with Tolkien too], especially Dallben. He's Taran's adoptive dad and knows full well Taran doesn't know how to be a king yet, he should at least give him some advice before leaving. I do wonder how different and much better a Cosgrove Hall TV Series of Prydain would've been, given their excellent Wind In The Willows TV Show?
Wow… a Disney I.P. whose original source has a naturally strong female character they don’t have to shoehorn in?! This is beyond lazy. This is just incompetent
My favourite series of all! I watched The Black Cauldron for the first time in 1998 when it was released for the first time on VHS here in Italy and I fell in love with it! It took me 10 years to find the books because they were out of print here. Now I have two versions: one from the '80, bought through ebay, and the new one published two years ago (FINALLY!) which contains all six volumes.
@@exitsexamined Italian. Unfortunately it's a common thing with fantasy books here. It's a genre that Italian publishers do not like very much, unless it is Tolkien or something that has really sold too much to be ignored. I have lost count of the number of famous series abroad of which they have translated only the first volume. In fact, the volume of short stories of Prydain had never been translated until the new edition came out in 2022... and now I'm happy with the complete series!
I found Taran Wanderer first, and fell in love with it, then went back and read the whole series when I realized it was a series. It was one of the first boxed sets of books I ever bought for myself, and the cover of the Black Cauldron was the Disney artwork, which was how I found out about the Disney movie. I was pretty disappointed when I finally watched that, but I would LOVE to see a more mature adaptation of this series.
Hey! So interesting that you read Taran Wanderer first! Did it make sense as a stand alone? And yeah I think the best way is to watch the Black Cauldron before reading the novels to keep your expectations low haha
@@exitsexamined Take this with a grain of salt, since it was back in I think 1995 when I read it? But I seem to remember following the story okay, but feeling like I was missing some things. LOL When I read the entire series through, it was like, "oh yup! I was definitely missing some things." And The Black Cauldron (novel) still makes me cry every time I read it. LOL
I've working on a series of books about an anthropomorphic fox who is a prince in hiding, and the Prydain series and the King Arthur myths have been inspirations. Obviously, I'm making my stories more unique, but I am trying to learn from the strengths and flaws from other medieval time-based stories. I do know I do not want it to end like either the Prydain stories or the King Arthur myths. Speaking of Arthur, I would love to see you cover how King Arthur's myths have been adapted over the years, some a lot looser than others.
Lloyd Alexander and the Prydain Chronicles are genuine treasures and while I strongly desire for them to be more recognized as such, they should not be sullied by modern media adaptations, which would inevitably butcher the reputations of both. Spread the word that they're amazing.
Well it sounds like Disney is sitting on gold here but I don’t expect them to make a a single good decision. And if they do get to making it I’m 100% certain they’ll bastardize it
Pray it never gets picked up for at least 10 more years. The current movie industry is so over blow and rotten that what they would make would butcher every aspect of this series. Producers will change everything to the point of it will be just bland sludge. Thank you for introducing me to this book series though.
Interesting! I think I read the first of Prydain, as well as Time Cat, ages ago, but don't remember them. I guess I'll have to give this author another try soon!
This book series deserves a second chance especially that the movie deserves a remake because I have 3 choices for the Horned king first choice Willem Defoe, second Andy Serkis and the third being Christian Bale if you have seen Thor 4.
I remember reading those books as a kid (I think my dad had an omnibus copy that had all the books compiled). I still think about the series sometimes, there's bits of it that stuck with me into my adult life. They're kind of profoundly wise novels in ways that I only partially understood as a child and only really appreciated after I grew into adulthood.
I go back and forth on this. I mean there are good adaptions out there in the world. If the right people can get behind it, it can be an amazing thing. Did you see George RR's recent quote about this? Basically saying how they always try to change it from the source material
@exitsexamined yeah I mean you will always have to adapt the source material for the new medium. But modern Hollywood is, and this is how I interpret Martin's comments, operating with this mentality that they will do it better. So adaptations like Fran Walsh and lotr are seeming more and more rare. Where as adaptations like rings of power more and more the norm. It's particularly disheartening when we take into account Game of thrones and how great the series was when the dialogue and material was coming from Martin as opposed to whatever nonsense hollywood vame up with in later seasons.
