The Song of Albion Trilogy by Stephen R. Lawhead

First published:The Paradise War, 1991; The Silver Hand, 1992; The Endless Knot, 1993

Edition(s) used:The Song of Albion Trilogy. 3 vols. Nashville, Tenn.: WestBow Press, 2006

Genre(s): Novels

Subgenre(s): Alternate universe; fantasy

Core issue(s): Friendship; good vs. evil; love; myths; responsibility; spiritual warfare

Principal characters

• Lewis Gillies, an American student at Oxford, Llew and the High King in Albion
• Simon Rawnson, a rich British fellow student, Siawn Hy and Llew’s enemy in Albion
• Tegid Tathal ap Talaryant, Llew’s friend, a bard
• Prince Meldron, son of Meldryn Mawr, who usurps the throne after his father’s death
• Goewyn, the daughter of Scatha, a prophetess, and later Llew’s wife
• Professor “Nettles” Nettleton, an elderly don and a Celtic expert
• Meldryn Mawr, king of Prydain
• Ollathir, Meldryn Mawr’s chief bard
• Paladyr, Meldryn Mawr’s champion and his murderer
• Scatha (Pen-y-Cat, or Head of Battle), a woman who runs a school for warriors
• Susannah, Simon’s fiery girlfriend and eventually Lewis’s rescuer

Overview

Stephen R. Lawhead’s The Song of Albion Trilogy is the story of a young man’s venture into another world, where he attains the status of a mythical hero before returning to the time and place from which he came. The hero of the trilogy is Lewis Gillies, an American graduate student at Oxford University, where he is specializing in Celtic studies. His cynical, aristocratic friend and roommate, Simon Rawnson, who also enters the other world, becomes one of the primary villains in the Otherworld.

The first book in the series, The Paradise War, begins with a startling discovery. While scanning the newspaper at breakfast, Simon sees a photograph of an aurochs, a oxlike creature that appeared near Inverness and promptly died. Because the aurochs has long been extinct, Simon persuades Lewis to drive up to Scotland with him to investigate. At Carnwood Farm, they find a cairn with a hole in it, and Simon disappears.

When Simon does not return, Lewis drives back to Oxford. There he is approached by Professor Nettleton, a don at Merton College. Nettleton, or “Nettles,” informs Simon that the border between the worlds has become unstable, thereby imperiling everyone, because everything good in the real world depends on archetypes stored in the Otherworld. The two men travel to Scotland, only to find the cairn area occupied by a hostile group of “metaphysical archaeologists” headed by Nevil Weston. Eluding them, Simon flings himself into the Otherworld, where he soon finds himself in the midst of a battle. To Lewis’s amazement, one of the warriors is Simon, who has just killed the enemy’s champion. Simon gives Lewis the victim’s head, thus buying him acceptance into the band to which Simon belongs. It is led by Prince Meldron, the son of Meldryn Mawr, king of Prydain.

Although he still means to take Simon home with him, Lewis is sent to a school for warriors that is headed by the woman warrior Scatha. On the way, the bard Tegid Tathal teaches Lewis the language, and they become friends. After seven years, Lewis, now called Llew, is released from the school so that he can attend a gathering of bards. There Llew witnesses a demonic creature’s attack on the king’s chief bard, Ollathir, which ends with his death. Gwenllian, who is one of Scatha’s three daughters, announces that the struggle between good and evil has begun. The Phantarch, who guards the magical Singing Stones, has been killed, and the Song of Albion has been silenced. She adds that good cannot triumph until the song is restored and Silver Hand becomes the ruler.

When Llew and Tegid find the Phantarch’s body, Llew spots the Singing Stones, which the Phantarch had hidden. Llew and Tegid take the stones with them and use them to help Meldryn Mawr defeat the evil Nudd. In recognition of Llew’s contribution to his victory, Meldryn Mawr names him the king’s champion. Before Llew can intervene, the former champion, Paladyr, kills the king. Realizing that the baleful influence of Simon, now Siawn Hy, has begun to permeate the court, Llew begs him to return home, but he refuses, and Llew goes back alone.

The second book in the trilogy, The Silver Hand, is told from the point of view of Tegid. With the death of Ollathir, Tegid had become the king’s Chief Bard, who alone can name a king’s successor. When Llew reappears, still hoping to take Siawn Hy back with him, Tegid proclaims Llew the new king of Prydain. However, Meldron seizes the throne, throws both Llew and Tegid into a hostage pit, and seizes the Singing Stones that control the Song of Albion.

Though Llew and Tegid manage to escape and are taken in by the Cruins, the king fears Meldron too much to let them remain for long. They make their way to Scatha’s school, where Llew realizes that he is in love with Scatha’s daughter Goewyn. Llew and Tegid again attend the gathering of the bards, who Llew hopes can help him regain his throne, but Meldron appears and slaughters all the bards. He then cuts off Llew’s hand, thus making it impossible for him ever to be king, since tradition holds that a king must be unblemished. After blinding Tegid, Meldron sets the two adrift in a boat, but the men are plucked from danger by the all-powerful Creator. After a number of adventures, they build a settlement. Refugees from Meldron’s tyranny soon join them there. Hearing that Meldron has attacked Scatha’s camp, Llew’s forces hurry to her aid, but they do not arrive in time to save her young warriors or two of her daughters. Only Scatha and Goewyn escape. Meldron next invades the settlement, but Llew magically acquires a silver hand and defeats the attackers. Meldron is killed. In the war crimes trial that follows, Siawn Hy is convicted. Attempting to escape, he is mortally wounded, but he then vanishes. Because Nettleton has found out that Simon was involved in a conspiracy with Weston that would end in the destruction of Albion, Llew is profoundly relieved. The book ends with the recovery of the Singing Stones and the recognition of Llew as king not just of Prydain but of all Albion.

