Are the spirit tree people of Ardenweald Welsh?

Just a question considering some of their names. Like “Flwngyrr”. Is Ardenweald the place where Welsh people go ?

I need to know to have a new conversation subject next time I’m in Aberyswyth.

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Without skipping a beat :ok_hand:t3:

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My GM is Welsh and he went Night Fae on his main. So yes, clearly Ardenweald is where Welsh people go.

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I’m welsh and nightfae. A lot of elven names etc are welsh looking.

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No the Night fae aren’t Welsh as they aren’t all wearing Welsh rugby tops and aggressively spitting on you when trying to communicate.

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Serious answer: Ardenweald is based on the surface level on a generalized “Celtic” mythology, chiefly Irish and Gaelic (as opposed to Brittonic, like Welsh is). They’re the same language family, which is why you’d see similar naming conventions, but in terms of actual language the names are nonsense (i.e no direct translation in any Celtic language).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%ADr_na_n%C3%93g
The name of a lot of the Ardenweald sub-zones have “Tirna” in them, which comes directly from the Irish mythological underworld of Tír na nÓg.

It was just a minor inspiration, just as Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was (his mother’s name was Mary Arden). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arden,_Warwickshire
Weald is an Old English word for forest. “Forest of Arden”; Ardenweald.

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If it were welsh, it would be Fflwngyr at best.
I can see why you equate it to welsh because of the w and y being used as vowels, but the l after the single f doesn’t feel right to me and neither does the double r.

It could well be Welsh influenced though of course. After all, tolkien’s elvish language is based heavily on welsh.

I gave him a round of applause. absolute champion.
I mean I have no problem saying it, but just dropping it into a sentence? nope. I have to steel myself first.
yeah I’m not fluent in my native language because I live in a large town in the east of Wales.
There’s also that small matter of the welsh not.

yes, a lot of the names are welsh, the whole celtic fairy/elves thing comes from tolkien who made a bunch of languages up based off of old Irish and old Welsh for lord of the rings.

Oh no you did not just say that…

For a start he used Finnish as a basic for his Non-Human racial languages, and did use -some- Welsh sounds for Sindarin, But the whole Celtic Fairy/Elves thing most certainly does -not- come from Tolkien, and predates his works by more than two thousand years! he didn’t invent anything you know? Even Hobbits were based on Boggarts and Brownies, Everything he put in his books had been in folklore and legend for centuries if not longer (In most cases much longer) before he was even born!

Tolkien most certainly, 100% absolutely did -not- invent the whole Celtic Fairy/Elf thing. I can state that as absolute fact. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Excellent answer!

One small addition: not just Tír na nÓg.

“Tír” means “Country” or “Land” in Irish and Scots Gaelic. “Tír na” means “Land of”. “Tír na nÓg” is the legendary Land of the Young, a heaven of sorts where people never age.

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Well I didn’t expect my crap post to be this educational.

Tír na Lia in the Witcher series looks to be inspired by the same mythologies then.

And not just mythilogical lands, County Tyrone is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland and means Land of Owen (various speelings of that name)…

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