Taran Wanderer
Thursday, February 21st, 2008Today, I’ll be talking about Taran Wanderer, the fourth book in the Prydain chronicles. This is the point where the series starts to take a somewhat serious, more ponderous vein.
All his life, Taran has been under the care of Dallben the enchanter; having been an orphan, he lacks the knowledge of his lineage and heritage which, to his mind, was a necessary ingredient in getting the Princess Eilonwy to marry him. He decides to start a search for his family and his birthright.
Of course, he didn’t have any idea where to start with, which meant that he was going to go from place to place, looking for information. Which is what the entire novel is about - Taran going around, doing odd quests.
Honestly speaking, this book is like the lull before the storm that is The High King, because you technically see Taran, Gurgi, and occasionally, Fflewdur Fflam, going on a few skirmishes here, following the trail of an enchanted mirror there, and finally, working odd jobs, including that of a seamstress.
In other words, a filler novel.
There’s not much else to say about this book, except that one could probably say that Taran grew older by twenty years within the duration of the book. There isn’t enough of Eilonwy’s persistent nagging to make the book any more interesting, but a lot of the elements within the novel are later used to make The High King the extravaganza that it is, and while enduring Taran Wanderer might seem like a high price to enjoy the last remaining book in the chronicles, it can be argued that the effort was pretty much worth it.
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The problem starts when Taran begins to realize that his affection for Eilonwy might not just be fraternal - he might actually be falling in love with her, if he hadn’t already. The urgency of the situation is worsened by the fact that the man accompanying them to the Isle of Mona is the kindly, bumbling Prince Rhun, who would later turn out to be Eilonwy’s bethrothed.
In the book, The Black Cauldron brings back the entire cast of main protagonists from The Book of Three, and adds a few more heroes and anti-heroes to act as foils for Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper, Princess Eilonwy, and Lord Gwydion. A more important event in the book, however, is the introduction of Arawn Death-Lord as the central villain, albeit one that operated behind the scenes (you know he was up to no good, but you don’t see him anywhere within the series, except for the last book). 
Disney’s take, on the other hand, takes elements from the first book, introducing Taran and his companions, and setting the Horned King as the main antagonist. The black cauldron is still the instrument to create the cauldron-born, but this time, the cauldron is missing.