The third book in the trilogy, The Endless Knot, is told by Lewis, now known as Llew Silver Hand. Though Nettleton again reminds him that no human being is allowed to remain in the Otherworld, Llew cannot bring himself to leave the place where he has found happiness. Furthermore, he believes that his people need him. When Goewyn accepts his proposal of marriage, Llew promises her that he will remain as long as he can, and if possible, forever.

However, evil again invades paradise. During the wedding festivities, the settlement is set on fire, and the Singing Stones are stolen. Llew prepares to lead his warriors in pursuit of the attackers, but Goewyn points out that his duty as king is to remain and rule. Llew does so. His warriors capture the malevolent Paladyr, who masterminded the raid, and bring back the Singing Stones. At his trial, Paladyr claims “naud,” which means that a king must prove his greatness by granting mercy. Llew spares Paladyr’s life and sends him to the Foul Land.

Although there are signs that the settlement is being watched, Llew has become complacent. When the pregnant Goewyn and another woman set out for a morning ride, he does not send anyone with them. The women are kidnapped and taken across the sea to the Foul Land. Though Tegid warns Llew not to leave his kingdom, Llew insists on going to their rescue. In the Foul Land, Llew and his warriors are trapped by Paladyr and the dreaded Brazen Man, who reveals himself as Siawn Hy. Though Llew is killed, after his death he sees a holy fire consume Siawn Hy and Paladyr and purge the Foul Land. Back in Albion, Llew is entombed but then emerges from the cairn to find Susannah waiting for him. They return to Oxford, where together they will write the story of his adventures.

Christian Themes

Lawhead’s theological education and his personal commitment to Christianity are reflected in all his works. Like his other books, The Song of Albion Trilogy is an account of a conflict between good and evil. When Lewis first arrives in Albion, he believes it to be a paradise, an unfallen world. He notes that it is untainted by human invention and assumes that its inhabitants live in harmony with nature and one another. However, when he finds himself in the midst of a bloody battle, he realizes that Albion is not as peaceful as he had thought. In the Celtic myths related by the bards, there is evidence that like the biblical Garden of Eden, Albion has always had its serpents; in the utterances of its prophets, it is clear that it will always be threatened by evil.

Following Christian theology, Lawhead explains the presence of evil as a consequence of free will. The divine Creator, who is referred to in the novels as the Swift Sure Hand, permits his creatures to make choices. Thus though the students at the school of warriors are supposed to be thoroughly prepared for a lifelong battle against evil, some of them may choose a different course. Temptation comes to both Paladyr and Prince Meldron through their overweening pride. Similarly, it is pride that turns Simon from merely an amusing but self-centered cynic into Siawn Hy, a Judas to his best friend and an enemy of all that is good.

The good characters in The Song of Albion Trilogy, especially Tegid and Llew, know that winning battles against outside forces is not enough; one must also defeat the temptations that lurk within one’s own heart. After Llew becomes High King, his decisions are even more difficult because they involve his responsibility to his people and to the kingship itself. He chooses rightly when he shows mercy to Paladyr and again when he sends others to pursue the raiders who burned his settlement, but by leading the expedition to the Foul Land, he puts his love for Goewyn ahead of his kingly duty. Nevertheless, in his death, Llew becomes the Christlike figure of the Celtic prophecies, who sacrifices his own life for his people. Back home, however, Lewis is once again an ordinary human being, who by writing about his experiences can be a prophetic voice in a decadent society.

Sources for Further Study

Andraski, Katie. “Through the Door.” Review of The Paradise Door by Stephen R. Lawhead. Christianity Today 35 (October 7, 1991): 32-33. Admires the style and the spiritual depth of The Paradise War, which the reviewer calls a story of redemption.

Irwin, Robert. “From a Science Future to a Fantasy Past.” Antiquity 69 (June, 1995): 238-239. Irwin states that though most mass-market fantasies are unimaginative and non-Christian, Lawhead’s trilogy displays an impressive “imaginative conviction.”

Manlove, Colin. Christian Fantasy: From 1200 to the Present. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992. By analyzing a number of major works, the author shows how the genre has altered over time. Extensive notes and index.

Schaap, James Calvin, ed., and Philip Yancey, comp. More than Words: Contemporary Writers on the Works That Shaped Them. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2002. Twenty-one Christian writers, including Lawhead, pay tribute to the literary masters who inspired them.

Summer, Bob. “Crossway’s Crossover Novelist.” Publishers Weekly 236 (October 6, 1989): 28, 32. Lawhead explains to the interviewer how his theological training, his research into Celtic history, and his faith have influenced his works.